The Week Since My Last Post

I haven’t posted since the 11th, but I surely have had a wonderful week. My family and I were blessed to be able to attend West Coast Conference in Fresno, California. This is by far our favorite church conference to attend. The thing I love about this conference is that it is so “retro”. It is Pentecost the way it used to be 25 years ago when I first got in church. The worship is very Spirit filled, and I’ve never seen any of the musician’s display a “look at all the talent I’ve got” attitude. The preaching has been phenomenal in the past, and this year was no exception. I’m not going to go into detail about the messages, but here are some of the titles of them.

The Evolution Of Iniquity And The Power Of The Blood

The Danger Of Divided Loyalties

The Valley Of Achor For A Door Of Hope

What To Do When You’ve Been Cheated

Another great thing about this conference is to be able to fellowship with likeminded people. It’s very easy to stay up until the wee hours of the morning eating, laughing and talking.

Super Sunday!

On Sunday, we were blessed to have Brother Joel Pace from Dallas, Texas come and preach for us. The power of God was so strong in the service and Brothe Pace preached a message that really stirred our hearts and had us earnestly seeking and crying out to draw closer to God. Sunday evening, we traveled down to Madera(about 2 and 1/2 hours away)to hear Brother Pace preach at the church of some friends of ours in the ministry. He preached on The Death of Pride, and the Holy Ghost moved in a mighty way. That was one message where almost everybody had something over which they needed to repent. Elder Pace was very specific in naming areas of pride that we can have in our lives, and God was definitely speaking to hearts about getting rid of that pride. Afterwards, we had pizza with some of the ministering brethren and didn’t get home until almost 3:30 a.m.!

Three Strikes, You’re Not Out!

When we arrived home from West Coast Conference, we received news that we had been denied for the third time on our request to receive a loan modification on our home.  I thought, “Well God, it doesn’t seem like there is too much more that can be done. I sure would like to stay in this home, but thy will be done.”  Today when I came home from my morning shift of work, my husband informed me that he had been on a conference call with our bank and another organization that has been trying to help us. We have been pre-approved for a loan modification! I don’t really know all the details, but this is the first ray of hope we’ve had in this area. Praise the Lord!

Surprise Review

Today in my afternoon session of work one of the behavioral analysts was also there with me. To my surprise, I found out she was doing an evaluation on me. Being observed like that always makes me really nervous, but she went over her review with me when she was done, and I did pretty good. It looks like I still have a job.  Thank you, Jesus! Okay, that’s all for now. It’s time for some one on one with my son.

Happy 18th Birthday, Jennifer!

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is a goofy picture that Jen took of herself on Sunday. It shows the fun loving side of her personality, and believe me, Jennifer likes to have fun! Jen, you are a joy to be around, and I always enjoy it when we can spend time together.  18 years ago, God gave me a precious gift when He gave me you.  It’s been wonderful watching you grow through every stage of your life, and I am proud of the fine young lady that you have become.  Happy 18th birthday, baby!

All my love,

Mom

*** If anybody wants to see some really nice pictures of Jen(taken by an awesome photographer) click here.

You Might Be In A Lively Apostolic Church If

 

 

 

 

 

 

there are scuff marks on the baseboards in the sanctuary. Apostolic worship is exuberant. Sometimes it’s so exuberant that people run around the aisles in worship to the Lord. If you really get going and the momentum is building, you may take a corner a little too fast, and thus, leave a scuff mark.

Having been raised Catholic, when I first visited a Pentecostal church, I was scared to death. I was taught that worship was a quiet silent thing, but when I began studying the Bible, I found that that was not the case. Meditation is a quiet, silent time, but praise and worship is active.

Psalm 47:1

 <To the chief Musician, A Psalm for the sons of Korah.> O clap your hands, all ye people; shout unto God with the voice of triumph.

Psalm 134:2

 Lift up your hands in the sanctuary, and bless the LORD.

   Psa 149:3Let them praise his name in the dance: let them sing praises unto him with the timbrel and harp.

 1Timothy 2:8 I will therefore that men pray every where, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting.

 

I’ve known people before who thought it was silly and ridiculous to get all excited about God. Sometimes you see people at sporting events go absolutely ballistic when their team scores a touchdown or homerun or goal. Folks can jump out of their seats and send popcorn or soda flying everywhere, and people think nothing of it. Why should I get excited about God? He only shed His blood on the cross for my sins, forgave me, gave me a hope of going to Heaven, has given me righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost, etc. etc. etc.  Jesus is worthy to be praised!

The Bible says to praise Him according to His excellent greatness. (Psalm 150:2) I don’t think I can really do that while I’m here on this earth. That’s something that is going to take all of eternity to do, but while I’m here on this terra firma, I certainly want to try to do that, and as long as I’m physically able, I’m going to enjoy the practice!

Craigslist Conundrum, Craigslist Celebration!

Craigslist is something else. You just never know what you might find on Craigslist. Early Saturday evening, we returned home from an absolutely fabulous church conference. I went to check our answering machine and noticed we had 45 messages. We were only gone 3 days, so that is a significant amount for our household. I listened to the first message which was a call for Pete concerning the 2 bedroom apartment in San Francisco for rent. “Huh?’ I wondered. The next 3 or 4 messages were basically the same thing of people inquiring about the 2 bedroom apartment for $1100 a month(a great deal in San Fran). My husband who was exhausted from our trip, had fallen asleep on the couch. I woke him up and told him about the messages we were getting on the answering machine. He hopped up and got on the computer, and sure enough, he found the ad on Craigslist. The ad has been removed, but we still do not know who placed it. We think it might be one of my husband’s preacher friends playing a joke. 

Now for the rest of the story. That same evening, my husband came across a notice on Craigslist from a church that wanted to give away some pews. My husband was able to contact the person who only lives about an hour from here. Today, he went to see the pews. He called me all excited a little while ago. The pews are in excellent condition and look brand new. They are ours for the taking, and we’ll be taking them tomorrow morning. With these pews, we will be able to double our seating capacity. If we were to buy these pews, they would cost at least 10 grand, but we are getting them for free. Hallelujah! Once they are in our possession, I hope to be able to post some pics, but for right now, I just wanted to share this miracle.

Update – 8/25/09 p.m. – All 21 pews are stacked up in the church right now. We will need to get the anchoring hardware and contact a professional to get them installed correctly. I went down to the church and took a few pictures. I’m so excited and thankful for this wonderful blessing!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Congratulations, Jennifer!

There is a place that we can go

to gain instruction for our mind and soul,

where we strive to live by the Golden Rule;

it’s none other than our dear homeschool.

Abundant Life Academy,

we’re part of it and glad to be.

It’s the school we like, the school we love,

and it’s blessed by God above

Abundant Life Academy!

I’ve always liked the idea of a school song, so about 12 years ago when I “officially” started homeschooling(it actually began the day I first gave birth)I wrote this song.  Yesterday, our daughter Jennifer graduated from Abundant Life Academy and had a little party afterwards. My husband and I are very proud of her and are believing God for wonderful things for her future. We love you, Jen! Continue to walk with God and stay close to Him, because the greatest graduation of all will come when you are promoted from this life to Heaven, and Jesus will say “well done, thou good and faithful servant!” 

Reaping Season!

They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.  Psalm 126:5,6

And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.  Galatians 6:9

 

It has been evident the past few weeks at our church that we have entered into a reaping season. ( a harvest of souls!) There have been many weeks of outreach, witnessing, inviting people to church, teaching Bible studies and prayer, and I believe God is honoring the effort that is going forth. Today was a day of great joy as Bhobhi(pronounced “Bobbie”) was baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of her sins. Bhobhi is one of the ladies in the Bible study that I have been privileged to teach on Tuesday afternoons. I am so excited about what God is doing in her life! Since the beginning of the month we’ve been seeing an increase of new visitors coming through our doors, many seeking God in the altars and some of them being filled with the baptism of the Holy Ghost. I give God all the glory and praise! We had a wonderful altar service today in children’s church too. Even though this is geared toward children, we have seen adults respond too and come forward and pray in the altar. One of the ladies from our church brought her mother with her today. Her mom understands some English, but speaks mostly in Spanish. At the close of the lesson in kid’s church she came forward and was praying. God really touched her, and she told her daughter later that she really felt the presence of God. At the same time, the granddaughter of this lady(her name is Sasha)was praying too. Sasha is only 5 or 6, and she has prayed up front before, but today there was a marked difference. It was beautiful and priceless to see this little girl with uplifted hands and tears streaming down her face as she worshipped God. She was very close to receiving the Holy Ghost, and I don’t think it will be long before God fills her to overflowing.

Below are some pictures from the baptism. I’m overjoyed and appreciative of what God is doing and am believing Him for even greater things. Thank you, Jesus!

Bhobhi, preparing for baptism.

Ready to go under.

Down she goes in the lovely name of Jesus!

Rejoicing!

Happy Birthday to My Favorite 50 Year Old!

Today is the birthday of my wonderful husband. He has only 1 or 2 strands of gray hair, making it harder to believe that he is 50. Most people guess him to be in his early to mid forties, and some have even thought he was in his late 30’s. Anyhow, he is a well preserved creature, and I’m thankful to have  been a part of his life for a little over 26 years. On Saturday, we had a surprise party for him at my sister Karen’s house.  My sister tried to pull the wool over his eyes by saying she wanted us over for a barbecue to celebrate with  her son Jeremy and his wife Molly who found out a couple of weeks ago that they will become parents in January. I even went out and bought them a card and a little gift to make it look more convincing. My husband’s best friend called him that morning too and invited him and our family to come and have some of these Texas roadhouse dinners that their church was selling as a fundraiser. He was trying to throw him off, but my husband was still a little suspicious that something might be going on. Well, we still had a great time, and I’ll post a few pictures below. To see more pictures, click here.

Happy Birthday, Pete! God could not have blessed me with a better husband. You are a man of character and conviction, and I love you!

The birthday boy – Okay, the glasses do make him look a little older, but he only wears them for reading. His distance vision is great.

A few of us in my sister’s beautiful backyard.

Opening gifts. That beautiful gray headed lady is Carole Kerr. She has a great sense of humor and was cracking jokes left and right.  If she could be bottled, she would make great medicine! LOL

The Big Surprise

Do you enjoy surprises? Someone in our family is going to receive a big surprise today, and that’s all I can say until later. 

 

Okay, it’s Sunday evening, and it’s all over. We went to a surprise 50th birthday party for my wonderful brother-in-law, Mike. Everybody did a great job keeping this a secret. When him and his wife came to the door of their son Jeremy’s house, and everybody yelled “Surprise!”, Mike was stunned. Probably the neatest thing about this birthday was that Mike’s mom, who is in her 70’s was able to fly out from Chicago to be there for the shindig. She was hiding back in one of the bedrooms when he first came, and from a cell phone, she called him on the house phone there. His mom asked him if he was surprised and how the party was going. She told him that she wished she could be there. He said, “Are you sure you’re not already here? I’m going to look for you. You’re probably in the hallway.” What was really funny was as he said that, his mom was actually coming down the hallway. Mike was heading toward the hallway, and that is where they met. He was just joking about the possibility of her being there.

Mike and his mom.

 

It was a wonderful party with a fine mix of family and friends totaling around 40. We ate some delicious grub, participated in an Older Than Dirt Quiz (yipee! I wasn’t the high scorer), played a little game to see how much we knew about Mike(my brother Tom beat me by one point) and watched Mike open his gifts. Mike’s son Jeremy put together a very nice slide show presentation about Mike’s life. Probably the most touching thing of all was when the floor was opened up to any who wanted to share what Mike has meant to them or how he has influenced them. Over the years, my brother-in-law has been a home Bible study teacher, care pastor, musician and a great friend, and it was very special to hear of the godly influence that he has had in many lives that were represented there. I’d like to share a little in my next post on how Mike was instrumental in bringing the gospel to our family. For now, here are a few more pictures of his party.

Mike with long time friend, co-worker and brother in Christ, Calvin.

Mike’s cake – One of his hobbies is golfing.

Special “over the hill” hat

Mike and his new “over the hill” autograph dog, complete with reading glasses.

My sister Ann and I!

Easter Outreach Day

I’m excited about what God is going to do in church this Sunday. The past two weeks we have taken some time to seek God through prayer and fasting, and I believe He will bless the sacrifice. We had a good time doing outreach today. It’s fun, because you never know what is going to happen. A lot of our outreach involves reaching out to families through our children’s church, so we have a fellow that dresses up as a clown each week. Last week, the clown knocked on the door of a family that was having a birthday party for their son. They invited all of us to come in for the party, which was in their beautiful backyard.  Mr. Clown and his helpers made balloon animals for the kids at the party. The mom was really nice and was even offering us food and drinks before we left. Who knows, maybe this family will come out and visit us one Sunday.

I had an opportunity today also to meet a new neighbor. I knew someone was moving in, and I try to make it a practice to bake something whenever someone new moves in on our block. Anyway, I had a real nice conversation with my new neighbor, Alice and got to invite her and her friend to church tomorrow. They had been talking too about going to church for Easter, but weren’t sure where to go, so she was happy to be invited.  My husband went and visited some people that have been out to our church in the past. He went to visit a couple that we haven’t seen in quite some time and gave them the other loaf of bread that I had made. When he came home, he had a beautiful china set that this lady wanted to give to us. This is a complete set(enough to serve 16 people) with dinner plates, dessert plates, bowls,cups, saucers, salt and pepper shakers, creamer and sugar bowl, gravy boat, 2 big platters and a soup terrine(at least, I think that’s what it is). I was blown away by their kindness! Perhaps God will have me do more entertaining in the near future. Anyhow, I’m thankful for the privilege of knowing God, serving Him and all the blessings He so graciously bestows upon us. I’m anticipating great things for tomorrow.

 

Close up of the china pattern. I love the nice, springy look.

Beloved Bobby

Today is the birthday of my beloved brother and my children’s wild and crazy uncle, Bob. This is his mean, “who you looking at?” pose. We always look forward to the times when Uncle Bob can escape from Chicago for a while and come and visit us. (hint hint) Nobody can make my kids laugh like Uncle Bob with his zany antics and silly songs.  Bob, you are looking good for forty something. Now, I didn’t say you were good looking, just looking good. (j/k, mon frere!) I hope you will have a wonderful birthday and that you will continue to age gracefully and stay the wonderful brother and uncle that you are. We love you!