Feeling better about school

I got a note from a friend yesterday that just left me in tears. She's always had such a way with words, but what she said just organized a few of the thoughts I have had over the past week since making the decision for the kids to enter the public school system; she also encouraged me regarding God's will for our life. I asked her if it was okay for me to share it here, in case there might be another person reading my blog that might be going through the same thing. It also gives a very different perspective regarding how a Christian "should" educate their children.

I am so blessed to be able to call this woman my friend, and thank God so much for having her in my life! She is going through insurmountable trials right now, yet was sensitive enough to the needs of her sister to send encouragement. God knew what I needed, and he sent it. PTL!! Along the same note, I'm waiting for the admissions director to call me back about Hannah's enrollment. Please continue to pray things move quickly and we'll know SOON that she's indeed "in" and they don't have to go to different schools.

Hey! Loved the blog from your bday and I wanted to be the first to say
"Welcome to the Mission Field!!!" I'm sorry, I'm one of the weird ones
that just wants to do the happy dance everytime I hear of a Christian family
infiltrating public education. It's a mission field, I'm telling you,
right in your back yard! (or up the street).

You are going
to be such a blessing to that school. J.D. is going to a charter middle
school this year. They sell Dr. Dobson books in the school office.
I'm not a fan of Dobson, but he is my brother and I couldn't help think, "that's
cool!"

Also, I just want to throw this out there and you can
totally reject it, but you said that you couldn't help think that your children
having to attend public school was a consequence for the financial folly at
home. You also said that you always said you would never send your kids to
public school. I don't know if this is true in your life, but sometimes I
find that whatever I say I'll never do is precisely what God calls me to
do. And when I read that part about financial folly, I couldn't help think
that maybe it's the other way around. Maybe the financial issues are a
result of refusing to send the kids to public school. Maybe they're part
of the wooing, God bringing you to this place of desperation to get you where he
wants you to go. Now I'm not saying that's a for sure truth at all, just
something to think about. Our Dad owns that cattle on a thousand hills and
we're in the will, chick. I can't explain it, but I am just convinced that
there is a family at that !
school
that your family is going to bless
beyond measure. I know that he won't waste his workers.

I
also know that, when called to go places we're not sure about, it's easier to
say, "here I am, Lord, send me" than "here they are, Lord, send my kids".
But I want to tell you what you already know: he loves them more than you
do. He will go with them. God is in the public school.
"Whether (they) turn to the right of to the left, (they) will hear a voice
behind (them) saying, 'This is the way, walk in it'." He will guide
them. And I don't know your kids, but when you speak of Jackson it just
sounds like he has such passion for the Lord. I am so excited to see the
impact for the Lord he will have. Yes, our kids can be missionaries
too!

If you were sent to Africa as a missionary I'm sure you would
encourage your kids to befriend the children of the families you were sent to
minister to. I'm sure you'd expect them to carry the word of God to them
as their friend. Missionaries do this all the time. You are a
missionary and so are your kids. You've not been sent to Africa, you've
been sent to the charter school. God loves the kids that go there just as
much as the kids in Africa. Your calling is no less real than that of a
missionary to Africa.

I encourage you, as a family, to start each school
day by saying in your hearts, "here we are, Lord, send us". And I
encourage you, my fellow worker, to look for the opportunities that he is
preparing in advance for you to do in that school. I will pray that doors
fly open. I will pray that God direct you to families to minister
to. He's preparing them in advance. He will show you, just listen
for the voice that says, "This is the way, walk in it".

I don't
believe every Christian is called to Africa. I don't believe every
Christian is called to public school. But for those of us who are called,
He provides the grace, strength and guidance to do the work he's prepared for
us. Welcome to the P.S. I Love You Mission Field, (Public Schools, I love
you). Your family will be in my prayers.

Weddings, new friends, old friends

I had a wonderful weekend. For anyone who was wondering, we didn't do anything for our anniversary. J was too tired when he got home Friday (needless to say no plans were made beforehand obviously). He did go to McD's and get me a tea (I'm a big tea drinker, but have not been making it at home, therefore, when I get it, it's a treat ;o) and I had been craving a Burger King Hershey's Chocolate Pie, so he went out and got me a tea and a pie. I fell asleep from my sugar high I guess cause after that I wasn't up from long. Since Wednesday is my birthday we said we'd do something next weekend.

One of my cousins got married on Saturday. This is the cousin I grew up with. He's actually my "first cousin once removed"- my first cousin's child, but, I am only three months older than him, so, we grew up together. Not even just because we were the same age, but he lived with his grandmother, who is my mother's sister, who is my father's second wife. (Yep, spend a few minutes figuring that out, LOL!!) So, my mom had an almost FT job, day and night shifts (either 9-3, or 3-9), and my dad worked day shifts 7-3, BUT! dad did not drive so he could not come get me when he got home from work. My aunt, this cousin's gma, babysat me. So with him living with her, he was ALWAYS around, like this bratty little brother. Our family did not make efforts to teach conflict resolution, social skills, nothing like that. So, we toughed it out, literally.

We only started actually getting along when we become adults, in our 20's. He was the "wild child", until about four years ago when he met "the one". It just warms my heart to see how she has changed his life for so much to the better. She has two daughters, they're 8'ish and 11'ish now. The irony is she and I used the same babysitter when Jackson was a baby / toddler, and that babysitter was my best friend's sister. *g* They're just a great couple and she has been so good for him. To see him settle down, be HAPPY, and CONTENT, so precious. (Now, the only thing that could make the situation better is if they were saved and in church...)

But lemme tell ya, their wedding, had to have been the best one I have ever attended!! The church they chose was GORGEOUS!! We were wondering why they chose the location they did but when we walked in, I told J "this, is why ..." it was just beautiful. Small enough, that it was packed and people standing in the back during the ceremony. An easy 100+ people, probably 150 were there? The music, was perfect. Now, I know a lot of Christian's eyebrows would be raised to hear of a music program being perfect and it be non traditional music , but country music, but ... it was absolutely perfect. She even walked down the isle to mine and J's song, which, the wedding being the day after our tenth anniversary, made me all sorts of mushy ;o)

The vows, though traditional, they ALSO said the passage from Ruth! ("... thy people shall be my people.. ")- I've never been to a wedding where that was used. That tore me up! (Did I mention I cry at weddings? LOL) Then to include the girls, they done a "Unity sand", four smaller bottles of colored sand, and each of them poured their color into a bigger bottle, to signify their unity as a family. SO sweet. The older daughter was a bridesmaid and the younger was the flower girl. The COLORS~ RED! Her dress was trimmed in red at the top, and had a floral pattern in red stitched over the abdomen part, and her veil at the edges was trimmed about 1 inch of red satin. The FLOWERS~ red and white roses. It was SO perfect. I was jealous ;o)

The reception was fun, I got to visit with friends I had not seen in a long time. One being my best friend (K)'s niece and her family. (Another age thing, my best friend is a year older than me, her niece is my age, LOL!!) It was cute though cause she met my niece (22 yrs) and they acknowledged they were proverbial cousins, LOL! (I did hear news I did not expect- a guy I went to school with was killed in a motorcycle accident Friday night. That was such a shock. There's enough pondering son that for a separate post...)

After the reception Hannah, dad and I went to the nail Salon to get mani - pedi's. Well, Hannah just gets her nails polished, she's not quite ready for all that yet ;o) But the lady that does her nails does designs on her ring fingers and big toes and they are so cute, she does a very good job. I've noticed a pattern. It's not uncommon for my fingers to start hurting what seems like out of the blue. They'll hurt under the nail and around it. Just a constant pain for a few days at a time, stinging, no less from time to time. Almost like pouring lemon juice in a scratch or something! Then it hit me, as my nails have been hurting since Wednesday or so, that I had not had a manicure for a month. I wonder if lack of manicures, the dry skin under my nails is what is bringing on the pain? They weren't hurting anymore after the manicure Saturday and haven't since. I'm going to pay closer attention in a couple of weeks to see if it happens again.

So I went from orange to pink in my nail color ;o) While Hannah and I were at the reception with mom and dad, J and Jackson went home to work on a HUGE sandbox, where our new pool MIL bought for the kids will reside. It has to be on perfectly level ground, and there's nothing level about our yard at all, lol So a load of sand was delivered Saturday morning, the wood was delivered later, and poor J worked until after dark Saturday night on the big box. What will happen is the pool will be on one side, and there'll be a section where the kids will actually be able to play in the sand beside the pool so we have twofold entertainment *g* The pool is 3 ft deep, and 12 ft 'around'. Hannah is like a little fish so this should provide endless hours of entertainment.

Sunday I was standing at the welcome center at church talking to a friend about the death of my school mate and she was sharing with me what they had done at the racetrack and how they were there. A woman who looked to be my age with two boys come up and asked about where the boy's classes would be located, so I offered to take her to the classes and I introduced her to the teachers. Come to find out her family is moving down here (to NC) from Illinois. She's here now with two of her six children, and her dh is coming down this Thursday with the others and the U Haul.

She come to my Sunday school (SS) class and sat with me (J works the sound in the auditorium so we don't have SS together). After talking to her I don't doubt the Lord brought them down here for me ;o) You think he'd do something like that? I do. I believe there are extra benefits in each of his plans for our lives. Come to find out she has an "internet life" very, very similar to mine! You just don't get to meet "people like that" often, LOL We totally hit it off. I'm so excited to meet her and think this will be the beginning of a wonderful friendship :o) Yep, she's going to read this too cause we've already exchanged email addys, screenames on multiple websites, facebook invites, an blog addresses :p~~~~

After church we went to "Dairi-O", this locally owned faster-food restaurant and ice cream shoppe. It was nice. They have picnic tables outside, a screened in porch with tales or you can eat inside. We ate outside. The weather was nice last night. It made me think that would be a good way to fellowship with other friends after church on Sunday nights, making plans ahead of time to meet there. We hardly ever socialize as a family with others, it's 99% of the time just me and the kids. That's something I would love to see changed.

So overall we had a great weekend.

Now, if my Monday could get better, I'll be a happy camper!