Food for Thought....

When God comes back to earth...will He find faith in America?

Makes you think... other countries see many more miracles than we do in the US...because we have it all, the most modern medicine, equipment, etc...people in other countries have to rely on God to heal the sick, etc. The Pastor of my church pulled this off of another blog... and I thought it was worth posting for anyone else interested.

Luke 18: 8b “When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth? ”As I traveled this past week to Kenya, Africa with Bob Roberts, we walked through the largest slum in Africa called The Kibera--1.2 million people living in a 2 square mile plot of land. We met with church planters that are planting churches in the middle of hell. We joined our brothers and sisters in passionate prayer, exuberant worship and world class dancing in church . . . They had very little on the outside. Their buildings were make-shift wood and zinc, tents, plastic chairs, horrible sound systems that punished your eardrums. Yet, I observed a vibrant and robust faith, a faith that was pleasing to God.

Here in America, we have nice buildings, incredible sound systems, soft chairs lest we offend the backside of our overindulged lifestyle, but our faith is weak, feeble and anemic. Many times it is non-existent.Why do we need faith when we can do it ourselves? Will God find faith in America when He returns? Are you living by faith in any area of your life? Are you drawing upon the supernatural resources of God for any area of your life, or is everything in your life very manageable by your human strength?By faith, Abraham went out not knowing where he was going? Not knowing is our curse. We hate not knowing because we are a culture of know-it-all. We have it figured out. We have broken the secrets codes and wrote the books to inform the world. They are not buying it. The other side of the world has figured out that all we do here in the west is talk. . .By Faith, Sarah received power to conceive, even when she was past the age. Faith not only calls us to the unknown but also to do the impossible! If it is possible for you to do it, then you do not need God. Without faith, it is impossible to please God, and when God says it is impossible, trust me, it is impossible.

Intern for a Day

Today was an exciting day at work... you didn't think those two words could be used in the same sentence did you??? My job is to fundraise for a children's hospital. Sometimes it gets pretty stale because we hardly interact with our patients and doctors. Sometimes it's hard to remember why we're actually going through all the hoops to 'do what we do'. Contrary to popular opinion, fundraising is not a piece of cake. Yeah, no car washes or candy sales here folks. It involves an amazing strategic plan... you are trying to sell a 'feeling' as opposed to an object. Most people want something for their money...here people are asked to give gifts of $10,000 or more...and you don't get anything other than a feeling that you did something worthwile. It's better than receiving 'something' if you ask me!

My boss, which is an awesome person I must say... (you didn't think you could use those words in the same sentence either, huh?) arranged for four of us to 'intern' for a half day. We went and visited the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) where our critical patients are. There we found this baby boy who had trisonome 14 (a chromosome abnormality), hole in his heart, kidney failure, respiratory distress, feeding tube, and the list keeps growing and growing. The family had lost two babies due to miscarriage so of course, they want everything done to make sure their baby will survive. When we left, they were speaking with the parents about a tracheotomy...which is an incision made in the esophagous along with a breathing machine so the child can breath. Then we went on to surgery with my favorite doctor! He was correcting a teenage boy's curvature of the spine... we walked in to find the child face down with his back split from top to bottom. I didn't pass out! Thank God because like they said, 'if you start to pass out, fall backwards so you don't disturb our sterile environment'. We were able to see this amazing surgeon put screws in this boys back, bend a rod that fits in the screws, and actually straighten this boys spine...right in front of us... I mean right in front of us. Did you know you could actually move a spine? I thought, 'even with braces, they're tighted gradually'.

You know, there are many times that I am very depressed because I have to go to work. My son will say something like, 'you're leaving us'... and my daughter will say, 'mommy so and so's mom's don't have to work...why do you...you must not want to be home'. Of course, that's not the case, I would be home in a heartbeat if I could. It's days like today that remind me of God's plan for my life. I have to continue to trust Him to guide me. I know for a fact that He hand-picked me from my last place of employment. That place literally sucked the life out of me, I was basically a puddle of nothing when I left there. Of course, that affected all my other relationships and caused all sorts of other problems. It was at that time, of course, that led me back to Christ and snapped me back into the notion that I needed Him, and I couldn't do it on my own anymore. In the meantime He put me in this place where I'm surrounded my an understanding boss and a wonderful group of people who I truly consider family. One scripture stuck out in particular "Humble yourself before the Lord and He will lift you up in honor" -- James 4:10. It is when we are at our lowest point, He can do the most good with us. I am thankful for that time, even though it was the hardest thing I've ever been through. I learned so much and look at things so differently now.

Of course, I still have those days...sometimes weeks when I have that guilt. I have to remind myself that God has a plan for my life. He has me here raising money for children's healthcare now... and is preparing me for something else I'm sure in the future. I have to know that He will provide time for me to spend with my children who I adore! Trying everyday to trust Him in all that I do...

Be Prepared for Hurricane Season...

In light of the recent hurricane that just passed through South Texas...I thought it was important to provide a 'hurricane survival kit'... If you don't think about anything else...just remember the VITAL items for survival.

Hurricane /Flooding Survival Kit


Toilet Paper.......................................check


Bud Light...........................................check


Keystone Ice......................................check


Budweiser..........................................check


Red Dog.............................................check


Misc. Other bottles of alcohol..........check


Piece of plywood to float your old lady and booze on .............Check

So it's been a while.......

When I first started this blog I was so gung-ho and I wanted to journal every day or every other day... riiiiight. Obviously it's been a while but here goes...gotta get back on the horse sometime, right?

Riley is home and doing great!
Riley was admitted to Driscoll Children's Hospital the week before last for what we thought was appendicitis. We rushed her through the ER and a bunch of tests, which she was traumatized but thank God it wasn't what we thought it was. They believe now that she had 'mesoteric adonitis'... a big word for when the lymphnodes in your abdomen swell up due to an infection (much like strep throat). Many pediatricians are thrown off because the mesoteric adonitis and appendicitis take on the same symptoms. Anyways, my eyes teared up as I was trying to get her to calm down for the IV and the suppository... as I said, it was a traumatic experience for her but once all the testing was over, she did much better in her 'hotel room' as we called it. I slept in her hospital bed which was better than I thought it would be. All glory to God for her good prognosis. I know it was all my wonderful friends and family praying for her. Thank you guys! This picture was taken after she was feeling much better, we were playing connect four :)

Taking it one day at a time
So is it just me or is there days when you just want to stay in bed??? I've felt like that lately... a few months back I started eating healthy and exercising but then fell off the wagon. It's so hard to get back on sometimes. More than anything, I need to start back up again to feel better. When I don't exercise or eat right...I am so LETHARGIC... I am dragging right now and caffeine doesn't even seem to help, except for the first 20 minutes or so. Another thing that has been bumming me out is the fact that every day seems like 'Groundhog Day'. Have any of ya'll ever seen that movie??? Every day it's the same ol', same ol'. However in thinking about that, I came to the conclusion that it's much better to have every day be the same thing that have a tragedy arise...because that's different all right but a really bad different.

Hurricane Party!!!
Speaking of which, anyone hear about Hurricane Dolly?? Yep, heading right for South Texas. Those storms have a mind of their own and only God knows where it will go. I would love some rain and tropical storm winds but I hope we are spared of a hurricane...at least until I can get my parents' roof fixed so that insurance will cover them. It's horrible, insurance companies won't insure them because of their roof's condition...of course, those don't come cheap. There's a prayer request.


Riley and Luke's Birthday Party!
This year I'm trying something different. My 2 and 4 year old (soon to be 3 and 5) birthday's are coming up. Their birthdays are only 6 weeks apart from each other so we have the same exact group back at our house 5-6 weeks after the first party. I thought this year we would try something different and rent out a pool for a couple hours and have a private pool party! We decided to rent out this one that has three awesome slides! I hope that my kiddos don't feel neglected that I'm not having an individual party for each this year (although for each of their bdays we plan to take them out for pizza and then invite the family over for cake and icecream and of course, presents!). It's $150 to rent out the pool so there's no way to do that for both - 6 weeks apart. My daughter is now obsessed with the Jonas Brothers and my son wants Batman, so the combination of the two will be very interesting :) Is it normal for an almost 5 year old to have a crush on a teenage pop group??? For some reason, I didn't think it would start this early. It makes me a little nervous but I don't want to scare her off from being able to confide in me about those sorts of things. I guess I would rather her talk with me about her crushes than hide it -- because her teenage years I want her to be able to come to me with all sorts of boy issues. Better me knowing than not!

Luke in his big boy bed!
My son is almost 3 and we just moved him into his very own 'big boy bed'. Wow, I can't believe my baby is in a big boy bed...where did the time go??? I don't think I'm ready to be done with babies... although I don't believe I'm ready to have another one either! I will leave that up to God and His almighty plan for my life. For some reason, though, I feel deep down in my soul that I am destined to have three...call me crazy, my husband does, haha. I have pictures that I'll need to post about his first night.

Kids Say the Funniest Things!

My kids are hilarious...we're always laughing about something they say. I thought that each week I'd post a few things they said that made me laugh out loud. Keep in mind, my daughter is almost 5 this year and my son is almost 3. Here they are at my desk at work...they love to come see me because they get candy, woohoo!

Riley's daddy said she was so beautiful...I asked her, "where did you get your beauty from?" and her reply is, "Mommy"... daddy says, "what do you get from daddy?" and her reply is classic...are you ready? Riley replies, "my burps and my toots - I'm daddy's girl!". Daddy shed a tear, he's so proud.

I took Luke to the potty during our softball game yesterday and after he's finished he looks up at me and has a huge smile on his face, "Mom, it's green!" Yeah...someone was in the other stall!

Riley is my drama queen, she gets that from me. My mom always told me I should be an actress when I got older! I probably should've listened to her...I'd be making more money :) Anyways, she told me the other day with her dramatic tone, "I can't finish my icecream mom, it's because I have allergies".

I have a grandma that 88 years old. She is so cute...from Brooklyn NY, get this...still wears high heels and little dresses. She stands about 4'6" short...so she makes me look like a giant at 5'0" finally! Anways, Luke was talking to someone and she interrupted and starting talking to him...he turns around, puts his hand up and says, "you need to hush" and goes about finishing his conversation. Of course, my grandma can't hear very well so she spent the next few minutes trying to ask everyone what he said! I'll have to start another post to bring you up to speed on my little grandma... she's hilarious and doesn't even know it!

Sometimes when I make Riley laugh (like this morning I was tickling her) she says, "you're cracking me OUT!" ... instead of cracking me up. I don't know why but that's funny to me! Somehow I picture someone cracking out...completely different........

Of course, I don't do any of their little performances justice because -- most of the reason it's funny is because they use the 3 and 5 year-old tone... and they way they pronouce their words. Soon I'll have VIDEO!

Little Actions, Big Impact

I have a feeling that I will probably write about many things the Pastor of my church, John Bradshaw of Fellowship of Oso Creek brings up. I think the world of him and his vision for our church. He has been preaching a series centered around the book of James - "from ideation to implementation". Basically, put your faith into action. Don't just read the bible...do what it says. Check out last Sunday's message here. You can also check out Pastor John's blog here.

He spoke about how oftentimes when we set out to accomplish something -- our mission might be pure but we have what's called a 'shadow mission'. For example: I might want to gather food to feed the hungry, but my shadow mission might be that I really like it when people tell me that I'm such a great person for helping the poor. We have to be very careful not to let our 'shadow mission' overshadow our actual mission -- the mission based on good, pure, Christian-like intent. Our self-interest or desire, tends to engage our mind, which in turn traps us. We will find ourselves in a trap if we choose to entertain temptation.

Something else Pastor John mentioned was a story about a little boy's small action that made such an impact. Matthew 18:2-4 says that we must 'humble ourselves like children'. How do you do that? Well, I think a little boy named Rylan Jimenez showed us how, with a little action. At the Hooks game (minor league baseball team), they had entertainment between innings of two 8-year-old boys who had to run to each base, put on a piece of catcher's equipment and whoever got to home plate wearing all the gear fastest, won a t-shirt. As Rylan headed to 2nd base, he realized that he was alone, as he looked back he saw the other boy had fallen and was crying. What would a typical 8-year-old do...or any person for that matter? This little boy was different, he picked up the other boy's chest protector and walked back to meet him on first. He then ran with the boy around the bases....together. When asked by a Caller Times newspaper reporter after the game, "Why did you do that?". He confidently replied, "I thought I just needed to help him. That's what Christians do, that's what Jesus would do." I just got chills..... how incredibly awesome is that? How much did that little boy teach all those spectators at the Hooks game...or all those people who read the article in the paper... or those of you who are reading this now?

How many of us go through our daily routine failing to assist people who have 'fallen'? Now, of course, that doesn't mean they have physically fallen although that could be the case as well. I can speak for myself when I say that I go through every day rushing from one thing to the next. It's rushing to get to work, to rush and get home, to rush and fix, dinner to rush and get the kids in bed... I most definitely need to slow down and 'live at the speed of love' instead of the 'speed of life' as Pastor John had challenged us to do sometime back. You can listen to that message by clicking here as well...scroll down until you see the sermon dated 3.16.08 :)

Some of us probably feel that we can't make an impact... but we can! Small actions such as these can have exponential impact, that is if we allow God to use us the way He intends. Of course, we can only be used if we allow ourselves to be -- it's of our own free will. I believe that by following God's light whispers above all the noise in our lives... is the only way we will be able to experience the fullness of what He has planned for us.

Tragedy TOO Close to Home

My family and I vacationed on the Frio River this year. We had around 25 people, so we rented two little houses right alongside the Frio. One morning I wake up with my cousin standing over me with my son...it's daybreak so I wasn't all there but I made out that my son was on their porch crying for daddy. I grabbed him and put him back in bed, where we went back to sleep. When we woke, I found out the detailed story...

Our house was the farthest away from the water, whereas my cousins porch was facing the water. The only thing that separated the porch from the river was a little fence that didn't even have a latch. My almost 3 year old, climbed out of his bunk bed (where his dad and myself were sleeping a few feet away)...walked out the bedroom door, down the hall, unlocked the front door and walked 30 yards around the other house to get to the porch. Thank God someone heard him crying and brought him back over. I was somewhat in shock for the rest of the trip -- my baby boy, not quite 3 years old, could have ended up floating in that river while we were sleeping. Some might think I'm over-protective but I just try my best to squash any possibility of something happening to my babies. I don't usually let them out of my sight for a second, especially if there's water around. I don't know how I could live with myself knowing that my negligence caused my kids harm. How do you prevent those things from happening when you're asleep 5 ft away???

When I came back from vacation to my job fundraising for a children's hospital, I saw all these online donations come in -- in memory of Clinton -- I asked our chaplain if that was a patient that had passed away. He replied, "no, that's the 2 year old that drowned in a pond this past weekend". My heart stopped. The same weekend my son could have drowned. Right then I had just had to thank God again for somehow sparing my child... it could have easily been my family that suffered this unthinkable loss.


Here is part of little Clinton's Obituary:

"Clinton Ryan Miller, twenty-three months old, went to be with our Lord on Saturday, June 7, 2008 in New Iberia, Louisiana. He was born on June 30, 2006 in Corpus Christi, Texas to Curtis and Charise Miller. He was a loving boy and enjoyed playing and being around his family and friends. He will be missed dearly by all his family and friends."


Please pray for this family... and I want to do something special in his memory. If anyone has any ideas, I'm all ears.

Cinderella

I finally decided to start a blog because of this story... throughout my day, I have various thoughts that I feel God leading me to share with my friends and family. Much of the time I'm not sure why, but I'm sure that it's Him leading me to it...so I usually share. Then God put this thought on my heart...start a blog and you can share it with more than just your friends and family but with everyone!

Some of you have heard the song 'Cinderella' -- sung by Steven Curtis Chapman, a contemporary christian singer/songwriter. If not, you can listen right here. I would highly recommend listening to this heartfelt song... This artist talks about why he wrote this song... it started because he was rushing through bathtime with his youngest two daughters and they kept stalling, which we all know with little ones it the case much of the time! After he rushed through and put them in bed, he felt God lay on his heart the fact that he shouldn't take any single moment for granted in his child's life, he needed to cherish them all. He went back to the studio and wrote this song. The lyrics to the song are so beautiful - take a look here.

So I will dance with Cinderella
While she is here in my arms
'Cause I know something the prince never knew
Oh, I will dance with Cinderella
I don't want to miss even one song
'Cause all too soon the clock will strike midnight
And she'll be gone...

On May 21 (just 6 days before the scheduled release of this album...) his youngest adopted daughter, Maria was run over and killed. How powerful is the message of this song?

This was taken from his website:

"In October, Chapman released his first new album in 3 years, centered around the theme of celebrating every moment of our lives. With the loss of his daughter in a tragic accident on May 21, 2008, this thread seems all the more important. The Cinderella Edition released on May 27th, planned months before Maria Chapmans death, highlights the album’s best known track, inspired by a bath time encounter with Stevey Joy and her sister Maria."

I think we are all guilty of rushing through our lives, just trying to make it to work, rush home to cook dinner, rush through bath time, storytime, bedtime, just to wake up and do it all over again. Those things are all important but God has been speaking to me is that no matter how much we desire a clean house, or new things... what's more important is spending quality time together with your family and friends and making sure that everyone around you knows how much they mean to you. We take for granted there is always tomorrow but that isn't always the case. How do you spend the little moments during your day?