Bragging

This week was no ordinary week for us.  We were at my in-laws' home in Tennessee, in the city we started out our marriage in 6 years ago, at the congregation we started out our marriage in.  This week Jeremy was the speaker instead of his preacher Dad.  He was doing his series on church history that he actually did a couple of years ago in Oklahoma where my grandparents worship.  His dad had heard the series where they had recorded it and he and the elders decided to have us come so Jeremy could do it here as well.  This congregation is like family to us so the whole week we've been catching up not only with Jeremy's family, but also with our church family here.  *side note -- I also got to eat lunch with my brother and his fiancee' when they came through on the way home from mom and dad's this weekend today so that was icing on the cake*
The best part, though, is hearing what people say after hearing my husband speak.  He has always impressed me with his skill in speaking and his amazing intelligence and memory, but it's just so nice to hear other people impressed by him, too.  I have to admit, I'm very proud of my husband.  He has this amazing way of putting things that you just can't help but be drawn in when he's teaching you.
And, tonight being the last night, his dad got up at the end, before the closing prayer, and said a few words to wrap it up.
And we were all sniffling back tears by the end of it.  He said how proud he was of Jeremy, not only as a speaker, but how strong his faith is.  And he talked about how he and Jeremy's mom had always wanted their children to have a strong faith in the Lord more than success -- and that he was glad that Jeremy was the future of the church.
Guess I'm not the only one bragging tonight.  Especially since several members came up afterwards and said they agreed with Jeremy's dad, and that they were proud of him, too.

Hard Decision

Do you have that one friend from high school who isn't really anyone you would ever want to associate with now but is on your facebook list anyway?

You don't?

Well, I do.  But not for long.

I'm making a hard decision.

He was fun and sweet when I met him in the sixth grade, funny, smart, full of all sorts of good intentions and goals and dreams.

Through high school he changed a little from that sixth grade boy, but not that much, I thought.  Sure, the other high schoolers sometimes made fun of him and told him he acted "gay" (I SERIOUSLY HATE THAT WORD!), but I knew better.

After all, I was there when he was baptized, the same day as I was.  October 15, 1995.  I went forward to hand my life to Christ that Sunday morning.  He went forward with several of our other friends that evening.  He sat by me as we both took the Lord's Supper for the first time that night and laughed when I broke the cracker extra loudly.

So, why, ten years after high school, is he "gay"?  Obviously, October 15, 1995 didn't mean the same thing to him that it did to me.

And obviously, he is not someone I want to be friends with any longer.

I keep thinking that maybe if I remain in contact with certain people, if I live my life as I should, that I can be a good enough influence to change their lives.

But some people don't want to change their lives.

And while I hate the thought of losing a friend, I also feel like he's already lost to me.

A Few Pictures

 To wrap up a couple of other posts, here are a few pictures.

For the post, The Christian Thing to Do, here are a couple pictures of the babydoll I made for my friend.  The second picture has also her extra outfit and she lying on a little baby blanket.

For the post, And then, here are a couple pictures of the super cute tea cup my friend gave me.  Don't you love the legs on the bottom of the tea cup?

And just to end on a super cute note, here are my "babies" taking their Sunday afternoon nap.

Toby

Chester

It's All About Sex

Got your attention, didn't I?  Want to know what I'm talking about?

GLEE.

Yep.  That's right.  I'm talking about a tv show.  One that I've been watching.  But will no longer be watching anymore.

Even though the whole nation (world?) is in love with this show, and it has fun music and occasionally has neat and fun plot points, really it's all about sex.  And I can't stand it anymore.  If it's not the teachers -- yes teachers! -- talking about/acting on sex, then it's the high schoolers.

I just don't understand.  I started watching Secret Life of an American Teenager for maybe half a season and couldn't go any further because it was all about sex.  Now, it's Glee.  Why do these high school shows think that high school is the following:  at least one "gay" guy, one pregnant teenage girl, one bad boy, at least one bad girl, a nice boy, and then various and sundry other kids, but all of the above are only thinking about sex.  I don't remember sex being that big when I was in high school.  Has it changed that much in 10 years?  Is it that different in big cities than in small towns?  Or is television just completely and totally obsessed with sex and nothing else?

Maybe it's because in Ladies' Class we're doing this study called Respectable Sins: Confronting the Sins We Tolerate.  It's a really good study, even though some of it is harder to take in than others.  Or maybe I'm just maturing as a Christian in general.  But I can't handle watching sin like that anymore.  So, I will give up my love of the fun music because I can't stand to be watching it and then glance up to see two girls making out . . . or a "gay" guy making moves on another guy.  It's just not something I want in my head.  Or my heart.  Or my house.

So, out with the Glee.  It's off my DVR.  It's out of my life.  I don't need more sin in my world.  Give me a good clean high school program . . . maybe that's why I like "High School Musical" 1, 2, and 3 so much.  It's just fun.  Good, clean, high school program with music.  Why can't Glee be more like that?  And less about sex?

And then

Know that point when the littlest thing can set you off and all of a sudden, you're crying?  Yep.  I'm there.
I got on facebook right before I was going to leave for work this afternoon (always a mistake) and saw that one of my dearest and sweetest friends (I really, really love this girl and her whole family and wish we lived much closer) is pregnant . . . with her fourth child.  And I bit my lip.  And I took a few deep breaths.  And I started crying.  *sigh*  Always fun to start crying right before you have to leave for work since you don't really have enough time to get it all out.  You just get control of yourself, splash some water on your face, and go.  I'm not sad that she's pregnant.  I'm just sad that I'm not.
Anyway, I went to work and my "boss" (I put that in quotes because we're more like coworkers than anything) came in with a plastic bag in her hand.  I couldn't remember asking her to pick up any supplies. She handed it to me and said, "Merry Christmas."  Needless to say, I was confused.  I opened it up an unwrapped a cute little tea cup and saucer set.  So cute.  Check back later if I don't have a picture posted yet.  I will after church.  I love it.  She had gone to a shop that had all sorts of them and she said she just had to pick one up for me.  She knows I'm trying to grow my collection until I have a mismatched tea set of 12 cups and saucers.  Gift-giving is so my love language and she totally spoke it today.  It's nice how God works through friends to give you a hug, isn't it?

Waiting

That's what the sermon this morning was about -- waiting.  Something I definitely know a thing or two about.  We started trying to get pregnant 3 years and 2 months ago.  My husband lost his job a year and a half ago.  I'm waiting.  Waiting on God.
Not easy, by the way.  As the preacher pointed out, we can wait on God or we can go do whatever we want to and then let God fix whatever we've done to mess up the plan He had for us in the first place.  I'm not sure that it's always God's plan or a mistake.  I think God takes our decisions and then uses us wherever we put ourselves, in whatever situation we're in.  After all, we do have free will.  And only being able to do His will would take that away from us.  But that doesn't mean He can't use our decisions for the good. 
Sometimes, it's hard to know how He's using us at the time.  Right now, I'm not sure why I'm where I am.  Why am I working four jobs (preschool teacher Tues/Thurs mornings, after-school activities director Mon through Fri, home-sales, and taking in sewing/making jewelry) instead of being a stay-at-home mom?  Why is my husband working a job he hates, with hours that are not always easy to live with, even though he's gone through all this work to make himself more hire-able as a teacher?  I have no idea.  But we are.  And we're waiting for our prayers to be answered.
But I will point out something that a lot of people don't seem to realize or accept -- God answers every prayer.  Sometimes, He says yes.  Sometimes, He says wait.  Sometimes, He says No.  Not easy to accept, but still true.  So, please quit saying that we're waiting on God to answer prayers.  He always answers.  I'm preaching to myself, too.  Reminding myself.  God's either telling me wait or no right now.  I choose to think it's wait.  After all, the persistent widow got her way in the Bible.  So, I'm going to continue to be persistent in my prayers as I wait.
And I'll continue to sing one of my favorite songs (Teach Me Lord to Wait), which quotes one of my favorite verses (Isaiah 40:28-31).  Here are the words to the song:

Teach me Lord to wait

Down on my knees.

Help humble my pride

Answer my pleas.

Teach me not to rely

On what others do,

But to wait in prayer

For an answer from you.


Teach me Lord to wait

While hearts are aflame.

Help me humble my pride

And call on Your name.

Keep my mind renewed

Keep my eyes on the Thee.

Help me be on earth

What you want me to be.



Those who wait upon the Lord

Shall renew their strength.

They shall mount up with wings like eagles.

They shall run and not be weary.

They shall walk and not faint.

Teach me Lord, Teach me Lord, to wait.

 
And to end, another verse, Psalm 27:14.  "Wait on the LORD; Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the LORD!"  And yes, when the preacher told us to "wait on the Lord," this morning, I knew automatically what verse he was going to quote because I've read it so many times over the last 10 or so years.

The Christian Thing to Do

I have a friend from college who I do not always agree with.  Actually, as I read her posts on facebook, I disagree with her with scary regularity.  It's not just that she's divorced and remarried, although that gives me pause.  And it's not because she's pregnant, although that gives me jealousy.  She and I just do not see eye to eye.  She's a bit more liberal in her politics -- and maybe even in her interpretation of the Bible.  She's very much leaning towards feminist.  I just have major problems with feminism.  I don't feel that Christian women can be feminists as well, not the way the world defines feminist.  But that's another post.
I got tired of reading her posts and getting angry, ranting about it to my husband, letting it aggravate me for the better part of a day.  That's not a healthy way to live.  So, I decided to do something about it.  I am now praying for her every night.  As I've been told quite often, you can't be angry with someone you pray for.  I am also making her a baby doll for her baby.  It's turning out quite cute and I hope to post pictures soon.
I told my sister what I was doing and she said I'm a better person than she is.  I don't know about that.  I just know I'm trying to live up to the name of Christian.

Fighting Jealousy

So, I've been meaning to post about several things for a while now, but I guess I just needed a certain trigger to get me to actually type something on here.  I'm a facebook addict, although I have been weaning myself off a little bit lately, to try and actually get real things done during the day instead of just mindlessly sifting through friend after friend after friend's status posts.  But I do still get one two or three times a day (trust me, that's less than it was for a while).  Last night, I got on and saw my cousin's lastest post "[cousin's name] has a bun in the oven!"  Let me tell you, I have a lot of cousins.  I have ten on my mom's side and seven on my dad's.  Add my husband's to the mix, and we've got a great-sized family.  And most of us are getting up to reproducing age, if we haven't been there for a while.  Just like most of my friends.  I've sort of been expecting/dreading this.  On mom's side, I knew there was no way we would be the first to make great-grandkids for my grandparents.  That was done YEARS ago -- like, before we got married.  But on my dad's side, which this cousin is, no one had yet accomplished this feat, even though we've been married six years, this cousin about four, my sis and another cousin a little over one.  I was just hoping, being the oldest grandchild, that I might be the first to have a great-grandchild for my Grandma.  I know she'll love all her greats, no matter how many she gets, and what order they come in.  But I was still hoping.  And now, I'm hoping even more that we CAN be the first on Jeremy's dad's side.  I know that would mean a lot to him.
I actually had a dream about this cousin having a baby first.  I just didn't really think it would come true, considering MOST of my dreams don't.  Hm.  Scary.  Let's hope the rest of that dream doesn't come true as well.
Meanwhile, I'm fighting my jealousy, trying to find the deep part of me that really is happy for her.  It's in there . . .