A Tale Of Facebook & A Strawberry Pie Recipe

Are you on Facebook? It is an interesting little phenomena. Here's the rundown of how it goes with me. It starts at night after the kids are in bed. Tonight, well and last night too, I've had a bag of Peanut M&M's by my side, protein ya know, and it is so fun.

You scroll down and check out everybody's status of what they're doin', what they're not doin', what they wish they were doin', etc... Then you feel kinda nosey like you just looked in their underwear drawer, but you go on having a good old time finding out all kinds of stuff about folks.

People on FB say and do funny things so you leave comments. You wake up the next day and check your Email and you think, and I do mean every time, WOW, Aren't I just little Miss Popularity today...I have 36 new emails. You click on Check Mail and then you're like, aw man, that's right, I commented on 15 people's comments last night because everyone was being so funny. Now I'm linked for life to this comment and every time someone else comments FB proudly makes sure I'm gonna know about it.

And if you sneeze on FB people know because It'll show up on the homepage.

People write the darndest things on there too. Sometimes I'm like, Hello, have you forgotten who you're friends with and whose reading the trash you've gotten yourself into? Good conversation starters at dinner though.

And if you are wandering, I don't really know what's with the multi-colored, centered, Bold & Italics posts lately. They just seem cheerful and make me happy. Kinda like the bag of Peanut M&M's I just polished off.

So, there you have it, my thoughts about Facebook. Riveting reading material I know. Now that your day is complete I hope you have a good en'.

Check out this Strawberry Pie Recipe!!!

Hearing His Voice

A big thing I've been praying for lately is asking God to help me hear His Voice clearly. We've made some big decisions lately-such as schooling for our oldest son. But even in the smallest daily decisions, such as do we have time to run to Targe' or will doing so stress us all out, I want to be in tune with his plans for our day so that it will run more orderly.

I shared about how God spoke clearly to me regarding my Dallas trip and I have a few more examples to share. It is so exciting because I have asked for this, and with the help of the Holy Spirit giving me eyes to see answers and ears to hear them, God is showing up in truly unexpected places. It is not anything I have done-except for ask God a lot to grant this request to me...and he is.

The biggest way God confirms his will and speaks to us is directly through His Word. Another big way is through other people. The biggest decision we've been praying through is whether to send our oldest to Kindergarten this year or wait another year. We decided last week that we both feel it will be best for him to wait one more year. In the meantime, I am going to homeschool him this upcoming year and he gets to join an organized sport of his choice.

God used His Word to confirm this by leading me to some verses. The message of I Cor. 2:1-5 told me that God enables those he calls to proclaim His Name. Ex 4:12 says I will help you speak and will teach you what to say. There are more but the main theme is that God equips those he calls.

Even today at the doctor's office as I was waiting I struck up a conversation with a lady sitting there. Guess what. She is a Kindergarten teacher and she confirmed our decision to wait another year 100%. She encouraged us to do school with him this year and that it would give him a good footing and lead him to success. I was blown away that even waiting for an appointment, God brought a teacher along my way to confirm His Plans once again for our life this year.

"Listen to his voice and hold fast to him, for the LORD is your life." Deut 30:20

"LORD please give me a mind that understands, please give me eyes that see and ears that hear." Deut 29:4

Our book club just started reading God Is Closer Than You Think, by John Ortburg and it is exciting because I think the book is going to be about learning to see and hear God right now, today, in the midst of life, wherever you are and whatever your occupation.

I Love Summer!

We have been having a blast running through the sprinkler this year. We haven't even fooled with the pool. Just turn on the sprinkler and usually start a game of baseball.

Tonight is spaghetti night.

I need to straighten the house because the toys have exploded.

It is exotically hot outside

That's all for now.

The Kneeling Christian

About 10 years ago I picked up the greatest book by an unknown author called, The Kneeling Christian. It is very thought provoking so I wanted to share some things I've been thinking about from the book.

We all say we believe in prayer but how many of us believe in the power of prayer? Does my prayer life reflect my true belief about how I feel about prayer? Prayer is the key that opens the storehouse of God's treasures into our lives.

Do we spend even 10 minutes a day in prayer? 10 minutes a day when the Kingdom of God can be had for the asking. One of the greatest things Christians will regret when they stand before the throne is the vast amount of blessings they left unturned because they did not pray or ask.

Each time I read this book I realize my great need for deeper faith and belief in God. In regards to ministry, Satan does not care if people are out doing ministry if they are not praying. Also, any minister who is fruitful either prays earnestly over what he is doing- or his fruit is a direct result of someone praying on his behalf.

It is exciting that we can talk to God about things we see in our personal life, family, husband, home atmosphere, ministry, children, etc and we can know mighty, prevailing prayer.

DALLAS

I wanted to share about my trip last week to Dallas and how God spoke clearly to me about it. Shane and I were supposed to go to Dallas together for a 4 day business trip. At the last minute childcare was not working out so Shane looked at me and said, "Anna, you just need to fly down and go by yourself." That sounds all fine and dandy. I used to travel by myself all the time but not in the last 9 years. The thought of flying by myself, to a place where I was not going to know one single person made my stomach churn with fear.

The instant he said I needed to go by myself I felt very clearly in my spirit that I was to go get the daily verse out of my devotional book because God had a word to tell me. I ran to get my verse and it said, "Do not fear, do not be dismayed. I am your God. I will strengthen you and uphold you with my righteous right hand." Is 41:10

Wow. I sat there with my feet hanging off the side of the bed and a mouth dropped open in wide disbelief. My husband had just told me to go and God confirmed His Will through His Word by telling me not to be afraid, that he would give me strength and uphold me with his very own hand. That is when the tempter came into my thoughts whispering the lie that God could not have possibly meant that clear verse for me. I rebuked that thought and went to book my ticket.

30 minutes later my trip was set and we sat at the dinner table as a family. I am not a cryer, but I burst into tears, scared to death of what I had committed myself to, and am pretty sure I was freaking out all the boys I live with with my emotional display of freaking out. Now for the fun part-telling you about the trip God sent me on. The travel by myself was perfectly fine. The minute I stepped onto the shuttle I sat right next to a preacher's wife. I had the privilege of staying in a room all by myself. My bed was so soft and I slept more sound that I have in years. They would not allow us to lift a finger to help clean up our dishes or anything. The food was amazing. I got top notch training and God used the words spoken to clarify my vision for my business. I met some of the neatest, godliest, encouraging ladies. Instant friends kind of fun girls. The kind that became lifelong friends a matter of minutes.

It was the most restful, recharging 4 days. And, to top it off, I got to have dinner at the founder of Premier's mansion and it was fun, fun, fun. This is a picture of me with Andy & Joan Horner. They founded Premier 24 years ago on my 9th birthday!

This is one of their bedrooms. So pink and girly and pretty. After dinner at the Horner's, we always sit around Andy in the living room and he talks to us. Do you know he has never talked to us about money or a bottom line? His message is always the same. He tells us we are special and that God does not take the time to make a nobody. He tells us that our life has a purpose. He talks about how the world is hurting and we are Premier to everyone we meet. And our job is to offer hope to every lady we come into contact with. There is a large picture hanging in Andy's office and it is a picture of Jesus washing Peter's feet. I am always blown away that a huge part of my ministry in life is my job.

I better wrap this up for anyone who may have hung around till the end. The next few days I'm going to be sharing about some faith things I've been working through.

(p.s. if you scroll down 2 posts I took a picture of my high maintenance tag)

Star Fall

My friend Leslie told me about the greatest website.

www.starfall.com

It teaches your child how to read and is SUPER FUN!

It will make you giddy.

Enjoy!

High Maintenance

Wednesday night I was packing to leave for a 4 day trip. In true "me" nature, I had Shane bring me the carry-on because naturally I think of myself as low maintenance. I know, I hear you laughing about that and I'm laughing too.

The carry-on would not even serve as a sufficient HBA bag for me (health and beauty aid ;) , much less carry other necessities like oh I don't know-clothes, Bible, pj's, etc.

So-ho-oh...51 pounds later, my big red bag was filled to the brim with everything I needed to combat Texas humidity & any change in mood I might encounter regarding my clothing situation. The problem is, you never know if you are going to feel like wearing your hair naturally curly or straight, so you really have to come armed with all hair weapons.

When suitcase came out of the luggage shoot at the airport with a big red tag around that handle reading, "HEAVY, Bag may require assistance to carry".

I've never been prouder.