Love....

Charlie & I have started the LOVE DARE book. Our church also bought a copy for every couple to work on together which I think is a great idea. Already, this book has changed me.

I am trying to apply these principles to my children as well as to my husband, where appropriate. For example, the first day's challenge is "to say nothing negative to your spouse". So, I will say nothing negative to my husband or my children. Have you ever tried to do this? Have you noticed how many negative things we say in just an hour's time?! Much less a whole day or even, heaven forbid, EVERY DAY?

So, today, I started noticing just how negative I am to those I love. I noticed and even admitted guilt when my day started off rotten and kept getting worse. Yes, there were things that were not my fault. But, my attitude stunk. Hence, the reason, it kept getting worse instead of better. I even yelled several times and that is one thing that I hate to do to my kids and to Charlie. I am definitely seeking forgiveness today.

After praying and telling the kids how Mama was wrong to act that way and why, I prayed with them for God to forgive us for being selfish and ugly. I don't know if they understand but I want them to know what to do and where to go when they mess up. Because we all do and that's what's so cool about GRACE.

Well, just thought I would share that with you today. If you can, would you pray for Drew? He is very stopped up and with the phlegm is having a hard time breathing/sleeping. I am keeping it down with saline nose drops, humidifier, some Vics baby rub, and the steamy bathroom when it gets bad but I would appreciate the prayers that it doesn't get any worse. We have a dr.'s appointment but not for a couple of days and Claire & Lily have some pretty sore throats and are running a little fever. So, prayers would be very appreciated! Thanks! Have a wonderful week!

Love,
Julie

Hello!.....

Hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas! :) Thank you so much for the sweet cards and emails! Your Christmas/New Year cards should be arriving soon in your mailbox, if they haven't already. I am really sorry that I was so late getting them sent out. I tried.

We have had a wonderful Christmas! First of all, Charlie got a week off from work, unexpectedly. It wasn't great because it was a week without pay or unemployment (long story) but it was great because we got to spend a lot of time and have a fantastic Christmas week instead of a rushed week. Thank you, Lord, for that. See, there is good in everything, even financial difficulty. :)

So, our Christmas spending was cut back even more, but that's okay, because we just focused more on important things and the true meaning of the Christmas season. Charlie bought us the book, "The Love Dare", as one of our Christmas presents. We have just started doing this and already Satan has attacked us in almost every area of our marriage. It has been rough but it's funny, too, because we just fight back that much harder and WE are winning! If you haven't started this book, I cannot recommend anything any more than I can recommend this book! It's great!

The girls have had a fun filled time with their Daddy and with cousins and visiting family. It's been a wild week and we are looking forward to settling down this week and just getting back into our groove. :)

Charlie's dad is doing pretty good, considering. He has a really great attitude about everything. He's good like that. :) They did not find any cancer in his bones and it is a really early stage so, those are all great things. Hopefully, they can take care of it with radiation. Please continue to pray. We sure do appreciate all of your prayers. :)

We are looking at a rough year again. HOPEfully, things will improve finanacially and otherwise. We are praying and prayerfully considering some options available to us. Please pray for Charlie as he makes a lot of decisions for the future of our family. He really is trying so hard to seek God's will and direction in his life. I am SO proud of him and in all of almost 11 years (next week) of marriage, I have never seen him walk as closely to the Lord as I see him walking now. It gives me goosebumps just talking about it! :)

*Well, I have to go lay clothes out for church tomorrow and read my love dare for tomorrow and get some sleep. I will try to post pictures of our crazy kids and their wild antics at Christmas if I can get the computer to cooperate! (Because of the week off of work, I will have to wait a little while longer on our computer, that's okay, the Lord is sure teaching me how to wait patiently!) :)

Happy New Year!

Julie

Being a servant.....

I did something today which I have never really done before. I stopped and actually listened to someone who was cussing and saying terrible hateful words to someone on the phone. Why did I listen? I don't know but what I heard shocked me, not because of what he was saying but because of the pain I heard in his voice. He was talking to his mother and I could hear her screaming and cussing at him through the phone. He was cussing her back but he had such pain in his voice, he was crying.

Why did this bother me, you ask and why am I sharing it with you? I don't know. All I know is that for years I have truly not felt true compassion for people. Maybe that shocks you. GOOD! It should.

I have been wrapped up in my own pain, worrying about how to be self righteous and keep my hands clean. To stay away from all the riff-raff (an expression my father in law uses, I just like the word riff-raff) anyway, to stay away instead of getting involved, getting to know people whether they believe like me or fit into my nice little tidy box I like to put people in. I don't know that kid, but I know pain when I hear it.

Amanda at http://www.mamasings.blogspot.com/ has some thought provoking post in the last couple of days. I know a lot of you won't agree with her or the way she believes, that's okay, she doesn't expect you to. She just says what she thinks and feels. No one in this world agrees 100% on everything, if we think so,then we need to get real.

Some will think that I am even wrong for reading her stuff. All I can say is that I have learned from her and I don't believe any of it has been bad. Yes, for the church of christ people reading this, we do things a lot differently than they do but that doesn't mean we can't learn things from others. The point is, I am through serving myself, I am sure that I will slip up but I want to focus on how I can be a help to someone other than myself. I still think that it is important to be involved in your church, to be the best wife, mother and friend you can be. But, we need to expand our horizions a little bit and try to reach out of our comfort zone. You would be suprised at how you may bless someone's life. The guy I heard today, I said to him, "It sounds like you are having a bad day, I am sorry." He looked at me and said, " Thank you for asking me about my day. It has been really rough." Well, maybe that's all I said, and maybe I should have shared Christ right there but I didn't. I just let him know that someone cared and I go in the store often where he works, so maybe I can help him. I know, you think I have flipped out, but I really feel a burden for people lately. I feel like I need to help carry some burdens besides my own for awhile. Because , what I am really here for, in the end, what difference have I made? I guess maybe I am rambling but it is late. I will post more on this when my thoughts are clearer. I just know that maybe if people knew that we really cared about them and not about just making our churches bigger and being self righteous about everything maybe it would make all the difference in the world.

Anyway, I am off to try and get some sleep........

Love,
Julie


Edited: By the way, I am only talking about myself, I am not referring to anyone in particular, this is the way that I feel about myself and just a lot of Christians in general. Not really about anyone I know. Thanks for reading my ramblings.