From Whom all Blessings Flow

The last couple of months have been very challenging.  I started out extremely stressed and overwhelmed.  I cried a lot.  I had panic attacks.  And I yelled at Troy.  And then the Lord put me in several situations where he used others to give me his message.  He wanted me to know that it is not about me.  None of this is.  Sure it directly effects me but it has nothing to do with me.  After 2 weeks of these blatant messages I cried out to God and surrendered it ALL!  All of it.  Nothing left in me.  I am done.  It is no longer mine to worry about.  He is in complete control.  Immediately after (the next day) He began to provide for my family. I truly believe that it is my job to let others know of His provision for us.  That is why He does it.  So that we can tell others about how good He is.   I will not give all of the details in this post but I will let you know that someone generously donated several thousand dollars to catch up our mortgage (and they don't even know us).  We have received over $1000 in gift cards and cash and we have received so many groceries that we can't even fit it all in our home.  On top of that someone else has completely bought and paid for my children's christmas.  We did not have to spend a dime.  Many of these donations were from people that we do not know.  They are obedient to the Lord and with that they are blessing us beyond anything that they could have ever known.  I love every single one of these people whether we have met them or not.  They are my brother's and sister's in Christ and even if I never know them personally here on Earth, I will know them in Heaven. 

In case you ever wonder if you can or do make a difference in anothers life you would be surprised!  Today as I was putting away the sweet "manna" from heaven I began to sing this song.  It is such a good song and it expresses just how my heart has been feeling this last few weeks.  Here are the lyrics:

Praise God, from Whom all blessings flow;
Praise Him, all creatures here below;
Praise Him above, ye heavenly host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

 Praise God, Praise God
Praise God who saved my soul
Praise God, Praise God
Praise God from Whom all blessings flow

 

I'm in the mood...

I have not been in the mood to blog.  I have signed on several times and have even started a post a few times.  I have been journaling and that has been good for me.  I think that it has kept me from the blog.  Lots of stuff has been happening here.  Troy is still out of work and to say it is tight around here is an understatement.  This has been hard for me the control freak, the planner.  I have been writhing over this.  Some interesting things have happened in my life in the last couple of weeks that have really freed me.

• I have been to two different women events at my church where the message talked about circumstance and how the things that we are going through are not all about US.  Sure we are a part of that circumstance but it is not about me it is not about how it is affecting me, it is about the bigger picture and that is bringing others into the kingdom of heaven.  Telling others how much Jesus loves them.  And if that means that I have to go through something hard then that is what I have to do.  
• In that I have realized that I have no control over this thing we call life.  Because of that I am free from worry. I don't have to be anxious because it doesn't help anyway. 
• Someone said that "God doesn't waste a second of [your life]." How true that is!  To know that not one second of this crap that I am in now is not for nothing is encouraging
• Today I also heard someone say that God is not frantic. He is not running around trying to figure our stuff out.  He is Sovereign and powerful and in complete control!  Isn't that awesome?
• The other thing is that in my own struggle God put someone in my path that I was able to love on.  It was totally random and when I walked away from the stranger he was fighting back tears.  We all know I am a crier so I couldn't say what I was supposed to say but I did write a note.  And I think that is what brought the tears.  The note just read "Just so you know...God loves you! Have a blessed day".  The fact that He used me in this situation really gave me a boost.  I am relevant in growing His kingdom and no matter what the circumstance He will provide a way. 

So that is it. I am sure I have missed some things but I am done for now! :)

Tot School-Tangrams

I have to first say that I do not go out of my way to teach Charlotte.  One of the reasons we like to homeschool is because it is work at your own pace and there is no pressure.  So I do not expect my two year old to do anything.  But we do however have fun educational toys that she can play with while I am working with the "Bigs".  That being said.  A few weeks ago I pulled out the tangrams. They are colorful and really I just thought she would like them.  This is what she did with them with no prompting:

They were in a pile and she started to separate them by color.  I know it wasn't shape (that is really for a much older child).  I was surprised to see that she would do that on her own.  (The lower picture is just of the pile).  I decided to pull out the sheets that have patterns on them and see how she would do with it.

She knew immediately what to do.  She matched the colors. Ellie decided to get in on the action as well.

This is a great intro to colors and shapes for Char and patterns for Ellie.  They were both very proud of themselves.  And I was proud of them too!

It's been a while

I have not posted anything lately I know. Not that I don't want to but because life gets in the way.  I have some homeschool posts and personal posts and even just kid posts.  I just have not had the time.  Maybe that will come soon.  What I do know is that life has been crazy.  I have been journaling more lately which is another reason I have not been blogging.  I have been needing to get things out just not in a public forum.  Maybe one day I will be able to share more but right now you can just pray for me! 

Thanks all!

Free Giveaway from DNG!

I love a good giveaway.  My friend and fellow homeschooler is a reviewer for Download-N-Go. It is a cool website that has unit studies of all sorts.  It is a fun thing to do if you are looking for something different.  Go to her website here and comment on her blog to win a study on tigers. 

Losing weight-Update

Well it has been a roller coaster but I am at 17 lbs weight loss! Here is a picture.

Beach

It is October and in Texas it is still warm outside.  We decided to take a trip to the beach yesterday with some good friends.  The kids had a blast and I am so glad we went!  Here are some pictures of our good time.