"A Little Fragrance....

....always clings to the hand that gives the rose." ~Chinese Proverb

A challenge presented itself yesterday...you know, most times challenges between people are more about trying to understand where the other person is coming from than anything.  Once our toes are well situated in their shoes and we take a couple steps, most of their actions and perceptions of life will make some sense to us...but, how willing are we to slip on their shoes?

Over my life thus far, I have been pretty stingy with grace.... I felt as if I could determine when grace was warranted for others depending on my feelings.  Whereas I do believe we need to be discerning of our circumstances and how God would have us handle them through the wisdom and instruction in His Word, if we withhold grace and forgiveness from others we may be hindering a work God would like to have take place in their lives (and, very likely, in our own).  God's grace changes people when they connect the dots and see how undeserving they are.....we never know when that moment of realization will be for a person.  When will God's unconditional love break through to them? How many times did we experience it before we "GOT IT!"?  I want to position myself for the most effectiveness as I point toward God and that means to be generous with forgiveness and grace.

People will never be perfect....they won't DESERVE your love all the time.

But, they need it.

God's grace extended to me, many times through other people, allows me to move forward in my faith by removing my obstacles, making my crooked pathways straight, and even dotting the landscape with beauty as I learn the connection between God's grace and my ability to love others.

  There is an account in Luke of a woman who poured out her expensive perfume on Jesus' feet.  After explaining that her many sins were forgiven and so she LOVED MUCH...there is a short part of the verse...almost like a little side note at the end...(ever realized you should not ignore these?)

...But whoever has been forgiven little loves little... Luke 7:47

I LOVE WHEN TRUTH IS LEFT FOR US TO FIND LIKE THIS!
None of us has been forgiven LITTLE!
We should be so generous with what has been generously given to us.

Connect The Dots

There will be many points in time today when God says, "I love you."  I hope you connect the dots.

"To Infinity And Beyond" ~Buzz

There is something totally amazing about the way God works through us...does He NEED us?....No, probably not, but He desires a relationship and, in a way, maybe more than a way, a partnership with us.  It's almost like this weird, totally unequal, deal where we put something in and GOD extremely blesses it with WAY more....like more to an infinite degree :)

Noah built an ark....GOD SHUT THE DOOR, PROTECTED THEM AND RESCUED HUMANITY THROUGH IT ALL
Moses held up his rod toward the Red Sea.....GOD SHOVED THE WATERS APART SO THEY COULD WALK THROUGH TO DELIVERANCE WITHOUT EVEN MUDDYING THEIR SANDALS (That just made me think of the Tough Mudder...NOPE, absolutely no obstacles for the Israelites!)
Peter preached at Pentecost....THE SPIRIT OF GOD DESCENDED ON THE CROWD AND FILLED THEM WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT...WHICH IS PRESENT WITH US AND IN US TO THIS DAY

One promise in scripture states, "Commit your way to the Lord; trust also in Him, and He will bring it to pass" ~Psalm 37:5~  I think we can consider this word "way" as our work or efforts....what are we working to accomplish?....what efforts do we make toward obeying, worshiping and honoring God?  These are the efforts that accomplish things that will last....ALWAYS!

Grasping this puts us light years ahead :)

He's not moody and His promises are never broken.

Vannah At Vandy

We enjoyed a Marching Band Invitational tonight at Vandercook Lake High School.  There were about 9 bands performing and the theme of the night seemed to be "FUNKY" :P

Ready for one last "never"? A last never? NEVER! (Right?)...ha! I am in a weird mood!

:)  I enjoyed all the different eras of music represented.  AND, I learned something totally new and insightful.  I sat by Brad's mom....who is a nurse....and she told me that when she was trained to give chest compressions she was told to think of the song, Stayin' Alive, because that is about the right beat interval for the compressions.  I loved that and tried to make a mental note, only my brain decided to only remember how cool and clever it was that it was a song about not dying (which I then connected to the lyrics of the music I was hearing "play that funky music till you die"....which had me cracking up thinking about doing chest compressions to a song like that (I probably should make a new "never" about taking you on a tour of my mind :).....later, I thought..."what was that song again?....I Will Survive?"  I guess in that case you would have to be able to give yourself the compressions....ha!

ANYWAY...That's Vannah on the 30 yard line...she was terrific!

....As was the entire band...it is exciting to witness their improvement every time they perform!

The Every Nevers

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end;

they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

Lamentations 3:22-23

During our VBS in 2014 a little girl accepted Christ.  I distinctly remember her because the Spirit of God convicted her of her current music choices and she was brokenhearted that she was listening to music that wasn't pleasing to God....that was so tender and sweet!  Anyway, I knew I could do something about that for her, so I gathered a bunch of CD's with awesome Christian messages and gave them to her.

Today, I was surprised when Brad told me she and her little brother were going to sing a special at church.  They just belted their little hearts out and had me weeping....GOD IS SO GOOD!

This is the song they sang...WOW!

He Wants It All ~ Forever Jones

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nC6b1RS57p8

Sweeping

Yesterday, I was running to get lunch for my family and a few others who were working at the Parma Day events.  I had placed my order and was pulling my car around to the drive up window while I started rummaging through my pocketbook for my debit card.  My hands searched the place where I normally keep it and it wasn't there...then I started checking through my purse a little more carefully hoping the drive up window attendant would be stalled for a second so I could find it.  Nope, not there....all I had in cash was $25 and the total was $38.  I had to tell the young lady at the window that I would pull over to a parking space, search for my card, and then come back around with my payment.

After searching thoroughly through my purse and pocketbook several times and scanning the floor of the van in case it fell out, I had to call Brad and ask him to come pay for our lunches.  Luckily, it was only a couple miles from the church, so he could come quickly and get right back to the others.  Then, I went home for a few minutes to search there and retrace my steps since I had last used the card.

I totally cleaned out my entire purse and pocketbook of all the old scraps of lists and receipts....looked through papers on the counter top, checked my dresser and possible pockets from the last several days, dug through plastic bags from my last shopping trip, lifted up the floor mats in the van to check under them....until I was convinced I had checked every place at home where I could have set it down.

The only other place I thought it could be was at the Dollar Store because the was the last place I used it the night before when I had purchased a few items for Parma Day.  I prayed on the way there, "Lord, please let them have it...this is the last place I can think to check."

I inquired with the manager at the store and SURE ENOUGH....IT WAS THERE!  WHESHHHEW!  One of the ladies at the store wished me a good day on the way out and I said, "OH, YES...NOW IT WILL BE A GOOD DAY!"

It is good on a whole new level, you know!  I was already having a good day at the Parma Day festivities, but this had more significance because something valuable was lost and then was found.  I realized later (after I had told many people my story of realizing the card was lost and finding it again) that my pursuit to find my debit card, my joy (coupled with relief) in finding it, and my inability to keep the whole ordeal a secret because it meant so much to me was like that parable.

Isn't it great to know that GOD will search for us until we are found!

Happy PARMA Day!

The little town I live in has a special day every Fall when we have a parade, a kiddie carnival in our church parking lot, vendor booths down Main Street, corn hole tournaments, and food and events at the Fire Station....it is a fun day!

Yesterday, when I was helping Vannah get ready for Homecoming I started thinking how quickly Kenna is arriving to THAT AGE...sometimes the older ones keep us really busy and we don't see the others sneaking up on adulthood until BAM.....what happened?!

Village Hope Church's own Justin Hauglie got to lead the parade this year....Danielle and Karly enjoyed posing with him.

Getting ready to ride their bikes with others from Village Hope Church who were passing out candy and fliers.

This was Vannah's first year to march in the parade with the band :)

How did that picture get in here?  Because that car ROCKS!  How can those ladies across the street not be paying attention to this?

All the girls helped so much at the Kiddie Carnival....at the last minute Brad realized another group that was supposed to come help us man the games had backed out.  I got that proud mommy feeling that almost makes me cry as I watched them helping all their friends play the games when I know they probably just wanted to be running all around the carnival like hooligans too.  Kenna even got a little "Carnie" on us as she called out for people to come over to her game :P.

Inside, we offered free coffee and apple crisp...and Hope Floats...strawberry, peach, grape, orange, and Coke floats.  That seemed to be a hit!

We had a balloon professional...I am not sure what the correct title is for a person who makes balloon creations.  Anyway, he made hats, animals, swords, a cool bow and arrow....and one really interesting thing I had never before seen.

He asked Savannah for a dime....(so she asked me :)....I was thinking, "why is he charging her a dime for her creation when all the others were free?"....WEIRD!  Then he made her a....

DIME-IN RING

...yes, Vannah is engaged to the balloon man...hahahaha!  I have really been having too much fun with that one!

Happy As A Clam

Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me.  Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me.  But he said to me, "MY GRACE IS SUFFICIENT FOR YOU, FOR MY POWER IS MADE PERFECT IN WEAKNESS."  Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.  That is why, for Christ's sake I DELIGHT IN WEAKNESSES, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties.  For when I am weak, then I am strong.

 ~2 Corinthians 12:7-10~

To me, this is the "happy as a clam" passage.  I think it drives a lot of people crazy trying to figure out what Paul's "thorn" was, but I am kind-of glad he didn't name it....it is almost like we are given permission to fill in the blank with our own present difficulty or hardship....(the irritant we cannot remove from our shell)...and see how it too can be covered over and over by God's grace and transformed by God's power into something of a rare treasure.

Only in this way can we DELIGHT in weakness.

Homecoming Highlights

Karly caught a Tootsie Roll and it definitely makes her brown eyes pop when she wears it as a mustache :)

Here's Vanner after her half-time performance...

We were honored by her presence in the bleachers

The band had to stay for the entire game and then....HURRY....to get ready for the dance.  We already had our plan, so we met up with some friends and went to work!

Transforming her from sweaty color guard member to "GREEK GODDESS"....in less than 20 minutes.

Ready to party!....no dates this year....just BFFs.

And her little sisters were definitely looking up to her with her super high heels on :P

"So Now's My Time To Be" In A Band...

"Follow my heart as far as I can" ~Lyrics from Wait And See

I have to tell you a funny story....

So, part of my job is to manage our general admissions email account and answer questions for prospective students, families...sometimes vendors....so, I get a lot of similar questions about the programs, the cost, our location...stuff like that.  Sometimes, however, someone will ask me something really "off the wall" and MAKE MY DAY!  Today, a student wrote in regarding a constant contact message we had sent out encouraging students to visit campus during a weekend we will be having Brandon Heath on campus for a concert.  So the student wrote in, "I would like to play with the band when I visit...could you please send me the pieces ahead of time, so I can practice."....LOVED THAT ONE!  I SO WANT TO SEND HIM SOME MUSIC :P....at first, I thought he wanted to play with Brandon Heath's band because that is the event we were highlighting in that message, but maybe he just wants to sit in on SAU's band practice....that would make more sense....but, isn't quite as funny.

Wait And See (That kid will probably be famous someday :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEFNQE76Us4

Happy Homecoming, Western High School!

A Peace Of My Mind

What if we shared that with others instead of giving away

"a piece of my mind"....that would change a lot of things, right?

Perfect Peace

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKynh0Spy-Q

WOOHOO....It's Picture Day!

It's picture day at the elementary school...

Hope they smile perdy!

Even though I know they want to do this :P

Mind The Gap

I was crossing my leg while working on data entry yesterday and didn't even realize my right foot was totally asleep.  I went to stand up and had no feeling there and really no control of that foot because it thought it lacked strength since it couldn't get the message from my brain that I was intending to stand up...ha!  I think it is funny that we say it is "asleep" when that happens.  THEN THE PINS AND NEEDLES SET IN and those can be painful!

Many people think this happens because there is a lack of blood flow to your foot.  I thought, oh, I will write about there being power in the blood, but I read about it today and it is really more about the nerves in our body.  The nerves send messages back and forth from your brain to your body and when you have compressed or squished those nerves for a while, the messages can't be sent.  That connection is cut off and you can't feel anything.

I got thinking about that concept in terms of my spiritual life.  There are times I go through where I feel a lack of energy, motivation, some would say, ZEAL, in my faith.  My spiritual nerves seem squashed and the connection feels lost, leaving me weak.  If Christ is the head and we are the body, that makes sense to me.  He emphasizes the need for a close connection in so many different ways throughout scripture. But, if we aren't in his Word and in prayer as we ought to be, we are squashing the connection we have to Him and His messages to us are not being received.  Then we start to wonder why we feel NOTHING....at least I have been at places in my life where I wonder why I am experiencing very little compassion for people.

Lord, I pray for your mind in me...that I would handle my circumstances through humility and submission to You...not attempting to be GOD of my own life.  Make me always desire good for others and put their needs above my own needs, wants, or agenda.  Create in my heart a passion to serve and see Your will accomplished in my circle of influence.

I Shook Gifted Hands :)

Presidential Candidate Dr Ben Carson was at Spring Arbor University today.  Brad and I decided to allow the girls to come with us to hear his speech.  Brad and the girls were sitting way up high in the bleachers when I arrived to meet up with them, but I had a dress and high heels on, so I opted to stand on the main part of the floor and I was so happy I did (even though my feet were KILLING me for standing nearly 3 hours) because I was right in the middle of everything.  Brad decided to come down and stand with me too.

Kassi and Karly before the event started...they brought a kid's version of his Gifted Hands book.

We had just watched the Gifted Hands movie last week, so the girls were already a little familiar with him and they were excited that he was coming to the area.

Spring Arbor University President, Brent Ellis, addressing the crowd before the event.

Mike Shirkey and Earl Poleski...they came out and said they needed to fill some time and were going to sing for us.  We all thought they were kidding and laughed....then, they proceeded to sing....haha!

Dr Ben Carson delivered a fine speech and we became buds, I think....I was standing in the perfect place for eye contact with him...that sounds weird, right?...Anyway, he is a pacer, so I was right in front of the place he would turn and pause to look at the audience before pacing in the opposite direction.

This was my favorite.....his John Travolta pose....he wasn't really doing a disco move, but I caught him at the right moment :)

He and his wife, Candy, came through a line in front of us at the end....Brad gave Candy a high five....she seemed pleasantly surprised by that :P

Oooooo....he's getting close to me....should I A: try to get a selfie with him or B: try to have him sign our daughter's book.....man, this is a hard decision!

Okay, I will use that one moment to see if he will sign our book, but I will take this dorky "Dr Carson is almost here and I am excited" distant selfie photo too.

HE SIGNED OUR BOOK!  YAHOO!  

That was an awesome experience!  Afterward, Brad was running the signed book up to Kassi who was sitting in the bleachers and a reporter stopped him to ask him about his experience today and why he likes Ben Carson.  The reporter was also interested in the story of how we got the signed book, so he took Brad's and Kassi's names and they may be in some article tomorrow.

The A,B,C's

If you feel unclean, unloved, unhappy, unworthy, or unwhole,

REMEMBER

"All that is unfair about life can be MADE RIGHT through the 

ATONEMENT OF JESUS CHRIST" ~Elder Timothy J. Dyches~

In honor of our kids participating in See You At The Pole, I wanted to include the "elementary" version of the sinners prayer.  It really doesn't matter the way you verbalize or internalize your repentance, belief, and profession of Jesus as your Savior....He is waiting with open arms for you, but here are the "A,B,C's of faith" if you'd like to start at the very beginning... 

(it IS a very good place to start :).

"A" stands for Admit.

A person must admit to God that she is a sinner.  She must be sorry for her sin and turn away from sinning. 

Romans 3:23, Romans 6:23, Acts 3:19, and 1 John 1:9

"B" stands for Believe.

A person must believe that Jesus is God's Son and that God sent Jesus to pay the penalty for sin.

John 3:16, John 14:6, and Romans 5:8

"C" stands for Confess.

A person must then confess her faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.

Romans 10:9-10, 13.

If you have never taken these steps of faith, I would encourage you to today!  I am so proud of all the kids going to the poles because it does take courage to stand up for what you believe and lift Jesus on high.