Thursday Thirteen

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Thirteen places I would like to visit someday

1. Ever since my Art History class, I have vowed to go to Turkey to see the Hagia Sophia. All the pictures of it in my textbook were breathtaking.

2. I must go to Paris, yep, I must. And while there, I must go to EuroDisney. Yep!

3. I want to stay overnight in a castle in Germany. I also want to visit Neuschwanstein. Did you know Sleeping Beauty's Castle at Disneyland was modeled after it?

4. I have been to New York many times and it is one of my favorite places to be. But I have yet to ice skate at the Rockefeller Center. So, I must do that.

5. I would love to visit D.C. I have yet to visit there and I would really love to go. I think that would be a good family vacation when the kiddos are a tad older.

6. It would be amazing to go to Israel and tour many Biblical sites. Definitely something that would be incredible and unforgettable.

7. I have been to Oahu, but I would love to visit Kauai. It is supposed to be beautiful, serene, romantic.

8. My hubby has always wanted to go to Alaska and would prefer an Alaskan cruise. I think Alaska would be an amazingly beautiful place to visit. Plus, I would love to see the Northern Lights.

9. My grandpa was a Sioux Indian and one of my great great great ancestors was a chief. Because of that, I would love to go to South Dakota to see the reservations and learn more about that part of my ancestry.

10. I want to eat at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse and at The Melting Pot someday.

11. I want to go on a missions trip to an orphanage.

12. I want to go to Haiti to visit my Compassion Child.

13. I want to be able to take my kids to various parts of the county, so that they can learn about the different states up close and personal.

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What would you do?

I am doing the Beth Moore, Living Beyond Yourself Bible Study, and this week we are focusing on joy. And lately, we've been looking at joy in the midst of suffering and especially looking at Stephen's joy before being stoned and Paul's joy even though he knew that he was going to die for his beliefs. It got me thinking, how would I have responded?

So here's a scenario:
You are awoken from a deep sleep by two men who charge into your house, stand over your bed and with knives in their hands they inform you that you will now be killed because of your Christian beliefs. What thoughts run through your mind? What do you do?

Honestly if that happened tonight, I would most likely do what the Bible tells us not to do.

I honestly think I would plead for my life. I would worry about my Audrey. I would wonder would they hurt her? I would think of all the things I haven't gotten to witness yet, like her first day of school, her High School Graduation and her Wedding Day.
Would you?

Would you pray and ask God to forgive the men that were about to harm you? Or would you you be hoping inside that they don't get away with what they are about to do?

I was talking this over with my hubby while we ate dinner and we talked a little about it. And well, if our lives are truly focused on God, we'd realize that it is a full life we should seek, not a long life. All the things like watching your little girl get married, should fall secondary. We should be so focused on God. That if that scenario did happen, although we may be afraid, we would be comforted and JOYFUL knowing that God would be there through it and He would be who we would be face to face with in a moment.

In Acts 20:17, Paul said, "I consider my life worth nothing to me."
He said, "I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem, for the name of the Lord Jesus." Acts 21:13

Stephen was stoned for his beliefs. When he knew it was about to happen? What did he do? "But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. Acts 7:55

While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. Then he fell on his knees and cried out, Lord do not hold this sin against them." Acts 7:59
And we know who was there at Stephen's death. And we know about his conversion. And Saul who became Paul, look it all that he did for God!!!!!!!

I learned in the New Testament class that I recently finished, that Peter and his wife were both martyrs. Did you know that Peter had to watch his wife's death before he was killed? His last recorded words to her were, "Remember the Lord."

Ignatius who succeeded Peter as the bishop of Antioch received notice of his impending death. This is what he wrote:
"Now I begin to be a disciple. I care for nothing, of visible or invisible things, so that I may but win Christ. Let fire and the cross, let the companies of wild beasts, let breaking of bones and tearing of limbs, let the grinding of the whole body, and all the malice of the devil, come upon me; be it so, only may I win Christ Jesus!"

So, just some food for thought!

Impatient

Can I tell you, I am impatient. I really am. Anyone who knows me really well, knows this. Here I am at only 37 weeks and I am secretly wishing to go into labor NOW! But, honestly I wouldn't really want to just yet. My best friend will be out here next week and I definitely want her here for the birth. So, Okay after she gets here, then I really REALLY will want the baby NOW! LOL. My hubby thinks that he will come on July 7th. That is 3 days after my due date. And yes, I think that that is a nice birth date. I love the number 7. But, did I mention it is AFTER my due date. I told my hubby that at night, while he is asleep, I am going to start elbowing him and kneeing him in the belly. Then, I will push on his bladder really hard. And I'll do it every night for at least 3 hours. I then said we'll see if he still thinks July 7th is a good birthday. Because see, I think June 21st is a good day. Hey, even June 27th works. :o) LOL!
No, really it isn't that bad and I love feeling the baby move and all of that. I just feel like I have been pregnant forever. But it doesn't help that I found out right away that I was pregnant...like I was only 3-4 weeks when I found out. So, yep..it's felt like forever.
My only complaint is that he is laying on my cervix. And at night he likes to push down on it and it stings. Boy does it sting. So, if he didn't do that, life would be grand. LOL Well, I will post more later. I just wanted to share with you about my impatience.

Confessions of a bad Pray-er

Okay, so I admit it. When someone I care about tells me about a problem they are having or maybe someone is sick. When I know someone is going through a hard time. I do genuinely care and I know God will help. So, I say what all Christians say, "I'll pray for you." When I say it, I really do mean it. I want to pray for them, I do. It also feels nice to have someone say that to you, ya know. In my heart of hearts, I have every intention of praying for the person. I want to see their situation change for the better.

But, something happens and I don't do it. I usually pray once for the person and then I mean to consistently stay on top of the prayer. But to be honest, my prayer life in general is lacking quite a bit. I haven't been doing a good job at all disciplining myself to pray like I should. Sure I pray before I eat. I sometimes pray before going to sleep, but a lot of the time, I fall asleep as I am praying. It's horrible, I know. I hope I am not the only one, I don't want everyone to think I am horrible. But actually, maybe I do hope that I am the only one. Because I would hope that everyone else were closer to God than I currently am at the moment. Maybe some of you used to be that way too.

Anyway, this morning, I was doing my Bible Study and devotion time and I really felt a weight on my heart to pray for a couple of unsaved individuals that I know. I was also feeling quite convicted on my inconsistent prayer life lately. So, I am going to do something about it now. I will rise earlier in the morning and start my day off with prayer. I also want Steve and I to pray together at night and include all of those people that we said we'd pray for. I then wrote out a prayer list. I included the people that were pressed upon my heart during my quiet time this morning as well as several other people whom I told recently that I would pray for. I am going to hang it up in my bedroom. I want to see it a lot and I want to be sure that I do not fall asleep without lifting these people up into prayer.
I know how important prayer is. I know how important it is to spend quiet time with God. I know that He should be more important than anything else I have on my plate. But, it gets so easy sometimes to start the daily routine of giving your little one breakfast, getting them dressed and cleaning the house. Before you know it, it is 7:00 P.M. and you have yet to acknowledge God.

So for those of you out there who heard me say to them, "I'll pray for you." I am sorry that I didn't stick to my word. But you can know now, that I am. I am 100% devoted to praying for you.

Lately I have felt like a flickering light. There are days, weeks even, where I just shine brightly for God. I am in my quiet time every morning and I am communicating with God like I should. And His joy consumes me. Then, suddenly the light starts to dim as I get caught up in all my day to day activities. I get focused on all the things I have to do, on my busy schedule. I don't start my day with God and I don't end my day with God. I think about it, but I don't put it into action. Then, something smacks some sense into me and I blink for a few seconds and then boom...I shine in all my brightness once more. I don't want to be the flickering light. I don't want to have those moments where my light is dimming. I want to always be bright, always be shining, always be lighting up the room.

So, that's what I am going to do. Yep!


1 Samuel 2:1 And Hannah prayed and said:
"My heart rejoices in the LORD;
My horn is exalted in the LORD.
I smile at my enemies,
Because I rejoice in Your salvation.

Colossians 4:2 "Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving."

James 5:16 "......The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much."

Potty Update

Well, today hasn't been very successful. I take blame for it because I haven't been putting her on the potty every half hour like I should. Time has flown by this morning, I tell you. We have had to change her outfit twice already this morning. She had 2 accidents. One of them was right after she sat on the potty. It was funny, she was on the potty and then immediately took all of the water toys out of the little basin she plays with them in. She began insisting that there was a shark in the basin of water. The duck she had to play with was scared of the shark. She has a little Sponge Bob toy she got in a happy meal as one of her water toys. I told her that Sponge Bob could go in and beat up the shark. But she said no, no Sponge Bob beat up shark. She then wanted to get down, because she was all done since she couldn't play with her toys in the shark infested waters. I tried to get her to have a conversation with me about the shark, but that only lasted so long. So off the potty she went and in her pants she went a few minutes later. LOL. I'm going to have to run to the dollar store and get a few more "new" water toys for her to keep her excited about the potty, because the newness has started to wear off I think. But I am hopeful that if she does well the next week and a half, that she may be fully trained or at least pretty close. So, fingers crossed.

My Life Monday

It's time for another My Life Monday, YAY!
Today's topic is our favorite childhood toy.

I had to think for a little bit on this one. I then realized that I did have a certain something that I know that I used everyday for hours. Even after it was handed down to my brother when I was 10 years old, I still went into his room and used it. It was my Fisher-Price Record Player. I absolutely loved that thing. There were a few albums I had that I listened to all of the time on that thing. I loved listening to my Sesame Street albums. I had one in English and one in Spanish. I also had the soundtrack to Annie, The Care Bears Movie and Oliver. I listened to a Cabbage Patch Kids album all of the time. I would act out the songs in my room and pretend that I was the character Raime in it. She gets taken away from the Cabbage Patch and tries to get back home. I also had an Anne Murray album of children's songs. In fact it was released on cd a few years back and I bought it for Audrey. :o) I love it when you can get your own child something that you once enjoyed so much as a kid. My mom had loads of albums and I would listen to her stuff all of the time too. I loved putting in her Flashdance album and dancing around my room like crazy to What A Feeling. I swear I would spend hours upon hours in my room listening to music, singing on the top of my lungs and dancing all over the place. It was my absolute favorite thing to do.

So, that's my story!

Simply Splendid

So, the miss and I ran out to Super Target this afternoon just to pick up a few items. When we first walked in, a gal was giving samples of this really yummy cake. I asked her where I could find it. I was curious to see how much it was, because it was good. She told me the brand name of it and said that it was in the bakery. So, over to the bakery I went to find this cake. I never found the cake. Something much better caught my eye. One of my absolute favorite things ever. In fact, I was so excited that I exclaimed it outloud. I was talking to myself and I am sure that the guys working in the bakery thought I was nuts. As soon as I saw it, I said, "Wow! You have got to be kidding me, no way!" Then I picked it up and said, "This rocks!" I didn't even care that it wasn't the cheapest dessert. I didn't even bother anymore looking for the other cake to compare prices. Instead I put the cake I did find into my cart and continued shopping with the biggest smile on my face. So, what was it? Are you ready. Only the best dessert ever!! Chocolate mousse cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory. They don't have a Cheesecake Factory out here and it has been a year now since I've tasted such a treat. It is my absolute favorite. So, now I love Target even more. I told DH that if there is ever a special occassion that he wants to get me a treat for, that's all he has to do....is run to Target and get me my Cheesecake. YUM!