I Survived Kid's Camp at Shocco Springs!

All glory be to God!!! I not only survived but had a great time

at kid's camp. If you have never experienced Student Life For Kid's Camp, you need to. Student Life does an awesome job. I was so impressed.

My kids told me before we left to make sure that I was fun because, as they said, "You sometimes are a party pooper". ME??? I thought I was anything but a party pooper.

I have always loved large crowds and the louder the better.

Isn't that what a party is all about. But around day 2 of camp I realized that somewhere between raising Shawn & Kori and now Will, I have indeed become somewhat of a pooper. Poor Will. Again he gets the leftovers.

WHEN DID I GET SO OLD? In my heart I am still that 29 year old mom who loves to act like a kid! But now, at almost 44, I realize my body doesn't handle the heat, the hills and the lack of sleep like I used to. Well, if I am honest, I have never done well in heat, but better than now.

However, I can't remember being so excited to see 2 kids in our group come to know Jesus as their Savior!!!! That is one thing that gets better with age. As I get older, I realize more and more the importance of coming to Christ with a child like faith. It was awesome to see this group of kids worship Jesus and grow closer to Him this week.

So...will I go back next year? I will be another year older however. You better believe it!! There will be new kids that need to be led to Christ. I will be honored to help show

them the way....if Mrs. Debbie will let this party pooper go back.

Got Water?

We are in a drought in Alabama. When I look at my flowers and grass, it is obvious they are lacking the water needed for life. I try my best to water them daily, but like my Paw-Paw said, "There is nothing like rain water". I water my ferns daily. They were beautiful before a family of pesty bugs decided to take up residence on their leaves. They are looking for water I am sure. So now, my ferns are not pretty anymore either. However, the bugs seem to be doing just fine. Go figure!

So what is a drought? The Encyclopedia Britannica says a drought is a lack or insufficiency of rain for an extended period that causes a considerable water imbalance. A drought can cause not only the obvious water shortages and crop damage, but drought conditions lead to increased growth of algae in lakes. This contaminates water supplies. The water is no longer a safe place for fish and other aquatic life. Animals that drink from the rivers or streams can become sick and die; swimmers in affected waters may become ill.

Sound familiar? It should. Most Christians who attend church regularly are in a spiritual drought. They are lacking the necessary water needed for true life in Christ. In John 4:14, Jesus told the Samaritan woman "...whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." Jesus offers the water we need to prevent a spiritual drought. He is our water!

The spiritual drought we allow ourselves to live in is causing our own water shortage and crop damage in the church. It is also causing our water supply to be damaged. When we don't allow the "Living Water" (Christ) to flow in our lives we suffer a spiritual drought.

First we suffer a water shortage. When Christians are in a drought, we don't share Jesus. We stay in our own uncomfortable dry place and don't offer others the living water inside us.

We are therefore creating a water shortage to those around us.

When we are in a drought we also suffer crop damage. Jesus said in John 15, "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing." We can't produce fruit without Him. He also says "This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples". It is our responsibility as Christians to bear fruit, but we can't without water.

And a very dangerous consequence of a spiritual drought is contaminated water. When we are not allowing the living water to flow through us, we are not Christ like. What I mean is we become less like Him and more like....you know who. We don't treat others with love, we don't minister to each other and we justify our own actions. This is dangerous because those watching us don't see anything different in us. Our water appears to be contaminated. Why would they want our water. Especially when we seem so thirsty. So they seek water elsewhere.

When we are thirsty, we have to go to Him for a drink. Sometimes we are more thirsty than others, especially when it's hot outside (another lesson for another day). It is during those times we look for water a little harder. Just like the bugs in my ferns, we have to look for water in places we don't usually find it. Jeremiah 29:13 says "You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart".

Don't live in a spiritual drought! Water can be found! Seek Him today.

He Will Never Forget You!

Funny story. Isn't it "funny" when someone has something to cover up, they begin their tale with "funny story", when it really isn't that funny at all.

A couple of days ago, Will (my 9 year old), pulled a tooth. He was so excited and couldn't wait to see what the "Tooth Fairy" would give him. Now before you get all legal on me, and say I shouldn't teach my children to believe in fictional characters, I didn't. Will is my 3rd child, and I never taught him to believe in anything but Jesus! He totally rebuked what I had to say, and believes in Santa, The Tooth Fairy, The Easter Bunny, you name it, he claims to believe in it.

Anyway, he announced to me that he was putting his tooth in a baggie and putting it under his pillow. I said "don't get too excited about a lot of money, I don't give big bucks for teeth like some Moms do". He reminded me the Tooth Fairy gave the money anyway! That was the last I thought about that tooth.

The next morning, Will comes down the stairs and said (not too happy I need to add), "Mom, I didn't get any money!". I gasped! I completely forgot about him pulling his tooth. I guess the 3rd kid and tooth number 328 (it seems), I have lost my touch. Maybe I am tired. Poor Will. He continues to get the leftovers of us. I completely forgot. How can a mother forget about what is important to her baby.

Then I remembered what Isaiah said in Chapter 49:15, "Can a mother forget the infant at her breast, walk away from the baby she bore? But even if mothers forget, I'd never forget you - never". I am so glad my Heavenly Father never forgets me (or Will) or what is important to us. He never sleeps and never slumbers. I will never wake up and say "God, the sun didn't come up today, what's up?" And He will never say, "Oh my, I forgot!".

I want my kids to trust me. But I want them to trust HIM more! He is really the only one that can meet their needs. I will forget, or let them down. Not on purpose, I would never neglect them purposely. But, I will forget things time to time. He will never forget.

I ask Will to give that 'ole girl another chance, she just forgot. He said, "Where does she live Mom?". I gave him our address. He said "I thought so". He always knew.

I didn't forget the next night. As a matter of fact, it paid off nicely for him. Seems like I am a lot like the moms who give the big bucks after all. He deserved it.

A New Addition to Our Family

Friday night at 11:00 p.m. my phone rang. It was Kori. She was at youth camp in Panama City Beach, Florida. She said "Momma, I hope you are not asleep, but I just had to tell you something. I just adopted a little girl".

I knew exactly what she meant. She had been telling me the speaker suported Compassion International's program for financially supporting children in other countries. She informed me she planned on adopting a child from Peru. Kori's best friend, Becky, is originally from Peru, so her heart is tender toward this area. I told her I thought it was a great program, but to consider the financial comittment she was making, with emphasis on the "SHE". She said she understood, and really felt like this is what God was calling her to do.

So.... I was not surprised by her announcement of adoption. I was surprised, however, when she declared that the little girl she adopted was not from Peru, but from Bolivia. I later shared with Kori that some of our friends from church were planning a mission trip to Bolivia. We were convinced then, this adoption WAS indeed of the Lord.

Please pray for our new addition, Pamela Tapia. She is 5 years old and lives with her mother in Bolivia. Pray that Kori will learn all the lessons God has for her through this adoption. Pray that it will be easy for her to fulfill the financial obligations. Pray that God will be glorified through Compassion International. Pray for the missionaries in Bolivia.

The last thing Kori said on the phone that night was "I am sorry to call so late, but I feel like I just had a baby, I had to tell you!" I am so proud of her!

David Crowder Band's

I love this video!

Me & My Baby at the Beach!

This picture was taken last year at the beach! I remember when I ask Jeff to take a picture of Will and me , I felt like I had not spent any time with him. See, Will loves to fish better than anything. The only thing he likes better is hunting and being with his dad & brother. So the whole time we were at the beach last year, he wanted to be with his dad and his brother, fishing! No mom time at all! This week Will and I went to the beach without Jeff & Shawn. My good friend Pam and her son Tucker went with us, but I had some time with Will without having to compete with the men in his life. Don't get me wrong, I love that he wants to spend time with his dad, I love that he would rather be with him than me. It means he is normal. I just miss him sometimes.

I wanted to do something he liked so ....we fished. I had no idea what I was doing, and it was obvious Will counts on Jeff to do a lot of " hook work". So my job was to bait his hook with squid. Yuck, yuck, yuck. It smelled awful and felt even weirder. But, I wanted to make a good impression. I wanted him to think I was good at stuff too, so I kept putting that squid on the hook. The first 10 times he cast his rod, the squid was gone immediately. He informed me I was doing it wrong. So I worked on it a little longer, which meant I touched the squid more than I wanted to. Then it was ok. He got a few bites, and then the moment I feared the most, he caught a fish. Now...how were we going to get it off that hook? Will quickly told me that dad always took his fish off the hook. Thank goodness there was another fisherman on the pier who was glad to take it off the hook. When he handed the fish to Will, he dropped it. He picked it up and through it over into the water!! I ask him why, and he said "Too small". I am sure he didn't want anyone to see, he didn't like handling the fish (and it was small). At the end of the day we had a good time. Even though I didn't know how to bait the hook correctly, I knocked over a whole bag of bait into the water, dropped the pliers into the water, broke his new rod (he fixed it later), and didn't know how to take the fish off the hook, it was fun.

My baby is growing up! We go to the beach 2-3 times a year. Because of work, Jeff only goes with us once. Will has always been satisfied to play on the beach while I read or whatever. This time was different. He missed his dad! So did I!

Resolving Conflicts

Resolving conflicts. Sounds like a topic that someone would only write about after doing countless hours of research. And I have. I have read a lot of Internet articles, excerpts from books authored by scholars who "know what they are talking about".
However, they all seem to say the same thing.

One article I read summed it up. The author said that there are 7 easy steps to resolving personal conflict with your brother or sister. I would like to share them with you now.

1. If there is conflict
2. You
3. Go
4. To the person
5. In private
6. And discuss the problem
7. For the purpose of reconciliation

I love it!!! The author is trying to tell us to not make it more complicated than it is.
We think solving conflict is hard. But, Matthew 18:15 explains it so simply.
"If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him ALONE!

Why in the round world do we think we must involve everyone in our conflict?
I am so guilty of this. If someone hurts my feelings or angers me, I immediately go to a good friend, or my husband, or a mentor to "tell on them". If I am honest, the only reason I tell these people about the issue, is so they will feel sorry for me, or be on my side. God has taught
me this week, this is wrong.

What good comes from sharing others sins? None. If you tell me that "Sister-talks-a-lot"
has hurt your feelings again, what am I going to think about her? I will not look at her the same way, and she has done nothing to me. I keep hearing saints say, "She has hurt my feelings again, something has to be done about her". You got that right! Something needs to be done. She needs restoration. The kind of restoration that can only be done with love. Love covers a multitude of sins. But...the resolution needs to be between the two parties involved. Everyone does not need to be involved unless the "feeling-hurter" rejects the one hurt. Then, Matthew tells us to take one or two more to this person to see if this person will then hear. If that doesn't work we take it before the church.

It seems in our resolution process, we skip the first step. And we are praying, during the conflict, that God will resolve everything. We ask Him to work it out and to restore fellowship, but we don't want to do it HIS way. The right way. The only way. Why do we expect Him to bless our efforts?

This has been a hard lesson for me to swallow this week. I love to talk. I love to tell stories.
And, the more embellished they are the better. My love and pursuit of righteousness has to be greater than my love for talk. Because my "talk" turns into gossip and gossip is, simply put, sin.
I can paint it any color I want, but it is still sin. It keeps me from having a right relationship with my heavenly Father. I can't afford to be out of fellowship with the one who continues to deliver me.

Resolve your conflicts with others today, the right way!