Peace

True peace will never be found inside me or in another human being. Jesus is where I find true peace. Thank you Lord.

Thank you for giving me tools all around me to remind me of the peace of Christ. Worship music, good friends to listen to me in times of storms, and Your Word.

Hotel Mohney....

I hope we started a new Christmas tradition last night. My girlfriend Suzie Mohney and I got to together at her house and made Christmas cookies and I stayed the night. Ahhhh, a night without kids. A night without cooking a meal, Suzie cooked me dinner while I started the cookies and she also made breakfast, while I slept in, showered, and facebook'd.

I have so many memories from just that one little night. My van was in the shop on Wednesday the 23rd and I had to wait for Lindsey to get home so he could take me to pick it up. He calls just after 3pm (the time he is supposed to leave work) and says he has a tire to do before he can leave...commence the waiting. He is a fast worker, so he was home around 4pm :)  I loaded all my baking and overnight stuff up and away we go.

While waiting I got on facebook, of course. Suzie popped on and told me her oven was broken! But she was gona make some phone calls and see if she could get a part.  We made alternate plans to make fudge and no bake cookies should a Christmas mircle not be in our cookie making future.

Van pick up went fine and was uneventful. Unless you count that it cost us almost $100 more than I thought they had told me AND they installed a new air conditioner belt when they just reinstalled the almost brand new one just 2 months ago..hmmm.  but back to cookies.

I made it up to Suzies, about an hour drive, without getting lost. Arrived to the smell of chicken cooking in the oven, success! They had been able to get a new element and Zack was able to install it without a problem. Christmas miracle : -)  I unloaded and got to work on mixing up the sugar cookies.

Sugar cookie dough was mixed up in two seperate batches, by me while Suzie made thee most delicious Chicken salad in pita bread I have ever had! yummy! While mixing up the second batch of sugar cookies I realized I was measuring flour with the 1/2 cup, not the 1 cup measuring santa. So, I finished that batch and got the other batch out and added the rest of the flour to it that I was missing because of poor counting/measuring skills.  Somehow still messed something up. The second batch was too flourery, is that a word?  But it worked out ok.

So, with sugar cookie dough chillin in the fridge. And Suzie happily cutting up celery and apples, cooling chicken, and just doing whatever magic she was doing to make yummy dinner. Dishes get washed and the Molasses cookies get started. Since molasses is a slow moving liquid we figured the cookies needed to be made   v e r y   s l o w l y.  I made an excutive decision to make a double batch. Causing us not to have enough molasses. So, being the good husband Zack is, we sent him to the store for molasses. So, I left the molasses cookies hanging out and began making chocolate chip cookies.  Is your head spinning yet from the mulitasking we are doing? hehe.
Zack gets back with the molasses. Suzie has dinner ready so we eat. Dinner is done and we are getting tired. Let the baking began!

Molasses cookies get flour and Suzie whipped up the frosting for the sugar cookies. A buttercream icing tinted red, green, and some left plain white. The first batch of molasses cookies come out. Suzie comments on how they have never been so fluffy before. And they are yummy yummy good! We decided that molasses cookies are best when made s l o w l y .

Suzie became the official hot pan handler and I was the cookie scooper. We make a good team. I finished mixing up the choco chip cookies while molasses cookies baked. Then we baked choco chip cookies and did dishes,  sigh, again. 

Finally time to roll out sugar cookies. Suzie was the official roller and I became the hot pan handler....again a great team! I do not like rolling out cookies :)  Cookies all baked and cooled.

Frosting time, or is it?  For me yes it was. And Suzie did a couple cookies too. Turns out she does not like frosting cookies, as much as I don't like to roll them out. ;)  We are such a good team!

Ran out of frosting around 1 am,  so off to bed I go .

Slept great for 4 hours when a coon showed up on the roof or in the attic being aweful noisy. Freaked me out that it might be in the attic and could get in the house, so I turned on all the lights and went downstairs to ask Suzie about it. Suzie had switched sleeping locations with Zack.  So she was in her bed and he was on the couch.   I left them be. Went back up stairs and seen a baseball bat in the corner and moved it to by the bed should I get any unwanted vistors. Ya, I'm a dork. I went back to sleep with no more to be heard out of the coon and awoke around 11 am.

Suzie had already made muffins and was starting brunch. I showered and then facebook'd while she finished up breakfast. We ate and then I got a call from Lindsey saying Melissa had called him and said that freezing rain was starting and I should get my butt home.  Wasn't doing much of nothing and if I stayed I was sure to get roped into finishing the dishes. So, I had Zack pack up my van and I left Hotel Mohney.

I love sleep overs and have not had one in, wow, probably since sleeping over at Suzies parents house in highschool. Unless you count sleeping over at my sisters 13 years ago for one not very drunken New Years Eve party that was nothing short of a huge fight between my drunken boyfriend and her husband.

I had to come back and edit this...cause it just does not feel complete without adding what I was facebooking about..so here is my facebook status I put up while she was making breakfast.

"I would like to take some time to complain to the hotel management here. Suzie Adrianson Mohney please inform the cook that the lukewarm shower created by her dishwashing while your clientiel was showering was not the utmost of my desired level of expectation. But, also inform the cook that breakfast, um I mean brunch..., smells just delicious.
On another note, the comfort of the bed was just wonderful. As well as the warmth of the blankets.
The 5:30 am wake up call created by the coon on the roof was not so much necessary, but eventful none the less. I was able to get back to sleep though, hence the reason for brunch versus breakfast :) Wuv you honey!"

Soaking it in....

Are you listening?  REALLY listening? 

God is speaking to me and I am listening now.... FINALLY LISTENING.

Those of you who have been praying KEEP praying..those of you are not...please start praying.

I love you all.

The song you are hearing IF you are really listening is the song we played at our wedding. "When I Call on Jesus" by Nicole C. Mullen. 

We had a rough start to say the least.  We would never even made it to the alter had it not been for Jesus. This song was my hope and encouragment.

Lindsey is a recovered alcoholic, for those that don't know. 7 years ago this coming June he quit drinking and has never gone back to it. All by the grace of God.

I had begun going back to church with the boys. Lindsey never wanted to go, he prefered to sleep in on his one day off of work. Exspecially when he was usually sleeping off a hang over. We were not married and living together. I decided it was not what God wanted from me. He wanted my best, my whole self.

Things got really bad with his alochol when I finally told him he needed to leave. He moved out to his house that he already owned. Started going to church that very Sunday and has been there every Sunday possible since. OH how that annoyed me to have him in MY Sunday school class. Remember I was D O N E done with him. He stopped drinking, started working on fixing up his house and taking his GED classes. He was going to the Y-center and working out everyday. Picking up BOTH boys for visits. Meeting for weekly individual bible studies with our Sunday school teacher. He stopped driving his vehicle, as he had no license because of alcohol offenses, but was still driving anyway. God was working in his life more than I ever thought possible. 

We counciled with our Sunday school teacher to try to be able to get along for our sons sake. I still did not want Lindsey in my life. Then God softened my heart for Lindsey. With in a few months of meeting with our sunday school teacher and his wife Lindsey and I decided God wanted us to get married. 

I am in this for the LONG haul. Things are NOT easy. We both fall back to our ways.  We have counceled with numberous people for help. We have the tools to make things work...but we leave them in the toolshed most of the time! OR we try to use a phillips screw driver on a flat head screw.

I have a tendency to "check out" when things get tough OR to take control when Lindsey needs to be the one to lead. I am getting out my tool bag tonight and I am going to give it my husband to use.



Lord help me be a helpmate to my husband. Help me to be a faithful loving wife.

I will call on the LORD in my storm.  HE can fix it again.

Thank you for sharing in my affliction...Philipians 4:14. Please keep sharing in it and praying for me through it.

A little of nothing

Just an ordinary day at my house today.

Some drama. Some cleaning. Don't roll your eyes, I clean something everyday Even if it's only my own butt.

The boys went snowboarding out back for a bit. I told Corey to give the goats some hay before he came in..preferrably BEFORE he hurt himself. He said, "haha funny"

Well last year he did hurt himself snowboarding or was it 2 years ago. He busted off half his front adult tooth when he slipped walking back up the hill. The snow board hit his tooth and broke it. He did not start crying until I told him that the dentist would have to give him a shot to fix it.

Then the kids cleaned the house so they could go to Liela Arborteum to snowboard...bigger hills. Lindsey took the boys and I stayed home with Elaine as she was taking her nap. I milked the goats.

Nothing extraordinary today. Just life. Poor Collin now has a major headache.

I like ordinary days best at this time of the year, when Christmas is so close. So many activites coming up and having already past.

I have done a little bit of my crocheting today too.

I got out of cooking dinner by not doing it. So the family was forced to fend for themselves.

Speaking of cooking, Corey cooked breakfast this morning for everyone that wanted it while I was in the shower. His own doing. He made eggs and toast. It's been awhile since he has cooked so that was nice.

Bored with this so I am done!

I can't find it!

I NEED to find it. I can't find it. Where is it? I have to have it!  I know its there, why can't I find it?

I need to find the verse in the Bible about temptation. How God has promised to always give ME a way OUT of it. I look and I look. I refer to my "index to key bible doctrines' in the back of my Bible...nothing. I look in the Concordance...nothing. I HAVE TO FIND IT!

Where is my book...I NEED my book. I need my book that tells me where everything is. Why can I not find my book? The book? Where to find it in the Bible The ultimate A to Z resource. BUT where is it. It is 1 am why can't I find my book? 

It is not by my computer with my bible. Fractically looking, I have to find my book! I need to find that verse!

It is NOT in any of my dresser drawers...I know because I went downstairs, turning on all the lights along the way. With no regard to all the sleeping bodies in the house. I go to the game cupboard that also has housed this book once before, but I know I have moved it from there already..but I look to no avial. I go to my bedroom I turn on the light, ya the big bright one, while Lindsey lay asleep in the bed. I open and close every drawer not caring how much noise I make and dig. Dig like my life depends on it, because right now it does. Where is it?

Now feeling courteous enough to turn off the lights as I retreat to upstairs still frantic to find that book. I turn on the light in the kids room as I am thinking, "it must be in their closet. There are books on the shelfs in their closest that belong to me. It HAS to be there."  Nope. Where is my book?!? I MUST find this verse.

My craft desk...yes it has to be in my craft desk. It used to be there too. It must be there. Open every drawer, twice, and look and dig. Nope. Where is my book?!? I MUST find this verse!

The book shelf by the fridge...ya, ya it HAS to be there. I just moved some books there a few weeks ago and organized it. I must have put it there. Nope. Where is my book?!? I must find this verse!

Could it be, did I leave it on the bookshelves that hold up my computer table? Lets see Playstation 2 Barbie horse adventure game, Nope.  The complete Herbal handbook for Farm and Stable, Nope. Just Give Me a Little Piece of quiet, 60 mini retreats for a mom's soul,  Nope. Homeschooling with a Meek and Quiet Spirit, Nope. Goat: Homoepathic Remedies, Nope.  Where is my book?!? I must find this verse!

Hey, what is that on the floor behind the shelf? A book! Is it THEE book? YES YES..it was at my feet the whole time.  Kind of fitting. It was where Jesus wants me, at his feet.

So the verse I needed to find. First I turn to "Temptation" in my where to find it book...

First I  turn to Genesis 4:7 "If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it."  hmmm good stuff but not the verse I am looking for.

Then in Genesis 39:6-10 I am reminded of how Joseph resists the temptation to lay down with his masters wife and what comes of that. Still good stuff, but not the verse.

Now I turn to Psalm 46:1 "God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble." Wonderful, just wonderful. Still not what I am looking for.

My book then points me to Proverbs 2:10-12, 16 "For wisdom will enter your heart and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul; Discretion will guard you, Understanding will watch over you, To deliver you from the way of evil, from the man who speaks perverse things;" "To deliver you from the strange woman, From the adulteress who flatters with her words;" still GREAT and powerful things..but where is THEE verse I WANT?

Proverbs 6:27-29 "Can a man take fire in his bosom and his clothes not be burned? Or can a man walk on hot coals and his feet not be scorched? So is the one who goes in to his neighbors wife; Whoever touches her will not go unpunished." WOW now that is harsh..but necessary none the less. Yet, still not THEE verse.

The temptation of Jesus Mathew 4:1-11...good reminder I am not alone in being tempted. Still not the thee verse.

I dont think any of these verses listed under "temptation" are going to be it... I will consult http://www.bible.com/  again...why when sitting AT my computer with the whole world at my fingertips do I do things the hard way. The answers are at my "feet".  

AHH HAA found it! And it was one of the verses listed under "temptation" in the coveted book I sought so hard to find tonight. I just had not looked that one up yet!

I Corinthians 10:13 "No temptation has over taken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it."

I have been praying for God to clearly mark my way out! To provide my escape route. I pray and pray for it.

He shows me time and time again a way out and back to the truth and I turn away from His escape. The headache that should have me in bed, the song that plays in my head reminding of God's love, good friends that care for me, a ringing phone, a screaming kid.... the list goes on. Wether I am physically being tempted or in a bad situation or it is my thought life I need to bring under the control of God... HE is faithful in providing a way out... I need to be faithful in TAKING the way out.