Weekend to Remember in Raleigh

God is so awesome, we had such a great weekend at the Familylife Weekend to Remember in Raleigh this past weekend. It was the first time we'd volunteered at a weekend and God worked so mightily and blessed us so much with the people we were able to serve. We served in many ways- greeting people, opening doors, being a kind and welcoming presence, praying with people, chatting, just being there for God to use. We were so blessed by the people we met and with whom were led to share our story of God's grace and redemption in our marriage.

Following are some of the comments from the evaluation cards at the end of the conference...

“It was just what we needed. My husband had the conference dates and registration in my birthday card. It was the best present ever.” Wife – Married 29 years

“This conference restored our marriage. I’m thankful my husband was persistent and faithful….even when I was not and had no hope. Wife – married 16 years

“It made our marriage go from “maybe” to “definitely” with the Lord’s help and guidance.” Husband – married 6 years “We are more in love than ever before. My husband did not want to have children. After the men and women session, he came to me and said he wanted to have a family WITH ME! A miracle took place this weekend.” Wife - married 5 years

“My husband and I separated four months ago and came to this with much uncertainty surrounding where our marriage was headed. After the “love letter” project my husband reaffirmed his commitment to me and our marriage and voiced his desire to return home. Thank you so much for the blessing of this weekend. We will be more prepared to deal with whatever may come ahead in our marriage with the tools we acquired this weekend.” Wife - married 4 years

“I realized that it is never too late to build a legacy – even at the age of 50” In addition, I’m determined as a step-parent to leave that legacy to my adult step daughter as well.” Husband – married 4 years

“My husband and I are legally separated. We have been living separately for 17 months. I was hesitant in coming when he invited me. I am so thankful that we came. With God’s help and daily application, I am very hopeful that we will put our marriage back together.” Wife – married 6 years

“We have hope about our marriage working that was not there before. I was really questioning whether or not we could ever change. Now I have hope. Thank you FamilyLife.” Wife – married 6 years

“It opened our eyes. We knew we had issues, but we just ignored them. Now we have learned how to begin addressing them.” Wife – married 9 years

“My wife and I have been separated 4 months. This weekend I have made the final decision to move back home and make this marriage work.” Husband – married 2 years

“My husband and I had made the decision to get a divorce. A friend suggested we come to the conference before we took that step. This weekend we made the commitment not to forget how important we are to one another.” Wife– married 17 years

“We’ve been married for 26 years and this is the best thing we have EVER done for our marriage.’ Wife – married 26 years

God allowed us to meet some of these folks! He is so awesome!

And He goes before us as we return home and resume work on our house... two bedrooms to paint by Thanksgiving!!! WHOO HOO!!!

We praise and thank God for Who HE is!!!!

See You at the Pole, September 24, 2008

Just wanted to share this, I thought it was cool that so many students and teachers came out for the See You at the Pole event at Steven's school. He was there but not in this photo (I forgot my camera!!). They prayed, read scripture and sang some Tree63! Praise God, He is moving in our schools!

Nearly 70 students, teachers and parents from North Duplin Jr.-Sr. High School participate in "See You at the Pole" this morning, a moment of devotion and prayer held at schools across the country.

North Duplin student Beth Carter, reading at left, opened the event at 7:30 a.m., and the Rev. Millard Bounds, center, led the group in prayer. The American Civil Liberties Union sued a Tennessee school earlier this year to stop the practice, which it argued broke the barrier between church and state, but a federal judge ruled the ceremony is covered by the constitutional guarantee of freedom to exercise religious beliefs. This is the 19th year the national event has been held.

Beadboard ceilings and taking thoughts captive!

Well, we've been working on the house, but unfortunately, the progress of beadboard ceiling caulking doesn't photograph well. So although I'm taking the photos, I'm not posting them because you can't really see the difference yet. Once we get paint on the ceilings, THEN I'll post some photos because you'll be able to SEE the progress. In the meantime, just rest in knowing and pray for us as we caulk every seam in Steven's bedroom and our bedroom upstairs. :)


Also, a friend of mine sent this to me, and I wanted to share it. It is so true! Don't dwell on thoughts that POP into your head! CHOOSE what you think about, choose what to dwell on, choose what to meditate. Choose thoughts of life, not death. :)


Take Every Thought Captive by Max Lucado

Today’s thoughts are tomorrow’s actions.
Today’s jealousy is tomorrow’s temper tantrum.
Today’s bigotry is tomorrow’s hate crime.
Today’s anger is tomorrow’s abuse.
Today’s lust is tomorrow’s adultery.
Today’s greed is tomorrow’s embezzlement.
Today’s guilt is tomorrow’s fear.

Could that be why Paul writes, “Love … keeps no record of wrongs” (1 Cor. 13:5 NIV)?

Some folks don’t know we have an option.

Paul says we do: “We capture every thought and make it give up and obey Christ” (2 Cor. 10:5).
Do you hear some battlefield jargon in that passage “capture every thought,” “make it give up” and “obey Christ”? You get the impression that we are the soldiers and the thoughts are the enemies.

It was for Jesus. Remember the thoughts that came his way courtesy of the mouth of Peter? Jesus had just prophesied his death, burial, and resurrection, but Peter couldn’t bear the thought of it. “Peter took Jesus aside and told him not to talk like that.… Jesus said to Peter, ‘Go away from me, Satan! You are not helping me! You don’t care about the things of God, but only about the things people think are important’” (Matt. 16:22–23). See the decisiveness of Jesus?

What if you did that? What if you took every thought captive? What if you took the counsel of Solomon: “Be careful what you think, because your thoughts run your life” (Prov. 4:23).
You are not a victim of your thoughts. You have a vote. You have a voice. You can exercise thought prevention. You can also exercise thought permission.

Change the thoughts, and you change the person. If today’s thoughts are tomorrow’s actions, what happens when we fill our minds with thoughts of God’s love? Will standing beneath the downpour of his grace change the way we feel about others?

Paul says absolutely! It’s not enough to keep the bad stuff out. We’ve got to let the good stuff in. It’s not enough to keep no list of wrongs. We have to cultivate a list of blessings. The same verb Paul uses for keeps in the phrase “keeps no list of wrongs” is used for think in Philippians 4:8: “Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things” (RSV). Thinking conveys the idea of pondering â studying and focusing, allowing what is viewed to have an impact on us.

Rather than store up the sour, store up the sweet.

FIREPROOF!!

Coming back down the mountain...

So, we spent the last week at a CFO (Camps Farthest Out- http://www.acfona.org/ ) Retreat. CFO was founded in 1929 with the mission to provide weeklong retreats where families could unplug from the world and seek spiritual balance... and to go farther out with Jesus. The days of the retreat are planned and from what we understand, little has changed since CFO's inception. Each day is structured with times of ebb and flow, time to breath in Jesus, then exhale and share, through activities such as worship, prayer, creatives (art, writing, nature, drama/dance), morning meditation, more worship (with lots of singing!), free time, horizontal time (naps encouraged!), fellowship and "afterglow" (a time for the youth of sharing, hanging out, dancing, worshiping and singing while all us older folks wind down).

There were quite a few teenagers and almost teens and everyone was so friendly, Steven immediately felt at home. Remy and Bailey were quite the welcoming committee! Scott and I were blessed to get to spend time with a number of people, we look forward to keeping in touch with everyone. We were blessed in our prayer groups, the folks with whom we ate each night, in learning "hand and foot", with morning and evening porchtime, and with some volleyball. So many people at this camp have been going for years with Scott's mom, sister Nancy and her husband Doug, and they have been praying for Scott's salvation and the restoration of our marriage, so it was great to be able to thank those prayer warriors. It was also awesome to get to share a little of our testimony with some folks. We look forward to sharing more! And we're adding all the couples to our prayer list here at home- satan is wiley, he'll take any chance he can get to find a chink in the marriage. We're praying that all the couples we met consider going to A Weekend To Remember in October.

Anyway, the camp was held at High Pastures Retreat Center (http://www.highpastures.org/) in Burnsville, NC, about 5 hours from our house. It's in the mountains, it was so beautiful, it reminded us of the Catskills. Steven enjoyed some time wading in the stream, catching crayfish. I don't think he wore shoes all week!
There is an annual Youth vs. Old Folks Volleyball tournament. Steven and Scott played... the Old Folks triumphed this year.
Steven's first friends at CFO were Remy and Bailey. They had a great time together!!
We all had a great time and were glad we went. It was good to get away and refresh our relationships with God. God is so faithful, we each came away blessed in different ways, hearing God in different ways, and being reminded He is here, He is faithful, and He's got an amazing plan for each of us. We praise God and give Him all the glory! We're looking forward to going back next year!

Obedience School

This past Tuesday, Scott took Steven and Glory to obedience school in Dudley. We were going to take both dogs, but it is expensive and the trainer recommended we bring the more obstinent dog to class, then use the homework exercises on both dogs. So, Glory is going to school! I didn't get to go this week, but Scott relayed that Steven did an excellent job as Glory's handler. Jessica, the trainer, was impressed too with Steven's work and maturity. :)

Scott is working with Gracie, Steven is working with Glory and we'll have two beautiful, trained doggies before long. And yes, all three of us are teachable, too, we're learning a lot! :)

A small smattering of summertime

Mmmm... so what has Steven been doing this summer? Well, let's see... he got a lesson in driving the truck, which is manual transmission "three on the tree"....
He's spent time with the hose and squirt guns and friends, it's been HOT here!
With his grandmommy, he went to Delaware to spend a week with his Uncle Mike, Aunt Bear, cousins Erick & Abby... and Bachan, too.While Steven was in Delaware, Scott and I built the roof and the walls on the treehouse so he'd have a surprise upon his return. Yes, he was suprised! :)
And the dogs keep growing bigger, too! Grace is laying down on the left and Glory is on the right. Steven started obedience training with Glory this past Tuesday... I'll post those photos next!
All in all, we're having a pretty good summer. God is blessing us in numerous ways, we feel His presence in our work and in our family time. He is so faithful!