First Day of School & catch up

Today is first day of school. Bethany went off to 3rd grade and Jody went to Pre K (she started on Thursday). I am full of mixed emotions. I'm proud of my girls and am glad they are growing up and enjoying school. I am also enjoying some freedom from them, but I'm also faced with the fact that they are growing and now it time to make sure they learn about God and values. I don't want to miss the boat on teaching my children the right way to live.

We have been making changes around the house this summer and trying to get more organized. So far it is going good. I still have a lot to do.

Three days into having to get up early and I'm still being able to do my morning pray time and Bible reading.

I took Friday off from day care and got things done around the house. I was kidless. Jody was at school and Bethany was at Caryl's which gave me a complete day off. I was able to take Jody to school today and on the way home I started thinking how for the teachers it their job to be there, but that's my baby they are taking care of, so I did start to cry. Later, I went up to John's work and suprised him with lunch. It was a good time and I did get a lot done.

We had our van towed to the dealership on Saturday and should hear today what's wrong with it and how much it will cost. I'm concerned about how much it will cost us. A friend of mine encouraged me to not put God in a box and really trust Him to come through. I have been praying and asking that it will cost under a certain amout of money. If God does not answer that prayer He will have to provide the money another way. I'm waiting to see what happens.

On Saturday we took a vacation day and went downtown Atlanta. It was just our family and we had a good time. We rode the Marta, went to some shops, centerial park and saw a water show - which was cool. We did alot of walking and the weather was not too hot - which was a blessing considering how hot it has been.

Well that should catch up on things. I'm still trying to organize my blog time and trying to figure out what to write and how to use this.

Until Later,
Betty

Do Not Be Anxious about Anything

Philippians 4:6
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let you requests be made known to God.

This verse was convicting the other day as I was doing my daily prayer & devotion time. There have been several issues that I have been concerned about. As I have been thinking about them I feel God reminding me to trust Him. I have also realized my “concern” has turned into worry. I have found myself a lot lately saying “Lord, I don’t know what else to do.” You see, school starts in 2 days and it will be my responsibility to take Jody and one of my day care kids to Pre-K, and his dad will pick the kids up and bring them back to my house. However, the problem is my van is still not fixed. We have been dealing with this all summer and making due with just 1 vehicle. We have made it work, but now we need the van working. The other problem is we have already spent a lot of money trying to fix this and the things Butch, our mechanic, has done is not working and I am out of money to spend. He is coming over again to see if something else will work, but not sure when he will be able to do that, because he is busy and has other jobs too – which I totally understand. I just don’t know what to do because if we take it in to a shop it will cost more money than we have.

I am trying to calm my spirit and trusting that God knows all this and will work it all out. His word does promise He will provide our needs. I guess this is the time that God expands my trust in Him.

Until Later,
Betty

Summer Habit

Summertime is suppose to be hot and lazy. We have the hot covered pretty good here in Georgia. However, I have been developing a good habit this summer. I have developed a good morning devotion and prayer time. For awhile I was struggling with finding time to spend with God and praying (and feeling guilty about it). One day I was at Wal-Mart and found a little book "The Busy Mom's Guide to Prayer" by Lisa Whelchel. It is a guided prayer journal where you pray through six categories - praise, self, husband, children, personal influences, and reaching beyond. You pray through these categories with a different focus each day for 20 days (one month Monday - Friday). At the end of the month you start back at Day 1 and pray about the issues again. It has been very encouraging and inspiring to me. I have found a time in the morning to do this while my kids are still sleeping and while I'm waiting for my daycare kids to come. After praying through this 2 1/2 times I am now trying to develop my own prayer journal to make it a little more personal. I have now added Bible reading and am reading 1 chapter of Romans a day. This sure has helped me to redevelop a prayer time. My concern about school starting is my schedule will be changing. This time I now spend praying and journaling I will be getting both girls up and dressed to go out the door. No more just letting them get up on there own and taking it easy until I am finished with my time. In order for me to continue with this time I will have to have it more structured and will have to get up eariler and I'm not looking forward to that. However this habit brings me such joy I know it will be worth it. I will try to continue to post and record how the early morning is going. I think for me to stick with it I will just have to make a commitment to stick with it no matter what.

Until Later,
Betty