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

Neighborhood Ladies Game Night

Neighborhood Activities

We have lived in our current house for over a year now and I feel like I don't know very many people in our neighborhood. God has blessed me with a special friend in the neighborhood, Antia. We are both mothers (she has boys, I have girls), we worship and serve the same God, and both have a desire to get social activities together in our neighborhood. After alot of talking and postponing we are putting action to our plans. Antia & I are hosting our first Ladies game night next Thursday. I'm looking forward to it. We have made flyers and taken them around to the houses in our subdivision and hoping people will come. It has been fun planning this event with Anita and I'm praying God will take our efforts and use for His glory. We are hoping to continue this and plan activities for the whole family. Alot of people say that this neighborhood used to do this before. I guess the people who planned it must have moved on, therefore Anita & I are trying to plan activities. I'm lookig forward to seeing how God may end up using us and I pray that we will be a blessing to our neighbors. I will post on how it goes and what the next plans are.

Until Later,
Betty

July Catch Up

Journral Entry for July
Sereral things have been going on in the Kouts' household since my last entry. Our van is still not fixed. Butch, the machanic came over and replaced the part and a new battery and it still wouldn't start. He is subpose to come back over this week. We are praying that we can get this taken care of.

July 4 th a group of us went over to friends of ours, Jim & Jenn, and spent the day. The kids went swimming and hung out, the women sat around talking, and the men watched "The North & The South" (or the Grey and the Blue or whatever the name of that loooooong movie is called). It was a good time by all.

July 10 - 14 was VBS at our church, Gracepointe Nazarene. the girls went every night and had fun. Bethany hung around with 2 friends that week. Starting on Sunday night Megan & Allison stayed at our house, on Monday they went to Megan's, on Tuesday they went to Allison's, by the end of the week they needed a break from each other. Overall they had a good week. For the next week Jody kept asking me if tonight was VBS again, she was disappointed that she had to wait until next year.

On July 15 we celebrated John's birthday by going out to The Olive Garden. This is John's favorite resturant and since I don't like it we only go there once a year for his birthday. Our wait was an hour for a table and surprisingly the girls behaved pretty well considering the long wait. Once we got our table Bethany told the waiter it was John's B-Day and they sang to him and brought him a cake. Bethany & John loved the attention. Jody was hiding behind John's arm and I sat there with an embrassed smile. Aterwards we did one of our favorite things and walked around Wal-Mart. We had a good time.

We celerbrated my birthday, which is July 26, by going to one of my favorite pizza places, Stevi Bs. On the way there we got caught in a bad rain storm so we waited in the car until it passed by. Aterwards we walked around Wal-Mart as usual.

That about catches up on the everyday things that is happening in our lives. Tomorrow I am going to try to post on more deeper things about what God has ben teaching me and what He is doing in my life.

Until Later,
Betty

Weekly Journal Entry June 25 - July 1, 2006

OVERVIEW OF THE WEEK:

This week started out on my dad’s birthday. He would have been 68 years old this year. My dad died 7 years ago (in September). As I thought about my day on Sunday I am grateful for his life and that through him I was given life and through me Bethany & Jody was given life.
We still have not gotten the van fixed. We have bought the part, but we are waiting on the guy who is going to fix it. We are at the mercy of his time schedule. The car is doing fine for now. John and the girls made it to church on Wednesday with no problems. YEAH!
Through the summer John has Fridays off. He has been using this time to spend with the girls. This week they went and opened a savings account for the girls. The girls gather all their change together and their money that was at the house and took it to the bank. They were so excited. The bank gave them a savings register. Jody said see mom now I have a “budget thing” just like you (I had my checkbook out on the desk paying bills). (I’m trying to teach her early “HA HA”.) Bethany wants to save her money for Heelies, which are shoes that have wheels on them. They cost $60 and mom won’t spend that much on them. I was proud of her when she saw her total in her savings and said when she got $60 she wanted to wait until she had more before she spent the money for the Heelies. Since I told her she has to save her money and earn them, she has been asking for work she can do around the house (to earn money of course). Jody wants to save her money for a bike she saw at toys R us.
After dinner on Friday we went to the Mall of GA and Bethany went rock climbing at Dick’s Sporting Goods Store. The wall is 40 feet high and it took Bethany no time at all to get to the top. That is one of her favorite things to do. Jody got to ride the carousel. After we left the mall we went to McDonalds to get ice cream (it’s cheaper than buying it at the mall) and the girls played on the play set. We had a good family night.

Until Later,
Betty

ON THE JOURNEY TO VICTORY

Journal Entry week of June 18 - 24, 2006
OVERVIEW OF THE WEEK:
This has been an interesting week. It started out pretty good. On Sunday we spent Father’s Day at Caryl’s swimming in the pool and hanging out. It was a good time we all enjoyed.

We have been having car problems. Our van is not running right now and our car has been overheating. After repairing several parts we thought it was fixed. However when John was coming home from work on Wednesday and heading to church it overheated again. As annoying and frustrating as this is we have found some blessings in this situation. As John was on the side of the road he realized he was not going to make it to church, which he was responsible for the children’s service. This is where our blessings begin. John called our friend Jenn, who works with the children’s ministry also. Jenn & Alice, another children’s worker and friend, picked up the ball and covered the children’s service. In the meantime I have been talking on the phone to our friends Caryl & Lisa about what was going on and they both were so willing to step in and help out however they could. Lisa sent Rodney, her husband, out to help John get the car home. However, Rodney was on the wrong road looking for John and we couldn’t get a hold of him because his cell phone battery was dead. John waited for the car to cool off a little bit and put water in it and then drove it home. Caryl & Rick brought their truck to church to have her mom & brother bring it to our house (since they live closer to us) so that way John could get to work on Thursday.

We feel so blessed and thankful to have this group of friends in our lives at this time. I can not explain how my heart feels so over joyed. I believe it is God working showing us His love and telling us that He is taking care of us no matter what happens.

Another blessing we received this week is that we got a swimming pool. Faye & Ron had an old pool they were no longer using and was going to give it to Goodwill. Instead of giving it to Goodwill they gave it to us. It is about 3 feet deep and the girls are enjoying it very much. Ron, acting like a dad, came over several times to help us put it up and fix the filter, what a blessing.

BETHANY:
Bethany returned home from church camp last Friday. She seemed to have a good time. Ivana, Bethany’s best friend, also went to church camp a week after Bethany. She was excited to get together with Ivana today as she came over to go swimming and spend the night. Ivana was one of Bethany’s first friends when we moved to GA. It’s rewarding to see their friendship (both good and bad times) develop over the past 2 years. Ivana goes to church with us a lot. Today she was asking some deep spiritual questions. I pray that she will continue to see God through our family and we will be knowledgeable to answer her questions. What a joy it will be to see her develop her own relationship with Jesus.

JODY:
It was cute watching Jody swimming in the pool. She is becoming more and more comfortable going under the water. She was all excited doing turns and tricks in the water. She is enjoying having a pool. Bethany & Ivana were being nice to Jody and including her in their play. Jody looks up to Bethany and wants to be around her. This has been an issue we have been working on with Bethany.

WEEKLY PERSONAL PRAYER REQUESTS:
1. We will be able to get our van fixed this week and no more problems with the car.
2. God would help me to be the best mom and wife I can be.
3. I would have a special moment with Bethany (just her & I) to encourage her faith.
4. I would be able to stick with my exercise plan for this week.

On the journey to victory

On the journey to victory
This is my first Blog and I'm excited to start this journey. First I want to explain why I started this blog. For a few years now I have been writing letters to my girls trying to share my heart and prayers for them. I plan to give the letters to them after they grow up so it will be a keepsake for them to look back on their childhood. Lately, I have been introduced to online journaling and blogs and have been encouraged by other Christian moms blogs and experiences. Therefore, I wanted to try this blog thing out to record different events on my journey to victory. I want my children to know me, my heart, my desires, and my walk with the Lord. I pray that it will be an encouragement and influnence their lives to follow Jesus and make a comittment to Him (this is my deepest heart's desire). This will be the place I will record the events that happen to me On My Journey To Victory! My finial victory will be heaven, but until then I am on this journey to find victory as a mother, as a wife, as a women, as a friend, as a daycare provider, and any other role God has in store for me. On this journey I will trust the Lord to be my number 1 guide and support to lead me to Victory. I pray whoever reads this will also be encouraged on their journey and that we can be blog friends. As I share my experiences, suggestions, prayer requests, and different tid bits of info on my journey please visit often and share with me your experiences, suggestions, prayer requests, and different tid bits of info on your journey.

Until Later,
Betty