Monday, July 23, 2007

Conversations ABOUT Terry Rush!!

Lukus: Mom...do you know that man who stands up on the stage at church?

Mom: Um...Shane?

Lukus: No, the other guy. The preacher man.

Mom: Oh...Mr. Terry?

Lukus: Yeah...I bet he gets embarassed to go out into the public and talk to strangers about God.

Mom: We'll have have to ask him sometime. But either way, I bet he's good at it.

Lukus: Yeah...but I know he gets nervous being on stage.

Mom: Really? How do you know that?

Lukus: Because he talks REALLY fast!!!

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Do you think Tulsa's GOT IT????

I think it's funny how God puts his face on things in the neatest way.

Today on they news they announced a new campaign called "I Am Tulsa" You can check it out at http://ww3.visittulsa.com/

What I find unique about this were the words "I Am".

My first thought..."Hey...they stole that from the Bible"

Second thought..."They stole that from the Mark Schultz song"

Third thought...."I wonder how long it will take someone to protest that...like they protest a cross being displayed?"

I found it so amusing that they are using the words "I AM" So whenever you drive around you will see "I AM" How much of a part of this do you think God played a roll in?

Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: John 11:25

After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward. Genesis 15:1

And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.
Exodus 3:14

.......for I am the LORD that healeth thee.
Exodus 15:...26

.......that ye may know that I am the LORD that doth sanctify you.
Exodus 31:...13

Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth. Psalms 46:10

I am
the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt: open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it. Psalms 81:10

I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys.
Song-of-Solomon 2:1

Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea,I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. Isaiah 41:10

Thus saith the LORD the King of Israel, and his redeemer the LORD of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God.
Isaiah 44:6

But I am the LORD thy God, that divided the sea, whose waves roared: The LORD of hosts is his name. Isaiah 51:15

And they shall fight against thee; but they shall not prevail against thee; for I am with thee, saith the LORD, to deliver thee. Jeremiah 1:19

Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for me? Jeremiah 32:27

And I will establish my covenant with thee; and thou shalt know that I am the LORD. Ezekiel 16:62

Then spake Haggai the LORD'S messenger in the LORD'S message unto the people, saying, I am with you, saith the LORD. Haggai 1:13

For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. Malachi 3:6

And I could go on and on and on!!!!

So I think in some way shape or form, Tulsa may be just pulling a publicity stunt, but I think God is using these two words more than people know.

HOW BRILLIANT HUH???

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Tuesday Thoughts

I'm not very fond of Tuesday's during the summer. That's the beginning of my school week, and usually the day of exams. Today was our 3rd exam and out of a possible 100% I made a 104%. (there was obviously a bonus and I got that too) I was really excited. I dread test days because I'm a HORRIBLE test taker. I'm getting better but I have that awful habit of changing my first answer and then I get it wrong. I should always listen to my gut on these things. The good news now is that I have 1 lab test left and I don't have to take the final because I already have an A! Yay!

Next week we will leave to go to Frontier City and White Water Bay. We haven't told the kids yet because we want to surprise them. With Ian's anxiety, it's very difficult to go to a big amusement park so we like to keep it simple and make the drives short. I think we will have a great time.

Chad has been working out of town for the past two days. I'm use to him comng home in the afternoon and just being around. Don't know what I'd do if he had a normal
8-5 job everyday.
It got me thinking. When we had been married 9 years, we decided to go through a very special ceremony of renewing our vows. We had been through a lot in those years and decided we needed to recommit to one another. It was a very special occassion.
This was also the first time I ever sang outloud in front of anyone. Even Chad. So I decided to surprise him. (Not the best time to try this)But I decided it was now or never. I was EXTREMELY nervous. I think there were a little over 100 people who decided to participate in it with us. No family or anything, just a group of wonderful friends. It was one of the most touching moments of our life.
So we had 2 special songs during it. One Chad knew about...and the other he didn't.
Here is what I sang to him:

And here is what we call "Our Song" I'm not too fond of the video...but love the song.

Monday, July 16, 2007

Never Alone.....

OrdinaryMiracles

I guess if I don't have anything to say, I'll share some of my favorite songs.

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Confidence or not!

I was called into work today for about 7 hours. I wasn't looking forward to it, but the paycheck is always nice. I try to find the value of me working extra days. I feel God puts me there for some reason.

Today I had a young patient with CP. She couldn't communicate but I was told she loved little mermaid. She was sad, scared, and didn't seem like anything could help her deal with her fear and sadness.

So I closed the curtain and sat down with her and started to sing:
"Look at this stuff, isn't it neat, wouldn't you think my collection's complete...." and her eyes lit up. I couldn't just leave it at that, I had to finish the song. I sang through the entire song and when I was finished, I had an audience behind the curtain listening in. I found great meaning in the words of this song and I think she does too.

It was a precious moment for this young one and I look forward to her going home but if I see her again this week, I'll be excited to sing Disney to her anytime.

I met with my new vocal coach yesterday. He asked me:
"What do you want to do with your talent?"
I said "I don't know....I'm not sure I'm really good enough to do anything with it"

Today, I think I found out what I can do with that!

Monday, July 09, 2007

Life Plans

The title of my blog is "On A Mission"
I wonder what that means for me at times. I am a planner and have so many plans in my head for the future. Not just the distant future, but even what I will do today or tomorrow. I'm always one step ahead of what I''m trying to do in life. So I wonder, what is my mission.

In my plans I have 3 things...a personal lifeplan, a professional lifeplan, and a spiritual lifeplan. I made these 5 years ago in hopes for a better future.

Today, the professional life plan is going great. I'm right on track. Although, I thought I would have been finished by now. I guess somethings have to work in God's timing and not mine.

The personal life plan has gotten better. I wanted a better sense of self acceptance, be able to accept the love and compliments others gave me, do things that I wouldn't normally do to get out of my comfort zone, and continue to build a strong marriage. I haven't perfected it all yet, but I'm still on the right track.

The spiritual life plan well....that one didn't work out like I planned. I never thought I'd give up going to church on Sunday. It's really weird. I was most passionate about this lifeplan more than anything. I felt if I got this one on track, the other two would fall into place.
Saturday marked the 1 year anniversary at work. I've missed all but 4 Sunday's at church in a year. The longer I work, the easier it gets. But I have those times of breakdown where I just really need to be at church and not at work.
I've learned alot about myself in the past year. I have been taken out of my spiritual comfort zone NUMEROUS times and Satan has waged a war against me. He has really tried his hardest to bring me down. There are days I feel like he is winning, but God always brings someone, somewhere, somehow to bring me out of it.
That's just truly God. At times I want to give up and just throw in the towel, but God pulls me through. I miss the things that I love to do so passionately at church, but they will come again. So maybe this plan worked out just like it was supposed to. Not according to my plan at all, but His!

So my mission....well...I guess that still remains to be seen. I know how I want to be remembered. As a strong woman, with love and power, who rest securely in the arms of God, who stands strong from His strength...not my own. There are other things I could be known for in life...but this one trumps them all.

Saturday, July 07, 2007

Tomorrow, July 8th we celebrate Ian's 12th birthday.

I'm so excited to be able to celebrate this special day with him.
12 years ago we didn't know what the outcome for Ian would ever be, and now he's growing up to be such a sweet young man. He continues to have struggles, but he has come so far.

I thank God for him daily and tell him how much he means to me. I could never imagne a life without him and that is all by God's design. I'm very thankful that He trusted me enough to be his mom.

This year we will ebrace new challanges that come up everyday. We will hold onto them, hold onto him, and hold onto God as we all walk through them together.

I am truly blessed as a mother. I wouldn't have it any other way.

Thursday, July 05, 2007

4th, Fireworks, Irresponsible!!!

We had a great 4th of July. We started off our day by going to Big Splash. I highly reccommend starting there early in the day. It was so nice in the morning and by the time we left, the park was packed. We had such a good time playing with the kids and they were so good and had a blast. It was nice to see some fellow church-goers hanging out at the park as well.

We rested a bit before going out to my brothers house in Claremore. We always have a fun time playing in the field, fishing, driving go-carts, swimming and of course, eating. The highlight of the evening is when we shoot off our own fireworks. Yes, we always do something very stupid like walking right up to them when they are going off. Or how about the ones that are supposed to go up in the air, and explode right in front of everyone. Yes...the BIG ones! Or how about my brother throwing a black cat behind someone as they are trying trying to light the fireworks and then watching them fall over a bucket. If we only had a video camera at that moment we could have won on America's Funniest Videos.
I love the laughs my family provides. We always have a great time together...despite how different we all are from eachother.

The painful part is waking up early for a class that is 30 minutes away only to find out when I get there....it was cancelled. Ugh. That's frustrating. I'm just glad I don't have to really think about anything until next Tuesday.

Tuesday, July 03, 2007

I'm pretty smart!

Today was test #2 in class. (There are only 4 total)
I'm still holding my own....WITH AN A!!!! YAY!!!!

This one was much more difficult than the first one, but I pulled through. I'm refusing to settle for anything less at this point.

Monday, July 02, 2007

DECISIONS, DECISIONS, DECISIONS....

When do you know you are really hearing God?
This is where trust and faith have to really come in.

This past week has really weighed heavily on me for many reasons. I've been so excited for this week to get here. A much needed vacation to Nashville this week has me so excited. A time to reconnect with friends, to learn some new things, and meet new people. And really, just a week of fun. One I've been looking forward to for a long time.

One that is now not going to happen.

This is where God comes in. Everything on the Nashville side as worked out. I have my plane tickets and I'm ready to go. But things on this side haven't worked out and I've had to make the decision this morning that I am not going to make it this time.

I've spent so much time in prayer over this and as my friend Theresa told me...."Pray and then flip a coin". Well...I thought that idea was just silly and laughed. Hummm...yeah...I did it...and again, God won. Even the coin told me not to go.

I could list all the reasons to not go on here and you would probably agree...I shouldn't go. Even my friends in Tennessee said it sounds like I should stay here. So that is my decision.

Every part of my selfish being wants to go, but I know where my heart needs to be and that is here. My plane tickets are good for anywhere in the U.S. for the next 90 days and I also have next weekend off.
Pros for me staying:
I get more time with the kids that have missed me from long hours at work this week.
I won't go and blow all my money.
I won't have to take a full essay make up exam.
I get to spend 4th of July with my family.
I get this weekend off.
I get to GO TO CHURCH!!!
I get to celebrate Ian's birthday with him.
I get to relax about making this decision.
I get the total comfort knowing that I made this decision based on God's plan, and not my own selfish needs. And I'm okay with it. I actually feel very at ease right now.