Providence

Doing my Bible study this morning, I had another amazing encounter with God.
Confirmation.
I am doing the Beth Moore study on Esther and just finished the final lesson. We'll watch the last video tonight (sniff).
Beth gave us 3 scriptures with which we put onto a triangle.
Here is mine:

From Esther- "It's Tough Being a Woman"
"God not only promises that He "works out everything" (Eph 1.11) "according to His good purpose" (Phil 2.13). He promises that "in all things God works for [our] good" (Romans 8.28). In other words, every time He shifts us here or moves us there on this earthbound chessboard, He's not just fulfilling His own pleasure regardless of its impact on you. He's also working every detail- even the dreadful ones- to your and my good." -Beth Moore

The P in the middle stands for Providence!
I love this part! The definition of providence?

prov⋅i⋅dence –noun
1. the foreseeing care and guidance of God or nature over the creatures of the earth.
2. God, esp. when conceived as omnisciently directing the universe and the affairs of humankind with wise benevolence.
3. a manifestation of divine care or direction.
4. provident or prudent management of resources; prudence.
5. foresight; provident care.

Blessings!

A Future and a Hope....

I just have to blog about church this morning. It was so awesome. And to think I almost missed it because I was cold this morning and had a hard time getting going. SO glad I didn't.
The sermon series is called "Tune In" and is all about prayer. We've missed the last couple of weeks, but I hope to get them on CD and listen. Prayer is something I've already been feeling convicted about. I know I don't spend enough time with my God.
This isn't part of my story, but I have to tell you that we had some excitement towards the end of the message. The speakers and microphone started squealing and making some awful racket. They finally had to turn off the sound system altogether. And then someone noticed that one of the speakers on stage was smoking. Crazy. As they carried it off, I thought they were walking towards the baptistery and half expected them to throw it in, but they didn't.
Anyway, after the sermon which was based on 1 Samuel 3, our preacher told everyone to get into a position of prayer and tell God "Speak God, for your servant is listening". He gave us quite a bit of time and as I prayed I was thinking of the burden that has been on my heart a lot lately which is Kevin's retirement. We've been talking about it and I know Kevin has been considering it, but I've been very skeptical about it. FEAR is a better word. I've been the one talking him out of it, pointing out the bad job market. The fact is the very thought of retirement has me sick to my stomach and gripped in FEAR.
But, I sat there in church this morning and I prayed. I prayed for God to speak to me. And I thought of the card in my Bible that I had seen a few seconds before. I had written Jeremiah 29:11 on it in Bible study. (As if to reinforce this thought, the guy 2 seats in front of us was wearing a football jersey with the number 11 on it. God WILL clarify things for you!)
I can quote this verse from memory and I started to do that, but I felt God saying to me to read that verse and what comes after it. I opened my Bible and read and as I read tears came streaming from my eyes.
This is what I read:
"For I know the plans I have for you," says the LORD. "They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. In those days when you pray I will listen. If you look for me in earnest, you will find me when you seek me. I will end your captivity and restore your fortunes. I will gather you out of the nations where I sent you and bring you home again to your own land."
Jeremiah 29:11-14
WOW!
God spoke.
I think I see retirement in Kevin's near future.

This & That

Just to check in before the weekend. I've got a busy couple of weeks coming up.
I am still involved with TOPS and go every Thursday. I hope to be halfway to goal next week!
But, you can read about my weight loss journey at my weight loss blog so I won't go into details about that. EXCEPT to say that I've found something better than a candy bar. I eat it EVERY day and it has about 200 calories! It's an apple with peanut butter! YUM!

I've started babysitting an adorable little girl who is almost 3 years old. I hope to put this money away for Christmas. I'll be asking her mom if I can post pics, but until then I better not even mention her name.
And then I've got a few stamping deadlines right on top of eachother coming up that are going to take up quite a bit of my free time. I'm afraid I won't be blogging much.
Oh...our little base and community made the news today. Did you see? It wasn't good and will probably mean LONG hours for my overworked and underpaid husband. You can read about that here.
Have a blessed weekend!

Quality Family Time

We had a fabulous time last weekend when our younger son Brian and his adorable girlfriend Alli flew in from Kansas to visit us. It was Kevin's first time meeting Alli and it's unanimous... we ALL love her.
The two of them arrived in Charlotte at about 9:30 Friday evening. It's about a 2 hour drive, so we got home pretty late. The next day, we all slept in a bit and then I made waffles for breakfast. The kids wanted to visit Swan Lake so we hopped in the car and drove over there.
That evening Katie had to babysit, but the rest of us had fun playing games. We taught Alli how to play Pennsylvania Dutch Rummy and Spades!
Sunday morning we woke up and went to church. (Great sermon by the way.) Then we came home, had lunch and drove out to Poinsett State Park for a 3 miles hike. More games for Sunday evening. And then sadly we had to drive back to the airport on Monday afternoon.
It was a great weekend. It just flew by as all good ones do. I kept wishing that Jake and Megan could have been here too. But, I am looking forward to everyone being here for Christmas!!!

Brian posing at Swan Lake.

Brian gives Alli a piggyback ride. Good thing she's tiny!

Katie Alli and Brian at Swan Lake.

Katie and Brian at Poinsett State Park.

The kids making lunch.

(That is bagel bites surrounding a little pizza in case you were wondering.)

Brian and Alli at beautiful Poinsett State Park.

Brian and Alli at the Charlotte Airport as they got ready to go back to cold Kansas!

October Pinkness

I usually try to turn my blog pink for October. Haven't had time yet this month though.
But, I wanted to let you all know that my friend Peg is offering up some goodies at her blog- Webbmania in order to spread the word about Breast Cancer Awareness.
Coincidentally I have a mammogram scheduled!

Poinsett State Park

Yesterday was a gorgeous day and Kevin suggested we check out Poinsett State Park. South Carolina has the prettiest parks! I was excited to find out they rent out cabins at this park. Really cool cabins that were built in the 1930s. I hinted to Kevin that it would be a nice birthday weekend retreat. Hopefully he takes the hint.
We went to the park and walked the Coquina trail which was a little over one and a half miles. They have several trails and I can't wait to go try another. This park is only about 10 miles from our house.
There are alligators at this park. I thought I saw one, but can't be sure. That was scary. The funniest thing happened this morning. Kevin and Katie were on their way out the front door. He was taking her to school. They were surprised to see a hummingbird that seemed to be disoriented and kept bouncing off the ceiling of the porch. Kevin tried getting her to go off the porch, but she wouldn't. He was late leaving and had to go, but before he left he gave me a branch and told me to try and get her to land on it and then move her off the porch that way. So, I tried it and it worked Poor little thing. She probably had a pretty good headache after that. I didn't get any pictures, but here is a some pics of one of our little hummingbirds from this week. We also took a pic last week of these 2 hummingbirds on the back deck. THey were acting quite strange. And kept hitting eachother's beaks. And then one seemed to be sitting on the others' head. Kevin actually snapped a pic of it from the back door.
Not sure what that was about. Silly birds!
Brian and Alli are coming to visit in 2 days! I am beyond excited!!!
Blessings!

A La SWIFT

It's Saturday night. The Nationwide race is on TV. Kevin is trying to clean the carpets in Katie's car (for the 2nd time). And Katie is up in her room. And I've been sitting here looking at the pictures and videos Katie took at the concert last night.
Katie and I drove to Greenville, SC to see Taylor Swift yesterday. Katie had made all of the arrangements for us. She bought the concert tickets and booked us a really nice room at the Holiday Inn not far from the arena.

Katie has been a HUGE Taylor Swift fan since Taylor first came on the country music scene. I was excited for her to be able to actually go see her in person. And we had a great time. The opening acts were "Gloriana"

and

Kellie Pickler.

They were both pretty good too.
And then came Taylor. What a show! She sang all but 2 of the songs from her "Fearless" album and about 5 from her first CD.

She started out in her marching band uniform singing "You Belong with Me" and ended with "Should've Said No" with the rain coming down on her just like she did it at the awards show.
At one point she appeared in the audience and walked down to a small revolving platform and sang my favorite song of the new CD- "Hey Stephen".

Taylor was a great performer and she got emotional a couple of times. She seems to take it all in and not take the applause for granted. She is certainly not a spoiled Diva at this point in her career and I hope she keeps her charming down to earth personality.
Katie and I got up this morning and drove the little over 2 hours back home. Katie says it all feels like a dream.

But I know it's one mother/daughter time neither of us will soon forget.