With Valentine's Day approaching, I started thinking about what I should do for those I love. I thought that I should do something special for Frederick. I should get some candy for Grace (from her dad). I should buy Valentine's for the boys to hand out at co-op. Quickly I began to realize that most of the things I do, I do because I "should" do them. Even in my walk with God. So many times I find myself reading my Bible because I feel it is the right thing to do. Or heading out to church simply because it is Sunday. In other words I am acting out of obligation not love. This has been a very sobering revelation for me.

That leaves me asking myself, is it sinful to serve God purely out of duty without love or joy? Sadly, the answer is YES. Our actions are a pure reflection of the affection of our heart. God tells us in Deuteronomy chapter 6 that judgement fell on the people ‘because you did not serve the LORD your God with joyfulness and gladness of heart’.

With that on my mind and my heart I am seeking God's help in growing my affection for Jesus. I want to MOVE (there is that word again) to a closer relationship with my Savior. I want to worship in 'spirit and in truth' not duty and obligation.

Israel Houghton- Moving Forward (w/ lyrics)

I thought I needed a new song to go along with my new "WORD." This song is absolutely amazing to me. How I love my JESUS!!

Is this what He meant?

When God tells you to move out of the way, you move. I totally get that. But which way am I suppose to go? Seems as though all roads lead me back here, right where I started. Today it feels like I am going the wrong way down a one way street. I don't know where this road is going to take me. I'm not really sure how I plan on getting there. What I do know is that God is Good. He will never leave me or forsake me.

Psalms 37:5 "Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring [it] to pass."

MOVE!!!!

That is it! Really? Move, that's all you got? I prayed for God to give me a word for this year. I know sounds so silly and churchy (is that a word?). But, I really want to be more focused this year. I want stay the course, run the race, fight the good fight. So, I prayed for a word that would challenge me. A word that would get me out of my comfort zone and into the God zone.

I was thinking about all the wonderful, fancy, grand words that God could bestow up me. Words like: triumphant, reverent, visionary, splendor. You get the picture, right? This word would come down from heaven, hand delivered by Arch Angel Gabriel himself. All the time light would descend upon me as a host of angels sing a hallelujah chorus. Sounds good, doesn't it? It was perfect.

Then my word came to me. Not from angels, but from a parent in the car line at school. "Can you move so I can pull around the cones", she asked. I just looked at her with this horribly confused faced. I am sure she thought I was losing it right there in the parking lot. I heard the statement again. "Can you move?" This time it wasn't the lady asking me, it was the Holy Spirit.

I gathered my thoughts and told the lady that she would need to go further down and turn around. In other words, "No, I will not move." Then quickly God spoke to my heart louder that any human ever has. "Will you move for me," God asked? I thought about that question many times over the next few days. I began to reason out that I would indeed move for God. I would go anywhere He asked me. I began to get really excited. Maybe, I was going to move to a new and bigger house. Maybe just maybe, I was going to travel and see the world. This is going to be a great year.

And then it happened. It was a complete revelation. God said, no wait, God whispered, "just move." WHAT? What does that mean? There were no singing angels, no beams of white light, no angels at all! Sweetly and softly God said, "move out of the way so I can do what I need to do in your life and the life of your family."

WOW!!!!


John 3:30 "He must increase, but I must decrease."

Christmas Count down...8 days til Christmas

Not sure why I make plans.

We are going to the Kloudas' on Monday to make Christmas candy (YUM). I planned to go to Sam's this evening to get all of the goodies we will need for the candy. Unfortunately, the fuel pump went out on my Suburban. Frederick had to go to work so I was left without a vehicle.

So, I am stuck in the house...all...evening....ARGH! Definitely not one of my top ten activities. Not just me, but my five kids, and the neighbor kids as usual are with transportation and cooped up inside my house. I finally got smart and put Elf in to watch and handed out cookies.

I couldn't just let this day go by without some sort of Christmas activity being accomplished. I decided to sit down and finally write our annual Christmas letter. Prayerfully, the letters and the gifts will get delivered Monday night. But don't worry, I am NOT going to plan on it.

Christmas Count down...9 days til Christmas

The count down may be at nine, but the number of the day is six! Zion turned six years old today. He is an amazing child. He is smart, funny, adorable, and such a blessing to our family. So today was spent celebrating his special day.


McDonald's was the order of the day. Not necessarily my birthday meal of choice. But then again, it's not my birthday.

Zion is not a big cake eater so ice cream was on the agenda. It doesn't get much better than the Marble Slab.

Then off to the mall. Build a Bear was next on Zion's itinerary. He decided on Rudolf. Seemed like a seasonally appropriate choice.

Christmas Count down...10 days til Christmas

Spent the day doing the "usual" daily tasks. But the evening was spent PARTYING!! It started with the "Happy Birthday Jesus" party at AWANA. There was cake, cookies, candy, punch and much more. Grace Baptist always does such a terrific job making things special for the kids. Then it was off to Grace's second dance party. Last night was for modern dance and tonight for Jazz class. She did an awesome job as usual. So the running total now stands at 4 Christmas parties down and the good Lord knows how many more to go. I LOVE CHRISTMAS TIME.