Starting a new adventure!

Wow, 3.5 years huh? Not such a good track record for a serious blogger. Obviously, I'm not very serious! :-)

I'm excited about a new adventure I'm undertaking, though. I just launched an online Bible Study through Facebook. We're going to start working through the book "Made to Crave" on January 16. I hope to use this site and the group I created to really reflect on the experience. God's been working something fierce in my life during this past year and I'm still not sure exactly what He has in mind.

As we depart on this journey together, I pray that we all discover what it's like to truly crave after the God who created us! For more information about the book, check out the Made to Crave website.

Having an Affirming Heart

I have to be honest here, I am a REALLY selfish person. It's something I struggle with on a daily basis. With God's help I'm getting better...but sometimes that old selfish devil can really get his hands on my heart! What does that have to do with the title of this post? Well let me tell you...

I've been listening to Charles Swindoll a LOT latetly (that drive to Pittsburg has been a good thing for my spiritual life!). He's doing a study on the life of Joseph and today he spoke about Reaping the Rewards of Righteousness. It was all about how Joseph went from absolutely nothing, a prisoner in an Egyptian dungeon, to the second highest official in the entire nation in a matter of hours (maybe even minutes). Swindoll's point was that most people didn't know where he came from, they didn't know his story. To them he was just some upstart kid who got a lucky break. The old, "it's not what you know, it's who you know" thing probably was a common thought. They didn't think well of him. They didn't offer congratulations and accolades. They didn't say "this guy is going to do great things for God, I'm really glad he got blessed like that." No, they probably didn't. Instead they probably grumbled, complained and generally made snide and suspicious remarks about this new kid. And then Swindoll brought it around to us, in this day. He asked how affirming are we of others in our midst. He posed the question in two parts. One, how affirming are we of those in need. Well, as a whole, the church is very affirming of those kinds of people. Those are the missionaries who live on nothing, the people in China forced to worship in secret, and the lady down the street who just found out she has cancer. We are almost always affirming of them and their plights. But what about those who receive promotions? What about those who are exceedingly wealthy? What about those people who just seem to have the "Midas Touch"? How affirming are we of them?

I don't know why, but that message just really touched me today. Maybe it's because I am such a selfish individual. I'd really like all the glory for myself. I want everyone to notice me, not the person down the hall or across the aisle. God really hit me with this today, and I want to try to live my life as someone who looks for the good in EVERYONE. I don't want to search for ulterior motives when someone does something really extravagant for God and His church. I want to say "Thank You! May God bless you with even more generosity than you have already shown!" I want to be happy when people come into their fortune, not jealous because it wasn't me. I really want to be someone who loves everyone, no matter how much money they do or don't have. I really want to be a bigger person, I want to have true JOY and that means putting Jesus first, Others second and You (myself) last. It's a tall order, but I'm positive that God and I can do it together!

Views from the Basement is open for "business"

I've gotten my Library/EdTech blog up and running now. Go check it out if you want, but only if you want to laugh at an old Sesame Street clip. LOL! Here's the URL http://basementviews.blogspot.com/

This post is really short as I'm at work.............shhhhh don't tell anybody. But I've GOT to share a hilarious Stinky Pete story (my 9 year old son) before I go. The other morning he got up and said, "Mom I think I did some sleepwalking last night." I asked why he thought so and he said that when he got up he was wearing a swimming suit and his underwear were on his head! (When he went to bed his underwear were in the right spot and the swim suit was in his dresser.) Needless to say we got a good laugh out of that one. Being a mom....well I think it's one of God's greatest blessings!

Have a great one everybody.

Life just keeps rolling along

God is so good, isn't he? Some people may not agree with that, and I'll sure pray for you if you're one of them! :-)

It's so hard for me to believe that He's brought me to where I am now. It seems like yesterday that I was asking Kenny if I could quit teaching, and now I can't wait to go to work everyday. Go Gorillas!! (If you don't know, I teach at PSU now.) And you know what else, I LOVE being a librarian!! HA HA HA HA HA!!!! But seriously, it's true. Getting to work with books and technology and fellow teachers everyday just rocks.

In fact, I've started a new blog about Library Media and Instructional technology. It's called Views from the Basement because that's where my office is located at Pitt. (Catchy, huh?) It's still in the planning stage, so don't visit yet. I'll send a "release date" to everybody soon.

I can't tarry too long today. I've got three 10 year old boys trying to catch a spider! (I think I'll go hide before they want my help.)

Lifehouse's Everything Skit

This is the video I was talking about in my previous post. Enjoy it, and I hope it touches you life like it has mine!

Wow, what a week!

There is so much going on in our little community this week. Satan's got his claws in deep this time. All I know to do is pray, pray, pray! Who am I to judge the acts of others? All I can do is extend the same grace to them as Christ did to me. Only one is fit to judge men!

God's really been talking to me these last couple of weeks. Through a combination of Joyce Meyer, Chuck Swindoll, Pastor Kevin and our Sunday School class, God's been getting to me about religious attitudes and legalism. How can I condemn others for not fitting into my mold? Or how can I look down on others for being sinners when I am one myself? I believe it's in the book of Matthew where Jesus warns us about trying to get the speck out of our brother's eye when we've got a plank in our. That has so been me this past year or so. I've been feeding my life with so much of the world that I've almost lost Him in the mix.

A friend of mine sent me a You Tube video about this very topic yesterday. I'll try to put it in this post so you all can see it too. I was so reminded of all that I can be if I rely on God and not the world. He is my King and my Father and he wants me to be with him all the time! Plus, he wants me to show love to my fellow believers and sinners alike. He wants me to show love and not religion. He wants me to show love and not legalism. He wants me to show love. That's all, just love. Nothing else. No judgment, no condemnation, no critical spirit, no condescension. None of it, just LOVE! How about you?

I think if Christians would just try to love each other and lighten up a little.......well, I know God could do a lot better work through us! So here's my challenge to us all: try to love everyone a little more today. Don't gossip about them, look down on them, give them advice, or try to change them. Just show them love. We never know, that seed might just grow a mighty oak.

I'm BAACK!

Well boys and girls, I've come back to blog land. It's been a crazy year of ups and downs, but I think I am finally settled in where the Lord wants me. I must say it's refreshing to actually WANT to go to work when you wake up in the morning. LOL!

I know that there was a reason he put me at FSHS last year, and I hope that in some small, positive way I touched a kids' life or two. Although I miss that social interaction, I can truly say that where I am at now.........WOW!! Who knew you could get paid for doing stuff you love? Not that I didn't love the youth group, but that's a totally different story. Youth and the church are a passion that I don't think will ever leave me, and I'll be a part of that whether I get paid or not!

Better go now. I'm adding a blog for work. I think I'm going to call it View from the Basement (as my library is in the basement here at PSU)! Kind of catchy I think.

Until another time or day............God's blessings toyou all!

Hey look, I came back!

Ok, I am a VERY bad blogger! Actually I kind of let life take over and overwhelm me. I haven't even sat down to do any scrapbooking for a few months now which is really not cool because it makes me even further behind than I already was!

A lot has changed since I posted last. Remember that job I was thinking about? Well, God had his own plans for me. As of August I'll be a new Algebra teacher here in town. There are days when I think I'm crazy and wonder what I'm doing, and then there are other days when I can't wait to get started again. I'm looking forward to getting to know the kids and other teachers and just being a bigger part of the community. I don't know what the twins are going to think of this. They've had mommy all to themselves for so long............and it makes me want to cry sometimes when I think about leaving them with someone else. Why, I ask God sometimes? I'M not ready for this!! Oops there's that I word...........he's always getting me on that one. It's not about ME it's about what's best in his plan and obviously this is it. He's moving my "mission field" to the local high school and making me stretch my wings for him. I know he knows what he's doing, but all this change is enough to make this little ol' human cringe and worry more than I should. Oh well, as long as I keep my eyes on Him it'll all work out for the good just like He promised.

Think I'll end with a top ten list. Here's the Top Ten Reasons that Michelle has totally lost her sanity:

10. Working out transportation for getting kids to church camp.
9. Getting plans made and finalized for the mission trip. (Why am I doing this all by myself again?)
8. Baseball games 2 nights a week.
7. Playing softball on Friday night.
6. Swim meets every Wednesday.
5. Swim practice every morning at 7 (this is SUMMER, are they NUTS?!?! LOL!)
4. Keeping up with 3 year old twins.
3. Trying to find time to get all the bills paid on time.
2. Housework.............don't even ASK how long it's been since I dusted the furniture!
1. Applying for a job, getting it and realizing that my whole LIFE is going to change when August gets here!

I think I'm going to need a vacation from SUMMER vacation! Oh well, it's all fun and I'm loving seeing my boy excel at what he does best. As a certified geek it's going to be hard for me to raise a jock that is fairly smart, but who'd rather be playing ball than reading a book! :-) Hopefully I can come here a little more often to unload and just journal my day so that maybe something that I've experience will inspire or encourage someone else.

Happy Independence Day to all of my fellow US citizens!