Make lunch festive w/this Green & Red idea!

From my NEW "Walking In Victory Lunch Box" Section:

If you're like me (and lots of other moms I know), I'm always looking for new ideas for my kid's (and hubbie's) lunch box! I mean, there are only so many versions of lunch meat & cheese on bread w/chips, fruit, and a drink one can take! :) So, I have been inspired to share with you (and have you share back with me - to then share with all of you) a new section to help all of us Walk In Victory over the dreaded lunch box!! :)

How about this festive green and red Christmas idea I added to my children's lunch boxes today?

Green Cucumbers & Red Cherry Tomatoes w/Ranch!!

To make it even fancier (I know, I'm totally ridiculous and out of hand!) I took my grandmother's veggie peeler that I have hanging above my counters (of course, don't I turn ALL things into home decor??!!) and peeled a stripe down the cumcumber (so that it looks like every other stripe is skin on/skin off - does that make sense)? Then I took my handy dandy Pampered Chef crinkle slicer thingie :) and sliced them so they look well, crinkled!! Like a chip!! So instead of ordinary potato chips, ta da, they have cucumber chips!! It remains to be seen at the end of the day if they bought into it! :)

So throw the cucumbers (however you slice em) and the cherry tomatoes in a baggie, spoon a spoonful of ranch into a little container w/lid, and wah-lah!! :) You're Walking in Victory over the dreaded lunch box!! :)

Letters to Santa & One Little Real Life Elf!! :)

Inspired by a very special follower, friend, and family member...I hope all of you Mommies or Mommies to be, are encouraged by my new "Mommy Moments" section, that you are not alone!! And thank God we are not! We can't do it alone! We need one another, it STILL takes a community to raise children, and most of all, we need to be able to laugh at our own parenting saga's!! May these little stories of Mommy Moments I occassionally share from either my own experience or that of a reader, spur you forward as you Walk In Victory Over the HARDEST JOB ON EARTH!!

Letters to Santa & One Little Real Life Elf:  (A Mommy Moment from Jennifer Fox)

On my to-do list today? To mail this letter to Santa that Belle provided me with before leaving for school today. On her wish list? A REAL LIFE ELF THAT SHE CAN PLAY WITH!!!! Hmmm...how am I gonna pull this one off??!! Why can't she just request NORMAL toys like all other kids??!! :) By the looks of Joy's "bangs" right now, perhaps I could convince her that a professional dog grooming kit may be a more appropriate & useful request in the future when she & Lola Grace play "PET SALON!" :) :) :) I'm embarrassed to even walk her in public until her new "look" grows out a bit! ;) Hence, why my neighbors will witness me cracking my front door, hiding behind it and pushing Joy out, whispering to her, "Joy, go potty!" :)

"Hope is not undone, because he is not done!"

"God was not done when Noah was in the boat, Sarah was barren, Joseph was in prison, Moses was on the run from Pharaoh, the children of Israel were pinned against the Red Sea, the walls of Jericho blocked possession of the promised land, Gideon was hiding from the Midianites, Samson was seduced by a woman and blinded, Ruth was widowed, David was mocked as a boy facing a giant, Job’s children were all killed, government officials persecuted Daniel, Jonah was in the belly of a fish, Paul couldn’t get rid of this thorn, and Jesus was put in the grave. God is not done!

Hope is not undone, because he is not done!"

Six Important Links to the Meaning of Hope

www.desiringgod.org

 

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.

Does God Answer Prayer?

The answer is a resounding YES!! My 16 yr old daughter with wisdom by the grace of God beyond her years, came to me last night with a few questions after counseling a friend who came to her in a posture of, "I have no one else to turn to...," and my daughter encouraged her that she can always turn to God. The friend's response was, "To be honest, I've tried to pray and I feel like God never answers my prayers, so I just gave up praying." :( Sadly, a response I hear all too often, and to be honest, have wrestled with in the past myself. It has been so burdensome to me since I had this conversation with my daughter last night that I was compelled to address it.

The truth of the matter is, GOD ALWAYS HEARS YOUR PRAYERS AND HE ALWAYS ANSWERS!! It may not always be the answer we were hoping for, but that does not mean He did not answer. It just means that He has that bird's eye view I've talked about in the past - the parade, I've mentioned where He can see the beginning float, the end float, and each and every float in between, but in our limited human eye, we can only see what the eye can see without the full perspective. He answers as He promises in Romans 8:28, that, "He works ALL things (not some things), ALL things for the GOOD of those who love Him," and that, "If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all - how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?" Romans 8:31,32. "He knows the plans He has for you. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon him and come and pray to him, and He will listen to you. You will seek Him and find Him when you seek Him with all your heart. He will be found by you." Jeremian 29: 11-14 (Paraphrased).

There you have it. God's spoken Word. What will you rely on when the troubles of this world seem to have no answers? Your feelings or the promises of a Holy God?

People ask me during a week like last week when the troubles and attacks of this world run rampant - from Sunday to Sunday - one child taken to the E.R. for a head injury (with no health insurance), another child found unconscious near a gas station by a man (I believe sent by the Lord) who called 911 and was taken by ambulance to the hospital for a suicide attempt, followed by being taken to jail due to the events leading up to, and my youngest being diagnosed and treated for Pnuemonia & Strep Throat (again with no health insurance), another family member that I love walking through medical testing to rule out pancreatic cancer, all while attempting to get unpacked, settled, and recover from job loss and relocation; I am asked, "How do you do it?"

The answer is simple. I don't. But God does. HOW possibly in my own stregnth could I stand in the face of such ongoing attack and trial? I can't. I have to acknowledge each and everyday when I awake from very sleepless nights most nights, before my feet hit the floor, "God, I can't do all that is before me today, so I acknowledge my full dependence on you today because in my weakness YOU are strong and I know that I can do ALL things through Christ who gives me stregnth.

Do my daily trials (and triumphs) mean that God does not hear or answer my prayers because things are not going as I have prayed and desire? Of course not! He absolutely hears my prayers and he absolutely is answering and he is also absolutely in control. A great illustration of this concept is through our parenting of our own children. We love, guide, direct, teach, dicipline, etc., our children, however we also know that they have a free will and that they are not puppets on a string, being controlled by our every move. Our ultimate goal is not to control our children, but to train them to make wise choices on their own without us because they have learned the value of consequences and favor for choices made. It is very much the same concept with our heavenly father (except that He always gets it right although we as human parents mess up all the time), that we have free will, he is in control and Sovereign, however, He is not a puppetier controlling us as puppets on strings. His desire is not for us to be robots, but for us to desire His perfect will for our lives because we have learned (through trial and the testing of our faith and development of our character) that honoring His way, is where our protection, blessing, and favor lie.

Is God not answering my prayers when my son chooses a path of destruction? No! That is not God's desire for his life. At the end of the day, I can trust that God is in complete control, he is listening, and anwering and sometimes the answer is not the path we would have chosen for ourselves, but He sees the beginning float, the end float, and every float in between and He knows what Zachary needs (he created him). But just as much as in my adult wisdom, as much as it grieves my heart, I have to make excrutiating choices each day to love Zachary without enabling him, which often means drawing really hard lines with him, I believe God is doing the same. Would I have chosen this path for him? Of course not. His heavenly father does not desire this path for him either. However, he is no less answering my prayers because he is loving Zachary without enabling him, knowing the end of the story that is still being written. He is writing your stories and every Chapter in between and He is not finished with you yet. So don't give up on Him. Don't stop praying! His Word does not return void, He is listening, He hears, and He answers. Aren't we grateful He doesn't ever give up on us?!

I have posted a song below this post I very specifically believe I was led to for YOU. I pray it blesses and encourages you today as you surrender your circumstances, worshipping through them and proclaiming the llyrics, "I call, you answer, and you came to my rescue and I wanna be where you are......"

Came to my Rescue-Hillsong United

Desert Song - Hillsong w/ lyrics

Be encouraged by this story to worship through your circumstances - Desert Song follows

Check Out My NEW, "That's What's For Dinner Tonight!" Section!!

I have a heart to come alongside and mentor young girls (or boys), new brides (or husbands), new mom's (or dad's) or the seasoned cook who needs fresh, new ideas for creativity in the kitchen, where I LOVE to be, whether it be time and budget friendly recipes and ideas or spicing things up and growing and taking your cooking to another level. There's something for everyone...the teen learning how to cook, the young adult or college student moving out to live (and cook) on their own, the new bride (or groom), mother (or father), the working person who needs 30 minute meals to the homeschooling family (well, that also needs 30 minute meals)! :) Enjoy as I open up my kitchen and creativity to you sharing recipes from my kitchen to yours from every level of experience - entry level to seasoned chef extrordinaire. I LOVE to cook (& bake) and have been told that I do it well - I don't know...I guess we'll see what you think! :) My recipes are inspired from everything to confections I just make up on my own, to family recipes, to my favorite cookbooks, to cooking along with my favorite peeps on Food Network! I learned to cook alongside my grandmother and mother and have grown through experimenting, attending cooking shows, cooking with friends, and well, watching a whole lotta Food Network, HGTV, & TLC!! As a busy mom who has been "on my own" since the age of 17, when I graduated from high school and moved 3 hours away from home, I have been cooking for a long time and have learned creative solutions in every season of life, from being a career woman, balancing work and home, homeschooling my children, requiring a lot of crock pot cooking where you sort of throw it all in 1st thing in the morning and let it cook itself all day, to now being a full time stay at home mom with children in school where I have more time to have fun and experiment and try some new skills. Due to time and budget constraints during various seasons of life, I have also taught myself, received ideas from gifted friends and mentors, and attended workshops on couponing, menu planning, time savers, etc., that I hope will serve you as I share from time to time! So welcome to my kitchen! I hope you enjoy this new section from my kitchen to yours as we Walk In Victory together over, "What's For Dinner Tonight!" :)

Chicken Salad Sandwiches

Here's a quick, simple, delicious, and nutritious meal for those nights when you need to rush out the door for church, small group, soccer games, school events, etc. There are 2 different recipes that I use:

Recipe #1:

What you'll need:

*Canned Chicken Salad, Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast, or Rotisserie Chicken (depending on what youI have time for - Chopped)
*2-3 Hard Boiled Eggs (Peeled & Chopped)
*1-2 Stalks of Celery (Chopped)
*Sweet Relish (To Taste)
*Mayonaise (To Desired Consistency)
*Salt & Pepper (To Taste)
*Whole Wheat Bread, Rolls, or Croissants

Prepare the chicken you choose to use (ie. drain canned chicken, broil and chop chicken breasts, or remove and chop Rotiss. Chicken from bone. Mix together in medium to large bowl the prepared chicken, eggs, celery, relish, and mayo. Spread a heaping amount on bread or roll. You can toast the bread in a toaster oven, under the broiler for a minute or two, or butter the back of each side lightly and grill in a pan until warm and golden. Garnish with Romaine or Green Leaf Lettuce.

Recipe #2:

What you'll need:

*Canned Chicken Salad, Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast, or Rotisserie Chicken (depending on what you have time for - Chopped)
*Red Seedless Grapes (washed & sliced in 1/2)
*Slivered Almonds (Optional)
*Mayonaise
*Salt & Pepper (To Taste)

Prepare chicken depending on which kind you choose, then mix all ingredients together in medium to large bowl. Spread a heaping amount on bread or roll. You can toast the bread and garnish with Romaine or Green Leaf Lettuce.

Optional Add-In's for either Recipe: Chopped Apples (Green, Red, or both, and feel free to mix up any combination of the two recipes). Have fun and experiment with the ingredients mentioned and you can't go wrong!

Serve with Fries, Chips, Salad, or Fruit and you have a well rounded, wholesome, time savy, tasty meal!

That's what's for dinner tonight!

Walking In Victory With Thanksgiving Leftover Recipes!

Rachael Ray's Leftover Stuffing Waffles

I caught just enough of a snip-it of The Rachael Ray Show on Wednesday to share with you this amazing idea and recipe that I thought was a genius and delicious way to help you Walk In Victory with those Thanksgiving leftovers - rolling over your Thanksgiving dinner into brunch over the weekend with this dish! Don't worry if you don't have a waffle maker! Neither do I (although I sure would LOVE to have one if anyone is thinking of Christmas gift ideas...jk - sort of)!!! :) I'm pretty sure you can still Walk In Victory w/this recipe with a good ole' frying pan! Use the same concept, just modify and make the stuffing into patties and fry in a frying pan w/melted butter rather than in the waffle maker! :) 

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon butter, melted
• 3 to 4 cups leftover stuffing
• 1/2 cup leftover cranberry sauce
• 1 cup maple syrup
• A few slices of leftover turkey

Preparation

Preheat a waffle maker to medium-high heat. Once hot, brush with melted butter. Press a few cups of stuffing into the waffle iron, filling from corner to corner. Put as much stuffing into it as possible. Close the waffle iron to press it into the mold. Cook for 7-8 minutes, until the waffle is golden and crispy on top. Open waffle maker and let cool in waffle iron for 2 minutes and then remove.

While your waffle is cooking, combine cranberry sauce and maple syrup in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir to combine. Once hot, remove from heat.

To serve, place a few slices of leftover turkey on top of the stuffing waffle and drizzle with cranberry maple syrup.

ENJOY!!!

Heck, why not?! Let's make this Walking In Victory Leftover Recipe serve triple duty!! (1) A great new recipe; (2) What to do w/all those Thanksgiving Dinner Leftovers; (3) A Walking In Victory In Marriage Idea!!! :)

K - So to use this Triple Play to Walk In Victory In Marriage:

Husbands or Wives (guys - this recipe is simple enough for even YOU to impress the apple of your eye)! Get up early and whip this up and serve to your lovey in bed!! OR...make it together (a couple that cooks together, stays together), and take it back to the bed and have breakfast/brunch in bed together!! OR...get up and set the patio table (or kitchen/dining table) and have a little breakfast/brunch date for two!! Get out your wedding wine glasses and serve this dish with a breakfast Mimosa (O.J. & Champagne - or a non-alcoholic version w/sparkling cider)! Be creative! Just make one another feel important, cherished, and special and keep daily marriage life fresh and exciting!! :) If you're married w/children, just get up extra early and spend time together on this breakfast date (with no child care expense btw...) before the kid-lets get up!! :)

Changing seasons of this journey called life.....

Wow!! Listen! Do you hear that beautiful sound of silence?! :) What is this new season of life I just stepped into?! For the very first time (I think EVER in 19 yrs), I just sent ALL the kids (that are still school age) off to school, the hubbie off to work, & other than the dog, I have this entire house to myself!! In my near 40 yrs existence on planet Earth, I have either been a student, an employee, self-employed, a homeschooling mom, or a stay at home mom w/at least one child (if not ALL 4 children) home with me full time, with the exception of the years I worked out of the home full time, in which case, the whole career/family balancing act was a huge challenge for me. In fact, if I think back over the last few years, this would have described a typical day in my life...dialing the number of one of the dear women in my life who have mentored me along in this journey called motherhood (Debbie, Jill, Shelly, Allison, Lisa - to name just a few); Ring, ring..."Hello?" Background noise - baby screaming, dog barking, kids fighting, doorbell ringing...(and if I go back just 2 years ago and really wanted to be transparent - police at the door w/a rebelling 18 yr old)...Me: "Hello  _____, (any of the above mentioned poor souls), I can't take it anymore! I have let this baby cry it out like you said for 45 minutes and she is NOT giving up, I've just finished teaching the 7th grader's Algebra lesson, simultaneously ALL WHILE nursing a baby on one side and pumping on the other, and after 21 problems wrong, we are BOTH in tears! Oh, and while I was teaching Algebra the last 2 HOURS of my life, the baby that won't stop screaming that you told me to let cry it out, has ripped ALL of the next chapter's pages out of our History book, which is likely the trigger that threw the 7th grader into a complete tailspin, hence likely the precise reason my neighbor just left after stopping by to check on us after hearing blood curdling screams of the spawned off temper tantrum from not only finding her History book otherwise vandalized, but you know the old excuse of the dog ate my homework? Well, ours actually just did and do you know where the nearest emergency vet is because I don't think it's digesting very well, just a guess, based on the projectile vomitting from BOTH the homework eating dog and the acid reflux, colic, screaming baby!! Oh, and speaking of this acid reflux, colic baby who has very literally screamed non-stop for 9 straight weeks, the "white noise" of rocking her next to a running vacuum cleaner or setting her bouncy seat next to the washing machine doesn't seem to be producing the desired effect!! And speaking of electronics, do you know what would take the red SHARPIE MARKER off of the letters on my computer keyboard and monitor that my 4 yr old just used as a canvas for her artistic imagination?! And while I'm thinking about the artistic 4 yr old, who by the way is NOT picking up on this whole learning to read thing and insists that the letter D says, d-d-d-PIZZA, the bath she is soaking in doesn't seem to be removing the ENTIRE TUBE OF DESITIN she painted her ENTIRE body with right before she walked in saying, "Booooo, Mommy....I am a ghost!" And speaking of ghosts, I think we may possibly be housing a few, because my house looks like we've been robbed and ransacked and NONE of my children seem to know who is responsible!! Hold on, the police are at the door AGAIN!! I wonder what my 18 yr old did THIS TIME!!! Then again, maybe they're not here on his account! Maybe this has something to do with the fact that someone at Michael's turned me in as unstable as a result of not knowing what the YEAR was to include on the check I wrote yesterday for baskets to organize all this homeschooling stuff that is overtaking my household!! Oh, and did I mention that this baby will NOT stop screaming???!!!!

Oh, it sure is funny to reflect but I am not even kidding when I say that in those moments, you honestly feel like you will be nursing that colic, screaming baby for the rest of your days on earth. I can also tell you that out of all of the Homeschooling Conferences and Parenting Workshops I've attended and all of the books I've read, research I've done, etc., no advice has been as meaningful to me as this...."This too shall pass! You will not be nursing that colic baby through high school, that mischievous toddler will one day learn more appropriate things to color, that 7th grader may not end up a math scholar, but she will in fact one day graduate, and this strongwilled 18 yr old may have to learn some hard lessons from his own mistakes, but God is in control! Second to those nuggets of wisdom from other moms who were just a little ahead, a little behind, and some right exactly in the thick of the same exact season as me, was just knowing that I wasn't alone. God sent just the right people at just the right seasons to come alongside me and mentor, support, encourage, and love me through the victories and the heartaches!

That is my heart, passion, and vision for this next season of this journey called life. To be that Titus 2 model, to mentor, train up, support, encourage, and love on every person God Sovereignly places in my path, and pass it on so that each of them can do the same! I shutter to think about where I would be without those people in my life; where my marriage would be, where my children would be, where my spiritual journey would be, how selfish I would be, how I would have otherwise succumb to trial, etc. I certainly don't have it all figured out! That's the great news though. We don't need to have it all figured out. We need each other. No matter what season of life we are in, we can't do it alone.

We experience the things in life that we experience not only for our own personal development and growth, but to use those experiences to relate and help others do the same. My vision for the child, to the teen, to the single adult, to the newly married, new parents, empty nesters, widowers, etc., is that we not just exist and get by as we pass through the changing seasons in this journey called life, but that we live the abundant life intended for us and walk through each and every season, embracing every success and every challenge victoriously!

So now what? It's almost a little too quiet around here! I never thought I would say that!! :) Well, for the immediate future, I'm going to finish an entire cup of coffee while it's still hot, take a full shower without having to tend to someone or something in a towel still suds up, spend the next week or 2 unpacking all of these boxes, decorating and making our new house our home. I may just spend the next couple of months milking it for every single thing it's worth!! :) Doesn't this sound wonderful? Finishing a cup of coffee, actually taking a shower, getting dressed and putting on a little make-up every single day, keeping a pristine home, no more ransacked effect here, laundry that is caught up rather than overflowing, a trip to the grocery store without bribes, threats, and temper tantrums over the type of cereal everyone wants, being able to cook along with my favorite Food Network celebs and decorate with my favorite HGTV peeps, heck I think I'll even plant my own herb garden and finally take my Ninja out of the box! Did you hear that?! Adult TV stations?! Food Network, HGTV, Days?! No more Nick Jr.!! OMGoodness, I might actually even be able to get back to my Zumba, Pilates, and Kickboxing classes, attend some morning ladies bible studies, meet up with a friend for lunch, and even stroll around Target just because I can!!! :)

Then I guess after the 1st of the new year of this new season, I'll gradually stop milking it and here's a little snapshot of what's to come....finishing up my Life Coach Certification Classes and finally after all these years, launching my vision and dream!! Having a career that allows me to be a full time wife and mother, using everything I've learned from all of those years of being a wife, mother, homeschooler, full time paralegal attempting to balance career and family, owning my own businesses, etc., I've tried it all, to mentor others on how to do the same. Here's what to look forward to: (or maybe dread, idk...)!! :) A new website where you can access way more than a blog! Personal house calls to walk alongside you in everything from marriage to parenting to career to home and time management, budgeting, couponing, meal planning and preparation, home decorating, home organization, teen challenges, fitness, fashion, beauty, etc. Walking in Victory Life Groups and Life Shops, A Walking in Victory Walking Club. For all of you that do not live in the immediate area, don't worry, I'm planning to have phone and email consults and ways that you can participate online!

Stay tuned and in the meantime, remember you are not alone, this too shall pass, and life is a journey with different chapters and seasons along the way. God is not finished with you yet. Embrace today with all of it's joys and challenges. For the teen - enjoy these years. They will pass quickly! Enjoy all of the opportunities that this season holds to learn, grow, mature, build friendships, develop into who you were  placed on this earth to be. Don't waste precious years getting caught up in things that will hinder you from becoming all you were created to be and don't go to the ocean with a teaspoon! You were created for greatness! For the young mother - rock that baby. Slow down and enjoy this season. They won't be small enough to hold on your lap for very long. For those waiting for a report from the doctor or waiting up for a wandering child, what will one hour of worry add to your life? Trust God. For the grieving heart - you will never forget but it will get easier with time. Take care of yourself, take each day as it comes, don't look too far behind or too far ahead. Take each moment with the grace available for that moment. There isn't grace available right now to worry about what you will do 5 minutes from now, but His grace is sufficient for you and is available to you for this very moment. For the man who just lost his job, struggling to provide - do all that you can do to provide and then let go and let Him do the rest. If He takes care of the birds in the air, will he not take care of you?! Fill in the blank with your name and your circumstances and declare to yourself that this is a short season in a big journey called life. This too shall pass, you are not alone, you are not defeated, you were not designed to just get by but to live life abundantly, to it's fullest! Your steps are ordered by the Lord - walk them victoriously!!

Stronger by Mandisa- Video with lyrics

The Afters - Lift Me Up (lyrics)

Seeking Wisdom for Life's Trials

Well, for all of you who sent the congratulations messages within the last 24 hours, thank you, but hold your applause!! We have certainly experienced our fair share of job losses, new jobs, and relocations as a result, however, this may by far be the fastest turn around time yet!! It certainly does make for great blog material since so many of you seem to look forward to "following" our life's shananigans (and hopefully learning a few lessons from us along the way, as we make ourselves transparent for the sake of ministry)!

So here's the update as wacky as it all seems, well it IS...it's the Fox Family after all! Is anything about us ordinary?! :) So as you know (and if you don't, read my Principles vs. Preferences post to get the overview as to how we got to this point), Harry lost his Project Manager position with his company on September 8th, due to his decision to stand by his principles rather than preferences and not participate in some activities that his boss was requiring him to participate in.

So, for the past near 2 months now, we have struggled to make ends meet as we were just coming to the recovery point of being downsized the year prior to taking that job and relocating our lives to do so. I could give numerous illustrations of God's faithfulness to us throughout this process and creative ways that He has allowed us to get by without skipping a beat. However over the last week as the bank accounts decrease and the opportunities to do odds and ends around the neighborhood fade, bills are due, vehicles desperately need tune ups, etc., and dozens of resumes are sent out daily to no avail in this economy in a career industry that has been hard hit by it, things were looking bleak, and our faith was definitely being tested.

As we yet again did the role reversal yesterday morning and I left for work at 5:30 am and Harry stayed behind and started his to do list which consisted of getting the 2 little girls up, dressed, groomed, fed breakfast, lunches made, backpacks packed, waiting in the carpool line, homeschooling the 11th grader, teaching Chemistry and Geometry, going grocery shopping and cleaning the house, all while aggressively job searching, his self esteem and manhood continued to take a decline as I left him about in tears. For ME, the pessimist, to be running low on gas in my faith tank, would be completely normal, but Harry NEVER loses hope, so for HIM to say, "I need to read this book on breakthrough prayer and spend some time in prayer this morning because I am seriously running out of faith," is a HUGE statement! Understandable when you've just endured extreme persecution for the past 14 months of your life and stood strong by the "right" thing to do and lost your career because of it, only to seemingly watch the "bad guy" win while you suffer and justice doesn't seem to come. Easy to begin to rely on those good ole feelings and what we see, rather than the truth of God's promises and hope despite the unseen, in the thick of testing.

 So back to leaving a discouraged husband as I went to work yesterday morning...within the next couple of hours, answered prayer. The recruiting agency calls to inform Harry that the interview he had last week had resulted in that company wanting to hire him however, there were some negotiations to go back and forth to come up with a deal. That happened, it was a done deal, he was officially hired as a Senior Project Manager (which would have been a promotion) and told to report to the office at 8am today for work. This morning, he got dressed in his business clothes and reported to his new company's main office at 8 as instructed only to find the office locked and no other employees there for work yet. He waited until 8:30 when a Project Engineer showed up for work and saw him there waiting and seemed to know nothing about him starting work today. She called the owner of the company who told her to inform Harry to call his recruiter. He did so, very confused, and was told that the owner of the company emailed her (the recruiter) late last night (which she just received when reporting to the office this morning), that they were pulling back from their decision, and going to re-group and make a final decision at the end of the week.

To back up, we were unsure about taking a position with this company from the beginning after doing some research and finding it was owned and operated primarily by Muslims and as Christians, we were unsure as to how that would all work out and if that was in fact God's desire for Harry. After much prayer and outside counsel, we felt like it was an opportunity on many levels and were excited about it where we had been reluctant. However, we did pray, that if this was not God's will, that He would SLAM the door shut and open another! Well, when Harry called discouraged with the news, my response (after my initial crying and carrying on hysteria of we are doomed subsided), was, "Well, the door can't be slammed shut any further! I prayed God would slam the door shut if He didn't want you there and I guess he slammed it...literally!!"

So, here's my relationship with God...I hung up and said in a pretty "I mean it Mr." voice, "Ok God, are you slamming this door shut? Cuz it seems like you're slamming this door shut! And I'm running out of faith here and after a year of one trial after another, I'm ready to pack it in here, so if you didn't slam that door completely shut and this is just a little kink in the process, I need you to open some sort of door and quickly cuz I'm starting to think that it just aint in your will for us to stay here and throw in the towel and start packin!" :) I'm totally not even kidding! That's honestly the conversation I had in my bathroom this morning!! :) It blows my mind, that He continues to grace me with His patience cuz I'm out of patience with myself!! :)

So there we sat, Harry and I, back at the computer screen, sending more resumes, in tears, discouraged, dumbfounded, angry, confused, every emotion common to man. After ranting and raving about his prior company and how wrong what they did was and how I suspect they are somehow involved in this and how they've ruined our lives, :) a thought came to my irrational mind. And here's the background behind this thought...last year when Harry was offered the job here, another offer was made at the same time for a friend in Richmond. At the time, after much prayer and counsel, and considering ALL factors, it appeared as though we were to take what was behind door # 1! :) However, Harry has remained in touch with that friend over the last year, and there has continued to be mutual interest in a business partnership however the timing just never seemed to be right. So my thought was, what if now is the time? Harry had just talked with the man a few weeks ago and the timing wasn't right then so it was understandable that Harry would have looked at me strange when I said, "Just give him a call!"

Harry did and within 2 hours, conversations went back and forth and he called and said, "Harry, can you start work here in Richmond for me on Monday at 8am?!" Wow! I guess when I told God He better open and close some doors quickly as I was ready to throw in the towel, that was definitely quick! So this is the best 360 life turn yet...all within a few hours, Harry reported to a new job, to find he actually didn't have a new job, to get home and be offered a different new job by the same company he should have gone to work for last year, and decisions were made that we were going home!! Well, technically we are not going home, home, as in back to our house because we are finalizing the closing on that any hour now! But it's totally fine. We're just gonna start completely over with no old baggage and not even reconsidering the contract at this point.

I DO however have clarity on one important question I've had for the past 6 weeks...what to do with these boxes that I just packed and haven't finished unpacking yet since I didn't plan on our entire life turning upside down days after unloading the moving truck and needing to go back to work and not knowing for sure if we would even be able to stay here without Harry's income!! Looks like there was a very good reason I have lived in complete frustration about something ALWAYS changing my plans on the days I had it scheduled to unpack, organize, decorate, and settle into our new home! God knew in advance that it would be a complete waste of my time! :)

Hey, I bet Harry and I could enter some world records in 2 categories (at least) on this one...the record for starting and finishing a new job all in a matter of minutes!!!! And, the record for FOUR address changes at the Post Office in 14 MONTHS!!!! No worries...if anyone wants the title or crown on this one, we are more than happy to pass it on!! Here's to hoping for Walking in Victory over a very, very, very LONG stay at our new office and home address...and going HOME...for GOOD!!! :)

I leave you with this...as YOU seek wisdom for life's trials today...what decision are you facing? Are you at a crossroad in life? Are you facing job loss? Home loss? Marriage crisis? Rebelling child? Don't know how you'll meet the budget? Attack? Persecution? Injustice? Suffering? Depressed? Weary? Battling Addiction? What thoughts and emotions do you need to take captive and make obedient to the truth and promises of God's Word regardless of feelings and circumstances? What do you need to walk in victory over?

Don't lose hope! There is NO situation too big for God! He can change things in a matter of minutes! We are living proof of that! And we are also living proof that sometimes, it means looooong seasons of intense testing as well. This life is a journey, a story, with many chapters, twists and turns, some predictable, some unexpected. Your story is still being written! Some will be more colorful than others. THOSE are the one's that will impact lives, including your own! When seeking wisdom for life's trials no matter what those trials are? Always remember my bathroom conversation with God on 10/26/11..."What He opens, no one can shut, and what He shuts, no one can open..." Revelation 3:8 What open and closed doors are before YOU?

Kid's Halloween Party Ideas!

Just sharing a letter I sent out to the parents of my daughter's class for her upcoming class Halloween Party that I have been asked to plan. Whether you are a student, parent, teacher, employer, church leader, or just want to throw a festive party at home for your friends, thought I'd share with my readers to give you some ideas to help you Walk In Victory over your upcoming festivities. Feel free to use any of the mentioned ideas and feel free to share other creative ideas that I just may publish in future postings!! :)

Hi Parents! Mrs.    mentioned that each of you have expressed an interest in helping with the upcoming Halloween Party and some of you have contacted me personally to see how you can help! Thanks so much for your offer to help! It is much appreciated! We have an exciting party planned for the children so let me give you some of the details of what that looks like and then I'm open to how each of you feel led to serve within that capacity! :)

We'll start off by dividing the class into equal groups and have several stations set up in which the children will rotate stations about every 10 minutes so that everyone will have a chance to participate in all of the activities, hopefully in 10 minute increments to get everything in within our 1 hr time frame and keeping the classroom broken into smaller groups that can be more easily supervised and managed by 1 parent at each station. We want it to be tons of fun but "organized chaos," if you will! :) The stations are comprised of a large motor skill type group game, a fine motor skill game/activity, and a craft, followed by food and treats and ending the day with a class game intended to encourage team building in a way that is going to be a blast! All in an atmosphere with fun and festive decor and party music, I'm hoping it will be a party that the kids will remember for years to come! :) We're keeping it fun and festive, yet using classic and neutral Fall Harvest type games and crafts to give as many children from all different backgrounds as possible an opportunity to participate!

We'll start off with 3 stations:

(1) The 1st station will be intended to use their large motor skills with the Classic Bobbing for Apples game!! No worries! We're revising this classic game to make it more germ savy. To do so, the children will each get a small bucket and will hold the handle as they use their buckets to "Bob for Apples!" Here's what we'll need for this game: a large steel or plastic tub, a dozen or 2 of apples, and 5-6 small buckets with handles (just large enough to fit an apple, but small enough to allow for 5-6 children to be able to get their buckets all in the tub at one time! I will purchase the apples and I'm hoping to find 5-6 buckets that will work at the Dollar Tree or party section of Walmart or Target for a good price out of the $2 donations the children have been bringing in for the party. What I need is the large tub! Do any of you have or know someone who has a large tub that we could borrow for the afternoon?! :)

(2) The 2nd station will be the fine motor skill activities which will be a table of several activities including Halloween Bingo, Halloween Word Scrambles and Crossword Puzzles, and a Halloween Candy Guessing Jar! I can print the bingo cards and activity sheets online for free, I thought we'd use candy corn for the bingo markers and a jar FULL of Halloween treats that they will each place a guess on a piece of paper as to how much candy they estimate is in the jar and the child who guesses closest without going over, wins the entire jar of candy!! I will purchase the candy for both Bingo and the candy jar from the class donations and I have a jar I can use from home which I'll decorate really fun and festive!

(3) The 3rd station will be the craft! We will be making Paper Bag Pumpkins which are intended to be neutral and fun for any age level and will give the children something tangible to take home from the party that they can keep for themselves or I will show them how to turn it into a fun centerpiece for their Thanksgiving Tables or as a elegant fall decoration for their homes that mom will be sure to love!! :) Here's what we need for supplies for this craft: Brown Paper Lunch Bags (2 per child), Newspapers, Rubber Bands (5 per child), Orange Paint, Green Construction Paper or Card Stock, and Paintbrushes. I can likely get all of these supplies at the Dollar Tree cheaply out of our class budget, however what I will need is LOTS of newspaper donations so start collecting and sending them into class! :) Of course if anyone has an abundance of paper bags, rubberbands, green paper, or paint brushes that they would like to get rid of and donate to the class party, that will give us more money out of our budget to spend on creating a festive atmosphere, treats, and prizes! :)

(4) After completing all 3 stations, the kids will be tuckered out and ready for a break to sit with friends and share yummy treats! Mrs.     has sent out a sign up sheet for parents to sign up to bring in treats so that should all be covered. If you haven't and would like to, please feel free to sign up for a treat on that sign up sheet. I think we have a great variety of things coming in for the children to share.

(5) After the food, the highlight of our party will begin as we end our time together! The children will do this activity altogether as a class to promote team building and help them bond relationally as a class! :) We'll be having a "Mummy Wrap!" :) We did this in my daughter's class last year and it was a blast! Definitely a favorite highlight of the party! We'll break the kids into teams and they will designate as a team who they would like to be the "Mummy!" We'll turn on fun music (maybe Monster Mash or something fun and festive like that - Mrs.     will be taking care of the music and bringing in a CD she has)! We'll give each team lots of rolls of TOILET PAPER and then let them have a blast by actually giving them permission to wrap their friend in toilet paper however they desire! As time permits, we can do this several times to give others on the team each a chance to be the "Mummy" if they desire! At the end, we make it a race - Boys vs. Girls! :) They LOVE that! 2 parents will each hold a large trash bag, we seperate the boys from the girls and each team races against the clock to fill their bag with all the toilet paper first! Basically a fun and sneaky way of getting it all cleaned up!!! :) All we need for this activity is LOTS of toilet paper! :) I will be buying that out of the class donations as well, however if you feel inclined to send in an extra roll, feel free!! :)

That's about it! I'll purchase all of the decorations out of the class budget and will be arriving at about 1:00 to decorate and set up and will need helpers for that if any of you are able. I'll be checking in with Chick Fila to see if we can get a few FREE Kids Meal cards donated as prizes for the games! Other than that, the only predictament that I have is that my Kindergartener has a Halloween Parade and Class Party at the very same time as our class party so I'll be needing to double duty and split my time up somehow, so if I could just get a few parents who would be available to make sure everything is covered while I sneak out for a 1/2 hr or so to go watch my other daughter's parade and just stop by her class, that would be great!! :)

So if you could just each let me know that you received this, and whether or not you have any of the items we need to be donated and how you may be available to help in anyway, that would be great! Looking forward to seeing you all on Friday!! Thanks so much!

Paper Bag Pumpkins

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this Paper Bag Pumpkin Craft I found online! It's simple and fun for any age, there's only a few supplies needed to make it (all of which you can likely find around the house or at the Dollar Tree), and it's a craft that you can make at home with your children, with your Mommy and Me group get togethers, with your girlfriends over hot cider, or like us, for a class party (and for the class party, pumpkin crafts are a "safe" activity for those who are oppose to allowing their children to participate in anything "gouhls and gobblins related).

Here's what the finished product looks like when complete...isn't it VICTORIOUS??!! :) Or as my Belle would say, "Isn't it FABULOUS?!" To Belle, everything is FABULOUS!! :) Ok, this child wants a tea cup poodle named "Purr-fect," and wants it to wear pink nail "pawlish," a doggie tiarra, and a pink sash which reads, "FABULOUS!" If you KNOW Belle, there's your laugh for the day! :)



Here's what you'll need:

Paper Bags
Newspaper
Green Construction Paper (Card stock is even better)
Orange paint (or mix red and yellow if that's what you have on hand)
Rubberbands (keep away from that put everything in their mouth little one)

Here's what you do:

Cut or tear newspaper into strips. Stuff the paper bag with newspaper until it is full and circular shaped. Then place the paper bag stuffed with newspaper in a 2nd paper bag (to make it sturdier and in case it tears). Gather the paper bags at the top and secure with a rubberband. Then cut the rubberbanded, gathered part to shorten a bit for the stem. Wrap green construction paper or green card stock around the gathered part (the stem) and cut a leaf shape and glue that to the stem. Wrap 4 rubberbands around the diameter or the circle vertically, to give your "pumpkin" real looking ridges. Paint the entire "pumpkin" orange. Allow to dry and the kids can keep it or to make it double duty victorious, it can be used as home decor! Of course, I think of ALL things as Home Decor!! Make 1 or 3 and place them on the center of a plate or decorative serving tray and throw a few fall leaves (from the craft store or from your yard) around the plate or serving tray, so that the pumpkins are sitting on the leaves and wah-lah...you have a fall centerpiece for your dining table or coffee table that can be used from now through Thanksgiving!! :) Now that's what I call a Walking In Victory Triple Play!! :)

To "do" Halloween, or not to "do" Halloween? THAT is the question!

Belle's teacher asked me if I would spearhead the class Halloween Party and I agreed and in researching for ideas and planning the party out today, I thought it would be nice to share a few ideas for upcoming Fall Festivities with my Walking in Victory Readers! But before I post some fun craft and game activities you can do at home, do as part of your Mommy and Me get togethers, or for your class parties, I thought I'd share my thoughts on this controversial matter, because, well this is MY blog :) (and I'll cry if I want to, cry if I want to, cry-ee-ii if I want to - oops, sorry for the diversion, got carried away - you're laughing, you KNOW you are, and now you have that song stuck in your head too! He he he!!!)! Anyhoo, back to ME, I mean MY blog, JK :) allow me to share with you MY family's way of handling this topic. That and because as I pursue my certification to become YOUR personal Certified Life Coach (which is just a fancy way of saying, I'm pursuing something on paper to do what I'm doing now, only as a profession, walking alongside, mentoring, and training up others to Walk In Victory in this journey called life, I just know I'll get this question from a reader, client, parent, etc., in the future. So if like us, you've been torn about this "holiday" and how to handle it, this is what we have done....

For us, we don't necessarily celebrate the meaning behind Halloween, celebrating the dark, underworld of witchcraft and sorcery. But we never want to be the parents that make our kids go sit in the office during the class Halloween party. Anyone who knows our family closely knows that we aren't really much into "religion," and formalities or lack thereof. Our perspective is that God doesn't care about all that! It's about a relationship with Him through a personal, saving relationship with His One and Only Son, Jesus Christ, that was given up for us as a ransom so that we could be free from sin and the eternal penalty of our sin. He cares about our hearts. It's the attitude and posture of our hearts that He is jealous for, not what "religious" activities we participate in. Of course with that, if our hearts are truly in line with His, then we naturally will have convictions about activities we participate in or don't and will desire to do what is pleasing to the Lord, knowing that that is where our very own protection and blessing lie.

We will never win souls for Christ so long as we are causing others to view Christians as judgemental and snicketty people (is snicketty even a word?! I don't know, it's just what came to me!)!! :) You know what I'm trying to say...you KNOW you do! Anyway, for US, we live in a very diverse area and we'll never win souls to Christ without taking genuine interest in the same people their very Creator is very interested in! We have to be open to genuine relationship with them. Not just shoving Christianity down their throats. It's when the kids and I have developed GENUINE relationships with our Hindu neighbors for example, allowing them to invite us into their culture, cooking and eating foods together with them from their culture, that we get to know them and they get to know us as well. And they eventually ask questions and become curious about the joy we seem to have and the fruit in our lives, because it becomes desireable. Trust me, not that we have it all together (refer to my Walking In Victory Over Keeping Your Pants Pulled Up post if you would like further illustration of that fact)! :) We don't. But to a hurting world, what very little fruit they see in our lives, is HUGE to them.

Anyway, that's my sermon for the day. We are not to conform to the world by any means. We are a true testament to that stance. We just gave up our very livlihood (and may I add, swallowing our pride and being humbled DAILY - some day when this season is over, I'll share more when I'm sure it will be funny by then) because we would NOT conform to standards that put our core values, convictions, marriage, and family in jeopardy. I'm just saying, let your kids celebrate the new season Fall, a season of Harvest, (heck, use that concept and tie it into the gospel)! :) I'm just saying, don't be snicketty (there's that word again, well, ok, so I don't know if it was, but NOW snicketty is officially a word, so walk in victory using it - and if someone looks at you strange when you tell them they are being snicketty and therefore NOT walking in victory, just tell them, "MY soon to be Certified Life Coach said it's a word and I'm saying it and you can cry if you want to, cry if you want to, cry-ee-ii if you want to - make sure you put a whole lot of attitude into the cry-EE-II part!")

Get involved. Spearhead the class party and have a say in what types of activities the class chooses. Surprisingly, you'll find that the teacher and other parents will be on board and even agree! :) And never teach your kids to be snicketty! :) Or worse yet, allow them to think that YOU are! Be released of all that stuff! Walk In Victory and go decorate a pumpkin with your kids!! :) It's totally ok. In fact, plan a trip to the pumpkin patch this weekend! A ride in the back of a hay wagon in the middle of nowhere with a cup of hot cider is down right chicken soup for the soul!!

Principles vs. Preferences...Which Choice Will You Live By?

I've posted below a message from one of my favorite Pastors, Charles Stanley, this morning because as many of you know, this message hits so close to home in this particular season. My husband recently lost his job precisely because he chose to stand firm in his convictions, to follow principles rather than preferences, approval, and even his very career. I make this statement humbly only to make a point that this was a prestigious and high paying position lost so the cost was great, however the true cost was sacrificed by the One who made the ultimate sacrifice and so we count it all but loss and stand by the principles of the One who truly sacrificed it ALL!

Along with that stature and salary/benefits package came the following: keeping hours that allowed him to be home and participate in his children's lives at an extremely limited level, 3-4+ hours of commuting to and from Washington, D.C. everyday, in addition to keeping extravagant hours, and worst of all, he was being placed in compromising positions that caused him to have to chose between standing by his principles or putting his career on the line. There are too many illustrations of daily and weekly expectations of compromise over the last year with this company to discuss in this particular post, however, I do want to be specific with a few examples because as I hear reports from others in similar situations, I believe that this is how many companies are choosing to operate in current times for the sake of "team building," in essence sacrificing the "home team," and there are men and women right now as I write, being placed in similar circumstances and I would strongly encourage you to live by example!

Harry from the very beginning of accepting his new career opportunity, was placed in a position where the other Project Manager of the project he was managing was a woman in her mid-30's. Although MY personal preferences in my insecure mind would have been otherwise, that in and of itself is to be expected in current times. Men and women have to work together. That's unavoidable and just part of life. Where it became a little problematic was when they were expected to work long hours together, in an on-site office, meaning the lack of other personnel or accountability, lunch or dinner depending on the hour being brought in for them as they sat in meetings or worked on a project together for hours upon hours, and finally, Harry returning home most nights too late to have any marriage or family time together only to receive phone calls and emails on his Blackberry from her and others at all hours of the night and weekends. Of course when working so closely with someone in this type of setting most waking hours of your life, regardless of the boundaries Harry tried to put in place, unless he was outright rude to her, it became difficult to avoid the conversations that she often attempted to take beyond the scope of business. I grew concerned when we attended a black tie company gala in January and noticed that she felt very comfortable rubbing my husband's back with her hand as we entered the event.

Then in April, Harry was informed that he was being assigned a 21 year old female intern from Purdue University for the summer. He was directly assigned to be her mentor and responsibilities listed in the Memo from Human Resources included training her up within the company, as well as in the industry as a whole, assigning, monitoring, grading, etc., "meaningful" assignments, keeping track of her time and records required with the internship program, allowing her to shadow him at all times, including taking her in his personal vehicle to all job site visits, inspections, meetings, etc.

Here's where we get to standing firm in principles: the memo further instructed that a live web cam meeting had been scheduled for them for the initial introduction from where she was at Purdue University. He was expected to begin building a relationship with her over web cam until her arrival on May 16th, when a formal Mentor/Intern luncheon was scheduled for their in person meeting, followed by a series of orientations that he was to attend with her, followed by weekly formal Mentor/Intern luncheons and dinners he would be required to attend with her, and a Mentor/Intern Happy Hour scheduled for every Friday after work at various locations. The memo stated that a White Water Rafting Team Building Adventure had been scheduled for Mentors and their Interns on June 24th that he was expected to attend with his intern. Now I may be naive, but I am not so naive as to believe that there is a difference in the attire one might wear to the office and what one may where rafting in the river and further, Harry and I were both quite uncomfortable with a 21 year old girl in a bikini holding on for dear life to my husband's waist in a raft as they braved the raging white waters. As the summer progressed there were limousine rides scheduled and going away parties, project parties, staff meetings at Dave and Busters as well as other restaurants, bars, bowling alleys, and even the National Zoo!

Needless to say, Harry and I were both equally uncomfortable with all of the above and he was forced with no choice but to go to his boss and voice his concerns, that he was a married man of faith with children, that he was a leader in his church, that his wife was also on the Women's Leadership Team at church, as well as pursuing ministry, and that he simply was not going to be "dating" his intern at work. Unfortunately, after taking his concerns to 2 different levels of management, he was basically advised that he needed to separate his work from his personal life and that if he couldn't do so, he would receive poor job performance evaluations and ultimately his job would be at risk. His response and following actions were that he was going to stand by his convictions and if it cost him his job, then so be it, he would not waver.

After 5 months of fulfilling his obligations to his intern on a professional level, which was not easy on our marriage (Harry and I will blog together more in depth on this in the near future in a marriage segment) even at that level of this 21 year old girl spending 12 hours a day, everyday with my husband, lunches and dinners being brought in for hours and hours worth of meetings, and then after spending all day together, calling and emailing him on his Blackberry as early as 6:30 am and as late as 11:30 at night and all weekend long, he did not waver on the "team building" social engagements scheduled. The result was that every time Harry found a more suitable replacement for himself to attend a scheduled outside event like the rafting trip or he didn't show up at a scheduled outside event at a bar room, his boss would faithfully call him into his office the next day interrogating him as to his reasons for his absence. The situation grew more intense as Harry stood firm and his boss became visibly hostile with Harry, barely speaking to him most days, and when he did, it was in an angry, demeaning manner, even at one point, THROWING papers across the desk AT Harry. All I can say to that behavior is that his boss should have been thankful Harry was a man of faith in that moment because 15 years ago, well, lets just say, those poor innocent papers would have found themselves down the esophagus of a man pleading for an extension of his existence on this planet! :)

Nonetheless, sadly the end result was this: Harry succeeded in meeting the substantial completion of a fast track project at the National Cathedral (despite setbacks of interns, earthquakes, and hurricanes), on 9/6/11. On 9/7/11, yet another after hours "project party" was scheduled at a nearby pub, an establishment that had already been frequented by the same "project team" on a weekly basis for the past several weeks. As usual, Harry chose to attend his daughter's "Back To School Night" at her school that evening rather than attend the project party and subsequently, the very following day on 9/8/11, he was met in his office by his boss, the Executive Director of the Business Development Unit, and Vice President of Human Resources to perform his "exit interview," where he was falsely and viciously accused by his direct boss and basically escorted from the premises as though he were some sort of criminal.

Where are we today, 1 month later? Well, we certainly didn't go down without a fight. We fought for Harry's job and we fought for justice, meeting with other executives within the company, writing a letter to the President, CEO, and Owner of the company, and even consulting with multiple attorneys to no avail. As with other life circumstances, we have come to accept that this is yet another injustice and trust that a Sovereign, just, loving, righteous God who controls the outcome of the universe will work this out for our good and His glory. Right now, we've lost our income, our livelihood, our 401K, our health insurance, etc. Harry has lost out on 2 project bonuses owed to him for completion of 2 projects that this same boss will now receive his portion along with Harry's, along with 3 weeks paid vacation and other benefits. Harry is left to attempt to find employment in this economy in an industry that has been directly hit hard by this particular economy, at his age where he is almost not even marketable in this particular industry and now with a termination on his record (a termination without cause, but nonetheless, what the record shows, is termination). In addition to those limitations as far as our future livelihood, Harry doesn't even know that he wants to return to an industry where this type of "team building" is the norm. For lack of a better description, the hours, commute, stress, expectations, compromising positions, etc., over the last year with this company has left him completely burnt out.  

In OUR limited view, the future is bleak. We have barely recovered from being downsized a yr and 1/2 ago, leaving us without income for 4-5 months of job searching and finally needing to pack up everything, start over, and relocate our lives, leaving behind a house in VA worth nearly $100K less than what we paid for just a few years ago. Just 3 weeks before being terminated, we had just signed a year lease on a house closer to work for Harry to help with the toll the commute was taking on him. We're sort of left scratching our heads with boxes still packed as to whether or not its wisdom to even unpack them. We literally are on the brink of financial ruin. That is in our limited perspective. But we serve a God that can do anything. He can make what seems impossible, possible. My testimony is evidence of that alone. If the consequence for standing firm in our principles is that we lose everything, so be it. For what does a man gain if he gains the whole world, yet loses his soul. Yet, if the consequence for standing firm in our principles is blessing, so be it. The best job Harry has ever had could be right around the corner. Who knows what the future holds. We have to rely on our manna for today and not be anxious for the future. Every need has been met so far, and we are full of faith that every need will continue to be met.

It's challenging, there's no doubt. Most days I have to preach this to myself as I wrestle. But I very timely awoke to this message on my TV this morning as I went to bed discouraged. I would encourage you to watch the message I've posted below from Dr. Stanley with our story in mind. Particularly, I love the illustration he provides at the end of his message, and I'm paraphrasing, but he gives an example that preference is an unmarked road traveled, weaving side to side vs. principle where the road traveled has a white center line for us to follow which would represent following the safety of God's principles and suppose you were traveling 75mph down a road with no white line and banks on each side. Would you consider that to be dangerous? What road would you travel? The unmarked road where the potential dangers are unknown or the marked road where the the white line protects you from danger? I don't know what you are facing today. But I do know, despite what it looks like from the outside, stand by your principles, no matter the cost and walk in the victory of knowing you did not compromise!

This Week on TV

This Week on TV

Hillsong United - Here In My Life - With Subtitles/Lyrics

Dancing in the Rain (and splashing in a few puddles along the way)!

Well, since I spoke on the topic "Dancing In The Rain" at a Spring Women's Ministry event in March, I have certainly had more than ample opportunity to put into practice what I preached! We'll talk more in detail about some specific life illustrations in very near future posts, however for now, I wanted to share with you a song that ministered to me in my personal devotional time this morning. It was very heavy on my heart that I needed to share this today. From personal experience in being compelled to share something and doing so in obedience only to hear a future report of how someone needed that particular message in that given moment, I am confident in this: that someone this morning, like me, needs to be inspired, spurred on, compelled forward, strengthened, comforted, empowered, loved, and encouraged to keep "Dancing in the Rain!"

My prayer is that you receive this song as your "umbrella" and go forth dancing in the rain remembering what you have heard me say before; that the purpose of rain is growth!! For me, I'm not at all surprised by the fiery storms that have come in my own life since I ministered to others about how to perservere through and overcome in the midst of the storms of this journey called life! I am surprised at how I have been knocked down a bit. I still declare that I will not be moved and even though the fierce winds of the storm blow, tossing the branches to and fro, even when the flood waters rise over the roof tops, I KNOW that the roots of my tree are firmly planted and rooted in fertile soil and that my house is built and stands on a solid foundation. Although some branches have been broken and a few windows have shattered, as the storm clouds have passed over, the tree of the broken branch is still rooted in fertile soil and the house of the shattered windows still stands on a solid foundation.

So I have had to run for shelter from the storm surge, raging flood waters, hurricane force winds, tornadoes that have spun from favorable storm conditions, the rumbling of thunder and the bolt of lightning. As I look back at my outline I used in my Dancing in the Rain workshop, I've had to do exactly what I told so many of you needs to be done. I've had to run and seek shelter, I've had to rest in that source of shelter, I've had to even pull back and just take refuge for a little while, I've had to examine and determine what has been broken and in need of repair from storm "damage," life has taken some twists and turns and definitely looks a little different than what I would have planned for. Some of the repairs have required different tools to be employed from my tool belt buckled firmly around my waste. Some of those tools put to use have been a crow bar, to peel back every layer and examine meticulously any weaknesses, a few nails of humility in needing to just do what needs to be done regardless of what that looks like, a vice grip holding and standing firm regardless of every outside force that would attempt to cause it to loosen its grip, and a hammer of perseverance, fighting the good fight for what is right even when the end result doesn't look like what we had hoped for.

Those repairs take time and rebuilding anything is a process, but in the end, there have been a few rescue boats deployed, many evidences of grace, mercy, protection, and the sovereign hand of God recognized, and life has to move forward. I can sit in the "darkness" of the storm clouds overhead and cry woe is me, feeling sorry for myself, blaming others, questioning, doubting or even cursing God or I can count it all joy in my suffering, not looking back but persevering forward stronger and wiser with lessons learned and shared with others. So what do I ultimately need to do? The same thing I told so many of you to do 6 months ago: put on your rain boots, grab your umbrella, and go out and splash in the puddles and dance in the rain!

What an amazing picture exists as I draft this post! I'm facing the windows of my home; it is raining outside, I can see the branches of the trees outside the windows blowing, I can hear the wind howling and some objects rattling, but I find it strange that the sun is actually brightly shining over it all! What a beautiful illustration that God is in control! I can't help but be encouraged by an amazing sense of hope, serenity, and peace, that even in the midst of a storm that is still very much overhead, everything is going to be ok. When all else fails, His Word stands true, that this is ALL for my good and His glory!!! Romans 8:28 - Grandma Daley's favorite verse!!

That is our hope! I've said it before and I'll say it again; THE PURPOSE OF RAIN IS GROWTH!! So push the play arrow on the song I've shared below, declare the lyrics with confidence over your circumstances, upload a few others to get you moving in your "dance party," don't worry about what your neighbors think, they probably need a dance party of their own, :) put on your rain boots, grab your umbrella, and go out and DABCE IN THE RAIN (and splash in a few puddles along the way)!!

Hillsong - At the Cross

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Walking in Victory Over Keeping Your Pants Pulled Up!! :)

As my husband ministered to a young gentleman that came to him for advice at work the other day and commented to my husband that, "he seems to have it altogether in life," Harry was prompted to ask me to blog about the fact that we do NOT have it altogether, that we have the same struggles everyone else does (and then some)! :) For example, allow me to humor you with some fine illustrations from last weekend for instance!

So we started our weekend last Friday with plans to head to the gym together when Harry returned home from work and grab an hour workout together before plans to throw some burgers on the grill and pack them up to head to the community pool for some "Fox Family Friday Fun!" *Free marriage tip while I'm at it: wives - take an interest in something that your husband enjoys doing and do it together! He needs you to be a good recreational companion!

So for the "Harry & Jenn Show," one of those things that we both enjoy that we can do together, while taking care of our physical health and appearance for one another at the same time, is working out. Since we only had about an hour to spend at the gym, Harry decided he would forego his normal pumping iron routine and work alongside me with my 45 minute full body circuit which started on the treadmill! Side note: Harry had informed me as we were changing into workout attire that the waistband on his shorts seemed to be stretched out - an important side note as you will see! Anyway, moving on, I informed him that if he was gonna be my partner, he needed to "keep up" doing everything I do (of course lifting heavier on the weights than me)! :) So as he had our 16 yr. old daughter's HOT PINK Ipod in his ears, :) I pointed to the incline on my treadmill dashboard to indicate that he needed to start hitting the UP arrow to get that baby inclined to a 15 and up to a speed of at least 3.5! :)

I promise you that unless you are so privileged as to know how facially expressive my husband is, you CANNOT even begin to appreciate the hilarity of this story! In a nutshell, since we need to move on to the other events of the weekend, as he inclined his treadmill and increased his speed (all while listening to whatever songs our 16 yr old daughter enjoys from her HOT PINK Ipod), as he looked over and observed that I was having a hard time keeping a straight face, he thought it would be funny to "show off!" So he let go of the handles on his VERY INCLINED treadmill, started singing & dancing obnoxiously to whatever "girl" song was on the PINK Ipod! Did I mention that he is tone deaf and has precisely 0 sense of rythym??!! :)

Oh yes, as you very much saw coming, as he let go of the handles and began all his "showing off," he lost his balance and as he attempted to recover with a horrified look on his expressive face, yep, you guessed it - stretched out waistband faithfully gave way and down went his shorts!!!! :)

Part 2: And moving right along to Sunday!! :)

As we're leaving Covenant Life Church (I should mention a church of about 4000 members whose kids are all very well behaved), Belle and Lola Grace indicate that they need to use the bathroom before making our commute home! They have at this point sat through all of first service and an hr & 1/2 of our Starting Point class after - in other words, they are DONE with being at church for like 4 HOURS!!

We all go in the same "family stall" where there is a chair for Belle to sit patiently and wait while Lola Grace does her business! So, Lola Grace takes her position on the throne (oh my goodness, they are gonna kill me one day when they're grown and find out I put this story on my blog) and begins to become highly sensitive in her overtired state that her sister is, "looking at her butt!" So the events that followed sort of resembled this:

Lola: "Belle, stop looking at my butt!"
Belle: "I'm not looking at your butt!"
Lola: "Mommy, Belle's looking at my butt!"

I should mention, they are upset and yelling these statements at one another from the "privacy" of our stall, while the others are all otherwise FULLY occupied!! :)

Me: (under my breath): "Belle, please stop looking at your sister's butt!" (btw...do any other moms find themselves making statements like these, "Stop looking at your sister!" "Why are you using your father's golf clubs to dig holes in the yard?!" "Alright, WHO put lipgloss on the dog??!!" "Why did you throw that tennis ball in your sister's spaghetti??!!" - all real life illustrations no less)!! :)

Lola (the strong willed child not willing to let this point go unresolved and standing up off the throne, panties down around ankles, proceeding to the door of the stall with arms crossed): "Fine, I'm not going potty until Belle gets out!"

Me: "Belle, would you please give your sister some privacy and go to the next stall?"
Belle: "This isn't fair, I'm not even looking at her butt!"
Me: "Well if niether of you are going to go potty, then I'm going to go!" So undoing my pants to proceed with my threat.....
Lola: "No, I have to go potty, really really baaaaadddd and I'm not going until Belle gets out cuz she's lookin at my butt!"

Me (starting to lose patience with this whole fiasco, grabbing Belle's hand to lead her out of the stall into the next): "Belle, you need to go in the next stall!"
Belle (becoming STIFF and LIMP as if her bottom was HOT GLUED to that chair): "Why do I have to leave, I'm not even looking at her butt!"
Me (now quite frazzled and desperate and tugging a little harder to get this hot glued child out of the chair and toss her out of the stall): "Belle, you may not argue with me and you must obey!" (while giving that mortified, loving, motherly glare-oh, come on you know which one - your mother's looked at you like that too)!! :)
Belle (over-reacting to my tug & falling to the floor): "Ouch, Mommy you hurt my arm!"

Oh, just perfect, as if this bathroom FULL of mothers and well-mannered children did not already form an impression of my parenting abilities, now they are left with the impression from my over-reacting 9 yr. old, that I'm also abusive!!

Me (finally flat out of patience and ready to fall to the floor in meltdown mode alongside my 9 yr. old, forgetting in my frazzled state of mind to button or zip my pants back up or buckle my belt and scooping up my 5 yr. old, still with panties down around ankles and walking at a desperate pace, smiling through gritted teeth at the line of women outside of the stall to the final epiphany when I proceeded into the lobby to find their father - you know how they're suddenly HIS kids when you're are at the point of turning in your resignation to motherhood letter and walking passed the multitudes of people, oh yeah, including one of the Pastor's who Harry later informed me was waiting outside for his wife who had gone in that same bathroom with their well mannered children) to Harry through gritted teeth and hair standing on end: "We need to leave right away!"

Harry (bewildered as to all that has just transpired in the ladies room: "Why, what's wrong?!"

Me (responding to his line of questioning with absolutely no patience. tolerance for submission or respect for him as a human being let alone my husband, violently handing him his crying 5 yr old, still with pants down around ankles, may I add): "This is not the time to ask questions, we need to get to the van (yes, we drive a mini-van) right away!"

Me (Walking away at a speed that clearly indicated I was not at all happy, apparently with my BELT FLAPPING IN THE WIND AS I WALKED BY ONLOOKING PASTORS AND DOOR GREETERS, husband practically chasing me out the door with melting down children, and now noticing my 16 yr. old laughing hysterically): "Brittany, don't start, this is not funny!"

Brittany (highly concerned for my future reputation): "But mom...."
Me to Brittany: "This is NOT the time!"
Brittany (the only child obeying when she clearly shouldn't have at this point and after it was fully too late and I had walked all the way across the parking lot in this, well let's just say, UNDONE condition and finally arriving at the van): "Mom, I was trying to tell you that your pants and belt are undone!!!"

Me (systemactically looking down and then bursting into tears and looking at my husband, who is still confused as to what the heck is even going on, why he is chasing his storming wife out of the church building carrying a tantruming 5 yr. old with panties down around ankles who is screaming, "I have to go potty!" and who now somehow, is at fault for this entire incident): "You had better do something about these kids!!"

So, as I'm sure those Pastors and onlookers who seemed to have it altogether were made aware that they had quite a project on their hands with this unsubmissive, disrespectful wife, who had anger management and emotional issues and no apparent control over her children, let alone control over her well let's just say, MODESTY, let me reassure you of the reality...that rather, they were likely much like me, saying to themselves, "Thank God, I'm not alone, there goes another family struggling with the SAME exact daily battles I am faced with and we are all fully prone to utter depravity without the Lord's grace and help in our lives as we submit ourselves to full dependence on Him alone!" So, be encouraged today, NONE of us have it altogether!! Isn't that good news??!! You are not alone in your battle against the flesh today to do the things you don't want to do and neglect to do the things you DO want to do! It's a race - a process, that we are ALL running at different paces, one that none of us have fully arrived at the victory ribbon, but one that we need to continue faithfully running with endurance, patience, and perseverance, never growing weary in our shortcomings, but always maintaining hope that NONE of us will ever be perfect - hence, why we ALL need a perfect Savior!!

Walking in Victory Over Temptations and Trials!

From my personal devotional time this morning, my hope and prayer for you is that God used this to not only encourage me today, but to encourage all of YOU today!

TEMPTATIONS AND TRIALS

Temptation and testing (or a trial) are two sides of the same coin.

Satan uses an occasion or a person to tempt us to fall;

God uses the same to try and make us stronger.

We learn this in Matthew 4:1 and the entire book of Job.

In seasons of temptation and trial, it is easy to grow weary and discouraged. Our emotions can be all over the place. If you're anything like me, you can experience every emotion common to man in 1 minute flat! :) We can't rely on our emotions! I'm not suggesting that we should ignore our emotions. We need to tune in to them, identify them, feel them, acknowledge them, etc., because emotions are God given in how He created us, and often it's important to allow ourselves permission to "feel" them because doing so can very much be part of the process in what He is ultimately trying to grow you in.

As the Laura Story song, "Blessings," that I posted last week says, (don't know if this is word for word, but the general gist of what I'm trying to convey): "What if your blessings come through raindrops? What if your healing comes through tears? What if a thousand sleepless nights are what it takes to know your here? What if trials of this life, are like mercies in disguise?"

My point is that experiencing those "tears," "sleepless nights," "trials," and even our emotions is all part of the process that our faithful, loving father is trying to accomplish in each of our lives in unique ways. Where we get in trouble is when we stay trapped in those emotions and fail to take every thought or feeling captive and make it obedient to the Word of God, which is the only truth we can truly rely and base our hope on. Our feelings will ultimately fail us IF we do not take them captive, and line them up with the truth of God's perfect Word.

So let me help you out a little with what I read this morning, and although I've read it a gazillion times, it is always faithful to realign my thoughts and feelings with truth. So, let's take a walk through just the first half of James 1.

In my Bible, the subheading is "Trials and Temptations." It says (and I may not quote word for word but the content will be the same, for the sake of serving those reading that have no idea what I'm talking about)! :)

Consider it pure joy, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lackin anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. But when you ask, you MUST believe and NOT DOUBT, because you who doubt is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is double-minded and unstable in all he does. (OUCH - that's personal)! :)

Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial, because when (I love how God's Word doesn't say if, but WHEN - that's hope) you have stood the test, you will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love Him.

When tempted, no one should say, "God is tempting me." For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; (WOW!! I don't know about you, but that's profound for me who has been guilty of accusing God)! But each one is tempted when, by his OWN sinful desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.

Don't be deceived, every good and perfect gift is from above, from God, who does not change like shifting shadows. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.

So to sum it all up, how do we Walk In Victory over temptations and trials? We take every thought and emotion captive and MAKE it obedient to God's Word, the ONLY truth we can rely upon and that will NOT fail us or return void! Why should we count temptations and trials as pure JOY? Because, the testing of our faith produces perseverance! Why do we need to persevere? To mature us and make us complete - lacking nothing! What is the one who perseveres under trial? BLESSED!! If you have to print just the last paragraph of this post out or write in on an index card to keep before you on those "stormy" days, then do so! Engage in the battle! Fight back! You don't have to just sit there defeated! Just do what I do...I say things like this last paragraph to myself audibly out loud in my home, as I take my daily walk, wherever it is when my thoughtlife and emotions (exactly where the devil knows he can get to me) come under attack! I'm sure onlookers/hearers think I'm crazy, but those who know me personally KNOW that I always have myself in some sort of predictament anyway so just learn to do what I do. Laugh at yourself, make fun of yourself, etc. You'll be amazed at how effective that alone is in helping you walk in victory!! So feel free to talk to yourself and laugh all by yourself! If you're not talking to or laughing at yourself, you'll be listening to yourself! For me, the 1st choice is best!!

Walking In Victory - Over Trials (With a little sense of humor)! :)

See the video posted below - a cute little song I learned when I was a Chaperone at Kid's Camp last summer (not by the guy in the video, by an awesome family ministry that I would highly recommend - if I could think of their name right now - anyone? Cloverhill peeps...help me out...) Anyway, I'll get back with you on that plug but for now, a cute little song to help you "Walk In Victory," today with a little sense of humor!! :)

Little White Box song

You Are For Me - Kari Jobe

Kari Jobe Healer

Blessings - Laura Story - LYRICS

Hillsong - "MADE ME GLAD" - Blessed

Walking In Victory in Seasons of Trial!

A 10 year, $75,000 battle for custody of my son who was ripped from my arms and kept from me for 8 long years at the Sovereign hand of my all good, all knowing, all powerful, all loving Heavenly Father who allowed "the King's (Judge's) heart to be controlled (& hardened toward me) like a watercourse and allowed me to be falsely accused, attacked, and persecuted for my own good and His glory?

After 10 years of praying, hoping, & trusting God for a miracle, my deliverance looks like this? A restored relationship with a very broken 18 yr old who is currently living on the streets behind a dumpster, where he also finds many of his daily meals, because he would rather live that way than give up a lifestyle of drugs, alcohol, gang activity, & criminal behavior?

Phone calls from that wayward child at all hours of the night on a regular basis that he is being arrested, being taken to the hospital by ambulance, notify me that he has been in a car accident, or otherwise have me walk him through the process of getting whatever substance he has overdosed on from one day to the next out of his system to save his life?

Recovering from job loss a year ago and the financial devastation that resulted, (from whatever had been recovered from the cashing in entire life savings and selling homes to fight for the above mentioned child to no avail?

A season of attack on my marriage to extraordinary degrees?

A relocation and life transition and adjustment 9 months ago to an area that is an entirely different way of life than what we've ever known leaving all of our support system, family, friends, church relationships behind and having yet to establish those things in this wilderness, walking through it all completely alone?

Just coming out of a time of year that is always extraordinarily difficult for our family at the sobering anniversary of my brother being tragically taken from us?

Concern for suffering loved ones?

Uncertainty of the future?

Can you relate? What storm is in your path in this season? From the daily mundane to the little storms to the catastrophic ones - any magnitude challenges are faith! Right now I want to complain, fret, cry, be depressed, declare woe is me, walk in hopelessness, despair, and defeat. To be honest, there are days, I know in my know what I need to do to engage in the battle, but I simply don't want to and sometimes if I can get past the wanting to, I don't have any energy or fight left in me to! I absolutely have to look up and so do you! So on the days when I know all the things I'm suppose to do to gain victory in my battles but don't want to or don't have the fight to, on the days I go get on my knees and don't even know what I could possibly pray for anymore...I mean, let's face it, in my really huge thorn in my life with my wayward child, I think I've covered it all in prayer over the last 10+ years, on those days, where do I turn?

So what do I do on the days I don't want to battle for faith, I don't know what else I could possibly pray for, it all seems hopeless, etc.? I can turn it all back to praise, take the focus off of me, listen to a song with words that actually encourage me and give me hope worth having, not a false sense of assurity or something that temporarily makes me feel better. But if I truly focus, reflect and declare some things over my situation on the days when all of my own creativity is gone, it's amazing how you're thoughtlife begins to line up with those truths. Once your thoughtlife is lining up with truth, it overflows to your heart, which overflows from your heart to your actions! Try it today! If you're where I'm at today, what do you have to lose? I will post a few songs that have been extraordinarily encouraging to me today! I pray you are encouraged, that your thoughtlife and posture of your heart follows, and in turn you walk in victory no matter what you are facing today!!