Crazy, crazy Craz-EEEE

We finally got our internet set up in our new house...lots of stuff happening over at the Smith household...not much time to post....more unpacking to do...trees to put up, decorating to do & life to live...post more later...

An Early Christmas Present

Keys to our new house!!!!!
That's all I have to say!!!!!
Well, okay, I never was a girl with few words, but we are so excited to see the final walk-thru of our house(we havent seen it in over 2 weeks)...and it is finally done!!!!
We have been blessed to stay in a friends home for the past 5wks but we are soooooo ready for our own space. The girls are so excited to see all of their toys again(they are in PODS)and I just can't wait to cook in my own kitchen! And hang my clothes on a hanger(we have been living in boxes).
You know the little things make us happy...
So on Wednesday we are officially moving in....thank you Lord, once again for taking care of us thru all of this. Again, your timing is perfect!

Girl Talks

I had the priviledge of joining my good friend, Joy to Bethel College last week for a couple of days. Her daughter & also my friend, Ashley is in her junior year there. Joy is an amazing speaker who I admire. She adds humor, honesty & encouragement when she speaks. God has truly gifted her. Bethel College asked Joy to come to speak at their chapel service on Wednesday morning & also invited her to speak to the young women later that evening for a girls only session.
What a great time we had with Ashley & Jessie (another great friend who came with us)we laughed until wee hours of the night on tuesday helping Joy prepare for her talk. Joy even talked me into doing a drama for her-impromptu! We had a wonderful time sharing about life & crazy questions that Joy was throwing out at us.

I went last week knowing that God has a plan for me. I have to speak. He wants me to share my story. Joy asked me to share 10 minutes with the girls only session about my story on purity & marriage. I did not want to. It has been a long time since I've spoken on this subject & I was not ready...but Joy so calmingly kept saying"your ready"

So I spoke. And boy was I nervous. But before I went on to speak, God reminded me of Moses & of Ester & many others in the Bible whom He gave the words to...Moses muttered & could not speak well, Ester could have been killed for what she said, but God made a way for them...and they spoke. And mighty things happened...So, I gave my voice to God & spoke. I shared my story of purity & forgiveness. I prayed that God would let just one girls life be touched(I would have been happy with just one)but He had another plan....God spoke thru Joy & thru me & these girls would not leave...they wanted more...and more....they were hungry for what God was saying. Many stayed way past our allowed time & we answered questions...hard questions...but again, God gave us the words...later, I recieved a couple of e-mails from girls that had more questions...praise God...He touched hearts that night. Girls are re-thinking what they are doing & desiring a holy life...

I know that God wants me to speak. I don't know how, or when or to what level but I will continue to follow His lead. Don't deny Him, like I almost did-Go...just go....and He will give you all that you need.

Do Not Worry

I know that my Heavenly Father is taking care of me. But sometimes in the midst of trials & uncertainty I forget.
I'm typically a very calm person, I really don't worry a lot. I just believe that everything will be okay-I don't know if that is a completely good thing because there are some pretty dangerous things that can happen by being that way, but overall I like that quality in me. Now my husband on the other hand, complete worry wart. So, we balance eachother out. One of my favorite verses in the Bible is this...

Matt.6:25-34
"Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body. what you will wear. Is not your life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air, they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
And why worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow? They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all of his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry,saying"What shall we eat, or drink or wear?"For the pagans run after these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first His kingdom, and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."

I love that! How to the point...Just don't worry! God will take care of us.

I have seen His hand a lot in the past few weeks. We, by a miracle, sold our home, for just about what we wanted, when all of the other homes for sale around us still have not sold. We were left homeless after we had to quickly move out within 3 weeks of the sale, not knowing where to go...God reminded a good friend that her in-laws have a home that we could "use" while they are in Florida for the winter. (another amazing thing is that it is in the city where we are building-how perfect)They willingly let us move in without hesitation(and we barely even know them). David's parents house sold the same week that ours sold, which was a huge burden thinking that we had to sell two homes in this slow real estate market...but God made it all happen!
I knew that he would, but I have to say, I was getting a little impatient. I wanted it to all happen sooner, but he knew that it could not...it had to happen in HIS Time. Not mine. Not David's. Not according to OUR plans. But His....Thank you God, for YOUR plan on our lives...thank you for your timing. Thank you for always taking care of us.

"My life is going to slow down...no, really"

It's funny, I really thought this would happen. I really thought life would get "less busy". I made a pact with myself I said" Self, stop busying your life" and I guess I didnt listen. We have been sooooo crazy busy-I can't even stand it. Between selling our house, packing our house, selling David's parents house, packing their house, homeschooling Abby, entertaining & loving Isabelle, being a wife, a housekeeper, chef, friend, daughter, writer and singer...I havent had much time to breath...ahhhhhh....there it is, I breathed.

It was the worst possible time for it, but we decided to go away(this is our way of running from our crazy lives)just get away...we hoped in the car and headed to Sandusky for a couple of days...like I said, worst time for it since we are closing in on our house, packing our house, homeschooling Abby(oh sorry I won't give you the list again-hee hee)but we just knew that we needed it.

I am so glad that we did get away. My family needed some time out, away from the craziness. We ended up at an indoor waterpark called Kalahari! If you havent been there yet, take some time to enjoy this place. It is perfect for the family, the young couple with or without kids, older families...it was just plain fun!!!! We all had a blast riding the waterslides & soaking in the water. Abby and I loved the thrill of the zipcoater(wheew what a rush)....

So we got away...for 2 nights...and yes, I came home to a messy, cluttered, full of boxes & piles of laundry home...but who really cares? I wouldnt trade that time with my family for the world.

"I hate mornings"

This is something my 3 1/2 year old daughter says to me almost every morning...not because she really "hates" mornings but because her favorite orange, tabby cat-Garfield says it on his cartoon...well, last weekend she got to meet this loveable, yet sometimes craby feline...Isabelle lit up when Garfield appeared at the Kids Fest at a bookstore that we went to...she couldnt stop smiling. Garfield hugged her & we even snapped a photo of them...
...so, even though I am greeted by the phrase"I hate mornings" when I wake my little girl up, I still smile because it is so adorable the way she delivers the line & wrinkles up her face...gotta love it! In fact, I love mornings because of this precious time.

School Update

We have already gotten thru 3 weeks of school! I can't believe it! I am so thrilled with the homeschool program that we chose. Props out to the Ohio Virtual Academy for making their school so full of interesting subjects & tools! Abigail is loving History and of course Language Arts(she gets to do a lot of imaginary play with this subject)! And with History she has already learned all of the continents! Each week we "travel" to each continent and learn about the different animals and places there! I'm actually learning a lot too! (I don't think I could have even told you what all of the continents were)

Little Isabelle is doing great too! She sometimes gets involved in the lessons of the day or she keeps busy by playing around us...

Abby and I have kept it a habit every morning to pray together before we begin school time...we hold hands and pray for a good day together & I pray for patience...the other day she prayed for us and said, "God, thank you for school and especially thank you for the best part of it which is my mom being my teacher."
I melted!
Thank you God, for my wonderful daughters that I get to love & teach everyday...bless them both!

Reunion

My friend Marge & I planned a reunion of all the people in our old youth group...what a great time we had seeing everyone & chatting about life over the last 15 years!!! Wow-time goes sooooo quickly! Enjoy the pictures!

"Breaking my heart"

Yesterday Abby & David were dancing together & Abby looked into David's eyes & said "Daddy you are breaking my heart. I love dancing with you"

That alone is adorable. I explained to her that she could say "Melting my heart" and she wondered what that meant...of course we explained that when you are in love or something really touchs your heart you say"melts my heart"...

So today, while David was playing "Here I am to Worship" on his guitar...(which is Isabelle's favorite song) she stopped singing and said"Daddy, you are cracking my heart"

...all we could do was smile...

what a sweet, adorable lady she is...and they are both soooo in love with their daddy...

Soaking up the last days of summer

I have not looked at summer like this before since I was in school...yes, when August rolls around you might as well say that summer is over. Now that I am planning on homeschooling Abby I feel this way all over again...but the difference is that we are planning lots and lots of field trips while the weather is still beautiful. No sitting in class for us when the world is a huge classroom! Abby officially starts school on Monday...wow, that came up on us fast. And we are ready! We have all of our supplies, her room is furnished with a computer & school books galore, along with a globe & other learning materials.
I never really understood why some parents decide to homeschool...I never thought taht I would be one of those parents...but let me tell you I am so excited!
We made the decision officially around the time we put our house on the market. Our new home should be done before the holidays and we didnt want to have to put Abby in a local school here in town then take her out again only a few months later...that would be hard. So homeschooling seemed perfect for our situation. The idea of homeschooling her was always in the back of my mind(and I stress BACK)but I have slowly warmed up to the idea especially thinking about our situation. It just seemed to make sense. So, we'll see what happens...we may love it, we may hate it...but we are going to give it a try...Isabelle is excited too, she just started learning how to work a computer mouse(so she says that she is "in school" too)Too cute!

So, right now we are soaking up summer...swimming, riding bikes, swinging at the park, picnics & just being together!

Busy time

It has been soooo crazy around here...I havent had much down time to actually write anything worthwile. Or any thing at all for that matter. I've been busy showing our house & cleaning & showing our house & cleaning...etc...the pattern goes on & on. But I am so excited to see things come together with our new house! Even though it has been a rough path getting to this point I know that God has led us right where we are. We got a chance to meet our new neighbors already...all of them! There is a young family across the street from us with 3 boys, an older couple, a single guy, and another family with kids 6-13years old....how awesome! We have already connected with each of them in some way & I'm soooo excited to see where the relationships will go....Thank you God for placing us right where YOU wanted us...
Onto another subject-I got an e-mail from one of my casting directors from SPM3...he wants me to call him to chat about upcoming projects....! Hmmmmm......

what our life motto as Christians should be...

Live By Faith
To be known by Love,
and to be a voice of Hope...

Just Go!

I love what my pastor said last night at church..."if the apostle Paul were with us right now and we asked him how we need to reach people for Christ he would probably say 'just go'"
It doesnt matter how you win people's hearts over to Christ it's just that you do it! If your way is by sharing the gospel with words, or by actions or by love in how you live your life then do it! Just go! Don't worry about the how...just go!

I'm so excited about this in my life...I know that I need to "go" more often. I need to share Christ more often & love more often & reach out more often...I don't need some HUGE Life changing drop everything event to get me there...I need to "go" now! I need to love my neighbor NOW...I need to reach out and hug NOW....I need to GO now....I keep thinking about our new neighborhood and how it will be fun to start over with a new batch of people to reach out to...but it's funny because I've almost forgot about the ones around me-right NOW...right here...Lord, remind me of the lost right here in my backyard...show me creative ways to love & to share you with them...I want to "Go" now for you...starting today...

My story

It's amazing how God uses your life...your faults, your mistakes, your past sins to bless someone else when you FULLy give your life over to him.
I never imagined in a millioin gazillion years that I would be admitting my past to anyone...especially to someone that I didnt really know very well.
A new friend of mine at our church who is a new believer told me that she was "living in sin". She laughed but I think she really felt convicted for the types of things that were in her life. She asked my opinion.(Which amounts to not much of anything in my eyes)but I gave her my opinion. I told her that I would love to meet with her sometime to chat about my story and fill her in on how God changed my life.
So, today we met before I had band rehearsal and we walked around and around the church building just talking. She was almost speechless. Her eyes welled with tears. She was moved by MY story... Yes, I wish I had made better choices in my past but I am so thankful that God is able to use me regardless of my faults and sin. I think I see why it is important to open up to those around us. To just let go of our inhabitions...you never know who you will bless or who you will be blessed by...thank you Lord for forgiving my sins and for giving me the strength that I needed to speak your truths...

Summer, summer, summer Time(sing like Will Smith when you read this)

I love summer! I love the heat! I love the sun(yah, no rain today)!The girls and I have been spending the days of summer just resting at the pool(or jacuzzi-that is)and what fun we have been having...sometimes I just watch them play & laugh at their cute little sun bathed bodies or sometimes I just lay by the pool and read a book...ahhhh the life...

Last night after church we took them to their first drive-in movie. They couldnt believe the movie screen was Outside...Isabelle kept saying in this adorable voice"The movie is OUTSIDE? What? That is sooooo silly!"
We had such a blast! Summer, summer summertime...summertime....la la la la la la la....summertime(I really don't know any other words)

So, go enjoy the hot days of summer-and be sure to sing that song everywhere you go....

Legend of the Tooth Fairy

For several weeks now Abigail has had a loose tooth...actually she has a couple that are loose. We have been explaining to her about how she will one day grow "big girl teeth" and she thinks that is sooooo cool! Well, one tooth, which seemed like overnight, decided it would get really really wiggly...and the next morning it came out...she jumped for joy! She also knew that this meant she would get some sum of money provided by the tooth fairy.
I found a cute story about the tooth fairy from the internet and so that night we read it together to find out how this tooth fairy started her business taking little children's teeth in the middle of the night...after reading the story Abby says to David"Dad, how much does the tooth fairy leave for kids anyway?"
He told her that back when he was her age it was only like one dollar...but he was certain that since economy is up that she would leave more these days...Abby thought for a moment..."hmmm..." she said looking at her ceiling and playing with her gums...as David began to leave she said" Dad, I know you & mommy are the tooth fairies...I just like to pretend with you"
She paused again in deep thought.
"So how much are you gonna give me?" she questioned.
David smiled & replied" I don't know-I'll have to ask the other tooth fairy"

Important family member has major surgery!!!!

It was a sad day at our house the day one of our own had to have major surgery...screams rang thourghout the house before the incident happened...my heart stopped thinking the worst was happening...tears flowed like big rain drops and emotions all over the place...our beloved Dottie has lost her tail!

For those of you that don't know Dottie personally...she has been part of our family for 3 1/2 years. She is Isabelle's favorite stuffed animal, but she is so much more than that, she is a blankie, a snuggler, a best friend. She never leaves Isa's side.

When it happened Isabelle screamed soooo loud that I thought SHE had been hurt...nope, she had just accidentally pulled off Dottie's tail(she rubs Dottie's tail and over time is has been slowly coming off)

I had to perform major surgery and Quick!!!!

After playing Doctor I was told that I was the best mom ever!!!(Smile-motherhood is so great-you can be so many things for your child-I guess "Surgeon" is one of them)

And by the way, Dottie is doing great...she's going to be just fine!

My Superhero

Ever since my Spiderman movie my daughters have been "Spidey" crazy. They both used to be afraid of the man in red tights, now they think he is the coolest hero around. We even found them spiderman costumes so they can play the movie. Well, this morning Abby was coloring Spiderman and she said to me, "Mom, I love Spiderman, when you do your next movie with him can you give him this picture that I colored?"

It's funny because she thinks that Spidey and I are tight...it got me thinking(I know that's dangerous when I start thinking)but how awesome would it be for them to think that I am so tight with the only true hero-the one that took my sin, died on the cross for me so that I can be with Him in Heaven one day-so tight that I go to him daily to read and learn about the type of guy he was-the type of REAL hero he was on this earth & who He is now...hmmm....my kids need to know that my priorities are Christ centered...that I seek Him in good & bad...that I look to HIM to save the day!
Then after this thought Abby turned to me & said, " you know Mom, Jesus is my favorite superhero-he's the best of all of them!"

I guess she had the same thoughts as I did...

School Time update

Yes...for all of you wondering...yes...Abby is starting school this fall. She is enlisted in the Ohio Virtual Academy and will start at the end of August. The awesome thing is that I just got a call from one of the teachers there & she was so excited to inform me that Abby placed high for her age in the tests that she has been taking...I always knew that she was very smart for her age-but it was really nice that someone outside of our circle agreed. The teacher asked if I would feel comfortable moving Abby to a 1st grade reading & math level...!!!!!!!!

I was speechless. We have always read to Abby from birth-so when all those commercials say "READ to your kids" I guess it really pays off.

Congrats Abby on a job well done!!!!I'm so proud of you! You are going to do great in school!

Transforming our Character

David & I have been attending [o.r] community for the last year or so. It is a church filled with honesty and raw preaching. I love this about our church. We started to get involved pretty fast after we uncovered what the church is about & what their vision is for the future church. This past month we have been reading in the book of Acts. Following the early churches perspective on what "church" looks like. Our pastor asked some hard questions to us a couple sundays ago...
" Are you swimming in a raging sea of Hope & Dreams in your life?"
or "Are you treading in fear"
He used dominos as a visual to represent the choices that we have made that has led us to where we are right now.
"Are my choices changing for God?"
or "Am I in the same place that I was for God-last year"

"Will the cycle ever change for me?"

Each decision we make is based on our character.

Do we have the character traits of God?

Then our paster peeled open a banana...he said" you never wonder what is inside of a banana...because God makes everything with integrity"
What about when you slice open a Christian(just an analogy-otherwise it would be gross)? What is inside? What is their Character?

In the days of the early church they didnt have cool websites, or smart marketing tools to get the word out about their church-the news just spread because God's message of salvation was being heard & people were gettting saved & lives were transformed for Christ!
How simple...yet why havent we (as the church)caught on to this idea?

[o.r] is feeling God's hand moving us to go....well, backward. Pastor Ted is encouraging us to have a Character transformation. With the guide of our church & the community of believers that fill it we are going to look under the hoods of our lives to get inside of our character & weed out the dark spots. Then we are being sent out into the mission field. Now that doesnt mean that we will not spread the news of Christ along the way, but we do need to see where our hearts are & where we are going FOR HIM! I am so excited for this. I know there are places in my life that need weeding out. Places I probably dont even want to visit or expose...but in doing so God will use me & mold me & make me transform for Him.

Imagine...Christ in You.
To have a mind like Christ.
That if we remain in Him, He will remain in us.

Like our pastor said" The shape of our character is the shape of our future"

If you want to hear more about what's happening at [o.r] community check out their website
www.orcommunity.com