Generations from now...

"Bill, you say your kids “survived” public schools. I’m sorry, but there’s no way in the world anyone can ever make that claim about a recent public school or college graduate. There are simply too many proof-of-the-pudding developments still lurking in the future. In truth, you won’t know for sure if your children “survived” until your not-yet-born grandchildren are, at a minimum, teenagers."

http://www.americanvision.org/Today/01-30-08.html

When we raise our children, we are in a way raising our grandchildren as well.

*Five Years*

Today marks 5 years of togetherness for Tony and I. *S* I praise God so much for the husband that He has blessed me with. And how He graciously continues to bless our marriage. So what did we do today?

• We at some yummy 12 grain french toast and I told Tony about my dream of the Indian tribe.
• We watched the last video from the "Entrepreneurial Bootcamp"
• We did some campaigning for Ron Paul and witnessed to Neil Edens Aunt Kay and Uncle Bill.
• Tony wore his sandwich board and we walked around downtown Goldsboro to pass out some gospel tracts.
• We went into the Habitat for Humanity thrift store and bought a "Bread Recipe Book" and a copy of "Little House on the Prairie".
• We enjoyed a magnificent dinner at Pupetta's!
• We bought a router and wireless card for the laptop.
• We went to Radio Shack and Sears to see if the Tom Tom One was back in stock.
• I did a quick glance in Ross' while Tony sat in the car and started reading " The Graham Formula".
• We got a coffee and mocha chiller from Krispy Kreme and headed home.
• Then we stayed up super late, drank coffee together and designed our business cards and website for VersatilePrinter.com.
  
  It was an awesome day!!! Thank you Jesus!!!

I want to be a full-time homemaker!

• ((( "Boiling for Christ" pt 2 - Serve Jesus; not your appetite. Serve Jesus; not people. Yes, we put ourselves at the disposal of peoples needs and serve one another. But Ephesians 6:6 says Work not as men pleasers, but as servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man. Serve Jesus; care about one approval! Don't serve man in that way. Ultimately one audience matters. Serve Jesus; not the Law. Romans 7:6 But now we are released from the law having died with Christ to that which held us captive, so that we serve not under the old written code, but in the new life of the Spirit. We now serve a Person instead of the Law. Jesus is a law fulfiller and curse bearer; Moses is just a law demander. Serving the Lord is believing who He is and what He has done. This means that all of our serving is receiving service from Christ which He bought for us on the cross. Serving is a constant trusting, depending, and receiving. We serve Jesus because He is mightily working in me. Serving Jesus is first trusting Jesus to serve me! Serving Jesus is the greatest privelage in the world because the greatest person in the universe has not just called us into his service, but has become our Servant so that all our serving is trusting and depending and receiving. We get the help; He gets the praise!
• What would it be like if I could be a homemaker? Well today I get to find out. *S* We had to leave Tony's truck at S&D last night, so he drove the car to work this morning and I get to stay at home. So far this morning I have drank my carrot-cucumber juice, put a load of towels in the washing machine, and listened to some of my daily devotions. My plans for the day: catch up on laundry, organize our closet and bathroom, and prepare dinner.
• 4:15pm - Yay! Our bedroom closet is cleaned and organized! It took me about 5 hours and I am thrilled! :-) I was going to make spinach lasagna for dinner, but realized that I didn't have any cottage cheese or ricotta cheese. So I made spinach, mushroom, carrot quiche instead. It has about 10 minutes left in the oven and it is looking pretty tasty! Tony will be coming home in a little while. It has been *fun* being a home maker for the day! Maybe I'll get to take days like this more often. Lord, please provide!
• The quiche turned out to be very tasty! I even brought a piece to mom (along with some strawberry apple muffins). Everyone agreed that it would be better with cheddar cheese though. I only had mozzerella on hand, and it was too bland of a cheese. But other than that, this recipe is definately a keeper! We picked Tony's truck up from S&D and the total cost to get it fixed was $62. Then we went to ABI's gym. It feel's good to be exercising and eating healthier!

Trip to Mimi's

This past Friday we went with dad to visit Mimi and Aunt Gayle. Mom was not able to go because she is sick; she has been battling a fever, has what seems to be a cold, and her back has been causing her much pain within the past week. Dad went with her to the doctor's office in LaGrange Friday morning and they gave her a muscle relaxer and pain medicine for her back.

So dad picked us up around 5pm. He treated us to dinner at the Cracker Barrel in Mebane, NC and he and Tony divided up the driving. We arrived to Mimi's house close to midnight; we talked for a little while then went to sleep. Dad slept in the spare bedroom, while Tony & I slept on the couch in the living room.

Saturday we slept until about 8:30am. I requested that Mimi make Lasagna for dinner. :) So we went to Aldi's and Bi-Lo's to pick up the necessary ingredients. We also stopped by Steve & Barry's clothing store - everything was on sale for $8.98. That was my first time going into one and was really surprised. They have a huge selection of clothes and the prices seemed to be reasonable. Next time Brittany asks if I want to take a trip to the one in Greenville, I think I will. :) Mimi was trying to think of something that we could "do"... but we ended up hanging out at the house all day doing "nothing" at all. Haha. It was a really good visit. We were able to talk alot. Dad went through Ed's old comic books. I helped Mimi create a Yahoo e-mail account and updated her Myspace page. I also spent quite a bit of time deleting a bunch of "junk" from her computer. And Tony was able to get a lot of school work done. We ate the very yummy lasagna around 7pm. Aunt Gayle came over after she got off work. She originally said that she was only going to drink water because she couldn't afford to gain a pound, but once she got there she ended up eating a "little bit" just like Mimi predicted. That was really funny. I talked with Aunt Gayle alot and after dessert she gave Tony & I a tour of her new home. She told us the story of God's grace in her getting this home. Lord, You are so good and so worthy of our praise!! She spilled her heart out to us about her divorce with Uncle Roger and her new relationship with Ed. Tony prayed over her before we left and it was just a really sweet time of fellowship.

Sunday we woke up, drank some coffee, and said our goodbyes. We ate breakfast/lunch at Golden Corrale and got home around 4pm. We had lots of conversation with dad throughout the weekend, and I thank God for the opportunity to spend this time with him! :)

Two in the Hospital

When dad got home from Mimi's, mom was still not feeling well. She was actually feeling a lot worse. So dad called me at 7:10pm and said that he was taking her to the hospital. The doctor's were at first suspecting that they might have to remove her appendix, but after hours of testing labeled her as having "Pelvic Inflamatory Disease". They said that it is usually a sexually transmitted disease, but there are cases where people have "mysteriously" gotten it. They put her on morphine, she drank a lot of chalkly stuff, and gave her a shot in her leg. Around 1am, a doctor told dad that Matthew was in the hospital too. Dad is thinking that the doctor is leading him to a waiting room, but instead he is led to an emergency room. Matthew was rear ended at a stop light on his way home and was suffering from severe whip lash. Sigh. They all got home around 4am. So needless to say, it was a very eventful night. Even amongst these trials I have peace in knowing that God is in control! We are doing some research on mom's enlarged uteras and we are thinking that she doesn't have the disease mentioned above, but instead that she has "fibroids" growing inside of her uteras. She has a doctors appointment today - Lord willing we will recieve a good report with more details about her condition. Lord, please give us wisdom during this time.