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Posted on August 9, 2010 - by Mary

My Summer: the Condensed Version

I haven’t posted anything on here since Karlie’s graduation party in June. WOW! That is waaaaay too long to stay away! ALOT has happened since then!!! I will try to give you the condensed version of my crazy life…no need to bore you with all the details.

Since my last blog post, here is what has happened:

• My sister and her family came to visit all the way from New Mexico
• We volunteered at the Big Ticket Festival
• Celebrated the 4th of July with my family by going to the beach on Lake Michigan and watching Fireworks in Mackinaw City
• My sister’s husband and all but one of her kids drove back to NM; Sister and youngest stayed here.
• Did a lot of shopping, some garage sale-ing, making of Mexican food, beaching and swimming.
• Went on a youth outing with our youth group from Burt Lake, up the Indian River to Mullet Lake which included boating, tubing, swimming and eating lots of junk food.
• Major church drama that I don’t want to and won’t get into here. (But it’s all working out for the good Praise God!)
• Took my sister and her daughter to the airport in Grand Rapids; stayed the night there; hit 3 malls in one day
• Oooh, got asked to be a bride’s maid in one of my BFF’s wedding’s in November.
• Ordered my dress for said wedding
• BFF from Missouri came to visit for a couple of days…wasn’t long enough!!!
• Attended the reception for a young couple who used to be in our youth group…beautiful!
• Have another wedding coming up this weekend for another young couple who also used to be in our youth group!

I think that’s it in a nutshell.

During all of this, I’ve basically just kept up with my business, working here and there when needed to keep things afloat. Now that all the company is gone, I’m going to focus on promoting my services and building my business. I’m also going to get back on track with my weight loss efforts! As a matter of fact the friend who’s wedding I’m in in November, she and I started a new weight loss challenge…50 pounds in 4 months!

Lots still going on. I imagine there always will be. It’s fun and I love my life. Sure, there are areas which aren’t so great, like finances, church drama, etc., but overall, I love it and wouldn’t change a thing. God has me right where he wants me for now and I’m praying and listening for when He’s ready to move me/us.

Karlie starts cosmetology school in the fall…I imagine I will get to be her guinea pig Watch for new dos…often! LOL.

Grandkids are all getting big and very vocal! Dylan (almost 2) is speaking in 3-4 word sentences now…soooo cute! Ethan (almost 4) is starting pre-school at the Christian school and is so smart! Remmy (almost 7 months) vocalizes her opinion frequently through screetches and other cute baby noises. And grandson number 3 is due in September. I’m sure he will make his presence known very vocally as well.

I’m looking forward to Fall. I love Summer…it’s my favorite season, but I’m foreseeing Fall as a bit more relaxing…and definitely cooler!

Jeff and I are praying to move back to Gaylord. That of course means we have to get this house on the market, so we have been doing some painting and other minor things to get it sale-able. I would really like to rip up the linoleum and carpet and put in all new hardwood flooring. Of course that takes money, so we are praying for an increase there as well. Not only for that, but so we can be more useful in God’s Kingdom. The junior high youth leaders are moving down state, and we feel we’d be able to better minister to the youth living in Gaylord.

Please join us in our prayers and let me know if there’s anything I can pray with you for.

God bless you all!

Posted on June 4, 2010 - by Mary

My Baby is All Grown Up!

Wow has this past week ever been eventful! Let’s see, my husband’s parents arrived last week on Wednesday and had dinner with Jeff. I was at youth group and got home just in time to meet them at the door as they were heading over to their motel.

Thursday, we went to Mackinaw City and spent much of the day just walking around. It was very nice out and we got a surprise while we were there. Karlie, my baby who is now 18, was on her Senior trip with some of her classmates and stopped through MC on their way home. It was pretty cool being able to see her there instead of having to wait until later. She did decide to travel the rest of the way home with her classmates and then her boyfriend dropped her off after school. They wanted to spend some time together…teenagers! Ha.

Thursday, my “God daughter” Briana arrived, too. She is staying with us until after the Big Ticket, so pretty much the whole month of June

Friday was spent shopping for Karlie’s graduation dress. After watching Karlie try on several outfits at various stores, we finally found a store with a lot of things she liked. Aleene was now able to determine Karlie’s style and picked out a couple of things she actually liked and tried on. We did end up finding 2 dresses there and I told her to get them both. She doesn’t have very many dresses in her wardrobe and she could use one for her open house, which is this Saturday. When we were checking out, they ask for your name because they keep record of how often you shop there and stuff. When Karlie told the store associate her name, he turned around and pulled her application for employment out of the stack and asked if she wanted an interview! How cool is that? She had the interview yesterday and is awaiting a call.

Speaking of job interviews, Karlie had one at Subway and was hired. She began her first day of work at her first “real” job (other than babysitting) on Monday. She also had to work a few hours on her birthday, but its good for her.

Jeff and Tom went to the tire place to price out new tires for the truck and found a good deal at the dealership in Boyne City. They were put on the truck this morning after Jeff got off work and his final night of midnights for this round.

Saturday was her graduation. I’m surprised at how well I did NOT crying. I’m usually a big cry-er, but I held it together really well. There were a couple of moments when I started to tear up, but I managed to pull myself together, which is unusual for me. I’ve noticed I’ve been doing that a lot lately. Hmmmm? Makes me wonder what has changed?

After the ceremony, we went to Pizza Hut with the family, most of it anyway. Kaleb had to work and Brandon had a birthday party to go to for one of their friend’s two year old’s. After Pizza Hut, we went around and walked in the park, down by the waterfront in Petoskey. The boys (my grandsons) loved it! They had a blast.

Sunday was church and Jeff’s parents joined us there. Then Jeff had to come home and sleep because he started midnights Sunday night. We had lunch at and then his parents went back to the motel and I think we all took a nap. They came back later, after supper, and visited for a couple of hours and said their goodbyes, as they were leaving the next morning before 8 am.

Monday was Memorial Day and I was able to get my hair done by the amazing Lora. Then Trisha and I went shopping for Karlie’s open house. I got all the decorations at the dollar store! And ones she actually likes. Have you gotten the idea that Karlie is very picky? Yeah, uhhum!

Monday night we cooked out over at Trisha and Ben’s and had a bonfire and made smores. It was a great Memorial Weekend.

Tuesday, I got some work done during the day, and then we celebrated Karlie’s 18th birthday. We went to Trisha’s and made Karlie’s favorite meal, stroganoff and garlic bread. I also made brownies with Reese’s peanut butter chips in them and we had ice cream to go with the brownies. We played games and had a fun time.

Wednesday was youth group day again, but this time Briana came with me. We had our usual two meetings, lunch at Bamboo Palace with Pastor James and my amazing friend Angel and then James took Briana and I on a field trip. Haha. He took us to his house and showed us his very green lawn. We watched him try to kill a mole with a pitchfork, tried to name everything that was growing in their garden, tried to figure out why there were dry spots right by each sprinkler, talked about what would be a good way to rearrange the trees that line the driveway, got hairy shorts from Bailey, his golden retriever, went to the house across the street where his cousin was tearing out the carpeting, came back to the office for a bit, then went back to Biggby while he had a meeting and Bri and I sat and chit-chatted. How’s that for a long day? It was fun though! I really enjoyed it.

Wednesday night was our usual youth group and then aftewards we went to Applebee’s for half off appetizers and then I drove to Vanderbilt to take one girl home and then across to Camp Ten to take another one home. It was a long ride, but not too bad actually.

I have most of the pictures posted on facebook and it’s getting late now, so I don’t feel like uploading them here. For Karlie’s graduation pics, click here and for our Mackinaw City pics, click here. There are also more graduation pics in  the photos added by others as well.

Okay, this is a really long post. Hope you enjoyed my recap of the week How was yours? Do you have any graduates this year?

Posted on May 24, 2010 - by Mary

Graduation is Upon Us-Where to get Graduation Gifts

My baby is graduating this year. It’s kind of weird when your last child graduates from high school. Sadness hasn’t hit me yet, but probably will when she walks across the stage to receive her diploma. Or no, I know when it will definitely hit. She attends a small charter school which focuses on the performing arts so each year at graduation they have a slideshow of all the Graduates throughout the years. Yep that’s when it will hit…I know it. My oldest daughter graduated from this school and that darn slideshow does it every time.

We have the open house all planned out, now we just need to purchase the decorations and cake. She is going to attend cosmetology school in the fall and wants beauty school decorations for her open house. I’ve done some looking online for them, but haven’t been successful at finding them yet. I am planning on going to the dollar store here in a couple of day. I’m looking for cute little combs, scissors, curlers, etc. for center pieces and whatever else I can find that would represent cosmetology well. It will be fun and cute, I think.

Being in the youth ministry, we also give the graduates at our church a little gift in honor of their achievement. We usually try to find a devotional or prayer book. I’ve found some in the past at ChristianBook.com at very reasonable prices as well as on Amazon. This year we got our graduates the Prayer of Solomon. It’s a really good prayer journal and the teens seemed to like it and found it easy to read and follow. This is the 2nd year in a row that we’re giving it to them.

ChristianBook.com has some really nice personalized graduation gifts, as well as gifts for all other occasions, like Weddings and Father’s Day. I use them often and have always gotten great service and have never had to return anything. Their prices are also very reasonable.

Where do you shop for graduation and other gifts?

Posted on May 15, 2010 - by Mary

Final Days of High School

As I sit here and write this, Karlie is attending her Senior Prom. That’s right, my baby is attending her Senior Prom. You know it all hasn’t hit me really that my baby, my last child, is graduating high school in just a few days. We’ve attended her last high school play and her last dance revue so far and still have her last choir concert and of course graduation to go. It did start to hit the other night, the first night of her dance revue. But then I remembered that she still had Friday night dance revue, choir concert, prom and graduation to go, so I was able to overcome becoming emotional at that point. You can see her dance revue and other videos here.

Today was a huge day, getting ready for prom and all. In my last post I told about how she won this prom dress contest from Kymaro. What I didn’t know when I wrote that post was all the amazing stuff she won in addition to her prom dress! Oh my goodness!!!

First of all she was able to pick out any dress she wanted. And she chose this super cute, princess style dress.

She also got to pick out any shoes she wanted and the jewelry. In addition to all that, the wonderful people at Kymaro scheduled her a head to toe makeover at the Spa at the Inn at Bay Harbor; a very upscale salon and spa. She got a manicure, pedicure, hair cut, color and style and a complete facial. We spent all day at the spa…I wish I would have had the money to get myself made over while we were there….oh well. It was her day and she had fun getting pampered. In addition to all that, the prom tickets were paid for, as well as a limo ride to and from prom. They actually got an SUV because there were no limo’s available for today. But, at least they got chaperoned in a nice vehicle!

Another huge surprise came in the mail. She got a box full of beauty and body products from Kymaro; makeup, body shapers, nail polish, teeth whitening from supersmile, Ted Gibson hair products, a sunless tanning system and more! It was like Christmas!

OMGosh!!! She just texted me and told me she won Prom Queen!!! Oh I’m so proud of her!!! I can’t wait to see pictures of her in her crown! Her boyfriend got pictures of her. Awe, I’m so happy for her!

Anyway, it’s been a good Senior year for her. It will be weird not having a child in school…well regular school anyway. Karlie will be attending cosmetology in the fall and then off to bible college probably after that, for music/worship.What will I do when all 4 of m kids are grown up??? Oh, I know!!! Enjoy watching the grandkids grow up!

Posted on April 22, 2010 - by Mary

Faith of a Mustard Seed Moves Mountains

I must say the last week has been truly amazing! If you read my last post, you know that God brought me to a crisis of belief and He hasn’t stopped there. It was last Wednesday, and the following Friday we received the remaining part of our federal tax refund. I had to file an amendment to our return because I found another form and needed to file it, resulting in another $1000 refund. We knew it was coming, but the timing couldn’t have been more perfect.

Then to top it off, last Tuesday I entered Karlie in a contest for an entire prom package. A couple days prior to this, Jeff and I were talking about how we didn’t know how we were going to be able to afford for Karlie to go to prom this year. It’s her Senior year and neither of us wanted her to miss out. A day or two later I saw this post on She Scribes, so I emailed the company with our story.

A couple of days later, I got an email from them saying Karlie was chosen as a finalist in the contest! I was ecstatic. I kept receiving emails from the company having the giveaway telling us to have Karlie pick out some dresses and shoes from this site and asking about her prom details. Yesterday, I received a phone call and it was the gal from Kymaro. She needed to know what Karlie was going to say if she was to be interviewed by the news media and so on, so I gave Karlie my phone. We were at church waiting for youth group to start at the time, so Karlie went to the kitchen so she could hear. A few minutes later she came running down the hall shouting, “I won!!! I won!!!!” I was shocked!!! Literally!!! And everyone at youth group was asking “What’d ya win???” and “You won what???” It was so much fun and so exciting!!!

I know it’s totally God’s way of providing for us and her. Not only does she get a dress, shoes, and jewelry, she also gets a makeover with hair color cut and style, manicure, pedicure, prom tickets paid for and limo ride to and from prom for her and her boyfriend! How cool is that! The hair color is alone is a huge blessing to us because Karlie and I need our hair done and I was wondering where we were going to get the money for that.

God is so awesome and Jeff and I know it’s just the beginning of His amazing provision. We’ve both felt it in our spirits that things were going to turn around for us financially, for His glory!

If you have faith of a mustard seed, you can move mountains. (Matt. 17:20) My faith is growing and growing and becoming stronger and stronger. God is always at work around us. I have faith and am ready to adjust my life and to be obedient to His calling.

How have you sensed or seen God moving in your life?

Posted on April 14, 2010 - by Mary

Truly Experiencing God

Today has been an emotionally crazy day for me. I tried starting it out with my quiet time with God and though I did get in a little time with God, it was quickly interrupted by kids. My adult grown kids mind you. Then of course I got more distracted by email and facebook. Then my hubby woke up (he’s on midnights) and started talking about bills and stuff, and I just became completely overwhelmed and I started to cry. And to top it off, tonight is youth group and I just could see myself being a big mess there when I’m supposed to be a leader, so I decided not to go. I know we’re not expected to be strong all the time, but our youth Pastor is out of town, so the other leaders have to fill in and I didn’t want to burden them with my issues which would distract them from ministering to the youth. Plus I really felt like God wasn’t done with me yet and that He wanted me to stay home so He could finish what he was trying to show me this morning…no, the last few days actually.

We’ve been going through the Experiencing God bible study in small groups at church. And, wow is it ever an amazing study. I get more and more blown away with each unit. Not this past Monday but the Monday before we have what’s called “The Throne Zone” at church. It’s a praise and prayer service the first Monday of every month. We’ve been attending that service since the beginning of the year and God has been revealing some pretty awesome stuff to me personally and to my family. At this last service, God once again came through for me. I was standing alone praying and saying to God, if you’re there, if you’re the real God and if you hear my prayer, please send someone over to pray with me. I just needed to know He was there and that he was listening. Within a minute or two, the wives of one of the elders was at my side. She said she didn’t know why she was there, she was just being obedient. Tears streamed from my eyes and we just stood and worshiped. Then God began to use her to speak to me. He said he wanted to use me and take me places, but I needed to spend some time with Him first because there were some things in me He needed to remove and deal with. No surprise there. I’ve been dealing with some stuff and I was so ready to receive and to allow God to do what needed to be done so I could be free to worship and be free to be used by Him. My friend explained that I might start to feel overwhelmed, but that it would be okay, that it was just God removing those things so I could be free.

Well today must have been the day because all day long I couldn’t shake the feeling that I needed to be alone with God. I tried doing other things but that feeling just wouldn’t go away. So, finally, after Jeff and Karlie left for youth group, I laid face down on the couch. I actually felt like I couldn’t keep my eyes open any longer. But, I didn’t go to sleep. As I laid there, God began to speak to me and show me something. He began to reveal to me that the god Jehovah’s Witnesses worship is a FALSE god. It’s not the same god we worship.

If you’ve been following my blog at all, you know I was raised a JW and have been struggling with doubt for a couple of years. I’ve been trying to dismiss the thoughts of doubt as my own thoughts, but at the first Throne Zone we attended in January it was revealed I had a lying spirit tormenting me with lies and putting those doubts, fears and thoughts into my head. I rebuked that spirit and a couple of other ones, and felt complete freedom and a renewed confidence. However, every once in a while little thoughts of doubt would still creep in, making me question my faith again. I’ve learned to rebuke those thoughts as well.

Over the last few weeks or so, I’ve been hearing the name “Elijah” come up over and over again in various conversations. I kind of know the story of Elijah but not really, so I thought (ha!) I should read the story again in the bible. One day, right in the middle of doing my Experiencing God lesson, I felt this strong urge to read Elijah right then. So I put down my EG book and opened the bible to 1 Kings chapter 18. I read how God used the prophet Elijah to reveal Himself as the one and only true God to Ahab. Ahab’s people worshiped Baal, a false God. God told Elijah to build to build an altar, and place a bull on it, and have Ahab do the same. Then Elijah told Ahab to call upon his false god Baal and he (Elijah) would call upon the Lord to bring fire down and burn up the offering. Ahab and his people called and cried out and cut themselves for hours and hours and Baal was silent. Baal didn’t show up. Baal didn’t answer. Then Elijah had water poured over the altar he built 3 times. Then he called upon the Lord to come and received the offering. Fire came down and immediately the altar was consumed by fire, even the water in the trenches was burned up by the fire. Ahab knew that his god was dead and the Lord was the true Lord, the God of heaven and earth, the Maker of the Universe.

When I first read this story a few days ago, I didn’t know what God was trying to show me through it. I continued reading and thought he was showing me how He is in the whisper (1 Kings 19:12-13). But, deep down, I knew that that wasn’t it.

This morning as I re-read the story, I began to see that God was trying to show me something else. I thought He was trying to get me to call out to Him and out to the god of Jehovah’s Witnesses, to prove and see which one is the true God. In all honesty, I was afraid. You see, there is a part of me that still doubts, that still hears that voice saying JW’s teach the truth, they have the truth. So, I was afraid to do that because I didn’t want them to come to my door. I didn’t want them to have the truth. I didn’t want to ever have to go back to one of their Kingdom Halls again. As I  type this, I realize how crazy this all sounds. And most of you are probably thinking…I don’t know what…but I know this must sound crazy to you all. Anyway, this afternoon as I laid face down on the couch with my eyes closed, God started to speak to me. He said the reason he showed me that scripture is because I needed to know and to see that the god the JW’s teach is a FALSE god. It’s not the God of the Universe, the Maker of Heaven and Earth, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. It is a FALSE god and HE is the only true God.

Do you know how blown away I am by that right now??? I am blown away because I NEVER looked at it like that. It’s kind of hard to explain how I looked at it I guess. Kind of like the Muslims look at Ala, I suppose. They think he created the universe and claim he is the same God we worship. That is a lie from the pit of Hell. The god the JW’s teach about is a FALSE god just like Baal and Ala. “Jehovah” (the Jehovah they teach about) is not the same Jehovah the same God I worship. It’s almost like an incomplete god because they don’t believe Jesus is God, nor that the Holy Spirit is God.

Anyway, I truly had an experience with God today. I feel so much better than I did earlier today. It’s amazing what happens when you lay yourself down and allow God to speak to you. I know there’s more stuff He wants to reveal to me, and I hope I don’t have to get to the point I did today in order to hear Him.

Posted on April 4, 2010 - by Mary

God works through our Circumstances

Our entire church has been studying the Experiencing God bible study for the past 6 or 7 weeks. It’s a twelve week study and every week it gets better and better. I’ve already seen God move in our lives in many ways and I’m learning how see where God is working and then go there, instead of me making my own plan and asking God to bless it. It’s amazing. God is amazing.

This week I’ve been learning about how God works through our circumstances. And boy do we have some circumstances! Just the other night, Thursday I think it was, Karlie, my 17 year old was on her way home from Petoskey with one of her friends, who is about 4 or 5 months pregnant. As they rounded a curve the car in front of them suddenly came to a skreetching halt because of an accident that just happened, and so did Karlie and her friend. As soon as they stopped, Karlie looked in her rearview mirror only to see the vehicle behind her racing toward them, smashing into them. Karlie and her friend were okay, Praise God, but the van is not. We’re pretty certain the frame is bent because the two sliding side doors are sprung open at the top. The tow truck that came to tow the vehicle that hit them, used their wench to pull the side panel away from the tire so we could drive it home, but the bumper is dragging, not to mention most of it’s missing, and the backend is smashed in.

We still owe about $4000 on it and if they total it we will be lucky to get that amount out of it. When we hit the deer a couple of months ago, the body shop estimated it’s worth at about that amount or somewhere around there. If they do total it out, we may or may not have enough to pay it off, but we definitely won’t have enough money to buy another vehicle. We’ve learned through Crown Financial that we’re supposed to save enough cash to buy a vehicle outright, but we haven’t been able to do that either. We have to have 2 cars with Jeff working in Gaylord, and Karlie still in school. And I need a vehicle on Wednesday’s but we can manage to work around that with two cars….but not one.

Our truck is out of commission right now due to a blown tire, and we haven’t had the cash to buy new tires for it yet. It also needs frontend work, not to mention the body work, but that’s not a necessity to get it on the road. Our car runs pretty good but the hood needs a new latch. It’s pretty ghetto looking but like I said, it runs, so that’s what we’re using now to get around. Thank God Karlie is on spring break right now and Jeff is on vacation this week to give us time to work something out…for God to work something out.

So, I guess I’m writing this so you can pray for us. I’m praying for a financial miracle. I know God will provide all our needs, so I’m not worried. I definitely want to see how God is going to work through this! It’s going to be exciting and I’ll be sure to keep you posted.