Little Bug had a birthday yesterday (he’s 2!), and my family wanted to celebrate, so we’re going up to visit them for about a week. Stephen can’t take the time off, so he won’t be going with us. I’m gonna miss him. . .

It should be fun though. My parents bought him a bike (I think Mom said it was a Big Wheels or something), and they have a HUGE basement for him to ride it in. Yay. . . he is going to have a blast.

Anyways – “see” y’all when we get back!

I’m so happy! I finally just found a box that I’ve been looking for ever since we arrived. It had my stationary box in it – which contained all my thank you notes and my address book in it. I needed thank you notes almost immediately, so I got out my scrapbook supplies and made some, but I still wondered where all my other ones were.

Tonight I went in search of old cd’s. Some of the ladies from church are getting together next week to scrapbook, and I needed some of my photo cd’s. The problem is, I couldn’t seem to find them! I was missing over a year’s worth of photos – which, incidentally, were the photos I needed to work on the scrapbook.

The box was in Little Bug’s room – right where I figured it would be. The reason I couldn’t find it? It got labeled with a wrong sticker. Instead of having “Studio” or something like that on it – it was labelled as a box of stuff for Bug’s room. Oh well. Stephen wanted to know what the huge “Woo Hoo!” was all about! :O)

I’m very thankful to have found that box!

We have a tenant! Our property manager called this afternoon to tell us that someone had come in and put down a security deposit. YAY! They’ll go back on Monday to sign the lease. What a huge relief and a blessing!

Susan has had an interesting discussion on her blog about soulwinning. You can read the posts here and here. I found her posts yesterday and today very thought-provoking. I really enjoy reading her blog, but today’s post there really made me think.

I spent four and a half years in the South, and attended a solid Independant Baptist church there. We had a very strong soulwinning program there: Thursday nights at 7 and Saturday mornings at 10:30. Stephen and I would go to the Saturday morning session (before Little man arrived; after he arrived I didn’t get to go much anymore).

When we were praying about coming to IN, I had a discussion with the pastor’s wife about the church. I spent a good amount of time just asking her about different facets of this new church. I basically asked her questions that started, “How does the church do _______ ?”

Her response to soulwinning shocked me. “People do not take kindly to a pastor just showing up on their doorstep here.” I could hardly fathom that – from hearing our previous pastor talk, sometimes it was easy to get the impression that people were thrilled that he would visit.

There really can be culture shock moving from the South to the North (Or vice versa, really. I had that when I first moved to the South). Some areas are not overly noticable. Things that are merely different; you make note of changes, and go on with life.

The thought of soulwinning being rejected really threw me for a loop. How would a person witness?

On the other hand. . .

The ladies from our church travelled across the state yesterday to attend a ladies’ refresher meeting at a large (um, not-so-conservative) church. Since I had never attended a ladies’ meeting here in the North, I went with very few expectations. I was excited about the opportunity for fellowship with our ladies.

The morning’s speakers weren’t bad. I didn’t get a lot out of the sessions, but they weren’t bad either. The breakout session was something else. I got a huge laugh out of it (some of it was presented in a funny manner), but other than a few giggles, that’s about it.

It was the keynote speaker’s final session that really made me think. She presented an opportunity for ladies to accept Christ, and I really started to think. My mind wandered and I began to wonder just how many women in the room truly were saved – and how many of the ladies in the room were living lives of confusion and deception like I was.

They ended it all with a drama that was supposed to represent the saints presenting their crowns to Jesus when He sits on the throne of Heaven. There was a lot of pagentry, a lot of elaborate costumes and music and even a fog machine. What broke my heart was the appearance of the person who was supposed to be portraying Christ. The beard and wig he was wearing looked absolutely ridiculous (It wasn’t just me that thought that – other ladies later told me they thought the same thing). I sat there just grieved because it was evident that people had tried very, very hard to have a nice production. . .only for it to fall flat and look ridiculous. Could they not see it for themselves?

All in all it just really burdened my heart for adults that haven’t accepted Christ. People who are like I was. . .who try their best to serve Christ. They serve and serve and do and do and do – never knowing for certain if they have acceped Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior. So many people who are trying to work their way into Heaven instead of relying on the shed blood of Jesus Christ. People who are so blinded by their lives that they simply do not see that they cannot get to Heaven on their own.

That brings me back around to Susan’s post and my original thoughts about soulwinning. How is my life different? What do I do on a daily basis to win souls to Christ?

Today as I was cleaning our bathroom I got completely grossed out.

Normally, cleaning the toilet is just another thing that needs to be done; not something that really grosses me out. Today, I glanced at it and thought, “I need to clean that thing.” I grabbed a bottle of toilet bowl cleaner and went to work.

I wanted to use this cleaner up and get rid of it, so that’s why I used it today instead of the regular cleaner that I use. Normally, I don’t care to use a lot of harsh chemicals in the house. If a task can be done with homemade cleaners, then that’s what I use. I don’t want to have to worry if my son gets a container of highly poisonous cleaner – I feel much better knowing that if he ingests something, it’s not going to harm him. Like the vinegar that I use to clean nearly everything in the house.

After just a few swipes with the brush, I was totally grossed out. This cleaner (Sno-Bol, by the way) took marks off that I thought would never move! It even removed the hard water stains that I was convinced were permanent…

What grossed me out is the thought that I could have had that stuff gone long ago! Ew! I guess that’s one ‘regular’ cleaner I’ll go back to using. It works SO much better than what I was using.

Not good, huh?

When I cancelled our cell phone contract (by the way, NEVER sign a two-year contract. It will come back to hurt you), I found out that we had to give a 30-day notice. The way it worked out, we won’t have extra charges on our account, and we’ll have service through the 28th. I made a mental note of the date and went on with life.

I was very thankful that our phones still had service last night.

On Stephen’s way home from work, he called me to ask which account he should get gas from. Since I pay bills, he wasn’t exactly sure how much money was in each account. I keep him up-to-date with things, but he wanted to be sure.

Moments later, he called me back. “The van died.” I got this odd, sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. Our van is old – it’s an ’89 – and it has over 240,000 miles on it, last I checked. I love this van (Betsy the Big Blue Van, lol!), but I have been wondering when it would die. Really, it’s old, we drive it to death…and we only have one vehicle now…

I got off the phone and cried.

When I spoke with Stephen the next time, he reminded me of a recent Sunday School lesson. When trials come in our lives, how will we handle them? You can choose how to react; it’s your choice if you pass or fail. I’m thankful for a husband that’s able to remind me of things like that; it was very reassuring and calming. I needed that.

It was such a blessing that Stephen had his phone with him. He was able to call me and make arrangements for someone to come pick him up. If he hadn’t had his phone, he probably would have had to walk to the exit to call me (collect?)…which would have taken forever…and gotten me really worried…

Thankfully, our pastor was down here in our town, so he and his dad were able to go pick Stephen up and call a tow truck. They were also able to find a vehicle for Stephen to borrow while our van is at the mechanic. Almost immediately after they dropped Stephen off, the phone rang. Stephen had forgotten to leave a door unlocked, so they had to come back to get him, run back to where the van was (parked on the side of the interstate, no less), and unlock it so it could be towed. Oh well.

The pastor’s wife called me a little while later with a question for me, and was able to tell me that the van had indeed made it to the shop – our pastor passed the tow truck on his way home.

So now we wait. I’m praying it’s not something big or expensive. If it is – God will provide – but I’m praying it’s something small. Stephen wondered if maybe it was the fuel pump, based on the way the van acted when it died.

Unfortunately, our trip to my parents’ house for Bug’s birthday next week is now cancelled…

Wow – were we ever protected last night!

A big church in the next town over was having a Passion Play, so a few of us from church decided to go. Stephen and I hadn’t decided one way or the other, until Annie called us up to say that her in-laws had volunteered to watch Bug so we could go. We said, “Great,” and made plans from there.

When we finally left, we rode with the Hoppers to the theater (not movie-house theater – an old-fashioned play-and-musical theater). We noticed that the sky was icky looking, and we just figured that it was a nice ferocious thunderstorm.

We got there, found seats, and the play started. Partway through, I heard something and elbowed Stephen. I wanted to know if the noise I heard was tornado sirens. He wasn’t sure, but he heard it too. It was during one of the louder songs, so it wasn’t readily evident that there was a siren sounding outside.

When the play was finished, and the pastor went on stage to give a message, he warned us that during the play there had been some tornadoes that had touched down north of town. I wasn’t too overly worried; we live an hour south of town. Not that I wanted to be out in it, but knowing we’d be driving away from it all was reassuring.

It rained the whole way home, and the lightning was amazing. When we got near the Hoppers’ house, we noticed that there was an awful lot of debris on the road – debris that hadn’t been there when we left. We figured it had been quite the storm, and maybe there’d been some hail. There had been hail all right – when we got to the house, Mrs. Hopper picked up a huge handful of ice! Thankfully, we didn’t find any huge dents in our van from it.

We left their house and drove through town to go get Sam. The power was out in the north half of town. Still we didn’t think much of it.

Just outside town, we drove by a ton of emergency vehicles. Upon closer look, we could see that a house had been completely leveled by a tornado. Leveled as in the highest pile of stuff couldn’t have been much taller than 3 or 4 feet high.

It turns out that the building that was leveled was a house of prostitution. Unfortunately, it appeared that somebody had gotten hurt. With it being a Friday night, chances of more than one person being in the building are pretty good.

What really gets me is something that I prayed for about a week ago, if that. We drive by this place every time we go to church. From the looks of the building, Stephen and I thought that it was a porn place. The building looked a bit shaky, so I prayed that if it really was a porn place, that God would level it. My thinking was to just pray that the business wouldn’t be able to continue. I prayed that and forgot about it. I will tell you, though, that that prayer came to mind immediately when we drove by it last night. God certainly answered that prayer.

We picked up Sam and went home (the family he stayed with lived even further away from where the tornado touched down than we do). The roads were almost completely dry, and you couldn’t even tell it had rained at all. Our house had barely gotten any of the storm.

I woke up this morning to the sound of birds singing outside my bedroom window, and I cannot help but be thankful. There are people who lost a lot last night. I think I heard that there were 5 or 6 tornadoes spotted over town, and another town nearby got hit hard as well – yet we still have everything. We are so blessed.

First, it helps if you use a blender. I killed my blender trying to make a smoothie four years ago, so I grabbed the food processor instead. I still have the blender – it works a little – it just won’t chop ice.

Second, don’t try to make a smoothie when you’re still wearing good church clothes. If you are, please wear an apron. I actually had mine on.

Then, don’t dump everything in all at once, especially if your ice cubes are big like ours were. It will make the processor shake something awful.

Make sure you don’t have two cups of liquid over the “Max liquid” mark on the processor. It will make a mess. I promise. It will shoot pink gooey liquid all over the counter.

Then, when you open the lid to take out all the ice so you can add it back one by one, don’t let it drip everywhere.

When your sweet, frothy, pink smoothie is done, and you’ve sucessfully coated your processor base in pink, take the pot off carefully. Open the lid carefully. But if your pot has a big inside tube that just happens to be shorter than the outer rim – DON’T remove the blade!

It will make smoothie leak out the center hole…..all over your sticky counter that you just tried to wipe up a minute before!

So – if you do make such a mess, like I did last night, grab a straw – and drink the smoothie off the counter! LOL! There was probably a half cup of goo on the counter last night….and Stephen and I just went at it with straws so that it wouldn’t go off the edge onto the floor.

And when you finally pour yourself a glass – pour the toddler his own little glass of smoothie – or you won’t be able to enjoy any for yourself!

I’d post pictures but Stephen wouldn’t let me take any. Trust me, it was a HUGE mess!

Early this morning, after Stephen had left for work, I went back upstairs to check email. At the top of the stairs, I stepped on a creaky board, and accidentally woke Bug up. He is so much like his mama – such a light sleeper.

“Mommy!”

I picked him up and put him back in his bed, but it wasn’t enough.

“Mommy!”

My little man just wanted some Mama cuddles. So I picked him up and set him on my bed, and I laid down beside him to see if he’d fall back asleep. He did. All he wanted was to sleep beside me. Awww.

I’m not sure if it’s the time change or a phase or what, but he has been waking so much earlier than usual this past week. And each morning, all he wants is to cuddle with his Mama.

I love it. I lay there this morning thinking of how blessed I am. Even though things might seem tough, I still am rich beyond measure.

Have you ever stopped to think about your attitude? I needed to this morning.

I had logged on this morning to check email and go to the few websites that I frequent each day (Hannah’s Prayer and Prairie Homemaker). I was just fine one moment, and then I came across something that made me think, “Hey! That should have been me!”

Oops. There goes my attitude again.

Then I stopped to think about it. Why was I getting such an attitude about it, when I should have just been happy for that person? Who am I to be so self-centered that I think I deserve it more than the other person? I’m thankful that I realized that I had an attitude this morning, so I could confess it and get over it. Now I can honestly say I’m happy for the other person and their situation.

My attitude is something I struggle with daily. If you were to meet me in real life, you may never guess it; I’ve gotten pretty good at hiding it. On the other hand, the Holy Spirit has been working in my life about it as well, and I’m getting better at getting over it. You know, like, “Just get over it, already!”

So how’s your attitude? When those rebellious thoughts come to your mind, what is your reaction? Do you dwell on them and get even crankier, or do you listen to the Holy Spirit’s gentle prodding that your heart is in the wrong place?