Queenies Little Kingdom

I can’t even describe it with words. It’ll never sound as exciting as it really is to me. American Idol is back on and I am PSYCHED! I’ve just finished watching it. I laughed and I cried. This happens to me every year. My family and I love this part of the season. We crack up over the funny people who try-out and sing like……well, like they can’t sing. Some of them are so sad (I have to say…I often feel compassion like Paula) I wish I could help them along. Oh the mercy they need.

Tonight was a great kick-off. The ending with the piano man, Scott…..totally touched my heart. I had to cry when he came out to his waiting family. What a cool way to end the show. Way to go, American Idol. I can’t wait for next week! Tomorrow will be fun at school, we (staff) love comparing the contestants during our lunch. We will do this all the way to the end. Really! Doesn’t everyone? I thought so.

Oh WHO will win?????

Have you ever gotten into trouble? Stupid question. Cause…I know that you have. We all have. It’s inevitable! Somehow, somewhere along the way…..you’ve gotten into trouble. On our way to church yesterday, Klove was playing a little news about kids. According to a survey that was done recently, children that live with both parents and attend church are less likely to get into trouble! Oh really…..we laughed and joked! Are you kidding me? Who knew? DUH! It seems that this sort of “set-up” has a positive influence on the kids involved and the parents don’t have to worry about those phone calls home from school officials. Well, golly! That’s good to know!

As we drove on…Gates piped up in the back, “Dad, why is it that kids can run up and down the halls at school acting terrible and cursing their heads off and I take a bottled drink from the cafeteria and I get caught?…..and punished?”. We laughed thinking back to her crime. She was busted not long after leaving the lunchroom with said drink in her purse. It cost her a “write-up” and the embarrassment that goes along with it. (For one of my kids…..it was worse than life in Alcatraz prison) Oh the humiliation! She might as well have cursed out the Principal by the way she felt about the whole ordeal. It was ugly! Painful! But a life lesson!

Hubby responded with some good stuff. He told her how God doesn’t want her to make wrong choices. Oftentimes, he sends someone just for the purpose of holding us accountable. Then I thought about how the Holy Spirit works. That weird conviction feeling…..is the Holy Spirit! It might be a nudge or a full-on panic attack reminding you of what you’ve done wrong. Either way, God doesn’t want you to live in your sin state. So, you feel bothered by your wrong. If you don’t feel bothered…..you might want to investigate WHY?! Do a little heart monitoring.

Today during my lunch. Ally came into the teacher’s lounge…..”Mom, we have a problem. Can you come out in the hall now?”. As the door opens I see her sweet BFF, Taylor….red-faced and shaking. I ask, what is wrong and she tells me through her tears that Mrs. Martin took her cell phone away. She’s an assistant to this teacher during that period and at the beginning of class she had all the students turn off their phones. Taylor thought hers was already off, minutes into the class she was looking through her purse for her calculator and noticed her phone was on and a message had come through to her. She panicked and turned it off (and that’s when….it made a noise!). Mrs. Martin then took it away….thinking Taylor was up to something. She was so worried that she was going to have a write-up, detention, to call her mom to come pick it up….that she was going to jail (no, I just made that last one up). She was just a mess!

That’s how it is with sin. A big mess! It wrecks lives. As Christians, we cannot just live willy-nilly any old way. We have to stay on top of things. Mistakes can happen in an instant. I love that new Casting Crowns song, O Be careful little eyes what you see….. It’s so easy to get into trouble. Satan is prowling around looking for ways to trip us up. We can laugh about little issues that seem huge to kids (by the way….Mrs. Martin gave Taylor back her phone!) but as we grow the trouble grows as well. I pray that the Holy Spirit never leaves me alone in my sin (nor you). If I’m wrong……I don’t want to feel any peace about it. I beg the Lord to pierce my heart until I right it. I welcome the embarrassment that comes from being caught. I don’t want to get into trouble with God. Do you?

Proverbs 5:21-23 “For a man’s ways are in full view of the LORD, and he examines all his paths. The evil deeds of a wicked man ensnare him; the cords of his sin hold him fast. He will die for lack of discipline, led astray by his own great folly.”

I love prayer! I always have. It does so many things to my heart. I feel connected to God when I open up to him in prayer. I feel peace when I repent and ask God for forgiveness for a wrong in my life. I feel compassion when I pray for someone in need. I feel excited when a request is met. I grow in my faith through prayer. Prayer is crazy awesome! If you haven’t figured it out yet. I’m a prayer “addict”. Somebody help me! No, don’t! I think it’s a good addiction!

I’ve been reading tonight in Genesis 24. The story opens up with Abraham giving some very important instructions to his chief servant. Find a wife for my son Isaac. Not just any old wife…..a wife from his own country (Israel). This was to be a covenant marriage, so this servant was to follow just what Abraham asked of him. I’m wondering, did he feel pressured here? Would you?

I love this story for a couple reasons. One of which is that very important issue of marrying someone of your own faith and beliefs. I see it all the time. People marrying with completely different faiths. Or even one with no faith while the other considers themself a Christian (this baffles me….because, well….it’s just odd). Whooby, whatty!? This just doesn’t make sense! Someone who doesn’t love God and obey Him…..isn’t going to naturally pick up on that idea just by marrying a nice Christian! The Holy Spirit can do amazing things…..but God’s word is pretty clear about covenant marriage.

The second thing I love about this story has to do with the servant. After following Abraham’s instructions and hauling some really good loot with him on his wife hunting journey. He stops at the well and starts to PRAY! He gets right down to it. He specifically asks God to give him success (for Abraham he loves) and for the girl God has for Isaac to be right there at the right time. He actually goes into some….”when I say to A girl, please let down your jar (he’s at the well, remember) that I may have a drink”…blah, blah, blah! Before he even finishes the prayer…..Rebekah shows up! Oh Lord, how we put you in a box! This story is one worth reading again and again! It ends so very sweet!

If you never felt so obliged before…..I want you to now! When you are praying, BE SPECIFIC! God really does care about what you’re asking of Him. Matthew 7:7 says “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” Or this one, “Delight yourself in the LORD, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass.” ~ Psalm 37:4,5 He’s on it! God is in the answering business. Sometimes it may not be the exact answer you are seeking (as in the servants situation)…but it will always be the right one for you. Trust Him friend…..and pray!

Yes, you read that right.  Don’t Env me!  It’s the thorn in my side lately.  The Env.  Last night we picked up the 4th replacement phone for Ally.  Yes, the fourth one!  It’s really not living up to its name, Env…..more like Cursed!  These phones have a bad design in the charging plugin.  It likes to break.  Which means, no charging can take place.  Very sad.  Texting is to the teenager as food is to the human.  Very important, ya’ll!  Teens + cell = TEXTING!  My kids communicate with the world this way.  Shoot, even their dad and I do too.  We need our phones!  We must connect!  So as you can see…this little problem had to be resolved.

Ally went one direction (she went to her boyfriend’s ballgame with his parents) and we went to our favorite hangout, the Verizon store.  I had to hand over my phone (The Voyager…and so far, it’s been a nice voyage!) to her and take her broken down junker to the fixit place.  I knew she would mess around with my phone.  You see, it’s a teenager thing.  They take pictures, they rearrange your address book, they add friends to your contacts, they change ringtones and screen savers.  It just bugs me.  I have a hard enough time even using the crazy thing….then one of my kids changes the stuff on it.  Totally goofs me up.  🙂  I say that with all the love in my heart of course.  Oh and the big one for me….she took off my rubbery case!  I have that on there for a reason.  I don’t want my phone broken!  Dern kids!

She’s back in texting business today. On her own phone, not mine (which worked out fun….cause I was able to read all her messages between her and boyfriend). Sweet nothings! I’ll have to tell you soon about this new fellow. No, he’s not Oh Mister from the beginning of the school year. He’s so last year! Even though, hubby said….you can’t just go changing your mind like that. We put our loyalties to Oh Mister and now we have to change gears. He was only kidding. We totally love both these boys and she’s not really boyfriend/girlfriend with either of them, yet! It’s just a sweet crush for right now. But…..it’s a dad’s job to tease, right?

Enjoy your weekend!

 
This is not all I do ya’ll! I promise! But I can’t help but share the love when I come across good prizes. Who knows…..maybe one of us will win something fabulous! It could happen! At the end of this month, I will be participating in the Bloggy Giveaway contest. I just haven’t decided what I’m giving away this time. I’ll be thinking…
I have a new book to read from Thomas Nelson Publishers. It arrived today. I hope it’s as good as the one I just finished (read my review under this post). I loved Robin McGraw’s first book. She is so darn cute!

Have I mentioned how much I would love to go to Blissdom 09? Yes, it is a blogger’s dream conference! I keep fantasizing that I will be sitting there on the front row….lapping up tons of 411 from some of the bloggy masters! I missed the cheaper discounted ticket rates of $100. Now, it’s a whopping $150 + hotel room costs. I am searching this blognation for a contest offering a ticket to this event. If you or someone you know is blessing some lucky person with one of these tickets….LET ME KNOW!!!! Please?!?!!! I wanna GO!
Now, on to some bloggy awesomeness!

Prizes, Giveaways….and good blogs to visit again and again.
 

This awesome blog has a super giveaway going on.  Hurry over, it ends Friday night (1/10/09).

This great blog has an awesome giveaway going on this week. Go see! Your pet will thank you! Oh and this contest too!

Oh this lady rocks! Her giveaway is a must see! She has a wonderful devotion to boot! Go and enter ladies!

This little contest is surely one to be a pig over! Oink oink!

Happy Birthday! Go enter this one! It’s a hit!

This contest is my very favorite one every year. My kids even get excited at the thought of winning this prize! Check it out, ya’ll! Remember, you can enter this once a day until February 19th. It’s a real dream alright!

I’m not sure how I found her, but I’m so glad I did. One day as I was browsing around in blogworld I happened upon the sweetest blog. As I read through the posts, I found a mother….just like me only different. This mother was a warrior! She had experienced the death of not one but three of her precious children. Something I could never imagine surviving as a mom. Lynnette Kraft is an amazing person and a gifted writer. I love her sweet motherly insight on her blog…I have it linked in my blogroll so that I can sneak over anytime I want to see what she’s saying that day. She doesn’t always post everyday, but that’s ok..this lady has SIX kids! She’s busy, ya’ll!

Just before Christmas break, Lynnette blessed her readers with the opportunity to buy her book at the discounted price of $9 for a limited time. I was so excited and jumped at the offer. When I returned from Florida my book was in the mail. I started right on it. This lady has a precious story. This book made me cry, think, reflect on my own walk with God, giggle, hope, smile and fall in love with being a mom all over again. A role that I’ve always loved….but Lynnette reminded me how much I really love being a mother to my children. What a blessed calling my Lord has entrusted to me. Thank you God.

If you ever wondered about your life and your purpose, you should definitely read this book. You may find just what you’re looking for in your role as wife, mother and friend. Lynnette is open about her life in so many ways (ways that many of us would never want to share). She lets you in on details that are personal regarding her grief. I love her insight from God during her suffering…..what she learns through the study of God’s word and prayer. It’s all part of the journey. I plan to share my copy with a very dear friend….but not just yet. Hearts are still quite raw.

Lynnette,
Thank you for writing your story. As a mother, I know that you did it in the power of the Lord Jesus Christ. He shows up on every single page of your book. Your love for God and your strength to hang onto Him inspire me. So many tragedies in one mom’s life seem unreal. Yet you found a way to live victoriously and to shine for Christ in the midst of it all. What a testimony, girl! I am so glad I found you (and your blog). You are a lady that God has big plans for. He has proven that in many ways. God bless you for being the one….the one that He chose to walk the path of this heartache. You, dear sister have done so with grace and beauty that can only be from our precious Savior. My heart is so touched!

I want to say one last thing….in Ch. 11 when you’re sharing about Anna’s big vocabulary, I just cracked up. I could almost her sweet little voice, “I can’t get dis cuntwapchun to work!”. What a precious memory of a superstar little girl. Such a blessing!