2 stool+1 fluffy Blanket in my book = COMFORT!

So Elijah was injured at school the other day and to avoid surgery and to see if he will mend naturally, which is what I prefer. He has been placed on crutches for the next two weeks and he is extremely awkward and to be honest I was more worried about him hurting himself, more with the crutches, but Praise God he has managed, clumsiness and all.

Ok here is where I may get the tisk tisk. For this first week he has been still and taking full advantage of it. Can someone get me some water... Can someone pick that up for me? I can't do this, I can't do that and well we have catered to him. My child, even had the nerve to ask if I'd help him shower,lol Adorable huh?We all had a good laugh at that one. lol.  The girls have been doubling up on chores to help him out. However tonight he is back in the game. Yes, I'm a mean ole mom, That's right folks I made him get up off his Royal Canadian Rusty Dusty and do his part, which tonight was the few dishes we had accumulated during the day. At first he complained about not being able to function, that was until he seen i was going to go out of my way to make him super comfy, while tending to his chore.

2 stool+ 1 fluffy Blanket in my book = COMFORT!

and it only took him 8690869659587585859595769748480 hours and 15 sec. to get the 8 dishes done.  After all was said and done, the very frist thing he did was get down, grab his crutches, go to the living room and holla... CAN YOU MAKE ME A PLATE!( BIG SIGHHHHHH). oh well it was fun while it lasted.

Have a very blessed evening.

Anna Marie

The faith of a child

The story below is just that... a story, but it's one that could help remind us of the faith we are supposed to have in all of life situations. It may never play out as easy or well verse as the story below, it may take days, weeks months but rest assure, The Lord is on our side and he will answer any call when it's time and that's where our faith should always lay.

A little girl went to her bedroom and pulled a glass jelly jar from its hiding place in the closet.
She poured the change out on the floor and counted it carefully. Three
times, even... The total had to be exactly perfect... No chance here for mistakes.
Carefully placing the coins back in the jar and twisting on the cap, she
slipped out the back door and made her way 6 blocks to Rexall's Drug Store with the big red Indian Chief sign above the door. She waited patiently for the pharmacist to give her some attention, but he was too busy at this moment.
Tess twisted her feet to make a scuffing noise. Nothing. She cleared her throat
with the most disgusting sound she could muster. No good. Finally she took a
quarter from her jar and banged it on the glass counter... That did it!
'And what do you want?' the pharmacist asked in an annoyed tone of
voice. 'I'm talking to my brother from Chicago whom I haven't seen in ages,' he
said without waiting for a reply to his question. 'Well, I want to talk
to you about my brother,' Tess answered back in the same annoyed tone. 'He's
really, really sick...and I want to buy a miracle.' 'I beg your pardon?'
said the pharmacist. 'His name is Andrew and he has something bad
growing inside his head and my Daddy says only a miracle can save him now So how  much does a miracle cost?' 'We don't sell miracles here, little girl.. I'm sorry but I can't help you,' the pharmacist said, softening a little..

'Listen, I have the money to pay for it. If it isn't enough, I will get the rest. Just tell me how much it costs....' The pharmacist's brother was a well dressed man. He stooped down and asked the little girl, 'What kind of a miracle does your brother need?'' I don't know,' Tess replied with her
eyes welling up. 'I just know he's really sick and Mommy says he needs an
operation. But my Daddy can't pay for it, so I want to use my money.' 'How much do you have?' asked the man from  Chicago . 'One dollar and eleven cents,' Tess answered barely audibly.

'And it's all the money I have, but I can get some more if I need to.'  'Well, what a
coincidence,' smiled the man. 'A dollar and eleven cents---the exact price of a
miracle for little brothers. ' He took her money in one hand and with the other hand he g rasped her mitten and said 'Take me to where you live. I want to see your brother and meet your parents.. Let's see if I have the miracle you need.'

That well dressed man was Dr. Carlton  Armstrong, a surgeon, specializing in neuro-surgery. The operation was completed free of charge and it wasn't long until Andrew was home again and doing well. Mom and Dad were happily talking about the chain of events that had led them to this place. 'That surgery,' her Mom whispered. 'was a real miracle. I wonder how much it would have cost?' Tess smiled. She knew exactly how much a miracle cost..one dollar and eleven cents....plus the faith of a little child

The gift that keeps on giving...

How blessed we are ,as individuals to been chosen by the Lord to be the parents of a child with a disability. Seems like such a strange thing to say, I know, but over the years I have found that this gift the Lord has bestowed on me, has changed me forever and for the better. It makes me smile to think that the Lord thought so highly of me, his child, to give such a unique gift.

If you think about you, normally when we receive a gift from a friend or family member, we pay close mind to put it up on a shelf, so we can sit back and take it in, protecting it, as it collects dust. However, for us, our gift, in being the parent of a special needs child has truly been one, that continues to keep on giving. You see, we are required to daily maintain our gifts from God, which has, if you really think about it, made us stronger.

Perhaps I need to just speak for myself here but when one of my chidlren are in an immediate need, even though I'm no longer a gym rat, I have managed to leap over furniture, run faster and longer distances without ceasing to take a breathe, I have worked around the clock, just to keep the home in order and keep the bills paid on time. I have fallen on my knees in prayer and cried out to the Lord with absolutely no shame, even in public(smile). So i can say without fail, my gifts from the Lord has truly made me an all around stronger individual. It's even blessed me with patients, wisdom, a kind ,understanding and loving heart towards others, by default. lol. No vase from grammie, could have ever done that, although... it's SUPER NICE!

From time to time, I need to remind myself, that I was hand picked by the Lord to live in this position,, this ministry, this honored standing in life. Yes, it's gets hard, daily,push through, your child needs you. Yes you may desire to cry, crying is yet another blessing from the Lord, so go for it! Others may not truly understand but the Lord does and he is truly what matters.

I encourage you, to remember, we were hand selected by the Lord to take this on, sure bring about a smile to my face. What about yours?

Much love,

Anna Marie

Family Game Night gone wrong- Sorry Joel Osteen Fans but I'm not letting this one go

Joel Osteen. Many adore this man and hang onto his every positive word, but is what he teaching biblical, is it meant to get and keep you in tune with the Lord of with nature and self? When i came to matters of Joel, i always stood very neutral, Because, to each his own, right? NO , there is nothing right about thousands and and I me and Thousands of men women and children being taught to Discover the Champion in you. I have personally heard him say have faith in yourself that you will archive your goals? No mention of having faith in the Lord. So after my recent experience and what the lord has revealed to me... in the famous words of Jessica Alba, I can no longer " , BE Neutral,BE SWEDEN"( sorry Mrs Alba, I couldn't resist.LOL.

This summer I decided to spend as much time having fun with my children as possible, so I buy board games all the time. So imagine my delight when at a christian bookstore I found an area of board games. . One in particular called Your best life Now( pay attention to the title it's going to come in a little later) stood out to me like a sore thumb.The sign promotion read... an excellent choice for a solid , christian game, to play with your family and friends. The description, something like will help your family open up share and talk to one another and blah blah blah self esteem. I knew It was going to be a bust, but jokingly bought it anyways, thought of all types of ways to sure ways to lovingly, and jokingly torment my teens, while playing a game that was based on talking openly about ones feelings. However to be honest, really bought it because my spirit was so bothered by it. Garrett and I talked about it in depth before buying it, we actually went back and forth. I finally said, you know Garrett ,I just have to see whats in this box.

We made dinner, and set up the game smack dab in the middle of out living room. The game had soooooo many pieces to it, so it actually took some time to set up. As I set it up, I told my oldest to go get the bible, in case we needed it for reference. Boy was that a trip to the bedroom, that wasn't needed.

Here is the set up of the game

Now as your are clearly able to see, there is a Massive head shot of yours truly on the box yet, honestly, OK not enough to worry some, I know, I was there and heard many times over, OH HEY it's Joel O, look mom the hay this Joel O game marked down. So ok moving past that, lol because that's just me being well retentive. Here is where the truth needs to set in and sink in deep. Take a close look at board game it's self. Notice anything? OK you have a Valley and a Mountain top. OK I'm hopeful and so that's what I thought when I first opened it, nothing new age about it, right? Well no not just based off of that.

Game Play Time (YEAHHHHHHH)

•   Enlarge Your Vision
•   Develop a Healthy Self Image
•   Discover the Power of your Thoughts and Words
•   Let Go of the Past
•   Find Strength Through Adversity
•   Live To Give
•   Choose to Be Happy

Noooo, I didn't just quote Dr. Phil. Those are the name of the game play cards.

First all players must take a goal tab and write one goal on it, with one way of archiving that goal, fold it , place their name on it and place it in the MY MIRACLE Envelope. Yet i thought the Lord said, miracles are things HE does, not things we do, check out John 2:18; and Matt. 12:38.

ok so Then each Player gets dealt 7 Enlarge your vision cards and two faith cards.

There are seven levels to complete so let's get started shall we? Humm 7, this poor number can pretty much be associated with tons of things from the sublime to the ridiculous.

● Seven ages of man
● Seven colours of the rainbow,
● Seven wonders of the ancient world
● Seven gates of hell
● Seven primary chakras
● Seven Christian sacraments
● Seven Sisters (the Pleiades)
● Seven dwarfs

THAT'S A WHOLE other blog folks... However I had to point it out. So where is Joel's stand in all of this. Let's play on!

Level one: Enlarge your Vision.

You start with the youngest player, they in turn roll the die and then move their game piece that amount of spaces. Then they must pull one of their enlarge your Vision cards.Here is what is on each card and the instructions

Example given per game instructions, search the images with in the image. If you look at a tree and see a cat, then say cat, there are no wrong answers. YEP MEDITATION TIME. However if your not able to describe why you see a cat, you loose a turn or you can use on of two of your faith cards.

NOW I think it's safe to say what role seven plays in this game. Remember the title... Your best Life NOW. Here is where 7 comes in, Meditation 101, Living in the Now
Your best life NOW.Living in the NOW is the is just one key focal point of Meditation. Which is then dear sisters, divided off into 7 categories, or LEVELS.

1.Meditation: Peak Experiences and Flow: peak experiences are those moments in which you get totally involved to the point that you lose all sense of time and forget all your worries, fears, and problems.You generally do this by focusing on nature. Do you all remember the Enlarge your vision Cards? No right or wrong answers?

Well how does this line up with the word of God? In the word of God we can definitely see there is right and wrong answers in all areas of our daily lives.

Level two: Develop a Healthy Self Esteem:

Players must look into the little mirror provided as they make a statements about themselves, with a 15 sec limit. If not, the player looses a turn, unless you use that good ole faith card. Mind you the game instructions warn you in the the start, basically not to have to much faith, because it only allows you two faith cards.

2. Meditation :Acting instead of Being part of human nature to be in the NOW at all times. With the help of Meditation, you can be happy without doing anything. It is essential to realize this aspect, otherwise, the attainment of happiness will be difficult. One sure way of getting to this place is learning to be happy with who you are, right here and now.

Look into the mirror everyone, pick out everything you love about yourself NOW and accept and embrace it.

OK I'm not going to go and outline the entire game, but what i am going to do is show you the different levels that line up perfectly with new age teachings and that the bible is no where to be found, Nor was there one mention of the lord anyone in the entire game, no scripture... nothing. Just believe in your, you can do it, and have faith in your self.

Game levels

3Discover the Power of your Thoughts and Words
4Let Go of the Past
5 Find Strength Through Adversity
6Live To Give
7 Choose to Be Happy

Meditation levels

3unnessacery thoughts- pretty much self explanatory
4 in the Now everything is beautiful- here you learn to let go of your past
5 the key to now- teaches you how to overcome life situations
6Your potential is Now- learn to give to yourself, serve yourself
7 Acceptance- learn how to be and stay happy.

It goes even deeper than this, however i know if i were to bust it all open, no one would read it, soooo,lol, but if you are following the teachings of Joel, please, do so prayerfully, questions things, don't take things for face value. Stay in the word of God, if you desire a good meditation meditate in that day and night. Pray and ask the Lord to up your potion of discernment.

This game and I'm going to have to also go on his books are not safe. you can take it or leave it, but right now, I personally wouldn't be dabbling in anything other than the Lord. I'm glad I bought this game, for me I needed to see it IN MY FACE, but mainly because the Lord allowed me to research it and see what was really going on and then post it here.

We all, including myself have got to be careful. I was going to sell the game on ebay, but the was instructed to destroy it, one less game out there, i guess,lol.

Sorry for the typos, as i DID NOT spell check this one,lol.

Noooooooo, not my Ice Cream!

My favorite ice cream in the entire world used to be Chubby Hubby by Ben and Jerry's, however times have changed and the company with it. They have decided , it is extremely important for them to support Freedom to Marry. Freedom to Marry is the gay and non-gay partnership working to win marriage equality nationwide. We promote the national conversation about why marriage equality matters while bringing together partner organizations into a larger whole, a shared civil rights campaign and now MY ICE CREAM... is also openly following them as well. So what do you do?

Personally, I can not support homosexuality . Now mind you, I'm not one of those who will go out and in the name of Jesus and go bash someone head in, but I won't support, by or purchase from any company that does. It also doesn't mean I HATE men or women who choose( because it is a choice) to live a homosexual lifestyle. I don't feel they should be cast aside or killed, or hurt and in fact although i do not , will not support a homosexual lifestyle. I won't knock their personal decision to do so. The lord has allowed all of us free will. That means EVERYONE, but being disobedient has a heavy price to pay.

It does mean I'll pray for them, ask the Lord to direct me in his will to minister to anyone who is living this lifestyle and I'm almost certain he will direct me to do so out of love, compassion and weather you like it or not, some understanding, so that I can minister to them appropriately and get through. I will also be contacting Ben and Jerry and let them know how I feel as former customer, a christian and ice cream addict, who LOVED me some Chubby Hubby because I'm a very proactive person and I believe closed mouths don't get feed. PLUS , this stuff was so good, a weakness... so I need to let them know how horrible I feel not being able to cuddle up to my Chubby Hubby.

LOL, I just wrote the last few sentences,lol It made me laugh. You know how we always ask the Lord for help to overcome weaknesses. For the last few weeks have been doing just that, sometimes with a pint of chubby hubby in tow,lol Haaaaaaaaaa. My weakness JUNK FOOD, SUGAR...I'm not here to lie, I'm being real,lol. So today's news stopped me cold turkey. Who says the Lord doesn't have a since of humor? You ask, you shall receive, lol. Plus this gives me the challenge of making my own version and I'll call it Plump Spouse.

Good By Chubby Hubby, Good bye!

Good Bye Chubby,
we were once the best of pals
Good bye chubby....
you made me who I am, a big ole gal

I shall no longer eat you, oh so cold and so comforting
I shall no longer have the dream of candy fields and flowing ice cream cubby hubby streams.

LOL Ok , there is no way I'm going to sit here and really write a poem about ice cream, geeeeees! Because in all honesty, The ice cream is not really the issues. My stand and walk in the Lord is. I mean how hard is it for us not to know, if a company or product we have been supporting for years is in fact supporting something that goes against our personal belief systems as Christians? How many of us do research to check these type things out? In all honesty, if i hadn't gotten this email today I would have not known , until i went to go pick up my fix. Now , please misunderstand, I do not feel the Lord will come and strike you down for buying a dish detergent, from a company that support Freedom to Marry, but I do think after finding out the truth about such an instance, and you either choosing to ignore it, go with it or decided you can do without it, and take a stand for what you believe in. Look at how far you have come, are you really willing to possibly risk it all int he end, because you did not stand firm on the word of God?

I don't claim to know everything but I am spirit lead and when the Holy Spirit quickens me I act, not always when I'm supposed to, and sometimes to late, but if i don't make my mark the conviction is strong and really not worth it. So here is what I do know. If you buy say, any Ben and Jerry's ice cream, you are in fact giving them gusto to add more support for organizations like Freedom to Marry but hey if you don't mind going against the Word of God, then go for it. Then in doing that you support even a bigger cause called Religious Institute and they are specifically sending people to hell on rockets on a daily basis, by teaching and spreading lies about the God we serve and his stance on homosexuality.

The word of God has this to say about the homosexual lifestyle...

Leviticus 18:22
Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.

In case your not sure what abomination means . It means anything abominable; anything greatly disliked or abhorred. A vile, shameful, or detestable action, condition, habit, etc.

Leviticus 20:13
If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.

Now we should all Thank God we are not living in the Old testament, or under the same convenient, because Life was harsh in early Old Testament times. The wanderings and struggle for survival of the Israelite s did not permit prisons or rehabilitation. Anyone who deviated seriously from the norm was either stoned to death or exiled. Thank God for grace , mercy and his son, Jesus who died on the cross for our sins. So see there is hope for everyone, in the form of deliverance, including anyone who is currently living in sin. Know that if we aren't willing to stand firm, teach and spread the word of God, so many will be lost. Maybe a close friend, family member, or child, maybe even us. So is it worth it?

Pay attention, once the truth is revealed, don't continue following it. Pray about it, Ask God what his will for your life is and stand!

If there are typos, then... well if you got this far, who cares, you understood, LOL.