Glory, Glory, Hallelujah!!

Wooo-hooo!!!! Yesterday we accepted a full-price offer (with some fee negotiations) on our house in Conway!!! We were happy dancing all around the living room when the call came in. God takes such good care of us. We're supposed to close in about a month--when the last paper is signed, I'm sure you'll hear my celebration, no matter where you live! :)

That was so much fun!

We met Charlie and Angie and their 4 gorgeous, wonderful kids, and friend Cindy, for supper tonight!!! Our kids had fun together, and we all talked and laughed non-stop. I'm so thankful for friendships that can pick up right where they left off, in spite of time or distance. What a great time!

Humility

Me to Rebecca, as I play around with different pictures on my blog: Should I put a picture of the whole family on my blog, or just you three girls?
Rebecca: Just me!

Works For Me Wednesdays

The Preacher's Wife does WFMW, and I had one idea to share.
It's not the most pleasant topic.
But...if you teach your family to spray the water in the toilet before they use it, the odor is much improved! I learned this when my Mom paid like $7 for some "PooPourri", a lemon-scented spray with instructions to spray the water first. But I've discovered it works with any spray! At least it works for me. :)

Women of Faith "spoiler"

Here are some things I got out of the Women of Faith conference. The speakers obviously say it much better than I can, so if you plan on going to a conference this year, maybe you should skip this post!

Max Lucado: "Whoever" in John 3:16 means however, whenever, wherever, FORever.

Sandi Patty: It's difficult to be transparent and take off our masks, but God loves the real me and wants me to let others see me as I am.

Luci Swindoll: 2 Corinthians 12:9 (The Message) "My grace is enough; it's all you need. My strength comes into its own in your weakness." What is my weakness? What emotion tries to control me? Replace the word weakness with my weakness, and trust God's grace with it. God's strength comes into its own in my crankiness. God's strength comes into its own in my frustration. God's strength comes into its own in my...

Marilyn Meberg: We all feel abandoned one way or another. But God will never leave me.

Sheila Walsh: God loves the 1 lost sheep...and when we all get where we're going, there'll be only happy tears.

Allison Allen: God defines love, and if I have the mind of Christ it's okay if I've lost mine.

Nicole C. Mullen: I know that my Redeemer lives! (Glory!)

Now here's my favorite:
Patsy Clairmont: Did God always answer Jesus' prayers with a "yes"? No, obviously in the Garden of Eden God said "no", and Jesus accepted His will and took the cup. But also, in John 15, Jesus prayed for us, those who believe in Him because of the disciples' witness, that we would be one as He and His Father are one. When we love one another, get along, live in unity, we answer Jesus' prayer!! What an honor is that?!

It was an uplifting, encouraging time. God is working on me at home on other things, as well. What has God been teaching you lately?

What a weekend!

We went to Conway this weekend so Mike could go to another conference in Little Rock, and while we were there my brother Mark watched the girls so Mom and I could go to a little conference in Little Rock ourselves...Women of Faith!
We had SOOOO much fun!! If you are close to one this year and are wondering about going, I say go. Last year the preschool I was working for paid my way to go, and it was great, too. This year my Mom's church got a 2fer1 deal, so we decided to go, and then at the last minute they couldn't find a bus driver so asked if we'd take people in our car, and my way got paid again!! God is so good to me.
Anita Renfroe (the Mom Song lady) wasn't there this year, and I missed her. But Nicole C. Mullen was the featured singer and she ROCKS! I love her! The girls and I love to dance around the family room to her "Live" CD, so this weekend I got to dance with 10,000 women. I hope I didn't embarrass my mom...
Just kidding, I know I didn't. I've seen her act the same way with Bill Gaither videos.
Anyway, here's a song that was new to me this weekend that really moved me. (And she brought the house down with "Redeemer"!)

I hope to share some of the meaningful things I heard, but I'm so sleepy right now (due to tornado warnings and early risings and travel) that I couldn't do them justice. Maybe tomorrow...

Love the South...hate tornadoes!

Yesterday afternoon I was helping a friend of my Mom's (we're in Conway) load a chair into her van. She was taking it to her cousin, who lost all her belongings in the February tornado. I asked about her, and she said when the sirens went off, she went outside to see how things looked...she looked up and there was a cedar tree, parallel to the ground, flying over her head! Just then the wind blew her back into the door. She was able to get it open and run to the staircase in the center of her house to take cover before she lost her roof and porch. I can't even imagine.
Last night we were irritated with the network we were trying to watch, because they kept interrupting the show with weather reports. But when we were ready to go to bed they were reporting a tornado in our area, and the sirens went off. We decided not to wake up the girls unless we heard one coming, but Jessica, who's always been a light sleeper, was sleeping with my Mom and heard us talking. We let her come into the family room where we were watching the news reports. She was so scared she was shaking!! She shook for a good 30 minutes. I asked if she'd feel safer in Gran's walk-in closet, and she said yes, so we got in there with our pillows and I held her on my lap and we prayed and talked. Finally, at about 11:30, it looked like the worst of it had moved past us and we went to bed. But none of us slept very well. Mom said every time it thundered Jessica sat straight up in bed. My poor baby.