California Dreamin

I am in California visiting family on a last minute (truly only knew 48 hours before I left) Thanksgiving visit. Things are going so badly with our move and waiting for orders so that we CAN move, that my husband told me and the kids to go visit my family because he felt so bad. Gotta love that guy! So, even though I am missing my hubby, and the drive was two days and relentless, I am loving being here in California. I will update you all soon with TONS of pictures when I get back. xoxoxo

(p.s. Celee I drove right past your area and was tempted to stop and say hi. But my dad, who was riding with us, said no :( Maybe I will honk on my way home really loud and you will know its me)

What Blog?

Hey all, where have you been??? I miss you all so much. Blog world is funny, kind, inspiring, and gives all sorts of great advice, but you must have one magic ingredient.....TIME. Lately, time is sort of a funny thing. Getting ready for this move (I move Monday), I have seen "time" shift in crazy ways. Gone are the days of routine. Now the days are a crazy mix of chaotic non-stop "to-do" lists, and then times of completely having nothing to do. However, as usual, God has taught me much during these times (as with all times). I have seen that when I am not soooo busy, I am loving just taking time to spend with my husband (who is not working currently) and kids. Just drinking them in ya know? We are having a good time, even in the midst of the stress. I am not saying we have not had stressful days, because we have (My friend Adena, can attest to that)!
However I love watching God bring us closer together, even through the really hard stuff. Anything really stressful like, being unemployed, planning a move, dealing with family drama, and trying to sell a house, causes my hubby and I to get a little bit crazy irritable. I wish we could claim we really had this whole marriage thing figured out, we don't. But I do know we serve a gracious God who delivers us from the paths of selfishness and worry that we put ourselves on, and puts us back on the "better" road, for His sake and ours. To sum it up, things have been crazy over here, but God is faithful. I miss bloggy world like you would not believe, but I just don't have the time. Hopefully I will hear from you all very very soon! xoxoxox
Val

fall

Here are some pictures of the kiddos playing in the leaves this fall. Funny how they decided to rake them. Instead of putting them in a big pile like most kids, they put them in a circle and sat in the middle for hours doing little things. I thought it was cute, but the neighbors and friends called it our wicca circle.....yikes!

Our perfect family evening

I have to admit, I'm an old fuddy duddy sometimes. I struggle with my age. I am 28 but often times feel as though I am well into my forties.I lived a crazy life for a while there as a teen. I won't go into the extreme or the horribly personal, but mostly it was bad. From 16 to 19, I lived as the young man lived in the story of the prodigal son. I squandered all I had, I smoked, I drank, partied, tattooed and pierced myself (often), and finally had something happen to me that brought me to my knees. Luckily, that's exactly where GOD is! To say the least I was saved, to say more, I was changed and so was my entire life. It was not extremely fast. It was slow, just me and God taking it one step at a time. Each time He whispered into my ear, "don't you think it's time to give this up Valerie?" I quit smoking at 19 and quit drinking at 20, just shy of the legal age to start. Flash forward 8 years and now this is what I consider a GREAT time.
Doing a puzzle with my two sweet kids and the hubby. I love those nights. The nights where nobody is on the computer, and everyone just want's to sit and be together. I wish I could say this happens every night. It does not. My hubby and I have bad habits of selfishness and often (prepare yourselves!) even laziness when it comes to really good quality time together. I think its because we homeschool we feel we are "around" each other all the time. Which is true, but quantity time is not a replacement for Quality. So at the end of the day it's true, this tattooed wild child, now loves nothing more than just being together with my family, knowing God is there with us, loving us, and willing us to love each other.

A dying breed.

We did this project for Jacob's math. It involved making a graph of all the different hair colors in your family. It was so easy and fun, any kindergartner would enjoy it. Would you believe in all my family we only have ONE blond? Poor Auntie Jamie :(

side note: you can also do this graph with pictures. Just cut out pictures of that persons face (which of course includes their hair), and put them on the graph like I did with the pieces of colored construction paper.

side note #2: Yes my daughter is in her pajamas, we are homeschoolers, what can I say? And YES she is posing instead of my kindergartner because she LOVES having her picture taken. ;)

Mislead

Things these days are misleading, there is no doubt about it. I personally have been mislead many times. I don't like the feeling of it. The most dangerous kind of misleading though happens within the church body. I was a HUGE fan of an online church until tonight. The pastor was biblical and spot on. Of course as with ANYONE we did not see eye to eye on everything, but those things were "gray area" things. However tonight I was watching one of his sermons online and he had a guest speaker. A man who he praised for being an amazing pastor and a personal influence in his life. I listened as this man began to speak, I had great anticipation for the message he would bring. The message He brought however left a bad taste in my mouth, and a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. To sum it up, he used Acts 15, in which there was great discussion going on about putting a heavy yoke upon the gentile believers by telling them they must be circumcised and obey the laws of Moses, or they were not saved. So the discussion in Acts continues until finally James makes the command, after listening to Paul and Barnabas, that the gentile believers should not have to have stumbling blocks, such as circumcision and total obedience to laws, put in there walk with Christ. The "guest speaker" then goes on to say, and I am totally being honest, that the cross of Christ and even Jesus himself, is a stumbling block to some people in church and should not be put upon them so that they can continue to draw closer to God. UMMMMMMMM we CANNOT draw closer to God without CHRIST!!!!!! wow, I am totally upset about this. He, this pastor, also says that churches need to be open to every single person because the gospel is for everyone. Even those who hate Christ, should be welcomed and NOT offended by having Crosses up and such.
POINT #1 In Acts 15 they were talking about putting a yoke on those ALREADY saved. Not on the unsaved "seekers".
POINT #2 The "Church" is not a building, it is a gathering of BELIEVERS. True, the gospel is for everyone, the entire world actually. But the Church is the body of Christ, comprised of his followers, his believers. We bare no responsibility in making Christs body, our church, seeker friendly to those who hate Jesus.
POINT #3 IF you remove Jesus and his Cross, because he is a stumbling block on their way to God, you have then just removed THEIR ONLY WAY to God. Jesus said I am the WAY the TRUTH and the LIFE. If people are offended by Jesus, and/or the cross, then they need to be at home in prayer, or reading their bibles, and listening to God who is drawing them to Christ, not IN CHURCH!
POINT#4 It is the job of God, via the Holy Spirit, to draw people to God, using whatever means He deems necessary, including, but not limited to, our lives as Christians, our mouths, and God's Word. It is not the job of the church to have the right atmosphere, of non offensive wall decor, or music, in order to make people comfortable with God.
POINT#5 To be perfectly clear, I would NEVER turn away a person who wants to be in church to learn more. However, I would never change, worship or doctrine, to better suit the unbeliever, in doing so making myself believe that somehow that might help give them a "leg up" to Christ.

A note of apology.

I am sorry, number one if this was written in a way that has offended anyone. I do not apologize for my content, but if it is written in rude way, I apologize. But most importantly I apologize for having the link to this "online church" on my blog. I truly hope I have not played a role in the misleading of any new believer. I am praying for the pastor of it, whom I still love, and know has a heart for God. I am very concerned about this pastor whom he watches and learns from though. Tonight I am praying for them both,and all the thousands of people who attend these campuses and watch online.