Free Adult Coloring Book Page 5 - Psalm 148:1-5 (Free Printable)

I have been drawing my own coloring book. Someday I hope to self-publish it but for now I decided to stop hiding my light under a bushel and share it. So here you go! All of these are hand drawn, I am having so much fun letting my creativity flow. These pages are based on verses that God has placed on my heart. They are very meaningful to me. I hope you ave as much fun coloring them as I had drawing them. I would love to see your colored pages, post them in the comments!

Print Coloring Page Here

Free Adult Coloring Book Page 4 - Psalm 119:94 (Free Printable)

I have been drawing my own coloring book. Someday I hope to self-publish it but for now I decided to stop hiding my light under a bushel and share it. So here you go! All of these are hand drawn, I am having so much fun letting my creativity flow. These pages are based on verses that God has placed on my heart. They are very meaningful to me. I hope you ave as much fun coloring them as I had drawing them. I would love to see your colored pages, post them in the comments!

Print Coloring Page Here

Free Adult Coloring Book Page 3 - Psalm 62:1-2 (Free Printable)

I have been drawing my own coloring book. Someday I hope to self-publish it but for now I decided to stop hiding my light under a bushel and share it. So here you go! All of these are hand drawn, I am having so much fun letting my creativity flow. These pages are based on verses that God has placed on my heart. They are very meaningful to me. I hope you ave as much fun coloring them as I had drawing them. I would love to see your colored pages, post them in the comments!

Print Coloring Page Here

Free Adult Coloring Book Page 2 - Isaiah 61:1b and Isaiah 58:6 (Free Printable)

I have been drawing my own coloring book. Someday I hope to self-publish it but for now I decided to stop hiding my light under a bushel and share it. So here you go! All of these are hand drawn, I am having so much fun letting my creativity flow. These pages are based on verses that God has placed on my heart. They are very meaningful to me. I hope you ave as much fun coloring them as I had drawing them. I would love to see your colored pages, post them in the comments!

Print Coloring Page Here

Free Adult Coloring Book Page 1 - 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a (Free Printable)

I have been drawing my own coloring book. Someday I hope to self-publish it but for now I decided to stop hiding my light under a bushel and share it. So here you go! All of these are hand drawn, I am having so much fun letting my creativity flow. These pages are based on verses that God has placed on my heart. They are very meaningful to me. I hope you ave as much fun coloring them as I had drawing them. I would love to see your colored pages, post them in the comments!

Print Coloring Page Here

Eat, Drink, and Be Merry

You know the saying "Eat, drink, and be merry"? Did you know that it is from the bible? Did you know that the next line is "For tomorrow we will die" (Is 22:13). I knew those things but I learned something new about that passage tonight.

In Isaiah 22 God is talking about the defenses that the Israelites put up around their city, knowing that their old defenses, and probably their new ones were not good enough to save them.

So they decided to have a party.

This is the part that blows my mind. They really thought they were going to die. They were sure that they were going to die.

And they decided to eat and drink and engage in revelry.

God had asked them to weep and wail, to tear out their hair and to put on sack cloth (vs 12). If they had done as God asked maybe they wouldn't have died tomorrow.

God was begging them to turn to him. But that still didn't change their minds or actions.

In verse 8-11 God describes the defenses that they had built up and then says "but you did not look to the One who made it, or have regard for the One who planned it long ago."

God made everything. Including the things that I am hiding behind or building up to defend me. I need to look to the maker of these things for my true defense.

I'm sorry God for looking to the things you have made, instead of looking to you for defense. Please help me remember to always look to you. Thank you for being there for me always! I love you!

Why Not Me?

When I'm struggling with something the temptation is often to ask why? or why me? But I think we need to start asking why not? or why not me?

We live in a fallen world. There are struggles. Everyone struggles. What makes me so special that I should not struggle or that I should not have this struggle? God showed me this last week.

I struggle with insomnia.

It manifests itself in different ways on different nights. Sometimes I can't fall asleep. Sometimes I can't stay asleep. Sometimes I can't go back to sleep when I wake up. Lately it's been I wake up in the night and can't fall asleep for up to hours.

It all boils down to one statement; I'm tired.

One night I was up for 3 to 4 hours. When I had been awake for over 2 hours, and had already tried all my usual tricks, I looked at the clock and asked whhhyyyy?

And then God said why not? Why not me? What makes me so special? Why shouldn't I struggle?

Another great question is: What is God trying to show me through this struggle?

One thing i have found is that God is giving me a special time to be with him in the middle of the night. I have a time of quiet, which is rare of my busy life with 3 kids under 4. And I have the privilege of spending it with him.

My response needs to be (and sometimes is :)); Thank you God for giving me this special time with you.

A Role Model for Change #savoringtimewithGod

I am going through the devotional book Savor, by Shauna Niequist with my women's bible study. I thought the questions were so great and thought provoking that I wanted to share them and my answers with you. I would love to hear your answers in the comments or if you blog about them too please post your link in the comments!



June 17 p182

Q. Who has shown you how to handle change courageously, thoughtfully, proactively? How have you followed their example? Is there any area of your life in which you need to consider making a change?

A. I guess my parents. I never really thought about it because they kinda lead by example/forcing us into it :). We moved several times throughout my growing up years. My dad changed not only jobs but entire lines of work. My mom went from a stay at home mom to a working mom and has gone through several job changes. All of that to bring us to a better place in life, either because something wasn't working, was going to stop working, or something else would work better.


I don't know if this is because of the upheaval, or just my personality, but I am e type of person who thrives on change. If everything stays the same I get bored. So I have followed their example. My husband and I have moved 3 times in our almost 7 years of marriage. We've had 3 kids. I tended to switch jobs fairly regularly when it wasn't working for me anymore (now I am a stay at home mom). My husband has had a couple different jobs in that same 7 yr period, and we weathered the unchosen changes well. We have also gone through the sad changes of losing loved ones. I started a blog that didn't have a specific theme so I could change what I wrote about. We started a small hobby farm. We are constantly remodeling, rearranging, and redecorating our home. We are constantly working to make sure our lives are well lived.


Honestly as far as future changes, I think we are good. We will continue the constant changes of home and family. But for the big things I think we are in the right place right now. One specific thing I need to work on changing is organization. And we are working on what exactly God wants us to do mission wise.


What about you? Do you handle change well? Is there anything you need to change?

What Connects Me To God #savoringtimewithGod

I am going through the devotional book Savor, by Shauna Niequist with my women's bible study. I thought the questions were so great and thought provoking that I wanted to share them and my answers with you. I would love to hear your answers in the comments or if you blog about them too please post your link in the comments!


June 9 p 174

Q. God is endlessly creative in how he shares his presence with each of us. And the specific way he chooses to connect with you matters. What is the tie that binds you to God?

A. Peace, quiet, alone time, time with people, deep conversations with girlfriends, loving my kids, sometimes some songs, deep abiding faith and love, my garden, my chickens, obeying, seeing God working in circumstances

The list above is what came to mind when I asked myself how I have seen and felt connected to God lately. As you can see it is widely varied. I was trying to figure out what one thing binds me to God and realized that it is not one thing, it is many things. I see God all around me, in many parts of my life. And he speaks to me in many ways, in the quiet, through the voice of a friend, in my garden, through my husband, etc.


But there is one thing that really ties my to God and that is inside of me. One of my spiritual gifts is faith. It took me forever to realize that that is a spiritual gift, not something I learned, but something I was given. But I have it. It is deep inside of me, and no matter the circumstances in life or around me I still have it. I believe in God, I believe that he is there, that he loves me, that what he says in the bible is true. I believe. That's it, I just believe. I can't explain it, I didn't put it there, it is just there. I have absolute faith in God. And that is the tie that most binds me to God.


But I am so thankful for all the other ways he speaks to me too! How do you connect with God? How does he speak to you?

How do I feel about my body? #savoringtimewithGod

I am going through the devotional book Savor, by Shauna Niequist with my women's bible study. I thought the questions were so great and thought provoking that I wanted to share them and my answers with you. I would love to hear your answers in the comments or if you blog about them too please post your link in the comments!


June 5 p 169

Q. How do you feel about your body? Do you feel connected to it? Do you feel respect for it? How do you nurture it? How do you challenge it?

A. How do I feel about my body? Hmm this is an interesting question. I've never really thought about it. I think most of the time I feel that my body is just there. It just exists. It is what it is. Except when it doesn't work right or hurts, then I feel annoyed at it or whatever hurt it. A lot of times I groan from being achy but I still don't really think about my body. It is just there and it is me so why would I think about it as if it is something separate? So yes, I feel connected to it. (Shauna talks in the devotional about feeling disconnect between her body and her soul).

Do I feel respect for it? I'm not sure if I respect it, because like I said, it is me. I respect myself, I think we'll of myself so in that way I respect my body, because it is part of myself. I don't usually feel thankful for my body because it is just a part of me, like I said. But now I am thinking about several friends and family members who have bodies that don't work like mine do. Sure there are times when my body doesn't work the way I want it to, but I have full use of all my limbs so I should be thankful for that. Thank you God for my body.

How do I nurture it? Well I try to eat healthy. I sleep as much as my body and my kids and my schedule will let me. I don't do much exercise besides chasing 3 kids around. I need to stretch more, I get stiff a lot these days. I work outside in the garden with fresh air. I get as much peace as my kids will let me :). I don't know, is all that nurturing my body? It is nurturing me.

How do I challenge it? The same way I challenge the rest of me. I do what i think is good to do for me. Have I ever specifically challenged my body? Not that I can remember. Other than pregnancy, childbirth, and nursing. Does that count?

Physical Difficulty #savoringtimewithGod

I am going through the devotional book Savor, by Shauna Niequist with my women's bible study. I thought the questions were so great and thought provoking that I wanted to share them and my answers with you. I would love to hear your answers in the comments or if you blog about them too please post your link in the comments!


June 4 p 168

Q. Have you ever run a marathon, or fulfilled some other physical goal that pushed you beyond what you had thought you could do? What did you learn from that process?

A. Well I gave birth to 3 babies. And nursed them.

Before the first one I thought it would all be fine and easy. I was planning to have an epidural and breastfeeding is natural, right? I knew it wouldn't be easy, but I didn't know how hard it would be. When my epidural didn't work right with my first two I learned how excruciating labor and child birth could be. At one point with my first I honestly wasn't sure how I would make it. But I did make it, and went on to birth 2 more children. I learned I am capable even if it is horribly hard. I also learned that I can endure horrible pain for a short time period as long as there is an end in sight. But even in that moment when I can't see the end I would still choose to do it all over again for my precious children. I guess I learned how strong I am?

Nursing babies took a whole different level of strength. I wrote about this before, but Nursing my first was incredibly hard. It was very painful. Problems with latch and neither of us knew what to do. In the beginning, for the first several months I daydreamed at every feeding about switching to a bottle. I sometimes wished that the doctor would find a medical reason for me to stop breastfeeding and switch to formula. (That sounds horrible, and I cringe writing that, but it is true). There were times I honestly didn't know if I would finish the week nursing. But I made it through. I made it to a year nursing both my first and second (still working on my 3rd). It started being easy sometime between 3 and 6 months (I can't remember for sure when, that whole time is a little fuzzy). Again I learned how strong I am. I can make it through. I learned to take the hard things 1 thing at a time, (I will make it through this one feeding don't think about the next one). I learned that pushing through one hard thing may make the next one a little easier (the 2nd and 3rd have been easier for nursing, one naturally and 1 with the help of a tongue tie being clipped). I learned that it is ok to lean on something to help you make it through (I doubt I would have made it through without nipple shields, I've used them with all 3 and they are a life saver!). I learned that hard things are only a season. I learned that God is right there with me through those hard seasons

Hotline to God Story Stix: Review of a great Children's Toy #sponspred

I received the products in this review for free in exchange for writing a review. All opinions are 100% my own. The products were supplied by Hotline to God. I signed up for the review through Buzz Plant's BuzzBlogger program.


When I received the package from Hotline to God we were having a crazy day getting ready for Little Man 2's first birthday party. I didn't have time to deal with it so I put it up on a shelf and forgot about it. I remembered it the other day when it was raining all day and I needed something to occupy the little men so I wouldn't go crazy. When I pulled them out and let the kids play with them I wished I wouldn't have waited so long.

The kids loved them! Little Man 2 was the first one who got to explore them because he woke up from his nap earlier than Little Man 1. He couldn't figure out how to push the buttons so I pushed them for him. You should have seen the huge smile when it was talking to him. Then he put it up to his ear like a phone (he has seen Little Man 1 talk on various objects like a phone). He gestured and smiled just like he was listening to someone on the phone. Whenever it stopped talking to him he handed it back to me and I started it again. I wish I could post the pictures I got of him listening and smiling, they are super cute. But Mr. Random and I agreed when I started this blog that I would not post pictures of any of our faces. You can see a few pictures below of my kids cute arms etc and their new favorite toys.

When Little Man 1 woke up he loved them too. He pushed the buttons over and over. He also loved the Serenity Prayer key chain. He really loves key chains right now. He will loop them around his fingers and carry them around. This key chain recites the serenity prayer when you push a button. SO now I hear the serenity prayer a lot :)

Hotline to God sent us 4 Story Stixs, 1 Key Chain, and 1 Phone to God. I haven't gotten batteries into the phone yet, but I have no doubt the boys will love that too. They both love pretending to talk on the phone. The story sticks are interesting. Each of them tells 1 bible story: Jesus, Noah, David & Goliath, and Adam & Eve. The stories are broken down into 6 parts, each button tells a sentence or two of the story. If you press each of the buttons in order you will hear the entire story. But they also set it up so each button makes sense on its own. They were well designed. The only thing I would change is the option to turn down the volume. The website says they are recommended for ages 3 and over, but my 2 (almost 3) year old  and 1 year old love them.

If you are looking for a good toy or present for a children these would be great!

5 Random Questions 16

I love answering random questions, and I love reading other people's answers to random questions. So I thought that would make a fun series. I will answer the 5 questions in my post and you can answer them in the comments. We can all get to know each other better, how much more fun can you get?

So here we go 5 Random Questions:

1. Do you want children? no, I'm good. Just kidding, yes, I have always wanted kids, and am thrilled with the two that God has given me, and am willing to care for any others he asks me to.

2. Do you want a church wedding? Yes, I had a church wedding.

3. Are you religious? I am a Christ follower. I don't consider it to be a religion, for me it is a relationship.

4. Do you like reality TV programs? I enjoy some of them, like I said last week I watch Bachelor and Bachelorette with Mr. Random.

5. Do you like TV talent shows? I used to watch American Idol with my family sometimes, but since I'm not huge into music I wouldn't put it on much.



I can't wait to read your answers!


Questions Source:

http://allysrandomage.blogspot.com/2007/06/101-random-questions.html

Thank You God

On this week of thanksgiving God gave me the precious gift of true Thanksgiving.

At my bible study the other night the song Temporary Home was played. The last section of it talked about an old man in the hospital saying good bye to his loved ones. In that moment I was brought back to my grandfather’s deathbed a few years ago. Even though it was a while ago I was brought right back to that place of grief and loss.

At the end of the study another song was played. I don’t even remember what the song was. I didn’t really hear it. While I was sitting there listening to the song God gave me a beautiful picture.

My heart heavy with sadness, I could feel it a hard lump in my chest. When all of a sudden God reached down and touched my heart. It began to rise and lighten. It bloomed like a flower and I emerged from my grief. I flew up to heaven straight into God’s arms. As I hugged God I turned into a small child safe in my father’s arms. God hugged me close to him and told that everything would be ok, he would always be with me.

This season of life has been very overwhelming. I have been busy, overworked and under-able. I have been feeling constantly like I need a break, but don’t have much time for one. I have found ways to cope, taking a little time for myself here and there, trying to get things done so that I could mark them off my list, but it is not enough. I need God now, I can’t get through a single day without him. I can’t do anything without him. Tonight he reminded me of that, and lifted me out of my problems in a very special way and I am so thankful for it. I am thankful that he gave me the gift of peace, and thankful that he gave me the gift of thankfulness.

When this happened I knew that he had not given me this gift just for me but to share it with others too. I know that this season is busy for a lot of people, and many of you may be dealing with grief both fresh and resurfaced. So this picture is for you too. God is there for you always holding out his arms and holding you in his arms. Always there for you.

God Bless You

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

I intended to get on and post this yesterday but I was too busy spending time with my family. But Christmas wishes are still good right? :)

I thought I would share a few pictures that would help us remember the true reason for the season!

Merry Christmas!
I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and are spending lots of time with family and friends!

Blast from the Past 18 - On Paradise Lost and Why I think Milton is An Idiot

This series consists of notes that I wrote on facebook in the past. Enjoy reading my thoughts during my college years. Please comment but please be nice! Also please feel free to check out my other Blast from the Past Posts.


From March 2007


Ok, I was inspired by [My Friend's] comment on my last meaningless note to write about why I think John Milton is an idiot and why he how he should learn to pick up a bible before he writes an entire book about the creation story.
I will list all the fallacies, and things I don't like, that I can remember, that we read about, we skipped several chapters so will not be commenting on those.
He asks for help from a muse/holly spirit I think this is degrading to the Holy Spirit because Milton is effectively putting him on the same level as fake Greek muses. He invokes a “real” muse later on in the exact same way as he did the Holy Spirit.
He is arrogant; he pretty much says that his book is a lot better than the other Classical poets, such as Virgil and Homer, when actually it is just more boring and harder to understand. He also claims to know the ways of God, he actually says that he will try to explain the ways of God to man. The bible says that no one can know the ways of God because his ways are far above our ways (I can’t remember the reference).
He presents Satan as an epic hero, meaning that he is doing good by straining to fight against something that is bigger than and stronger than he is. My teacher compared Satan to an underdog fighting to win against the best team, and how cool that was, and how we should be rooting for Satan. But what he failed to mention is that an underdog fighting to win a game is not sinful, but Satan's attitudes against God were extremely sinful, and we should never think of them as cool, so Milton should not be trying to portray them as cool.
The relationship between Satan, Sin, and Death is just disturbing, and weird and wrong, and that is really all that needs to be said about that.
Milton says that God and Jesus were separate from the beginning of time, and he implies somewhat clearly that the are not all together one God, but somehow separate in Godhood, that they are separate but equal, and that the son was created after God the father, they did no coexist eternally.
My teacher said that Milton implies that Satan’s sins are less forgivable because he is the one who started/ thought up sin, while humans were lead to sin by Satan. I think that Satan’s sins are not forgivable because they were not repented, never once did Satan actually feel genuinely sorry for his sin.
Milton says that God created the earth and people to replace the fallen angels, and to prove to Satan that he is all powerful. I think that God created us because he was lonely, he wanted someone made in his own image to love him because they wanted to, not because they have to.
Milton says that Adam and Eve worked, like tended the garden or whatever, I do not think that they had to work until after the fall, the bible does not specifically say this but why else would it be mentioned in the curse of Adam if they were already doing it? [This one my opinion has changed on some]
Milton says that Eve was surprised that the serpent could speak, the bible does not say that the Eve was surprised by the talking snake. In fact I would be surprised if the snake couldn’t speak, I mean it was Eden, how much cooler can you get than talking animals? Why shouldn’t they speak? I think Milton says that animals could not speak because he believes that humans are set apart from animals by their ability to reason. So if animals could speak they must have the ability to reason, and Milton values human reason, like the other classical poets as above pretty much everything else but God. So he can’t give animals speech, but I do not think that human reason is quite as important, or cool considering what it has brought us over the years, as the classic poets seem to think, so I do not see any reason why God would withhold that from animals at creation.
Ok, this next point is the one that really gets me because it actually affects my life. Milton says that Adam and Eve worked apart that day, and that Eve suggested it, and that is why she was tempted. Now go look this up in your bible, Genesis 3:6 says that Adam was with Eve when she was tempted. He was not off in some other part of the garden innocently doing his own thing until Eve came and seduced him and he selflessly gave up his eternal life so that Eve would be alone (this is what Milton says). NO he was with her, he was right there, just because Eve took the fruit first does not mean that she was the only one convinced by the snake, if Adam wasn’t convinced by the snake then why didn’t he try to stop her? The bible doesn’t mention him at all in that passage except to say that he was there and that he ate the fruit, does this tell us something? He was just as much to blame as Eve was. That is why this part affects my life, I have heard countless times over the years that women are worse, more evil than men because they ate the fruit, they seduced Adam, they brought sin on us all, well guess what, he was there too, he brought sin on us too, and maybe it is worse because he was a passive observer, he didn’t even try to stop her.
Now I am not sure about this but my friend said that Milton implied that Adam and Eve did not have sex until after they ate the fruit, which to me implies that sex is a sin. Well Adam and Eve were married (or the equivalent since they were the only people on earth and were literally made for each other) and sex is not a sin between a husband and wife. And since sex is a gift from God to married people, I do not see why he would not have given it at creation, why would it come only after eating the fruit that brought them sin?
And the last thing I can think of is that Milton says that God sends the son to deal with Adam and Eve. I find two problems with this, one is that he is still implying that the father and son were two separate entities at creation, I think that it is the accepted opinion that Jesus did not formally separate from the father until he took on human form. And the second problem is that God (the father) did not come and deal with Adam and Eve himself, I mean this is the first sin ever committed by humans and God couldn’t bother enough to go down and deal with it himself, he had to send his son to deal with it? I don’t think so.
So there you have it, a detailed, chronicled list of what and why I do not agree with Paradise Lost, do with it what you will, feel free to comment if you have a question, disagree, or agree. I can’t believe that I just stayed up till 2 writing this, maybe I should have used it as my paper for class :)

What are you Thankful for?

Happy Thanksgiving!

When you give thanks on Thanksgiving who do you give thanks to? I was thinking about this the other day as I was driving down the road seeing and hearing all the advertisements for Thanksgiving. I know exactly who I am giving thanks to. I am giving thanks to God. The vast majority of Americans celebrate Thanksgiving but most of them don't think about God in their daily lives. So who are they giving thanks to? Who else could possibly be responsible for all the good in our lives?

It also got me thinking about everything that I have to be thankful for in my life and I thought that this is as good a time as any to make a list. Making lists of the good things in your life is a good thing to do. They are great because it reminds you of what you have and you can look back at them when you are feeling down and not remembering everything great that you have! So here it is my thankful list.

What am I thankful for?

God
Salvation
Mr. Random
Little Man
All the extended family
Our house
Our cars
All the things we have
Mr. Random's income
That I can stay home with Little Man
That I was capable of having a child
That I could nurse Little Man for a year
That I have time to spend with family
This blog
That I live in America
All the freedom that we have
Our newly painted house
The new floor in the kitchen
Christmas
Christmas Music
Christmas Decorations
Everything that goes with Christmas
Every smile from Little Man
Electricity
My Laptop
Heat
Air Conditioning
Doctors
Books
Faith
A coat
Shoes
Friends
Food
Water
The simple pleasures of life
The Bible
Snow
Sleep


There is a lot more that I am thankful for. This is just a drop in the bucket of blessings that i have received from God, but that list could go on forever so I am going to stop it here.


But enough about me, what are you thankful for?

Linked Up To:
Cornerstone Confessions, Clean & Scentsible, The NY Melrose Family, Serendipity and Spice,

Blast from the Past 10 - "Pro-choice" vs "Pro-life"

This series consists of notes that I wrote on facebook in the past. Enjoy reading my thoughts during my college years. Please comment but please be nice! Also please feel free to check out my other Blast from the Past Posts.


From October 2006


"Pro-choice" vs "Pro-life"

Today in President’s Colloquium we talked about “Pro-life"? vs. “Pro-choice"?. Even though a few weeks ago I discovered that I am not shy (See my note “Nothing to Say"?), I still do not like talking in class, well some classes, and this is one that I cannot talk in. So I have decided to post my views on Abortion here.
I am “Pro-life"?. I put the “"? in because I do not like that title. By being “Pro-life I am also pro-choice (notice absence of “"?). I am in favor of the child having a choice too.
I believe that abortion is fundamentally wrong. I believe that abortion is in fact killing a child. It does not matter how old a person is when someone kills them, it is still wrong. The dictionary says that the definition of kill is “to deprive of life in any manner; cause the death of; slay."? If a person removes a fetus before it is born that person is depriving the child of life. How can this not be considered killing? Even if the fetus isn’t alive at conception or whenever the abortion takes place, although I believe that it is alive, but even if it isn’t, it will be at some point, right? I mean nobody is debating that a fetus will grow and become nothing, it will be alive sometime. So it would have life, and an abortion would deprive the child of having life in the future.
In the case of rape, I am somewhat uncertain about the topic. I believe that the mother should have the child, and if she does not want it she can give it up for adoption. I believe that this is the right thing to do, and this is what I would do if that ever happened to me. But I am not entirely certain that I have the right to say that this is the way that everyone has to be, for this part of the issue only. I guess I compare it to if a woman was attacked and she was physically injured, like her leg broke, or like if he gave her a STD, she cannot get rid of these simply by saying “oh I didn’t want this so I will get rid of it"?. Nature does not work this way, we can not simply wish things away like that. I do not see how having a baby is that much different.
Another issue that we discussed is that a lot of “Pro-choice"? people would not actually have an abortion, but they believe that other women should choose. They are basically saying ‘I don’t want it but nobody is allowed to tell me that I can’t have it’. This attitude reminds me of the southern attitude around the time of the civil war. A lot of southern people didn’t own, or want to own, slaves, but they rebelled when the government told them that they couldn’t own slaves. To me this attitude is immature and sinful. If you don’t want something why are you fighting for it? Some people don’t believe that it is right but they don’t believe that it is the governments place to regulate it. By fighting for it, however, they are endorsing abortion. Now I am not condemning them for this, because I know that I fall into this pattern too. Sometimes someone will tell me that I can’t have something that I didn’t want anyways. And I will rebel and start fighting for it, even though I didn’t really want it. But when I notice that this is what I am doing I stop myself and think about what I am really fighting for. I am really fighting because I want my own way. But I don’t need to have my own way all the time, I need God’s way.

My Response to God in the Storm (#response)

Sometimes you think you have things planned. You think that you know what you are going to do and when. You think that you know what will happen the next day. Then life comes along and tells you otherwise. This week was exactly like that. Sunday night at midnight we went to the emergency room. Don't worry we are fine, it just turned out to be a new facet of the same issues that we have been dealing with but we didn't find that out until we had been there for over 3 hours. We didn't get home until around 4 so we didn't get a ton of sleep that night. We spent Monday recovering from the log night and we didn't get a lot done. The rest of the week went by in a busy fashion in which I didn't get done very much of the stuff I wanted to get done. Oh and Thursday I had to run errands because we were out of things and it was the hottest day that we have had this year (over 100 degrees). Then Friday was a whopper. Mr. Random got off work early so we would have some time to spend together before my sleep study that night. Well not to long after he got home a huge storm came up. I think this was one of the worst storms that I have ever seen. I heard that the winds got up to 80-90 mph. These horrible winds knocked down many things including tree limbs (and some whole trees) and power lines/poles. So about half of our surrounding area lost power. We were one of the unfortunates who lost power, and we have well water (which unlike city water you need electricity for because it has to be pumped out of the ground) so we also didn't have water. And our stove is electric so nothing to cook with, and we didn't want to open the fridge or freezers because we didn't want to let the cold air out so nothing to cook anyways. And of course no power means no air conditioning and not even fans and like I said it was 100 on Thursday, and Friday was somewhere in the 90s ad the rest of this weekend was somewhere up there too. The storm cooled it down a little bit but it shot back up pretty fast. Yeah, it was pretty crazy, but we all lived through it so God is Good!

Well like I said Friday night I was supposed to have a sleep study so after calling and finding out that the center still had power and was still doing the studies that night we decided that I should go ahead and go (it was going to be inconvenient any night). So I slept in relative comfort in a nice air conditioned room (and had some of the best sleep of my life because of a wonderful cpap machine, but more about that in another post) but poor Mr. Random and Little Man slept in our not air conditioned house. Little Man's room stays the coolest in the house, so he was comfortable ad slept well, but Mr. Random said he was miserably hot all night and didn't sleep well. So we set up to sleep at our church on Saturday night because it had electricity. We were worried about sleeping in the same room as Little Man because we might keep each other up, but it turned out fine, except he didn't nap well during the day. We were invited to lunch by some wonderful friends from church and when we got home around 2:30 our power was back on! We are not entirely certain when it came back on but we were so glad it was on and we could stay home! And as far as we can tell our food isn't even spoiled (most of it). So yay, God is Good! In all of this craziness God showed up ad took care of us and we are fine. Thank you God for protecting us and taking care of us in the big and small things!

Today our pastor's sermon was about our response to God and he encouraged us to write, or draw, or do something in response to God today (and he wanted us to put in #response). So this is my response.

Thank you God! Thank you for being there for us, for taking care of us! I love you for your power and goodness. I love seeing how you work in our lives! Thank you for my life, and my husband and precious baby. I have so much to thank you for I should never complain. I am sorry for complaining. Please help me remember all of the good and not dwell on the bad. Thank you so much!

How have you seen God working this week? What is your response to him this week?


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