Time slipping away

Time just keeps slipping away faster and faster. I wish I could bottle it up and save it, but that isn't how time works. It seems like just yesterday I was graduating from high school, but its been 24 years since that day. It seems like I just got married, but thats been 22 years ago. It seems like my children were just tiny babies, but my oldest is about to enter her 3rd year of college and my baby's entering his junior year of high school. What have I done with all that time? How much of it have I wasted? Have I cherished each moment, no, sadly I haven't. I look back now and think of all the missed moment, the lost time and it makes me sad. I can't do anything about it now, but what do I do from here. Do I continue to let the time slip away without smelling the roses? I hope not. I want to savor each moment as if it was my last, but still, I find myself letting moments slip like sand through my fingers. It seems like just yesterday I came to Jesus, but that too has been over a decade. How many of the moments God has given me have I wasted? Too many I'm afraid. How many sunsets has he painted on the horizon for me to enjoy did I not even see? How many opportunities to lead other to Him have I let pass me by? How many memories did I not make? How many intimate moments with Him did I walk away from?

I guess I'm being a little sentimental tonight. But I'm also thinking about the things I can do differently in the future. I don't want to miss anymore special moments, with my family, with my friends, with people I don't even know, but especially with God. I have to purposely look for those moments and savor them, treasure them, enjoy them. It's time I started living the way God wants me to, not just wandering around, missing the moments. That's my goal, my vision. To live life for God on purpose. To not let the special moments pass me by unnoticed. To walk the path He's laid out for me with my eyes, my heart, and especially my spirit wide open.

Kim

my plan or God's plan?

I haven't been on in a few days, life has just been incredibly hectic.

A quick update on the day of prayer at our local schools. My family and I arrived at the school I expected to have the largest turnout....and at about 5 minutes before 3pm, we began praying, just me and my family. At first, I felt a little disappointed in the lack of people, but that was just my flesh. Once we joined hands and began to lift our praise and then petitions to God, I felt His Spirit flowing. It was a very hot day, about 105, but while we were praying, I didn't notice. We prayed for about 15 or 20 minutes, then more people came. We joined with them and began laying hands on the school and the Spirit of God opened up the floodgates and flowed over us like rushing water. I know He heard us and I'm expecting some miraculous things to happen.

This experience made me think about why I let my idea of how things should go overshadow God's plans in my life. I pray all the time for God's plan for my life to happen, yet when things don't go the way "I" want, I'm disappointed. My plan, was for there to be an overwhelming number of people at the schools, God's plan was for a few committed people to pray earnestly for our schools. I know His plan is the right one, but so many times I think it's such a bad thing when "my" plans don't happen the way "I" want them too. Right now I'm looking at possibly changing positions withing the school district I work for. I applied for a different position that has more hours and more pay. When I did so, I prayed for it to happen according to God's plan. I'm still waiting to hear about the position and I keep finding myself thinking......"well it doesn't look good" and feeling disappointed about that. But how silly is that. I prayed for God's plan, so whatever happens, I should be excited about, because it means it's God's plan. Why must we always try to take control of everything? I think this is probably my biggest struggle in my Christian walk. I tell God to have His way, for His will to happen, and I mean it when I say it, but 5 minutes later I'm trying to take it back and do it "my" way. You would think I would've learned after all these years that my way is always a mess and God's way is always the right way.

This is what I plan to really work on, letting go and letting God. I've heard that said so many times, but it's time I start walking in it.

Thats all for now.

Prayer

I'm so excited for tomorrow. God gave me a vision sometime back of our community coming together, surrounding all the local schools and praying. I've done my part, now I'm waiting to see what God does. Tomorrow is the day and I'm so ready to go and pray and see miracles happen. I may not see all the thing, or even any of the things God does, but I know prayer is powerful, and I have seen the amazing things that happen when people pray, so I know God will be moving in our schools. So if you read this and you have a minute or more tomorrow, I would love it if you would lift up schools in your own local areas in prayer. Lift up the kids, the teachers, the administrators, just let God do His will in schools all across America.

Thanks and God Bless,
Kim

My awesome son

I went on and on about my daughter yesterday, today it's my son. He, too, was a difficult pregnancy. I had a lot of problems keeping my blood pressure under control. Like, my first pregnancy, I spent a lot of time on bed rest. Not my favorite way to spend 9 months. It wasn't as scary as with April, but had many ups and downs. Finally, 2 weeks before he was due, the doctor decided it would be better to induce than risk my blood pressure getting any higher. So there I was in the hospital hooked to an IV full of potossin. I kept waiting for the first contractions, but after a few hours a nurse realized the other nurse had hooked me to a baby IV and I was only getting small doses of the medication. They changed the IV, the doctor broke my water and and hour and fifteen minutes later, Devin made his entrance into the world the evening of November 18, 1991. That the beginning of no sleep for me. Devin never really slept, he only dozed for a few minutes at a time for the first year plus of his life. He developed RSV and that turned into asthma and the meds kept him wide awake, which meant I was (not so wide) awake. Thank God He gave me the strength I needed to get through that time. Devin was a little quicker learning the physical movements than his sister. The day after he was born, he scooted from one end of my grandma's couch to the other........we knew we were in for a bumpy ride. He was walking between 8 and 9 months and running quickly thereafter. He was a busy boy and a very happy, loving boy. I was truly blessed. He had his first big crush in pre-school. It was very cute. He began as a real ladies boy......he gave his best friend a diamond(not really) ring when he was in kindergarten. It was so sweet. Then some tough times hit, he began struggling in school in 2nd grade. It was then that he was diagnosed with ADD. The teacher was very uncooperative at working with him. She even told him he was stupid when he couldn't focus on his work. Unfortunately, she left an ugly mark on his heart. We were blessed with an amazing teacher for him in 3rd grade and he got caught up quickly. He began to believe in himself again. Thats not to say he didn't continue to struggle with the ADD, but over the years, he's learned how to manage with it. In elementary school he was in grid kids football, it was fun to watch him on the field. When he went off to middle school, his interests changed more to the arts. He joined drama and was involved in a play. I saw him flourish in that element. At some point he began to write poetry and has been published. He took up bowling after his sister did and has been trying to beat her ever since. He does sometimes. He averages in the 160s to 170s........he beats me every time and his dad most of the time. Its been a great sport for both the kids. I can't believe how quickly they've both grown up....Devin's now pushing 17 and of course driving. He's about to enter his junior year of high school and it seems like just yesterday he was headed to his first day of kindergarten. Where does the time go? Devin is very involved in our church. He runs the sound board, has just begun working on the church website, works in the nursery on Sundays, and is willing to help whenever needed. He has a pure heart for God. He cares about others and always tries to help a friend in need. I'm truly blessed to be called his mom.

Thats my boy!

Greatest kids ever

Well, in my last(and first) blog, I said I was going to save talking about my kids until later......so now its later. I have to say, I have the most amazing kids ever!!! Yes, I'm a proud mama. I still can't believe how God picked me to have the joy of my children. They have always been such a blessing in my life. Thats not to say there haven't been times I've been frustrated........believe me I have. Its not to say they're perfect kids, cause they aren't, but they are pretty spectacular. Let's start with April since she was the first born. She gave me quite a scare when I was pregnant, all kinds of difficulties starting with contractions at 2 1/2 months into the pregnancy. If that wasn't scary. But she fought and was born in the wee hours of April 18, 1988....a beautiful healthy baby girl. She was still 5 weeks early, but the doctor said she was so healthy because of the contractions throughout the pregnancy, they had caused her organs to mature earlier. She was so precious, so tiny, and so beautiful. She amazed me everyday. She didn't walk until she was about 13 months, but man could she talk early, read early. She was a sponge when it came to any knew thing we taught her. She was mostly around adults, so she talked very grown up(not in a bad way). At 2 her favorite word was "actually".......what 2 yr old says that? Then after a couple more years came the tantrum stage.........and man was she good at it. That was one of those really frustrating times I was talking about. Then it was off to school. I remember crying all the way home after dropping her off. Elementary school went along well and soon she was in middle school.......wow was that different. The hormones, the giggling girls, the crushes. Then when she was in 7th grade she became sick, not with a cold or flu, but something very odd. She was in a great deal of pain in her joints, she ran fevers and was tired all the time. Walking was extremely painful. Then we noticed these bizarre spots all over her legs. The doctor said it was a rare autoimmune disorder called henoch shonline purpura (sp?). It usually heals on its own in a few weeks. It's something that usually effects infant boys, but occasionally a rare case like hers occurs. Well, shortly after that she was in a wheelchair for awhile because it just became too painful to walk. The spots would fade and in their place new ones would emerge. Finally after several months, she began to heal. It was tough, but she was tougher. She's a real trooper. We made it through middle school and (where did my little girl go) she was in high school. She had a little trouble finding where she fit in the beginning, but soon found friends that stood by her through thick and thin. In her sophmore year, she decided to join the newly created bowling team at the high school. Little did we know what an awesome choice that was. Her first year was rough, she wasn't very good to start, been then began getting better and better. But then tragedy struck again. Another, different autoimmune disorder. It landed her back in a wheelchair for awhile and finally forced her to take several weeks off of school because it was too physically and mentally difficult. She kept up on her school work, but was basically bed ridden alot of the time due to the pain and exhaustion. We took her to children's hospital in seattle for testing, but they couldn't find a specific cause or treatment for her. She was sent home, and thank the Lord, received a healing from God. She joined back up with her bowling team in her junior year, making the varsity team. The team went on to win the regional championship and went on to compete at the state competition. Her senior year she was the #3 bowler in the entire region and her team got 2nd place at the state competition. April was always a bit shy, but through bowling began to come out of her shell. Oh I forgot to mention that in middle school she also had her first seizure, and more later in high school, giving her the diagnosis as epileptic. The reason I mention that is a couple of years ago, she was at a youth camp and received a healing for that as well, but the doctor wouldn't let her go off her meds until she could go without driving for up to 6 months. She's finally there. I'm driving her everywhere and she's more than half way off her meds(it takes a full six weeks to get her all the way off) and doing great. Isn't God AWESOME!?!?!?! After high school, April went on to our local community college and graduated on the deans list this past June. She has also been working the past 2 years at a daycare/preschool and thriving there. She will be starting school to earn her BA in Social Work in a couple of weeks. She is thriving in her church, recently became a leader and leads her own Bible study every week. She loves God with every ounce of her being. I love her so much and feel incredibly blessed to get to say I'm her mother! She's my hero, she has overcome so much adversity and never let go of her faith in God. It's only grown stronger with every moment.

Well, thats enough for now. I'll tell you about my son next time. He's amazing as well.

I will also try to get some pictures up of mom's bedroom soon.

Take care and God bless,
Kim

I guess I'm a blogger now

Well here I am......I'm a blogger now!

I've thought about doing this for awhile, but just finally got around to it. I'm excited to post my first blog.

Let's see.....now I have to figure out what to blog about today.

Well, my brother is about to move back down from Spokane and he's moving back in with my mom. We've been very busy at mom's getting the house ready. He doesn't know it yet, but she insisted on moving into the smaller bedroom and giving him the larger bedroom. I think it was really just her way of getting to remodel the bedroom. So she painted her new bedroom a really soft aqua color, we went and got her a couple of light gray area rugs to lay on the hardwood floors and then she did something odd with her ceiling. We spent Sunday putting up reflective insulation on the ceiling. She had seen a home decorating show with these tin tiles on the ceiling and fell in love with the idea........only to find out those tin tiles are $18 each.......meaning about $600 to cover the ceiling. So we walked around Home Depot for awhile trying to figure out a less expensive way to get the tin look on the ceiling. When she sees this silver, aluminum looking, reflective insulation in rolls. Well, if it will work, it would only cost about $60.....considerable deal right? So we buy a roll to try it out, I call my husband and son and tell them to meet us at moms(they're such good sports) and we spend the next few hours stapling this stuff to the ceiling. It's not my taste, but mom loves it. Now we just have to get the furniture moved over and her new bed arrives on Saturday. Then in 2 weeks we'll head up to Spokane to move my brother down.

I've also been working this summer (I'm a paraeducator with the school district here, which means I get summers off) on sorting through my basement of accumulation. 16 years of accumulation as a matter of fact. Anything we didn't know what to do with or where to put, went in the basement. After weeks of sorting, all I have left to do is finish pricing all the things that will go in a yard sale in September. I've also rearranged and cleaned out all of my cupboards in my kitchen, that was also quite a project. Then in our office we have this shelf, that at one time, I don't remember when, was organized. It was kind of a catch all too. I went through and cleaned and reorganized it. It's been a very productive summer.

Now, lets see........oh......I'll wait to talk about the kids until tomorrow. I don't want to use up all my blogging thoughts for the first day.

God Bless!