PaperBackSwap

I know I haven't posted in a long while. I am sorry but I just haven't had much to say. I am very sporadic at this type of thing.

I have to tell you the exciting find I found today. I LOVE to read. I encourage my kids to read and find the excitement of a good story. I go to the library a lot, but sometimes they don't always carry what I want to read. So I buy books. I buy them from yard sales, goodwill, Wal-mart, Amazon, ect... Well this site is a book swap. There is NO membership fee as of yet. The only cost is when someone requests the books that you have posted you pay to ship them. But when you request a book they will pay the postage to send it to you. You get credits for every book that you actually ship to someone and they receive it. Then you use the credits to get books. So that way you don't have people getting books without reciprocating. I am so excited about it. I have started cleaning off my shelves. I put a link on my sidebar. Go check it out! If you sign up be sure to let them know I sent you. My user id is tavnkate5.

Parents and Children

Wow! It has been awhile since I have posted something. I wrote and said my parents were here. They have now gone to visit my great grandma and extended family in Maine, but they are returning here before heading back West. We had a great time. We didn't DO much, but just having them here and visiting is so awesome. I also realized just how much I use the computer to fill up the emptiness I have being away from my family. I hardly got on here when they were here, I actually had no desire to. But now that they have left here I am again. I am having to work on my attitude. I have been a little depressed since they left. I have been snappy with my kids and especially Tav, poor guy. I have to work hard on being content with where God has me. I want to be closer to my family so I can visit more often. This week or two out of the year stinks!The good news is that they are returning in 3 weeks and will be here for another week before they head home. YAY!

As for children, my mommy's heart is hurting. My 16 yo is away. He is visiting cousins out West. He'll be gone for another 2 weeks. I am amazed at the comments I am receiving about living it up and having all kinds of fun with him gone. Just to let you all know, I LIKE my son. He is fun, funny and a light in my life. Yes I miss him and I will be GLAD when he gets home. Then my oldest baby is sick. She is house sitting and has called me and sounds absolutely miserable, so I am going to go over and take care of her today. I'm not sure I like this growing up thing. I want to gather up all of my chicks and put them back in the nest.~Sigh~

Perhaps I'll take all of my chicks and go and jump back in my parents nest. HA! That is an image!

"I'm busy, busy dreadfully busy"

Just a quick fly by the seat post. I have been very busy visiting my parents. I have 3 weeks to squeeze in an entire year. It is a very good busy. I have been trying to catch up on my regular blog reading but it has been more of a scan. I'll catch up later. Love you all.

Thankfulness

This weekend I was having a conversation with some good friends. Life has been difficult for all of us lately and one of the things that came up was the question why some people seemed to be so blessed and we are struggling. Now honestly we were looking at the monetarily side of this. I don't want a whole lot, but I do want to provide for my family's needs and I believe that is what the others were expressing too.

This morning as I was reading through my Bible I read about thinking on the positive things and then I read in Lamentations 3 that in all of our struggles we have hope in God. Then I started thinking about my friend Julie. She has been struggling with where God has placed her and someone suggested she do a list of things she is thankful for. So I decided to do one. I'm not going to do 25 like she did, but I will do 10. I may also try to do this once a week. Please feel free to join me I would love to see your lists too. So leave me a comment.

1. God's mercy and grace
2. The dawn of a new day
3. The breathe of life
4. A faithful, supporting husband
5. 5 beautiful healthy children
6. A warm (cool) home
7. Enough food to feed my family for at least a month
8. A running a vehicle to get me around.
9. Good friends to laugh with me when I'm laughing and cry with me when I'm crying. ( I love you guys)
10. The doe and her small baby who ate breakfast in my backyard this morning as I was drinking my coffee.

A Little Nugget of Truth

I just love reading the Bible. I can read something a thousand times and then I'll read it and WHAM! God gives me a little nugget of truth that is so appropriate for what I need at that moment. Today that happened, it actually brought tears to my eyes.

I don't read Job much. It is rather depressing. But you know Job was an incredible man of faith. He got a little long winded and God corrected him, but aside from that his faith was amazing. He endured things that I cannot imagine and have no desire to endure, yet his faith in God remained. As my one of my favorite authors, Beth Moore, pointed out he didn't even have the Word of God to hold onto and to read over and over again the promises God makes to us.

Well in my little struggles that I'm having this quote from Job touched something deep inside me. I especially love verse 10. It is so wonderful to know when God seems so far away he knows exactly where I am and he is working on me. I hope it encourages someone else too.

Job 23:8-10 (New International Version)

8 "But if I go to the east, he is not there;
if I go to the west, I do not find him.

9 When he is at work in the north, I do not see him;
when he turns to the south, I catch no glimpse of him.

10 But he knows the way that I take;
when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold.

Tribute

Ninety-Five years ago today, a baby boy was born. It was in a very small town in Nebraska. He was raised into a fine young man who loved the Lord. He then met a beautiful, wholesome farm girl from Oklahoma who also loved the Lord. They then married on this same date 71 years ago. They then went on and raised 3 children to love the Lord. They in turn had children who were raised knowing the love of God and now those grandchildren are raising their many children to know the love of the Lord.



It is because of their faithfulness in teaching their children who then passed it on to me that I grew to know the love of God. They were also a very huge presence in my life not only in words but they were the best examples in living a Godly life that I can think of. I am trying to pass on to my children what they have taught me, but it has been hard to follow in their footsteps. I like to think though, that from somewhere up in heaven that they are looking down at me and are proud of me and of my family that Tav and I are raising. I thank God for the faithfulness of my grandparents and the previous generations who were faithful in teaching them. I pray fervently that I can pass it on and make the same impact that they have had in my life as well as my parents, siblings, cousins, and all of their offspring. It is truly amazing.

They truly have left an amazing Legacy.

What are my priorities?

Here lately I have felt like the circus act where the performer tries to keep all of the plates spinning on the sticks. One or two is ok but you keep adding and then you have to madly go back and forth keeping the first ones going as you add more. I feel as if I've come to the point where all of my plates are falling down. All of the "stuff" in my life is falling apart and breaking. My vehicles are barely going and really shouldn't be. My lawn tractor died this spring and our push mower has given all it has to give. Our new Playstation 3 we received as a gift last Christmas stopped working. Both our laptop and our desktop computers are having issues...

All of this is very frustrating to me. Especially when I look at this and decide that we really cannot shell out any money to fix any of this. Tav was out of work for about 6 weeks which used up all of our extra resources and he has now taken a job that requires him to be away and eat and sleep away from the family. But really as a contemplate this really it is "stuff". Yes, it makes my life easier, makes my yard prettier, offers us entertainment. But in the long term what does it offer? Does it show salvation to someone who needs it? Does it enhance relationships? In 50 years from now, will I still be suffering from not having any of these items? Just why is my husband working 10 - 12 hours a day doing hard physical labor for? I've told him it is to feed his family & pay for the house we live in. But in reality that is a small portion of the income he makes that slips through our fingers like sand. We have bought into what society has told us that we need to be happy: stuff, things, activities, vacations, comfort. And quite honestly I'm not happy.

Perhaps, G0d is showing me the sweet life of simplicity that we as Americans have left far behind. I really think I have missed the mark and it is time to reset the course.