Something to think about....

I recently overheard a conversation about kids in church. 1 person was describing an incident that they saw at their church 1 Sunday, where kids disrupted the service. (I personally know of times when people complain about the bus kids at our church interrupting the service. It annoys me every time someone starts in on this topic. More times then not the person complaining has a annoyed, intolerant attitude about the child they are complaining about. I feel bad for the child involved.)

Anyway, the complaining of the children is what led to the statement that they didn't think that children should ever be running around in the auditorium let alone even be ALLOWED to step foot on the platform.

Which ok, I can go down with that. Children should be taught respect of God's house. I totally agree with that. Children should not run around the auditorium or the main building of the church. Personally it just boils down to a respect of God's house.

But the reason behind why children shouldn't be allowed in particularly on the platform annoyed me. And I have thought on it for the past couple days. This person said that they didn't think children should be allowed on the platform b/c that is where the man of God delivers his sermon. That is the place where he delivers his words from God and it is a high and holy place.

That's where it gets tricky for me. Yes, that is obviously the place where the pastor preaches from. BUT God can move anywhere. I personally rarely have a moving experience from God on any given Sunday. I hear from God in the quiet place when I seek him early in the morning. That is the place where I have grown so much. That is the place where God convicts me. Does that mean that God doesn't move on Sunday morning from the pulpit? Absolutely not!! But I refuse to box God in and say that this high and holy man can only deliver God to the people from the platform during a service.

The thing that I keep going back to in my mind is that even if it were true....isn't there a verse in the Bible about the disciples pushing the children away from Christ, and Christ saying something like suffer not the little children to come to me. IF the only place that we can hear from God is on the platform then shouldn't the children be allowed to be there?

With that being said....I do think at least in my experience that we should teach our children a little more respect for the house of God. Kids shouldn't be running around causing chaos. But that's the same whether your in church at in a home. Children should be taught respect for the things around them.

My Brother in law brought these verses to my attention......
John 4:19-26~The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet. Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God [is] a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship [him] in spirit and in truth. The woman saith unto him, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things. Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am [he].

Just something to think about......

Happy Winter to you! We have had some snow lately. Dada has gotten into liking to shovel. If Daddy isn't here, the kids try to get outside before he gets home and "surprise" him with having the snow all shoveled. Brother particularly likes to do this.


It's Saturday. YAH!! I think this has been the longest 4 day week of school EVER!! It was bitterly cold yesterday. Every school canceled school yesterday except about 4. Ours included. I think everyone but me was in a foul mood. Anyway, glad it's over. The highlight of my day was my date with my Hubby. I have been looking forward to it all week. Time carved out for just him and I. We went to dinner and then browsed around our favorite stores.....Lowe's and Target!! :) (Sarah....I bought the green hat and mittens!! They were on clearance!! And they are lovely!!) It was nice to sit and talk or walk around hand in hand.

I have had a lovely time reconnecting with my Hubby. His schedule has changed ( we think for good) and now he is back on days!! I am so happy! I have enjoyed him so much this week. I think that the kids are just as happy.

Today's to do list......
clean bathrooms
vacuum
mop
dust
LAUNDRY ( I was caught up on it.....)
possibly make Kelsey Swanks famous cheesecake (which includes a trip to the store)
change sheets
take down the rest of the Christmas decorations (maybe) it's still winter, I can still have my snowmen up.

I already have laundry humming and the dishwasher going. (which I forgot until just now I can't do b/c the electrical in our old house can't handle both of them at the same time...oops!)

Hunny has to work today, so it's a good day to get all this accomplished. I personally like cleaning the house when He isn't here. I think I get more done.

But for now, I am enjoying my hot cup of coffee and doing something else that's on my to do list for today, something I have neglected....my blog. I love blogging!!

Today, Dada's goal is to go to the store and buy more beads. Dada and a couple girls at school want to make necklaces and bracelets to sell to help the homeless and children in the hospital. I don't exactly know how to encourage this. I don't want to squash her sense of wanting to help.....

Brother stayed the night last night with the neighbor kids. So it is pretty quiet in our house this morning!!

We celebrated Daddy's bday this past week. I love baking. I honestly do. I used to bake and bake and bake. I don't do nearly as much anymore b/c of Dada. So I was looking forward to making Daddy's cake. I think the kids have a radar for when I am going to bake. :) I can be in the kitchen all morning cooking, doing dishes etc, but as soon as I pull out the flour and sugar, the seem to just know that I am making something yummy. And in they come with their stools. Dada begged me to let her make her Daddy's cake. So I did. She took such pride in baking that cake for her Daddy.

(Do you like Brother's hair? That's another thing we did this week! Get him a hair cut!)


She refused any help from Brother but I did let him help decorate the cake. He picked out the sprinkles. :)

Can you tell they are Easter sprinkles??



I saw this note on the table after the kids went to bed.



I giggled. I thought it was funny.

Look what Daddy brought us home 1 day this week!

He brought us home our favorite candy. We had talked about a while ago about how they would taste in a cookie. So I tried making choc chip cookies but instead of using choc chips using the Reese's pieces. I don't recommend it. They weren't to good. :)


But Daddy said they were and ate them.

It's snowing a bit today. The snow looks like sparkly glitter falling to the ground. It is beautiful.

I was able to buy a new Bible study which I am kinda pumped about. It's by Beth Moore and its about the Life of Paul. It doesn't take long unlike some of her other ones and I think I am really going to enjoy it.

The past couple weeks I have been encouraged by the Lord. He has shown me verses early in the morning in the quiet time of my day and then later I can see how those simple verses have come to life in my daily living.

About a week ago Christ impressed upon my heart this verse.....

Prov 11:13~ A talebearer revealeth secrets; but he that is of a faithful spirit concealeth the matter.

That week 2 different people told me "secrets." 1 was a hurt that they were facing and 1 was....well....something ;) But I have gone back to that verse many times this past week. I even copied the verse down and posted it up by my desk in my office at work. I think that its a great reminder for every day. I was talking to Beth the other day and she mentioned that where I work, especially in the kitchen is a place given to secrets or gossip. And I have thought of that before. So many people come in and share frustrations or just life at the moment. It has been good for me to be reminded of verses on the tongue. A couple other verses that I have enjoyed are

Prov. 18:1-2~ Through desire a man, having seperated himself, seeketh and intermeddleth with all wisdom. A fool hath no delight in understanding, but that his heart may discover itself.

I have read these verses for years many times over, but I never really understood what they meant until I looked them up in the NIV the other day. It was a W.O.W moment for me.

Prov. 18:1-2 (niv) ~ An unfriendly person pursues selfish ends and against all sound judgement starts quarrels. Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions.

UM....O.U.C.H.

Have you ever said things KNOWING that what you are about to say is GOING to start a fight with someone or KNOWING that you will offend them, but that's what you feel or that is Y.O.U.R. oPiNiOn about whatever.

I have. I am honestly trying to watch my tongue.

Another verse I have posted by my desk is.....

Psalm 141:3~ Set a watch O Lord before my mouth; keep the door of my lips.

This verse sums it all up for me. This verse is the prayer of my soul. I want the words that come out of my mouth to be the words of Christ. I want truly desire Christ to be seen in and through me. That doesn't mean I am perfect. Cuz holy cow, I'm not. But it's my desire. And to me, that's the start of change.

A hosptial stay for Dada....

What a week we have had.

Last Saturday-Monday Dada was sick. She was fighting SOMETHING, we just don't really know what. She was very nauseous, but never threw up. She didn't have diarrhea or a fever. Just felt AWFUL! Her sugars were normal, they weren't really high, or really low. She didn't eat much. She just would kinda graze. But nothing normal.

Monday night, I sent her to bed with a normal sugar. She had eaten some mac and cheese for lunch and then had an apple before bed. I boosted her for her apple and sent her to bed. Daddy checked her sugar when he came home and it was in the mid 400's. He boosted her, thinking that would be ok, and then went to bed. In the morning, we checked her sugar and it read HI. (which means it's over 600)

We called the doc. The nurse said to stop using the pump and give her injections according to her sugar, which we had to check every 2 hours. She was supposed to eat and drink non diet things.....popsicles, reg pop, ice cream. Anything with sugar in it. So that's what we did. We also were supposed to monitor her ketones. Which we hadn't even thought to check b/c until Monday night her sugar wasn't high. When we 1st checked them, they read, large, which isn't good. The regular pop and popsicles are supposed to help flush out all these ketones which were built up in her body. The doc at that time wasn't so concerned about the high blood sugar as he was the large ketones. He wanted to get those down.

We followed the doc's instructions and her body started responding. Her sugars came down and by Tuesday night her ketones measured just a trace amount in her urine....which is great. We kept her home from school also Wednesday just to let her little body rest and recuperate. Wednesday and Thursday she had good days. By Thursday, she was back to her perky little self. I was so happy to see it.

Friday morning she woke up saying her tummy hurt. We checked her sugar and she was 199. She had some water and off to school we went. At 9 that morning, she came to my office to get her sugar checked. She was almost in tears saying she didn't feel well and her tummy hurt. We checked her sugar and it read HI. In less then 2 hours it had raised over 400 points. I immediately was worried b/c she hadn't eaten anything and it shouldn't have been that high. So I thought we would take her to the doc. To see if something else was causing this high sugar. We stopped at home and I by chance had her check her ketones. I wasn't at all expecting them to be any since her sugar had only been high for such a small time. But her ketones read large again. Shocked me.

We thought we might just need to take her to the ER. So that's where we headed.



Thankfully we did. We had quite the sick little girl. Dada was in DKA.

(Diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) is a potentially life-threatening complication in patients with diabetes mellitus. It happens predominantly in those with type 1 diabetes, but it can occur in those with type 2 diabetes under certain circumstances. DKA results from a shortage of insulin; in response the body switches to burning fatty acids and producing acidic ketone bodies that cause most of the symptoms and complications.
DKA may be the first symptom of previously undiagnosed diabetes, but it may also occur in known diabetics due to a variety of causes, such as intercurrent illness or poor compliance with insulin therapy. Vomiting, dehydration, deep gasping breathing, confusion and occasionally coma are typical symptoms. DKA is diagnosed with blood and urine tests; it is distinguished from other, rarer forms of ketoacidosis by the presence of high blood sugar levels. Treatment involves intravenous fluids to correct dehydration, insulin to suppress the production of ketone bodies, treatment for any underlying causes such as infections, and close observation to prevent and identify complications.
DKA is a medical emergency, and without treatment it can lead to death.


After some lab work, they determined her sugar to be 800.

They put her on an insulin drip. Finally by late afternoon her sugars came down to mid 400's. By that night they admitted her. With high sugar, large ketones and dehydration, the hospital was the best place for her.

Saturday was spent pushing fluids to try to flush out the ketones.


(Dada taking a phone call from Brother)

In the Pedes unit they have a wonderful thing called the activity room where the kids could kinda play. The activity room director came and would bring Dada whatever she wanted. She brought her a pillowcase that she could decorate.



With the help of Daddy and some of her friends that came to visit, she had that pillowcase decorated in no time! :)



By late Sat night, she was ketone free, and off her I.V. She was thankful for that.

By Sunday morning her sugars were down to a more normal range. Before we were discharged, her Dr increased her insulin through her pump. I do agree that they probably weren't as high as they needed to be. Growing little girls need more insulin from time to time.

We have an appointment to see her Dr at the end of Jan, but I am hoping that they will move the appointment sooner. We are to call them tomorrow.


We are thankful for God's watch care over our daughter. I am thankful for Him giving us wisdom in when to call the Dr and when to know when it's over our head. I am also thankful for the friends and family who took the time to pray for Dada. We were showered with phone calls, texts and visits from people concerned for our little girl. We are blessed.

Last week, I heard this song on the radio by Mark Schultz. It's called He will Carry Me. It's playing on my playlist. I fell in love with it instantly. The words to this song would rush over me this weekend. I would think of them while I was watching her sleep, or I was worried about her high sugars. They really came rushing to me the 1st night after everyone had gone home and it was just Dada and I tucked into bed. In the still of the night, listening to her IV pushing her fluids through her veins, I heard the words....you never said it would be easy, but you said you'd see me through the storm. It is never easy to see your child sick, in the hospital and everything is out of your control. But the God that I serve saw us through the storm. To his hand I will hold tight.

My dear friend BETH

I would be lost without my Beth right now! She has come to my rescue. You see, I am in charge of the Box Tops/Campbell Soup labels at school. Something that I am failing miserably at. I just DON'T HAVE TIME!!!

One day Beth was working with me in the kitchen and noticed the over abundance of Box Tops. They were spilling out of bags and thrown all over my desk. I was slowly being swallowed by these tiny little box tops. She immediately sat down and started cutting, counting and bundling. She did what she could that day which barely scratched the surface. Then she said that she would come in and volunteer her time and help me finish the whole project!!! And today was part 1 of the process. What a huge blessing she is to me. She saw a need and she jumped in feet first and got to work. She is planning to come in tomorrow as well. She has taken such a huge burden off of me. Just to know that I have HELP. And that I am not alone in this. Makes. me. smile.

Thank you Beth!!

Time to say goodbye....

2 weeks can be eternity, or they can just fly by. These past 2 weeks have flown by. I have so looked forward to Christmas vacation this year. Not just to have 2 weeks off of school ( which I won't complain about!! ) But no, this year was special. Jonathan and Melanie came home. How I have missed them.

2 weeks came.....and 2 weeks went.

Sunday came and it was time to say goodbye. I promised myself that I wasn't going to cry like a baby. And I didn't. Or haven't. :) I didn't cry while I said goodbye. But once I got in the van to go home, I cried. And I cry now. There is such a void felt when your family isn't whole. And having that family present for a while makes the void even greater when they leave again.

We pray for Jonathan and Melanie every day on the way to school. The kids have even gotten in the habit when it is their turn to pray to mention them. We pray for safety, wisdom and direction in their lives. We pray for them to stay strong and united together. We pray that God will meet their every need. And now we especially pray for Melanie as she is pregnant. We pray for extra strength and comfort for her.

I am so grateful for the time that God gave us all this Christmas. I really do feel like special memories have been made. Time was freely given and smiles and laughter were shared. It was wonderful.

(I can no longer say that I haven't cried like a baby) :0)




I cannot wait till we can see you again. Maybe this time it will be me flying to Hawaii!!

This is my friend Sarah. I met Sarah when we were 17. We both worked at Bergner's together. Sarah and I used to go out after work and just talk. Such good talks we had. We shared our hearts and our worries with each other. Sarah is a very good friend of mine even to this day. We don't live close to each other. She used to live in Ohio, and is now heading to California. Although I am happy for this new adventure in her life, I am kinda sad, b/c I know I won't see her as much. I looked forward to her visits when she was in town.

Ethan (Sarah's husband) is a Pastor and they are moving to help lead a tiny church. It has been cool to hear how God has moved them from 1 place to another, He has provided for so many of their needs. It has been so cool to hear about how he has met them. Please keep Sarah and her family in your prayers as they take this new step in their lives.