Here I am

OK...I know it must have seen like I'd fallen off the face of the earth for anybody out there who might read this post. Since getting back from San Antonio things have gotten much busier. School's back in session both for Grace and me. I'm teaching Expository Writing this semester, so I'm trying to get my act together and prepare. I decided to have my students read The Shack, basically because I can. I'm anxious to have a dialogue with anyone at this point and since they're a captive audience why not. I've asked them to journal about it and I will also have them write a paper on it. We'll discuss the book in class as well which should be very interesting.
On the first day I told them that they would also need to have a Bible. I decided that instead of some expensive text book with essays in it for them to read, why not use the Bible. One of the students told me that I'm the only prof to have that as required reading...hmmm.

OK...another thing that has happened since SA is SARAH PALIN. I must say I love the choice. For those of you who have heard me share my personal testimony you will understand when I tell you that the night she spoke I wish I could have been there to wrap my arms around her daughter and give her a humongous hug!! That precious child. I cannot imagine having to go through everything she's had to in the last two weeks. I do know that I'm very proud of her decisions and them more I see of the entire family the more I fall in love with them. If you're a democrat, please know that I love you, but as the election gets closer I will probably be sharing my feelings about it. It is not my intention to offend anyone (as if there was anyone besides Megan reading this!), however, I do like to voice my opinion every now and then. :o)

Lastly for the day....I just sold all of my living room furniture and we are sitting on soccer chairs in an empty room. Grace is sick and so missing a couch to lay on and Tim, who is having trouble sleeping, has lost his "bed". Please pray that we find furniture that we like and is in our price range. On a positive note...the sweet lady that bought our furniture kept telling Tim that it was such a blessing to be able to have. God is just so good! That my old furniture could be a blessing to someone else is pretty awesome. :o)

Also, please pray for Grace. She's feeling under the weather and we're hoping it's not strep throat!!!!

Love to all !
Kimberly

San Antonio

Wow!!! What a great week. Grace and I left last Wednesday for San Antonio. We went for a Beth Moore, Living Proof Live event. It was so wonderful!

This was the first time Grace flew and she was quite nervous. She did really well, although when we finally got to SA she was asking if we had to fly home. She had some ear trouble on the way down and was not too eager to get back on a plane. We left the house at 6:30 am and did not arrive in SA until about 5:30 their time. So, she was pretty much wiped out. She fell asleep while watching the Olympics that night. So cute!

Then next day we swam, headed to the Alamo and went on a Riverboat cruise around Riverwalk. It is so beautiful! We meet 14 Siesta friends and had just a wonderful time. We all had dinner at the RainForest Cafe afterwards. Grace had a blast. She thought is was just the funnest thing.

On Friday evening the conference began. Before going we had lunch at Denny's...yes, Denny's. Grace was just dying to go there. Don't ask me why but she was. We then headed to the Alamodome for the conference. There we meet lots of Siestas and got to meet Wendy, aka MomofEleven. We both just love her. She's so sweet! Grace invited them to come to our house.

The conference was so good. Beth was incredible and Travis Cottrell did an amazing job of leading worship, which he always does. After the conference on Saturday we got to participate in a question/answer session with Beth and her daughters, Amanda and Melissa. It was so much fun. We really had a great time.

We just returned home yesterday. It was a great time. I'll update more later.

Kimberly

Back from Nashville

We just got back from a long weekend in Nashville TN. Tim's family live there and Grace had a wonderful time playing with her counsins. I'll post some pictures later. I had some extra fun meeting Patty, who is a Siesta, and will be attending the Beth Moore conference in San Antonio. Check out the Siesta Fiesta link on the right to learn more. Grace and I are going and just cannot wait. It will be her first time flying and we are both so excited. She has a million and one questions about it: How does it feel when the plane takes off? Does it go up and down like a roller coaster? What's it like to go through the metal detectors? And so much more. ;o)

While in Nashville I picked up the book, The Shack. I had been told by one of my students that it was an incredible read. I began to read it on the way back and am about half way through. Once I'm finished I'll give you my thoughts. My sister-in-law has already read it and was discussing it with me. I won't let the cat out of the bag yet, but let me just say that it's been quite interesting. More to come....

Prayers

We received terrible news yesterday. My two stepdaughters uncle has passed away. He was only about 40 and had been very close to them in the last several years moving to live close to them. Please pray for the girls and the entire family as this is a very difficult time for them. Please remember my sweet husband as well. He and Butch had been quite close at one time and although time and distance had come between them, fond memories never fade. He, too, was just devastated by the news.

Thank you,
Kimberly

Jesus at the fair

OK...So last Sunday we went to the county fair. I enjoy going. Tim on the other hand is not so much a fair person (such a city boy). As I was getting ready to go, I began thinking about the fair and the people that you see there. The county fair brings out people from all walks of life. I have one friend (whom I love) who jokes about people who have no teeth being seen at the fair. She understands this because she comes from a "fair" kind of family. However, as I began to think of the fair, something hit me...I think Jesus would have been at the fair. I think if he were living here today, I would have caught a glimpse of Him there because people at the fair need Him just as much as anyone else anywhere. Maybe more so. If you think about the crowds that Jesus hung out with in His time, they were similar to the fair crowd. People who were not necessarily on the high end of society, but rather people who were every day people. Sometimes even the outcast of society. All in need of a Saviour.

Sometimes I think we forget who Jesus was and what He did while He was on this earth. I just finished two books by Anne Rice, Out of Egypt and The Road to Canaan. Reading those I was reminded of the life of Christ. He didn't come to earth to hang out with kings and world leaders. He was born in the stable for a reason. Maybe so that ordinary people like you and me could understand Him better and understand that we too, no matter how rich or how poor, can have a relationship with The King of Kings.

There's a song that Grace did in one of her Christmas plays. The words go something like this:

If You had come on big white horse, so mighty and so strong. I might have been afraid to talk to you, afraid that I'd say something wrong. But when you came the way you did to such a simple place. You let us see an awesome God with the sweet and tender face. And you made it easy for everyone to come, cause everyone loves babies even God's own son. And you wrapped your power in sweet simplicity. Jesus I thank you for coming as a child like me.

He came in such an ordinary way to ordinary people...and for that I am thankful. So yep, I think He is definitely a fair person.

Saint or Sinner

I was just reading another blog and ran across a comment that someone had said and it struck me when I read it. The comment was, “we are all sinners.” Now, I know there are many theological differences between Christians. However, as I read those words I thought, “Really?” As a person in the Wesley and Arminian tradition, I don’t normally call myself a sinner. We believe that we do not need to sin in word, thought or deed every day. That God’s power is enough to bring us above that. However, as a former pit dweller, I know that I am, at any one time, a mere decision or two away from the next pit. Without God’s continual guidance in my life, without His pervasive Spirit revealing Himself to me, without a daily relationship with Him, I am lost! I need Him every moment of my life!

The words “we are all sinners” drives me crazy though, and I think I just figured out why. If I think of myself as a sinner instead thinking of myself as God’s precious and holy child, I believe I give myself the excuse to be that person – the sinner. If I fall one day, well, it’s because we’re all sinners. As someone with a degree in counseling, I often see people who have been labeled somewhere along life’s way and they live up to those labels. Parents are encouraged to be careful what they call they’re children. The labels often stick. The person who is called worthless believes themselves to be worthless. We can take on the persona of whatever it is we are called or labeled. The mind is a powerful thing and thoughts can influence our behavior. So instead of thinking of ourselves as sinners, why not think of ourselves as Children of the Most High, God’s child, prince or princess to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Maybe then we will begin acting the part. The Message states the first part of Romans 12 this way,

“So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life – your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life – and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best think you can do for Him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what He wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-informed maturity in you.”

Or as the King James Version states: "And do not be conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is the good and acceptable, and perfect will of God."

Maybe, if we see ourselves as the Children that we are, instead of the sinners that we were, we could, through the power of the Holy Spirit that is so freely available to us, live more victorious lives for our Father. As with any child, there may be days that we fall down, but that’s the most wonderful part…He is always there to pick us up! He loves us so! Amen. Amen.

Just an update

This is for Megan who checks my blog daily (or so she says). I told her I'm not that dedicated, plus just too busy to update often. I guess I'm overdue a post though, and so thought I'd write a quick one. To update everyone on our sweet bunny...he's doing really well and making lots of pellets. I've had to clean his cage this week and will have to do so again tonight. Can I just tell ya all how fun that is! But I'm just glad he's alive and so will gladly clean his nasty smelly cage.

A funny story about Grace...two nights ago she woke me up and said that she heard a chainsaw. Now, we really monitor her TV viewing and since my husband's not exactly Tim the Tool Man, I was wondering how she even knew what a chainsaw was. The funniest part came next, though, when she continued. She said that she believed that someone was down stairs cutting Fluffy into little pieces! Again...we do monitor her television/media viewing and so I was bewildered by this. Where in the world did this come from!! I told her to go back to sleep that I was sure no one was in the house and I did not hear a chainsaw. It was a restless night of sleep! Yesterday when I asked her about it she was adamant that she really did hear a chainsaw. Freaky!