REALLY??? Only FOUR people want to win????

Really??? Only FOUR of you want to win my blog candy??????

All you have to do is click on the picture, and leave me a comment. There are two ways to enter:

First, guess how many hearts are in the jar. :)

Second, tell me what you'd like to see on my blog. :)

That's it! Can't wait to read what you have for me!!!

BE BLESSED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This, that, and the other!

Well, it's been a mixed bag so far; so I guess I don't have any more direction from y'all than I did! :D It is nice to know that you do want to hear a little bit of personal stuff, that you care about Kenn and me! :)

The reason I haven't posted too much about sermons lately is that our pastoral staff has been sharing about how they were called, and what led to their calling in their lives. It's been really wonderful; such an eclectic group of people, all who love the Lord with their whole beings! Besides that, you can always download the sermons HERE. :)

We aren't going to church tonight; Kenn's fighting off a cold - just when he's starting to get a gig every now and again, FINALLY!!! SO. I'll share last Wednesday's notes with you. Again, Pastor Barbie's class is on being under pressure. Please note: All Greek spellings are entirely my fault. :D We don't have overheads or handouts, so I'm doing the best I can!

Text: II Corinthians 1:3-6:

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer.

In the depths of your inmost being, we first need to re-establish God's sovereignty; God is bigger than everything, and we tend to allow everything else to become bigger than He. He created you to feel what you feel! "God, You created me to be able to stand in this place (under duress or pressure or crisis) to feel what I'm feeling."

The comfort spoken of here is "paraclexis" - to draw you near to Him, to take every single particle of what you're experiencing, and giving you comfort in its place. He's using that experience to shift you from one place to another.

Verse 4 shifts to "paracleo" - comfort not only flowing from Him, but flowing out to others now.

God even heals self-inflicted wounds! We refuse to let Him in close, because we defied God, and know we deserve punishment. It's in our minds!

He wants to protect you from you!

He wants to heal you from you!

He want to RELEASE you from you!

Everything God has FOR us, He imparts into us.

"We overcome by the blood of the Lamb and by the WORD OF OUR TESTIMONY!" but how OFTEN we refuse to share! We want to forget where we came from! But if I can comfort someone with ANY part of my testimony, how DARE I withhold that?????

Romans 6:21-22: What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.

Verse 5: Your suffering will never outweigh His comfort and grace.

Peace comes in your life when you realize you control NOTHING!

We have to participate in order to GROW.

Sometimes, God will allow you to go through something (SUFFER) in order to affect the lives of those around you.

Verse 6b: The only other time this phrase is used is in Revelation 1:9, "patient endurance". It refers to a person who is NOT swerved!

Girls, I'm doing a Bible study with Amy and Cris P. on ESTHER. I HIGHLY recommend it, if you ever get a chance to go through it!!! But a LOT of what Beth's been saying on the video is what God's been showing me at church. :) I'll talk about that more later. In the meantime, don't forget to enter the giveaway! :)

Giveaway to share!

Besides MY BLOG CANDY, I have a new giveaway from another blogger to share with you. Her blog is AWESOME, so spend some time over there!

And here's another giveaway - Lori's been seeking the truth about God. :) I receive her blogs daily - she's a LOT of fun!

BE BLESSED!!! :)

It's BLOG CANDY TIME!!!!!!!!!!! :D

Why, yes, it IS candy. :D It's the old GUESS HOW MANY ARE IN THE JAR game!!! :D

There are TWO ways to enter:
First, simply guess how many candy hearts are in the jar. :)
Second, tell me what you'd like to see on this blog: more lessons, more chat, what??? Give me some clues! :D

That's all there is to it! Have fun, tell your friends about the contest, and I'll pick a winner on Valentine's Day! The winner will receive a care package from me. :) I promise it's gonna be great!

And the winner is....

SUSAN! :) Congratulations, Susan! I'll wait for your email to pooh0612@aol.com to confirm and send!!

I generated the winner with random.org; it was difficult to make myself do it that way. Those of you who are my close friends, know I would have picked each one of you if it was fair! LOL!!!!!!!!!

BE BLESSED, dear friends. Tomorrow's the open house, so I need to fly! I hope you're stopping by if you're local!!!!

There's still time to enter!

It's not too late to enter the blog drawing - GO HERE to read details and enter!

As Christmas draws nearer, I hope you're taking the time to focus on what we celebrate: the birth of the Messiah, the Long-Awaited One. Our email devotionals are about the Advent this season, and it's been very interesting to dwell on the different viewpoints of the characters involved.

My heart particularly hurts for Israel itself: they'd been away from hearing God for so many years, hungering for their Messiah to come. Still, many of them didn't recognize Him when He did come. Have you ever wondered if you would have?

We live under God's grace now, because our Messiah came to fulfill the law. Be sure and thank Him for willingly giving up the comforts of Heaven to be born in a stable in Bethlehem, and live on this fallen world for 33 years to fulfill the demands of the law for EACH and EVERY one of us!

Be blessed, dear one. YOU ARE LOVED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Good morning!

My but I'm tired! I've been working hard this week, and now I have a day where I get to stay HOME, but still need to get things done - and one of the things I needed to do was to get busy HERE! I'm sorry it's been a few days since I posted. I always want to do quality posts here, and some days I just don't have the time. :(

Anyway. This post is going to be for housekeeping chores - I'll be sending you a couple of other places to read. But always come BACK - you won't want to miss any of these links. :)

First, one of our friends here at Wannabe, Karna, has started her own blog. I think you'll enjoy her - she's witty and fun, and has been a dear friend of mine for a LONG time! Her blog is called SASSY LASS. :)

Second, I think we ALL forgot about THIS POST. Sorry, girls; let's give this until what, Monday the 18th? I just want as many people as can to get in on this drawing! :)

Third, I know that I've mentioned that Kenn has a blog, but have I mentioned that he's got TWO? He's started his second blog to work on his book; he began this book 12+ years ago, but never felt like he had an ending. Now, he feels like God's telling him it's time to finish it - so he's working on it again! :) You have to read from the bottom up, or it's not going to make any sense to you. :D And PLEASE leave him comments; he wants to make it the best he can. :) GO HERE to read Kenn's book! Oh, and grab a tissue when you come to the interlude about me. :D

And last but not least, my dear friend Becky P. has a friend who's in the end-stages of Cystic Fibrosis - a cause that is dear to my heart because of Greg McDougal's kids. She's trying to get 100 people to post a comment - there's also blog candy involved! - but she wants to get people PRAYING for her friend, Nancy. GO HERE to read Becky's post.

OK, I think that's all for this post! :) Summer's almost over, and I know you're busy! Thank you for sharing some of your precious time with me. I hope you'll leave me a comment, too.... :) KNOW YOU ARE BLESSED!!! I appreciate and love you, dear one!

And the winner is...

SPARROW SONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Congratulations, dear friend! :D Thank you for your wonderful, thoughtful, considerate comments. Please email me and let me know how to get your prize to you.... :)

We are SO highly blessed, dear ones. Even if life is pitching fastballs at you, take a moment to look for the blessings today. He loves you, and you are HIS. That alone is a miracle!!!!

It's Tuesday - and we have a WINNER!!!

It's GOAL DAY here on Wannabe!! :) That means we ALL check in with how we're doing on our goals - and if someone doesn't check in, I pull out my folder to check up on you. BECAUSE I LOVE YOU!! Accountability works, darn it. :D

But before I do that, we had a giveaway on this blog last week; all anyone had to do was leave a comment. Kenn drew a random number, and the winner is....

Kelli, from THERE IS NO PLACE LIKE HOME!

Congratulations, Kelli! i've already been to Kelli's blog, to ask for her address. :) She has 5 photo cards and 15 handcrafted cards coming to her, as a thank-you for commenting, and reading. But THANK YOU to all of you - you're the reason I'm here! I LOVE YOU!

SO. On to today's business!!!!

My goals: office hours still aren't happening, and I'm becoming a little more OK with that. Our schedule, because of the nature of our businesses, doesn't loan itself to that. So, I do the best I can - and that will be sufficient, because God is. :D

Activity-wise, I'm still not being able to hit water aerobics like I want to - this play thing is starting to hit high gear, so I'm even busier with things! - but I am increasing my daily activities like walking, stair-climbing, etc. According to the experts, every little bit helps! :)

Bible-reading, I've at least started again! I'm still off my schedule, but I am going to catch up eventually. The important thing is that I haven't totally abandoned it - thanks, Damien. :)

SO, ladies! How are YOU doing? Nancy? What's this week's project to work on? Becky, how are things going at your house? I know a lot of your goals and priorities have changed since the beginning of the year.... Rhonda, how is your budget going? I'm VERY proud of you! :) Sheri? Deby? Are you still checking in? Judy? You here? Karen, dear one? I know the emotions have been tough lately. Are you OK?

OK, dear ones. I have a question for you: would it hurt terribly if we changed goal-setting day until another day of the week? Since no one seems to want to be introduced anymore ;), we have Wed., Thurs., and Saturday we could move it to - and that way, I could share pictures from the weekend before I forgot about them. ROFL!!!!

Have a wonderful, blessed, beautiful day. You know, I don't think it's up to me to be blessed, myself; it's up to me to be a BLESSING!!!!!!!!! Bless someone today, dear sister, and be amazed at how God turns it into a blessing for you!

It's MONDAY! :)

Good morning, dear friend!! How was your weekend? Did you enjoy yourself? Did you do something fun, or mostly task-oriented?

What did you do to grow spiritually yesterday? We went to Sunday School, but I've been fighting "female problems" the last week, so Kenn decided we were going to come home after Sunday School - which was fine with me, since dishrags have trouble concentrating. :D

Sunday School was about asking God for guidance, and then following through on the guidance you receive. We talked about the ways that God shows you guidance; one of the best studies I've EVER done was by Priscilla Shirer, DISCERNING THE VOICE OF GOD. It's an incredible Bible study, and I encourage all women's ministries to do it!

In Sunday School, we're also memorizing Scripture together. It's been really fun - when I've not been sick, anyway. :D We memorized all of Psalm 1, then Proverbs 3:5-6, then Hebrews 11:1. This week is Hebrews 11:6.

So, it's your turn to share! :) What did you learn? Tell me anything you want me to know about your weekend, too - I care!!!! :)

Oh, I forgot! Since I didn't get in to remind you, I'll give you until the end of today to comment and win my blog giveaway - a mixture of handmade and photography greeting cards. :) Just leave a comment before MIDNIGHT CENTRAL TIME TONIGHT!

Off to work - I have a class tonight, and need to finish the samples. :D Have a wonderful, BLESSED day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day! To those of you who celebrate it, anyway. I've always been rather disappointed in this day - in college, I refused to celebrate it - until my last senior year, when some friends refused to let me stay home by myself. They brought me flowers, and one of them - a dear Indian guy - fixed me real chicken curry. Ahhh, memories. :D

Anyway! This guy is now my valentine. He was playing a computer game Wednesday night, and I made him smile for me. :D

So, what are you doing today/tonight? Do you have a valentine? Do you even care? LOL!!!

To celebrate having over 1000 hits on my blog - and because why not give away something on Valentine's Day?? - I'm going to give away some BLOG CANDY! That's right, dear ones. I'll take entries - by leaving a comment on the blog - between now and Sunday night, Feb. 17. Then, we'll randomly draw. The prize, you ask? An assortment of hand-stamped and photography cards. You're looking at a prize with a retail value of over $20!

I love blessing people. :) Just be sure, if you leave a comment for it, that I know how to get in touch with you if you win!!!! I've given away blog candy on my other blog, and two of the six winners didn't leave me any way of getting in touch with them! :D

BE BLESSED, dear one. Know you are LOVED, each moment of every day. It doesn't matter what the calendar says; love is yours, each day, each moment, each SECOND. God loves you with an everlasting love!!!!!