God is always at work

Two very happy girls!!!

Do you know what this is a picture of? Two very happy girls who not only got to see Hawk Nelson who wasn't scheduled to appear tonight, but they got to experience God's hand at work and actually met all four band members AND got their autographs.

We're in Orlando and the girls are having a great time. The speakers tonight were awesome. Chad Eastham talked a little...no, a lot about "the truth about guys". It's funny how when it comes from someone other than your parents, you tend to listen. I guess that just goes with the territory of being a teenager.

Well, I just wanted to hop on here and glorify our Lord with a heart full of thanksgiving. Hawk Nelson was not on the itinerary to appear tonight. They announced that he would pop in to say hello. Amanda and her friend went nuts. Halfway through the show, they showed on the screen that at the end of the tonight's session they would be at the other side of the arena signing autographs for certain sections, for 20 minutes. It would have taken us 20 minutes just to walk around to the other side of the arena, but it wouldn't of done any good, because we were not in any of the listed sections. I felt so bad for the girls. I can't emphasize enough how much Amanda loves this band.

When the night was almost over, Amanda told me she really had to go to the bathroom. She asked if she and her friend could go. I would never allow her to go to the bathroom alone in such a huge place, but her friend was with her and the bathrooms were in the corridor right where we were sitting, so I told her to go ahead and I remained seated. While she was gone, I closed my eyes and asked God that if it was his will for her to get an autograph than so be it, and if it wasn't to please allow her to focus on Him and not the importance of getting a band's signature. But, knowing her teenage heart, I just knew she'd be heartbroken. I continued to praise Him and thank Him for allowing me to share this special time with Amanda, along with of course, asking Him to allow His Holy Spirit to seep deep into her heart. In the middle of my prayer, I realized that there was no music playing and all of a sudden, the word "adoption" jumped at me. I open my eyes and realize that they were playing a video for World Vision.

This is where God again proves that He is indeed God. He knows exactly where to touch my heart. They went on talking about the fact that for the cost of less than a can of coke, we can sponsor a child by providing them with medicine and food. Of course, my heart immediately thought about how many cans of Coke or how much food I throw away and how I spend $1.00 (the cost of a can of Coke) on the most ridiculous of things when it could be feeding a child. I immediately thought to myself, "I'm sponsoring a child." THEN....(after I had told myself I was going to do this), they announce "We are doing something very special tonight that we have never done before. We know how many of you would love to meet Hawk Nelson and they have agreed that anyone who sponsors a child tonight, will not only get to meet them, but will receive an autograph from each member of the band! I couldn't believe it. All of a sudden, Amanda walks back. I said, "Did you hear that?" She looks at me with a bit of disappointment in her voice and said, "Yes, but you have to sponsor a child." I told her, "Amanda. Give God ALL of the glory for this because it was His moving my heart to sponsor a child that is allowing you to get to meet HN and get their autograph." The smile on her face was worth a million words. And God proved once again, that when you take care of His orphans, he takes care of you. He did. My baby girl was elated and at the same time, saw God in action. I've reiterated over and over this evening that when she shares with her friends what happened, to make sure He gets all the glory. She got in the car and called Scott right away, and said, "Guess what God did?"

By the way, we "adopted" a special needs child from China. World Vision has been in China for the past 4 years. I'll share a picture of our new baby when we receive it. It's been an awesome first night at the Revolve Tour. I can't wait to see what tomorrow has in store. Thank you, Jesus!

P.S. The picture above was from Amanda's camera. I got great pics and video on my camera, but it'll have to wait till I get home to post.

"Every man has his price" - Sir Robert Walpole

Aaaahhh, yes. Not sure if Amanda's bribery idea did it, but I received even more delurkers than last year! Woohooo!! Thank you so much to those of you that emailed me or left comments coming out of the closet. And as always, thank you to those of you that I love and already know that you visit frequently for either leaving comments or emailing me.

So, as promised (and it's too many to add pictures for the ones of you that I knew (i.e.; Dianne and Tracey) I am posting pictures of each of the kids (sorry...I am doing about 8-10 of each only). ENJOY...and THANK YOU all for coming out of the shadows and your comfort zone to share your humbling words and to let me know that I'm not speaking to myself everytime I post.

The next few days in my life are gonna be total craziness. We've had so much going on. Remember Martin Luther King's Birthday? Well, Scott got his gift again this year. I was trying hard to think of something different to give him and boy did I find something. On February 23, my wonderful husband, unaccompanied by his wonderful wife, will be jumping 13,000 feet out of an airplane. Yes! I got him a gift certificate to go sky diving. He was so excited! It's something we've both talked about doing, so I am letting him take the plunge (no pun intended), since we can't afford for both of us to do it. The entire thing will be video taped professionally, along with still photographs taken. After I gave it to him, part of me is thinking..."are you nuts? What if something happens to him?" But, I knew it would make him so happy.

Let's see. Oh yes, remember Amanda was getting tickets for Christmas to go to the Revolve Tour and see Hawk Nelson? Can you believe it's already this weekend? So, Friday afternoon, I'm picking she and a friend up from school early and we are heading for 2 days to Orlando, hopefully for her well to be filled with the Holy Spirit and of course, some head bobbing as we jump up and down singing along to Hawk Nelson. I'm really looking forward to spending time with her alone without the little ones around, although I must admit that I am going to miss those 3 little munchkin to pieces.

We'll be back late Saturday night, only to have to get up bright and early on Sunday to go to church and then prepare for the big Super Bowl bash! It's gonna be a great game. I have lots of NY friends that love the Giants, but I also have lots of New Englander friends, including my beloved husband, that would be devastated if they didn't break every NFL record by not only having a perfect season, but by adding the cherry on top and winning the Super Bowl.

This is for my sister and my son, Adam (a Colts fan):

My Dad's birthday was last Saturday, and all I could say about that right now is that I am so very happy I have Christ in my life. Long story, but I wanted to add that line in there to remind me to blog about it in a future post. So stay tuned for that. :)

And lastly, my mother-in-law, whom we have not seen in a year and half is spending a couple of days here next week, since she is visiting from up north. I am praying this is a time of bonding for all of us. Mostly, I pray that she spends quality time with her new grandbabies and that they work their spell on her so that she falls in love with them as much as we have.

That's about it from my Bouquet of Blessings. I don't think I'll be able to post much in the next couple of days, but you know me....I'll be taking lots of pictures and will someday have them on here!

Late as usual!

My life seems to be on a speeding train lately. We have so much going on that I can't believe it's almost February already. Holy cow! Before I know it, it'll be Christmas again!!!! Yikes!

Ok...so before I go join the crew for a much deserved and very much needed nap, I just found out that again I have missed "National Delurking Day". I just love hearing from readers that visit my blog but have never come out of the closet. I still have over 100 readers a day, and I can't possibly know all those people, so curious minds (mine) want to know.

When I posted last year after missing "Delurking day", I was pleasantly surprised to see a few people I did not know come clean that they lurk in the shadows. It's a cool way to get to meet new people, or even old ones that you already know but didn't know they've been keeping up with our craziness.

I'll even give you a head start. The following are just some of the places I have daily readers from but not sure who you are because I can't hear you reading in cyberspace!

Aurora, Colorado

Rochester, New York

Tyngsboro, Massachusetts

Greenville, South Carolina

Saint Louis, Missouri

Aspers, Pennsylvania

Sydney, New South Wales - Australia

Tampa, Florida

So, yes....it's not National Delurking Day, but who cares. This is your chance. Come out...come out....wherever you are!

PS. I had to laugh. Amanda suggested (since I get requests for pics of the kids so often) that I promise to post 1 picture of each child per delurker. HA! The kid's teaching me to resort to bribery.