Court Hearing Update

The first of several court hearings for termination happened on Wednesday. We did not go, because it was just an appearance hearing for the parents. Both parents, shockingly, showed. The father was extremely rude to our case worker, but said nothing about the children...sad. The next court hearing is on July 11, so we wait until then. In the meantime, we are loving these 3 kiddos. I am enjoying being home with them this summer!!! I will post again when I know more :)

Life in the fast lane

Life is so crazy right now!! There are so many things going on that I feel like I am absolutely drowning. I get overwhelmed and feel I don't know how to go on, and then I remember that Jesus is in my life! All of this stress is taken off of me and put onto my lord. When I trust him completely, I know that all will work out.

Some craziness right now:

1. Took the LBS1 certification test on April 16th and am waiting for results from that!

2. Had the final for my class last Thursday, waiting to hear grade for that.

3. Starting my new section of classes this Tuesday...two nights per week.

4. Have been rif'd from my job and going through crazy interviews and screenings in hopes of having a job in the fall.

5. June 8 is the first of several court hearings coming up!

Needless to say, it is easy to stress!! I am putting all of this off of my shoulders and onto my God. Why does he care about these little things? Because he cares about ME!!

Book Review: When God Created My Toes

When God Created My Toes is a cute book that starts with the toes and works its way up the body. It rhymes and flows with a pattern. Each body part presents a question about whether God knew something was going to happen when he created that part. My kids liked it, but they have not chosen to read it a second time. It was cute for younger kids. It does not really teach a lesson or moral, but okay for a cute read.

Book Review: Secure Daughters, Confident Sons

Secure daughters confident sons was a nice book that gave a lot of insight to why we should raise our sons and daughters differently. I really enjoyed the book. In modern times, people are often offended by these types of statements. I don’t base my life on modern times, though. I base my life on God. God created boys and girls differently. He guides them differently. We are different. I think that is important. I also feel that a man’s role is different in the family than a woman’s role. This was important to me. I want my children to grow to be strong men and women. I am not looking at only today when I am raising my children. I love that this book addresses these things. I was slightly disappointed in the lack of biblical referencing. I would have liked to see more of that. I want to raise my children biblically, not just on a whim. I think this book would have been even more powerful if it would have gone deeper into God’s word. Overall, I liked the book and it had a lot of good insights. This book was provided for me free of charge by Blogging for Books and Waterbrook Multnomah Publishing Group for my personal review. Other than this book, I am receiving no compensation. The views expressed are my own.

Amazing Weekend

I had a wonderful weekend full of love, women, friendship, fellowship and the word of God. I was so happy that my amazing mom, 2 wonderful sisters-in-law, and one of their moms could go with me! It was great to learn more about God's word. It was even more amazing to be reminded of God's covenants. He reminded me that His covenants do not fail, we do. How often I fail Him, and yet He takes me back every time!

It is also amazing that He gives us signs of His covenants.

I have been doing some research on the rainbow, a sign of God's promise to never again flood the Earth, and am so amazed by these wonderful signs. Did you know that a rainbow is actually a full circle? We only see an arc, because the land gets in the way! Amazing! There are other kinds of rainbows too! Here is a fog-bow:

Here is a moon bow:

Finally, here is a sun-dog:

These are all God's amazing ways of reminding us of His promise!

As I was writing this, I got an update!! We have our next court date! June 8 we will be going in for the first of possibly 4 hearings. The termination should be final by the end of July. Then we will finally be onto adoption!!! Yay! God is so great!

Rapture of the Church

I am doing a Bible study on the book of Revelation, which has always been a fascinating read for me. I feel like I am fairly knowledgeable of the book, yet am learning so much that I had never seen before. I would like to touch on a few things that are fascinating me, or questions that I had never considered before:

1. When will the rapture occur?
I have always been a firm believer in the pre-trib theory. While there is a great deal of controversy over this particular standpoint, I stand firm in my belief. Why? There are 2 major reasons why I feel that the Church will be raptured before the tribulation begins:

• Revelation 3:10--Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I will also keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. If you look back on the original text of this verse, you will see that the Greek word for from is "ek". Literally translated, this means "out of." We must assume that "the hour of temptation" is the tribulation, but I feel that we will be definitely kept from or out of this!
• Matthew 24:36--But of that day, knoweth no man, no, not the angels of Heaven, only the Father. 1 Thessalonians 5:2--For yourselves know perfectly that the Day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. Now, I do want to say that I think we are to know when the day is near. However, the Bible is clear that we will not know the day. If we assume that the tribulation will begin with a 7 year peace treaty (which I do), and that it will be broken 42 months into the tribulation (which it will), then we would know the day of the mid-tribulation. We cannot know the day of the rapture, so I believe, it cannot be mid-trib.
• Here is an interesting website to check out if you want more "proof" www.jesus-is-savior.com

Will there be people saved during the tribulation?

1. I feel that we know there will be 144,000 Jews saved. This is a point that no one can argue. However, recently, I have heard the question of whether or not anyone else will be saved. It is a more complicated discussion than I can get into here, but here is my simple-minded explanation. I believe that there will be!

• Here is my proof. Look at Revelation 7:9-14. After this I beheld and low a great multitude, that no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and peoples, and tongues, stood before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands....(feel free to read the verses in here) And one of the elders answered saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes, and whence came they? And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of the great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. This tells us in verse 9 that there will be a whole bunch of people (more than man can number) and in verse 14 we see that they are those out of the Great Tribulation. I could be wrong, but this seems pretty clear to me!
• Others think that this is the people who were raptured. They could be right. However, the rapture took place back in Revelation 4 and now we are up to Revelation 7! Revelation is not always chronological. It does jump around.
• I hope and pray that people will have another chance after the rapture, but don't hesitate. As someone once told me, if you are driving down the road when the rapture happens, and a semi-truck is following you driven by a born-again Christian, you will not have the opportunity to repent after the rapture!! Do not delay!
• Joshua 24:15 Choose you this day whom ye will serve!

I could go on all day with the controversies of Revelation, but this is enough for one day. This is what is pressing on my mind today. What are your thoughts? Do you believe in the Rapture? Are you saved? I love talking about Revelation, and would love to talk to you!

Dear Father, Thank you for your forgiveness. Thank you for keeping us out of your wrath. We are so undeserving! Your grace abounds in my life!

Book Review: Ragamuffin Gospel

I started this Blogging for Books adventure a couple of weeks ago. I was so excited to recieve my first title for review. I really couldn't wait to dive into the text. What better book to read than one about God's unconditional love? That was my impression when I first began reading this book.

Unfortunately, I just couldn't get into the book. It definitely did not grab my attention from the start. I just kept thinking that at some point he would show both sides of the Gospel. He never did, though. I was very disappointed.

While the message of God's unconditional love is crucial, there is more to it than that. I do not feel that Brennan gave the full view of what is expected. He almost justified sin so that God's grace could be bigger. I felt like he was sort of condoning sin.

We are to strive to be more Christ-like everyday. While it is not possible for us to be perfect, and we will always be undeserving, we are to attempt to sin no more! Jesus said, "Go and sin no more!" I felt that Brennan left that part out of his book.

He gave me the impression that it was perfectly ok to sin all you want and you would be just fine. While we all fall short of the glory of God, we are not called to sin as much as we want.

Overall, I would definitely not recommend this book to the unsaved. While they would get the very important message of God's love, they would not get the full picture of what a Christian is and how they should live.

This book was provided for me free of charge by Blogging for Books and Waterbrook Multnomah Publishing Group for my personal review. Other than this book, I am receiving no compensation. The views expressed are my own.

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