I'm Alive!

Exhausted. I would rather not see a 8 or 9 year old little boy for at least 24 hours. But alas one lives in my home. We had a blast....I'm tired more tomorrow with more pictures.
Here we are day one before we had a chance to get smelly. Perry loves summer camp!

Yes I am Crazy....

So in regards to my post of last night.....yeah I got no supportive friends. None...so apparently I was wrong. I know this! And mom enabling me?? That's what mom's are for! Seriously I'm on the road to recovery and my husband likes me still. I had a budget friendly lunch at Kings Island today....I fed myself, and 3 kids with a large popcorn, 1 soft pretzel with cheese, and thank the good Lord our drinks were free. Yeah however what I did pay for cost $9.50......what the?? Usually I pack, and smuggle in my own food. But today I was ill prepared and decided to take kid #3 at the last minute. That's right me and 3 kids BY MY FREAKIN SELF at Kings Island, what the hell was I thinking? 3 kids together is always a really bad idea. Once I was down to 2 kids only it was far more manageable. Favorite ride of the day for me and Maddie hands down was the Avatar....I highly reccomend it even if you don't like scary rides, it's really smooth. We had a great day and it wasn't crowded at all.

Issues.....

Ok, my pictures from SOS.......are horrible. Sorry, but I brightened this one up so it at least looks kind of artsy. SOS was good times. Didn't do a whole lot of praying for folks, but it was my first experience, so I think I did well for my first time. Considering the first night I completely bailed because I didn't know what the heck was going on, so I took off. Night #2, I prayed by myself for a few young girls, but really felt like God was using that time to fill me up, since Matt Redman delivered some powerful worship music. Little did I know our own Matt McCoy was going to be way better and just blow the roof off with some amazing worship. So Wednesday night was the best....the Holy Spirit really show'd up....and I was genuinely hearing words from God to speak to people. Very cool. I was initially reluctant to pray for folks,.....strangers if you will and on top of the fact that they are strangers, they are teenagers too. So Wednesday night we were officially paired up with other people so that was nice. As we are leaving the prayer team meeting the person who chose to pair up with me informs me...."I've never done this before, so I'll be looking to you for help...." With confidence I look at her and say...."ok that's great!" Not informing her that I haven't prayed directly for a stranger in 5 years. (except for the 2 young ladies the night before) I just let her think I had major skills. Thinking to myself, holy crap, do they not check these people out when they volunteer? Isn't there some sort of screening they put them through....heck do I even qualify myself?? LOL.....Um....yeah God will use you, all you need is a willing heart....of which I have. And apparently Jackie the non-prayer had as well.
So when its time for ministry time I stood in the back with Jackie, and a few girls came up to us for prayer. Suddenly I was consumed with confidence, and intelligent Godly words spoke from my mouth....I mean I knew what I was saying.....and oddly you pray for strangers the same way you do for someone you know. You just say what God puts on your heart to say...duh! LOL.....As I finished with the first girl, I really got a strong feeling God desired for me to speak purity into someones life. Like I needed to pray for purity over a girls life. Wasn't really feeling it was the girl we were currently praying for. ........

Hearing from God Lesson: If while praying for someone, or when you yourself are seeking to hear from God, and you hear the same word over and over and over, like you can't shake it....yeah that's God talking to you.

So as I waited for the next person....purity....was all I could think about. So a girl named Lisa(not her real name) came up to Jan, a lady manning the doors and not on the prayer team.....she appeared to be alarmed and not prepared to pray so I intervened because I am now skilled in this function....no longer a rookie! I ask Lisa ( again not her real name) if there was anything specific she needed prayer for.......So cute, sweet Lisa, all of 13 maybe, says........"well like theres these boys, and theres a lot of them, and they're all really cute and I feel like I'm attracted to them, and I like don't know what to do about it....." HELLO....PURITY PRAYER COMING RIGHT UP......"LOL. Love it when that happens.

Tonight was fairly uneventful at SOS for me.....except for the talk....yeah that talk was suppose to be for the kids not the adult prayer team people. Not to mention I've been to conferences myself as a teen tons of time heard that message , over and over again, yeah I'm 37 now why am I not getting it? You know the message about how when we are doing Gods work, or living our life according to what he's called us to do....(me, prayer team SOS) we tend to have our guard down, and the enemy.....that would be Satan.......mess's with us, and gets us where it's easiest for us to be gotten. Why am I such a sucker, time and time again? I spent $$ I didn't need to spend, and stuff I really don't "need"......and got in a huge amount of trouble. Like the man's real mad at me. I had to wait for snoring before I emerged from the basement. Thankfully my mom's going to bail me out, pay the man back for my tiny little financial error. And we'll give this whole budget a go again after camp. (serously tips on how to live on only $20 a week for spending money would be helpful!) Pray for me people.....finances....is something I have a hard time letting go and giving it to God, "Hi my name is Jodi, and I am a shopaholic....." And I ain't thrifty either.....Oh boy I got issues.

I'm still Alive...

Well I survived my first official night of SOS prayer team. Felt kind of out of place, but certainly felt the presence of the Holy Spirit, like in a huge way. I remember that energy, from when I was a teenager, and attended many a conference just like that. I felt the energy in a different kind of way this time, it was good stuff. Did get to pray for 2 strangers, and they seemed ok with it. I will say teenagers ecspecially girls are overly dramatic, sure a lot of it is the holy spirit, but a lot of it is drama, hard to tell when they are being genuine, but that's really God's job isn't it. It's just good they are there, and getting that kind of experience. The pressures now compared to when I was a teenager......wow.....kudos to those who make a commitment to follow Jesus at this age. Matt Redman rocked tonight. I'll try and take pictures tomorrow.

Break Stuff.....

Is the name of the song by limp bizkit that I like to sing when a day goes NOT as planned. So as of right now we are a one car family. Very long story......we just are. So Ron gets a ride home from my brother everday until we get car #2. I volunteer'd for SOS all week for prayer team, so I had to coordinate a ride for Perry for Vacation bible school. My mom had Tues., Weds, and thurs. covered so I only needed a ride for Monday...which is TODAY.....my brother was being non-commital, wasn't sure what was going on, wasn't sure if he could make it happen since he would just be getting home and he'd have to run Zack (my nephew) and now Perry up to church. He brings Ron home everyday so I didn't want to overcommit him anyways. So I got Perry a ride with Aunt Layni who lives 2 blocks away. Even called her at work to remind her, and called her house and reminded Ashton to not forget Perry. ........Right........SHE FORGOT HIM! Things not going as planned #1....oh but wait theres more. So I've been overly nervous about SOS all day. Since the last time I had to pray for strangers, was when Billy Graham was in town and he pretty much did the praying I just had to talk to folks about their decision to follow Jesus. Besides you can pretty much do anything when you are in the presence of Billy Graham. So now here I am a prayer team volunteer with little to no stranger praying experience.....suddenly I was feeling the pressure. So I get to SOS and theres tons of folks standing outsite. I was a little early but they said to be so you could register as a volunteer. Get to the door.....you can't go in.....no electricity and the fire alarms are going off. They send us up to the chapel where hundreds of teenagers are beginning to pile in. When I get to the chapel theres electricity I'm guess from back-up generators....but no AC...it was getting a little bit steamy. Then boom the electricity goes out. Wow Satan ain't messing around! So some dudes grab guitars, and a bongo, and they start doing worship. Sounded like the plan was to do some worship, pray and leave. But then more teenagers start showing up, and without a microphone, it's a little hard to control some teenagers. So I split before I was forced to be crowd control. (I think the power did eventually come back on, but I split and missed it. Kind of got lost in the chaos, and wasn't clear on what the heck was going on.)
Things not going as planned #2
Theres a girl at work who wants a pink cheetah blanket for her step daughters birthday which is this weekend. I went to one store in search of pink cheetah before the SOS debachle, didn't find it. Went to 2 more stores after leaving SOS, still nothing so the chances of us getting it done by thursday now aren't looking good. Things not going as planned #3.
I am going to go to bed now....I know it's only 10:15 pm, but I'd like this day to be over with sooner rather than later. Heres to tomorrow being a better day!

Feels Good

To be creative.

It's late I'm going to bed now....but I scrapped today.

God's Plan

Funny how sometimes you think you know what God's plan is and you are completely off base! Funny how some relationships withstand a storm much better than you thought it would, yet others can be destroyed by the same kind of storm. Or say that same storm happened in a different time in your life would the response to it be the same. Who the heck knows? All I know is shit happens, lessons are learned and life goes on. Unexpected crap that blindsides you is always what makes you grow stronger. Staying faithful to God through the whole mess is a good thing, although I'm still not sure why? Do I need to know why? Not why stay faithful, why crap happens like when you don't expect it or don't feel like you really deserve it. I don't know.....I think I'm just talking. Beatdown and broken is what I am! So what do you do in that case? Get a haircut....not taking a picture of it till I actually fix it myself. Miss spending $$ to be pampered. The girls at great clips can work wonders for $12, but it's just not the same. Not to mention sometimes the conversations can be a little scary.

Thanks to my peeps for sending up some words for me. Keep praying. Someday I may share what the heck it is I'm talking about. In the meantime make up your own story. I just feel like theres folks who read my blog, who wouldn't get it, or talk trash about me, or judge me whatever, who cares I'm still not sharing!

Trying Times....

Check out the art and faith blog...link to the right....nice photo of my pudgy hand. Those who are close to me know of my issues and trying times. Those who don't know my business understand and pray anyways. I'm so so so very thankful to both parties your prayers mean a ton to me. When I get to see God face to face I can't wait to ask, "what the heck was that about anyways?" I'll probably already know by then but that's what I'm screamin now. Seems you gotta get a little shaken and beatin up to become the person God meant you to be. It's the beating we take that's the most difficult in the process. Those who think no beating is required are in denial. Our lives are much like those chemlites, we don't shine brighter until we are broken and shaken. That concept was used during one of my many Alpha trainings a few years ago, and it's more true now than ever before. Oh Oh....heres another concept or analogy. The light doesn't hold if you don't freeze it to hold on to the light. Hummm....how can that be interrpreted and applied. You have to learn from your mistakes, so that the next time you are broken and shaken you'll shine brighter? Not sure if it works completely since I think the chemical fades over time. Yeah I just killed that analogy completely. LOL....but the initial concept works well. So heres the thing, we aren't out of the woods yet. I've been praying it forward like crazy, and feel like a life lesson is being learned. In the meantime we could use continued prayers. Stacie was right we are strong people to put up with much crap, most would be drunk or strung out on crack, notus we just pray some more. This too shall pass.

Then and Now....

It's only been a year. Last year we were camping for Ashton's 12th birthday, like we have every year since she was like 6. This year it was a "Red Carpet" party by her request NO CAMPING???? What? The Red Carpet deal makes her look way too grown up. She's now 13....YIKES....how'd that happen. Teenagers scare me.
Wearing make up and dancing. Did I do that at 13? I don't remember wanting boys at my birthday party that was for sure. It was fun sitting with the boys, and listening to things they like to talk about. Music, concerts, girlfriends (although that was kind of scary, yet enlightening, since they were nice boys.) That don't mean I don't wanna camp next year. It was fun for a year now back to what we do best, campfires, swimming, hiking, Scootering, being dirty and sweaty, not caring who was going to see us. Yeah I like camping a lot. Did I mentions she is now 13?? Ok so speaking of teenagers, I've not changed my mind they are a little disturbing now a days. So to get over my fear of them or dislike for them I decided to saturate myself with them.
I volunteered for SOS. That's 5 days of a whole lot of teenagers, I should be able to get over my fear of them by praying for them. Oh goodness....PRAY FOR ME!

MEET.......

MY BIG GAY BROTHER!!!!!

Ok so he ain't gay. But this picture sure makes him look a little light in his loafers. Besides that's totally a quote from the movie Heathers....dang that's a good movie. He's definately not gay. Although I call him Kelly, which he hates. But I've called him Kelly my whole life, why change now cause he's a man who wants to be called Milt? Hummmm....Milt or Kelly....I prefer Kelly because everyone I know whose named Kelly men and women are cool so what's the big deal? Oh he has some cute kids too. That's them there the ones with the same color hair. Yeah they're cute ain't they? The one with the reds hat on is mine and he's dang cute too.

I'm fine.....Really...fine.

It's just a little bump in the road of life. Nothing we can't recover from. I know these things happen for a reason, just not sure what that reason is and "why me". God will need to turn up the volume a bit if he's trying to talk to me. Or maybe I need to take some time to be quiet and freakin listen. Yeah that's it. I am feeling generally better than I was when I posted the last entry. Still a bit stressed, but much better.

I know I am loved by many when I post a blog entry like that one, and get 4 e-mail wondering if I'm ok, wow, feel very blessed thanks to my peeps sending me some love!

Prayers Please....again...

Send up some words for me. I feel amazingly overwhelmed, and it feels almost worse than the "mean reds". Feel a little out of touch with God, and not sure why? So if you could pray for me that I might find my way in this screwed up world, and feel a little more secure, and firmly planted.

Embarrassment.....

Apparently I am an embarrassment to some people. Well what they would define as embarrassing and what I would define as embarrassing are 2 completely different things, so to them I say WHO GIVES A CRAP! Shit happens, lessons are learned, and something good comes from it, nuff said now get on with your life! Yeah, I am specifically no sharing about the embarrassment to not further humiliate myself.

Poor "P" had a head-ache tonight so after dinner I layed down with him and fell asleep, didn't wake up until 11 pm.....a wasted evening to say the least, considering it's 12:30, and I have to get up in 6 hours. How does life go by so quickly?

Ipod Anxiety

It's crazy what ipod addiction can do to a person. Ron's died today, even has a sad face on the screen. According to the good people at ipod, he's got 6 days left in his 1 year warranty....so we'll be making a dash to the Apple store to restore his ipod loveliness. My advice to ipod owners of the world....DO NOT DROP IT.....Ecspecially if it's out of warranty, which mine is. Which means if I drop it, and it crashes forever....I have to buy a new one. Just something I can't live without now. Nuff said.

Finally a respectable wedding. Seems when you are in you 30's, wedding invites are few and far between. Since everyone you know is now married, except Abby and I'm working on that for real. So if you will recall the wedding's we've been attending in the past year weren't all that....well.....traditional. So tonight, Ron and I stepped out like respectable folks and attended a respectable wedding, with a respectable reception. The church was beautiful! The bride had 8 bridesmaids......cool.....I had 7! Love big weddings. The food was PRIME RIB, along with really good sides.....Bruschetta and other yummy goodness for hordeovers. OPEN BAR, so once again a weekend of drinking, I'm becoming quite the lush....NOT! Oh and the reception was at the Music Hall ballroom, gotta love that. Last time I was there was for Great Americans Christmas party, and then it was packed, it looks kind of empty for the reception of maybe 200....but it was nice. Ron and I had fun. Justin is a guy from Ron's national guard plattoon, they spent quite a bit of time together while they were in Louisianna. Strange bond army dudes have with each other. They can go months without seeing each other hook back up and it's like they see each other everyday. It was a nice time. These guys are at least 10 years younger than us. Most of them. Theres like one other guy who is Ron's age the rest are early to mid 20's, so funny the difference. Makes you feel kind of old!

Hello Poochie....

My good Lord it's like having a newborn. Likes to sleep a lot and likes to play at wierd hours.....like right now it's 1:16 am.....I had him out for a while playing he was crashing on the floor at my feet, seemed like a nice time to put him in his cage for night night.....now he's not so tired....won't be long and he'll be sleeping with me. I'll need a container for all my flippy's, that are nice and chewy to a puppy. He got a hold of Perry's favorite black flippys and chew'd the strap in half...now Perry's sporting a new style....duct taped flippys....it'll be a trend.


Good news, everyone can get on with their lives now I passed LOMA....the first freakin test anyways! Only after 4 trys, who the heck cares I passed! Thank God....one more and the insurance Gods will leave me alone, and let me get on with my non-ambitious life.