Poem

I got this poem today in an email from a friend. Wow, it's pretty powerful!! Here it goes...

I was shocked, confused, bewildered
As I entered Heaven's door,
Not by the beauty of it all,
Nor the lights or its decor.

But it was the folks in Heaven
Who made me sputter and gasp--
The thieves, the liars, the sinners,
The alcoholics and the trash.

There stood the kid from seventh grade
Who swiped my lunch money twice.
Next to him was my old neighbor
Who never said anything nice.

Herb, who I always thought
Was rotting away in hell,
Was sitting pretty on cloud nine,
Looking incredibly well.

I nudged Jesus, "What's the deal?
I would love to hear Your take.
How'd all these sinners get up here?
God must've made a mistake.

"And why's everyone so quiet,
So somber - give me a clue."
"Hush, child," He said, "they're all in shock.
No one thought they'd be seeing you."
JUDGE NOT.

Wow!! Yes it's true each of us sin every day but that's the love of Jesus Christ, he forgives us each and every day...You are an awesome God!!


I got this saying from another email....
Remember.....Just going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in your garage makes you a car.

Hmmmm...how true that is!! I think too many people think that going to church gives them a pass into Heaven but that's so not true. Don't get me wrong we are called by God to go to church every Sunday to hear His word and fellowship with other believers but He wants so much more than that for each of us. He wants us to live for Him and do His work on a daily basis. Not only look at His word on Sunday but to open it and read it every day, study it, live by it and raise our children by it.
I am currently doing a bible study of Priscilla Shirer and there is a part in there that I am going to quote: she says " John 3:16 clearly states that God sent His Son to die for those who needed saving but that salvation only comes to those who "believe on Him." Our walk with Christ began when we removed the confidence we had in our ability to save ourselves and decided to trust Him instead. Our ability to live victoriously while here on earth depends on our willingness to put our confidence in Him."
Here's another part that she talks about having a relationship with God...
"A relationship with God begins by admitting we are not perfect and continue to fall short of God's standards. Romans 3:23 says "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." The price for these wrongdoings is separation from God. But God provided a way to get rid of that separation by coming down to earth in the form of Jesus. When Jesus was crucified on the cross He provided a way to allow our sins to be forgiven and restore our relationship with God. God doesn't ask us to clean up our lives before we come to Him. He wants us to come as we are, receiving Him as Savior and Lord.
Forgiveness begins when we admit our sin to God. When we do, He will forgive us and restore our relationship with Him. "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9)
This love gift and relationship with God is not just for a special few but for everyone. "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved" (Rom. 10:13)."
I really love the study and recommend it.."He Speaks to Me: Preparing to hear from God."

Tubes

Took Eliott to the doc today to check out his ears because he got the same "cold" I've had and is now pulling at his ears. "They don't look good" we heard from the doc. He's 16 months old and his vocabulary consists of mama, dada, ball and sometimes you can make out dog, so she's worried that the fluid is causing his speech delay so we're off to the ENT next week to talk about tubes.
We're all lonely this week without Denzil. He went on a business trip to California and I know it's just my messed up pregnancy hormones but I feel so lonely and kind of sad. I know it will fly by and he'll be home before I know it but it's still so weird not having him coming home at night. The kids have done pretty good. They've been talking to him on the phone. Phoebe tells him all about her day and what we're going to do tomorrow and Eliott listens to him and then blows him kisses, it's really cute! Surprisely Phoebe's been great and hasn't thrown that many fits at all, WOW! But usually by the time he comes back it takes her a day or two to warm back up to him and he absolutely hates that! But maybe it won't happen this time.
Well gotta go bake muffins for bible study tomorrow-

Female or Male?

No I'm not referring to the baby in my belly, we already know he's a boy!
Back in December when we went to the Anheuser-Busch party at the OSU campus I had a very interesting conversation with one of the wives of the guys Denzil works with. Her name is Vicky and she's so wild and crazy. She started telling me that there was a difference between pine cones...there are male ones and female ones. I thought this women was absolutely crazy and it was after a few hours of being there so I thought maybe she had had a little too much to drink. So I was intrigued and asked what she was talking about. She said that she had done research years and years ago for one of her daughters school papers and how God is one amazing God because he even made pine cones male and female. I sat there and listened and just thought she was blowing smoke but....sure enough I searched for it on the internet and it is true....

The cone is the reproductive structure of a conifer.
Its form is that of a very short branch with many small, rounded, leaf-like structures (scales) attached to a central stem.
A female cone lives and grows for several years, becoming much larger than a male cone.
An ovule develops on each scale of a female cone. Inside the ovule, an egg cell is produced. If fertilization occurs, an embryo grows inside the ovule. The ovule hardens, becoming a seed.
Eventually the scales spread, allowing the seeds to fall. If conditions are favorable where it falls, the embryo inside the pine seed will grow into a new tree.
Male cones live only a few weeks. On each tiny scale of a male cone, a pollen sac develops, inside which pollen grains are formed. Each pollen grain is a protective container for a sperm cell.
When mature pollen is released, the male cones die and fall apart.
Pollen is carried by the wind, and some of the pollen grains land between the scales of female cones, resulting in fertilization.

Okay...the words sperm, fertilization, ovule, embryo...those are words I never expected to use talking about pine cones. But there you go folks...you learn something new everyday don't you?

Is it the flu?

Well the last couple ballet classes Phoebe has actually danced the whole time. My theory about the candy in my previous post was right. I told her no candy if she didn't dance and I didn't sit at the back of the room for her to sit in my lap. I stood right next to her on her sticker and slowly eased myself at least against the wall. Now she turns around and says "mommy, sit down." She's finally gotten comfortable and it doing all her moves. It's the most adorable thing and she loves it so much. She comes home and shows Daddy all her moves and then sings for him what she learned in music class at school on Tuesday and Thursday. She's so totally girl! She loves singing, dancing, and loves artsy crafty stuff. She loves to paint, cut with her scissors, and glue. I think she could spend hours doing it.
Denzil and I have had some kind of flu like sickness this whole week. Actually Denzil got it last Wednesday and I got it on Sunday. I have a very stuffy nose, headache, a really bad cough that hurts my ribs, lungs and back every time I cough, body aching all over and a 101 fever. I went to bed on Saturday night feeling absolutely fine and Sunday morning I woke up and felt horrible. I haven't been able to sleep because of the fever, not being able to breath and being freezing one minute and sweating the next. I went to my doc on Tuesday and he said it sounded just like the flu but before he could give me Tamiflu he'd have to test me to see if that's for sure what it was or not otherwise that would'nt do anything. Well Wed morning he called and said it was negative. I am very glad it's not the flu but I think I was hoping he said it was positive so I could go pick something up at the pharmacy, take it and get some kind of relief. Now since it's not the flu I just have to wait it out. I'm so sick of coughing so hard my whole body just hurts really bad or I throw up, which has happened a couple of times. I finally slept good last night because I took some Tylenol night severe cold medicine and it really helped me sleep, thankfully! It's so hard to be sick and still be the one responsible to clean the house, do laundry, feed everyone, etc. and be expected to get better.
Well it's getting late and I'm going to bed-