Life is Good and GOD is GREAT!

Well, since my last depressing blog something pretty amazing happened . . . let me share . . .

This past Sunday AM at my church, The Park Church, I led worship for the morning service. I have led one song here or there, or co-led with our music intern, but I actually led the entire worship package for the morning on MY OWN. I Rehearsed with the band and frontline on Saturday, rehearsed with the band, frontline and choir early Sunday morning and the I, yes ME, led our congregation in worship! Can you imagine! It was a beautiful moment for me. It was very stressful and scary, and yet I felt amazingly confident. (My voice is strong and more rested these days and feels good after struggling with vocal chord damage for many years). God even spoke to me a word while I was getting reading in the morning to share with the choir and the congregation - soooo flippin' cool!

I came to The Park 4 years ago completely messed up, broken, feeling like I would never even sing on a platform with a worship team again - that I wouldn't ever be in worship ministry again . . . divorced and done for. Well, the last few years have been a painful . . . and wonderful journey. Sunday was truly a GOD THING for me . . . it totally wasn't about me at all, but God telling me that HIS PLAN for me is GOOD, I am not done for, He has covered me with His grace, He redeems even the lousiest situations and wanted me to know that HE TOTALLY believes in me! I feel today that if I never led in worship again, in that context, it would be OK - I just feel . . . content . . . wow, Life IS Good and God IS Great!!

“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.” (Col. 3:16-17)

sigh

some days are harder than others

(. . . I needed to say that outloud)

Megs, Meyme, Meggy

Or you may know her as Meghan! I thought I should do a little blog on my soon-to-be oldest step-daughter. In case you did not know already, Meghan has Autism. Her autism is considered high-functioning as she is very verbal, (did i mention VERY verbal!) Part of being autistic is the inability to be oh lets say "tactful or politically correct" - that part of her brain just thinks very differently. Alot of the time it comes across as rude or abrupt, but, alot of the time the things she says are just darn funny cause - there is no holding back or "impulse control". For example, she told me the other day "Well, when the Preacher asks you and my dad at the wedding if there is anyone who objects to this marriage, I will say I DO!!!" I laughed so hard! CHANGE would be another thing that is hard for a child with autism, the thought of change, the look of change . . . even small things that may change, is hard . . . so, Mike and I (or probalby more I) are needing to be sensitive to her during these next few months of MAJOR change and transition. You can pray for her and for ME as I am one of the "changes" that she will be adjusting to.

What makes Meghan Tick? SCIENCE, MOVIES, TV, FAST FOOD, her PETS, COMPUTER and her Oma's MASHED POTATOES and GRAVY. She has an identic memory which means basically what she watches on TV, Movies, reads in books, finds on the computer . . . STICKS . . . literally word for word, sound for sound, intenation for intenation. So yes, you could sit and listen to her reenact a Veggie Tale movie, word for word, sing every lyric to every song with exact pitch, tone, and wording and do all the voices, or, you could listen to the scientific explanation of DNA or the mating habits of spiders. If I need to interupt her during a "show" then I literally just say "PAUSE MEGHAN" and then once i have done what i needed to do, I can say, "carry on" and she will unpause her memory and keep going . . . without missing a beat - it truly is fascinating!

What are her struggles? Well, she has difficulty with food, which, becomes her parents struggles, trying to ensure she has proper nutrition. Her social ability to fit in . . . that will always be a struggle for her and part of the daily process in working with her. She is VERY tiny which i dont think has to do with autism but nutrition and genetics. She is almost 13, attending a fully integrated Grade 5 class with an aid, but looks the same ages as Sydney and Madison -age 9. She is impulsive . . . like when she tied her sheets together and climbed out the window cause she saw it on a TV show once! or decides to just go somewhere (the flight risk part) without the family knowing (getting better as she gets older, was more serious when she was younger). She can get "stuck" easily or fixated on something and it is hard to get her out of it or to redirect her if necessary - there can be serious struggles during these times - like if she though in her own mind she was getting KFC for supper, and then didnt - YIKES - WWIII! She is definately DRAMA, which totally fits the rest of the dramatic family (have you ever spent time with me - hello)!!

My kids do really well with her and I have been so proud of them . . . she loves Levi and he loves her back. I am learning and growing in my relationship with her - I am a BLACK and WHITE kinda woman . . . I like things done a certain way, you should look, dress, act, and behave a certain way (ok, my way) . . . well, Meghan has thrown some GREY into my world and some pretty VIBRANT COLOR too! Her innocence, her sweetness, her fiestyness and attitude are all what make her MEGHAN!

I LOVE YOU MEGGIE!!

health wisdom

This came from my friend's blog - thought is was darn funny - sorry for being a copy-cat Maria!

For those of you who watch what you eat, here's the final word on nutrition and health. It's a relief to know the truth after all those conflicting nutritional studies.

1. The Japanese eat very little fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.

2. The Mexicans eat a lot of fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.

3. The Chinese drink very little red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.

4. The Italians drink a lot of red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.

5. The Germans drink a lot of beers and eat lots of sausages and fats and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.

CONCLUSION . . .

Eat and drink what you like. Speaking English is apparently what kills you!!

VANITY starts with the same 3 letters as VANESSA!

I was feeling completely vain today and so i thought i should repost a blog that MIKE had posted about me some time back . . . the title is . . . 50 rEasOns Why i LoVe vanEsSa!! you will likely not enjoy it as much as I did but hey . . . it was darn sweet!!

1. Beautiful Eyes 2. Smart 3. Impressive Administrator 4. Creative 5. powerful voice 6. Nice backside 7. Great bottom 8. classy dresser 9. good friend 10. fun to be with 11. discerning 12. love the smile 13. sweet lips 14. good to my kids 15. a great mom 16. good cook 17. organized 18. funny 19. loves God 20. passionate 21. good wrestler 22. outdoors person 23. likes to camp 24. great nails 25. impressive computer skills 26. straightforward 27. pet lover 28. giver 29. prays hard 30. disciplined 31. quick on her feet 32. formidable opponent 33. strong 34. gentle 35. great back rub 36. eye for detail 37. Flinstone feet 38. amazing calves 39. great swimmer 40. just competatitive enough 41. affectionate 42. thoughtful 43. great kisser 44. a real partner 45. hard worker 46. babylicious 47. soulful singer 48. patient 49. adventerous 50. Encouraging

ok, you can all puke now!!

more life reflections . . .

My second favorite
household chore is
ironing . . .
My first one being . . .
hitting my head on
the top bunk bed
until I faint.
-Erma Bombeck-

life reflections . . .

IKEA . . . not a good IDEA!

I LOVE IKEA and Mike and I were so excited to head off their last week to work on planning our new Ikea kitchen! Well, that turned out to be nothing but a GONG SHOW . . . the computer kept shutting down . . . it wouldnt accept our measurements and when we asked for help the lady LITERALLY said she wouldnt help us. We go down to tell a manager about our frustrations with the system and staff . . . and his response was not much better, he said "well if we helped everyone who was here to "dream" about a kitchen we wouldn't get anything else done". Mike was steamed, I was just like "whatever"!! Albiet, neither one of us was feeling very computer savy on that thing, but we just needed a little direction and help, come on people . . . so now, Mike is still steamed and I am just sad. Bye Bye Ikea Kitchen . . . but, HELLO very very helpful lady from Home Depot that we met with on Friday . . . thank you Katrine, you have rekindled our hope for our reno's and our faith in the home reno retail business!!

PS. the SMILING faces in this Ikea ad are NOT the people that served us!!!