Missing MOPS

It is that time of year again.  When MOPS starts up.  Don't know what MOPS is?  Well let me share!  MOPS stands for Mothers of PreSchoolers.  Any mom who is pregnant to a child in kindergarden can join.  Yes you may have children older but at least one child is to be under the first grade.  It is a time to relax, have someone watch the kid(s) while you talk to other adults!  At my local group we had a speaker, small group time, and craft time!  I still have many of my crafts!

Here is the website! Find one near you!

I had an amazing group up north and I miss them all dearly.  There is a new one starting at a church close to campus but sadly I have class during their meeting time.  Hopefully I will be able to be involved with this amazing ministry another time in my life!

Because of the MOPS group at my church back home, I was able to find my way back to the Lord and He showed me how much He loves me.  He turned my mistakes and mess-ups into a glorious healing and life with Him!!!

headache and MOPS

This will be a short post I'm sure . . . since I have a headache and need to get to bed.

I was able to attend moms night out for MOPS tonight.  It was great to see some of my MOPS sisters.  I wasn't able to stay the whole time because little man was at my parents and I had to get him before it got to late.

Have I said how much I love MOPS recently?!  God is so good!  I need mommy friends and He provided! I look forward to anything having to do with MOPS.  I highly recommend it for any mother of preschoolers.

The one fall back for me is I feel so . . . well I'm not sure how to put this in words but I guess its I sometimes feel out of place.  Like maybe I'm too young to be there or something.  BUT don't get me wrong!  I love MOPS!!!!  I guess maybe its because I wasn't quite ready for a child when I had LM.  God used LM to bring me closer to Him though!

LM and I go on walks now :-)  Well he actually rides but minor detail.  I'm trying to do it every day.  We walked about forty minutes today around town.  It was nice.  I'm hoping it will help me to shed some extra baggage I have around my middle and such.

I'm going to be trying something new with my hair.  Don't want to go into details on it just yet but I think it will be awesome.

Okay this headache is starting to get on the verge of migraine :-(  time to lay down and see if it will go away.

TTFN
anc

Baseball Gloves

My little man is doing better. I was very glad to have him home and I know he was happy to have momma. He wouldn't let me put him down for a second.

Life is going alright. God is in control so I don't have to worry much. I am going to be helping my sister finish up the school year. Sort of like a tutor. Works for me because mom and dad are paying me in rent :-) woot woot for parents as landlords.

The single moms group is almost a go! Have to talk to Dean and work out details and then we are good to go.

Tomorrow is the last MOPS of the year :-( It has been such a huge blessing in my life! I am going to miss all the friends I have made. BUT at least I will get to see them at church and such! Just won't see them on Wednesday mornings so much.

My neck is a little burnt. After picking up little man from the sitter (which he only has a week and a half left of) we go for a walk around town and to the park. It is a lot of fun. He enjoys being outside and I get some exercise. He is such an outdoors boy. The crazy thing is though he doesn't get dirty like most kids. For example, when I picked him up from the sitter today he was playing in the rocks . . . BUT he was not sitting on the ground like a normal kid. He was sitting on a baseball glove :-) He is so cute! I need to post some new pictures. He is actually getting hair!

I am off to try and go to bed.

God Bless!

love

anc

Breathing

First off, my little man is sick :-(

He has had a fever on and off for a couple of months now.

This episode has gone on since Tuesday.

It is his dad's weekend for visitation.

Little man is not with his momma.

He went to the hospital last night.

Had a fever of 103.4 . . . got up to 104.5 while he was there.

They think its just a mouth virus.

I wanted to be there so badly.

God was there. He always is. He is making sure little man is cared for when he is away from me. The doctors said not to worry. Yeah easy for them to say. But I am leaning on God for all I've got because I know He can handle it.

Little man may "just" have a fever and I know there are children far worse off than him but this is my baby boy. I can't help but be a nervous wreck about him not feeling well. Hopefully his fever broke by now. His dad is at work (he is with his great grandparents) so I'll have to wait for an update.

*deep breathing*

Now that I have that off my chest, lets move on to other news.

With the Lord's blessing we are moving forward to do a single moms study! It is going to be for seven weeks, the first week being introductions, focusing on adventures in mothering. I'm super excited for it. It is going to be great to connect with other moms who are in this same season of singleness.

I am so thankful for my little sister. She truly is amazing. :-) We are ten years apart. We hang out quite a bit. As far as sisters go I think we rock! She is so understanding for only being twelve years old. Love you Woo!!!

With little man being so sick, I no longer have a job. Part of being the only parent at home. My church has a position open for a ministry assistant. It is right up my alley! I applied. If it is God's Will then great! If not then I'm still super happy about seeing the job! Why you may ask . . . because it opens my eyes to different jobs that I could do. Ones that are glorifying to God!!!

Thanks to my beautiful MOPS sister for posting about my need of a lawn mower, I can mow my own yard! That is on the agenda for this weekend!!

To any mom out there that doesn't have time to get into the Word, I would highly recommend the Busy Mom's Bible. I got mine from Walmart and I love the way it is set up.

This is all for now. God Bless!!!!

love

anc

not much

It has been a long while since I have had a chance to get my thoughts typed out. Little man and I have both had our share of sickness. Thursday evening he threw up all over me and the chair. It was not a fun time. But I will say it is quite amazing what a mom can withstand. In the past I have not been able to tolerate my own throw up but when it is your child, it is a different story. The chair still smells :-( Hopefully with a few more cleanings it will get better.

Seeing God in everyday things is becoming easier. Being in His Word (which I need to do more of) and being in constant communication with Him through prayer does that.

The church I attend had an amazing parent/infant dedication a few Sundays ago. I dedicated myself to raise little man to love the Lord. I have a long road ahead of me but I know all things are possible with God. My parents were able to attend and got to hear The Crossings pastor, Danny, so hopefully that planted a seed to get them to come to church!

God has placed on my heart a group for moms who happen to be single. I've talked with a few of my MOPS sisters about it and am figuring out what all it would take. To start we will probably end up doing a short six week study on Sunday mornings to get a feel for the need. I know for me it would be amazing to be able to talk to other moms in this season of singleness.

I thought I had a lot to get out for this post but apparently my mind doesn't think so.

love~anc

What a Week

This past week I worked hard for the first time in a long while. I work in a refrigerator basically. It's about 38 degrees and we repackage products. It was cold and the work was, well factory work. Standing on your feet all day in steel-toe boots. But at least it will bring in a paycheck.

I've been struggling this week in getting life and work to fit together. I slept A LOT this week. Working a new shift will do that to ya. Because of this new work schedule I have to miss the single mom small group I was a part of. That isn't so great.

The language at work is hard to deal with. I know I will never be able to escape it but man its hard! When hearing the words all day (well really afternoon/evening since its second shift), its easy to use them when you drop something or whatnot. One thing that has been really helping is watching what I put into my head.

I listen to christian music again and that's all I listen to. It helps to have those songs about grace and God's love running through my head. They make it easier to ignore the bad language.

Little man was sick pretty much all week. His fever started on Tuesday evening. Friday morning I was to take him to the doctor for an appointment and we ended up calling 911 on the way there because his hands were turning purple as were his lips. It was very scary. So Friday morning brought us to the ER, where they did a chest x-ray and said he has pneumonia. So he has to take medicine for ten days and hopefully that will take care of it. I was not looking forward to going in to work at three on Friday because I didn't want to leave my baby. He stays with my mom while I'm at work but still I miss him. Work let me go home early when they found out about the rough day I had. That was really nice. This weekend has consisted of catching up on sleep and cuddling my baby boy. He is doing a bit better but still has had a little fever today.

Can't forget to change my clocks for the daylight savings switch.

This week I also followed the Kenya bloggers through Compassion International. Wow. What an experience these people had. Being able to see and read about their journey was incredible. A little back story: Back in high school I decided I needed to sponsor a child. I had no idea what it meant to sponsor a child. I ended up not doing it for very long (I am truly sorry for the little girl I let down) because I was a poor high school student who wanted to spend her money on things she felt she "needed"...

A must read post

Having the love of God in my heart once again, I realize how truly blessed I am. I may not have a lot and money may be tight but He, the One who died on the cross for me, He gives me what I need. We are going to be sponsoring and loving a little boy from Kenya. I decided on Kenya because it had the most need for children being sponsored. At first I wanted to have a child with the same birth date as mine but then felt called to go a different route. Filemon Omondi is now a part of my heart and family! He has the biggest smile on his face and I love that! I can't wait to receive my sponsorship packet and have his picture and get to send him letters!

God is so good. Even when times are rough we can always lean on Him.

I have been limiting my facebook time here lately. It is not a good thing to be in allllll the time. I enjoy seeing my friend's pictures and updates but the negativity on there is outrageous. Call me what you like but I am working on getting to the spot God wants me to be.

Today little man and I watched LarryBoy and the Bad Apple. It was about temptation. They portrayed it so well. Temptation gets the best of everyone. You cannot go a day without encountering it. With God's strength we can overcome it though! I am striving to be more Godly. I know it is a difficult path to go down and the devil will be throwing things my way like crazy to try to knock me off but I have my mind set.

The devil can leave me and my son alone. We know the truth and strive to follow God!

Prayer requests:

-Little man's health

-Being strong in the Lord, even at work

-my sister

-mom and dad's Walk

Praises:

~I have a job!

~MOPS

~support of my family

~God's love

jobs

Changes are everywhere. Some are little and some are big.

I have another job. It is much better days and stability. They won't be changing my schedule every other week like the other. Its shift work and in a factory but it is full time and decent money. It works better for my family and everyone.

I can still attend church every Sunday which makes me happy! But sadly I have to miss my single mom's small group. MOPS is in the morning so I can still do that too!

I believe God helped out in this part of my life greatly. Without Him I'd be in an awful spot I'm sure! He is amazing.

I'm not feeling the writing bug right now so I will come back later and write more about this.

Shake

Blah...

I'm in a bad spot. It doesn't have to do with the job, that is going alright. I'll touch more on the job in a sec. I can't shake this feeling I have. I am having so many doubts and when I try to find someone to talk to they were busy. I didn't make it to small group tonight which made me mad. I hate this. it just needs to go away and leave me alone. I want to be God's light and although I know times will be hard He can make them great.

The job is fine. Lots of drama and I'm over that already but its money coming in.

Someone please help

I'm making myself go to MOPS tomorrow. I know I need the fellowship. I just hope they will watch little man. I don't have anyone to watch him like I used to.

Is it okay to let go of a friendship for spiritual reasons?

Pickles & Grace

I'm in a pickle. Not a real pickle...those are just gross! I have an interview tomorrow for a job. I NEED a job very badly but this one is second shift and weekends. I have brought the matter to God and He did help me get to my first interview even when I was dragging. I will be taking the job if it is offered. Especially since it will be the first job I've been offered since I started looking. I need to just stop worrying about that and give it all to the big man upstairs.

On a much happier note, church on Sunday was INCREDIBLE!!! I honestly felt God for the first time in a long while. I know God wants me to be at Park Chapel and that is such a great feeling. I attended Starting Point, which is the getting to know PC class. It was great to hear all about what they believe and WHY! I like to know why so that was great. I believe with all my heart and soul God has put me there for a reason. Big things are gonna happen.

The message was the last of our Heart of God series. It had to do with the prodigal son story in Luke. Danny really hit us hard with a message from God about being prideful and acting like the "older brother." I cried because God had placed on my heart some things about my past. I know with His grace I will be able to overcome it but it is going to take time and healing.

My bestest friend, Abby, let me borrow some of her books. One was Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers. Honestly one of the most amazing books I've ever read in my life! I know God has someone out there for me who is going to love me unconditionally. I will be second to God of course! That is important.

You know how they (not sure who "they" are :-p) say a relationship is like a triangle...God at the top and the man and woman on the bottom ends. Well I never really fully grasped that until I read Francine's book. God is to be above all else, even a boyfriend or husband. I cannot wait to have that sort of relationship with a man where God makes us truly one. At MOPS I see women that have that kind of relationships with their husbands and it gives me hope :-)

At first the thought of being single for (at least) a year was daunting. I know God has put it on my heart to do so but still it felt hard and scary. Now I'm actually greatly looking forward to it! Don't get me wrong, I love to love with a man but if I ever want to have the relationship God has planned I need to get my life right with Him. He is the only one who completely understands everything I've gone through and been in. I know it will take great time and healing for me to get over my past but with His grace anything can happen!

I am struggling with getting into His Word. I don't know why its so hard. I love to read and I know there are incredible stories and lessons to learn from in the bible but I'm struggling with that. If you are reading this and know a good way to help get into the word, please share!

I am off to bed so I can get some rest before my interview tomorrow.

good night all