So many good things I’m not sure where to start!  I’m also hoping I don’t miss anything!

Right This Moment
I’m on my way to Israel!  I’ll be gone for 9 days and I can’t wait to feel the presence of the Lord!  My church takes this trip every couple of years … my mom and dad had taken the trip last time and loved it!  So when I saw it announced in the bulletin this year, I really wanted to go.  But I also wanted to go with my mom and Taylor.  Only glitch … when I’m gone, or CJ’s gone … my mom’s the one that helps with the kids.  If my mom and I both went, that would leave CJ alone to “babysit” the kids.  Yeah.  He’s the dad that thinks he’s babysitting his own children.

So I finally got my nerve up to ask him if I could go.  With my mom.  The deadline was just a few days away, so I pretty much needed an answer asap.  I mentioned it to him before we went to bed one night and he wasn’t too hip on the idea.  I went to bed praying about it, but figuring I would just drop it.  A couple of days came and went, when out of the blue CJ asked if I still wanted to go.  “Yes.  Yes I do!”  He said he’d ask his two older children to come into town to help with the girls and that I should go.  Holy hallelujah and praise the Lord!  Don’t know about you, but I consider this a small miracle!

Power Of A Praying Parent
I told the kids about a week ago that I’d be leaving for “eight sleeps” and Wynter freaked.  She’s my deep feeler and thinker.  It broke my heart and I immediately started toying with the idea of bringing her with.  Of course, that didn’t pan out … so I did what I should’ve done in the first place … I started praying for her.  I prayed with her.  And I prayed for her.  I brought my prayer request {for her} to my mom group at church … and then I told her so.

She looked up at me with such awe.  “Your friends are praying for me?” she asked.  Yes baby girl, they are.

She’s still having a hard time … but her reaction and emotion to it is considerably less since I’ve told her she’s being covered in prayer.  Friends, there is nothing. more important in this world, than the power of a praying parent.

Other Small Miracles
I’ve been noticing small, encouraging things in CJ.  Telling the girls, “that was nice” after a prayer they’ve said.  Or in a recent conversation they were talking about something {I absolutely can’t remember what} that had to do with knowing everything.  God isn’t what he was referring to, but one of the girls said, “God.”  CJ said, well yes … Him too … but … and went on to fill in the blanks about what he was talking about.

Now, that may not seem like much to a casual reader here.  But if you knew/know my guy … you’d know that’s huge!  CJ was pretty much agnostic to an atheist when I met him.  And now he’s admitting that God knows everything!?

Our Weekend
We had a relaxing weekend at the lake this weekend!  Beautiful weather, picnic at the caboose … and a whole lotta catch up work for me!

Update On Book Writing
I haven’t done actual writing.  Well … I take that back.  I have a title, a dedication page, and two sentences in Chapter One.  Right now though, I feel God’s writing this book in my heart.  I’m in no hurry.  It’ll happen when, how and if it’s supposed to.

But … I have to share this!  A couple of weeks ago, Taylor was volunteering with a “bullying seminar” {I hope to post on this in the next few weeks}, when she texts me and says she needs to talk to me.  I asked if she needed to call.  She said no, it could wait til she got home, but to keep an open mind about it.  Interesting.

So she gets home and I’m all over her asking what she needs to talk about.  “I think you should write a book,” she says.  Say what daughter o’ mine?!?  See … I’ve never breathed a word to her about my desire to write a book.  I asked what brought this on … she said she was talking to someone at the luncheon and she thinks I should write a book.  I explained to Taylor that I am, in fact, working on writing a book.  “About what?” she asks.  “About my life … the things I’ve gone through,” I answer.  She went on to say that I should write about her … :)  But still.  God talking?  I think so.

Next up … we recently finished a bible study at my church about hearing God’s whisper.  The pastor encouraged us to send him our whisper stories, and when I finally did {which actually were explained in a series of posts that I sent him}, he wrote back and said, “When I started reading, I thought “she should write a book …”

God Is Good
All the time!

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