101st Post!

When I logged in to write today, I realized that this was my 101st post! Wow, sometimes it seems like more, sometimes less.

Today is one of those days...one where you have so much to do that it drowns out everything you want to think about. I have lots and lots on my mind today.

For starters, I have lots of work to do! I have been working non-stop (except to blog at lunch or occasionally eat lunch!) since school began. This is a big job with big responsibilities, but also with big rewards. I keep telling people I cannot wait to push all of these papers out of the way so that I can get to my students. Other teachers are well into their routines by now, but I am stuck here at my desk or in meetings. I have however, enjoyed meeting lots of parents that I had not yet met. It is so funny to put parents with students. I wonder what Carys and Sawyer do at school and what that makes their teachers think about Justin and me?!? Guess I should pray a little more. I am enjoying my job...but I am very busy!

In the meantime, I have gotten started on my course work for UA. I cannot believe I just typed that! Today, I sent an introduction email to one professor. When I hit spell-check it suggested that I change "UA" to "AU" I just laughed out loud...I wish I could. But, I should say I am really liking the bigger University. The library is great! I do miss the coziness and familiarity of UM, but I think it is about time I move on. I also find the classes refreshing. I spent X-number (I refuse to type the number) of years researching and reading about all periods of history. Moving to education classes that discusses my exact point of interest it great. I feel like I am taking so much away. So pray for me over the next few months that I will be diligent to complete my work in a way that honors God.

Also, this is the 9th Anniversary of my Dad's moving to heaven. It is so hard to believe he has been gone that long. I have not been sad all day, not to say I won't later, but my mind keeps drifting back to happy times. What I am reminded of is the people who are struggling with loss at this time. It never goes away. I will always miss him, but we must preserver to make his legacy one of triumph and not defeat. If I spend my time mulling over his death, and the events that preceded it, that is what I am giving honor to. I refuse to remember my dad as a "cancer victim." I will remember the things that he taught me. How to love and how to live. That will be his legacy. Myself, my family and my children will be his legacy. Every time I do something good, it will reflect on him. Every time my kids learn something new or accomplish a new feat, it will reflect on him. So, that is how he will be remembered.

You guys know that I love to tell about the conversation I have with my kids. I am often asked, did they really say that. Yes, I refuse to embellish the words of a 3 or 5-year old.

Sawyer got a new Auburn jersey a few weeks ago. It is SOOOOO cute on him. We were driving that he was telling me that Papa Bob loved Auburn. I told him he was right! He got quite and I looked back there. He was crying. I said, "Sawyer, what is wrong?" He said, "I miss Papa Bob. Do you think Jesus would let him come back to us?" (Please remember that Sawyer was born 4 years after my dad moved to heaven!)

I just sat there. I reminded Sawyer how great heaven must be and how even though I miss him terribly, I would not wish him to leave heaven for anything! And I just thought. How can he "miss" someone he has never met?? I did feel proud because I feel like I must have done a good job of "introducing" Daddy to Sawyer and Carys even though they have never met him. They see the evidence that he existed all around them.

Then it hit me...it is the EXACT way with God. I miss Jesus. How great would it be to walk and talk with him. Find out once and for all how He feels about certain things. Just bask in His glory! So I started thinking, "How good of a job have I done "introducing" Jesus to my kids (and others.) I think the key to me letting my kids know about my dad, is that I was so familiar with him, that I can remember the most important things to tell them.

Am I this way with God? Do I know Him, His ways, His character, His Word so well that I can relate that to others??

Just one of the many thoughts rolling around in my head today?

How well do you know HIM so that you can "introduce" others to HIM??

Glory Revealed - To Me!

Sorry, that it has been months since I updated. I am sure that most of you have read of our exciting summer on Carys' page. Although "Blessed" does not seem an adequate word, it is the only English word I know to describe our life at this moment!

I have lots of pictures from the past months, but I don't have time right now to upload them! I am currently at lunch and I just had to write about what I discovered during my personal study this past week.

I heard David Nasser (hilarious by the way) on the radio talking about the Glory Revealed 2 tour. I thought it odd that it had not even heard of the first one! I guess for the past two years I have been so focused on survival that I did not even realize what "stuff" I had missed. So I went to their website and checked it out. When I realized the project spring-boarded from Nasser's book I was very lead to buy and read it. It seemed very appropriate to my recent studies of reason and faith.

I read 3 chapters the first night! I love it. The message is simple but powerful!! It centers on things most of us have been told our whole lives, but makes us stop and think. God wants us to know more about Him. He wants us to feel His presence, hear His voice, understand His Word, experience His presence, and all this to prepare us to do His work. But what God said to me though the scripture and prayer was even more amazing.

As I read, I kept thinking to myself "You already know this. This makes perfect since. Yeah, these words are great, but you are getting nothing new from this." This attitude startled me. I usually love to learn new things and there is not one time that I open God's Word and don't see something new! So I began to pray. "God, help me learn what You want me to learn. Help me see what you want me to see. I have already experience all of this feeling, hearing, understanding that this book is talking about. What more do you want from me?"

Then it hit me. Exactly! I have already experienced it! People often give me a funny look when I tell them that Carys' diagnosis was one of the best things that has ever happened to me. How could that be? I will try to explain...

God has blessed me with and through this "trial." I know He is there. I know He listens. I know He works and I know he loves. Without question. What I was not thinking about it that everyone does not know this. Everyone has not see what I've seen or felt what I felt. God wanted me to know what a blessing my journey is because He used it to Reveal His Glory to ME! Me, nobody...but yet a child of the King! He wants me to share what He has done so that others might see, feel, hear, understand, and experience Him too!

I pray this entry, and every thing I do helps me accomplish His work for me.

Here is a link to the book : http://www.gloryrevealed.com/book.php