25 tips for a better life in '09

I got this in an email forward from a dear friend....

25 TIPS FOR A BETTER LIFE - 2009

1. Take a 10-30 minute walk every day. And while you walk, smile. It is the ultimate anti-depressant.

2. Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day. Buy a lock if you have to.

3. When you wake up in the morning complete the following statement, 'My purpose is to __________ today.'

4. Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less food that is manufactured in plants.

5. Drink green tea and plenty of water. Eat blueberries, wild Alaskan salmon, broccoli, and almonds.

6. Try to make at least three people smile each day.

7. Don't waste your precious energy on gossip, energy vampires, issues of the past, negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment.

8. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a college kid with a maxed out charge card.

9 Life isn't fair, but it's still good.

10. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.

11. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.

12. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

13. Make peace with your past so it won't spoil the present.

14. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.

15. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.

16. Frame every so-called disaster with these words: 'In five years, wi ll this matter?'

17. Forgive everyone for everything.

18. What other people think of you is none of your business.

19. GOD heals everything.

20. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.

21. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch.

22. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.

23. Each night before you go to bed complete the following statements: I am thankful for __________. Today I accomplished _________.

24. Remember that you are too blessed to be stressed.

25. Please Forward this to ever y one you care about. I did.

1-5-09 A day in the life of....

Well, I finally figured out why I was having so much trouble getting Dusty's school work done every day. We aren't on a curriculum yet, so I have workbooks and things that I've been collecting since he was a year old. I print stuff off the internet when I need something else, too. So, anyway, I have been doing his lesson plan on a daily basis, which it's hard to find enough time every day to sit down and do. Well, this morning, I decided I was gonna solve this problem so I got together a whole week's lesson plan and it didn't take me much longer than just doing one day once I got my momentum going! So, we got schoolwork caught up today in no time. I am so excited!!!

I've almost finished another late Christmas gift for my nephew. When I get my pics back, I'm going to post what I done. I have this one to finish and another one to do and I'll finally be done with last year's Christmas. Then, I'm going to start on this year's soon, I promise!!!! I'm tired of not being prepared!

We had homemade chicken and dumplings for supper tonight, with homemade biscuits and October beans that I put up last summer with homemade lemonade. We had a friend coming for supper, then my mother in law called and said she was coming, too. She doesn't visit with us as often as she does Bucky's sisters but we're always glad to have her!

The song, "I Just Feel Like Something Good is About to Happen" has been on my mind for a few days now.

I know we need something good to happen. We spent so much money doing car repairs last year that we got behind on all our bills and then work slowed down the first of last month. So, we are flat broke, I have no car and all our bills are past due. I called my piano teacher and told her I was gonna have to put off my lessons for a while because I don't see how we can pay her. She seemed okay with it, she just told me to keep practicing because she knew how much I enjoyed it. But, I know it is well because God said He would never leave nor forsake us. I know that He knows what we need better than we do and obviously we needed to go through this right now for some reason. I will praise Him when we win and I will praise Him when we lose!!! I will not stop praising Him!!!!

January 3, 2009 Words Upon My Heart

Titus 2:1 But speak thou the things which become sound doctrine:

-We know that the Bible says in Proverbs 18:21 that death and life are in the power of the tongue. Also the tongue is a fire, an unruly iniquity, full of deadly poison, that no man can tame.

-But, when we bridle our tongues, then the mouth of the just bringeth forth wisdom, a wholesome tongue is a tree of life. This is speaking sound doctrine.

-Speaking of Levi, the Lord said in Malachi 2:6-7, The law of truth was in his mouth, and iniquity was not found in his lips: he walked with me in peace and equity, and did turn many away from iniquity. For the priest's lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth: for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts.

I have to admit, I have had alot of trouble bridling my tongue in the past. I've been so quick to speak that I've said things that have hurt other people, things that should never have been said, I've also said things that maybe should have been said but I had no business saying. I wish to use my tongue only to upbuild my brethren, to encourage others, to speak the truth, and to honor and glorify God.

Oh, Father, help me today to become a speaker of sound doctrine. Help me, O Lord, to bridle this tongue that I might be pleasing to you in all that I say.

Thank you, Lord, for all you've given me. Thank you for my salvation, and for using me in kingdom service. Thank you for my family, watch over them and keep them from evil, Lord. Let your will be done in their lives. Thank you for our home and our work that you've given us to do. Thank you for our health that we are able to do the work that is set before us.

Please remember all the prayer requests that have been lifted up by your people everywhere. Let your hand not be hindered in fulfilling our heart's desires if they be in your will. We know so many lost people, Father. Let us be a light unto them, speaking that sound doctrine, that they might be brought to repentance and be saved! Let us speak the truth with boldness that we might see lost people saved, sick people healed, and prodigal sons brought back home. We'll remember to give you all the honor and glory that you so rightly deserve. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Amen

1-2-09

Today is my father-in-law's birthday. He passed away almost a year ago. He was a good man with a heart for the Lord and his family. I'm looking forward to seeing him again, albeit in a healthy body!

I caught up my dishes a little while ago. We don't have a dishwasher so if I miss a day doing dishes, like I did yesterday, it looks really bad!

Believe it or not, I'm still working on Christmas gifts. I have 2 nieces and a nephew who live out of town that we didn't get to see for Christmas so I'm going to mail their homemade gifts to them when I get them finished. I knew they weren't going to be here so I put theirs off until after Christmas as I was pressed for time to get everyone else's finished.

I had intended to get back to school work this week, but it hasn't gone very well. Maybe next week will be better.

God is so good. I am so thankful that He opened my blinded eyes and gave me that precious gift of salvation. I'm so thankful for my husband and his work, even though it has been slow (nonexistent) the last few weeks. But, God is faithful and He is our provider. I know that things will get better. I don't depend on the economy, I don't depend on the bailout plans or whatever else the government can concoct. I know that my Father owns the cattle on a thousand hills and He can do whatever He wishes with all the wealth in the world. I know that if He wants us to have it, we will. I'm so thankful for our children, Bucky's 3 beautiful girls and our son. They mean so much to me. Sometimes I don't let them know enough, sometimes I'm too harsh, sometimes I'm too negligent, but I love all 4 of them so very much and I'm so glad that they all love the Lord! I'm so thankful for our home, it's not much but it's warm and dry and sometimes it's even clean! I'm also thankful for the guy who holds our mortgage. We didn't go through a bank or finance company because we had credit problems, we went through an individual and he has been wonderful. We've gotten behind but he doesn't hound us and he says he doesn't want to take our place, he just wants to see us get back on track and he'll help us any way he can. He has even referred Bucky to people who needed fencing/construction work done. I'm so thankful that God has given us hearts to serve Him, the desire to be pleasing to Him and I'm thankful that He allows us to be used in service for Him!

When I woke up this morning, there was a message on my heart but I didn't write it down so I lost it. Maybe He will give it back to me or maybe this is my new message. Either way, awaiting His return......

Edited to say: January 2 is my sister in law's birthday. My father in law's is the 7th. So, I made one of them thar mis takes, imagine that!

Homeschooling progress

We have gotta get back on track with our schoolwork. Dusty has learned to read some words. He knows most of the family's names. He just realized the other day that he could count all the way to 100. He was counting and he got to 30 and he was so excited. He said, "Mama, I counted to 30!" And I said, "Well, you could probably count to 100 if you wanted to." So, he tried and he's been counting ever since. I think he's gonna be a little math whiz because he's crazy about numbers and adding and stuff.

He has learned to play Jesus Loves Me on the piano and has played it at church which I think is pretty amazing considering I just started taking lessons this past summer myself! He's learning the books of the Bible. He gets stuck at Esther, though. Hopefully, we can get past that soon so we can move on!

He asked me the other day why the sun doesn't warm us up in the winter like it does in the summer.

He's five! I don't remember thinking like that when I was five! I told my husband I was afraid that I would have to take college classes just to get him through middle school LOL! He loves nature and critters. I'm so glad that God has instilled a love for creation in him. So many kids seem to care less about the world we live in.

After writing all this, it seems like we may not be as far off schedule as I thought we were by looking at our records. I found this over at http://spunkyhomeschool.blogspot.com/ and this seems like the appropriate place to share it:

"A well-educated child is one who knows and loves the Lord their God with all their heart, mind, soul, and strength; and loves their neighbor as themselves. That's not proven by a standardized test score, but demonstrated daily in a life lived in obedience and service to Him." I wrote this quote on an index card and hung it up on our bulletin board for me to see everyday. That's the very essence of my prayers for my son's education!

Reducing electricity usage

We installed an old-timey wood stove just before Christmas. I can't wait to see how much it will reduce our electric bill as we were using a 220 electric heater and it didn't even really heat the house but we sure couldn't afford another one.
This is kinda what our wood stove looks like:

Well, ours isn't quite that messy.

I'll be glad when I can get a digital camera so I can post my pics on here!

We also installed hooks in the ceiling on one side of the stove to hang clothes on to dry so the dryer usage has gone down alot as well. I always hang clothes out when I can. I love to see clothes hanging on the line and I really love how they smell so fresh and clean! But when it's cold, my fingers just about freeze off handling them wet clothes!



So, this is what's working for us right now. We're talking about purchasing ceiling fans for every room before summer to see how long we can keep the air conditioner off, too.

In the year of our Lord Jesus Christ 2009

I am so revived and refreshed, ready to draw closer to the Lord in some way every day of this new year, after the amazing Holy Ghost filled watchnight service we had last night! I am so thankful for all that the Lord has done for me and my family in the past year and I can't wait to see what He has for us to do this year!

January 1, 2008- We rang in the New Year in service with The Hawkins Family singers and Bro. Johnnie Fuller bringing the message at Mt. Vernon General Baptist Church. My husband was under deep conviction but somehow left that awesome service lost!

January 4, 2008- I left my husband after finding out that he was still drinking after he had told me he would quit. I only stayed gone a few hours because I knew the Lord was telling me to wait on Him.

January 15, 2008- My husband's father passed away after a battle with cancer that had affected his pancreas, bile duct, and lungs.

January 18, 2008- We laid to rest the first man I ever knew who was good all the time, not just when he thought others were watching. I loved my father-in-law very much and am so thankul that the Lord allowed him to be a part of my life.

January 20, 2008- The whole family was at church, except my 3 stepdaughters. We filled up 2 pews! After choir singing, Bro. Ronnie Proctor and Sis. Jean Hubbs got up to sing a special. They dedicated "Robe of White" to our family. As soon as they started, Bucky got up and went to the altar! Oh, how the Holy Ghost came down that morning!!! My husband was saved and delivered from alcohol by the Almighty hand of our merciful Father in Heaven!!!!

February 3, 2008- My husband and I were baptized. I chose to be baptized again as a symbol of our joining together as a spiritual team and also because I knew that my heart was not truly repentant when I was baptized before.

During the next several months, we were at church as often as possible, in Revival services, singing services, whatever was going on around here, we wanted to be a part of it. Bucky started singing for the Lord shortly after we were baptized. He said he didn't even know he could sing but it is wonderful! He's working on a CD project right now and I am so proud of him and the way he is letting the Lord use him.

But, all of a sudden, Bucky started not wanting to go to church on Sunday morning. Oh, I was so frustrated! I thought he was backing out on God. He had lost all his friends and business wasn't great. He had had to lay off the 2 guys he had working for him, who we happened to go to church with. Things were not looking good. I prayed and begged God to show me what was going on. Finally, one Sunday morning, I was getting ready to go to church and Bucky said he didn't think he was going AGAIN. I said we have got to talk about this, I can't take not knowing what's going on with you. That's when he told me he felt like the Lord was leading him somewhere else. Boy, was I relieved! He was still listening! And I knew that it was the Lord speaking to him because I had been getting the same message for a while.

That's when we started visiting other churches. We went to several churches around here, different denominations. We really enjoyed ourselves getting to know other brothers and sisters in Christ. We heard some good singing, we heard some great messages, but we still didn't know where the Lord wanted us to be. We were getting a little antsy because it seemed like we were going to run out of options close to home. What did God have in mind for our family?

During this time, the Lord laid it on my heart to organize a local prayer meeting for the International Day of Prayer for Persecuted Christians. I obeyed and proceeded to print fliers and gather information. I sent the event info in to the local radio stations to put on community calendar and one of them called me. They wanted us to be on air!!! I was soooo excited. Bro. Hank Hubbs is who I felt like the Lord wanted to lead the service. So, I presented him with my idea and asked if he would like to join us in this effort. He said it would be an honor. We were on the Dad and Son radio show on WEKT 1070 Elkton, KY on Election Day, Nov. 4, 08. I was so nervous but it went well.

Sometime during all this moving of the Lord, I went to a revival service with Bro. Hank at a church we hadn't been to before, Pea Ridge House of Prayer. Bro. Johnnie Fuller, who preached the Watchnight Service at Mt. Vernon is the preacher there. I fell in love with this little church out in the sticks. During prayer request, a lady was telling about a woman she knew who was having to move out of her home and she knew she didn't have any income so she didn't know where she was going to go, how she was going to eat or anything and a lady sitting behind me spoke up. She said "Well, maybe we oughta just find this lady and take her some food and see if we can help her with her housing. That's what our tithes and offerings are for, they aren't to build all these big fancy buildings and things." Oh, what a relief, how refreshing those words were to my soul! I had been praying to find people who cared more about the people than the numbers in the bank account, more than the size of the building! It seems like everywhere we had been, there was fundraising for this and that to improve the "church" but it always seemed that true outreach was so lacking. I came home and told Bucky, who had to work late that day and didn't get to go with me, how much I enjoyed the little church and how I thought we needed to go back.

So, the Sunday before our prayer meeting, we finally got the opportunity to go. Bro. Johnnie was so glad to see us! The Lord moved in the service and in our hearts and we knew we would be back after that service! The prayer meeting went by smoothly, we didn't have many people but we did get to meet some new people who love the Lord and I'm always thankful for that. We went back to Pea Ridge the following week and have been there ever since.

Several of the Pea Ridge church members were in service with us last night, back at Mt. Vernon for watchnight service with the Hawkins Family singers again. Them people can sing for the Lord!!! This time, Bro. Willie Trawick brought the message. Jail Break at Midnight is what he called it. He brought out scripture that talked about how God moved at midnight such as the passover, the breaking of Paul and Silas' chains. He said it was time for release. He also spoke about consistently offering our children up to the Lord to keep them from evil and how we really should try to seek the Lord before the last minute when we can. For instance, in asking for God's blessings for the new year, most of us will wait until new year's eve, or at least I know I do, but Bro. Willie said he starts praying and fasting, seeking God's blessings for the new year way back in October. That made alot of sense to me.

So, I'm full to overflowing with God's blessings even though I'm sitting here broke and all our bills are past due and I have no car because it broke down months ago for the third time in a year. But, that ole devil ain't gettin' no victory here because I know that sometimes the Lord will put us through the refining fire and I know that He said He will never leave us or forsake us, so if He's putting me through that fire, He's right there with me and I can count on Him to finish the work He has started!!! I'm ready for the breakthrough so people can see the mighty works that God has done in/for us so they will want the same for themselves. I'm ready to see lost people saved, sick people healed, prodigal sons brought back home. I'm ready to see the hand of the Lord move in a mighty, mighty way in this land, bringing His people back to Him!

Happy New Year, everyone. Remember me in your prayers that I can remain strong and willing.

God Bless and Agape, Annie