Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Migraine Scriptures


If you've followed my blog or know me in real life, you probably already know that I suffer from migraines. They started back in 2008 when I slipped on some ice and fell down the stairs in front of our home - carrying one of my twin girls that was just a few months old at the time. She was fine - I, on the other hand, cracked my elbow and got whiplash. The whiplash triggered migraines that have just never went away. Seeing a chiropractor helped for a while, but since we recently moved, I haven't found a new one yet. So today, I pulled out this list of Scriptures that I compiled several years ago to help me deal with the pain - and then I realize that I never posted them here. 

If you've ever dealt with migraines, you already know that they aren't fun. I hope that God can use these in your life as He does in mine. I find them both encouraging and strengthening:  

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

Ecclesiastes 7:14
In the day of prosperity be happy, But in the day of adversity consider--God has made the one as well as the other So that man will not discover anything that will be after him.

Matthew 4:24
The news about Him spread throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all who were ill, those suffering with various diseases and pains, demoniacs, epileptics, paralytics; and He healed them.

Job 5:18
"For He inflicts pain, and gives relief; He wounds, and His hands also heal.

Revelation 21:4
and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away

Job 6:10
"But it is still my consolation, And I rejoice in unsparing pain, That I have not denied the words of the Holy One.

Psalm 69:29
But I am afflicted and in pain; May Your salvation, O God, set me securely on high.

Ecclesiastes 1:18
Because in much wisdom there is much grief, and increasing knowledge results in increasing pain.

2 Corinthians 12:7-10
Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me--to keep me from exalting myself! Concerning this I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me. And He has said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness " Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.

Psalm 139:14
I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well.

2 Corinthians 4:16
Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day.

Philippians 4:4
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!

2 Corinthians 5:1
For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

Philippians 4:11
Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am.

*All Scriptures are taken from the New International Version of the Bible - Copyright 1984

Friday, April 19, 2013

The TV Delima

Mr. Amazing has a wonderful job working for the local phone company. They also do internet and television, so we were blessed with free cable. Although I'm not sure "blessed" is the right word. Mr. Amazing and I debated it for several months before I finally caved and let them install our free cable and I still have really mixed feelings about it. 

On the one hand, I love Bubble Guppies. They are so darn cute! Also, we use to live off of library movies, but the local library here doesn't have a huge selection, and none of them are really what I want the kids to be watching. But on the other hand, there are so many things on TV that I don't want my kids exposed to. They all learned the very first day that we would NEVER watch Sponge Bob in this house. If I ever catch them watching it, the TV will be gone within seconds. They have diligently obeyed that rule.

And then there are shows like Max and Ruby. Max is this chubby little rabbit who likes mud pies and is being raised by his big sister, Ruby. Max is a bad little rabbit. He directly disobeys his sister on every show that I've seen, and what does she do? She laughs at his disobedience. At first, I was awed by her kind spirit, but now I'm seeing a different side of it. He continually disobeys because he gets away with it - I mean, wouldn't you? If you knew you didn't have to listen to what your mom/adult in your life said because she'd just laugh if you did it anyway? I might even disobey to get her to laugh. The show is teaching the worst kind of sin. Selfishness and disobedience. 

Admission: I really thought that Ruby was Maxes mom, but apparently they don't have parents, just a grandmother who visits on occasion... I'm not sure if that makes the whole thing better or worse.

Have any of you seen this show? What are your thoughts on it? What shows do you let your children watch on TV?

Monday, April 1, 2013

Our Hopeful House


Last week I told you about the house that we are planning on buying. This is it. It's a 3 bedroom 2 1/2 bath 1 story home. We'll have a 2 car garage and live in a wonderful neighborhood. I'd love to show you photos of the street we'll live on from Christmas, but I couldn't find any. This is "THE" street to go down during the Christmas season. It's a dead end road, but they line the entire thing with candy cane sticks and lights - then they lay out the 12 days of Christmas on big wooden signs. The north side of the street has the first 6 days and the south side has the last 6 days. It's pretty awesome.

Are you ready to go inside?


This is the entryway. It's too small to be anything useful, but it's there. We're hoping to knock out the wall eventually and make it bigger, but for now, it's just an entry way.


This will be the living room. It's actually the original garage that they used as an addition to the house. The downside? See that itty-bitty window. Yeah, it's the only one in the room. We'll eventually put in a window on the front side of the house to this room, but until then, it will be a bit dark.


This is our dining room. 


And my office :) Well, I'll share it with Mr. Amazing. It will also double as a guest bedroom until we can fix up the guest house (Yes, you read that right).



This is our kitchen. It's a small hallway like room. But I like it.


This is a view of the other side of the kitchen. We still need to get a fridge, but the dishwasher is nice.


And here is the bathroom. It's a little old school, but I think that gives it character.


This is going to be Mr. Amazing and I's room - it's green. I like green.


This will be the girl's room - somehow I forgot to take pictures of the boy's bedroom... but there really is a third bedroom. I promise. 


And this is the view of the back of our house and back yard from the back fence. It's a BIG yard. The downside? It's full of stickers. We're going to have to do some major landscaping before we can let our dog out :(



And this is the guest house. A little bit of history, this was the original house that the original owners lived in before they built the big house. It's kind of like a stucco cabin. It has a bedroom, main room, kitchen and bathroom. It had some water damage last winter, and really needs cleaned up, but it's pretty neat to have a guest house.   

 And that's it. I hope you enjoyed your tour!