April 23, 2010 by Kelly.

I am reading a life-changing book right now. How do I know it’s life-changing? Because I can’t just zip through it. I find myself stopping every few pages and going back to re-read them. I’m underlining (in pen) sentences that make me say, “Yes!” or “Amen!” or “I never thought of that before.” There is only one other book that makes me do all those things, and that’s my Bible.

What book am I reading? Hearing God’s Voice, by Henry and Richard Blackaby.

This morning I read about “spiritual markers.”

“Spiritual markers identify times of transition, decision, or direction when you know God clearly guided you. … There are many ways to denote spiritual markers in your life. One method is to write the date and a brief notation beside the verses in your Bible as God speaks to you through them. … Write the date down beside the verse so when times become difficult, you can look back in your Bible and remember the day God made this promise.”

If you could see my computer desk, you’d understand why this concept jumped out at me. The right corner of my desk holds eight mini sticky notes, each with a Bible verse on it. These verses all spoke to me at some point over the past month or two. I thought I was doing good to write them out and place them where I could see them daily, to remind me of God’s Truth. I see now that I should take this a step further and note the date in my Bible!

Philippians 2:3-4 and Ephesians 5:21 are both great verses for those in leadership to keep in mind. I’ve been thinking about leadership lately, as I’ve volunteered to lead my local homeschool group starting in August 2010. I’ve not yet been “voted in,” but these verses remind me that it’s not about me–it’s about the group, and what God has planned for it. I want what’s best for the group, whether that means I lead or someone else leads. I will submit myself to the other ladies regardless of my role.

I found Proverbs 16:3 as I was preparing to release an ebook. I wanted to make sure I was doing everything properly, and legally, and at times I would get overwhelmed or confused about what to do next in the process. Once I committed the project to God, my mind cleared and the ebook is now published and available for purchase.

Psalm 86:11 came to me as I was praying about leading the local homeschool group. I wanted to be sure I was following God’s will for my life. I sought to keep my heart focused on Him and His plan.

There are others, such as Acts 4:12, which is my favorite Bible verse, and 2 Timothy 2:16, which I’m not sure why I wrote down–perhaps I need to examine my thoughts and speech!

As I read my Bible, I come across verses that I’ve noted in the past. I can remember the situations I was experiencing, and I can now “see” how God worked things out. How I wish I had dated those verses! As I look at “where I’ve been” I can more clearly see where God is leading. Now, when an opportunities arise, I can see which ones are most consistent with what God has already been doing in my life.

Do you have spiritual markers? Leave a comment and share some of them with me! I can already tell that this is going to be a great asset to my quiet time, and I hope it is (or will be) to yours as well.

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April 1, 2010 by Kelly.

For the past month, this dog has been wandering around our neighborhood. He’d often come to our yard and play with my children, or follow us as we walked around the neighborhood. Because of the “colors” in his fur, my children named him Skittles. Sometimes we’d go days without seeing him, then he’d be back for a couple days, sleeping by the fence next door or near a fire hydrant a block away.

After a couple weeks we figured he had a home and just kept getting out. He didn’t look malnourished or dirty; he was always happy and friendly. But we didn’t know where he lived, and he didn’t have a collar. None of the other neighbors that I spoke with knew where he lived although they’d seen him wandering around. It was thought that he lived at the end of our street, but no one seemed to know which house.

My children wanted to take him in until we could find his owner, but that just wasn’t possible–he obviously went home at times, and I didn’t want to stop him. They enjoyed having Skittles “visit” them a few times a week. We even set out water for him because it was so hot this past week.

Tuesday, 3/30/10, Skittles ventured out of our neighborhood and was hit by a car. My 9-year-old was devastated when he heard the news. He loved that dog.

Does your dog have a collar and a tag? Just a simple phone number is all that’s needed. If Skittles had been tagged, I would have called to find out where he lived. I would have let my children put him in our fenced pool area until I knew his owners were home, and then we would have walked him home. I would have done that over and over, however many times he got out.

We still don’t know who Skittles belonged to, or if they even know he’s never coming home again. Please, please put a collar on your dog, and put your phone number on the tag so that your dog doesn’t end up like Skittles.

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March 8, 2010 by Kelly.

I am a computer-literate person. You could say I am an advanced user. I can usually figure out how to work electronic things pretty easily. But today they got the best of me.

It started with a printer that just kept beeping at me. Looking back I think I know what the problem was (print settings on the computer), but at the time I was left scratching my head and pushing buttons to see if anything would print. Nothing did.

Then I tried to send a file to the color printer. This required telling it to “hold” the file until I came to push the buttons that make it print. It also required typing in a code for the department doing the printing. I clicked through a couple screens with no problems, and scrolled down to fill out some info… and became confused about where to place the code. Cancel that action.

I opened a file only to find out there were some incompatibilities on the machine I was using. Saved the file and tried to set up a merge, only to glance at the clock and see that it was 4:58pm. No time!

At least I was able to update some data, change some content, set up a few birthday reminders, reword our section of the bulletin, and print some envelopes–yes, I finally got that copier to quit beeping at me! Not a totally lost afternoon.

Walking in my front door, all I wanted to do was sit and not think. A mindless game on Facebook would be nice. But, supper needed to be made, and the kitchen needed to be cleaned up, and I was the elected candidate.

As I cooked, I prayed. Lord, I felt so stupid! I know I’m not stupid, though. Look at how much I got done in the short time I was there. I served You to the best of my ability. I could almost feel the pat on my back.

Why are we so quick to tear ourselves down? If it were someone else, we wouldn’t be tearing them down, and we certainly wouldn’t let anyone else tear them down. We saw how much was accomplished. Yes, it could have been a little more, but machines can be fickle due to human error or program glitches.

• I am not perfect.
• I kept my cool during the situation.
• I managed to get the machine to work for at least one project.
• God still loves me.
• I can ask for help with the projects I didn’t get done.
• I will not let the enemy beat me down and make me feel ignorant.
• I am a child of the Most High!

“I will rise on eagle’s wings” as the song goes.  “Before my God, fall on my knees.” He knows my heart. I seek to serve Him, and I can sleep tonight because I accomplished that today. Tomorrow, Christ will shine on me as I serve Him once again. I will rise!

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February 7, 2010 by Kelly.

I’ve learned to smile politely when someone asks me that–and I get asked that at least once a week! Personally, I don’t think I’m doing that much. I still have downtime, and I still waste time playing games on the computer, so I can’t be as busy as people think I am.

That’s the key: “as people think I am.”

I am busy, that is true, but exactly how busy I am depends on the person asking the question. I’ve come to understand that we view the lives of others with my-life-tinted glasses. In other words, we believe other people are doing things similar to what we’re doing, plus all the things they are doing, too.

I don’t watch much TV–when I do, I’m often crocheting or working on my computer at the same time. I don’t cook elaborate meals–if I have food cooking in the oven I try to wash dishes or read the paper while I wait. I don’t entertain guests, or grandchildren–as much as we’d like to entertain, our home is not quite ready for that… and we don’t have grandchildren yet. I don’t teach any classes at church, therefore I don’t need to prepare during the week. All of my writing deadlines are self-imposed right now–I’m not writing for publication at this time. As much as I love to sew, I only do it sporadically–maybe a couple times a year, when I decide I need a new dress. I don’t read as much as I used to–except for my Bible, which I read just about every day. Although I exercise regularly, it’s not every day. My children are not involved in sports, and they don’t take any music or art lessons right now–plus my son has his license so he can run errands for me if needed, which cuts down on my car-time.

So, if you look at all the things I don’t do, it’s easy to see how I do all the things I do. 

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January 6, 2010 by Kelly.

On January 3rd, 2005, I began going through Search the Scriptures: A Three-year Bible Study Course for my daily devotions. Sometimes I’ll set it aside to do other devotional books, but I always come back to this book and pick-up wherever I left off. It’s not been an easy task. Although the book only asks two or three questions per passage studied, some of those questions really make me think!

I struggle with some of the questions–not because they point out sin in my life (which they do!), but because they don’t seem to make sense to me. I re-read the passage; I read it out loud. I re-read the question; I read it out loud… the point the author is trying to make still eludes me and I get frustrated. It can’t be that hard, can it?! There are no answers, so I can’t check to see where the author is going with his question.

There have been times when I try so hard to wrap my brain around the question that it brings me to tears. Lord, what am I missing? I just don’t get it! After I change my attitude from anxiousness to acceptance, my frustration levels drop and I can move on with my studies. Show me what You want me to learn. That attitude change often comes slowly.

Why do I get so frustrated? This flaw in my character has been a thorn in my side for a few years now–until a few days ago.

My daughter brought me a paper she had written. As I read over it, and mentally thought of all I wanted to correct on it, I remembered past times that I’d corrected her work.  It left her in tears. No, I wasn’t harsh, and I didn’t use a red pen. My daughter–who is the most willing to do her school work–is the most sensitive to correction. She will get so frustrated because she can’t seem to wrap her mind around a math concept, or she will forget basic grammar/spelling rules.

After I went over all the corrections to her paper and she didn’t cry, I looked at her and said, “You don’t know how hard that was for me.” I thanked her for not taking it personally, for allowing me to correct her. I reminded her that if she knew all the answers, and everything came easy to her, she wouldn’t need me to teach her.

I am so glad that God corrects me. I have so much to learn! It is my prayer that it will be easier for me to change my attitude from anxiousness to acceptance whenever I don’t understand something. It is my prayer that I will seek out the answers, dig for the truth, and search the scriptures until I do understand.

The thorn is still there, but at least it is now bearable.

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February 19, 2009 by Kelly.

I joined Facebook about six months ago and have been collecting/finding friends ever since. Old friends from high school, writing and homeschooling friends from around the country and the world, local friends from church, and local homeschoolers. It’s also proven to be a fantastic way for me to stay in touch with my oldest who is now in college!

Whenever I’m on FB, and a writer friend finds me, they always ask, “what are you writing these days?” Plenty!

I am helping to maintain our church’s FB page, and that gives me plenty of writing opportunity. Other than that, I’m mostly journaling things that God is speaking to my heart about during my quiet time. I’ll be posting those thoughts here, and on other blogs I have.

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October 24, 2008 by Kelly.

I’ve been away from writing for a few months now. Oh, I still make household lists, take notes at church, write emails, and that sort of daily-life writing; but I haven’t written an article in over three months. Why? Priorities.

My family is my first job. I believe my children are given to me by God, and it is my responsibility to raise them, teach them, love them exactly as He desires. My husband is my forever friend. When the kids are grown and gone with families of their own, he’ll still be here by my side, laughing with me, talking with me, and spreading God’s love with me. He’s stuck with me, so I need to make sure he likes me.

I spend a lot of time in the car this year, transporting a child to a few key classes. He is the oldest at home right now, and I will do whatever it takes to prepare him for graduation in 19 months. Even if it requires worktexts for this year.

I’ve also gotten back into crocheting. This allows me to watch TV with my family in the evenings. Before, I was squirreled away in my office, writing. My focus was on creating, editing and submitting. Now it’s on creating, talking and enjoying. It’s time I found a happy medium between writing and family life.

My friend Karen suggested I take just 15 minutes each day to write something. Blog posts count, so here I am! Fifteen minutes is not too much to ask. I can rough out an article in 15 minutes. I write half an article (more or less) in 15 minutes. I can edit a short article in 15 mintues. I should be able to research markets in 15 minutes, too. Karen is right: I don’t have to do everything all at once. Just 15 mintues each day…

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June 18, 2008 by Kelly.

That was the title of the email, along with the telltale “Fw” in the subject line. Another one of those… an email-go-round… a tear-jerk story, a warning, a chuckle-producer… I didn’t know which this would be, but I guessed the first. I was almost right.

The email was an excerpt from a book titled Eat That Frog by Brian Tracy. The author states, “your ‘frog’ should be the most difficult item on your things to do list, the one where you’re most likely to procrastinate; because, if you eat that first, it’ll give you energy and momentum for the rest of the day.”

I must admit, most mornings my “frog” is my Bible and my quiet time with God. Sometimes I won’t understand what He’s saying to me through my Bible, other times I hear Him loud and clear and don’t want to listen. (Most days I do– I’m just like you.) It’s so much easier to just start my day and leave my Bible sit on the table.

But, yeah… it stares at me, and calls to me… I know I need to pick up my Bible; but I don’t want to be convicted to change anything about myself, so I avoid my quiet time. Then my day(s) start to go bad, and I know I MUST crawl back to God and apologize for neglecting Him.

He always takes me back–no questions asked–because He loves me. The quiet niggling in the back of my mind tells me that I’ll ignore Him again someday soon–and then the niggling laughs…

Lord, draw me closer to You every day!

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May 15, 2008 by Kelly.

Alyice, from http://thedabblingmum.blogspot.com/, tagged me. I’ve not participated in something like this as of yet, but thought it might be a way to let my readers learn more about me. Not sure how I will decide what is “unimportant” about me… unimportant to me, or to others, or… ??

The rules of the game are:

1. Link back to the person that tagged you.
2. Post these rules on your blog.
3. Share six unimportant things about yourself.
4. Tag six people at the end of your entry.

Six unimportant things about me are:

#1- I love Garfield the cat. I used to collect everything and anything related to him. Although I don’t collect anymore, I still have many of the things I acquired years ago. Candles, salt & pepper shakers, pewter figurines, erasers, pencils, comic strips, telephone… yes, I have a Garfield telephone. I also have a huge alarm clock with Garfield on it. It’s round, with the two bells on top. I love it!

#2- I’ve had two nicknames in my life so far: Kiki and Punkin. My maternal grandparents called me Kiki (right up until their deaths), and my dad called me Punkin when I was about 10 or so.

#3- I was a tomboy growing up, but now I love to wear dresses.

#4- Birds fascinate me. I love to hear them sing, love to look at them, and wish I could fly like them.

#5- I’ve always wanted to be a housewife.

#6- I enjoy painting the walls in our home, but I’m totally clueless when it comes to figuring out how much paint to buy and how to prep the walls and prepare to paint… Lay it all out for me and I’ll do it, otherwise, I’ll live with whatever color is currently on the wall.

Now I have to tag six people… (I’m not sure I know six bloggers!)…

Tara
Brandy
Missy
Lindy
Heather
Holly

There! Had to do a little searching, but I found blogs of six friends.

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May 7, 2008 by Kelly.

For many homeschooling moms/writers, summer is their time to write. No lesson plans, no teaching– just writing and hanging out with their children (besides the normal day-to-day upkeep of the home). I never seem to have that luxury. Summer is our busiest time, second only to the seven weeks that cover Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day. There’s yard work to do (and I’m not much of a landscaper or gardener), house renovations to make (and I am a ‘helper’ not a ‘take charge and do it myself’ person), various church functions including camps and other activities, trips to the zoo and other parks, swimming here at home and at Grandpa and Grandmas… and the list goes on.

Luckily I have a new laptop. My old laptop, Mary, has grown old and slow. Even after reformatting her, she’s still sluggish. Mary was very faithful, and will always hold a dear spot in my heart. Two months ago I purchased a new laptop, Phoebe, with some earnings from a writing job.  Phoebe has built-in wireless capabilities. Phoebe is fast, and her battery lasts much longer. I like Phoebe!

I hope this summer will allow me to do a little more writing. Phoebe can (and does) go just about everywhere with me. She’s become a very faithful companion. Places like Panera Bread, Esspresso by the Book, and public libraries are great for writing time while my children participate in some form of activity nearby. I can even find a quiet spot at church while the children participate in AWANAs! I’ve also been known to write in front of the TV while spending time with my family.

I prefer the uninterrupted time, but I’ll take what I can get. Hopefully, my company will understand.

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