Reunite!!!

 

 

re·u·nite

 to come together or cause to come together again after a period of separation or disunity.

 

This will be our 5th year to come back and reunite on Van Buren to cruise VB a few times again. 

This also marks my 25th year of graduating from High School. I can't believe this group has already been around for 5 years. It just goes to prove time flies when you're having fun!  If you are a newbie to my blog and want to know more about this group I am talking about you are welcome to check it out at 

vanburencruisers.com  

 I was telling a fellow earlier today about our event and how it showed the younger folk how we communicated back in the day before computers and cell phones. I said we had to actually put gas in our cars and go find our friends. They were usually out on VB on Friday and Saturday nights. He noted that gas prices nowadays probably make it too expensive for people to cruise like back then. I thought about it, but then replied I wasn't sure that gas was more than cell phone bills.hehe

This year the car show will be closer to VB just because I like to mix it up a bit now and then. We will probably have it downtown again in the future. There was rumor or concern that the city wasn't going to let me have it downtown. Nope just thought we would try something different this year. It will be at the Central Christian Church behind McDonalds..  Catch me out at the cruise at Galaxy Mattress on VB & Owen K. Friday the 13th. You can register for the car show, buy a shirt, buy a ticket to win a gas card or just say Hi!

I will see everyone on VB.

'Til Death Do Us Part

Last month I found this book called "The Respect Dare" by Nina Roesner. I know that God is always throwing us bread crumbs to go in the right direction. This is one of those bread crumbs. I am learning so much. I am leading this in a Bible Study at my church to a group of ladies. I just had to share with you so maybe you could be inspired to learn about God's perfect plan for wedded bliss also.

Modern society would not look highly on what God intended for His perfect plan for marriage, whether it was for the Church and Christ or husband and wife.

Ephesians 5:22-33

New International Version (NIV)

²² Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. ²³ For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. ²⁴ Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.
²⁵ Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her
²⁶ to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, ²⁷ and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. ²⁸ In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. ²⁹ After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church— ³⁰ for we are members of his body. ³¹ “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” ³² This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. ³³ However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

 The definition of respect  is to consider worthy of high regard; esteem. God does not give us the choice to only respect if our husbands deserve the respect. We are to respect him regardless. We should not be focused on how someone else behaves, but how we behave. Our actions will affect someone else and how they treat us.  When we build our relationship with God, He fills in the void where we may have felt unloved or unappreciated. Put your focus on God and off of your husband and respecting your husband will be a lot easier. 

Here are some wedding vows I found online.. 

Female

I, _____, take you, ______, to be my wedded husband. With deepest joy I come into my new life with you. As you have pledged to me your life and love, so I too happily give you my life, and in confidence submit myself to your headship as to the Lord. As is the church in her relationship to Christ, so I will be to you. _____, I will live first unto our God and then unto you, loving you, obeying you, caring for you and ever seeking to please you. God has prepared me for you and so I will ever strengthen, help, comfort, and encourage you. Therefore, throughout life, no matter what may be ahead of us, I pledge to you my life as an obedient and faithful wife.

Feminists would have a heyday with that. I can hear them now.."What do you mean submit or obey?" These are things that should naturally come to us as they would being a mother to our children. As Christians we are taught to serve one another. This shows that we care for each other and want the best for each other. If someone is sick we help take care of them. If someone is having a hard time we are there for them. So the one that we are the closest to, our spouse we should want to do the most for because we have chosen them to be our mate for life.
My husband and I have had a rocky marriage. Partly because when we were married we were on the same page. We were both Christians and our values and beliefs were the same. Years into our marriage he lost his faith and since then there have been a lot of struggles. I know that if I did not have God in my life I would probably not stay in my marriage. I would be too weak to stay. Alan says hurtful things at times. I take them to heart and I get down on myself. I know that if he were serving the Lord, his heart would be different and he would treat me better. I am willing to overlook a lot because his relationship is between him and God and I know that one day he will find his faith in God once again. I have to believe that. That is what my prayer is and in God's time; He makes all things beautiful. (Ecc. 3:11) My focus on God and not on Alan also helps me treat Alan better. This helps with our relationship. If he says hurtful things, I am learning to not strike back and fuel the fire, but put it out. Applying this to our lives is really making a difference. God is so amazing!

I have left my husband a couple of times. I packed up our four children and moved to my hometown. Both times God restored me, made me stronger and put a stronger love and desire in my heart for Alan. When we took our vows 17 years ago we said "til death do us part". That is a vow not to be taken lightly. We must put forth the effort to make our marriages survive. There are a lot of obstacles in life. The devil likes to throw us a lot of curve balls. I didn't count on the one that I waited until I was 24 years old to marry and be all the things that I desired for my husband; to become someone different. I felt betrayed. I have told him this many times and it turns into a fight. I have since learned that only God can change him back and it is not my place to meddle. I must keep my vows to obey God and He commands that I respect my husband. So if I am holding up my end then I know that God will hold up His. I can only improve on who I am and how I treat others.

I encourage everyone to take the "Respect Dare". It is a lesson we can all learn from. The world only offers us deceit and confusion. As the song writer put it in eloquent verse "Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in His wonderful face. And the things of this earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace." All good things are possible when we focus on His direction for our lives. Follow His breadcrumbs. His plan is solid proof. Not necessarily easy, but definitely worth it!! Joy comes in the morning! I wish happiness for us all and through God that is possible.

God Bless Her Little Heart

What was supposed to be a just a routine well child check up turned into a wake up call. My 6 year old, Julia has been a very healthy child all of her 6 years of life and very active. She chooses to even eat healthy on her own.
Our regular pediatrician was not available on this particular visit due to her own health issues. The substitute pediatrician was listening to Julia's heart and turned and looked at me and said she heard a click noise she thought and would be ordering a echo-cardiogram for Julia. I think time kind of stood still as I heard her say that. I was shocked. It definitely was not something I was expecting to hear about this perfectly healthy child.
Well I reasoned with it of course and decided well this was a newer doctor and she was just extra curious, so we would go along with it, but I was sure everything was fine. We went to have the test run and no alarms sounded from the staff, so we left and I even forgot about waiting for the call for the results, so once again I was shocked when they called me with the results the following Friday. They told me that Julia had atrial septic defect, which is a hole in the heart that had not closed on its own, so since it was rather large we would need to have it repaired. Otherwise Julia would be at risk later in life for heart complications, that could be fatal. I was definitely more concerned now. We met with the cardiologist and was given a choice to have it repaired non-invasive up through an artery in the leg or by open heart surgery. My husband and I kind of smirked well of course we would choose the less major way to go, that was a no brainer.
We scheduled the surgery, got Julia all ready to go to have the procedure done and she is actually kind of excited about the experience. We were on track to be ready to go back to school after her short recovery time. We had explained to her after this minor procedure things would be good and back to normal for her. Then only a short time after they took her back to surgery, the surgeon comes out and tells us that he is unable to repair the hole this way that we will need to schedule to have open heart surgery to patch the hole. The size of the hole was much larger, more like the wall dividing the the two upper chambers wasn't there. Needless to say I was heart broken. I did not want my baby girl who had been so healthy to have to have this major heart surgery. I knew she had to, but I didn't understand why God had not let us take the easier path.
The big surgery day has come and gone and Julia is recovering wonderfully. The surgeons and the nurses told us how amazed they are at how well the surgery and her recovery is going. I know that most of the universe was calling out to God, my Father to have mercy on my child and let her have a successful surgery and recovery. That is what I know I can trust. We do not always know the way that God will answer our prayers, but we can have the faith that He is always in the process of answering them the way that He knows is the best. I am so blessed and grateful that I have a praise story to share. Even through the sorrow I went through, it has made my joy that much more wonderful. Through Julia's experience all of the hundreds or more that had passed my burden on about her on their prayer chains and social outreaches so many got to see how through their prayers God worked amazing results.
A nurse had told me after the surgery that she was amazed how Julia had not had any symptoms because the hole was so large. I know that my Heavenly Father was keeping a hand on my baby girl and that He will continue to be there for her and me and the rest of our family.
You definitely can not take one day for granted. We are not all given those second chances, one more tries or one more days, to have with our loved ones. I thank God, that He allowed the right Dr. to hear the murmur that found the hole and blessed us with great surgeons to give Julia a second lease on life. May God bless each and everyone of you with as much joy that I have. I can say that I am amazed too by God's amazing grace, but I am not surprised, because I know that my God is an Awesome God and He will never fail me.

Mother of The Year 2034

This year I was a snoopy mom. I read my daughter's text messages. When I find her old notebooks, I read poems she has written in them. Why do I do this? Because my daughter does not open up to me about  how she feels unless she is angry about something and then she automatically accuses me of not caring about her. I will not be voted "Mother of the Year" this year.   I don't care if she gets mad at me for being snoopy. See she has had a friend take his life and another friend try to take hers. At 13 you are sensitive to everything 10 times more than when you are 28.  I worry about things like suicide becoming a trend. I will do whatever I can to help her through her teen years, especially these tender ones.
   We don't always agree on clothes or music, but we often find common ground on movies and tv shows.  She seems to get upset if I like the music she likes. I think she is happier when she finds the kind that annoys me. We both need help through these teen years.
   Sometimes she wants to be treated older and other times she resents when you act like she is older. Knowing when to treat her the age she wants when she wants is the puzzle.  Maybe if I had more time to devote to her. A lot of the time she is okay with being a sister to three others, but then there are times she doesn't like that either.  I pray that God will instill in her the confidence and motivation she needs to find happiness.
   When she is the mother of a teenager someday, then she will be able to look back and understand what I went through. I hope then she can appreciate how much I loved her and wanted to protect her at whatever the cost. She will see for most of the time that she thought that I was unfair and didn't care was when I cared the most. She will see when I said no and she resented me for it, that her safety meant more than her happiness at the time. The sacrifices made to help guide her right, while risking our relationship. They were all made so she will live to have the opportunity to be a mom someday down the road to her own teenager.
   She will then understand the value of a loving parent and will say my mother is the "Mother of the Year"! It might take to the year 2034, but it will be worth the wait if my parenting pays off.
  Good luck to all the mothers of the world especially through times of crisis you go through with your children. I pray God gives you and me strength and wisdom to carry us through them.

United We Stand!! Divided We Fall!!

What a loaded statement. What do you think it means? You would think it would be obvious that it means if we all get along everything will work out.  We are taught daily against this theory. We are taught to look out for number one. Be all that you can be. Be accepting. And then the popular word "diversity". That term means a condition of being composed of differing elements..opinions. I can see how "division" could be a factor here.  How can a nation stand together if it is so diversified with different opinions, beliefs, etc.?
We are supposedly in charge of putting people in charge to run our country. A president, congressman, leaders.  This should be sacrificing roles for these individuals. I have no quarrel with paying them a salary for their work, but I do not believe that they should be paid above the salary of a military person who puts forth more sacrifice than them to  protect and serve our country.  We do not have much to choose from in this up and coming election because who would want to lead a country that does not stand together? Scary how the Bible starts playing out in my mind here. It speaks of dark times when people feel there is not one to turn to and then all of a sudden a leader comes forth and people are fooled by him to lead them. We all want a hero to come in and save the day, but I definitely do not want the Antichrist to be that hero.
I am begging and pleading all of America to not be blind and vote Obama back in office. Do I really need to remind you of his selfish acts. He put our country in 10 times more debt than we have ever been in. He and his wife take off on elaborate vacations at our country's expense.  They should be ashamed of their actions and any one who sees how bad they have behaved with their responsibilities and votes for him again should be ashamed to call themselves Americans.
There needs to be a casting out of demons in the White House of all the obvious bad seeds there are and  the puppet masters that hide in the shadows, they are like a stronghold on our government.  We don't need crooked people in those seats that are getting paid off for their vote.  We need people with strong moral fiber that actually have a backbone and truly have our best interests in mind.  Pray fervently for our nation that we can find those leaders and put them in charge of our nation. Too many different opinions, etc is going to be the ruin of our nation. We need to all stand up and support whoever is really standing up for our conservative heritage, the one that is for the people.
If you got through our borders to be an American than you better act like one pledge our flag, speak our language and pay taxes like the rest of us, otherwise I suggest you get out and stop muddying the waters. America it is time to take back what is ours and stop giving it away!!! UNITED WE STAND, DIVIDED WE FALL!!!

No Happily Ever After

 

 

Once upon a time, in a land not so far away, a group of people made a nation; one nation under God. They based their laws on principals and standards set forth from the Bible. And for several decades this nation prospered and illuminated success because of it's strong moral high ground. As time went on the people of this nation that claimed to be Christians became complacent in their beliefs and somewhat lazy. Their need to fight for what they believed in didn't seem right to them. They didn't want to hurt any one's feelings or offend anyone. So all that once was good and right slowly became a gray area, to where it was hard to tell what was right or wrong.  That light for Christ that once shown so brightly became very dim across our nation.  And the few that still believed and wanted to save what had been lost were now being threatened and persecuted for standing up for what had made the nation so great at one time.  Now this nation lies in corruption with not much moral fiber left to stand on.  So not all fairy tales have happy endings.  And it is even worse to be living in reality and watch the down fall of one nation that once stood so great, crumbling all around you.  From the corrupt politicians to the money hungry fast food giants.  The only redeeming grace to this story is for each one of us to search our hearts and be able to say I didn't go down without a fight! To God be the Glory!!

Friendships.... Are the Best Medicine

Did you know that by having lots of friends and interacting with them can be good for your health? It may even lengthen your lifespan   http://longevity.about.com/od/liveto100/ss/life-expectancy_2.htm

I know that by creating a group that engages people to get together and communicate has first of all kept me very busy, but also given me more purpose. I think we all long to fit in somewhere. We experienced that when we were surrounded by a group of friends back in school. As we grow older we part our ways and unite with our own families. Our lives keep us busy keeping up with this sport and that school function and so forth and so forth.  Although we want all of these things for our children we seem to lose focus of our own individual needs. Allowing ourselves the luxury of catching up with old friends and meeting new ones puts a whole new perspective on our lives. It helps energize us to come back to our daily ritualistic lives with more of a spring in our step.
I remember when I attended youth camp when I was younger. It seemed like for a whole week, time seemed to stand still. And when I would go home I was ready to change the world.  The social events we have tied to VanBuren Cruisers only lasts for two days, but it stays with me all year. The friendships I have developed from the group have enriched my life. I interact with a lot of members from VB Cruisers on Facebook that I have never met face to face on almost a daily basis.  We encourage, listen, laugh and even pray for each other.
My degree is in Communications, which is marketing. I have never sought out a career in this field, but I think the job has found me. I enjoy all the aspects of finding ways to promote and bring awareness to things. Whether it be my social activities centered around this social group, me selling Avon, making people aware of a somewhat rare heart disorder I have or just expressing my views by blogging.  I try to help others market whatever event, book or product they have going too. I hope I don't come across to others as a nag. I just  think it is important to help others to pursue their goals so I will be the first to try to give a hand up if I can.
Setting goals has become one of my constants. Getting organized falls in there somewhere, but I haven't quite got there yet. Like writing this blog was supposed to be done before 1am, but this is the time slot I had available.  
So back on track here, my best advice is to develop relationships whether it be via Facebook or Face to Face. Being sociable allows you to express yourself and drives you to have purpose. So now you have a reason for living longer. Case closed...hehe  See you at the next cruise night June 18, 2011.  www.vanburencruisers.com