The Prodical Daughter has returned!!!

Well, I can't believe that it has been nearly two years since I have written in my blog. How does time pass by so quickly?? Well, I know the answer to that - I am too busy!! Busy doing what you ask, well - in the spirit of not boring you to death with everything that has happened since my previous post, suffice it to say MANY, MANY things have taken place. But to try to bring you up to speed since May of '07, several changes have taken place in the Christy and Corey household. Lauren is now 8 and in grade 2, Levon started school in September and Elizabeth is now 3. WOW, impressive, isn't it?? I like to think so - I am now out of the diaper and pull-up stage, and full throttle into volunteering at school, driving to piano lessons and when the occasion arises birthday parties and the like.

As you may, or may not know my Dad is now on his way to India on a mission trip to teach Pastors. I am so proud of the fact that he finally was able to go on this journey and that I have been able to take part in making it happen. Not in as great a way as I would like, but when called upon to bake for a bake sale, I am definitely your girl!! He was able to meet the financial obligation for the trip and so he is now on his way. Please keep Dad in your prayers for safety and that the trip will be fun as well as successful! I am going to miss him, but as I live more than an hour away form him anyway - I guess I will just have to deal with the fact that I won't be able to just pick up the phone and ask him how to "fix such and such" or " what should I do about this...." LOL!! Maybe I will have to call "little" bro in his absence!! I comfort myself in the fact that I will soon be travelling myself to the UK on the 23rd of March and while it may not be as adventurous as INDIA, I will for the first time, be travelling outside North America.

I bet that I have now piqued your interest a little bit more - YES, I am travelling to England to visit with a friend and her family for 12 days after the Kids March Break. I am leaving March 23rd and will hopefully be returning on April 3rd. The plane ticket has been purchased, the Passport application has been filed and now just have to wait for it to arrive and the time to pass before I get on that aircraft. My love for travel began when I was a kid travelling with my family in the summers. As my father is a Baptist Minister (YEAH, he really is - and no he is not a priest, and my mother is NOT a nun....duhhhh!!! LOL) he took his vacations to coincide with summer vacations. So, we travelled around North America and saw the sights and I gained a bug for travel. I have an affinity for new places, new people and learning through seeing. I was fortunate that my parents thought was important too, well Dad did, I think my mother found it all to be quite stressful - but once the initial shock was passed had as great a time as we did!! How many kids get to actually see the things that they learn about in geography class in person?? We we did - the Grand Canyon, Niagara Falls, Mount Rushmore, the Badlands of North Dakota, the giant redwoods of California, the Grand Ole Oprey, and my mothers favorite - Graceland!! I have touched the Pacific Ocean, been in touching distance of a Bison and actually experienced walking on a glacier. How could life be any better than that???
Corey and I have been able to start the travel bug in our children as well. We have been fortunate with his job that we can travel for business as well as pleasure and on family vacations. I must say that I really am not sure in retrospect what my parents were thinking when they decided to travel with us kids, because I remember fighting with my siblings almost as much as I remember the sights - and being put out on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere for it too - right DAD??? LOL!! Two years ago Corey and I had the opportunity to go to Vancouver for business - it was the first time I had been there since I was 17 (the last trip we took together as a family). Seeing the city though the eyes of an adult, and remembering the things I saw as a kid sure are two different things - which brings me to the point of my newest blog post.......YES, I do have a point to my ramblings!!

I hit the lowest of my lows nearly a year ago and the road to healing has not been an easy one for me. I had to admit that I was sick and that I needed medical help. I have battled with depression most of my post-teen years and having children seemed to amplify it with post-partum depression. I very nearly had to be hospitalized because I thought life had lost its meaning. By this, I mean that I had allowed my need to be in control to overtake my responsibility to my family and those around me that I love. God is so very generous in His grace - but sometimes it takes a VERY hard blow for people like me - "control freaks" to let Him be in control and for us to trust. I had known that it wouldn't be very long that I wouldn't be able to pretend that I had all my bricks in order before they would all fall down around me and I would be in a mess. Little did I realize just how hard I would hit, when I finally did hit rock bottom. Suffice it to say with the support of my wonderful husband, loving sister who drove me to the doctor and understanding family that I am on the road to recovery. Unfortunately, the road to recovery is often bumpy!! Actually, my potholes were about 10 feet deep, and again, I had to pass the reins of control back to my loving heavenly Father. I have discovered that I will probably have to take medication on a long-term basis, but I have come to terms with this...no one likes to think that their happiness comes from a bottle, but as a loving friend pointed out, "it isn't happiness, only the tool that God gives us to help Him help [you]."
Another positive thing that I have to praise and thank God for is a new Spiritual Mother. Some of us are blessed with only one, but I have been blessed with many in my short life (I am only 33, hahahaha). She is a loving mentor, and brutally honest when necessary, and I adore her for it. It is nice, because my own mother lives too far away to run to her when I need to vent or just share a cup of coffee to get away from every day life.....more about this next time.
Please keep me in your prayers, I covet them right now as I bounce back from a hitch in my recovery. Ohhh, by the way, in Christy World, I am still always right!! hahahaha!! Keep you posted, God bless!!

WE FINALLY GOT OUR WATER BACK!!!

Well, the title should say it all, but since the purpose of a blog is to expand on the mundane, so I shall satiate your need to know all the intimate details - boring though they may be!! LOL!!

Well, as you may have read in my last blog posting, we were without water and it wasn't looking good for water over the weekend and actually, the water problem did not get solved until a week ago...sorry I didn't get to letting you all know before now, but I have been tres busy!! Any way, the excavator came last tuesday morning and dug a four foot deep trench from the house to the well. During the excavation, we found a very large crack in the pipe that was probably 5 or six inches long. Apparently that has been the problem with my water all along, only it has just gotten progressively worse over the eight years that we have owned the house. The pump has been sucking dirt and air into the house causing numerous problems, to many to tell you about, but we are fortunate that our problems seem to be mostly over - at least water wise. Clear Choice had to come today and sort out some residual water softener problems - silt from the well was clogging the filter in the softener, but that has now been resolved and now the water is good.

Friday of last week, Corey and I had the privilege to attend the Commissioning Dinner and Service for our graduating pastor Brian Reid. It was a great event, I saw many people that I haven't seen for a while and the mood was great for the grads who were being sent out into the Lord's Work. Brian looked really good in his new suit, along with his lovely wife Peggy, daughter and his brother and sisters that also attended. My sister, April and her husband, were kind enough to let us hitch a ride with them and their daughter - my cutie patootie niece Mya. So we didn't even have to drive home....April was tres excited that she bought a new Piano while we were in the Valley. Now the piano teacher owns her own piano...which only stands to reason, right??

Mommy group today was excellent - a very good discussion about submission and inner beauty! We had a very good time, it is a shame that it will be finishing up so soon, it seems so long before we all meet up again in the fall!

Well, i have had some excellent news this week. As of the fall of 2008, all children whos birthday fall before December 31st will be eligible to start school. YEAH!!! Poor Levon was going to have to wait an extra year as he would miss the old deadline of October 1st by only one day!!! (He was born on October 2nd). So I was pleased that he will be able to start school the year he turns five!! YEAH, oh, did I mention that I am excited about this, or did you get the hint??

Well, good night and God Bless. Please be sure to check out Facebook, my new obession, I have found many friends that I haven't seen in years!!

It is one thing after another!!

Well, for those of you faithful few who keep looking at my blog to see if I have updated, congratulations for your loyalty. I have been very busy for the last few weeks as my son 'Levon has been sick with numerous - or meerly one misdiagnosed illness called impetigo. It started on the Easter weekend with severely red cheeks, then progressed to a very high fever and then he broke out in a bad rash. The bad rash then turned into blisters, which then got pussed and broke out weeping. The first diagnosis was slap cheek, we then took him to the doctor and were told it was Hand, foot and mouth. The rash then got weepy and and I took him to the Dr. again who said it was the worst case of Impetigo that he had seen in years. So, one bottle of penicillin and a tube of bactroban later, he is nearly cured and will be able to go back to Preschool on Monday. It has not been fun staying home this past week, but then...

This morning the pump was not working. We had installed a new water tank last weekend, and were hoping that we wouldn't have to install a pump for a few more weeks. It was not to be, so they came to install the pump, but the problem seems to be bigger than just a pump. I guess there is a hole(s) in the pipe that comes into the house from the well and it is sucking more air than water. So, we have a new tank and pump, but still no water. So....what to do, what to do??? If any one out there has a tub we can borrow before sunday let me know!!

At least the weather has been nice...

Well, the baby has got to go to bed now, so I will say toodleloo, and remember in Christy World, I am always right!! Love and prayers for you all!!

The many faces from Facebook!! Oh my word, it is an ADDICTION!!!

We kiddies, my little brother sent me an email last week with an invite for Facebook. For those of you who don't know what Facebook is, let me fill you in!! Facebook is like a Global 6 degree of Seperation, Kevin Bacon style. Of maybe a better example is that old Jirmack Shampoo commercial where "I tell two friends, you tell two friends and so on...." Now, I usually am the type to erase those emails without a second glance and something just told me to click on the link....OH MY WORD....who would have thought something like that could just grab you by both arms - almost like handcuffs and keep you tied up so easily?????

Ladies and Gentleman, I will have to be perfectly honest, I may need an intervention for this!! I have found friends that I have not seen or spoken to in YEARS!!! Friends that I have been looking for equally as long!! Who would have thought that such things existed!! The amazing part is, that I found people that I went to elemantary school with and they remember me...I thought I was the only one with a memory like an elephant.

My computer calls me now, I hear it calling my name to see if anyone else I know has joined, or if they have accepted my invitation to join. Oh the insanity of it all....

On a more sober note, I have a praise note to share with you all. I took Lauren to the Pediatrician today, in Yarmouth and she has a clean bill of health. The abnormal tests that she had, come to find out, were well within the range that they should be for a child her age and since she has not had anymore problems lately, the Doctor felt that that was the end of the tests, unless something comes up in the future. Praise God for His goodness.

I also want to thank God today for all my very good friends, who are with me through thick and thin (you know who you are April!!) I also am so thankful for reconnecting me with people that I haven't seen or heard from in years!! Amen!

Well people, thanks for being patient waiting for another post - I was on Facebook, I admit it!! But in Christy World, I am always right!
TTFN!!

Dirt suckin'.........

Do you live in an old house. One that has lots of character, from another time - and so is its innards? Well I do. And from time to time, all I really want to do is burn it down to the ground because there is always something going wrong. Today, and nearly everyday since I got my new water softener I have more problems than I did before I got one. Today Corey came home from work and tried to take a shower, there was no water pressure. After fiddling with it for 2 hrs and not eating his supper, a break to go to bible study, and then fiddling with it for another hour, the water now seems to be working.

We thought that the water softener would solve some of the water problems that we were having but now it is something else. AND then it is something else.......and something else. I just wish that the something Else's wold just go away!!!

Well, that is my totally uninspired rant for today. I will try to keep them minimal.

See yas tomorrow!!

Oh ya, I forgot to remind you that in Christy World, I am always right!! LOL!!

TOODLES!!!! God bless you all!

SlamBammed at Southville Church of Christ!!

Ha-haaa, I knew that I would get your attention that way....just seeing if you are still awake. Well, I know by now you must be positively impressed that I have posted something TWICE in one day. But I had to put in a plug about what a wonderful time we all had a the Wee Lambs Pre-school and Ladies group this morning. What an amazing cross-section of opinions, ideas, lives and comments we had this morning. I was so pleased.

It was nice to see several ladies that had not yet come back to the group, as well as some that were absent (you know who you are April - lol!!) last week, as well as some new faces.

I know that I shouldn't be impressed by the fact that the Lord in his mercy and grace can certainly drive a point home when He really wants us to learn something. The exact thing that I wrote about this morning, was the exact thing that we discussed in our group this morning: Trusting God and having faith for Him to lead us. How very interesting....

Well, as for my plug, I would like any and all of you who read this blog - if you are a Lady, anyway to feel free to join us at the Southville Church of Christ on Tuesday mornings @ 10-11:30am for a special time of learning about the Lord, prayer and fellowship with other ladies/Christians. If you have preschoolers, there is a program for them, so come on out, it is a great time; and the more, the merrier.

This is my verse of the day:

A merry heart doeth good like a medicine"
Proverbs17:22

TaaaaDaaaaaaaa!!!! I'm back!! Or am I???

Wait for it....wait for it.....ahhhhhhh, there it is, catch it. You got it, a brand new post on the Thursdays Child blog. Well for those of you that thought that I had dropped off the planet, let me reassure you that I have not, I am perfectly safe and sound in Hassett. I have been very busy lately, and just have not felt any inspiration to write about deep and meaningful things. Not only that, but I suppose I tend to be a bit of a Jonah and I like to run away from things, rather than face what God is saying to me. A Jonah, yup, that is what I said. What would I have to run away from, you ask? Well, several things, I suppose, if you want to get really picky, but I will only share a couple of them for now as I wouldn't want any of you out there in Cyberspace to be depressed....LOL!

Let me begin by asking the eternal question...What is God's will for my life? 2nd, How do I find out what it is? Well, let me try to answer that question for you and for myself....because I would also like to know the answer to that, as well. I have been struggling with God's will for some time now. And just when you think that you've got everything figured out, something happens that causes you to lose your path, or make you question what you are doing.

I hope that some of you can identify with this, but I think I know what the answer is to this conundrum. God's Word! Yup, that is it in a nut shell - with a side order of Prayer. I like to tease my husband when we go to RoadSide Grill and he orders Rappie Pie with a side order of Poutine - "Do you want some potato to go with that order of potato??" But, an order of God, with a side order of God, is really what we should have. How can we, as the mere humans that we are, be so arrogant to think that we would know what is better for us than our Heavenly Father. And what better way to find out what he has in His plan for us, but by spending time in fellowship with Him by reading his word, and in prayer.

I used to think myself quite a righteous person, I knew the bible, inside out, upside down and backwards - or so I thought!! But, you know the Lord is not always as SUBTLE as we think He is when he really wants to make a point. He can really bang us over the head from time to time. AND that my friends is exactly what God has done to me recently. I got slam bammed over the head with a very important fact - if we don't spend time with Him, we can't be effective Christians.

Now, I know that some of you are reading this post and are thinking to yourselves, Duuuuhhhhhh!!! But, please keep in mind that some of us are a little slower that others to get the goods!!

Well, I had a bit of a rude awakening this past week. And probably that is part of the reason why I haven't kept my blog up to date, as I was sulking a bit at my Heavenly Father...so I to give you a better idea of what was transpiring, I will fill you in a bit on the conversation:

C: Ok Lord, I am ready, so now you can use me.

Lord: Are you sure?

C: Of course I am sure Lord, I am ready. I witnessed the other week, it felt great - you used me, so now I am ready for bigger and better things.

Lord: Bigger and better things huh? What could be bigger than one of my own coming back to my fold?

C: Well, that was great, but it was just a beginning, right, you meant me for bigger and better things, right. I decided I am ready now to do your work, so here I am, lets go! Let get that Home Bible Study going, the Seniors Dining, the Youth Rally, the whole shebang - I AM READY!!

Lord: How do you know that you are ready? Did you ask me? Bigger is not always better - it is not the quantity of the things that you do in my name, it is the right spirit, in which you do them. I want you to do things not because they make YOU feel good, but because you love ME and love OTHERS. So, what is your motivation??

C: Well sure Lord, you know that I love you. And I love others too. And I told you that I was ready now. I have been waiting a long time for this - I think that I am now ready to go out and do things for you.

Lord: Really? Are you sure? What about the small things that I ask of you, to read your bible, and pray? What about THOSE things? How can you lead others, when you don't really know me? What kind of leader would you be, how can you answer the important questions, if you don't know what answer to give, or even to know where to find the answer.....think about it.

C: Ooooohhhhhh, now I understand what you are trying to say Lord. But I still think I am ready. So, what am I supposed to do now?

Lord: Just wait my child, I will let you know when the time is right. You have so much to offer, but I will let you know when you are really ready. Besides, you already do a lot for me, and I know that you are good at those things, but the time is not right yet, you need to know me better - with a right spirit.

C: Ok, Lord, I am not too happy about it, but I will try to wait. You know that I am not a patient person. I like to be in control!

Lord: Duhhh, really, I didn't know that, thanks for letting me know!! Talk to me again soon, will you. I really want to know you better, I want us to be best friends.

C: Thanks Lord, I really do want to be friends with you too. I just seem so busy, all the time.

Lord: Don't worry, I make all things possible, just keep the lines open, I am here for you, ALWAYS!!

C: Always, Lord?

Lord: Yes, always, even unto the end of the world. Did you know that I love you?

C: *Sniff* Yes, Lord, thought I don't always know why.....

Lord: Because you are my child - I sent my son for you too, you know.

C: Yes Lord, I know *sniff*, sometimes it is hard to remember. Guess I am no better than anyone else.

Lord: Bingo! Now, you better go get that crying baby - she is my child too, you know.

C: Thank you Lord, she is one of your very special gifts, and I don't remember that sometimes! I thank you for all your gifts - even the ones that don't seem very important. I will try to remember that,now. Talk to you later.



This the conversation that I have been having with my Lord lately. The message from our Sunday Service very much ties in with this conversation. If you would be interested in reading it, there is a link to it at the top of the page.

Thanks for being patient with me, I hope to be over the block that I have been having, and post more often over the next while.

TOODLES!!