Need an encouraging study on dealing with problems? Come to our new small group tonight at 6! We're meeting at my parent's house.

I saw it all. And. I've forgiven you. How long will you continue to let your enemy hold it over your head? Just come to me. God.

Clearance flowers at Michaels!

The Recollections bottles of flowers are on clearance at the north Jackson Michaels! Originally $6.99, now $3.99! Lots of colors! ( These were the only ones I got a shot of but there are others.) 

Spoken for . . . but free

I love music, all kinds of music, but worship music is by far my favorite. I can hear a song, sing along with it on the radio a thousand times, and still have an epiphany moment from a simple phrase that I've heard numerous times before. That happened a few weeks ago. As usual, it happened while I was driving, with the radio blaring, singing along, not really thinking about the words. This simple statement caught at my heart and got my attention.

"I am finally free. My heart is spoken for."

Wow! If you aren't a Christian, or maybe even if you are, this may sound contradictory. How can I be free and spoken for at the same time?

The answer is simple. I'm spoken for. I belong to God. Totally, completely, forever and always, I'm His.

Because of that, I am free!

Free from my past sin. Free from the embarrassment of my past poor choices. Free from guilt over sins that haunted me for years. Free from the bondage of former failures, fears of making future mistakes, insecurity about day to day choices. I never again have to wonder if I'm good enough, smart enough, pretty enough, thin enough, or wise enough to be loved. I'm free to know that I am accepted and forgiven by a perfect and holy God. I'm free to have the confidence of knowing that my Savior is guiding me and loves me passionately.

I'm spoken for.

I hope you are living in this freedom! Here's a link to the song sung live by MercyMe.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFfNa-cHTIA

Blessings,
Renea

MICHAELS OPEN HOUSE!

Come see me tomorrow at Michaels, north Jackson, 1-3pm, and meet all our awesome instructors! Scrapbook and beading classes will be 25% off tomorrow only. Get signed up to learn fun techniques and make cool stuff! And while you're there, go ahead and sign up for crop night, too. Fun, friends, and door prizes! What more can a girl ask for?

Children with disabilities and what their parents wish you knew

I'll never forget when my son was diagnosed with ADD. I was explaining to him what it meant. He was 7. Not explaining wasn't an option. When you have a super intelligent 7 year old that has just met with 500 (not literally, but seemed so) different medical professionals, the inevitable question of 'why' just has to be answered. I'll never forget his only question afterward.
Him: "Mom, does this mean I'm retarded?"
Me: "No, sweetie. It's sort of like your brain has a short in it, kind of like that lamp we have. Sometimes your brain does that. The information just gets lost before it gets to the right place."
Him: "Oh. That makes sense."
Done. Explanation accepted.
I made a point of always explaining to teachers, coaches, Boy Scout leaders, anyone who was working with my son that there were certain things that were difficult for him. He's brilliant. Really, he is. But as a child, put him in a contact sport where people were pushing, hitting, and everything was moving fast, and the possibility of a melt down was very real. Or give him 3 commands and send him off to accomplish them and chances were pretty high that none of them would happen. This is a kid who could memorize an entire page of dialogue to audition for a play but took at least 6 months to learn his multiplication tables - doing them every single day. This is a teenager who was so constantly distracted he could barely complete any assignment for school without a great deal of pushing, begging, threatening, and coercing but managed a basic working knowledge of at least 7 foreign languages and quantum physics before his 16th birthday. By the way, he has made it to adulthood with some major coping skills and, other than driving his wife crazy, pretty much manages his ADD successfully.

My point to all of this is that now I have 2 grandchildren who are considered by some to be in the category of 'different' than other kids. We have a beautiful granddaughter who was born with a lateral cleft. Personally, I never really notice her scar. But she does. And she thinks everyone does. She's only 4. Amazing and shocking how observant they are of the world around them.

We have a gorgeous grandson who is diagnosed with Pervasive Developmental Disorder. For those of you who don't know, that is in the Autism spectrum. Just google it. He's 5. He's so stinking adorable! Sometimes he has a hard time communicating what he wants to say. But even though he may not be able to tell you everything he thinks or feels, he hears everything you say. And furthermore, he never forgets it! Don't assume that children with disabilities don't notice the comments you make or the way you look at them.

While I may not agree with everything these moms say on their blogs or in their writings, I thought the comments they made in the following link might be helpful. I know it's hard to know what to tell your kids about children who are different from them. But my favorite explanation of understanding learning disabilities came from my youth minister when I was a teenager. He said everyone is retarded in some area; some people just have more noticeable disabilities than others. One of my biggies happens to be math. What's yours?
Anyway, I love the advice in the link. Hope you enjoy.
http://blogs.babble.com/babble-voices/ellen-seidman-1000-perplexing-things-about-parenthood/2012/02/29/what-to-teach-your-children-about-kids-with-special-needs/?pid=199#slideshow

When hope takes flight, oh my soul. Ever faithful, ever true, you are known. My soul overflows. You never let go. Oh what love!

Scrapbook crop this Fri at north Jackson Michaels, 3-9pm, $5.00, door prizes. Plus get to play with Smooch Inks and sprays!

Shattering the darkness and pushing thru the lies, hear the invitation to come as you are, bring it all to Jesus.

Come scrapbook this Fri, 3-9pm, Michaels north Jackson and play with Smooch Inks! Only $5.00. Plus door prizes and lots of fun!

Thank goodness it's Monday!

(*This post was supposed to go out yesterday but I didn't get it finished. Had to work on my thankfulness list a little more. Conviction is an interesting animal!)

I know, weird. No one looks forward to Monday. We want the long weekends, the Monday holidays, the extra time off, right? Well, I guess that all depends on how your weekends have been going! We've had a couple of, let's just say, complicated ones. You know, the kind of curve ball, slap in your face, that come out of no where, kind ranging from terrifying, to frustrating, to stressful, and just about every other emotion you can think of. And, yes, we're all ok. Mostly. And there is a point to this post, not just a long, drawn out whine.

This past weekend we had another emergency. This time it was me. I managed to get my hand in just the right place to be banged between the handle of a metal cart and the door going into the warehouse at work. After another employee got ice for me, and I started breathing again, and talked to my boss, I called my husband to tell him I needed him to come take me to get my hand x-rayed. This story just gets more complicated from here on so I'll just get to the point. But first, have you ever thought about all the things that can't be done, or are really hard to do with one hand? So, if you're going to break your hand, here are a few things you should think about before hand: (Hahaha! Pun sort of intended.)

LESSON ONE: Buy bigger jeans or lose weight.
My first clue of just what a pain (silly puns) this was going to be was while I was waiting on my hubby to pick me up and take me to the ER. I had to go to the bathroom. Hmm. Jeans. I figured unbuttoning wouldn't be too difficult. But buttoning? Joy. The good news here is that it was very late in the day. Only women will understand this. The jeans were stretched out so easier to button.

LESSON TWO: If you're going to have an accident at work, have it after 8am and before 5pm and not on a Friday.
The insurance office that handles approval for workman's comp treatment closed at 5. After 15 minutes worth of questions on the phone with the after hours insurance office while standing at the window of the urgent care facility that was supposed to close in 5 minutes, I finally asked if my husband could answer the rest of the questions and let them go ahead and x-ray my hand. The guy on the phone says, "Oh, I'm sorry, I can't give approval for treatment. That office closes at 5pm." At that point my husband said, forget it. I'll pay for it and I just handed him the phone. For the next hour, my poor hubby had 2 cell phones going at one time. My boss in one ear and insurance dude that couldn't give approval for treatment still asking questions in the other. (Did I mention he's a saint? My hubby. Not the insurance dude. See previous post: http://matildyjanedesigns.blogspot.com/2012/01/married-to-saint.html)
Fast forward to Monday. At 4:00pm, on Monday, after NUMEROUS phone calls, 3 days after I've been told to see a specialist, workman's comp finally approved my claim.

LESSON THREE: If you're going to break your hand at work, you should get your laundry and housework caught up ahead of time.
This goes back to the things you can't do with one hand. I'm re-learning how to type. But some things are just meant to be done with two hands. Like washing dishes. Sweeping the floor. Folding clothes. Not to mention the other basic things of just getting presentable to walk out your door. Ever tried taking a shower while keeping one hand dry? Or holding a blow dryer and a brush in the same hand? Not to mention putting on deodorant. Shaving your underarms. Putting on socks. Putting on a bra. (My apologies to any male species reading this. But, really, it isn't like you don't know about them.) And the list goes on.

LESSON FOUR: If you're going to have an emergency that disrupts your entire family, your life, your work, your schedule, and generally just stresses everyone out, don't do it on the day before your husband's birthday. Yep. Saturday was his birthday. No further comment here. Except, I did mention that I'm married to a saint, right?

LESSON FIVE: And this is the most important one. IN EVERYTHING GIVE THANKS.
Ugh. Now there's a wake up call for ya. Still working on that one. So, here are a few of the things I've found to be thankful for so far.

1.  I won't be using as much gas in my car. I really dislike pumping gas in the cold. Which means my sweet hubby usually ends up doing it. Usually at 9pm when I remember I need it for the next morning. So I guess this should be a thankful point for him, right? Hahaha!

2. Since I can't go to work, I don't have to put makeup on and fix my hair every day. Which is pretty awesome since it takes me twice as long to do! lol

3. It's my right hand. I'm left handed. That means I can still sign the debit card receipts. (LOL) But more importantly, I can still feed myself, and do most everything else that only requires one hand.

4. It isn't my wrist, which would have been worse and more painful.

5. God has a sense of humor. I wanted some time off. Not the way I wanted it. But I got what I wanted - sort of. (This would fall under the category of being careful what you ask for.) Hey, I might even get those 'new kits coming soon' actually done and ready to sell!

6. I have a great boss who never mentioned how much work we had left to do and was eager to do whatever I needed to take care of me. AND had prayer for me at her church Sunday. And is covering all my accounts this week. What a blessing! (Did I mention that I work for Hallmark Cards and it's Valentine's week?)

7. The pain since Saturday has been minimal. Especially in comparison to Friday night. As long as I'm a good girl and don't bump it, move it, or try to pick something up that I shouldn't, I can tolerate the pain with just ibuprofen. Which is a really good thing for someone with my past and who gets sick from most pain meds.

8. I have an amazing extended family who always step up to help when needed. For this I am extremely grateful, especially in the world we live in where so many don't have this.

9. I can get caught up on my reading. I'm determined to read through the bible this year. I've tried several years before and just never made it. I was already getting frustrated that I was behind. Well, now I have time to catch up. (See related OLW post here: http://matildyjanedesigns.blogspot.com/2012/01/one-little-word.html)

10. I'm thankful that I have a new opportunity to learn some humility. I HATE to depend on other people. This will be an interesting test in learning to ask for and accept help. And in learning to be thankful under all circumstances, even when I don't want to.

So my verse(s) on the mirror now will be,
"We urge you, brethren, admonish the unruly, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with everyone. See that no one repays another with evil for evil, but always seek after that which is good for one another and for all people. Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."
I Thessalonians 5:14-18 NASB (emphasis added)

God's will.
To be thankful.
In everything.
Rejoicing always.

I have much work to do.

Blessings,
Renea

Prayers for patience and a gracious attitude appreciated. Workman's comp claim hung up in paper work. No dr appt yet.