a verse

Someone needs to hear this...

so this is for you...


" Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest " Matthew 11:28.



I'm still thinking (often) about the Phil Cross song: You do not owe me one thing.

The thing about that song is... That though God DOESN'T owe you one thing... He wants to give you everything. He loves you. YOU. so much. And He is waiting for you to run to Him, cling to Him. So many things have been going on this week... in my friends circle there is a lot of hard news, sad news, scary news, struggles, turmoil...


For my one friend who's struggling with juggling work and life and kids and being gone and all that will happen in the next month, know that JESUS will give your rest.

For my one friend who's struggling with her husband being gone and her baby being ill and all that goes with keeping a house solo, know that JESUS will be your rest.

For my one friend who's been struggling greatly lately with her role in her current life, unable to forgive herself and see past her pain and see Jesus' loving open arms, when you're ready to run to Him... know that JESUS will be your rest.

For my one friend who's been badly hurt by a family member whom she loves dearly, please know that JESUS will be your rest.

For my one friend who's marriage is ending and her world is in shambles, cling to Jesus friend, know that JESUS will be your rest.

For my one friend who has suffered a loss, and is struggling to cope... cling to Jesus right now, and know that JESUS will be your rest.

For my one friend who can't stand going to work every day and suffers greatly while she's there, know that JESUS will be your rest.


Jesus wants to give us all the greatest gift of all... eternal life. And with it... rest. comfort. peace. joy. healing...


The words of the song will still haunt me. They may haunt me forever. I'm so looking forward to singing this song again this coming Sunday at church...


You do not owe me one thing, Father
You do not owe me one thing, Father
You have already given everything, Father
You do not owe me one thing.

The next line (have I shared this part on here?) is... I owe it all! I owe it all! I owe it all! I owe it all!

Oh Father in Heaven, we do owe it all to you. But we're so grateful that you are able to give us everything, that you HAVE already given us everything. Thank you for loving us, Father, for being our rock, our shoulders, our strength, our comforter, our pillars when the world around us is crashing down... Lord heal our hearts. We are a broken people. Heal our hearts. Amen.

first picking adventure of the season

Today we picked our first two buckets of strawberries for the season. I love picking our own fruit. It's so rewarding. But it is also WORK. Oh my. I went with my friend Tricia... who has five kiddos, so between us we had 7 kids trying to pick two buckets for each family... Matthew wasn't as interested in picking this year. He wanted to play in the dirt or look at the bugs or walk down the aisle as far as he could before I noticed, passing by all these big juicy red berries!!! He picked about 10-15 himself maybe. Last year he basically filled the whole bucket himself. Oh well. We'll try again. Mark was very different this year. Last year slept both times we picked. Yah, um. not so much. And the stroller doesn't go down the aisle, not even the umbrella stroller, so hi. I was either holding him on my hip (not great for bending and picking berries) or I had him slung over halfway on my back (not great for the PAIN in my thighs and calves) or he was crying in front of me. If I plopped his bottom down in the dirt and hand him a berry to eat, he was fine. Happy. Clapping with his berries. If he didn't have the tasty fruit, he was crying/fussing/grabbing for me. Picking berries with a 20 pound leech is difficult. Picking berries with a 3 year old that "just doesn't feel like it" is annoying! BUT... the fruits of my labor (literally) are worth it!

Matthew watching a wagon

Matthew ready to pick (ha)!

Mark sampling our berries...

Mark sampling some more.

And enjoying the sampling.

And helping himself


Me and Mark (note the bucket is BEHIND him now)

This is how Matthew spent most of the morning.

And Mark enjoying the next one.

Matthew actually picking

Mark with more eating...
Matthew way back there looking at dirt.


and...

After washing them at home,
and finding some white chocolate chips...
this is what they looked like tonight for a moms event! Mmmmm!

If you'd like to see last year's picking adventures, you can click HERE for the other strawberries postings. Enjoy!

Holy Peanut Butter!

Peter Pan Peanut Butter was on sale at Publix this week BOGO (Buy One Get One) ... There was also a printable coupon to save $1.50 on four items ... So, if you bought the peanut butter in quantities of four, it makes the jars only $0.87 or $0.88 each. I got 8 jars of peanut butter. We already had one in storage, so that is 9 (yes NINE) jars of peanut butter out in storage currently. It's stacked up nicely with our nearly free pasta boxes, condiments, and cans... the two tubs of frosting you see in the corner, those were those were free. Uh-huh. I love free... Anyhow, the Peanut Butter, the expiration ((Mom... I checked)) is August of 2011 on all of them. So let's see what comes faster, August of next summer or us eating through 9 jars of peanut butter. Since this is a staple for Matthew-- typically 2-5 peanut butter crackers for lunch most days, sometimes another 2 or 3 with dinner, I'm not sure the calendar is going to beat us here. But we'll see. Whatever comes first, I'll update with the winner! If I had another $1.50 off coupon, I'd have gotten 12.... who gets Name Brand Peanut Butter at 88 cents a jar??? (((Sorry it's not Skippy, Dad)))



Super cheap Peanut Butter--- SCORE!

The Joy of the Lord is my Strength

Does anyone know this old hymn, we sang it at church yesterday?

The joy of the Lord is your strength. (I love how it goes “The joy of the Lo-o-o-o-rd is your strength.” It’s fun to sing)

The joy of the Lord is your strength.

The joy of the Lord is your strength.

The joy of the Lord is your strength.

He heals the broken hearted and they cry no more.

He heals the broken hearted and they cry no more.

He heals the broken hearted and they cry no more.

The joy of the Lord is your strength.

He gives me living water and I thirst no more.

He gives me living water and I thirst no more.

He gives me living water and I thirst no more.

The joy of the Lord is your strength.

The Pastor's text:

Nehemiah 8:10-12

¹⁰ Nehemiah said, "Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength."

¹¹ The Levites calmed all the people, saying, "Be still, for this is a holy day. Do not grieve."

¹² Then all the people went away to eat and drink, to send portions of food and to celebrate with great joy, because they now understood the words that had been made known to them.

Remembering that God does not owe me one thing, I also have to remember that the JOY of the LORD is my STRENGTH. Continuing in Pastor’s series this week was joy. Last week was love… I have been thinking about what he said last week about love… You can't have joy if you don't first have God's love within you. You can't be truly happy and full of joy without Jesus. ... You can't have peace if you don't have joy and love. ... and so on. It builds on each other. And it has to start with love.

Well, this week was joy. The points of the message were (1.) that we have an enemy of joy… the devil of course. He’s ready to steal and kill your joy. The devil hates who we are in Christ Jesus. No one can take you out of your Father’s hands, but he (the devil) can TRY to steal your joy, which will result in the loss of your strength. We need to keep our focus on HIM during our trials…

We sang “Blessed be Your Name” I love the line “You give and take away, you give and take away, my heart will CHOOOOOOSE to say, Lord blessed be your Name” It is a choice! And we can choose to wallow in our sorrows, or we can choose to say that it is hard and it is sad but the Lord is still good and His mercy reigns forever! We can CHOOSE to say Lord BLESSED BE YOUR NAME…

Back to joy… (2.) the example of joy…. Remember that in Isaiah 55 it says God’s ways are higher than your ways. Also remember in Psalms that it says the joy comes in the morning. God wants us to find our joy—in Him! In Nehemiah chapter 8, the scribe Ezra stood at the wall of Jerusalem and read the scrolls of the first five BOOKS of the Bible from morning until midday… and when he did so, the people gathered around, stood and listened ATTENTIVELY. Could we say that today? Could we listen attentively, while someone read from the scriptures for HOURS???? We get itchy after an hour long church service where we’re sitting most of the time…. You know what they did after he was done reading all that time? They were convicted and they wept be/c God was talking to them. And they were told NOT to weep or mourn, for the joy of the Lord is your strength. Remember that GOD Is your strength and the only way to get to know MORE of HIM, is to be MORE in the WORD.

(3.) The entirety of Joy… remember that Satan is ready for you to lose your focus. He wants to pull at you until you are focusing on the bad, dwelling on the bad… But Phil 4:8 says Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. We’re supposed to be thinking on the Good things. Not the bad. We tend to dwell on the bad things but we’re called to “Seek first the kingdom of Heaven” and there is nothing BAD about that! Pastor asked “why is it that we let absolutely awful thoughts into our minds and hearts that have no focus on God and His goodness???” (I don’t know!,but I’m so guilty of this!) He also said that he doesn’t know how much we can control what pops into our minds, but we can control where the spotlight shines. … Pastor also gave us some strategies…

1. Memorize Scripture. This isn’t for little kids only. It’s our job to keep God’s word hidden in our hearts (Ps 119:11). It’s when we can pull out our scripture in dark times that can keep us focused on God and the good

2.Personalize Bible Passages. (I’d never heard this before… but it’s pretty neat)

Ex) God gave His only son so that Kate Hobbs will not perish but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)

Ex) The LORD is near to Kate Hobbs who has a broken heart (Ps. 34:10)

Ex) Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid, for the LORD they God will not fail Kate, nor forsake Kate. (Deut 31:6)

3.Affirm God’s Goodness! God is GOOD and He does all things for good! Tell Him so! Tell yourself so! The joy of the Lord is your strength

During the alter call, I found my heart pounding as Pastor was praying. Where has my own joy gone? I'm letting it wallow away. I felt a tugging in my heart yesterday as though Jesus was tugging at me, saying come back to me. Find your joy, Kate... it's in me.

Thank you Jesus for being my joy. The strength of my joy!

Does busy = hiding?

When we found out I needed the first surgery, my Mom came, friends came daily, friend came and stayed, things calmed for a moment and then we found out I needed a second surgery and friends came, friend came and stayed, my Mother-in-law came, had a weekend of just us and then I went to my in-laws for a week... being back at home this week has been scary. There's been no one holding my hand or calling daily or coming daily or or or... To face the silence when Matthew's at school and Mark is asleep is hard. I've found myself since Sunday DIVING into this couponing thing. I do mean DIVING. I was up until 2:30 last night creating the FB group "The Summit Savers" to just distract me from the quietness. Sunday, my pastor said something about April and May becoming the new December as far as the calendar goes. In the next four weeks before I leave for a lengthy trip to Missouri, I'm participating in a blood drive, in our church's Joy Prom, having a girls night at my house with my moms club, having friends over for dinner, for brunch, for chalking outside in the driveway, for just hanging out with no agenda. I'm going to a scrabooking morning, on a different day a lengthy scrapbooking marathon, we have a wedding ceremony to go to, we have more family coming into town, I'm hosting my annual "It's MAY!" Pampered Chef party, a House party with Red Barron Pizza, Oh yah, we're also going to a game night party, what else?? ... see? All of a sudden we are all REALLY busy again. And with me, I wonder if I'm not creating busyness, just to keep hiding. It's hard to sit in the silence and think. It's hard to not let my thoughts drift elsewhere when I'm alone. Drift off to places I don't want to visit.

..... Tonight at church, Pastor's class was about "do babies go to Heaven?" mmmmm. I wasn't sure I wanted to be in there. I knew I wanted to know what he had to say, but I wasn't sure if I really wanted to be physically there. What if he said something I didn't want to hear? What if he said something that disagreed with what I believe in my heart? ... It was a good talk though... I derailed. I didn't intend to discuss that. But since I'm here, he chiseled at some opinions people have. And he questions some thoughts. I love how he brings scripture into his messages from all over the bible. He was in 1st John 2 and Jonah 4 and Romans 5 and Psalms 51 to help illustrate his points. Next week I'm interested in what he'll say as we dig further into the conversation and look at 2nd Samuel.

(Alice, come back Alice)

See? I don't even want to talk about not talking about it... sigh.

All that to say... this has been speaking to me... I'm reading a book called Grieving the child I never knew by Kathe Wunnenbery. It's a devotional actually, there's a place every page or two to stop, think and write about the previous section. So far the book has been right on with my feelings. My pain is a little raw still. So some of it I wonder if it's not for someone who's been grieving a long time... but still it's been interesting. I'm not speed reading through this thing, just taking a few pages a time every couple days. It's deep and it's pulling deep emotions out of me...

This passage I can't get over. Even though I have already read past this section, I keep reading it. And I wonder about my schedule and the amount of busyness I've created lately. This is a small portion of Ms. Wunnenbery's writing...

Have you ever been so busy that you were unable to think or fee? I have.

Activity distracts me from facing the pain of my loss. In a sense, my “to do” list keeps me missing in action. The more I do, the less I feel. The less I feel, the less I hurt. Hiding in my foxhole of busyness, I am sheltered from the battle zone of loss. I can avoid the cross fire of people’s questions and the emotional explosions from my hurt. Armed with my Daytimer and camouflaged by fatigue, I feel safe.

Unfortunately, I don’t realize that I am at war with myself. Rest is my enemy. I convince myself that “busy is better” and the war inside me rages on. Then I’m hit with a missile of reality. It slows me down. I cringe in pain from the flashbacks of my losses.

Since most of my wounds aren’t visible from my loss, I ignore them and keep moving. Then another missile of reality hits. My wound of fear is exposed. I’m afraid to face my loss. Will I lose another child? Control is my other unhealed battle scar. I couldn’t control my body or the circumstances that led to the loss of my child but I can control my schedule and how I grieve.

I need to heal, but I don’t know how…

Couponing 101

If you are new to the wide wide world of couponing... here are the first basic steps. I started a group on Facebook called The Summit Savers, look for us there. These steps were posted there but I thought I'd also include them here. Start slowly or the process is overwhelming.

STEP ONE... START buying the paper each Sunday. I buy 2 Double papers (so 4 papers), spending 6 dollars each Sunday. Work 24 dollars a month into your budget for papers. YOU WILL EARN THIS BACK.

STEP TWO... with the papers you buy, remove the inserts: Redplum, Smart source, P&G... put each week's insert collection into a folder or manila envelope. Store these in a bin or something.

STEP THREE: RINSE AND REPEAT EACH WEEK.

STEP FOUR: Check out Southernsavers.com This lists stores such as Kroger, Publix, Ingels, Bi-lo...

When you get to the site, put your mouse cursor over the store you are interested. For example, Publix. It will show a drop down list. Click on "Weekly Ad".

Then click on the current dates in blue for THIS week's ad...

Then a LONG list will appear. I love this list. It's overwhelming but wonderful. Here, the author of the site, Jenny, will tell you WHAT is on sale and WHERE to find it. Check the little boxes on the left of the things you are INTERESTED in buying. At the bottom of the long list, there is a "create my own list" and your condensed list will appear. WONDERFUL! Print this page! Use this as your guide and one by one, find the coupons it tells you will be needed per item.


STEP 5: Get familiar with the abbreviations and the couponing lingo. There are many.
ECBs= Extra Care Bucks (CVS)
RP=REDPLUM (sunday inserts)
SS= SMARTSOURCE (sunday inserts)
P/G= Proctor and Gamble (sunday inserts)

SS 1/31 for example means the coupon can be found in SS = Smart Source on Jan 31st.
RP 3/14 for example means the coupon can be found in RP= Red Plum on Mar 14th.

HelloYogurt! (and more)

Today's coupon deals were AWESOME!!!! I'll start with Publix:

My goal was to get 2 boxes cereal at 99 cents each, 3 16 oz coffee mate at 16 cents each, 2 steamer frozen veggies free, and 8 4-packs of yogurt cups at 25 cents each. Goal was to spend around $4.50

And that's exactly what I did!!!!! WOOOT~


I was slightly bummed be/c I wanted to get powder creamer and the sale was only for liquid kind but that's okay. I already gave one away to a friend. .16 cents for a 16 oz creamer is insane! SCORE!

Free veggies is a SCORE!

8 times 4 yogurts is 32 cups of yogurt in my house currently for only $2.00. SCORE! The boys go through some yogurt! It's a staple in Matthew's diet and very handy to give Mark.

Jamie's favorite cereal for seriously less than half the cost rocks my world. Score!

Look at that picture, everything is name brand. I got 15 items for the grand total of $5.78. I was expecting to pay around $4.46, so a dollar or so more than I thought, but um. Hello! Okay! I saved $31.77 and spent $5.78.


The other store I went to today was Ingles. I did NOT need anymore pasta, but they were having a rocking deal too, so I got 2 boxes of 16 cents pasta. (a different kind of noodle) haha. I didn't go crazy. I just got two boxes. (that's all the computer would print off anyhow.)

The reason for going to Ingles though was NOT the pasta.... it was FREE... I say again... FREE batteries. I got two packs, one AA and one AAA of Rayovac batteries for FREE! SCORE!

Today I left Ingles with 4 items, two for free and my total was $.44 cents (that's including tax).

Two weeks ago at Ingles I got free cake mix and seriously crazy almost free frosting. I'm finding little nuggets of greatness at Ingles these days.


.....anyone else like how Matthew thinks he needs to be IN my coupon deal pictures? Check out the other one he's in here with the first major pasta score.

Charleston

This past week, I decided to hang out in Charleston. Matthew had his Spring Break so it was a good time to just get out of the house and be gone. Also, as God would work out things perfectly, my dear friend Nancy needed assistance bringing her son to her, as she'd gone to help her best friend and it was my joy to repay some of the kindness and goodness she's shown me over the past months. In Charleston, it was nice to just relax at Grandma and Papa's house. We took in the beach one day. And the next day we toured the USS Yorktown (aircraft carrier) and the USS Clamagore (submarine). We also were able to take in a game of Kimby pitching! The cousins all had a great time hanging out. Matthew is ALMOST old enough to tag with the big boys without being too much in the way. Mark of course isn't yet. But that's okay. We enjoyed the time with family and the "vacation" feeling of the trip. We missed Daddy who had to stay at home and make the money, but we'll do a real vacation with him later on in the summer we hope! Enjoy the picture recap!

Jonathan and Matthew in the car:

got gas and put in a movie for the kiddos on our trip down

At the beach:

Matthew was very brave.
I was so proud of him going into the water with no fear!

Look at how far he went without me!

Jonathan and Matthew having fun!

After the water got too cold, we started digging in the sand

Mark eventually tired out. (He didn't like the sand anyhow)

At Papa's house:

Papa got home from work and took the boys out to play.

Matthew loved getting to walk Missy.

Grandma found an old bike in the garage and Matthew loved that!

The next day the cousins got there!
This is Matthew "helping" (watching) Bryton play his video game.


At Yorktown:

In front of the model outside.

Down in the depths of the sub.

Mark enjoyed the stroller when he wasn't in Uncle Rick's arms.

Matthew in the cockpit of a F9F plane (tied down of course)

I teared up more than once at this moment,
and how much my dad would have loved it.

Matthew thought he was the king of the world.
He asked to go back in there three more times.

On the flight deck...

Matthew on a gun, thinking he was hot stuff!

At the ball field:

Mark wasn't a fan of the stroller here, but he liked the Mark-size chair!

Besides Matthew in the cockpit of the F9F, I think this is the best picture I took all week. ... Grandma and Papa with all four of their grandkids. In age order, youngest to oldest: Mark, Matthew, Bryton, Shelton.

Christo Anesti!

Christo Anesti-- Christ has Risen!

Easter has always been a hard holiday for me. When we were little, my grandpa did Easter big. We did the egg coloring thing and the hunting eggs thing... Grandpa loved doing Easter. When I was nine, though, my grandpa went to Heaven. Easter pretty much stopped at our house for a while. I remember my dad hiding funny things, random things, sometimes a five dollar bill for us to find, but the eggs and the traditional Easter things stopped. I don't remember missing them. At some point, my great-grandma took it over, and we'd go color eggs with her... but for my parents, I don't think it was ever the same after grandpa died. Some things in life, just weren't. For the first couple years of my marriage, Easter was just another day. It was a great celebration at church, but that was all. I enjoy each year being in the choir and working hard on our Easter program, but after church, Easter sort of stopped. We've never been ones to have a set menu on Easter or do a certain thing with family, it just was another day.

But it shouldn't be!!!! Easter is the best day of the whole year! Christ has risen! He is no longer in the grave. DEATH couldn't hold Him! Last year, because Mark was so small still, I didn't sing with the choir for the Easter program. Because of this, we traveled to Jamie's grandma and spent the weekend with his family and enjoyed the kids and the excitement they had in finding Easter eggs. We'd not done that with Matthew yet. Last year was his first egg hunt. So, this year we decided to do it again. I did sing with the choir on Easter, so we couldn't travel to family, but we enjoyed each other none-the-less. We had a beautiful day at church. I loved the breakfast buffet that our church family did. Eating one meal with extended "family" was wonderful. Then the church service was amazing. The singing, inspiring. The sermon, moving. Afterwards, the kids napped and Jamie and I rested on the couch with a movie. After naps, we found eggs in the yard and "had our Easter baskets." The Easter Bunny did not come to our house and I think Matthew was a little bit sad, since some friends at church were talking about what the Easter Bunny had left at their houses that morning, but I wasn't about to start that now. He had an Easter basket because his mommy and daddy love him. And because Jesus gave us the best gift ever, we also give our gifts. (Same song at Christmas: God gave us the best gift, by sending His Son, so we share in gift giving to remember God's gift). Matthew seemed okay by the explanation and he enjoyed his basket and all it had for him. Enjoy the pictures. And Happy Easter to you all!

Grandma's visit

This past week, Grandma came to visit. It was a nice time. We had a good visit and it was refreshing having a constant steady help in the house instead of people rotating. Not saying rotating help is bad! Oh my, I don't know what we would have done without it, but there is something just calming about not having to find a new face every morning and face someone else. The boys needed a bit of consistency too. We're slowly finding our way back to normal though, now that she's gone and we're back on our own. Not for too long though, as next week we plan to spend a few days at her house.

Also, while she was here, Mark started using a spoon! I think Matthew's first spoon usage was yogurt, Mark got applesauce. It was fun! I'm glad she was here to witness a "first"!