Tuesday, October 30, 2007

PHONICS PROBLEMS

Okay everyone. My kids are in a charter school and it is quite a bit different than the public school we came from. They are doing some sort of phonograms called RIGGS. Is anyone familiar with it? I'm not even sure i am calling it the right thing. I just know it is very confusing for me to figure out. I baught the cards to have at home to practice with the kids, but honestly it is like greek to me. i do not get them. there is alot of markings for vowels and sounds and stuff i do not even get. The kids 2 and 4 grade. The weekly spelling test they have to take, they have to underline and marke up the whole word, its very confusing and messy. I know i am not explaining myself very well. They have to get all the markings right along with the spelling to get it all right. sometimes the words have 5 or six markings on them at one time. anyway, my point is i need help. I do not get it and i cant help my kids. To be quite honest, i dont really want to learn it, i think it is a little excessive and i do not agree with it. Ofcourse i have not shared my attitude with my kids. If anyone is familiar with it and has any advice to share i am open to it.
The house thing is still in the works. I will keep ya posted. have a great evening. tina

Monday, October 29, 2007

IN THE WORKS

Hello everyone,
Had a great weekend. My in laws from chehalis came and surprised all the grandkids with a visit on saterday. My daughter Maddison had a soccor game and they showed up there. Not only did she get that surprise, she scored her second goal of the season while they were there. It was priceless. I can't wait to get the pictures back. She immediately threw her arms in the air and turned to her cheering section. Gotta love that!!
We also made an offer on a house this weekend. It was totally a God thing. We had decided to wait for a year or two before we baught a place. We checked into IT back in early sept. but did not feel alot of peace about it so we decided we would just wait. Unless God just happened to drop something amazing in our lap that screamed " here look at this" , we were content to stay put. Let me take you back a few months. Last june i went to a garage sale and somehow got into a conversation with the owner about our recent move to lebanon and desired to buy in about 6mo. WEll she said her house might be on the market then. I loved her house. it was on a1/2 an acre and was a old craftsmen. BIG, BEAUTIFUL and had a great front porch. She offered to give me a tour. ofcourse i loved it. I gave her my # and name and kinda forgot about it. Well my land lord came by about a month ago and told me that the house i went to the sale and got a tour of was for sale and that she wanted me to know. I was stumped. How did you connect the dots? How did you guys do that? Turns out our landlords and the owners ot the house are best friends. she drove by my house one day and saw the table and chairs i baught at her house in my drive way and made the connection with her friends, our landlords. So once again it kinda left my mind after he left, cuz we were now in a place where we wanted to stay here for a while, we were content. and i told our landlord that....unless god just happened to drop something amazing in our lap would be her for a while.. Fast forward about a week. I answere the door and it was the lady from the garage sale house. She wanted to let me know that it was on the market and she told me the price and it was about 15 thousand more than we could afford. i told her exactly the max that we could afford, we were getting a V.A. loan. and i told her thankyou for thinking of us and she left. once again i let it go, but secretely in my heart i said to myself, oh i love that house Lord. Wouldn't it be a miracle if they didn't care about money and came back? Then i woke up from my little fantasy and went on with my day. Well on friday there was a knock at the door. It was her again, she said "MY husband and i have been talking and we wanted to let you know that we would like you to make an offer for whatever you can afford. MY mouth just dropped open, iam like are you serious? She said that they have inherited property and will be living with a grandparent for free. and they will build. so money is not as big of an issue. So again she said, I know where you guys are at financially, but make an offer and we will discuss it. she also said that they new that they were way below market value, but wanted to just sell it and get on with moving. I am about to explode inside cuz i am so excited. We made an appointment for my husband to go look at it on this past friday and ofcours he loved it too. So we made a verbal offer that night for our max amount. Since it is VA , seller is required to pay a certain amount of the closing costs. They have no choice in the matter. So that would put them a little bit below our max, which is way below there original price. But they knew where our offer would be, they just did not know about the closing cost. So..... they are trying to decide what they want to do. we are just waiting. This alll came to us, we did not go looking for it. So it is completetly in the Lords hands. I feel very at peace about either outcome. It will be a bit of a stretch for us for a little while. We will have to really tighten the belt and no more starbucks. It will be worth it though. I also just applyed for a part time job as an aid at the school. That too is up the god. I think this is an amzing story and if it all works out or not, god will get all the Glory. I think he is incredible how he works out details when he wants something done, or not done. We really do not have to worry, when we give to him. HAVE A GREAT DAY
TINA

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

A BIG THANKYOU

I WANT TO SAY A BIG THANKYOU TO ALL OF YOU WHO HAVE COMMENTED DURING MY CRISIS. I AM GRATEFUL. I THOUGHT MAYBE I MIGHT SCARE YOU ALL AWAY AND YOU WOULD THINK IAM A CASE Or SOMETHING. I gleaned some great wisdom from you. Sharon, everthing you said was right on the money and i appreciate your honesty. Thankyou for all your prayers. I feel them, i am much more at peace and do not feel the angst like i did. I am still processing alot of what i am discovering and what you all have said. I will keep you up to date. God is good and amazing . His ways are not my ways and yes i can believe there is purpose in all circumstances. He is working on what i think is a huge blessing and giving our family a gift that only could be orchestrated by him. I will give details later as we unwrap it.(: now iam off to win myself a starbucks card. woohoo!!!!

Monday, October 22, 2007

EPIPHANY EPIPHANY EPIPHANY

i keep having them. They started last thursday and i had one on sunday and tonight i have had another, with help from my sister/friend cheryl. To add on to todays Blog............
I have never been just the wife of Scott. We met at Bible College and knew ministry was in our future and felt the call all along. I have always been a pastors wife as long as i have been married to my husband. Church ministry has always been between us. Its always connected us. I feel lost without that connection. Another epiphany....... if i am struggling this much with this identity thing, then how much more is my husband struggling? I have been under the Umbrella of HIS calling. Because i chose to marry him, I chose the ministry. What tremendous turmoil might he be in? The Lord has opened my eyes, i caught a fleeting glimpse of my husbands heart i think.... i am sad , yet motivated to love him more purposfully and more patiently. Maybe the lord is bringing me through this first, so i can walk my husband through. I sense he is not ready to allow the feelings to come yet regarding the whole identity thing. The loss, the mourning. I hear you Father, and i am listening. Please keep feeding me bites of wisdom. Iam grateful..... I am still....... Iam humbled. until tomorrow............ME

IDENTITY CRISIS.... I THINK?

Good Afternoon ladies!! What a beautiful day. Its a bit chilly but bright out. i can do the sun if its chilly out. I do not care for the heat. anyway. On to the topic of the day.......... I have a bit of a heavy heart and i need some comments from you P.W. and those who have been in ministry in other capacitys before. those of you who are not do not feel like you can't comment or give advice, i will take it from anyone who has some.
As you know we left the ministry about 6 months ago. I have no doubt that God has called my husband to exactly where he is for such a time as this. I believe that with all my heart and i have great testimony to back it all up. At my small group the other night i had this overwhellming sense of mournfullenss. ( Is that a word?) I have been pondering it for days now and i think i am mourning not being in the church ministry anymore. and i feel like iam in a bit of a identity crisis. i am checking my motives as to why i miss it, and what the root is. It is terrible awkward just being in church. I do not know what to do . I know that sounds stupid, yes, you go worship, pray, listen, serve and i am trying and doing those things, and it is good. But i guess i didn't think it would be this hard. I did not think it would be as big of deal as it is. I miss beign a pastors wife, i miss serving in some copacity with my husband. I know he is doing ministry now and it is good, but i cant be part of it. i do not know or ever see these people. Yes i am a mom and a wife, but for the past 9 years i have been the wife of a pastor, and i took great pride and considered it a calling on my life. Now it is no more. i am struggling to deal with that. lots of emotions, confusion, tears. i don't know how to transition. The lord could call him back into church ministry, we are not opposed to that. We do not know how long scott will be at LOWES. We are not sure how long we will be here. and it doesn't really matter i guess. We are here and i must transition and i want to, it is hard and i did not exspect this. i did not exspect to be in such angst over the change. It was a good thing that we left where we were. It was hard and ugly and spiritually unsafe for us, we endured much for 4and half years. God carried us through and we were pruned and cut back.
He gave us what we needed to make it through and i give him all the glory. He heated us like gold and brought alot of imperfections to the top to help us be better servants. As hellish as it was i would not change it for anything. Some days i feel like i am crazy, like this shouln't be that big of deal. GET OVER IT AND GET ON. Yet i feel like this identity thing is just now surfacing. Maybe my identity was in the wrong thing, and if thats the case then i have a whole lot more repairing to do. I must re-wire myself, my thinking. I am sorry, this is alot to put out there to all of you, most of you i hardly know. I guess i am trusting on our connection through the LORD and sisterhood in him. If this is to heavy for you, forgive me, and i guess i just had a good vent. I must bring this to an end, i have to go pick-up kids. THANKYOU FOR LISTENING, i look forward to seeing if any of you respond and what your thoughts are. TINA

Friday, October 19, 2007

leslie got me thinking

oh, iam so glad it is friday. i love fridays cuz i do not have to make lunches for 2 days I get to see my hubbie and i don't have to worry about homework. I guess i get to relax a little. anyway, leslies blog question got me thinking and it convicted me a little.... well actually a lot. I am blessed with the season my life is in right now, my kids are in school and not toddlers anymore. the age comes with all new chllenges but still the season is good to start new projects or ministrys. i am not always a good steward of my time. i HAVE time to do some of these things, and i need to. My husband used to be in full time ministry 6 months ago and we have served in that capacity for almost 10 years all together. I know the difficultys and challenges that come with that title. and i understand the seasons that a husband and family can go through when daddys job is the church. I have felt somewhat of a calling to create or provide and outlet for the wives of pastors. You have to be very gaurded sometimes of peoples motives for friendship and what you hear from your husand, that it goes nowhere beyond your ears. There are somtimes exspectations put on you and your children that are unreasonable. and sometimes there are just hard things you have to deal with beyond sunday morning that the average members just do not know. There can be much pain and hurt and confusion being in ministry, and you sometimes do not know where to turn for advice or council or simply to just vent your frustration to someone that you can trust. I have talked to many pastors wives who have voiced a need. So if you are a P.W. or you know one send her my direction to get some feedback from her. I am serious about moving forward and seeing how God will bring this to fruition. Maybe its not time for me yet, but i will not know until i try.. I covet your prayers and any ideas. HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND. TINA

Thursday, October 18, 2007

A PERFECT DAY

good morning. It is an amazing day out today. kinda stormy, windy, cloudy. Days like today make me happy and in a good mood. I love rain and dark days. i know i am unique. I am sitting here writing and there are leaves hitting the window so hard i can here them, its as if they are trying to get my atttention for something, they are blowing and swirling all over the place. Soon the trees will be naked without there beautiful coats of color, that i will miss. My kids are getting tired of me commenting on every colorful tree we drive by, " mom, they are just trees, khalob says." It will be over soon. I get to go for a drive in the country to pick up my farm fresh eggs and raw milk for the week. I love knowing i am putting such good, pure, perfected by God food in our tummies. As some of you get to know me I am one of those people that could be obsessive about organic/health food. I am sure i will be preaching at some point about my thoughts and what i am learning to you. I am a bit of a granola about this sort of stuff. I will try not to be to opinionated about it. (: Have a great day and may the God of the seasons speak to you through his vast canvas of color today. tina

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Back for round two

Okay, here i am again. i got scott (my husband) to e-mail all my friends and family my new
blog address. So come visit me okay? I AM SUPER EXCITED ABOUT DOING THIS, AND TALKING TO YOU. AND I AM PLAYING WIHT FONTS AND STUFF, SO BE READY FOR CHANGES FOR AWHILE. Wow i can even write in color? thats awesome! I am not sure where to begin. Most all of you know who i am and know about our life. Some of you are new though, so i must catch you up. I think i need to acknowledge the two people who got me addicted to reading their blog and thus got me to start my own. Kudos to cheryl Kaler and leslie Anderson. Greg and Cheryl got me going last summer on their adventure trip to Wash. D.C. I could hardly go a day without reading there blog while they were gone for 8 weeks. Then Leslie got me reading hers and i loved her writing and thoughts. She kept encouraging me to start my own very. So here i am. I hope you all have as much fun reading it as i am going to have writing it.

MY FIRST TIME

HELLLLOOOO EVERYONE!! I DID IT LESLIE AND SHARON, ARE YOU PROUD OF ME? IAM PROUD OF MYSELF. THIS IS MY FIRST POSTING EVER, I AM SO EXCITED! A GIRLS GOTTA LOVE A VENUE WHER SHE CAN TALK ABOUT HERSELF . (: I PRAY I CAN MAKE YOU ALL LAUGH AND CRY, CUZ YA KNOW GIRL TIME IS NOT GOOD GIRL TIME ULESS WE DO THOSE THINGS AT SOME POINT WHEN WE ARE ALL TOGETHER.
I HOPE I CAN ENCOURAGE YOUR DAY AND LIFT YOU UP IN THE LORD. I AM FIGURING THIS OUT AS I GO SO BARE WITH MY GRAMMAR AND SPELLING. HONESTLY I DO NOT MUCH CARE FOR IT AND I PROBABLY WON'T SPEND A LOT OF TIME USING SPELL CHECK OR ANYTHING. SO SORRY IF IT DRIVES SOME OF YOU CRAZY. I AM NOT THE MOST DETAIL ORIENTED PERSON ON THE BLOCK. OKAY I AM GOING TO POST THIS AND BE BACK LATER. SEE YA, TINA