My Priorities

I am so sorry I haven't posted the promised photos! I will do my best to get that done this week. I would love to show you around the wonderful house God has loaned us here in Hope. It is beautiful! We have a deck where I have a few potted flowers and some bird feeders! (I sure have missed being able to have flowers and seeing song birds!) We have five bedrooms and two bathrooms. We have a master bedroom, Laci has her own room, Lauren and Leslie share a room, Mitch has his own room and we still have a room left over for school/home office! It is a wonderful blessing! I have a window over my kitchen sink, so I can look out at the lovely green grass and the TALL pine trees!! Yay! We have trees!!! It is all so fabulous, I really can't do it justice just trying to describe it to you. I will post photos...someday! ;]

Anyway, now that we are starting over again, I have had a new opportunity to re-assess my priorities and my goals in life. I unpacked Lauren's fourth grade books and was really overwhelmed at what we will be doing this year. Well, I have to just show you.

These are only Lauren's books. I have almost as many for grading and teaching. As I looked at all of this, I realized that fourth grade would be unlike any other. I will be doing a lot of grading and checking to make sure she is getting everything completed. While Lauren does the DVDs, I'll also be teaching Mitchell myself. He will be doing first grade. My hands will be overflowing this fall!

I love working in the church ministries. They are very important to me. I enjoy what few hobbies I have, they too are enjoyable and even necessary. But my first ministry is to my family. If I lose my children to the prince of this world, what good will my church ministries be then? I will lose my credibility and my testimony by placing my children tenth in my list of priorities.Terry and I have decided to make adjustments to my life this year. I am going to be involved in several ministries at church, but I will not allow them to take over my life. They will stay in their proper place, if they start to swell and take over, then I will ask for help.
I will not be blogging as much as I did on my last blog. I really cannot afford to take valuable time from homeschooling to spend on the computer. If I live long enough, then there will come a day when I have more free time to do the things I enjoy. I will still be taking time to relax and refresh, but I hope it will be time spent with my husband! :)

If you are in the ministry, then you understand how Satan is after our children. He can literally destroy a Pastor's entire ministry by stealing his children. My husband is our leader, and he works hard to keep our family headed in the right direction. But usually, it's the Mom who spends more time with the children. The Dad must work, and Mom is there to keep the home fires burning. As I am home most of the time, it is up to me to stand guard over my children. Even if I must sacrifice what I enjoy on the altar of family. Mothers are often gentle and caring, and rightfully so! But if a Mom is to succeed for Christ today, she must also be strong and courageous. Motherhood isn't for wimps. My own mother is small in stature, but within, she is tough as steel. She can stand when others would fall. That's what I want to be.

I would appreciate your prayers as I try, more than ever before, to be the Mother that the Lord wants me to be. Pray that I can be selfless and that I'll have the wisdom I need to know how to answer my children. Please pray that I have the strength to keep going when my flesh, and the Devil, would like me to quit.

Fitness Fridays: Never Give Up

When it comes to fitness, for me anyway, it can be a "three steps forward, two steps backward" kind of thing. I was making nice strides in being consistent in my workouts and eating a balanced diet before our move to Hope. Pausing home school, packing, loading, moving, unloading, unpacking, resuming home school, and setting up a new household has definitely taken its toll on my workout routine. In fact, there has been no routine! As I type this, I am surrounded by a cluttered desk and home office. Why haven't I put these things away? Because there is nowhere to put them! In Burnet, we had a desk in the parsonage, but it was not ours. Therefore, we are "deskless" here. This can be frustrating for someone who lives by the adage "A place for everything and everything in its place". The rest of the house is coming along nicely, but this room...well, it isn't. As for homeschooling, it's basically done. We have few loose ends to tie up yet, but considering we took two unscheduled weeks off, we're doing well. Now, I can focus on my workouts.
I'd like to quit. I want to say "Forget it!" But, I can't. I did manage to eek out two workouts this week. I did tapes of Denise Austin's old show Daily Workout. It is good. She is cheerful and balanced. Two things I love! Today, while we were working out, and I was sweating profusely, she said "Life isn't a dress rehearsal, it's the real thing. You gotta give it your all." What a nice reminder! It applies to everything. Our spiritual life, and our physical. By maintaining the physical side, we can do more with the spiritual side. Taking just a five minute walk reduces stress and helps to lower blood pressure, according to Leslie Sansone. By eating right and moving a little, we can keep ourselves in the kind of shape we need to be in to serve the Lord to the fullest. We'll ward off diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, and increase energy and strength. But it won't happen overnight. It all begins with the first step.
And I'm officially taking the first step, for the second time.

Here's something fun that may make you smile! :)

Have a great week!

We Made It!

Hello all! Thanks so much for your patience while I get my new blog up and running. There are still many things up in the air. For one thing, I'm not sure if I like this look, and another more important thing, we're not sure if we will keep this Internet service. We have 15 free days to try it. After that, we're bound by a contract for two years! I hate being tied down like that. So, in a few days, if I cease posting, you'll know it's because we had to ditch this Internet service. I'm not sure at this time what else is available.
As for the church, we love it!! I'll try to post photos soon. Everyone has been so kind and gracious to us. We feel as though we've known these people forever. We have jumped right in to our duties here. We've been able to see one of our teens, Britany, graduate from high school. I started doing Super Church last Sunday. Terry had to attend the funeral of Miss Faye, one of our members today. She had been in a nursing home for years, so she wasn't able to attend church must lately. She was 96 years old! One of our ladies recently went to visit her and when she left she told her "I'll see you again soon." Miss Faye replied "Up there." as she pointed to Heaven. She was prepared to see her Lord. Still, there will be folks saddened by her absence down here!
I just wanted to post a little update and let you know we are all alive and well. We had a fairly smooth time moving, if you can even speak about moving in those terms. We had a near collision on I-30 when some debris got into the road and vehicles ahead of us stopped suddenly. The Lord protected us, however, and no harm was done! Another great blessing is that Terry and I are not headed for divorce. Our marriage has survived, by God's grace, yet another move! If you have moved even once, and you aren't perfect, then you know that moving can be a huge stress on your marriage. We are rejoicing that it's over, and that we still love each other! ;]
It is hard starting over again. I am so blessed that everyone so far has been very patient with me learning their names, and such. My first ladies meeting will be on June 21st here at the house. I have gotten some great game ideas and recipes (thanks, Pamela! ;] ) from various sources on the Internet. I am looking forward to visiting more with our ladies, but I'm nervous about pulling it all together, too!

It's so great to be back! I've missed you all!


Your Friend in Hope ~
Valerie

Welcome to My New Place!

Welcome to my new blog! This blog will be about my life in Hope, Arkansas. We have recently moved here so my husband could pastor Grace Baptist Church. If you would like to know more about me, please visit my former blog, http://www.lifeinthehillcountry.blogspot.com/

I hope you will enjoy checking in on me and my family here at my blogspot. Sometimes I have absolutely nothing of interest to post, or nothing I'd want to post ;], so I may share a little devotional thought. Anyway, a blog isn't worth having if the readers aren't actively involved, so I want you to comment! I love hearing from you!

I hope you like the title. I tried to think of a way to use "Hope" in the title, and I really like what I came up with. A hope chest is where a young girl places things she will use in the future; a wedding dress, Grandmother's silver, cross-stitch items for her home, these are all items that might go into a hope chest. I have goals, dreams and lessons that I want to place here in my online hope chest. I want to place thoughts and ideas that will be useful to me and my children someday when we go back and open it!

We all have hopes. They don't stop after you're married. Ultimately, I hope to hear my Father say one day in Heaven "Well done, thou good and faithful servant." I don't have many talents, but thankfully, one doesn't need talent to be faithful!

Thanks so much for stopping by! I look forward to continuing to keep in touch with you all.

Your friend in Hope,

~Valerie