neway

You can spend your whole life building
Something from nothin'
One storm can come and blow it all away
Build it anyway

You can chase a dream
That seems so out of reach
And you know it might never come your way
Dream it anyway

God is great
But sometimes life ain't good
And when I pray
It doesn't always turn out like I think it should
But I do it anyway
I do it anyway

This world's gone crazy
It's hard to believe
That tomorrow will be better than today
Believe it anyway

You can love someone with all your heart
For all the right reasons
In a moment they can choose to walk away
Love 'em anyway

God is great
But sometimes life ain't good
And when I pray
It doesn't always turn out like I think it should
But I do it anywayI do it anyway

You can pour your soul out singing
A song you believe in
That tomorrow they'll forget you ever sang

Sing it anyway
Yea - sing it anyway

I sing
I dream
I love
Anyway

(song by martina mcbride)

brain-freeze

brain freeze & not from an icee (which i do love by the way)

in recent months i have enjoyed thinking about and looking at things in a deeper way than i have in my wholelifeputtogether! i like to deal in simple truths - but i've learned that even the simplest truth can have a deep concept to go with it. is that what it is like in some of your brains all the time -- you continually are thinkin deep thoughts? that's wild. hmmmmm.....

triple play!

This was a cool day.
i liked it because i had extra time to enjoy:
...sun
...my son
...the SON!

Thanks Lord for a GREAT day!!

yipee -- a breather!

This week I had three major assignments due (a paper, an interview, a discussion board assignment) and a quiz/review, but hallelujah, it is done! having a two day water contamination scare in Orting helped!! i promise, i had nothing to do with it, but i was happy about it.

now for the good part...i have a week off of grad school! :-) i'm in between classes. AND my next grad class will actually be a counseling class -- my first four classes were education classes. a real counseling class -- i am excited, but i'm also super excited about having a short break.

so for now ---yipeee --

i may just blah blah blog like crazy!!! :-)

ok ok one more lesson in humility

once i was taking the car to a car wash - the drive through kind. It was made out of brick on the outside & on the inside it had the big car washing gizmos, and over to the left side there was a tract-like thing that you had to precisely drive your left side tires into.

i could not get the tire into that thing! i would back up & pull up; pull up, back up & pull up, over & over but i could not line up the tire. it would not go into that tract thing!!! gggrrrr. i was totally disgusted with myself.

i had paid for a car wash, i needed a car wash, and by gollly, i was getting a car wash!!! so this was it, i was determined to do this! i needed to see exactly how to get the tire lined up to go into the tract. i opened my door, stuck my head out, and started to back up. i was focused on that blamed tract thingy...i backed up while sticking my head out of the open door &...bam! i whacked the back of the head into something (it was some random part of that blasted car wash!)

ouch! ....i screamed out of maddness, frustration, and pain! okay i surrender --- beaten by a car wash--- arg

speaking of women and cars

random thoughts...

once i was at the gas station, and i was distracted, (my oblivion was working overtime) i scanned by debit card, put the pump handle into my gas tank, it was chilly so i pushed the pump handle into place so i didn't have to stand there while the gas was going into the tank.

colby was about three years old & i loved having conversations with him. i sat down in the driver's seat & we (colbs & me) began to talk. somewhere in my mind i heard the gas "click" signaling that the tank was full...i was distracted, (did i mention that?) and i cranked the car and drove off...yes with the pump handle still attached to my car!! i thought nothing of it till...

i heard a loud noise & that's when it dawned on me that i forgot to remove the pump...i looked in the rear view mirror to see the pump dangling in the wind...

needless to say, i was toooo embarassed to go back, so i found a place down the road, stopped and put the gas cap back on.

true story...

disappointment with God?!

i admit, even typing the title makes me feel bad because i love Jesus, i do, i really do...He is my life, but....

what if we, who follow Christ with all our hearts, have a moment, a day, a season, an event, or a situation that we thought would turn out differently because of HIM, because we thought HE would do something BIG, something amazing, yes, HE was present and faithful, but big or amazing didn't happen? what to do? what do y'all think?

david (the shepherd, king, giant-killer from the Bible) in psalms is praising God to the highest, dancing before God with all his might, testifying to God's love, mercy, and faithfulness and then in the very next breath (or verse) he is complaining to God, cryin' out, etc.

did he deal with disappointment too?

Christ is RISEN

i'm so glad we serve a RISEN JESUS! i love HIM so.

today the kids did their easter play in ChasePlace. i love seeing those smiling faces and hear their voices lifted to Jesus. i love seeing hearts that are willing to sing to Him. i like seeing the volunteers work together as we tear down & set up...as we move chairs, inflate jump-in things, set up stations, and then have some chaortic fun. kids laughing & smiling & adults hanging out. it all looks like church to me.

i liked today :-) i love Jesus, i love riverchase, i am thankful to be part of this thing called the new testament church. i'm just kinda hoping and praying for the time when "many are added to our church daily"!! (dv) slow growth is better than no growth--

Lord please knock on the hearts of the people You want at riverchase. help us not grow weary. thank you Jesus for dying for me, my sin, thank You for making the way for us, so that we can just come straight to You. Thank you for this day! Help me to celebrate Your resurrection EVERY day!

yea for mercy!!

i used to have a hard time understanding the difference between grace and mercy. i just knew that i was thankful for both! i was thankful for a God who is so full of grace & mercy. but one day the not knowing got to me. so in trying to figure out what those terms meant i read a lot of definitions. This is what i finally understood.
Grace - it's when we receive something that we didn't earn or deserve. God's grace --salvation, i don't deserve His gift of forgiveness and acceptance, but He gives it anyway. i love grace!!

BUT mercy - mercy is something else. mercy is when we do not get what we deserve. For example, if you're speedin' in a school zone & the orting police stops you, and your most current copy of your insurance is at home beside the bed, and the address on your driver's license isn't correct, and you just went through a sorta yellowish light, and you know that you DESERVE a big ole ticket, but instead you get a kind word about the importance of driving slow, and having up-to-date information in the car....WHEW...that's mercy...(thanks mr. policeman for having mercy on me and my bank account! :-]).


I love HIS grace. I love HIS mercy. I love HIS presence in our everyday stuff!

:-)