Children dealing with Spiritual Warfare

So with Halloween 5 days away, I wanted to write about this topic. It was on my mind yesterday when I saw/heard 2 disturbing things. First, my daughter said that a friend of her's from school was playing "vampire" at school and going around and trying to bite people. In general this little girl is a little disturbed, and I'm only saying that because I know her well. She is 8, her older sister is 10, and she has told me that they have seen the Twilight movies. The older sister has a dark quiet personality, that she's had a lot to deal with. I just can't get over the fact that their parents would be okay with them seeing these movies, when it's obvious to me that it's having a negative affect on their lives. The second thing was that Grace brought home a spelling list to organize 6 different groups of words that were all Halloween related. I'm okay with simple little things, skeleton, mask, scary etc. but some of the words on this list were s*ance, w*rlock, g*oul. Grace asked me what a w*rlock was, and I told her it was an evil magician that is not real. I was a little horrified at this assignment, so I wrote her teacher and asked to opt Grace out of any activity dealing with witches, ghosts,etc and to have an alternative assignment. Yes, she goes to public school, but this has never ever happened before. All 3 of her teachers previously have been either Jewish or Christian, and have never really pushed Halloween activities. Her new school doesn't have Holiday parties, which I've taken an issue with the PTA about. But I was shocked by this assignment, I wanted to throw it away, and tell the teacher she wasn't going to do it.

So this is where I'm coming from on all of this... anytime the kids happen to be in the room with us watching a family friendly tv show, and a horror movie preview comes on, I make them, close their eyes and plug their ears or leave the room. I do the same thing, and always have. Even on the radio with haunted house commercials, scare me to death. seriously. I do this because I have a very sensitive spirit, and it's due to what happened when I was growing up.

So when I was 5, I was at a friends house, and his dad was watching "fright night" the original one. I watched it not once, but twice. I had nightmares for months and months about vampires and werewolves and bodies in trashbags. To this day, I am scared to death of the 2 of the aforementioned things. So then in elementary school when I was about 8 or 9, my dad was watching "carrie", and said I could watch it with him. My mom would always say it wasn't good for me, but my dad vetoed her. I wish she would have fought for my spirit more. So that movie is traumatic no matter what age you are, and especially girls who haven't started their time of the month yet. Then a lot of stuff went on even in my girl scout group with "Christian" leaders. One halloween party in particular, they made fake tombstones for every girl, and mine gave me nightmares for months. It said here lies Megan, who choked on the strings of her pajamas. Awful awful idea. Then they played this game which also scared me to death, the one where they say, she looks sick, she looks pale, she looks dead, and then raise your body up to the sky. Totally messing with the supernatural in not a good way. I was terrified. Luckily my mom had a 6th sense that I was in trouble and came and rescued me from the party without me even calling.

In awana's when I was in 5th grade, we heard a story of a black cat that had been possessed by the spirit of a ouigi board. Once again gave me the worst nightmares and I'm scared to death of black cats as well. I was also told the B*oody Mary story (not at awana's-most likely in girl scouts) developed a fear of mirrors in the dark, which I still have today. Then I went through a phase in middle school watching horror movies on tv, probably when my mom was at work. They would scare me, but I would still be intrigued. When I was 14, we went to Disney World, and went to the Haunted Mansion- I was shaking and crying the whole time because it disturbed me that much. Then HS, saw the Scream movies (became afraid of bathroom stalls for a while), and the I know what you did last summer movies. I never watched a horror movie/scary movie again!

So fast forward to a few years ago, when I read 2 books by the Christian author, Frank Perretti. "This Present Darkness" and "Piercing the Darkness". I highly highly recommend them both to anyone who is interested in learning about the real world of spiritual warfare. It completely opened up my eyes to the daily battles that go on in the world of good and evil. How seemingly innocent things can slowly but surely take over your spirit, until it's too late, and it has a hold on your soul. Scary, but true. In my community bible study, we're studying Acts. Today there was a passage about this man whose name was Simon, and he was a sorceror. One of the verses we had to look up was in:

Deuteronomy 18:10-14

"Let no one be found among you who... practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in w*tchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist who consults with the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord.... You must be blameless before the Lord your God."

Obviously I don't know anyone who does these things, but I think it can apply to the tv shows and movies we fill our mind, and eventually our spirit with. Slowly becoming desensitized to the fact that God finds these things evil. Adults all make their own decisions and everyone has different tastes in what they like and don't like. But my biggest issue with all of this, is that as parents, we need to protect our children from these occult influences in the world. It may seem fun and happy, but it can be harmful to their spirit, if they are really sensitive to these things. Grace knows that all these things of Halloween are pretend. But in a sense, the evil is alive and thriving in the world, but she doesn't need to know the intensity of it now, just that God doesn't like those things. So no, I'm not one of those people who doesn't recognize Halloween, but I don't celebrate it either. The kids know the only thing we focus on is dressing up in a fun costume and going out to get candy. That's just my opinion. I've always had an overly sensitive spirit with these types of things, and I really feel like God has given me the spirit of discernment to tell what is good and not good, real and not real. I'm just trying to be the best parent I can be, and protecting my children from potential harm that could be caused to their spirit, by avoiding these scary movies, and anything occult. I wish that my parents could have guarded me from all of that, or taken a stronger stand for me. It's my turn to make a difference in the lives of my children.

Creative re-use of a vintage stereo cabinet

Got this off of craigslist for $10. I know I'm a big spender. It's a vintage Magnavox Stereo Cabinet with the record player and stereo still intact, with speakers on the ends.But we're going to take that all out, and turn it into our new entertainment center. It's going to be amazing painted antique white, with a distressed weathered look on the detailing. New hardware as well. Hubs is going to re-design the inside so it can fit our speakers and stereo equipment, and make the doors functional. Right now they don't open. So eventually, and probably not until next spring, we can put our yet to be purchased flat screen tv above this on the wall, so it won't take up as much space.

It's the perfect size- 30" tall, 19" deep, and 60" long. Same size as modern entertainment centers for flat screens, but very a very small fraction of the cost. There is no way that I'd buy the same thing for several hundred dollars, when I could get the same effect from this vintage piece for only $10.

This old stereo cabinet was from 1965. It has hints of Neo-Classical detailing as seen by the fluted ends and legs. Which is funny because our piano which is from 1977, is more French style with cabriole legs. And if I get the coffee table that I love, that would add some Mediterranean style in there. They actually blend really well, it's just kind of funny to me.

I just love adaptive re-use projects. Our soon to be repainted living room is just full of them. When we paint this piece, I'll get all my empty frames painted as well, so they'll be all ready to go for the living room re-do. Stay tuned for after pics!

Erin's Wedding- Texas Trip 9.10.11

A picture of my dearest friend Erin and I right before her wedding. We've been the best of friends since we were in 6th grade. I was overjoyed to be able to be there for her special day. She was a beautiful bride!

New look for the Living Room

So we finally took the door out on the E side of our living room, and replaced it with this new picture window (24"tall x 33"wide) that we designed to have the look of an old leaded glass window, but with modern energy efficiency. The piano will be moving directly under this window, after the drywall patching/paint is all done. And in honor of the piano moving, I thought it was time for some new decor for the living room....

The total of these 7 items was a whopping $22

1. Green vase (free with my turnstyles rewards)

2. Decorative box-something like you find at World Market ($7)

3. Yellow jar ($6)

4. Carved Walnut architectural salvage piece (purchased a few years ago)

5.Ruby Red vase ($5)

6. Bronze cross ($4 )

7. Blue bowl (free with my turnstyles rewards)

So I'm all about symmetry. Tallest items in the middle, with balanced items on each side. I also wanted to alternate colors (green, yellow, red and blue) with the brown/bronze items. I chose the 4 colored items as accent colors from the oriental rug that I got for the living room. With a mix of color/texture- the items have much more detail up close.

reflections of my car accident

So as most of you know, I was involved in a car accident, just down the street from my friend Jeanna's house on 9.9.11, when we were out of town. This week has been off to a better start. Last week I was feeling completely overwhelmed. So last night, Seavie and I were talking about the accident again, and he tells me all the names this woman who hit my car was calling me. From the moment she struck my car, she started cursing me. Once I got out of the car, he said her strains of profanity continued, like m.f, and dumb s. And her said her young teenage daughter kept telling the police that I was a dumb b. Um excuse me. How nice is that, honestly. They didn't even ask if we were okay. They just threw a big ol' scene.

Which made me reflect that of the few accidents I've been in, that they were all anything but normal. When I was 16, I had my very first car, it was my grandma's old 1986 Honda Civic. A hispanic man, who was 40, and only had a learner's permit, turned right in front of me when I had a green light, because he couldn't read the sign that said yield. My car was crushed up like a tin can, by his steel boat of a car. This was only going 35 mph. I had major whiplash, and bruised ribs, and took me several months to recover, physically. Mentally much longer, that made me jittery driving. So my poor car was completely totalled.

So my dad bought me a big tank of an 1984 Suburban, that would protect me in my young driving years. Within a few months, another incident. I was driving to work,turned R on the green light, and this small pick up truck comes flying over the hill going 65 mph in a 45 mph blowing through a red light, and instead of rear ending me, goes to the L side of the car, and up on the median, and side swipes my car. He steps out of his car, and low and behold he's wearing a long black trench coat (in summer time) and has about a dozen different piercings in each ear. I start yelling at him, because seriously, didn't this just happen to me a few months ago, when a man in a car pulls up in front of him. I guess the guy in the truck that just hit my car, almost just hit this man's car earlier down the street. So they get into it yelling and arguing, when who should drive by but my dad and sister on the way to the bank, when my sister says, isn't that M's car? So my dad's there, and all the guys are yelling at the crazy guy in the red truck. Luckily I had a mere scuff across my car, but had I still been in my Honda, I would have been seriously injured, and most likely gone to the hospital (no air bags in the 80's cars)

Fast forward to 14 years later, and I'm getting cursed out by some grumpy old lady in a van. Driving in a construction area she wasn't supposed to be in, and the pd didn't record construction cones that caused accident in their report, and they won't return my insurance agent's calls. How nice is that. Thank goodness I took lots of pictures, that clearly show they're lying and it's not my fault. So with all that said, those are the negative things of these life circumstances.

Here are the positive things that I've been reflecting on this last week. When I was 16 in my first wreck, I was just a few blocks S of my church youth group building. When people started leaving, they drove by, saw what happened and stopped to make sure I was okay (Seavie was one of those people), even the assoc.pastor showed up and prayed for me while I was shaking and sobbing. The 2nd time, I was just across the street from where I worked, and less than a mile away from my house. My dad, was there to protect me from this crazy guy, and make sure I was taken care of. Just last week, the accident was as we were turning onto Jeanna's street, only a block away from their house. Jeanna and James walked down to see us, and comfort us. James drove Seavie and I around town to get some things taken care of, and Jeanna called rental places for us. She also contacted friends from their church there who so graciously let us borrow their car to drive another 250 miles down to TX for my friends wedding.

So throughout my feelings of being depressed and overwhelmed from all of this last week, this specifically came to mind. One of my very favorite verses of all time.

Psalm 23

1	The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2	He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
3	He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
4	Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
5	Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
6	Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I know being in a car accident, is anything but walking through the valley of death, but more than anything, being in a scary place in life. I always pray for God's protection whenever we're out driving. So through this, I've learned that even though bad things happen, God promises to always be with us and never leave us while we're going through those times. To protect me from all this spiritual warfare of the mean spirit of this woman, and to even go as far as praying for her. Something I was never able to do when I was 16. I was angry and very bitter for a long time. I'm angry at her, but that anger hasn't consumed me,like it has before. Everything that has ever happened in my life, has happened for a reason. Now I'm just trying to see what the reason for all this was.

My newest project

Empty frame wall art... I've been looking for fun and relatively inexpensive ideas to do for wall art for our living room. We're going to be re-painting the living room soon, and need some new decor. So I came across this idea on a google search. Basically all you do is mix different shaped frames, with an equal number of plain, versus decorative and mix them up into a design. I layed mine all out, so it's balanced visually and with the patterns etc. Hoping to spray paint them this week with an Antique White. Not too bad for about $20 worth of thrift stores picture frames :)

Summer Vacation 2011

This last week has been very eventful, and just wanted to write it all down before I forget the fun moments we had as a family on our vacation this year.

We left to go to Table Rock lake on 7/16, I worked that morning, and Braden went to an awesome Star Wars party right before we left. We hooked up our gps, and we were ready to go. Everything went really well, until we were maybe 30 minutes out of town, and low and behold hit a giant coyote, I kid you not. I thought it was a deer, and we were driving my car, which is low to the ground. So I was freaking out.Luckily it clipped the very edge of my car, and with it went the fog light flying off the side of the highway. Good thing it was already broken from when we bought the car. ha. Seavie went back and picked it up, and found the coyote with a broken leg. Serves him right from sprinting across the highway right at our car. Everything remained calm all the way to the lake, until about 10 minutes til we arrived. We had eaten dinner at Braum's and the winding hills didn't sit well with poor Mr.B's tummy- chocolate and french fry yuckiness all over himself and his car seat. Add that to the fact that the coyote left a nice suprise on the front of our car. Let's just say that my car stunk. So when we arrived to the lake it was full scrub down mode of the car seat, the inside of the car, and Braden. We spent Sat. night watching tv and the kids had an early bedtime after the whole ordeal.

Sunday was nice and quiet for 1/2 the day as my sister in law and her family didn't arrive until about 2-3 pm that day. We just hung out and snuggled with her sweet new baby. And the kids went tubing that night. We had pizza for dinner and celebrated Grandma's 81st birthday.

Monday we had time out on the lake and at the pool. Lots of tubing with the kiddos. That night we went into town to a super touristy place (which I'm not a fan of) to meet my in laws friends for dinner. The food was awful-cold and chewy and my sister in laws food wasn't cooked all the way. We ended up with a free meal, so that made it a little better. The friends we met gave us free passes to "The Track" which is a fun place for kids in Branson that has bumper cars, and race cars etc. Us 4 adults, each got to take a kid with us and go on go carts on the wood track that goes up 4 levels, and is really a blast. It was a great night of nearly free food and entertainment. Then on the way home I got car sick, or at least very woozy- since I also do really badly with windy roads. So when we got home, I went straight to bed.

Tuesday morning, had a super yummy breakfast of biscuits and gravy courtesy of my brother in law, who is a great cook. Then we all headed to White Water for the day, in Branson. Seavie's parents paid for us all, so another day of free fun! We had a blast, and rotated out during the day who took kiddos on rides and had kid free time. My favorite was a super tall 4 lane slide that you ride on a blue mat on your stomach on the water. It was a blast! The fountains in the kids splash cove area had freezing cold water which felt amazing after being in the hot sun all day. We all got thoroughly fried in the sun, despite all of our sunscreen. We even had a cool cabana to hang out in all day. Dinner was nachos and margaritas. Yum!

Wednesday morning, everyone woke up early except for me. I was completely exhausted from the previous day, and so I slept in until 10am. Rare for me. So I missed out on them renting a Pontoon boat for the first 1/2 of the day. Which I was totally okay with, because it gave me about 4 hours to catch up on design shows on HGTV, which I don't have the luxury of watching at home, since we don't have cable. Dinner was Spaghetti.

Thursday morning we had a big breakfast of eggs, toast and juice. After we loaded up in the car, after about 3 miles, Braden started complaining that his tummy hurt. He was fine for a while. Stupid us for following the gps through the most winding lake roads in the world. He started complaining some more and then started spewing his breakfast all over himself. It was awful. Luckily where we pulled over on the side of the road, the owner was coming down the driveway and said we could use his water pump that was next to the car to clean off. Which resulted in Braden getting a cold shower on the side of the road. He seemed to be better. But then several miles out started complaining again. So we pulled over, this time he had time to get to the bushes. Seavie knocked on the door of an old bungalow and explained the situation to the little old woman who lived there, who was kind enough to give him some paper towels and a cup of water for Braden. This time we got a towel from the trunk and put it under and around his car seat just in case. He fell asleep maybe 15 minutes later and was out until we got to Joplin. We stopped for lunch at Braum's and then drove through the town to see the tornado damage. It was completely devastating running E and W of the main strip in town. The highschool and homes along that area were in complete ruins. It was very shocking to see it in person. After that we headed to Tulsa,OK to see my grandma and we got in town around 3pm. We just hung out for the afternoon talking and had a tummy pasta dinner and brownies for dinner.

Friday was a fun day. My grandma took Seavie and the kids and I to a place called Incredible Pizza. Which is kind of like a Power Play here where we live. It had a small movie theatre showing "Where the Red Fern Grows", a giant arcade, mini golf, bowling, go carts, bumper cars, and an incredible food buffet, which was the yummiest-in 3 different retro dining rooms! We got a deal on the buffet that came with a $5 gift card, so the kids each got $12 worth of game cards to play on which lasted them quite a while. They had a blast!!! We headed back home so the kids could rest for a few hours. That evening, my aunt took the kids to see the new Winnie the Pooh movie, and they loved it. Seavie and I went out on a mini date night to Applebee's for some dessert and drinks since we were so stuffed from lunch still. Then we got back and talked with my Grandma and Aunt for a few hours before bed.

Saturday morning we headed out to the Tulsa Air and Space Museum. It was about 10 miles N of where my Aunt and Uncle live. They had aeronautical exhibits from local Tulsa history as well as space displays. The kids got to sit in an F-14 fighter jet, like the one Tom Cruise flies in Top Gun. They got to use the robotic space arm, and do a simulated flight launch, as well as fly a plane in an air tunnel. The highlight of it was the Planetarium show. For those of you who have never been to one, it has a domed ceiling, where all the stars and planets are on the screen. It went through a tour of the solar system and the planets, and Grace's eyes and mouth were wide open. She said oh.my.gosh. this is so cool. She was on top of the world excited! We watched a show about kids traveling through the solar system in their cardboard rocket. It was fun. After the museum we headed to the Oklahoma Aquarium. It was pretty crowded, but definitely worth it. It had all types of organized sections and exhibits. The kids loved the jellyfish, and the nemo fish. Braden got to touch the shrimp and a star fish. There was also an area where the sharks were that they had a domed tunnel that they were swimming overhead. They absolutely loved it! After that we all went to a yummy little Mexican restaurant called Ted's. It had great salsa and cheese dip-complimentary, and free sopapillas for dessert. I thought my grandma was crazy for wanting to get there at 4pm, but by 4:30pm it was packed. I guess people in OK eat dinner a lot earlier than they do in KS. After dinner we headed back home and hung out and talked.

Sunday-today. We left this morning after a nice big country breakfast courtesy of my Aunt's cooking and headed back to KS. Pretty non eventful trip headed back except for the check engine light coming on in my car right when we left town- almost 100% sure it's the exhaust system, which we already know we need to fix. Then right when we got into town, there was construction backed up on the highway and it took for.ev.er to get home. Then we got stuck behind the train by our house. And finally we were home. The kids went down for a long nap. and I just enjoyed being home. I thoroughly missed my sunflower shower and my foam mattress. Small luxuries that I've had to go without the last week. So now we're all settled back in. The dogs were thrilled to pieces to see Seavie again, and spent some time inside cooling off. Early bedtime for the kiddos, and it's movie date at home for Seavie and I. It was a great vacation and I wouldn't have changed a thing.

We had the best time ever with my grandma, talking and hearing her stories. My Aunt told us that she has slowed down since last Fall, and that was really evident. Her memory is staring to slip a little, and her handwriting. She has a hard time getting up, and is on oxygen. It was sad to see her not her normal self, but she was still her spunky self through it all. We got lots of great pictures with her, and of our trip, which I'll try and post soon. Keep her in your prayers, she's finally going in to have surgery to have a pacemaker and a defibrulater put in on 8-9-11. She told me if it doesn't go well, she'll be in heaven, which made me cry, because I would miss her so much. But also happy knowing that she would be going to a better place. I love my grandma so much and it was a great last few days spending some extra time with her.

7.4.01

10 years ago today was the best Forth of July imaginable, but first, fast forward to the week before, on my 20th birthday. I was so excited for what my birthday present from Seavie would be, because I had a sneaking suspicion that he was going to propose soon. So what do I get on my birthday, but a gold watch. I was not a happy camper, and told him how upset I was. So then imagine my suprise a week later... I had to work that day, and my evil boss at Lowe's would not let me go home early, even though I told him I had dinner plans, and we were not busy. So what did I do, but clock out early, and seriously run out the front door when they weren't looking. Like I was really going to stick around, and miss out on my dinner date with my sweetie. So I had just enough time to get home, get cleaned up, and put my cute little brown dress on with my platform brown strappy shoes. Seavie picked me up, and had a dozen long stemmed roses for me. He took me to eat at "The Bristol" at Town Center Plaza, and after dinner, before we had dessert, he came over to my side of the table, got down on one knee, and opened up the ring box, and asked me to be his wife. I was so excited, and immediately said yes, and we kissed and held each other for a few minutes. After dinner, we stopped by his parents house, and they had stepped out, but had written me a sweet letter, welcoming me into the family. We then packed up a blanket and drinks, and headed out to SM Park for the local fireworks display. Which was just amazing. I teased him later on that he should have proposed at the fireworks display which was very romantic- he said he originally was, but was so nervous at the restaurant that he proposed then instead. It was still very sweet.

I was thinking this morning, has it really been 10 years, but yes, it has. We had dated for almost 3 1/2 years, and then after getting engaged- had an 8 1/2 month long engagement. I think 6 months or less would have been great, but it all worked out okay in the end, because we're counting down the months to our 10 year anniversary next spring!!!

Devotion of friends

My dear sweet friend Beth and I became friends our Sophmore year at KSU in our Construction Methods-Interior Design Class. We spent those next 2 years together in every ID class, and many many late nights working on studio projects. You really get to know a person when you spend so much time together. We shared so many fun times together there. We've kept in touch the last 11 years, through we've moved apart, and started our own seperate families, we've remained the best of friends.

Beth made the trip up for my 30th birthday party-drove almost 3 hours, just to spend 3 1/2 hours with me, and then drive 3 hours back late at night, to help me celebrate my birthday. That to me is absolute devotion and dedication to a friend!!!

Beth, our friend Christi, and I all have our birthday's just within a week apart, so every year since college, we've always made it a point to remember each other's b'days and send cards, or a small gift. This past weekend, was Beth's b'day, and so on Friday, I happened to get off work early, and made the drive to help her celebrate. Christi was there with her family, and we hadn't seen each other in 4-5 years, but it was like no time had passed at all. It was great being there together with 2 of my very best friends. It didn't seem possible that it's been almost 12 years since we were the young college girls. It was so fun seeing them interact with their families, and see them as mom's. They are still so very true to the women they've always been.

I cherish our friendships, and we've been through so much together, it has brought us all together. They have always been genuine, down to earth, always true to themselves, never fake around other people. That is what I love in a friend.

So I had a great mini weekend visit with Beth, and got to stay up late chatting about old times, and current times. Then drove back the next morning to see my family. It was a wonderful weekend :)

My new job...

On May 10th, I got an e-mail from the organization that I volunteer for, saying that they were looking to hire someone for a position called "Client Services Assistant". I read through the job description, and hours, and applied for it immediately. I had been waiting so long for this opportunity and God placed it directly in my lap. I had my interview on June 2nd, and then found out I got the job on June 8th, and started on June 17th. I work Friday's 8-4 and Saturdays 7:30-11:30am. So 12 hours a week, which is the perfect balance between work and family.

It's pretty much a continuation of what I was doing there before, as a counselor- doing PT's, and helping out clients. When the Director of Client Svcs isn't there, then I take over as the staff member in charge, overseeing volunteers and client care. Which was actually the case for 3/4 of my first days that I got to be in charge, so that was fun! It comes with a lot of responsibility, one that I appreciate, and still seems a little surreal, that I'm on staff there now. I think it's still sinking in. I even have a staff e-mail, but my computer is not behaving there, and so it's a work in progress getting it all going. I love all my co-workers and friends there, and it has been a great last 3 weeks.

I also love that God has given me all the desires of my heart right before my 30th birthday. This was just one of them, and one that I am so very thankful for, and thrilled that it is in his will for my life.