Cross in the sky

Part One -The Promise
Bill and I started our married life in a tiny farmhouse in Germantown, Wi. Bill lived there for a couple of years before we were married, with a couple other guys...that should tell you something about it already! It was small and homey, but it had no furnace. We heated the house with a wood stove, and the rent was only two hundred dollars per month (even tho' it was twenty nine years ago, that was cheap then)!!! The house was about one hundred and fifty years old...thank God it had indoor plumbing! We had to haul the wood for the wood stove quite a distance, because the landlord didn't want any bugs, or woodchucks by the house. Normally this wouldn't be a problem, but as we started to have children.....I would have to run out and get wood during the day, and hope the children wouldn't lock me out , touch the wood stove, or try to follow me (to help).

At one point, (I guess my point of desperation), with six young children and little space ....the children were five, three, two, one, one and a newborn. I began praying...BIG and desperately!!! I wanted our own home. Even tho' the children had a big yard to play in, the landlord didn't want the children on the lawn...this just added to my frustration!

I started praying for a home (our very own) with a big yard and enough space for our family...I prayed constantly about it! I knew it didn't look very promising, because we were always broke, but I figured God would come thru'!

After praying very expectantly for a few months, I believed God was answering in a big way! Our landlord told us that he was going to sell his house (which was on the same property as our little farmhouse) and told us we would have to move. Bill would have stayed there forever at two hundred dollars per month so I thought YEHHH God!!!

It was during this time that I kept hearing in my heart (kind of like a song that you can't get out of your head) the words "EXCEEDING ABUNDANTLY." That along with "Take joy in your troubles". I didn't know what to make of it until I heard a sermon on "Standing on the Promises of God."The message said that all of God's promises are there for us as His children to claim, as long as we obey God . Well, I looked in the Bible concordance and found Eph. 3:20 "Now unto Him who is able to do EXCEEDING, ABUNDANTLY more than we can ask or imagine according to the power at work within us." I loved this promise and memorized it promptly!!! The next scripture that I got was from James 1:2-3. "Take joy in your trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience." I STILL do not have that verse memorized. I didn't like that one very much!!

Now came the hard part for me......waiting, waiting, and more waiting!!! I kept hearing my promise from God (Eph. 3:20) on the christian radio, or in a book, or from a card someone would send). I continued to stand on that promise and wasn't worried because I expected God to come and give our family a wonderful big home of our own!!! I wanted God to custom deliver it to us (because He could) but He was teaching me to trust Him as he brought our family THROUGH the hard times!!

Time was running out for our family to leave our farmhouse and we had been looking for a place, but no one seemed to want such a large family (boy what would happen now with our 14). I was still standing on the promise and we were looking hard but we kept getting a big NO everywhere we looked!

We thought we finally found something when a friend was selling his home in Hartford, WI. Bill's dad said he would help us to buy the house.... it looked as tho' the doors were opening for us! The day we were going to put in the offer, Bill's dad decided he couldn't help us. My world just caved in that day! I drove past that house at night and parked there and just wept and wept for an hour or so. I was devastated and had a hard time dealing with it! I finally let it go, and I still kept hearing my verse on a daily basis. If I didn't hear it, I would speak it out loud.

After a few more weeks, I saw an ad in the paper that was offering a home for rent with an option to buy in Okauchee, WI.

I called on this home and they said Yes to us. The option was for six months so I thought NO PROBLEM!! The only problem was the rent was three times what we had been paying.....hmmm we had trouble paying the two hundred a month.... how would God work this out????

Being hard working people, Bill got another full-time job.....to help God! He worked at his shop (Bilco) about sixty hours per week ..then another forty at Ernie Von Schledorn. Is this even possible??? The home was older (but not as old as the farmhouse), and it had a beautiful big yard. The house even had a fireplace! I thought God, you are awesome! Even tho' Bill was working so much and I was with the children with no breaks I had such peace!!! Bill and I moved ourselves and we loved our new home!!

My new prayer became God, if this is the home for us would you just show me a cross in the sky????? I was always looking for my cross in the sky! Time was passing quickly, and we were trying to get a loan for the home. We didn't have good credit, so no matter what we did we were refused. I was still confident that God would give us this house...we liked it, and it was SO peaceful!!

This was not the end, but the beginning of our journey!!!!


Part Two... The Problem
I fully believed that God would come through for me and my family, because I loved the house and couldn't believe that He would have us move AGAIN in six months...In the meantime, I kept on standing on Eph.3:20 "Now, unto Him who is able to do exceedingly, abundantly, BEYOND all that we can ask or imagine according to the power at work within us"!!!!

During this time, my brother asked if he could move in with us... I said "sure"! He told us he would help with the rent, and occasionally babysit.

The problem was, I said yes to my brother without asking my husband......wives! DO NOT EVER DO THIS!!! I thought I could help (or manipulate) God.....duh! Well, my brother never helped, he would take our car (and get in accidents)...NOT GOOD!

I did ALOT of praying during this time and drew very close to God because I knew that I was not capable of being victorious in living in joy without His help!!!

I was still standing on my promise, and always looking up for a cross in the sky!!!

I was in the country, the children had a big yard to play in, so I thought this was it!!!

It was lonely at times, because I was long distance from all my friends (yes... before cell phones) but I felt cocooned in God's love. This is the time that the Lord became my closest friend!!

We tried every kind of bank and loan, but no one would give us a chance...and we were running out of options. I was still expecting God to come and save the day, so we could stay in this house...

Did you notice a lot of my sentences began with I... that was part of my problem..I was so concerned about my family that I began to tell God what to do and HOW!! That was a major part of my PROBLEM!!

Life was hard at this time, but good! I was coming to the end of myself, and that began a process of God working in me to lighten my grasp and open my hand to Him!

During this time, my brother came to the end of himself.. He had gotten into accidents with our car, drank too much and other things and he found nothing seemed to go right for him.
One night, he opened up and was ready to receive some prayer. On this night he asked Jesus to be his Lord and Savior!!!! This was a huge blessing and we saw an immediate change! My brother was the person that said to me, "maybe this is a resting place(our house) and not where God ultimately wants you". That got me mad!!! I really wanted to stay in this house so I didn't want to hear any of that kind of talk!!

Bill had been working , plus trying to get a loan any time he could. nothing was working. We went on rent search, put an ad in the local paper, and asked for prayer on the local christian radio station.

Bill and I found ourselves once again desperately looking for a home. By now I had given up on the idea of owning a home since we had exhausted all avenues. Our six month option was just about up and I was still standing on the promise of Eph.3:20 and looking for my cross in the sky, but nothing was happening!

We checked out the only house we found...it was all the way in Green Lake. A huge house and Bill would have to stay at my folks during the week and come home on weekends. This house was the only option we could find so I finally said, if this is where you want us.. Thank you, God!
I was broken, but surrendered to whatever God wanted for us! This house didn't have a furnace either.... what's with that???? At this point I just didn't care anymore. I gave up!

We were at our last week at our "resting place" home and had to be out by Saturday. On Wednesday, I got a response from the ad I had put in the paper, and Mrs. Bourque wanted to meet with me and Bill. So, on Thurs. we met, she approved of us, and we started cleaning on Friday, so we could move in on Saturday. Mrs. Bourque had rented the house for the last sixteen years to a woman that had SIX cats!!! I have one son that was extremely allergic to cats, so we needed to do BIG CLEANING!!!

The person that had rented from Mrs. Bourque didn't have a vacuum, so it was filthy!
I was broken and at the end of myself!

All the packing.... AGAIN!! The cleaning of the house we were leaving plus the cleaning of what would be our "new" old home..It was the original schoolhouse in Brookfield.

I guess I would describe this phase of my life as confused, exhausted, and vulnerable.

The last move Bill and I did on our own, but this time my friends Pat and Linda surrounded me and helped me!! They even got a team together to help with the move.

On the evening Bill and I started to clean the house in Brookfield, two of our friends showed up to help!! Joe and Barb didn't know anything of my prayers and I was empty and not thinking too much about my prayer for a "cross in the sky"..... until....end of part two

Part Three .. The provision!!! "Cross in the sky"
After working all evening cleaning the house in Brookfield, we all walked outside. It was a very dark night and we were all exhausted (yes I was expecting again, too). After talking for a while and thanking Joe and Barb for helping, we were going to leave, but just before we did.... Barb looked up and said "Wow," LOOK AT THAT CROSS IN THE SKY!!!!" We looked up and there was a brilliant yellow fluorescent huge cross lit up! There was NO mistaking it!!! Barb had no knowledge of my prayer for all those months..... the cross was from a church down the street and against the black sky it looked just like a huge cross suspended by the velvety night!! I had been so down, that I don't believe I would've even seen that cross! After I saw that cross, I knew that God was in control, that He had heard every cry and prayer of my heart and He gave me an absolute miracle!! Time stood still for me as I tried to grasp the awesome love of my heavenly Father!

I never again questioned this move....I knew God had it all planned out in advance and I didn't question Him anymore....just thanked Him for being God and being good!!!

Well, the next day was moving day and we had loads of help! It actually made the move fast and fairly easy!

In the next couple of weeks, Mrs. Bourque would stop by on a regular basis to see how we were doing...she felt so bad that the house was so filthy when we were about to move in that she ordered us a brand new stove and refrigerator (frost free). Wow!!! We needed the appliances, too! She kept on telling us that we should buy her house! I kept dismissing the idea because we had just been through all of this! In fact, it was almost laughable!!!

After a few more weeks, Mrs. Bourque stopped by and told me "I really WANT you to buy this house!! I told her it was impossible and we couldn't get financing...to which she replied "I'll be your bank...you can buy it on land contract". I had never heard of this before, but hope was rising!!! After Bill and I discussed it we just went DUH! Isn't this what we were praying for???!!!
So, after five years we were able to get a conventional bank loan...we said YES! and the rest is history!!!

After three years in the house, it seems to be getting smaller.... could have been the nine children!!!! I got on my knees again, and prayed to God..."can I ask you for another sign if we can move"?? I heard in my heart..."I'll speak to your husband"! OH, NO! I knew this could be a LONG wait....in fact, we have now been at our home for twenty three years.....hmm......Now there are fourteen children and they are starting to get married. I think we need more room, but I will wait until God puts it on Bill's heart....hunker down for a LONG wait!!!! end of part three!

Part Four: Lessons Learned
So many emotions...so many lessons learned!
Bill and I learned that God is interested in the details of our lives. We found out that God doesn't just take us over the problems (like I would want) he takes us through them!!!!!
God also taught us to ASK!!! and to ask BIG!! If your dreams don't scare you, they aren't big enough!!!

We learned that God doesn't need (or want) our "help".... He wants us to trust and obey Him!!!
We came to understand that His timing is perfect!! Never early, but ALWAYS on time!!!
God showed us that He works through His people.....to be Jesus with skin on! All the people that blessed us with help packing, moving, praying!!!! PRICELESS!

One of the biggest lessons we learned, was to STAND on the promises of God, and having done all..STAND!!!

Some miracles take time...and God works out ALL the details!
GOD IS GOOD!!!! ALL THE TIME!!!!!

All you need is Love

For a week I had been praying that I would be walking in Love. I wanted to shine for Jesus and be His special servant!!! Well, be careful for what you pray!!!
I guess I just expected God to answer my prayers because I told Him too!!!..........I guess that's called presumption!
A friend of mine and me were planning a women's retreat and we were having a planning meeting. In the middle of the meeting, a woman came up and interrupted our meeting and told me that she needed to talk to me.I told her that we were in a meeting and it would be awhile. Well...., she waited five minutes and told me she needed to talk to me now!! I excused myself and moved to the side of the room and said NOT HERE!!! I need to talk to you privately!
We moved to a private room and she started to blast me and my son. She told me how awful he was, and how he started a fight with her (perfect) son.. well, I knew the Whole story of what had transpired because my son had been totally humiliated by her husband screaming at my son in front of all his friends. After a few minutes, I was getting hot and could feel my flesh rising up.. I actually wanted to slap her!
After a few minutes the thought occured to me...This is a test!!! It's what you were praying for! SOOO.........I let her go on and on and on berating me and my son until she was done. Since I knew the truth...the whole truth, I was able to share that from their perspective it appeared that my son had pushed her son down...what actually happened was that Daniel had rushed in to break up a fight and was in the middle and pushed two boys away from each other. there vision was blocked so they didn't see the WHOLE thing! I let them know that Daniel felt humiliated and that he deserved an apology!!! That did not happen, but I did talk about knowing the WHOLE story!
After this I went into the prayer room and the woman in charge said "let's just write our thoughts down". I wrote furiously for twenty minutes and the leader said"Laurie, I noticed you writing alot...would you like to share"? Well, I remembered that I was in church so I thought it best not to talk like that in church!!! I realized that I had been praying to walk and respond in love and I do believe that I was given a test.... This time I kept my big mouth shut and passed!
God takes our prayers seriously and has such humor, too!!!! Be careful for what you pray for.. God loves you enough to show you and me how He delights to answer, and how much we need Him!!! I guess that's why we swear on the bible in court and promise to tell the truth, the WHOLE truth and nothing but the truth!!!

Exceedingly Abundantly!

My favorite scripture in the Bible is from Eph.3:20 "Now, unto Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly beyond all that you can ask or imagine according to the power that is at work within you"
For our twentynineth wedding anniversary, Bill and I went to a favorite spot in Green Lake. We stayed overnight and were enjoying the sun and relaxing! We had a little balcony that overlooked the lake. In the morning we were sitting outside, enjoying the peace and view, with a cup of coffee. I voiced out loud..." wouldn't it be neat to see a fish jump"??? Well, within a minute we saw a show!!! Every minute, we'd see a big fish jump...really high out of the water!!! This show went on for about an hour... WOW!!!Talk about God taking you at your word and then going above and beyond!!!!!!!!!!

Pray on and on and on and on and on and onnnnnnnnnnnnnnn!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My children teach me so much!!!
Years ago, our jeep had been stolen from Bill's shop. Well, my children and Bill and I prayed for the jeep to be found. After a period of time, the children continued to pray, but in my spirit I had basically given up on this jeep ever being found!
The children prayed DAILY for the person that stole the jeep and for the jeep to be found and returned.
After three years of praying I was done. I told the kids that the Jeep was gone. Welllllllll... , one day , one of Bill's old employees came by the shop all excited. He was in Northen Wisconsin and saw a jeep being towed. Bill's jeep was very distinctive, because for one thing it was very old and had BILCO welded on the back bumper> The old employee turned and followed the driver and got his liscence. Sure enough... after calling the police and following the driver, it WAS BILL'S JEEP!!!! We never expected to see that Jeep again. The children totally believed that the Jeep would be found and returned!! Well, we got the Jeep back, but a storage company wanted to charge us one thousand dollars, for storing the car for a year! We told them a police report had been made,etc. and we found out the police had put the wrong vin. # down.... that explained why it just seemed to dissapear....although they tried to grind down the name Bilco on the bumper!!
After we got the Jeep back a young man was applying for a job at Bill's shop... He saw the Jeep and said "I think I know who stole your Jeep". We pursued it and sure enough.. there was a full confession! The person that stole the Jeep had to pay us .... one thousand dollars!!! How's that for getting double for your trouble??? (Isaiah61)
The kids taught us a lesson in praying, too! Luke 18:1 says" men ought ALWAYS to pray and NOT GIVE UP"!!!! That's what the kids did... Till the answer comes KEEP PRAYING!!!!
OH! And if that wasn't enough, I got some pictures developed, and there was a double exposure picture of our Thanksgiving dinner with THE JEEP in the middle of it.........
KEEP PRAYING!!!!............................. Till the answer comes!
Talk about the faith of children!!!!

JOY!

One beautiful Fall day, me and a few of my friends decided to go to a nature center with our children. When we pulled into the parking lot, I took note of a small red car with a single person in the car. I got a funny feeling, but let it go and thought it was because I was dreading the REALLY long walk! The group I was with had three fifteen passenger vans and a regular van. We unloaded the troups and were on our way. About half way thru' our trail a ranger came running up to us and said "did you come in the extended vans"??? He proceeded to tell us after we gave him an affirmative to his question, that two of the vans had been broken into. That got our attention and we ran all the way back to the parking lot.....................Sure enough , Vanna White (my vans name) had the driver's window smashed and my purse was gone......dumb person ..I didn't even have it locked! The other girlfriend, Vicki, also had the same thing! My other friend's van was left alone (could be because she had a big saint bernard in it. She also had all her casework for adopting a child from Bulgaria on the front seat, so it's a good thing the thief didn't get that!!!
It was frustrating cleaning the mess up and filling out the police report. The officer didn't give us much hope of recovery. The bad news was.......I had everyone of our families social security cards in my wallet. The college my oldest son went to kept having problems with my financial aid applications and they kept rejecting the number sisteen in our family! The day before I had to prove that there really was sixteen of us, so I brought everything to the college and it wouldn't work for the financial aid person until she tried the number nine (that's another story). SOOOOOOOOOOO...I didn't take out the cards and people started to warn me of identity theft (I was thinking if someone wanted my I.D. they'd be responsible for all my debt..) Anyway, I didn't have too much else in my wallet, but I did just cash a check for forty dollars for my sons when they babysat for someone.They were upset, too!!!
We prayed for the thief and asked for the money to come back. A couple of days later my friend got a call from the police saying they found two purses in a dumptster in Waukesha. There was no wallet in one purse so I didn't get a call. Vicki went to the police station and got her purse and recognized mine so she brought that to me. When I got it back I desperately dumped mine out hoping against hope that my wallet was there, and it was just to much of a mess to be seen easily. My wallet did not appear, but Vicki laughed because an ornament fell out. It was a large sliver star that simply said JOY. Vicki said, "At least they didn't steal your joy"!!!
The story doesn't end there. About a week later I received a call from a Hispanic person saying they found my wallet. I had a hard time understanding him because of the language barrier. I was given directions (to a terrible part of the town) and rang a door bell and walked up a narrow flight of stairs. It wasn't very smart of me to go alone but.... a woman opened the door and handed me MY WALLET!!! All I had to offer her was ten dollars, but I thanked her, gave her all the money I had and gave her a hug and left. When I looked in the wallet, the forty dollars was gone, but EVERYTHING else was intact! The cards, social security , liscence etc. WOW!!! I was thankful and relieved!
When I went to church the next Sun. someone came up to me with an envelope and handed it to me, and told me it was from someone else who didn't want me to know. I opened the envelope and there was a nice card in it and ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS! That is exactly double of what was stolen! Isahiah 61:7 says " Instead of your shame you shall have double honor and instead of confusion they shall REJOICE in their portion. Therefore in their land they shall possess double; Everlasting JOY shall be theirs. "
Is God in control or what????!!!! Coincidence??? I Know It's not!!!!!!!

more fish stories

When I would try to fish up North, either my son Nathan would interrupt or the dogs! My sister has a hunting dog, and we have a black lab. When the dogs would see me head to the pier they would take that as their cue to come and "help" me!

I would stand at the end of the pier and the dogs would be on either side of me............ummm, a little crowded! As I would cast and reel in, the dogs would watch...... side to side, as I would reel back and forth continually. After doing this for about forty min. Copper ( the hunting dog) got hypnotized with watching the pole and fell into the water. Misty the lab, loves to swim, so she immediately thought PARTY in the lake and she jumped in after Copper! My line started to get tangled up in the mass of dogs, so I had to jump into the lake (and I love lakes, but DO NOT like to be IN them) to try to make sure that the dogs wouldn't get hooked! The dogs thought I came in to play so it was a circus! Finally, I got the fishing line untangled and went back on the pier and yes,.............. the dogs went back to their fishing posts, too!
Have any of you ever gone fishing and almost caught two dogs?!!!!! Talk about the big ones that got away!!!!

My fish story

My sister has a cabin in Northen Wi., and occasionally the family will go up North and stay for a few days. I love it up there as it is serene,beautiful and right on a lake!
I love to fish and I just go to the end of the pier and put a bobber on my pole and cast it out and reel it in nice and slow. I can think and just stare at the beauty around me and BE STILL!
After spending four solid days on the lake....yes up early, and up late fishing, I began to think there were no fish in that lake. It didn't help when my son Nathan ,(he was 6 at the time)set up a chair on the beach by the pier and started fishing too. He would cast awfully close to my head and narrowly miss me and I was really getting irritated. After about ten minutes of this torture,he was getting bored and started to throw rocks by where I was fishing. I yelled at him to stop!!!! I told him he was scaring any fish there were away and he said "no, I am scaring them to us". With that, he cast his pole again and immediately caught a big Northern pike! I was excited for him because these fish are fighters and he caught it by himself! Well, I was happy for Nathan, but now I was determined!!!! I went to the end of the pier and yelled "Lord, you say in your word that you do not show partiality "(have favorites) Acts 10:34....so you did it for Nathan (in spite of his sabbotage) now I want you to do it for me!!!! So, with attitude and expectancy, I cast my rod and.....after two casts I finally got my fish! It was a good size large mouth bass! I think
God was showing His humor with the big mouth!!!
Well, I went fishing and learned a good truth!So, if any of you are waiting for the normal, right way of doing things...........God is in control and He loves to surprise us and bless us!
As you go about your day, remember that God doesn't have favorites, sooooooooooooooo.....We are all his favorites! Now, that's a good thought!

" I just want to be served"

Sometimes life gets frustrating.doing the same thing over, and over, and over with seemingly little or no results!
I do ALOT of laundry, but there's ALWAYS more. I do dishes and you got it...more! I love things to be in order and like nice things , but I live in a home with lots of bodies, so no matter how much I do, or try to keep up...there's a mess somewhere!
One beautiful Autumn day, Bill rescued me from the toil (packers must have lost) and we decided to go on a car ride. From time to time we just take off and we never know where we'll end up (it's always like that when I drive----not on purpose and with a gps system, but that's another story).
We ended up by a small lake a couple hours away, and that's where a tiny seed of discontent was planted. I told Bill that I would like to be by water all the time.....it was calm and sparkling, with the sun making beautiful reflections all around. LOVELY! It was a nice little break, but then we came home! In just a day it looked like a tornado hit the house.....wet towels, dirty dishes...you get the picture.
I was mad. "The adage " If mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy"...........I am here to testify...It's TRUE! I made everyone miserable with my ranting...and then began to clean with reluctant help from the family.
A little later, I went out to get the mail (that nobody brought in the day before). On my way to the mailbox, a thought occured to me. It was "I just want to be served". I didn't voice it out loud, I just thought it. Well, it wasn't an hour later that my leg started to ache very badly. I found out that I had a blood clot on my leg. I thought back to the mailbox and told God I didn't mean it and was sorry! I really didn't want to be served.....I would serve gladly.... well, my bargaining didn't work and I was laid up for two weeks! I had to keep my leg up, and be served. I hated it and felt guilty! I recovered and decided I Love to serve (of course it's a love hate relationship and I have to battle my emotions about it).
About a week after this event, an acquaintance called and wanted to have lunch. I was excited at the opportunity to get to know Elaine a little better. We decided to meet at church, and from there we would decide where to go. When I arrived at Elmbrook Church, she told me she had a surprise for me. We walked around to the front of the building and WOW! Elaine had a blanket laid on the grass, and there was a crystal vase with beautiful flowers. She had fine china and dainty tea cups. There at Church I was served the most delicious lunch Chicken crossaints with fruit and veggies and for dessert.a fruit tart. The other thing that was so amazing was that we were sitting by Elmbook's pond. We were right by the water. Elaine had no idea of my struggles with self pity or anything. I barely knew her at that time.
Elaine ministered to my spirit and refreshed my soul. I will always cherish that day!!
What a terrific surprise!!!
On my way home, It hit me like a ton of bricks. I had been served!!!
God showed me my sinfulness, with not taking every thought into captivity and I was laid up for two weeks!
BUT, GOD!!! In His infinite wisdom showed me how much He loved me and sent Elaine into my life and heart! Thank you, Lord!!!
The day after I was so incredibly served I read in my devotional (Oswald Chambers)"Towels and dishes and sandals, all the ordinary sordid things of our lives, reveal more quickly than anything what we are made of. It takes God Almighty Incarnate in us to do the meanest duty as it ought to be done"
Okay, Lord..., thank you for making it plain and being patient with me!!!

It's all material!!!!!

I was asked to speak to the local Teen Mops group at their monthly meeting. Iwas excited because I love teens!!! I wanted to encourage them and let them know that I was proud of their decision to keep their babies instead of aborting them.
I really wanted to be a blessing to them so I was going to spend the whole day praying and listening to what God would have me share.
Good plan, right????
When I was on my way to the library, I got a call on my cell phone. It was the high school principal...........is that ever a good thing?????????? The high school was having exams at the time, and when he called it was to ask me to come to the high school immediately..oh, oh.. When I got to the school the first thing I saw was Daniel sitting with two other dejected looking young men (reminded me of see no evil, speak no evil, hear no evil). The principal ushered me into his office and explained to me that Daniel and the other two young men left the campus and came back "high". He told the principal that it was all his fault, it was his weed, and his friends were innocent. The principal didn't believe Daniel, because he had never been in trouble before and the other two had. Daniel received a suspension, and was able to take his exam on a Saturday.
He admitted that it was wrong, and he was truly repentant....
Daniel could have been in a lot worse trouble, but the principal talked to him about the value of a good friend, and to have friends that would help him instead of hurting him or his reputation.
Well, I took Daniel to Bill's shop so he could talk to him man to man and put him to hard labor!
By the time I was done with all this, it was time for me to be at the teen center. I looked at Daniel and told him it was going to be o.k., but that he was my lesson that night! I let him know I would be writing a book and that he was giving me LOTS of material!!!
God says "bad company corrupts good morals" and all of us are known by the company we keep.
That night I talked to the girl's about choices and responsibility. YESSSSS!! I shared about Daniel ............he's still giving me material! WHEW! Thank- you God for second chances!!!!

best of both worlds!

This is a beautiful fall! Bright colors abound, and the weather is lovely. The colors reminded me of a time many years ago. My friend Gena and I would do crafts together and sell them at a craft fair. Gena would come to my house and we would work our magic in the kitchen while the kids would watch a movie or be playing.
On this particular day..we were happily crafting, and I was so blessed because the kids were playing so quietly for so long (that should have been a clue). I did think it was odd after a bit , so I went in the family room to check on them.
What a surprise!!! The kids liked the movie so much that they decided to bring the outside in so they could jump in the leaves! They kept going out the family room door and brought in a TON of leaves!! There was the room filled about two feet high with leaves! I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.......but when I looked at there faces I asked them "well what are you waiting for"?
They had a blast jumping in the leaves and watching their movie!! Afterwards we had to rake....the family room!!! Now that's a fun Fall memory!