After 6 weeks...

John has been at House of Isaiah for 6 weeks. He earned at 24-hour pass so I went down to see him on Friday. We stayed in Mesquite, TX which is on the east side of Dallas. We had a really good visit. I can see God working in his life. His selfishness is starting to fall away....he was talking to me about his Bible Study...recited the scriptures he has learned. It was really good to see what God has done in his life this first 6 weeks. I told him that I can't wait to see what God does in the next 6 weeks. Continue to remember him in your prayers!

Girl Power and Family

GIRL POWER
One of my most favorite reality shows is "The Biggest Loser". This season was couples (mom/child, husband/wife, best friends). FINALLY a girl won The Biggest Loser!!! WAY TO GO ALI!! This year we had two girls in the finale. Because it is based the percentage of weight loss, men usually have a greater chance of winning...however this season the girls powered through. I just love this show! It is very inspirational.
Check out the photos of all the contestants on the Biggest Loser website:
http://www.nbc.com/The_Biggest_Loser_5/photos


FAMILY
Once again on American Idol, David Cook stood out as my favorite! It was a special night for him as his brother who has brain cancer was able to be in the audience. For a rocker to have to sing a Mariah Carey song...I was a little worried...however, with David Cook why worry? He is AWESOME...well, just check it out:

What a way to end the show!

My heart has been breaking over the way that Oprah is leading so many people down a wide road that leads to destruction. She has such an influence and so many people follow her advice and she is denying God and following a man because his ideas make you feel good. They are saying to live in the moment because that is all that we have. The problem with that is that it is a "half-truth" (which are so much easier to fall prey to than a flat out lie). Yes, we only have this moment in time and we shouldn't focus on the past or worry about what tomorrow brings (Matthew 6:25-34), but we SHOULD live for CHRIST in this moment. I'm praying that people's eyes will be opened and their souls protected from this teaching.

Then, I get to work and my friend sent me this video on YouTube...WAY TO GO, AMERICAN IDOL! I know they changed "My Jesus" to "My Shepherd", but still, He is our Shepherd. So many people watch this show, and they got to hear a song entitled "Shout to the Lord"...

Successful Yard Sale

After the horrible weather we had on Thursday evening and the rain on Friday, Andrea and I were praying that the weather predictions for a beautiful Saturday would hold true. They did...except that the beautiful warm sunny part of Saturday showed up about the time we closed up shop on our Yard Sale. It was successful. The grand total was around $340...which was more than I was expecting. We sold almost all of our large items and made a dent in the clothes. Now all the left-overs are either at Goodwill or the clothes closet at my church. I forgot my camera, but Andrea took some pictures before and after! I have never seen so many stuffed animals. About noon my mom came by to see how we were doing and we were talking and I said..."I know what we should been doing...'A free stuffed animal with every purchase' campaign". By then it was too late! Oh well...those stuffed animals will live on in many other homes.
When I get the pictures from Andrea, I'll post them on here.

I'm planning on moving my Christmas, camping and other few things into my storage room today...because according to the weather-woman...rain for Tuesday-Thursday!

Happy Spring!

Proven Once Again Why He's my favorite

Cough...Cough - Too much JUNK!

My sister and I are having a Yard Sale next weekend. When she moved to her house in December, a lot of her "sale" items went to my mini-storage. We discovered last week that she has an issue with keeping things for WAY TOO LONG! Some of the clothes we found in her containers were from high school...8-10 years old. She also kept pretty much all the clothes Camryn has worn in the 6 years of her life!
Last weekend we tackled many boxes of clothes and priced them. We went out to the mini-storage and got overwhelmed when we opened the door at the sheer amount of junk that we have been holding on to for years. However, because we were overwhelmed we got a couple of boxes and left...resorting to going through the storage this weekend.
Well, since the forecast is for rain this weekend and it was warm and sunny here yesterday, I went out and tackled the storage room. Pulled everything out and started at the back pricing items and then put it all back in there. So now we can load up a trailer next Friday night and move all that stuff to Andrea's for the Yard Sale.
This was therapy for Andrea as she has vowed not to keep stuff she doesn't need anymore! YAHOO! I have never been a "pack-rat" so this was music to my ears! This is my favorite thing about moving, throwing away junk and trash and getting rid of things that have become useless to me, but someone else can use.
I'm planning to take pictures of all the Yard Sale festivities next weekend. So I'll make sure to post about that!

A Time for Healing

Blogs are a view of what is going on in the life of the writer of the blog. I have over the past year or so, kept you up on the happenings in our lives (or at least the happy happenings). So this post is going to take a different turn. At this point in my life, I am going through a healing process. So this post is going to be some "therapy" for me.

For about 6 years, my husband has been in the throws of alcohol addiction. This has caused much emotional and financial pain for our marriage. He has had legal trouble, been in the detox unit of the hospital (several times), been in outpatient treatment and one 30-day stay in a residential facility (October 2007). After this 30-day stay, he did really well on working the 12-step program, going to meetings and obtaining a sponsor. However, he went to make amends with a friend (who is an alcoholic as well) and he picked up the beer and drank it. That lead to a few more episodes of drinking. These were usually one night and then clean for 8-10 days. About 2 weeks ago, he had a time of drinking for 4 days. During this time I had a long visit with our pastor. He just let me vent, cry, talk it out. I had finally come to a point that I needed to step out of God's way so that HE alone could get to John's heart. You see as a wife of an alcoholic, I had been trying to "fix" him and things. I had to come to my "bottom" and decide to let God work in this situation.

I approached John about going to long-term treatment (6-12 months). We had talked about this before and he was not ready to commit to that length. I let him know that I was at the point that I could not "live" this life anymore. He needed long-term treatment for himself and I needed the time for myself to recover.

Last Wednesday, March 12th, we drove to a facility in Texas that is a Christian treatment facility. The program is 6 months and there is after-care/work program after that time that he can participate in as well.

Our pastor preached on John 15 a couple of Sunday's ago. That is the reason I changed the name of my blog to "Learning to Abide in Him". That is what I am focusing on during this season of my life - Abiding in Him...letting Him flow through me to produce much fruit.

I ask that as my blog friends that you would send up prayers for me and this healing process I am in. Also, send up a prayer for John - a prayer that God will get to the root of John's heart and break away the selfishness, pride and rebellion and rebuild him to the NEW CREATURE that he is in Christ.

Thanks for "listening" to me as I put out this personal information. I know that I need all the prayer warriors I can get during this time.