Promises, Promises

This past Sunday at church, inside our bulletin was our usual sheet for notetaking. However this week, on the back, was a list of Personal Promises from God's Word. Pastor Joe has assigned specific verses that we should read each day, and post in a journal or some other place we will see them throughout the week and recite them. Well, I don't keep a written journal- I keep a blog. But it might not be a bad idea to write these down and stick them in various places throughout my house. Well, for now I will just blog :)

I am a day late in putting these up on my blog, but here goes:

Tuesday's Promise: Psalm 139:17-18

"17)How precious are your thoughts about me, O God! They are innumerable! 18)I can't even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand! And when I wake up in the morning, you are still with me!

What a comforting thought  This, to me, says that God is with us at all times, and that He thinks about us as well, in fact His thoughts about us are innumerable! To think- such an omnipowerful being (God) would care about each one of us individually so much so that He would have that many thoughts about us. And, when we wake up in the morning, He's still there! That is so comforting to me.

Monday's Promise: Psalm 1:1-3

"1)Oh the joys of those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or stand around with sinners, or join in with scoffers. 2)But they delight in doing everything the LORD wants; day and night they think about his law. 3)They are like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season without fail. Their leaves never wither, and in all they do, they prosper."

This, to me, says that it would be beneficial to NOT spend our time among people who will bring us down. I questioned the term "sinners", since we are ALL sinners. But I'm going to assume that in this context that must mean unbelievers. It says that we will delight in doing what God wants, and day and night thinking about his law. Pastor Joe said something Sunday about starting our day out with God. He said before we tune into Good Morning America or the news, we should tune into God. This was so good for me to hear, since I had been thinking lately that I *really* need to make reading the Bible more of a priority, and a good time for me (probably the best time) would be first thing in the morning. So I have been doing just that this week, and tuning into God, before anything else! Besides, who wants to start their day out hearing about last nights murders, rapes, robberies, etc, like he said? 

So it says we will prosper (I believe this to mean in more ways than one) when we watch our associations. Point taken.  

Currently Reading Playful Parenting By Lawrence J. Cohen see related

Just some thoughts

 Since the subtitle of my blog indicates that I may be musing on gentle parenting, I think the following is an appropriate rant

"I'm going to punish you, because I'm big and you're small- I'm right, and you're wrong."

This is a quote taken from a children's movie, but seriously this is the impression I sometimes get when I read emails, blogs, etc about the way people discipline their children. It's really sad to me, and heartbreaking, but this quote about sums it up. I have even seen people WANT to retract what they just said, but all in the name of "winning" they let their idiotic statements go- they "outlast" their kids, even though they know in their heart and minds that they were wrong in saying what they just said. How sad is that?! Some people are in such an adverserial relationship, they actually USE the acronym "WAR" as a "tool" for "child-training".

What saddens me even more than that are those who are like we once were (in the adverserial relationship with their kids that I described above), and who WANT to get out of that, but for one reason or another (pride? embarrassment? afraid of losing too many close friends?) they won't get out.

My brain is fried

I just spent nearly 5hrs studying the SAT stuff. My brain is mushhhhhhhh.

I did not make it to church this morning, because I had a 3hr training for my online tutoring job, that I had to do. It was either that, or 3hrs in the evening, and since Jeffery works so much, I figured I'd better get it out of the way, so that I would have students by next week. He took all of the kids to church (by himself) this morning, and they had a great time. He stopped to get pizzas on the way home, so we would not worry about lunch and dinner, and to keep them out a little longer. I was really bummed about missing church, but I'm glad I got the training out of the way. But now, my brain is fizzled from SAT stuff. I think I'm gonna take it easy and relax.

Happy New Year!

Currently Reading Playful Parenting By Lawrence J. Cohen see related

I think I found a program!

I've been looking online for awhile for a Master's program in Psychology, that didn't cost an arm and a leg, and would be delivered online. I think I have found the University I'm going to "attend"! (and yes, it's fully accredited by NCACS) Right now the decision is between General Psych, or Mental Health Psych. The General Psych is more competetive to get into, (my guess would be because its' "easier"), and is about 61 credit hrs. The Mental Health program is 91 credit hrs, AND requires two 6-day residencies (taken at the end of the 3rd quarter, and at the end of the 8th quarter). The GP is 18-24months, while MH is 2.5yrs. So hmmm....that'd be kinda a pain to fit in- I mean, not only would the cost for the residency be factored in (it'd be charged to that quarter's fees), but you have to pay for your OWN travel, lodging, and food. Plus, I don't know how I feel about being away, ALONE, for 6 days. I guess it would depend on the accomodation/hotel I was in as to how comfortable I felt... but then I'd have to consider how to GET TO the location for our residency program (since I would not have a car unless I got a rental) Well, that's not for another year, so I would have plenty of time to figure out how much money I would need. But Mental Health (depression, addictions, parenting, marriage and family therapy) sounds more like what I'm interested in. And, as I've said before, I'm not interested in a "career" per se- I'd be interested in doing my work a couple days a week, maybe a weekend day too. I would love to see patients out of my own home, but I don't know how that would work out (thinking I would need to join a practice first, before I did something like that) And, Jeffery is the one who is going for the career, which I fully support him in 100% and he knows that. This is just something that truly fascinates me, and I can't see anything wrong with doing some Psych work a couple days a week. I would not expect to get rich doing it.... just helping people in something that interests me greatly.

For now, though, I'm still working on the SAT stuff. I'm trying to become a Kaplan instructor for SAT prep classes. (Kaplan, Princeton Review, Barron's....they all make those test prep books, but Kaplan has actual testing centers as well, and classes are offered) The pay is good- $16-20/hr, depending on experience, and that's just parttime. I have to take an abbreviated version of the SAT *first*, pass that, then have an audition (a 5minute presentation/lesson on something NON-academic, pass that, and then sit through 3-4wks of training (1 night per wk), and then I would be good to go. At this point, something like that would be perfect and a real answer to prayer, because it would allow Jeffery to work at his full-time job and pursue THAT, while I'd make enough money that we would be able to live with what he's currently making, while he awaits more promotions. There is a real career path where he is at, which is why I fully support him. I know he just wants to be able to support his family, that's ALL he wants, and I am behind him. So, if I can do something that will let him take the time he needs to get through work, promotions, etc, til he's ready to stand on his own, then that's fine. Meanwhile, I'd be working on my Master's degree, and when that's all done and over with (we're talking almost 4yrs from NOW), we'll take it from there.

What a blessed holiday!

WWe were so very blessed this Christmas! My children, who at one point I thought would get nothing from us (they still didn't, w/o us having to borrow some money from MIL), ended up getting more than we ever could have asked for. The presents under the tree Christmas morning were from our church, the doll we bought, and my mom (and brother). I actually took lots of pics, but since I took them on my mom's cam, and forgot to remove the chip before she left, I guess I'll have to come back later to add pics.

We also had Noah's 2nd birthday on the 24th. That's really the easiest day (and I don't know that it's all that 'easy') to have his bday, since his birthday is only 3 days before Christmas. Lil booger  

Christmas Eve we went to church as usual, since it was a Sunday, then I came home (dh dropped me off) to set up for Noah's party, clean up the kitchen, bake his carrot cake cupcakes (with cream cheese frosting- yum!) and wrap his presents. We did the party in the Cars theme. (And you should see his room now, after Christmas- it's totally Cars) Then Sunday evening we went to our church's Christmas eve service, which was beautiful. We came home, the kids opened up their Christmas eve gift (Christmas pj's, plus we let them open one other) and off to bed they went. They left out cookies and water outside their door. I had told them if the cookies were gone in the morning, then that meant that daddy and I stayed up to wrap their gifts, and for them to check the tree- if the cookies were still there, we didn't get to wrap them b/c they wouldn't go to bed! ROFLOL! Of course they were out like a light, pretty much, and we wrapped the presents

I can't wait to come back with some pics of Christmas morning!