Cardboard testimonies

If you go to church with me, you may not want to look at this blog because it is something that we are doing on Sunday and it may not be as effective!!!!

This is something that we were exposed to through the youth group a few weeks ago. The teens watched the video that follows and wrote their own cardboard testimonies. I tried to link the video and it did not want to cooperate. Please take a minute to watch this if you have not seen it. It is amazing!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvDDc5RB6FQ


This made me think about my cardboard testimony. I believe every Christian has an amazing testimony. Sure, in the world's standards, there are some people that have more drastic conversion stories. However, we all have a story. God has changed all of us. So, here is my question, what is your cardboard testimony? How has God used you to change this world? How has God impacted your life and are we letting Him use us? I know there have been times when I have not allowed Him to use me. I pray that we all will allow Him to use us to reach a lost world. I love what the man ask at the end... What if this was our welcoming committee.

C-Section date changed

Well, I went to the Dr today and we moved the C-section up. The ironic thing was he said either the 6th or 7th. The 6th is my birthday so I opted for the 7th so that he could have his own birthday. Brad informed me it was more like I would have my own because he would have taken over that day! My blood pressure was better but the doctor was afraid I would not make it to the 10th. That is not many days different but at this point, it is a little bit earlier and that is good with me. It does make me lose a few days, though. I guess I should get busy. Brad and my parents are painting Todd's room this weekend so I need to go vacuum and get it ready. Todd decided after the nursery was painted that he "hated" his room color. He has chosen a BRIGHT YELLOW for his room. I started to argue and decided it would not last forever and he has loved yellow for a long time now. I guess I will just invest in some good indoor sunglasses!

Update

First of all, to all of my high school friends, I will post stories of my junior high years one day. It was a difficult time for me!

On another note, I have been put on modified bed rest until Thursday. I will go to the doctor then and we will see what he says. This came because my blood pressure has crept up little by little. Saturday night, I had a migraine so bad that I could not sleep. On Sunday, I checked my blood pressure and it was 135/91. My normal is 110/upper 70's. I have had some trouble since then, but not as bad. I am not good at taking it easy but I am trying very hard. I want to make it to 38 weeks if I can! That is September 30th. Anyway, I had this trouble with Todd but it was when I was 38 weeks. That is why they took him 10 days early. We will see what happens on Thursday. Please keep me and Jackson in your prayers. I guess we will throw Brad in that mix since he will be picking up a lot of the load for a few weeks!

Tagged

I was tagged by my friend Kristin. So here we go.

I am suppose to tell you 6 things that you may not know about me. I will give it a try.

1.) I am terrified of snakes. It is almost a phobia state. I think they are ugly and scary.

2). I do not walk over drainage crates on the road. I have always been scared that I would fall in and be left to die in their. Todd now avoids them as well.

3). I have always wanted to get a degree in American Sign Language. It fascinates me and I tend to run into people with hearing impairments that I could translate for to help them. I am able to help some, just not as much as I would like.

4). The profession I have always done, teaching special education, was not my original degree. My original degree was elementary education. I added it only after I needed more credits to be full time. I did not intend on using it, but got into it and love it!

5). I do not eat fish of any kind. Yuck!

6). I was rebellious in my junior high years. I was a habitual liar and did many things behind my parents back. Thankfully, there were lots of people looking after me and I got caught every time. So, I never got into too much trouble! I think this is why I like Jr. High to this day. I know it was a tough 3 years for me!

There you have it. Not too exciting. I will tag anyone that wants to do it. Most of you were already tagged.

Ike Continued

Here is a new picture of the damage done during Hurricane Ike. This is literally blocks from my father-in-law's house. These houses that remain were the very expensive homes that were much higher off of the ground. I cannot imagine going to my home and seeing this!

I guess this is a reminder that our home is temporary and that the structure we live in is just a house. Our home is a place of refuge, comfort, support, and love. When the house is gone, we should rely on the people that make it a home. I guess this is a modern reminder of the song we have sang for years about the wise man building his house on the Rock. Despite the destruction, our Lord is still there to mend their hearts and pain if only they will let Him. That is my prayer for all of those suffering right now. I pray that they will have a peace that only He can provide!

Hurricane Ike

I cannot imagine what a hurricane would be like. I have experienced the edge of a tornado and it was bad. Winds of 100 miles an hour and rising water sound like hell on earth to me. With that being said, I cannot imagine why people would not evacuate! I would pack up the things that are most important and get out of town. I would not wait to see if it was going to get bad.





My father-in-law is from the Galveston, Texas area. He let but he did not go too far. He is in a suburb of Houston and is still without power. We have talked to him briefly. He is safe but was told that he would have nothing left. He is in his mid 60's and has lived in this area since he retired. He was a hard worker and saved a lot of money. However, now so much of that is gone. He asked Brad to be watching for pictures or video of his area. I have included a picture of the part of the peninsula that he lived in. As you can see, there is nothing left.

I will post some more pictures later. It is hard to even comprehend such destruction.

One word... Huge

For those of you that do not read facebook, we had an ultrasound today. I am 35 weeks and 2 days as of today. After the measurements, they have predicted that he is 7 pounds 7 ounces! Todd was 8 lbs 1 oz at birth. He was only 10 days early. Jackson still has 4 weeks to cook until the scheduled c-section. If the stats are true (that they gain 1/2 lb week), he will be 9 1/2 - 10 lbs at birth. My doctor was not in the office today for me to discuss it with him. He had kidney stones yesterday. I do not know if they will take him earlier or let he be half grown at birth. Also, my blood pressure was 125/86. This is high for me. I was 113/85 just 2 weeks ago and that is higher than my normal. I am not sure what that will mean. I am going to try to get things finished up as much as possible just on case I am put on bed rest or taken to the hospital earlier. Please just keep all of this in your prayers. We are very excited about Jackson. We have prayed for him for nearly 4 years!

Decisions

Can I just say that I am terrible at making decisions. Sure, some are made fast ans with very little thought. Others, I take forever and question myself on them a million times. We have been adding a 300 sf foot den to our house. Some things have been easy. However, most things have taken me a while. Flooring was the last big decision. We had one option that was $600 less than the other option. However, the more expensive was a little better match I thought. I went back and forth trying to decide. Finally, I decided on the more expensive. We should be done with the addition next week! I am ready to have my house back. It's been as good as it can get, though. An elder at our church has done it. He is very nice and I had complete confidence in him! It has also been a very clean group of people working on the house. I am excited that it will be done! We look forward to more space for those swings, bouncers, etc. Babies really do take up lots of space.

By the way, I have an ultrasound Thursday. I have been having some pains. We will find out more then. I am anxious to see how much this baby weighs!

Weird post

Okay, I posted something new today and it put it down several posts. I am interested to see others views on this so go to the post about eyes and let me know what you think.