Long-overdue update on the Qtpies!

My computer was hijacked by some some sort of virus that attacks google stuff, and I can't log into my blog! So, it's been a LONG time since I blogged something.

So, we have 9 people living here now. My mom and Donnie's dad both live here, as well as our last 5 kids. Devon is graduated and looking for where to go in life. Cody is adventuring into online school, and I am not looking forward to it, but it is something that needs to be done. Hope has taken tremendous leaps in her artistic abilities! Trinity is also excellent at drawing, and learning her math facts faster than ever. Sam is............ well, SAM. A terror who plays a mean video game at age 5. lol My mom recently moved in with her dog, and she is an amazing help to me. I have some weird back issues, and folding clothes is debilitating for me. So she has taken over the laundry, and I feel SO MUCH BETTER!

Hope just decided "Hey, I think I'll draw Marilyn Monroe." and this is what she did in about an hour! Amazing! Her art teacher is so proud of her and is encouraging her a ton. Plus my mom is an artist, so she is helping her with materials and encouragement, not to mention buying this picture.

We also received some rather exciting news from our newlyweds, Kaytlin and Peter. They are giving us a grandchild in the spring! Not planned, but so very, very much a blessing!

This is a rather early ultrasound, but as you can see, he is very much a boy! They will soon be getting another ultrasound, so it will hopefully be confirmed. Not that I need more proof!

For fun, here is a picture of Sam, being Sam. lol

I love that kid! His middle name means laughter, and he is a never-ending source of laughter!

In other news, I started selling Pure Romance. I LOVE it! Some people really wonder how I can do it, and I am pretty sure some friends have backed away because they really don't see how it could be Christian or Glorify God. And no, not all of the aspects of the business, or the customers, do. However, God created our bodies and meant them for extreme pleasure between a husband and wife, and it DOES glorify God when a married couple makes the effort to learn all that they can about each other in this area and strive to make it fun, pleasing and a JOY. The more pleasurable the intimate life is, the more wonderful the emotional life is! This business for sure has helped many Christian marriages reach new levels of intimacy and joy. I have been majorly blessed through Pure Romance, and I am so excited at the new levels of training I have been offered and the growth I have seen in the short time I have been doing this.

I was recently authorized to start a ladies small group in our church where we meet once a month and play games and eat and just get to know each other so we have new friends and someone to go to when we need to talk or need Godly advice. It was an almost instant hit! Our slow months are about 14 women now! Praise God! I am just blown away by the reach that this ministry is gaining. Women from all walks of life, all levels of hurt and self-destruction coming together to lift and be lifted! It is truly a marvel to see the love between everyone, no matter the life circumstance! I have not experienced that in any other church. It is truly humbling.

My life is drastically different that it was 2 years ago when everything in my perfect life fell apart. This path is so painful, and so wonderful at the same time! I am getting past the pain and living in joy about 99% of the time now. I don't think I ever saw myself where I am, but God sure knew, and I am ever thankful that He directs my paths!

MAM baby products are awesome!

Donnie and I seem to be past the baby phase ourselves, but we are stepping into even better territory of being grandparents! It is funny how much more fun this is! We have one baby granddaughter and will soon be welcoming a new grandson to the mix!

Recently I was sent some really great MAM baby products to check out. It is just amazing how much better things are since I started buying for my first child 22 years ago!

This great pacifier is a MAM Perfect pacifier.

This pacifier is 60% thinner and softer to help prevent dental misalignment, superior comfort and it is better for the skin with the extra holes for air flow.

They have so many great pacifiers to choose from! You can even get them personalized now!

The Anti-Colic bottle is just one of the innovative developments from the MAM design studio. Its vented base has small air holes and a silicone seal that allows for maximum air flow in while still preventing milk from leaking out. The vented base ensures controlled milk flow by balancing air pressure inside the bottle. Liquid is also pushed towards the nipple allowing it to retain its shape and preventing it from collapsing. All Anti-Colic bottles use MAM’s patented ultra soft silicone nipple. Transitioning from breast to bottle is simple because MAM ultra soft silicone nipples feel most like mom's breast.

Our Anti- Colic bottles also have a self- sterilization feature!

The Oral Care Rabbit is a fantastic way to introduce baby to daily oral care. It is a BPA-free product. You can use this to rub on baby's tender gums and also reach the harder to reach areas in the back of baby's mouth. Bonus, baby will love chewing on your fingers!

This starter teething ring and clip are great! It is lightweight for baby to be able to hold and with the attached clip, it will stay cleaner and always close by! I know that when I am looking for a teething ring I look for something light weight because even young babies who are just gaining muscles in their arms need something to chew on, and they drop it less when it isn't too heavy for them.

Finally, I think this is a top notch product! I love the innovative design with the little fingers on the teething part, that is shaped perfectly for little mouths!

This is called the Bite and Brush. It soothes baby's gums as well as cleaning those first teeth. Those silicone nubs clean the teeth when baby chews on it, and you can also use it with teething gel for ultimate soothing.

MAM, you are continually amazing us moms with your products that help us make our baby's life easier and more comfortable! I've been a customer for 22 years, and will continue to buy your products with my grandchildren!

disclaimer:

I received several MAM products from MAM through Child's Play in order to facilitate a review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions.

Marina Games Take Out review

Take-Out is a really fun learning game from Marina Games! I received Take-Out to review recently and play it with Trinity, my 8 year old. She enjoys it so much that she tries to get everyone to play it with her!

Take-Out has 10 orange dice that you roll, then you roll the 2 white dice. The white dice tell you what number you need to remove from the orange dice. If you roll a combination of 6, then you have to remove any combination of orange dice that equals 6. You do that until all your orange dice are gone, so you have a total of zero.

This is fun AND educational! Trinity had to learn her math facts much faster in order to play against older kids and adults!

I highly recommend this game for anyone who wants to help their children learn their math facts without fighting with them. They do have a good chance of kicking your butt at this game!

Disclaimer:

I received this game from Marina Games and Family Review Networks in order to facilitate a review. I was not compensated for my opinion.

Beautiful Feet!

On Monday I wrote a post about my struggle with staying in God's will and how He led me through that decision. Part of it was a verse about having beautiful feet. Beautiful are the feet of those who bring Good News! Yes! I am being stretched and taught so much where I am right now, and that stretching is in reaching the lost and hurting where they are and loving them with the love of Christ.

In the mention of that verse I mentioned that our church had asked people to donate the shoes on their feet to Soles for Souls. The post wasn't about this event, so I didn't elaborate it other than to be proud of our church for donating over 1800 pairs of shoes. Someone kind of freaked out about this, so I will elaborate on it.

We live in America, such a rich nation! Even the poorest of the poor are pretty rich in comparison to some other nations. There are people who have no access to shoes, like EVER, and the price is that they get sick or die. They walk around and grow tough soles, but that causes cracking in the skin which allows parasites and infections to take hold. Because they are so poor, they are most likely scavengers in dumps which poses an even greater danger of punctures and cuts, which leads to more infections and loss of limbs and death.

Even if I am poor, I probably can afford to go to the thrift store or yard sale and get another pair of shoes for pretty cheap. These people do not have that option.

So, our pastor and staff arranged a donation but didn't tell us. He gave us the opportunity to LOVE these people with our BEST and donate our shoes off our feet and to go barefoot and spread awareness of this issue. If we just go tell these people about Jesus, they won't care. But if we go LOVE them because Jesus loves them, then they WILL care about why we would do such a thing for them. They deserve to have shoes, and if we are honest, we will admit to having more than we need in the shoe department. Who can't share their shoes?

The church did not force anyone to donate their shoes. :) Really. I did not donate my shoes. MANY people did not. Some of my kids did, and my husband did. He gave up his favorite pair of boots. He can live without them to save someone's life. I kept my favorite pair of heels, which really wouldn't be a help for them. But we went home and packed up 4 bags of shoes and brought them up to donate. And we still have shoes we never wear.

It is not illegal to drive without shoes. It is a myth. So, no, our church did not call cabs and tow trucks for our congregation or send them out to break the laws of the land.

What about the families? Is it thinking about the families to take their shoes when they might have to go to the store after church? Really, it is Sunday, is it thinking about families to patron a store so people have to work and can't be with THEIR family on a Sunday? So you are inconvenienced, it won't kill you like the parasites and tetanus will in Africa. Small price to pay to serve and love someone. Though I actually saw the some of the congregation went out to eat barefoot and other places, wondering if they would be kicked out. I didn't hear of anyone having to leave because of it. My guess is that most people went home to get one of their 5-20 other pairs of shoes on and then went about their day.

The other big criticism was about what good our heels and dress shoes would do over there. Well, obviously the heels wouldn't be so good, but really, mens dress shoes are pretty much safe and good for feet. However, the amount of dress shoes and heels worn to our church by the 2-4,000 people who attend all of our services is pretty much about 1% if you were being generous, lol. Maybe 2 men wear dress shoes, and maybe 3-4 women wear heels. We don't cater to "churchy" people, we aim for the people who NEED Jesus in their life, and they are often not what churchy people want to see in their church. They wear jeans and t-shirts, ripped up clothes, some are even smelly and drunk. But they see HOPE, hope that will get them out of their addictions and poor choices and bring them to joy and peace.

I realize that this is going to bring out the vultures to try to destroy our church. You have a heart problem if you think that God wouldn't want these people ministered to. The Bible tells us that it is HIS job to judge those who have not chosen Christ. 1 Corinthians 5:12-13. The Bible tells us that we should be wise in the way we act to them, we should be FULL of Grace and only use Salt for seasoning. We don't smash people with SALT, accusing them of their sins, we are to be full of GRACE toward them and then give them salt and let God work on them. Colossians 4:5-6.

Do you who are religious know who Jesus spent his time with? He spent intimate time with his friends and believers, yes. He had his weekends with church, but where did he spend his time outside of being refreshed? With the worst of the worst of the sinners. The tax collectors, the prostitutes, the DRUNKS. He spent so much time with them that he got a reputation for being a glutton and a drunk. Matthew 11:19 "I, the Son of Man, feast and drink, and you say 'He's a glutton and a drunkard, and a friend of the worst kind of sinners!'" He was out there, going and making disciples! He was out there with the LOST, not the religious. And the religious hated him. Matthew 9:10-11. He hung out with NOTORIOUS sinners and the Pharisees were INDIGNANT.

If you love Jesus so much that you are very religious, then you should be asking yourself if you spend time with unbelievers. Do you? Are they a big part of your life? Do you surround yourself with other believers and insulate yourself? I insulated myself. I didn't even know how to FIND friendships with unbelievers! "Invite someone to church who doesn't know Christ? How? I don't know anyone who doesn't believe!" Not practicing my faith right there. I am changing that! I, and so many of my friends and church acquaintances over the years have all taken pride in making ourselves to be more like Jesus. Yet we missed this important part of who Jesus was on Earth! I still don't have it all together here, I am learning who Jesus was, what He did, and how to be like Him.

The religious people crucified Christ. The notorious sinners mourned his death. Because they had a relationship with him. They became His early church, and they paid dearly for it by the religious people. They were called a cult, Acts 24:14 I admit that I follow THE WAY, which they call a cult. Well, I guess I am honored to join them and be called a cult. And to walk barefoot for someone else.

(I am not going to allow attacking and vicious comments on my blog. If you have an honest question and are willing to hear an answer, I will participate. Haters will be deleted.)

Weigh the Cost

"How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!" ( Romans 10:14-15 )

Yesterday in church we were called to walk out of the church leaving our shoes behind. No one knew that they would be asked to leave their shoes. People wore their good shoes, their favorite shoes, their comfy shoes, their new shoes. Over 1800 pairs of shoes were left in the church to be donated to a cause that will show third world country people that we LOVE them. So that they can hear the Good news.

I want to have beautiful feet! One day I will stand before Christ and I want Him to think my feet were beautiful. I am called to serve in a controversial way, and it is hard. I don't mind the hardships, I try not to worry about the gossip or let it hurt me. I pray and seek where God would put me and then I do it. If I hadn't gone through the desert recently I may not be able to remain where God has me, but He made me strong for this day.

There is a price for following Christ. From being ignored to ridiculed, from being beaten to being killed. If we can't bear the ridicule and the loss of relationships, how will we bear the cost of death? Will we lay down our very lives if we walk away when we are gossiped about?

I debated walking away last week. Not away from Christ, but away from where He has me. I felt that maybe I could just serve Him anywhere, why did it have to be here? Was it worth what I was losing to stay here? But the truth of the matter was more was the cost of relationships worth staying in God's WILL? Could I step out of God's will for relationships and still be blessed?

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:

“For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:35-39 New International Version (NIV)

I look at this and I know that if I can't stand firm with losing people I love deeply over Christ, I would not be able to hold firm to my faith when facing death. I don't choose to lose relationships, but I can't disobey God to save them.

I want beautiful feet. I am so thankful that my God always loves, always protects, always guides, and always comforts.

I'm a grandma!

My darling little Faith Ann was born on August 29th! Isn't she precious!? This is her looking at me about an hour or so after she was born.
I was so blessed to be able to be there when she was born. I loved being able to help Drew and Jannessa with things and just be there. We enjoyed almost a week at their house and then we drove back home. They came with us home to show the baby to the rest of the family.
Faith has the softest, thickest head of hair I think I have ever felt on a baby! I am pretty sure it is going to turn blond one day.
Faith was 8lbs 2oz when she was born and is just growing and plumping up more every day!

More great news: We have a grandchild coming in April, too! Kaytlin and Peter are expecting! I wonder how long it will be before "Our Seven Qtpies" is about our 7 grandchildren!

Fall is here!

Fall is here!

Fall means that kids go back to school AND people start going to church again! Yeah! I love seeing new faces at church and watching people learn about God and come closer and closer until they finally see that Jesus is the only way to having eternal life in Heaven! Watching lives change from depressed and messed up to joy and peace and freedom is just priceless!
Ok, so that happens in the summer, too, but when fall comes, it happens MORE.

Tomorrow is Fall Launch for our church AND our first Sunday having two services at our campus! The new series is about having better relationships. Dating relationships, marriages, and even parenting.

We've worked hard to decorate for the new series, and we are excited for morning!

Don't you just love fall! (I would go all "pretty fall colors" and all, but anyone who knows me would know I was off my rocker because I do not do outside, lol)

Life lessons

I recently went through a pretty horrific experience with church leadership. It devastated me. I love that church, but I can say, that even after apologies and admissions and truly seeing where things were misunderstandings and not intentional, I would not go back while those leaders are still in leadership positions. I am not saying everyone should leave, I just can't be under their leadership after the major failure and hurt. They are not bad people. It was a bad situation.

God taught me lots of things during that really long year and half of trying to figure out how those men who seemed to be wise had seemed to have lost their minds.
One of those things was that things are NOT what you think they are. Even when things really look one way, and you can't see any way that it could be something other than what it appears, it certainly can be something else. (in both directions!) Rarely are we blessed enough to see a meeting of the two sides and get to the real truth.

Proverbs 18:17

¹⁷The first to state his case seems right
until his neighbor comes to cross-examine him.

Therefore, I learned that we shouldn't spread the news, even if we think it is probably true and is shocking. We really think everyone should know. But when is one side the whole truth? If you only hear one side you have an absolute obligation to find out the other before you take action and spread gossip. Otherwise you are a perverse person.

A perverse person stirs up conflict, and a gossip separates close friends. Proverbs 16:27-29

The words of a gossip are like choice morsels; they go down to the inmost parts. Proverbs 18:8

People want to hear gossip, especially gossip that tears people apart. If that is how it feels, you should sit back and take notice of WHY you feel the need to spread that rumor.

Sometimes we react out of hurt and truth gets distorted, and a small misunderstanding can become a HUGE offense before we know what hit us. The enemy wants to make Christians fight and cause dissension in the house of God. I've seen this a lot. I would tell my story, but we signed an agreement not to talk about it, even though I think hiding the truth is worse than telling the truth.

So, here is a little story:
A mom's side: My son is 18 and is going to this great church, playing in the worship band, and I check it out and all seems great! Scriptural teachings, great life-change in people! But then one day my son wants to stop going to college and serve God. I think he should finish school, so I say finish or move out. The church HELPED him move out! Then he wants to get married to a woman older than he is! He is only 18! The pastor told him to marry her, to quit college, They are a CULT!

A son's side: I am serving God, love what I do, and I am in God's will. But I am too stressed with school and my mission. I plan to keep serving where I am, and my pastors said they would hire me without a degree, because I have the skills. So I quit, but my parents didn't like it and said I had to move out if that was my choice. I get it, so I asked the church to help me find a place to live to honor my parent's wishes. When I fell in love my parents were furious! They wanted me to wait and got my pastor to tell me to wait. But we prayed and prayed and we really believe that God told us to get married, and we prayed with a mentor (who is not the pastor) and she agreed with us that is was God. I ignored my parents and my pastor's advice, and now I am happily married and serving God where I am supposed to be!

Who is right? His mom raised him to follow God and when he decided to follow God instead of her, she decided he was in a cult. isn't he an adult? Why would we get caught up in the mom's story? People only want to grasp onto the bad "cult" theory and tear apart a group of people who want to serve Christ. The truth doesn't matter. They don't care that they are hurting people, they just blindly and enthusiastically spread the word about this "cult."

Aren't they responsible to God for what they spread around?

This is the point where the internet becomes a frightful thing. Anyone can say anything and anyone will believe it and tear lives apart with no remorse.

1 Peter 2:15
For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people.


God tells us to be fishers of men. I will keep fishing.