Tuesday, March 20, 2012

God Story #2- The Unlikely Mother


Sitting there in the 8th grade girls locker room, I remember thinking that I was the luckiest girl in the world. Everyone else was complaining about “cramps, bloating and periods” that lasted for entire weeks of their lives. I loved to chime in with “My period only lasted 2 or 3 days at most”. They would all sit in envy.

Years later that 2 to 3 day “period” dwindled down to once a year and then to nothing. When I was 19, I decided to go to the Doctor to find out what was going on. The Doctor said I had little to no ovulation and that it would be difficult if not impossible for me to get pregnant without assistance. I was devastated because all I ever really wanted was to be a mother and wife. In 1998 when I met my husband Shane,we really wanted children together and so we decided then that we would hand it over to God. We declared over and over that “We will take as many little blessings as YOU will give us.”

Well, It wasn’t long before we had our first child, then our second. I am now the proud mother of 7 healthy children with the 8th on the way. Each addition has added more joy to our family and I feel truly blessed that God has entrusted us with His precious little ones.  

God story #1- Angel on the Paper Route


In 1999 the early years of our marraige, God gave me a newspaper route to supplement our small family income after I had my first child. It was the perfect arrangement. My route started at 2:30am and ended at 6:30am in time for my husband to go to work. I was finally a stay-at-home mom. The only set-back was the pay was nothing compared to my previous bank job. Shane and I struggled financially in those years and at times I even traded babysitting for food.



One wintery night in the middle of my route, I realized that I was running out of gas in my car. It was nearly Christmas and we were in the worst financial crisis of our lives. I barely had enough gas to get home nevertheless to finish the paper route. And I had no money. I drove for another 15-20 minutes of my route crying out to God and reminding him of the promises he had made to us about providing our needs. I knew that he wanted me to stay home with my son but everything around us was falling apart. After I had spent that 15-20 minutes driving around, it became clear I no longer had a choice. I wasn't going to make it home!



 All I could think about was sitting out in the dark in the middle of the night with no way to call someone to help me. I didn’t own a cell phone back then. Just as the fear set in, I began praying in tongues. Within minutes, I felt this peaceful calm come over me. "I'm going to be ok." I thought to myself. And I continued the paper route. I pulled up to the next dark driveway, rolled down the window to throw out a newspaper and a man suddenly stepped out of the darkness. My heart nearly stopped. He noticed my shock and apologized for scaring me. Then he reached out his hand and handed me an envelope. "Merry Christmas." He said. Assuming it was a Christmas card, I said “Thank You.” and drove away. I wondered out loud what in the world was a man doing standing outside in the middle of this freezing night. As I rounded the corner, deep inside I heard God say "Open it." So I opened the envelope and to my surprise inside the envelope was a Christmas card and $50 cash. God had provided EXACTLY what I needed. I still often wonder if I had met a real angel that cold wintery night.

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Change of plans

I started this blog to talk about our small business and encourage other small business owners. Although I love our business NOW IT'S PARTY TIME, It's so much easier to write about what you are passionate about. And I am passionate about my JESUS and my family of 9. SO I decided to change the name of this blog and actually talk about Gods provisions in our lives as a large family. I will also throw in a few cute kid stories as well. Enjoy!