a bushel of blessings

I have so very much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving Day, starting with my Savior, whom I would be nothing without. I thank Him for my beautiful family, for my friends, for us being able to have food on our table every day, a warm bed to sleep in every night, and for being able to live in a country where I am free to worship my God publicly and free to speak my mind. We are thankful for our military and their families, especially those in harms way, that sacrifice so much to allow us those freedoms. May God bless you and keep you safe.

To my friends that come on here to check on me, even when I spend days without writing, I wish every one of you and your families a very blessed Thanksgiving.

he walked in

Twelve years ago today, he walked into my life, (actually "typed" into my life since we met online) and forever changed it. He has since become one of my greatest blessings. Ever.

On that late night in November, never did I expect the stranger I had just met to not only become my husband and prove to me that soul mates really do exist, but not in my wildest dreams did I ever think that God would use him so powerfully to bring me back to my Savior.

Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think that we would not only add one, nor two, but three precious children to our newly blended family.

Never did I think I would become the happiest woman in the world by saying "I do" to this stranger.

Never did I think he could wipe my tears away and make me laugh hysterically in the midst of a pain and sadness.

Never did I think I would find myself standing in awe of him as I watch him fulfill his role as an amazing father, playing with our kids and leading them by example.

Never have I felt what love truly is, until I felt it through the eyes of this stranger.

Am I ever glad that I really believe in never saying never!

Happy 12 years together, baby.

I love you with all of my being.

Psstt...wanna do something really cool?

UPDATED 6:25 P.M. Just got home to over 40 different families requesting addresses....YAAAAYYY, GOD! I think I have sent the address to everyone that has requested. If you have not received an email from me, then I didn't receive it. Please let me know. THANK YOU SO MUCH!!

PS. Some of you have asked if you could share it with your families or friends or post a link on your blog or FB, etc. That would be great. PLEASE REMEMBER NOT TO PUBLICLY POST HIS ADDRESS ON ANY SITE!

I can't wait to hear Holly's report from her hubby when they start pouring in!

I have been blessed by an amazing adoptive, homeschooling, God-loving, military wife, and Mama to participate in a very cool project . Her name is Holly from Purpose Driven Family.

You all know how much we appreciate our military troops and their families. So, when Holly wrote and asked if we could do this, I not only said, "Yes!", but immediately asked her if it would be okay to pass it on!

She said, "Yes!"

I am so excited! I just know that you, my readers, would love to join in, but would also help spread the word so that her hubby, Tony, who is in Iraq serving our country, will not only be flabbergasted because it's his birthday, but will know (as if he didn't already) how crazy in love his wife is with him and how special she wants this birthday to be.

You see, last year during his birthday, this family was going through one of the most difficult trials God has ever placed before them. Tony and Holly spent his birthday in tears and prayer. No air of celebration.

This year, as God would have it, although there is peace in their hearts, they find themselves thousands of miles apart with Tony celebrating his 36th birthday in a war zone.

Now here's where YOU come in!

Holly has asked for help by "blessing him with cards!"

She wrote, "Like in the mail kinda cards! They can be cheapy blank cards...no need to spend big bucks. I just want to surprise him...letting him know that people all over the place CARE about his service and want to bless him on his birthday.

His b-day is Dec. 8th and while his APO address will allow you to send the card with a simple stamp just as if you were sending it within the US...it still takes TIME to get there...so the cards need to be send by Nov. 21st to be safe!

Some will show up early and some late...so it will be an ongoing blessing :)

If you don't know Tony personally, you can just say "I'm a friend of your wife's and wanted to say thank you for serving and our family just said a prayer for you"
or something similar!

If you have kids and they want to draw in the card or something...that would be great!

You can include a family picture or your blog site if you have one...I just want him to be floored that so many people actually really do CARE about his sacrifice!

December was such a painful month last year...I want it to be a month of BLESSINGS this year even if we can't be together as a family!

So- please....send my husband a card and a word of encouragement for his birthday!

Pretty please!! And Thank you!!

Can't wait to see how God moves through YOU."

So friends, how about we blow the socks off this soldier and show this family how much they mean to us and how much their sacrifice is appreciated?

If you'd like to participate, please EMAIL ME and I will send you his address right away. How cool would it be for him to receive hundreds of cards from all over the world?

SURPRISE!!!!!!!

OMG! He rocks my world!

The words I type can in no way show the excitement in my voice or can allow you to see the tears streaming down it.

TEARS OF JOY!

TEARS THAT AFFIRM WHAT I ALREADY KNEW!

MY GOD ROCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I just don't understand how people can live without God in their life!

WOW!

DOUBLE WOW! I sit here in complete awe!

Ok, I'll stop rambling. Here's what happened.

Remember "The Ordeal" I keep speaking about that has changed our lives? The ordeal is so complicated and twisted that it could truly be a best selling novel.

A few months ago, through our church, we purchased tickets to go see Casting Crowns. When "the ordeal" broke out, it greatly affected whether or not we could go to this concert for many, many reasons. Since again, my family is first and foremost, I didn't want to be put into a predicament that I would later greatly regret. For almost 3 weeks now, I've prayed and asked God, "Should we go?"

And for 3 weeks now, there's been no answer.

The concert is this Sunday. If I wasn't going to go, I needed to pass the tickets on back to the church to allow someone else to go.

My heart kept telling me that God is going to deliver a message to me at the concert.

But my head (actually satan) kept telling me that we are in huge financial difficulties, that we couldn't afford to go, that it would be disastrous and just add gas to the flames already surrounding "the ordeal".

I am embarrassed to say that as of 9:15 this morning, I was not listening to my heart, but instead was listening to my head. My sister called and we discussed what I was doing with the tickets, even after some encouragement from her, I had almost made up my mind that we wouldn't go.

I figured I'd try one last time and check in with God. I prayed. I told him I wanted to do His will, not mine because I knew that whatever He chose would be the right move.

Again, no answer. I got up from being on my knees frustrated.

I told Amanda we'd be starting her classes in a few minutes, served myself a cup of coffee and went to check my email.

A couple of minutes later, my phone rang. It was a strange number. The caller was from NY.

Hmmm....

I picked up the phone, still feeling frustrated about not hearing an answer about the concert and of course, depressed about "the ordeal".

ME: Hello

CALLER: Ohilda? Hi, this is T. from NY.

ME: Who?

CALLER: T. from NY I read your blog and am on your FB.

ME: Oh, hi! (surprised that I would be getting a phone call from someone who has never called me).

CALLER: I know this is strange, but I was just driving in my car WHILE LISTENING TO CASTING CROWNS, and had a huge urging from the Holy Spirit to call you. I'm not sure why.

ME: OMG! OMG! OMG! (Big tears now streaming as I am fumbling to speak).

Finally, after about 10 seconds and probably T. thinking I was absolutely crazy:

ME: T! You have no idea what you've just done. I feel like it's God calling me Himself. You didn't say, "Ohilda, I had a huge urging from the Holy Spirit to call you". Because if you would have, I would have just thought that the Lord wanted me to ask you to pray for us. Instead, He used you totally and completely. You said, "....WHILE LISTENING TO CASTING CROWNS, and had a huge urging from the Holy Spirit to call you."

CALLER: Thank you, Jesus for using me as your vessel.

(T. feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. This is as accurate as I can recall the conversation through my tears and screaming in your ear!)

After that we chatted a bit, I explained my crazy response and thanked her profusely for allowing herself to listen to Him and following through on the "urge". Many people I know, probably myself included, would not have looked for a phone number and picked up the phone to call someone you don't really know, without a reason and simply say, The Holy Spirit asked me to. What an amazing servant you are, T. He uses ANYONE who is willing to serve Him. Even strangers who live thousands of miles away. In this case, He chose someone who He knew would be obedient to His "urge". He needed His message delivered, "GO TO THE CONCERT!"

He answers prayers. Everytime.

Sometimes they may not be the answer we want or expect. But our prayers never, ever fall on deaf ears.

His word is filled with affirmations of this.


Jer 29:12........ "Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you."

Job 22:27...... "You will make your prayer to Him, He will hear you..."

Jn 15:7.......... "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you."

and there are so many more!

What a way for me to show my daughter that God DOES answer prayers. And what a way to show her that when you surrender to the King, and allow yourself to be used, He will use you in great ways. T. did just that and I pray that He bless her tenfold for it!

Yes, I am excited because we will be seeing Casting Crowns on Sunday, but I am BEYOND ECSTATIC that I serve, worship and adore the one, true living God who's got my back! I know that I will be going to the concert and indeed receiving that message and He will be there, right by our side!

I LOVE YOU, JESUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"thank you" isn't enough...

but it's the least we can do when we see a member of our military.

(Please scroll to the bottom to turn off background music.)

apologies

I have so very much to be thankful for.

And I am.

God has blessed me over and over and over and then He's blessed me some more.

Yet, I feel that I'm constantly coming on here to ask for prayers. I feel that I've created it to be the place readers come to when they're in the mood for doom and gloom.

I apologize.

Truly.

Sincerely.

I don't mean to, but it's my escape. It's the place I come to share my heart. The same heart that rejoices in His word, but can just as quickly be broken at thoughts that I wish wouldn't enter the deepest creases of mind.

It will be like this for a while.

I'm sorry.

thinking out loud...

Tough day today.

I was struggling in my mind after an emotional day. The thought came to me to ask God for a message by flipping the bible open to any page and reading the first thing I laid my eyes on.

I did.

My eyes immediately became fixated on the words that appeared before me:


"For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us." - Romans 8:18

Thank you, Jesus! I wait with hope and joy for that glory to be revealed.