Wednesday, June 23, 2010
I hope you enjoy these words and that you are as Blessed by them as I am.
"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or
about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are they not much more valuable than you: Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?" . . . "But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and all these things will be added unto you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, or tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of it's own." Matthew 6:23-27 & 33-34
Wordfilled Wednesday
Cowboy's grandmother. . .Please visit Amy Deanne for more wonderful illustrations of God's Word. The Link is over at Lori's today click here.
Have a happy Wordfilled Wednesday
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
In Other Words . . .


Please join us on Tuesday by sharing on the quote below for our weekly, In Other Words. Each Friday a new quote is given here, on Writing Canvas, along with who will be hosting that week’s In Other Words.
Tuesday’s In Other Words will be hosted by Karen on her blog, In Love W.I.T.H. Jesus. Take time to think and ponder on the quote below and share about it on your blog on Tuesday. Then, visit In Love W.I.T.H. Jesus and share a link to your blog and visit the others who have also written on it. And of course, if you do not wish to write on it, please visit those that do! :)
Monday, June 21, 2010
I Will Not Be Silent-Book Review
I want to thank April Maley for sending me I Will Not Be Silent her story. I have to give this book 5 stars. There are many parts of April's story that will sadden you. There are a few pages that are difficult to read. But this is the true story of April's life. The best part I have to say is although she went through a horrible childhood; with faith and determination she got through it and through early adulthood and has emerged a woman of faith. In her book April candidly shares her heartache and pain and her journey toward God and his grace and love.There are parts of this story that saddened me and made me angry at how things were handled by law enforcement and social services. My heart grieved for April and her family. It saddened me that they were not able to get help. I admire April's desire to share her story with others in the hopes that it will help other women that are suffering from domestic abuse.
I Will Not Be Silent is well written. It was one of those books that you don't want to put down.
From the back cover: "I lived through years of physical, mental, and emotional abuse: alcoholism; rejection; murder; illness; and insanity. I have battled my own inner demons as a result of that fateful day. It is my greatest wish to create a broader awareness and preventative action for child abuse and domestic violence, and provide hope for those who find themselves trapped in those situations. The cycle can be broken."
A review from the website:
Maley drew me in from the very first sentence. She writes to her readers and I felt like I was having a conversation with a dear friend instead of reading a stranger's horrifying life story. The things that April Maley has gone through will break your heart. Her story is very powerful---I cried three times reading this and when I finished, I was so affected that I thanked God for my own happy childhood. I finished this book with a resolve to do something to help victims of child abuse and domestic violence.
A portion of the proceeds from the book go to Mohr-Maley Foundation. You can visit the I Will Not Be Silent website for more information and to purchase the book. You can also purchase at Amazon. Here is the direct link
Happy Homemaker Monday

In the craft basket: either my daughters quilt (hand pieced) or felt Christmas ornaments if I can find them.
Looking forward to this week: Peace and rest. It may sound crazy but this week will be very peaceful and restful for me even though I am in a motel because I have no place to live. I know that very soon God will be provide and I'll be sweating the pounds away when we're moving!

Lesson learned the past few days: That God may not answer your prayers the way you ask, the way you expect or when you hope; but he is there working things out and providing what is best for you in each moment.
Saturday, June 19, 2010
My Soul Sings
This morning I needed to update my friends on what is going on. We basically are homeless. We lost the lease on the house due to the major corporate sponsor backing out. All our belongings are in storage.
Currently we are staying with friends in an r.v. which isn't bad but there is no water and we only have till next weekend here. Our dog has to stay outside in a crate at night and on the leash during the day. This because she smells. Probably because it is so hot and she has spent so much time in the car. We don't know what to do about our cat.
We have a number of options for housing but nothing that will allow the animals. I tried to find a no-kill shelter for the cat last night. They are all full.
On the bright side Cowboy got a job and starts Monday.
I should have used Praise You In The Storm for this post but for some reason it just didn't seem to fit. Although I am praising God for a place to sleep. I am praising God for Cowboys job. Which btw he is so excited about. It is working on Hot Rods. They offered full time but they know about our ministry so he gets to make his own schedule around the ministry programs. schedules. It is exciting because the owner of the shop loves our ministry and wants to help with the boys and possibly teach the boys. He said that he has wanted to expand to a bigger building near the current one that has a house so we could possibly move there. He was hopefull we might consider then he would have someone on site.
There are many positive things happening and so I do have lots to Praise God for. I know that thought this experience he is grooming me. For what I don't know. But I do know that just what I wrote this morning is only the very tip of the ice burg. There are so many more things that I could write about our ministry experiences that I think would help and encourage. I know when the time is right he will give me the words to put it all together here for you.
Until then my friends will you please pray for us. Pray we find housing really, really soon that we can afford that will allow the dog and cat. Please, please pray that we can find a temporary solution if we need to for the dog and cat.
Cowboy and I are fine. Well we need a shower (please don't pitcure that) and we will get one this afternoon at my mom's. She has been out of town and doesn't know any of our situation. I'll be going over there later this afternoon and dropping the bombshell on her and taking a shower!
Praying peace to you and God's Blessings.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Embracing God's 2nd Calling . . .What?
to the reader . . . Caution. . . I have no idea how long this post will be. It may seem random in places. . . you may have difficulty reading because of typo's (I hate this dawng computer) it may be whinny or inspirational. I hope the later. I am writing it to you and to God. Read on you'll understand. 7 years ago we began working part time in ministry. Within 6 months we were full time while Cowboy held down a full time job. (see this computer is stupid I did not ask for italics again nor turn it off it is possessed I say) We owned our own business so he could spend lots of time on the ministry. Opp's sorry, I am getting a little ahead. . . we began working in ministry when my Cowboy was called by God to try and help teenagers and get them to come to church and tell them about God and about Jesus Christ. This was not his idea it was God's. He followed God's calling and we ended up in full time ministry. That ministry evolved into what it is today. Working in prison units teaching auto mechanics to the boys, sewing to the girls and leading chapel services in both units. There were times a few years ago that I was so burned out that I had a hard time ministering. We literally left our house at 8 or 9 in the morning and didn't come home till 9 or 10 at night. It was physically demanding and emotionally demanding. Picture dealing with 20-22 teenagers every single day. The last few years I was either cooking or co-ordinating the evening meal for these 20 or so kids. And I loved it. But what I couldn't handle was the every single day part. Oh I forgot about Saturday that was our short day. We came home at 3:00 in the afternoon. That was the day the kids from the jail came. And that is another story. As I began to be burned out...here's why; if you haven't read between the lines. Who do you think did the laundry, took care of all the meals, cleaned up after all the meals, took out the trash, made the bed (no cross that one off no one made the bed) you get where I am going. And run a seperate girls ministry during the day. You know you've heard 'be careful what you pray for'. Well I prayed for some relief. I was only asking for maybe a day off but what happened was we lost all funding sources and all our volunteers. All of this for two reasons. We became estranged from Cowboys mother (who btw is a closet alcoholic) because she didn't not accept our son in law. And we changed churches because the church we were at told us how wrong we were because of the estrangement. (there is much more to this story our son in law worked in our ministry) Just before all this happened I began working with the halfway house (girls prison) and so the ministry shifted gears and instead of working primarily with local kids we began working 100% with the girls inside the prison unit and soon after we finally got into the boys unit. (we had been praying to be allowed to work with the boys for 3 years). Since that time we have struggled. I mean really, really struggled. But Cowboy always said God gave him the vision for this ministry for two reasons...#1 no one else would do it. And #2 he was too stubborn to quit.
Fast forward to what is going on right now. A few months ago we learned the house we were living in was being sold. We were already behind on rent because the corporate sponsors had begun changing their policy and they began really dragging their feet on disbursement of funds. Slowly they began to pay and we were able to get some other corporate sponsors interested in the Auto Mechanics program. Not the faith-based part of our work. We began looking for a house prayerfully asking God to provide a combination of house and place for ministry. And, we felt like he did when we found the house and hanger. Still having difficulty with the funding they still continued to provide albeit slow. The board approved signing the lease and approved the house and we waited on funds. We were given from one source the first months rent. But the deposit was coming from another source. They assured us it was on it's way. We barely had the money in the bank to cover that check but we had written some others for utilities etc. Well long story short the money was not wired as they had promised and of all checks to bounce the deposit check bounced. The sponsors sent half of the deposit eventually but we still haven't gotten the rest. We have not received this months funding and we are being forced to move. We knew this was happening two weeks ago but remember I told you Cowboy is stubborn. Last weekend we went to Houston to a convention (all expenses paid) where we received an award for our Chaplaincy programming. Theoretically we should have stayed home and packed but we were still holding onto faith and hope that God would answer our prayers and provide a miracle.
Today we are still asking God for a miracle. But more so we are asking him for direction. In April when all this started I began feeling that God was leading us toward apartment ministry. I talked to Cowboy the stubborn one. He adamantly said God is not calling him to apartment ministry. His words "God called me to do auto mission." We heard someone say one time actually pray that he would not get too far ahead of God or get behind God. Well I am wondering now if that is what we are doing? When I first approached Cowboy about the apartment ministry he said well get the info. and I did but it just didn't seem right. They didn't call us back. I emailed and then finally got someone to call and they said that the application process required both of us to fill out separate applications (it didn't say that on the form that I originally found on the inter-net and filled out) and so I thought well that is our answer. God talks to Cowboy more than me. Or at least Cowboy is a better listener.
Shortly before we were to move I found out that one of our long time closest friends just changed jobs. He is working in apartment ministry (with a different firm). I thought it was interesting but actually forgot about it until last night or maybe this morning I woke up and remembered that he is in apartment ministry.
Right now we don't know where we will sleep tonight. But Cowboy is calling our friend to see if he can help with a temporary apartment that takes dogs btw. (if not our option is a weekly motel and we don't know what to do with the dog)
I am praying. He is praying. We are asking God is this our 2nd calling.
Will you pray for us today and tomorrow and the rest of this week. Will you please leave me comments. Will you please pass onto your other friends and ask them to lift us and our ministries before the Lord. We need guidance and direction. Here's the link to the ministry blog. Please go there and see what we are all about.
Thank you for stopping in. Thank you for taking the time to read this post and for praying for us. I'll will be writing more posts about our ministry journey and I hope that you'll come back. I hope that you'll find something here that touches your heart.
Sending you God's love and Blessings today.
Monday, June 14, 2010
Happy Homemaker Monday
Joining Sandra again today for Happy Homemaker Monday . . .The weather in my neck of the woods: Summer not too hot. I think maybe in the 90's
Things that make me happy: Reading a good book
Book I'm reading: I Will Not Be Silent (the next review)
What I'm enjoying on TV: On Monday is cartoons because the baby spends the day.
On the menu for dinner: Pan Seared Talapia, rice and green beans. All pantry and freezer need to go to the store.
On my To Do List: Laundry and playing with baby.
New Recipe I tried or want to try soon: I found this over at Gail's and it looked soooo yummy. The recipe is Hot Chicken Salad. I loved her entire menu which included the Hot Chicken Salad, a green salad, biscuits and angel food cake with strawberries.
In the craft basket: hmm I don't know still need to prepare for the girls to sew on Friday so I guess crafting has to wait.
Looking forward to this week: Answers from God concerning the ministry and our next steps.
Tips and Tricks: I finally figured out a way to be more organized and get my meme posts ready. Example for Happy Homemaker Monday I copied Sandra's post and put it along with the photo into a word document. I saved it as HHM. I delete Sandra's answers then saved it. During the
week when I run across a recipe, photo, a new blog post and the Bible verse when I find it to I cut and past the addresses in the spaces (with a note of explanation and reminder to myself) and whalaw on Monday morning everything is ready. I then cut and past my work into my post and fill in the blanks. This is working wonderfully for me.
My favorite blog post this week: My favorite post this week came from Traci it is here weekly Wednesday with Wanda where she writes about things she learned from her mother. Go over here and read her last post.
Blog Hopping (a new discovered blog you would like to share with the readers): I found this blog over at Faithfulness Farm. I am attracted to blogs by their names so I go over and check them out. Some are what I expect some are not. I was intrigued by this name Butter Yum I wasn't
disappointed there is amazing yumminess there with beautiful photo's. If you don't know what to cook for dinner go and check it out.

No words needed (favorite photo or picture, yours or others you want to share): Remember Gail's dinner menu from above?

On my mind: Ministry programming and fundraising and it's effect on my family.
Devotionals, Scripture Reading, Key Verses: Surely this is our God: we trusted him, and he saved us. This is the Lord, we trusted in him; let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation." Isaiah 25:9
Thursday, June 10, 2010
I have decided . . .

Fathers Day shopping
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00067L6TQ/?tag=myjoubac-20
I just signed up to be an Amazon Azzociate. I am still figuring it out. But once I am all set up if you purchase a book that is reviewed on my site then our ministry will receive a donation.
That's pretty cool! So help me out and go to my Review page and order a book.
Book Review--The Case Of The Great Granny

What a fun who dun it! I enjoyed this book. I have to say though I was a little uncertain about it based on the authors Preface where he describes his main character. He is described as "a rogue cop. He is a man who would rather be anywhere than where he is on a daily basis. He hates the job he does, always has always will. I wrote this character to show how dismal his day-to-day existences was when it came to dealing with society." The author Thomas Emmon Pisano.
This quote had me wondering about the main character Bradley Daggers. And yes he is a bit of a rogue cop but I envisioned a somewhat charming character underneath all the brass.
I had kind of a Mel Gibson (Lethel Weapon) pictured in my mind. And in fact I like him. I even felt sorry for him when . . .(I really shouldn't reveal too much you'll have to read the book)
The story which is about the murder investigation of an elderly woman plays out with multiple suspects. After accidentally shooting a suspect Daggers begins having to deal with Internal Affairs as well as a new partner which he doesn't want (for his own person reasons which is not only because the partner is a woman)
I really enjoyed the book. It was a classic cop story.
The only negative I could say about it is that I felt that the one chapter that was rather 'racy' could have been left out or just toned down. I really don't think it really added to the story. What I read into this one chapter was the authors attempt at making it an Adult book. It left me a little disappointed almost like a movie that has a sex scene in it just to get it an "R" rating.
I read another review which described it as similar to a Nancy Drew or Hardy Boys book (minus the one chapter.)
The author does an excellent job also in the Preface warning the reader . . . "There are some realistic scenes in this novel that are too violent or sexy for anyone but the adult reader, so beware of my realism and harsh language."
I personally wasn't bothered by the realism or harsh language and actually don't even remember noticing it as anything other than part of how the characters talked which made it real.
As I mentioned I read another review when I was searching for a photo and I loved how she described the book. . . This book is written like the classic cop shows on television. Every day starts out at the precinct, the one-nine, with the commanding officer giving the assignments, all he has to add is "Be careful out there," and you would think you are reading a copy of a script from Hill Street Blues, but this takes place in Los Angeles so maybe Dragnet would be a better reference. Please visit here for her complete review.
The Case Of The Great Granny can be purchased directly from the author at his website. I encourage you to visit there. You can also purchase at Amazon.com. Here is the link.
I look forward to reading more from Thomas Emmon Pisano especially the next Bradley Daggers story which btw the word on the street is that Bradley is leaning towards making a fresh start in New Orleans.
Disclosure I received this book free from the author through Bostick Communications . I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
Saturday, June 5, 2010
Then Sings My Soul
Welcome to Then Sings My Soul hosted by Amy. This is my favorite Saturday stop. If you haven't visited before . . . each Saturday we post a song that has spoke to us this week. Today I am sharing a song I have heard everyday this week! Each time I visit over at Carrie's this song has been playing. I hope you enjoy it!
Friday, June 4, 2010
Giving you Joy today
Just a quick Hello and a wish for you to have a Happy Day and a Blessed weekend. And I hope that you feel like a Princess today. Being one of God's children makes us all princesses and gives us reason for Joy because there is nothing between Jesus and you. See if you look at the word Joy...
Jesus
O zero,zip nothing
You. . .
so today even if you don't feel like a princess rest in God's love and experience his grace and mercy and just maybe you'll begin to realize and feel his Joy
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Book Review-Life In Spite of Me

Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Wordfilled Wednesday
I hope that everyone had a blessed Wordfilled Wednesday. I was having inter-net problems again last night and today. Didn't get it straigthened out till after 8 tonight. So I am posting late. I had a photo ready but I'll do it next week instead. I liked this illustration because it really spoke to me. I really need to focus more on trusting. And obeying. Asking God to show me his ways.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Happy Homemaker Monday on Tuesday

The weather in my neck of the woods: Summer has arrived it is in the 90's
Things that make me happy: Dr. Pepper
Book I'm reading: Life In Spite of Me by: Kristen Anderson (the next review)
I'm enjoying on TV: waiting for Kate and the kids to come back on TLC
On the menu for dinner: Lobster Raviolli and Ceasar Salad and Green Beans
On my To Do List: Finishing my dog Daisy's spa today. It takes me two days to shave her. Then her bath tonight I hope.
New Recipe I tried or want to try soon:
Corn salad…dice tomatos,cucumbers,purple onion, basil and add corn. Drizzle with Italian dressing. Stir and chill till ready to serve.

In the craft basket: Preparing baby quilt tops with backings for the girls to tie on Friday.
Looking forward to this week: More review books in the mail.
Tips and Tricks: I seemed to get my laundery completely finished if I take one day and focus on it. As soon as a load is done I fold or hang and put away. If I don't do this I end up with folded loads on my dryer or hanging in the laundry room.
My favorite blog post this week: Sandi at My Yellow Door posted a Teatime Tuesday post last week. I really enjoyed her display and the post. Here's the link.http://sandimyyellowdoor.blogspot.com/2010/05/tea-time-tuesday_24.html
Blog Hopping (a new discovered blog you would like to share with the readers): http://www.thestoriesofa2z.com/ Beth has a great blog where she shares her decorating secrets and photo's of her home. I always enjoy my visit there.
No words needed (favorite photo or picture, yours or others you want to share): becky’s memorial day photo sweet cottage dreams

Lesson learned the past few days: To know God's plan, to feel God you have to seek him.
On my mind: God's plan for me, Cowboy and the ministry
Devotionals, Scripture Reading, Key Verses: Be still and know I am God
Monday, May 31, 2010
Book Review--A Crime To Be Rich

Happy Homemaker Monday . . . coming soon
. . . running late. . .
baby coming to play . . .
will post during nap. . .
Happy Memorial Day
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Simple Sunday
And I found a lovely bouquet of flowers over at my friend Renae's so I am leaving it here for you too.

I will be leaving in a few minutes to go and do the chapel service at the girls Halfway House. Will you please say a pray for our girls
May your day be Simply Blessed.
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Then Sings My Soul

Enjoy the video.