If Jesus Came to Your House

If Jesus came to your house to spend a day or two,
If He came unexpectedly, I wonder what you’d do.
Oh, I know you’d give your nicest room to such an honored guest.
And all the food you’d serve would be the very best,
And you would keep assuring Him you’re glad to have him there….
But…. When you saw Him coming, would you meet Him at the door
With arms outstretched in welcome to our heav’nly visitor?
Of would you maybe change your clothes before you let Him in,
Or hide some magazines and put the Bible where they’d been?
Would you turn off the radio and hope He hadn’t heard,
And wish you hadn’t uttered that last, loud and hasty word?
Would you hide your worldly music and pout some hymnbooks out?
Could you let Jesus walk right in, or would you rush about?
And I wonder… if the Savior spent a day or two with you,
Would you go right on doing the things you always do?
Would you go right on sayings the things you always say?
Would life for you continue as it does from day to day?
Would your family conversation keep up its usual pace?
And would you find it hard each meal to say a table grace?
Would you sing the songs you always sing and read the books you read?
And let Him know the things on which you mind and spirit feed?
Would you take Jesus with you everywhere you’d planned to go,
Or would you, maybe, change your plans for just a day or so?
Would you be glad to have Him meet your very closest friends,
Or would you hope they’d stay away until His visit ends?
Would you be glad to have Him stay forever on and on,
Or would you sigh with great relief when He at last was gone?
If might be interesting to know that things that you would do,
If Jesus came in person to spend some time with you.

Author unknown

Happy Tired

Today is my birthday so I decided to take a little time and do something that I want to do. (like update my blog LOL)

This year was the BEST Thanksgiving that I think I have ever had. We had a lot of food and sweets! My mom, sister and ALL of my nieces were here. My wonderful husband built us a table for the living room so that we ALL could sit around the table together. It was great! People just kept coming, by the end of the day we had almost 25 people.
The guys and kids played WII and us girls looked at sales papers. The day was perfect.

The next day me, my mom, my sister, six teenagers and one 11yr old got up at 2:30am and went shopping. It is a tradition for me, my mom and sister to go but this year the kids wanted to go. I was worried about all the kids going but they took their own car and everything went smoothly. I got all of my big items purchased and came home with $4 to spare. No credit cards only cash. Now that is called budgeting. LOL Another perfect day.

Saturday one of my nieces had a wedding to go to, so she came over so I could do her hair. Before I knew it EVERYONE was back at my house. (I had just finished cleaning LOL) I LOVED IT!!!!!! Her hair turned out really pretty. Another perfect day.

After all that I am very very very tired but it is a happy, content and oh so blessed tired.
Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

I have two more posts but I will save some for later. lol

New Pics

All I Have To Say About It...

2Ti 1:7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.


Jer 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD , "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.


Rom 13:1 Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. ForG there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.

Fun Fest 2008

We had A LOT of fun at Fun Fest. They had pony rides, bouncy thingies(?), hay rides, cotton candy and lots and lots of games. The boys had a blast. Here are a few pictures.

Introducing Bob the Tomato aka Braeden and Larry the Cucumber aka Nathan
Braeden was trying to eat over his tomato belly. It was cute.

Climbing Up

Sliding Down LOL

One of these is Bunch N Breeze but I'm not telling you which one. LOL

ABIGAIL WAS TOO CUTE!!

We Have A New Addition

Not that a vehicle is a family member, but I do hate walking (when it is not by choice) so I guess I love our cars. We got tired of fixing our Sonata every other month so we got something with a warranty and then we bought the extra warranty. LOL
Sooo introducing our new 2008 F-150

I know what I forgot

On the last day we were gone, my husband preached for Rev. Kenny Prince. Their church is awesome. The building was beautiful and the music was great. You could definitely feel the presense of God. Kolton is Nathan's new hero because he was playing the drums. Kolton did a really good job too. God is doing wonderful things for their church. I am soooo glad that we got to go and fellowship with them for a few hours.

Thank you Bro. and Sis. Prince for inviting us.

Our Trip

Ok, maybe when I said I would blog about our trip "tomorrow" I meant next week. Sorry it has taken me so long. I have had a really bad cold and it seems everything I have done has taken me twice as long. I am feeling better now though.
Anyway here is my trip in a nut shell. (whatever that is)


Saturday we started out trip with the Luman family Reunion. It is in the woods, in the middle of nowhere. This is four of my dad's sisters and my mom.
Sunday Kevin preached in Kilgore. I was asked to teach Sunday School. I loved it. We sang "When you're up you're up" about twenty times. I was in high heels. I was so sore I could barely walk for days. LOL

Tuesday we went to our friends Micheal and Tamera's house. We all went to a pumpkin patch and let the kids get pumpkins. We always enjoy spending time with their family.

Our children had a little too much fun. LOL

Wednesday we went to the zoo.

The birds were our favorite part. One landed on Nathan's head.

TWO landed on Kevin!

I don't remeber what day it was but one of the days we carved pumpkins. Well, Lil Kevin carved a gourd. LOL I think they turned out really cute.

Well that was about it. We had fun mostly relaxing. It feels like I am forgeting something but this is what I took pictures of so this is what I remember.

weeereee baaaackkkk!

We have been out of town since the 3rd. I am glad to be back home.

I plan to blog all about our trip tomorrow.

Here is a picture that I took while we were gone. You thought our gas was high.

What a difference a dot can make.

Can you figure this out?

3 brothers go to a hotel. To save money they decide to share a room and equally split the cost. The hotel manager tells them that the total cost of the room is $30. Each brother pays $10. They get their key and go to the room. A short while later the hotel manager realizes that the total cost of the room was not $30 but was only $25. The hotel manager gives a $5 bill to the bellboy and sends him to the brothers’ room to give the refund. The bellboy not knowing how to divide a $5 bill between 3 brothers decided it would be easier to give each brother $1 each and just keep the extra $2 for himself. So when he arrived at the room he gave each $1. This made it so each brother then only paid $9 ($10 minus the $1 refund) each for the room.
So if each of the 3 brothers paid $9 that is $27 total. The bellboy kept $2 for himself. This is a total of $29. The 3 brothers initially paid $30.
Where is the missing dollar?

I love the Fair!!

Friday we went to the Wichita Fair. I have not been to a fair in a long time. We had a lot of fun.Kevin, Nathan and Miranda are feeding the animals.

MY BOYS!! Braeden is making a funny face because his alergies started going crazy, Nathan is patiently waiting his turn to ride a ride.

Miranda was ready to get off that ride.

Mommy and Braeden. This was the fun house. At the end there was a slide; when it was his turn to go down he started flipping head over heels all the way down the slide.

WARNING! This might make you sick. VOTE!!!!!

A Few Pics

BOYS

While I was in the yard talking to my husband's Aunt and cousins my two wonderful little boys decided that they wanted to wash there toys in the rain water that was in their wagon. They went into the house and got the dish soap. Nathan is washing INSIDE toys and Braeden is washing his car. BTW we had just gotten back from WalMart, these are not play clothes. I couldn't get mad it was too funny. Braeden decided to eat some of the soap, he was sick for three days. He didn't get to go to Sunday School and he was soo upset. He kept saying "But mommy I don't have soap in my mouth" That part was sad. So this picture is for all of you mothers out there that just sent your kids to school and are wishing they were at home with you. LOL

FLOOD

These two pics on top are what happened to the road next to I44 during the flood. You can see it literally picked up the road and moved it into the grass. You can still see the stripes on the asphalt. CRAZY!!

GREAT DEALS AT LOWE"S

Notice the before and after price. My husband saw this and I had to take a picture.

How Bad Do You Want It

There are several things in my life that I have wanted to change or do but never seemed to be able to. I would try over and over but it never worked out. I would give reasons and excuses to make myself feel better but I always seem to end up frustrated with myself. The reasons, excuses and frustration never got me anywhere.

A couple of weeks ago I decided to try to change a few things again, one of them being going on a diet. I have REALLY started seeing results in two of the areas that I want to change. This time feels different. So what is the difference?

I WANT IT BAD ENOUGH!!!! Bad enough to do WHATEVER it takes.

I was talking to someone the other day about helping someone in need, and I made this statement: You can't help them until they are willing to sacrifice for it themselves first. THEY HAVE TO WANT IT BAD ENOUGH!

Maybe in years past I just never wanted it as much as I do now. Yes I wanted those things and yes they would have made me very happy then, but now I WANT it. I want it bad enough to sacrifice. I want it bad enough to run/walk two miles, eat less, pray more, even fast. I have never successfully fasted before and now I do. Why? I WANT IT!!! I want to lose weight and I want to change.

Since I got this thought, every time I think I will just wait until tomorrow to do what I need to do I say to myself "How bad do you want it?" I want it bad enough to do what I need to do.

So now I ask you to think about what you want in life. How bad do you want it?



Side note: I know this is early but I weighed this afternoon and I have lost 10lbs!! Yes, 10lbs. I am sooo excited!! I am 1/3rd of the way through. I know I have had some set backs, some have been my fault, but I want it bad enough not to quit.

Ramblings

Today I fill an overwhelming sense of gratitude. Nothing out of the ordinary has happened. I just feel grateful for all the blessings God has given me. "Big" blessings make memories but I think "little" blessings make up our lives.

Monday and Tuesday it felt like my problems (no big problems just life) were bigger than my blessings.
Monday I let my problem get to me and I didn't even want to pray. So I just whispered a prayer. "Lord, please don't forget me" I know that sounds silly but that's what I said.
Tuesday wasn't a bad day I was just "Sailing On" (thank you Bro. Holley) All day yesterday I felt a strong tugging to just pray. So I did. I prayed. It wasn't anything spectacular "just a little talk with Jesus" I love that song.
Today I woke up feeling like the blessed person that I am.

Everyone makes a big deal about getting old. They don't want to get older. NOT ME!! I love getting older. The older I get the more wise I become. I continue to change for the better. I am becoming a better person everyday. Now for me I have a long way to go and it is slow coming, but it is still progress. LOL The older you get the more confident you are in yourself and God. You think things through a lot better.

The only "down" side I can see is you are closer to death but I don't really think we have a fear of death I think that it is a fear of the unknown. Kindergarteners have the same fear on the first day of school. When I think of it like that it seems kind of silly. Parents are in control on that first day of school just like God is in control of our lives and death. So we have nothing to fear.

I guess what I am trying to say is that I have a calm assurance God is in control.

By the way I lost a pound this week. I am not really sure why because I didn't exercise. I need to get off of this computer so I can do that now before something happens and I don't get to.

Hope you have a blessed week.

One of these days I am going to post something other than my diet adventure. LOL!!
There have been a lot of things happen that I really want to blog about but it seems I never have the time.

I have been on a diet vacation for a week now. That was not my intention but half way through I decided to just make it a vacation. LOL It started with an ice cream sale at United and then I decided to make cookies with my kids. I thought I was being a good mom but 7 dozen cookies later I thought I better get back to my diet. (I didn't eat all of them but I did eat a lot) We made memories so I don't regret it I will just have to do a little more excerising this week.

I have not gained anything and last week I lost 1.4lbs. I am back on track today and hopefully I will start loosing again.

A Couple Things

I am getting to help a LITTLE bit this week at VBS. I have REALLY enjoyed it. I think Bro. Joseph does a wonderful job and everyone there works really good together. They set a great example for the kids. I will post picks later when I have more time.

I wanted to give a quick update on my diet. I have lost 3.4 lbs this week. When I loose 3 more pounds I will be back to where I was before all of the funerals. That is going to be when loosing starts getting fun. I am not excercising this week because of VBS. We will see what burns more calories, VBS or Excecising, next week when I weigh in. LOL!!

Hope everyone is having a great week. I know I am!!

Diet Updat

I only lost 1lb this week but I am not giving up. I started eating off of a small plate at dinner instead of a dinner plate. This has helped a lot with portion control. Tomorrow I start excercising for 1hr instead of 30min. We will see how it goes. I am determined not to give up even if it takes me a year to loose 30 lbs.

I also started a little weightloss counter on the bottom of my blog.

Don't Give Up

Don't beat yourself up because you are not what you want to be or because you can't give what you want to give. Just be and give your best and eventually you will be.

Diet Update

Well this week I didn't do as well as I had hoped. I lost 2.4lbs, which is very close to my goal(2.5lbs). I am happy with it considering I am getting all the "bugs out" of my diet plan.

I did very well only drinking water and not eating sweets. Sweets are my weakness.

I excercised almost everyday. Which I am going to do better and excerise EVERYDAY except Sunday. I didn't excercise Monday and I was dragging all day. Today when I excercised I immediately had so much more energy. That has given me extra motivation.

My BIG problem has been portion control. I think that I have been having problems with my blood sugar which has caused me to majorly over eat. I have decided (thanks to Sis. Hallford) to eat 6 small meals a day instead of 3 regular meals.

Well I am on my way to loosing weight and feeling better. This blog and your comments has really helped and motivated me. Please leave ANY advice that you feel might help. I really appreciate it.

Debbie Downer

Well I just got another call, my mother's uncle died. This makes the 7th death this year. This is also the first one that I am not going to get to go to. Which is sad because I really loved my Aunt and Uncle but truthfully I am tired of funerals and I don't think that I could handle another one. After my dad died every funeral that I go to gets harder and harder.
I think that it is very important to go to funerals even if you don't do anything but give the family a hug and let them know that you are praying for them and that you love them.
At my dad's funeral I realized that it is the little things people do that mean sooo much.
My Aunt and Uncle are great Godly examples. I have watched them go through horrible things in thier lives and they ALWAYS remained faithful to God. They always gave him the glory even when all you could see was the bad. When my dad died my Aunt was in some sort of hospital and she checked herself out so her and my uncle could come to the viewing.
Anyways I don't mean to be a Debbie Downer. It just makes me feel better to get it off my chest so to speak. I will be ok. I am going to go get some paint and paint something. I will either be destructive or productive either way I will feel better. LOL!!

Dieting

I am going on a diet! My goal is to loose 30lbs by Oct. 1. I would love to loose 40 but I am trying to keep it real. That means I need to loose about 2.5 pounds a week. I just got finished exercising and it was harder than I remembered so I decided to blog my experience. Maybe if I know that I have to blog my results I will stick to it. LOL I weighed on Tuesday night so I will blog my weight loss every Wednesday morning.

If anyone has any weight loss tips I would love to hear them. My plan right now is to exercise 30 min a day, drink water only and cut down on my portions.

Wish me luck!!

Censorship

I have read two stories today about censorship.

The first story someone had a graphic picture of a young girl dying and they felt they had a first amendment right to show everyone this picture even though the family did not want anyone to see it. They cried foul because they were being censored.

The second story was of a teacher who wanted her students to read a book that the school board told her not to pass out to the kids. She did it any way and was suspended for a year and a half. She got upset because her STUDENTS were being censored.

Since when did the word CENSOR become a bad word. YES! I censor EVERYTHING that I watch/read and I especially censor everything my children watch/read.

Lam 3:51 Mine eye affecteth mine heart....

I think that a better word for censor would be shelter. I shelter my mind and my children's mind from the things this world wants lack of cencorship from.

Bloggin' Blues

My Crazy Boys

I have not been feeling well so I guess my family thought I needed to be cheered up. When they got back from the grocery store last night KevinII was holding this fudge round (which is one of my favs) and they handed me a birthday card. It is not my birthday but the sillyness definitely made me feel better. Thank You, Kevin, Kevin, Nathan and Braeden. I couldn't ask for a better family.

Love and Marriage

I have been thinking a lot about Love and Marriage. I have been thinking about the differences between marriage back in the day and today.

Marriage used to be a committment that was NEVER broken no matter what. People loved each other unconditionally and unselfishly. I think that might be the problem. SELFISHNESS. We can't seem to get past our own needs and wants to look at someone else, even if that someone is our husband/wife.

I grew up in a home that was not perfect. My parents were not perfect and they had problems, but they LOVED each other unselfishly and unconditionally. They taught thier children to love unselfishly and unconditionally. I remember as a child, and all my life, my dad would play his guitar and sing this love song to my mom and I believe he meant every word. It has become my favorite memory of my dad. We sang it at his funeral.

I will leave you with the words and if I have enough nerve I will put a video of me singing it.

Yours Love
May the fruit of my toil
Be yours love
May the food of my soil
Be yours love
And from this moment on may a love that is strong and lives on and on
Be yours love

May the sons that I raise
Be yours love
May the comforts I praise
Be yours love
And ever I get weak may the love words I speak and the arms that I seek
Be yours love

May the Lord's shining grace
Be yours love
May the happiest face
Be yours love
And may the last fingertips that touch these two lips as life from me slips
Be yours love

Another Death

Well, we are on our way out of town this weekend for another funeral. My husband's Aunt passed away yesturday. This makes the 5th funeral I have been to this year.

This may sound bad but I can see how God has blessed us through every trial this year.

I can't help but think of my dad with every death since he passed away in March. I am having all kinds of emotions. Everything from sad to mad. (pray for my family LOL)

I am so glad that I have the Lord. I don't know what I would do without him.

I know that everyone at Life Tabernacle will have wonderful services this weekend. I wish that I could be there, but since I can't I will just say
WELCOME Pastor and Sis Holley!! I don't really know you but everyone that does is SOOO excited that you are our new pastor so you must be wonderful people. I look forward to getting to know you.

RainForest Cafe

This weekend we went to the Rain Forest Cafe. We tried to go there a couple a years ago but Nathan freaked out and we had to leave. This time the little guys loved it and we had a lot of fun. Here are some pics of us while we were there.
Braeden making a silly face. He is ALWAYS making a silly face.

Nathan having fun.

Kevin and Miranda (my niece) LOOK Kevin is smiling!!! Miranda is always smiling!!

New Family Picture

Dwyght's Wedding

Memorial Day weekend we went to Dwyght (my father-in-law) and Betty's wedding in Savannah,GA.

Dwyght and Betty

Me, Betty, Dwyght, Kevin and Lil Kevin

Diane, Betty, Dwyght and Jackie. Betty's daughters. I didn't get a good picture of Betty's sons.

Kevin's Birthday

May 9th Kevin turned 17yrs old. We had a little BarBQue for him because he wanted STEAKS!! They were really good too.

Miracles Still Happen

I was making the cake for Kevin's birthday and I turned around and saw Braeden, who is 2yrs old, had gotten into a bottle of blood pressure medicine. It was in a child proof bottle but I think that those are only adult proof!! I asked him if he had eaten any of it and he said that he had but he didn't like it. I called poison control and they said to get him to the emergency room NOW. We got there and they took us straight back to the doctor. (I have never gotten service that quick before, they were faster than Mc Donalds) WE WERE SO BLESSED!!!!! He took just enough medicine to make him completely cooperative but not enough to hurt him. He drank the charcoal, he let them hook up the EKG, the blood pressure and heart moniter with no problems at all. His stats all remained fine. God was truely with us that day. Here are some pics of the emergency room.

Braeden with charcoal teeth

Breaden with the EKG

The medicine made him sleepy.

Oh yea to top it all off, Kevin couldn't come to the emergency room because they had a chemical spill at work and they wouldn't let anyone leave.

Nathan's Birthday

April 15th Nathan turned 4 yrs old. He wanted his friend Jonathan to come to his party so we had it at my mom's house.

Makayla, Nathan, Matthew and Levi
The Boatman and Seymour Children
Caitlan, Elizabeth, Jonathan, Nathan and Breaden
Emalea wasn't there she was globe trotting with her mother LOL

Nathan and Jonathan racing with there balloons!
We had a lot of fun!!!!

Another Death

I just received a call; another one of my cousins died this morning. I will post more later.

Please keep the Luman family in your prayers. This makes the fourth Luman to die this year.

I don't know what God is doing but I do know that "..... all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose."

This Year So Far

It has taken me a while to be able to make this post.

January 1st I felt like this year was going to be a break through year for myself and my family. Be careful what you pray for. LOL

January 8th my cousin Ronnie Luman aka Lil Ronnie died. He was my age and we played together every year at our family reunion. I have a lot of memories of us as children. Going to his funeral was very hard. When someone is your age and they die it hits close to home.

February 5th my Granddaddy, Charlie Luman, died. He was my last living grandparent. He touched a lot of people's lives. I did not know this but he is the reason my cousin Roger Dale is a UPC minister today. The Lord was so good to me; I had just made the trip down there for my cousin's funeral so money was tight and all three of our cars were broken; he blessed us with enough money to rent a car and make the trip.


A BLESSING IN THE STORM
March 2nd Kevin got the Holy Ghost!!!!

March 3rd my dad had a heart attack they revived him and put him on life support. We got to stay with him for a week in ICU. The Lord really blessed us.

March 10 they took my dad off life support and a few hours later my daddy, Robert Luman died.


April 15 Nathan turned 4yrs old. WOW how time goes by.

My babies are growing up.



This year so far has been the hardest physically and emotionally but it has also been by far the BEST SPIRITUALLY. They say that during the trials that God is molding you and I truely believe that. God has blessed me this year far more than I could have imagined, and it is just the BEGINNING. There may be more trials but I feel and electicity going through the air and I am excited. Yes, I still have days where I think about my dad a lot and it makes me sad but the Lord said I will send you a comforter and he has. God has been so very good to me and my family.

Happy Valentines Day

I am so glad that I get to spend my life with you.

You are a wonderful husband and daddy.

I love you!!

-Lynda

The Flu

I took Nathan to the Dr today and he tested positive for the flu. The Dr said that are whole family would probably get it so we are doing everyone a favor and quarantining ourselves. This weekend is going to be loads of fun! LOL!!!

Respect

Full disclosure: I don't like secular christian music. I only listen to Holy Ghost filled musicians. I have been this way for many years. Now I can go on with a clear conscience.

I heard a song the other day. It was a secular christian song. The words was something like this.
I want to lay back against you with your arms around me. I want to hear your heart beat and feel you breath.

JESUS IS NOT YOUR BOYFRIEND!!!!!!!!!!!!

What happen to respect. We should bow down before him. Worship him. I think that there is something wrong with thinking that we can be so familiar with God.

This song sounds like something that would be in a love song, not something that you would say to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

Anyways that is enough ranting. LOL

Just to end on a good note. Someone was baptized at church tonight and I just heard my 2 and 3 yr old playing like they were baptizing each other. I have to admit I am very proud right now. Actually I am crying! LOL The scripture is so true; I have no greater joy than to know that my children walk in truth.

Do you Doubt?

I was reading my children the story of when Jesus fed the five thousand the other night and I got to thinking. What would I do if I was told to take the baskets and pass out the food? Would I only give each person a little in hopes that maybe everyone could get something or would I give everyone enough to be full because I trusted what Jesus said? Would I doubt or believe?

What do we do with our friends and family? Do we only tell them a little bit because somewhere we kind of wonder if God will really do what he says? Can God really change their lives, heal there bodies and save there souls or will he fail them and then we look foolish?

Maybe it is a pride thing. I am sure those men didn't want to look foolish and get half way through the crowd and have nothing left. Maybe they were scared that there would be a mob if everyone didn't get fed. There were probably a lot of emotions involved. Inspite of their worries they did as Jesus asked and they witnessed a miracle that day.

In spite of our worries we should do as God asks not only with our friends and family but with our lives as well and maybe 2008 can be a (as Sis Elms said on her blog) "break through" year. Full of miracles. I WANT TO SEE MIRACLES!!!!!!!

The Power of Holy Ghost Music

This morning we got up and everyone was grouchy. No one had slept well and was a little short. So I turned on My Hope Radio (a pentencostal radio site www.myhoperadio.com) It didn't take long and people were laughing and telling stories. That is the power of the Holy Ghost and good Godly music.

2007