Some weeks are just too filled with the ups and downs of life! This was one of those weeks. The time changed and there was a full moon (which explains the insanity of my 2 toddlers...4:45 am? Seriously you want to get up at 4:45 am!). Sometimes when your week is filled with highs and lows it is hard to see how anything good can be worked, even for those who Love HIM.
Monday - the girls were scrappy and couldn't get along with me or each other. I was on deadline to catch up with work after our HUGE (can you say 280 baby bottles distributed to 189 businesses?) Business Baby Bottle Boomerang launch. The Lord's hand was on that idea and He sent an amazing "partner in crime" to help. As an aside, isn't that just like the Lord to send a helper to get His will accomplished! Mary Blocker YOU ROCK! How faithful our Lord and Savior is and how He cares for the unborn! Anyway, it was just not a good day! I was frustrated and short with the children and grumpy with Pablo and to top it all off Pablo hit another deer (4 deer in 3 years).
Tuesday - my day to work in the office. We said goodbye to a precious sister in Christ as the Lord moves her on to a different season. Dena has been an amazing blessing to work with! She has a subtle sense of humor and is one of those quiet people, who once you get to know blow you away with their wisdom and personality. She has been someone I could bounce ideas off of, knowing that I would receive Godly wisdom and advice. Dena, I have a hard time saying goodbye, so I just don't. I will miss you!
Wednesday - We laid to rest the 22-week old pre-born baby of my precious friends. Alice was loved from the moment we knew she was. I grieve with her family as they face this loss. Words just are not enough, but the Great Comforter knows their needs and will provide what is needed when it is needed.
On a bigger scale, though I can't help but grieve over the women who on this day chose to end the lives of the babies they were carrying. I realize that the "choice" facing them was like that of a wild animal who chews off it's own leg to escape a trap. Their self-preservation was all they could see. I am saddened none the less and pray that the Lord will show them His forgiveness and ultimately they will be healed.
Thursday Morning-God gave me a divine appointment to speak light and life into two of our local co-eds. As they head up a Baby Bottle Boomerang project on our local campus, I pray the Lord will bless their efforts and encourage them in their faith. I appreciate their hearts and was overwhelmed that the Lord gave me such a special opportunity to build my faith in the process.
Thursday Night - We honored Pablo's precious father, Dr. Jose Campa, as he was inducted into the Valdosta High Football Hall of Fame. Football is BIG business here in South Georgia and none more so than Valdosta Wildcat Football. The honor was bittersweet as a glowing tribute was given to Dr. Campa by a member of the Touchdown Club. We were all teary as we remembered a man who dedicated almost 30 years to making sure the athletes of Valdosta were cared for both on and off the field. Dr. Campa, I am sorry I never knew you to call you my father-in-law, but the son you raised is a testimony to your gentle spirit and character. Thank you for raising my precious husband to be just like you in so many ways. Martin, you did an absolutely amazing job of receiving the award on behalf of your dad. You spoke with eloquence and left no dry eyes in the house! We are so proud of you!
So here it is Friday morning and I am back to 2 scrappy toddlers who just won't get happy, (though I saw part of the problem this morning as I peered into ACE's mouth...two little rice grains are beginning to poke their little heads out of her gums), I am behind in my work (and need to put in 8 hours to get caught up), and MY HOUSE IS A DISASTER (can we say NO clean clothes in the house!), and we are having family over for dinner tonight.
As I reflect on this week filled with ups and downs, laughter and sadness I am blessed that it has been a week filled with LIFE. Life is messy (to borrow from Lysa), but until the Lord calls me home I wouldn't trade it for anything. Thank you Lord for a week filled with life. I give you the glory and in the situations were we do not see how you are working all of this to our good, I still praise your name and wait with hope and expectation.
Habakkuk 3
17 Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls,
18 yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior.
19 The Sovereign LORD is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to go on the heights.
Blessings!
Friday, November 6, 2009
Friday, October 30, 2009
Breakfast in a Shoe
The morning was miserable. It seemed FF was being disciplined from the time her little feet hit the floor. She was tormenting her little sister, dumping her toys out on the floor, falling out in temper tantrums and the last straw - touched the lampshade she knows better than to touch. Finally I was fed up! I put her into time out, handed her breakfast to her and let her know that she was not coming out of time out until I had finished my shower (which was taken VERY hurriedly). After showering, I walked back into the den and thought my sweet adorable child had returned. She smiled sweetly at me, handed me her shoe filled with her breakfast and said, "Look mommy, breakfast in a shoe!" Now here in South GA we have a restaurant called Macadoo's which has an awesome concept called Breakfast in a Cup. It consists of grits, eggs, sausage and cheese all mixed together in a cup. Add a little butter and a packet of salt and OH MY you have a treat! The girls at my work suggest I market the idea of Breakfast in a Shoe to some of our local shoe stores...
In the insanity of the morning I failed to see the Father's hand at work. I allowed my circumstances to get the best of me and I blew it by becoming frustrated. Once I repented, cleaned the breakfast OUT of the shoe, re-dressed my child and loaded up the car, we went to work. I was late going in and frustrated that my day just continued to fall off it's track. I failed to see God's hand at work orchestrating my day. I failed to take joy in the little things He had sprinkled all over my path. When I got to work (late) my co-workers were as usual smiling and joyful. One asked if I enjoyed breakfast in a cup, to which I answered, "I LOVE breakfast in a cup." "What about breakfast in a shoe," she asked? That is when I saw the precious size 4 shoes with a Nutri-grain breakfast bar in them. We ALL had a good laugh! The Lord has blessed me with a job that I love where everyone loves Him and each other as sisters in Christ. They blessed me in seeing the humor I had missed.
"The JOY of the Lord is my strength." Neh 8:10 (NIV) Joy is not the quick fleeting happiness that is temporarily felt when all things go right. As Americans we pursue happiness, but as Christians we should pursue the joy of the Lord. JOY is a deeper heart condition that rises above the circumstances and says, "regardless of the day I will praise your name Jesus and rest in YOU. I will allow You to order my day and Your joy to be my strength!" Through Him we can face anything (even breakfast in a shoe!)
Blessings this day and may the joy of the Lord be YOUR strength!
In the insanity of the morning I failed to see the Father's hand at work. I allowed my circumstances to get the best of me and I blew it by becoming frustrated. Once I repented, cleaned the breakfast OUT of the shoe, re-dressed my child and loaded up the car, we went to work. I was late going in and frustrated that my day just continued to fall off it's track. I failed to see God's hand at work orchestrating my day. I failed to take joy in the little things He had sprinkled all over my path. When I got to work (late) my co-workers were as usual smiling and joyful. One asked if I enjoyed breakfast in a cup, to which I answered, "I LOVE breakfast in a cup." "What about breakfast in a shoe," she asked? That is when I saw the precious size 4 shoes with a Nutri-grain breakfast bar in them. We ALL had a good laugh! The Lord has blessed me with a job that I love where everyone loves Him and each other as sisters in Christ. They blessed me in seeing the humor I had missed.
"The JOY of the Lord is my strength." Neh 8:10 (NIV) Joy is not the quick fleeting happiness that is temporarily felt when all things go right. As Americans we pursue happiness, but as Christians we should pursue the joy of the Lord. JOY is a deeper heart condition that rises above the circumstances and says, "regardless of the day I will praise your name Jesus and rest in YOU. I will allow You to order my day and Your joy to be my strength!" Through Him we can face anything (even breakfast in a shoe!)
Blessings this day and may the joy of the Lord be YOUR strength!
Monday, October 19, 2009
Restoration
Joel 2:25-26
25 "I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten—the great locust and the young locust, the other locusts and the locust swarm my great army that I sent among you.
26 You will have plenty to eat, until you are full, and you will praise the name of the LORD your God, who has worked wonders for you; never again will my people be shamed. NIV
October 17 was a busy day! All day long I had a nagging feeling I was forgetting something. I mailed something at our local post office and when I wrote the date commented to Lynn, the Saturday post mistress, that I must be forgetting someone's birthday, that the date rang a bell, but I just could not think of what it was. Later, my precious husband asked me to wait a minute, then he went into the next room to get something. He returned, knelt before me, and read to me the poem he wrote for me to ask me to be his wife on October 17, 2005...
By the summer of 1999 the "locust" had eaten everything. I was in a failing marriage with a man who was bi-polar. We were in the midst of our 6th move in 7 years. A year earlier I miscarried our first child during the 2nd tri-mester. Four months earlier he was admitted to the state mental hospital for attempted suicide and I had just gotten off the phone with his counselor who informed me that he had admitted to her another suicide attempt. I was devistated and beside myself. I went to the only place I knew I could find comfort, The Word. I opened my Bible and God gave me Joel 2:25-26. It was a very special promise that sustained me through a 2nd miscarriage and the eventual demise of my first marriage. I knew He was faithful and that He would restore! Obviously, I did not know when, how, where or with whom; but 10 years later the restoration is complete. On October 17 of 2005 God's BEST asked me to spend the rest of my life with him. In May of 2006 we made a covenant before Christ and all our friends to love, honor and cherish each other til death. In July of that year, the Lord blessed us with a pregnancy. Having lost 2 babies in my first marriage I just prayed that I would stay pregnant. My precious FF arrived 3 weeks early and very small, but she was born on the very due date of my first precious angel. ACE arrive in June of 2008. A marriage lost, a covenant lasting relationship found, 2 babies taken, 2 blessings returned. The restoration of the Lord is a beautiful thing and His attention to detail makes me weep with gratitude and thanksgiving. I praise Him for the wonders He has worked!
25 "I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten—the great locust and the young locust, the other locusts and the locust swarm my great army that I sent among you.
26 You will have plenty to eat, until you are full, and you will praise the name of the LORD your God, who has worked wonders for you; never again will my people be shamed. NIV
October 17 was a busy day! All day long I had a nagging feeling I was forgetting something. I mailed something at our local post office and when I wrote the date commented to Lynn, the Saturday post mistress, that I must be forgetting someone's birthday, that the date rang a bell, but I just could not think of what it was. Later, my precious husband asked me to wait a minute, then he went into the next room to get something. He returned, knelt before me, and read to me the poem he wrote for me to ask me to be his wife on October 17, 2005...
By the summer of 1999 the "locust" had eaten everything. I was in a failing marriage with a man who was bi-polar. We were in the midst of our 6th move in 7 years. A year earlier I miscarried our first child during the 2nd tri-mester. Four months earlier he was admitted to the state mental hospital for attempted suicide and I had just gotten off the phone with his counselor who informed me that he had admitted to her another suicide attempt. I was devistated and beside myself. I went to the only place I knew I could find comfort, The Word. I opened my Bible and God gave me Joel 2:25-26. It was a very special promise that sustained me through a 2nd miscarriage and the eventual demise of my first marriage. I knew He was faithful and that He would restore! Obviously, I did not know when, how, where or with whom; but 10 years later the restoration is complete. On October 17 of 2005 God's BEST asked me to spend the rest of my life with him. In May of 2006 we made a covenant before Christ and all our friends to love, honor and cherish each other til death. In July of that year, the Lord blessed us with a pregnancy. Having lost 2 babies in my first marriage I just prayed that I would stay pregnant. My precious FF arrived 3 weeks early and very small, but she was born on the very due date of my first precious angel. ACE arrive in June of 2008. A marriage lost, a covenant lasting relationship found, 2 babies taken, 2 blessings returned. The restoration of the Lord is a beautiful thing and His attention to detail makes me weep with gratitude and thanksgiving. I praise Him for the wonders He has worked!
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Welcome to the Campa Household Black Beauty
We bought a new car Monday...Pablo's was totaled out after hitting a deer (our 3rd deer in 3 years). His Camry was a great one! It had 300,000 miles on it and matched mine. When we began dating we laughed at the fact that we had the same car (he had a 2002 green Camry and I had a 2003 green Camry). We soon realized we had more in common than cars. We saw the Lord's hand at work and the beautiful way He had prepared us individually to become "His Guy" and "His Girl" so He could bring us together in His perfect timing to further His kingdom and to bring "the next generation."
We have named the new Camry black beauty. It is a great car and will serve us well for the next 8-10 years. God is good and His mercies are unfailing. He protects us and guides us! We were blessed that He led us to this new car and worked out the best deal for our family and situation! He is Jehovah Jireh and He has provided!
We have named the new Camry black beauty. It is a great car and will serve us well for the next 8-10 years. God is good and His mercies are unfailing. He protects us and guides us! We were blessed that He led us to this new car and worked out the best deal for our family and situation! He is Jehovah Jireh and He has provided!
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