Daniel Fast Called March 1-April 9

A casual approach to fasting will often lead to casualties of war. From 1984-to present day, only 4% of people call themselves born again Bible believing Christians.

From 1924-1964, 35% called themselves Christians. This percentage is now in leadership in our country, educational systems, government. What have they produced in our country? Pornagraphy, legalized abortion on demand, homosexual marriages, sex trafficking, and more. What will 4% produce? We are in desperate need of a move of God.

There is 16 million college students in this nation. Only 4% are Bible believing Christians. Terrifying. So we are entering in to a 40 day season of a Daniel Fast as a believing community for college students.

In the Boston area, there are more colleges per square mile than any other city in the nation! So Lou Engle and his staff and all of our 3rd and 4th year IHOPU students will be ministering in the New England states throughout the fast and it will end on April 9th with a huge conference for college students in America.

Revelations 7:10 - Salvation now belongs to our God!

We are engaging for a great awakening that leads to a great commissioning!

Matthew 9:38

Olympics at the Scott House

Emma loves the figure skating...

In Her Daddy's Socks

Here is Emma Carleigh in her daddy's socks. My prayer is that one day she will follow in her Father's shoes. But for now, I'm so content to have her wear her earthly father's socks. I just read this quote this morning on my friend Kellye's blog. She quoted her friend Lisa Jo (just want to cite this quote right because it's so good).

"What I want to grasp between desperate fingers is as elusive as hour glass quick sand.

I cannot hold them always. I cannot protect them completely. I cannot fulfill them thoroughly.

Security lies only in surrender to the One who can."

In Jesus name I pray.

What day is this?

So I just want to blog this and get it out of the way. I have been living this whole week a day behind! And I'm not talking about that feeling that it's one but in your mind you know what day it actually is you just don't want to admit it.

No really, a WHOLE day behind. I have missed appointments, been in argument after argument with my husband, been frustrated when tv shows aren't on and everything!

Pray for me. I will recover.

Another Victory!

We have not gotten very far on this adoption journey and already God's Hand has been moving in our midst. We have already gotten 2 calls about babies and have felt that the timing is not quite right. Josh and I feel like we need to get all of our paperwork in and our taxes filed before we even consider any calls. I think this is wise although my heart immediately screams "YES!" each time. Thank you Jesus for a husband who can bring reason to an emotion time. HA!

Anyway back to the story...Pastor David would be telling me to "land the plane" about now. So we have to get our fingerprints done for a FBI background check. I was told that to get our fingerprints done it was going to cost a little money and we need an appointment. Ok. No problem. I called the place to make an appointment and was told that the prints would cost $52 each! What! Holy Moly. Where are we going to come up with $104 plus we have to get new driver's license before the fingerprints can happen which is $30 each so add it up...We need $134 before Thursday. Then we needed to make another $100 payment to our social worker. So yep, you can count, we needed $234 this week. And where it was going to come from, seriously, only God knew.

I have been reading The Autobiography of George Mueller. He never told anyone about his need unless prompted by the Lord. He simply prayed and believed that God would provide for these orphans which He loved. Well I have decided to take a little lesson from Mr. Mueller. I decided to not tell the needs unless prompted by the Lord, but simply pray and believe that God will provide for this child, this orphan which He loves. So I made the appointments despite the current situation of our bank account.

But if you notice I have been writing in all PAST tense. Oh yeah! Because on Tuesday, I got a letter with a very simple note in it: "We wanted to help with your adoption! Praying for you and Josh, the birthmom, and grace and favor. Can't wait to meet your baby! Love ..." (I'm keeping the names of the friends hidden because I haven't asked if they would like to remain anonymous or not) And inside the letter was $250. Did you hear me?! $250!!! Oh come on Jesus! Not to mention they said they are praying for the birthmom which is our heartbeat for this adoption. We want Jesus to touch this birthmom.

So there you have documentation number 2. We are saving the card the check came in and putting it in the baby's book. I want that baby to know that we kept record of their pregnancy on our part from conception to birthday. I want this baby to know that God provided for him/her because He loves them so very much and nothing, no hindrance stood in the way of getting this child into our arms.

Thank you Jesus for meeting EVERY need. I am comforted that Jesus knows.

"Mommy, you open birt-day presents?"

Yesterday was my 29th birthday! It was good day full of events. First I hosted my Mom's Group, which is an IHOP small group that meets once a week. It was a playdate for mom's and their toddlers. However, we had another big snowstorm move in and the roads were covered as usual. So only 3 moms showed up instead of the regular 10. But it was kind of nice because the moms actually got to talk and get to know each other. That was a good time.

Then Josh left at noon to travel to St. Louis to see Switchfoot. It was sad to see him go but it was also totally fine because I was having a girls pajama party that night. So after he left my mom took me to the Cheesecake Factory for lunch and then I got a gift card to Payless for my birthday from my mom so we went to buy me some new shoes. I have always been a show lover. I have bought so many shoes and at one point owned well over 75 pairs of shoes! But over my married life and mommy life, my shoes have dwindled down or cute heels have been replaced with flat tennis shoes. HA! So I was lacking a black pair of shows. That was my mission.

After shoe shopping we went to Wal-Mart to pick up food and supplies for the party and headed home. I had a professional cake made for my birthday so it was exciting to get that delivered. It showed up and then the party started! Because of the weather I ended up with only 5 girls at the party but what a great 5 girls! They were so funny and it was awesome to get to know them better. We had pizza and cake and ice cream and played Dreamphone! HA! Finally I got my computer and saw that almost a 100 people had wished me a Happy Birthday on Facebook.

The night ended and I crawled into bed thanking God that I am surrounded with so many people who love me. I am thankful for you all and would not be the person I am without you in my life. I leave you with a video of Emma on Valentine's Day talking about Mommy's birthday. I love it!

Waaaaahhhhoooooo! It's Valentine's Day which means it's one more day until my birthday!

I love birthdays. I don't get the whole, "oh don't remind me how old I am..." thing. I love turning another year older. I love celebrating life and parties and cake! HA!

I am having a pajama party this year for me and my girlfriends. I will spend the day with the family and then have a girls party that night. It should be quite fun. I have also had a professional cake made this year. Don't worry, I will post pictures. I have always wanted a professional cake and since that is pretty much my birthday present, yay! I got it!

And as for today, well it's time to spread the love. First Josh and my mom and I (and yes Emma too) are going to church. Then Josh and I are going to spend the day together eating sushi and watching a movie. Then we will come back to the house to spend Valentine's night with Emma and my mom. We bought HUGE steaks from Costco and will probably grill out. Now that sounds like a plan.

Happy Valentine's day everyone!

My Chocolate Chip Fruit Pizza!

This is for you Michelle! Love you!

Ingredients:
2 blocks if white chocolate bark
2 tablespoons of milk
1 package of cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 tub of whipped topping
1 18 oz chocolate chip cookie dough
1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 tablespoon of vegetable oil
12-13 strawberries
1 can of mandarin oranges - well drained

Steps:
First spread cookie dough into a circle 1/4 inch thick on a cookie sheet or a stone (do the stone if you got it because it won't burn the bottom). Leave space around the edge as dough will spread when cooking. Cook on 350 for 12-15 minutes.

While dough is cooking, put milk and white chocolate in bowl and melt in microwave for 30-60 seconds, stirring to help melt. Stir until smooth.

In separate bowl, combine cream cheese and powdered sugar. Mix til smooth then add white chocolate mixture. Fold in whipped topping until all is well combined.

When dough is cooked let it cool for 10 minutes before you apply topping. After cooled, apply topping. Cut strawberries lengthwise. Make circles alternating the oranges and the strawberries. Afterward, combine chocolate chips and oil in a bowl and microwave for 45 seconds. Stir to finish melting and make smooth. Drizzle chocolate over cookie and topping.

YUM! It was so good that after the Open House was over, Josh and everyone still hanging out made me make another one! HA! I will snap a picture and post it tomorrow.

Here's the deal...

Well I have just had a crazy couple of days! Here are some bullets about what has been going on.

My mom is in town and we have had a good time. I showed her the area and we all enjoyed our Sunday service. Emma came home singing all the words to Jesus Loves Me. Gosh I love our children's church!

My mom and I have been to Wal-Mart about a gajillion times! I attend a Pampered Chef conference where I was totally pumped up and want to tell everyone I know to join the Pampered Chef. HA! I bought Omega, the End Times Board Game...LOL! It's the new board game put out by IHOP to teach the end times. This is going to be fun.

Josh and I enjoyed homemade chicken fingers tonight. Oh thank you mother!

Say what?

Ahhhh there's nothing like playing a game with my mom. She got a word on catch phrase and had to break it up in 2 parts. She got me to say "fall" and then "fell." Then she said put them together. We were in the "food/drink" category. The word was falafel. LOL! It's so nice having my mom in town.

My Mom's Coming!

Well after talking about it for over a month, my mom has finally come to visit me and Josh, but really Emma, for a few weeks. It's always so nice to have my mom come visit. It's like something so familiar and comfortable in my home. Actually it DOES feel like home. I remember the night she was arriving. Emma and I sat at the front door and watched the road for her set of headlights. It was so exciting!

And then I started thinking about Emma in that moment. I KNEW who was coming. I knew what my mom would look like driving down the road. I knew what car to look for and the reason we were staring out of the door. But Emma....she just knew Mommy was excited and the game we were playing was fun. Every time a car came down the road we would start screaming and jumping up and down. She thought this was great fun!

And then I got to thinking about the coming of my King. When my Savior returns in all His glory and triumph. Riding a white horse with eyes of fire and His majesty fills the whole earth! Will Emma know what she is waiting for? Will SHE know what He looks like and what the earth will look like when He returns? Will she be filled with pure excitement or will she just think that the happenings are a sort of game? If I don't tell her, she will not know. It's my job to make sure my daughter knows who is coming. It's my job to describe to her what He will look like and what His coming will look like. It's my responsibility to make sure she knows how exciting this event will be and not make it a fearful thing in her head (as I was raised to view the end events).

And when He comes, she should feel as if something familiar and comfortable just came to her. He should feel like home. He is my Home. For in Him I move, and breathe, and have my being.