Do you need a ride somewhere?

So many times I find myself wondering what my purpose in this life is and then something happens to remind me.
Last week, the weather was gorgeous and my kids were outside tossing the football around in the road. Then Tori came in to tell me that there was a lady outside who would like to use our phone. I went outside and introduced myself and she explained she was waiting for her friend, who lived across the street from us to get home and he was already 1/2 hour late and she needed to get home to shower, and get to work by 6. She used our phone and I said, if she couldn't get a ride I would be willing to get her where she needed to be. Of course, no one was picking up the phone and time was ticking away. So, she took me up on my offer. It wasn't long into our drive that just in small talk I learned that she was a hurting women. Sounded like most of her relationships were not very healthy, and so I thought I would invite her to the conference that our church is holding called, "Intimate Issues." She asked about our church and I explained that it's a Bible believing church and our teaching come directly from the scriptures. Turns out she is a born-again Christian. She knows the truth and realizes that she needs to turn to Christ for the help she needs. As we got closer to her place, the more the tears ran down her face. My heart just broke over her pain. She kept apologizing and as we pulled into her driveway, she shared that she was battling an addiction. At this point, my response is, "Oh!" Now, I am a little concerned, because no one really knows where I am at all, because I was only planning on dropping her off and so I just left. I realize, I may not be in the safest place and quite frankly, I felt pretty unequipped to help. I called my hubby and gave him the info. as to where I was and asked for him to find some numbers that I could call to try to get this woman some help. There are a ton of other details to this story, but here's what I have come to realize because of it.
My purpose~Love the Lord my God with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength, 2nd Love my neighbor as myself.
This was an interruption to my day, but this is really what this life is all about. Caring for others. My job is to just show up faithful daily and embrace these divine interruptions. Oh, how ill equip I am, this is for sure, but God is able.
I would love to say this story has a storybook ending, but as of now, not so much. I ended up realizing that it is hard to get "on the spot help" with addictions and for those who battle them, the only jobs they can find are ones in positions where the temptations are enormous. I took her to work, (against my better judgement) and left her with a bible, phone number to a place that could help, and my phone number, letting her know we would help her in whatever way we could. We hugged and she was on her way. I haven't heard from her and I pray that she is ok.
I find myself asking the Lord, what that was all about anyways? I may never know this side of glory, but I am thankful to have met this beautiful women, and am humbled that I could show her the love of Christ.
On my knees, praying for the freedom of those who are bound,
Connie

15 years Baby!!!!!

It's hard to believe that 15 years have gone by since I married my man. What's harder to believe is that we are not only still married, (I say that with all seriousness!!) but I am more in love with him than ever before. There is a story here, our story, and I think deserves to be told, so here it goes.

When I got engaged I was of course excited mainly that someone really wanted to call me "wife" and I had a beautiful diamond to wear. When I said "yes" I said it fully expecting that it would never last, because that's just how I thought things were suppose to go. Nice, I know. My reasoning for even participating in this union?, well, I thought you really should be married to have kids. So that's what we did. We got married, bought a house, racked up a ton of debt, then started having babies. Marital bliss, I know. In time things got tough and so to counter the pain of life, which I couldn't seem to bear, I would live it up on the weekends. Since we didn't have a ton of money, I would skip meals or eat very little so that it wouldn't take much to get drunk and that's what I did. Eventually, this gets old and I still wasn't happy, and I could not figure out why, so it must be time for a "Divorce". This was only after 6 years. I made some phone calls and thankfully I had people who knew better then I did and encouraged me to go to a Christian counselor and if that didn't help they would help me. Needless to say, I was not excited about this, because I had already been in and out of counselor's offices and it's always the same old song and dance. Next thing I knew I was pregnant again!!!! Troy and I always wanted at least 3 kids, but with the way things were headed, this wasn't in my plan. I am a child of divorce and I didn't want to do that to my 2 kids, let alone 3. So I found myself, crying out to a God that I didn't really know at all and asking Him, what in the world are you doing? I'm doing a terrible job with what I have and now, I'm having another baby?!?! Turns out, He knew what He was doing. The plans for divorce were set aside to see how things would go with this pregnancy. Fast Forward-I had this beautiful baby and we called him Carter. After I had him, I thought I would go and try out this "Moms group" at the church where this counselor was and see what it was all about. I figured, I didn't know anyone and if they were all crazy and cultish, I would be out of there and that would be that. Turns out, they were pretty normal, (I say that loosely) and were all very nice. Almost to nice. I went back for some weeks waiting and watching to see if I could figure them out. The group I did was called "Mastering Motherhood". This is when I read the Bible for the first time and realized what it really means to be a Christian. It was then I decided I had made such a mess of my life and if Jesus wanted me then I was going to jump on to His train. I remember taking a deep breath and saying, "Here I am, and I really hope this is for real, because it is my last hope." It truly was my last hope to save both myself from self destruction and our marriage. Needless, to say, it was for real. It wasn't long and I began to change. I learned about what a godly marriage should look like and it made much more sense then any of my own or Hollywood's ideas. I always thought that if Troy was my "soul mate" then things should just naturally flow, so when they didn't I assumed that he wasn't. Fast Forward a few more years-We went to a marriage retreat and worked through some issues and we committed that there would never, no matter what, and I mean no matter what, we would never breath the "D" word again. We would be stuck with each other for the rest of our lives. And here we are. Things are far from perfect and we are still working through old issues that pop there heads up every now and then and working through new issues that seem to arise. 15 years and I can confidently say, "I have found my soul-mate!" He's mine and I'm his. I love him so much and there really is no one else I would rather do this life with. This man of mine has had every reason to up and leave and he didn't. I pushed him and pushed him, but he remained. To say the least, I am forever grateful. I would love to say that there' s not a day that goes by that I don't thank God for him, but there is, because that's the way it works, but today, and for all the September 18th's that will come, I will remember, and be grateful for such a wonderful guy. Thank you Lord for the blessing of Troy. Thank you for the way you work things out. I am amazed at your great love and care for us. We pray our marriage would always be a reflection of your great mercy, grace and a wonder of the work that you do.
Praising God for my Beloved,
Connie
"My lover is mine and I am his;" Song of Solomon 2:16

Warning: If you click on this picture you may be grossed out.

Cutting fabric to get a head start on Christmas gifts, my finger was cut by those wonderful sharp cutting tool. It's the tool you love to hate. My finger is healing nicely and I can finally type again.

In the presence of His Majesty......

No bus for us!!!!

I am still thanking the Lord that we are able to keep our kiddos home and train them ourselves. Our past 2 days of school have been just delightful. Now, I do realize there will be a day coming when it will be less than that, but as Beth Moore would say, "When we have something to rejoice about, I'm going to really rejoice!!!" So today I am rejoicing.

I got up again today before the kids and soon after heard the bus go by. No offense Mom, but I am glad that there is no bus for us!!!!! No worries about bullies, conversations that are rated higher than PG, and no boys/girls trying to hitch up with our kids. Yes, that's what really happens on the bus.(Well except for my moms) So Mr. Bus you can just drive on by because there is no bus for us!!!!! I pray that the sound of the bus each morning will be a reminder of what a blessing it is to have them home on the days that will come when it is less than delightful!!!

Lakeshore Academy School Blog

Here they are on the 2nd day of school. Today for our last project, I had the kids set up a blog to post school stuff. My hopes is it will act both as a school "newspaper" and encourage writing and keyboarding/computer skills in a fun way. We'll at least it will be fun for me. So stop by if you please. http://hoehneslakeshoreacademy.blogspot.com/
Blessings,
Connie