Need a Sign from God?  7/21/11

How many times have you asked God to give you a sign?  Maybe a sign that tells you what the right decision is?  Or a sign that tells you to stop and go in another direction? 

I ask God all the times for signs.  Isaiah 7:11 tells us to ask for signs when we are at our lows and when we are at our highs.  I believe that signs are one way that God communicates with us today.  He places people, objects, and opportunities in our path that direct us toward His will and away from the temptations of this world that are constantly tempting us. 

Right in the beginning God placed the stars in the sky as signs to mark the days and nights.  He reminded the Israelites that the trials they saw before they left Egypt were signs of His power and love for them.  Psalmists lamented when they didn’t have signs from God to direct their way because they felt disconnected from him. 

So how shocked were we when we drove up to a Christian school in inner city Charlotte and found this absolutely incredible sign! 

Shocking isn’t it?  Ok, so maybe not to you, but to us this sign is truly a sign from God.  

I had only visited the school once before, 8 months before the camp and I drove in on a totally different street and honestly didn’t remember much about getting there except that I needed to turn right off of the main road and the building would be on my right.  So you can imagine my surprise, as well as my kids, my husband, and the other Donna’s surprise as we saw the street that the school is on the corner of is “Arty.” 

The camp that Donna and I wrote is based on a character named Artemus.  And Artemus’ grandson is Arty!  We had spent hours debating a name when we thought of Artemus, because the camp is an Art camp.  Then we randomly decided that Artemus needed a grandson that was the age of the kids at the camp and of course the grandson would be named Arty, after his grandfather. 

So needless to say when we drove up on that Monday morning and turned on to Arty, our jaws dropped and all of my doubts about what we were doing and why we were doing it were gone.  God was with us.  God had provided us an opportunity to share His love with school aged children in Charlotte and there was no doubt in our minds! 

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Can I name every post "Irony?"  7/1/11

I would really like to.  It is so ironic.  If you scan down to the last post I did (almost 3 months ago) I began with the question of "Do you have the time?"  Ha!  Well, life took over then, and NO, I don't have the TIME! 

The dictionary defines "irony" as "the use of words to express something the opposite of the literal meaning."  That's it.  My life.  So often.  Probably the best way to explain it is through pictures.  So here I go.

Let's just say that this is exactly what it looks like.  We visited my parents in mid-April.  And sure enough, in the field behind their house, on the second evening we were there, they began fertilizing the field with fresh 'fertilizer.'  Wow.  What a scent.  Ams took this pictue.  Nicely framed isn't it! 

This is Jack, the "Basket Hound," taking a ride on the golf cart at my parents house.  Love this pup!  But lets just say it adds a bit of stress when he snaps at your littlest child.  He only did it twice.  Mike had a conversation with him (Jack, not N.Joseph) and Jack has been very well behaved since.

Ams and N.Joseph riding the rollercoaster at the Lowry Park Zoo in Tampa.  A great day, except for the HEAT and it is only April.   

Isn't that cool?  That is a bald eagle!  About 40 feet from the tour boat that we were riding in Tarpon Springs, Fl. 

Then we came home and there aren't any pictures from the next for about a month.  The month when "it" happened.  The thing I don't want to talk about.  The thing that scares me.  The thing that is consuming me.  Still.  It is the root of my issues (not really, but it sounds good, and it has about driven me over the edge.)  I turned a big number.  Ouch!  A birthday has never bothered me like this before.  But this one did and is.  What is happening?

But life continued. And people began moving.

Mike's parents moved to NC at the end of May.  Well, their stuff did.  They will be down to stay in the fall.  This picture was taken about 30 minutes after some dear friends helped us unload the moving truck.  Enough said.

Doesn't he look miserable?  He was so sick with a head cold.  It was 100 degrees in the gym as he "Moved On" from 8th grade.  I'm not old enough for this!

Then the next day Ams moved on from 5th grade.

And our final recent change came with T arriving for 6 weeks from Belarus through the American Belarussian Relief Organization. 

I think that I've had enough change to last me for a while.  But the days with children continue.  There was Music & Arts Camp, Vacation Bible School and an upcoming Art Camp.  God is good.  God blesses us in so many ways. 

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Do you have the time? 4/12/11

I have the time; well sometimes I have the time. 

My girlfriends ask me often how I get all that I get done, done.  If they only knew the truth.  I've shared the truth with them, but they don't believe me.  They really don't.  Ask them sometime! 

Most of what I get done, I either do at 5 a.m., when the kids are still sleeping, or I do in the afternoon when everyone is mellow around the house after a long day at school or running around. 

But often time alludes me.  My house is never quite clean.  The laundry is never quite caught up.  There are dishes in the sink, on the counter, on Mike's dresser, in the garage, bathroom... well maybe not in the bathroom but you would be surprised where I have found Mike's coffee cup around this house over the years.  And then the phone rings, buzzes, or vibrates.  In fact the phone has done that three times since I began writing this and I can type 80 words a minute, when I'm not interrupted!

So often I find myself thinking that I would love to try doing something new, or catch up on a project that I began 2 years ago.  I have always wanted to make a rag rug.  I even have a kit to do it that my mother in law gave me 10 years ago.  I still haven't found the time.  My gardens need to be weeded.  Some day I would like to learn more about photography.  And there goes the phone buzz again!

As I was reading a few days ago (I do that to escape the stuff that really "needs" to be done.), I was thinking more about time and God.  Last week I wrote about God creating time, in my post Tick Tock.  But this week I'm thinking more about us, the people He created, finding the time to for Him.  I asked myself if I thought God would wait for me to find the time for Him.  And the immediate response came to me that, of course He will wait.  Isn't that what He does all the time?  I think that there is so much more important stuff that I need to take care of before I spend time with Him, the creator of time.  How arrogant of me. 

How much better would my life be if I remembered each and every moment was a time to spend with God.  God doesn't want me to just set aside a bit of time in my day or week for Him.  He wants all of me.  He wants all of my day, my week, my year, my life.  And believe it or not, that really isn't hard to do, if we just do it. 

In Deuteronomy 30:14 it says, "the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart..."  In the book of Acts, we see the Spirit of God descending on the believers and becoming a part of them.  When God created you and me, He breathed His breath into us.  The breathe of God was breathed into each and every one of us.  God is with us always and just wants us to acknowledge that, to invite Him to walk with us instead of following silently behind us.  Behind us is where He stays, quietly supporting and loving you, until we invite Him forward to walk with us, to lead us, to spend time with us.  Do you have the time for God?

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Organized chaos is kindness!  4/9/11

I am so proud of my girls, Abs & Cole.  They held a garage sale to raise money for ICO, our church's version of the American Belarussian Relief Organization.  They made over $350, shared their faith through a whisper to almost all who came (they told them what they were raising money for), and best of all, they had a blast doing it! 

Thanks also to all of our friends and family who donated stuff to the sale!  We couldn't have done it without you! 

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Welcome to Leave a Trace!

It is a “Go Green,” “Reduce Your Carbon Footprint,” “Leave No Trace” world today.  That is wonderful for our physical world.  But, here at Leave a Trace, we realize that Christians are called to do the opposite.  We are supposed to Leave A Trace of Christ with everyone we meet.  We are supposed to leave footprints on the world so that everyone can share in Christ’s love.

Not all Christians have an easy time sharing their faith with others.  And while some are especially gifted in that area, we are ALL called to “go and make disciples.”  Sometimes in our eagerness to share we frighten or overwhelm others, forgetting our mission is to plant the delicate seeds, not necessarily to harvest the fruit.  Then sometimes, in our fear and hesitation other opportunities pass us by because we think of our inadequacies rather than Jesus’ perfection.  Whether it is in the workplace, on the playground, in the grocery store, or the coffee shop, there is always an opportunity to share your faith and there is always someone who needs to hear it or be encouraged by it.

At Leave a Trace we want to help you find gentle ways to share your passion for Christ.  Here at our website you will find stories of how others have shared.  You will find ideas and tools that you can use to help.  And most importantly, you will find others who want to share Christ and His awesome love.we want to help you find gentle ways to share your passion for Christ.  Here at our website you will find stories of how others have shared.  You will find ideas and tools that you can use to help.  And most importantly, you will find others who want to share Christ and His awesome love.

This here is my sweet boy Jack taking a bath!  I think he kinda likes it.  Either that or he likes the attention.  3/20/11

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