Sunday, August 30

a new mindset from the teacher :)

What's been on my mind and schedule lately?
A total change of heart from the Lord.

And for the record, this year should not be going the way it is, but we serve an AWESOME GOD, and that very same Awesome God has changed what was meant for evil into a GREAT and MIGHTY work :)

Finally, I can say that i'm on the right side again :)

Okay, so long story short, Erik and I were hoping to be pregnant by now (we're not), and I was really hoping that by this time next year I'd be enjoying being a stay at home mom.

God had different plans.

We ended up getting tested this summer, and after long and hard weeks, things got complicated, and doctors reports just didn't line up with what the Word of God had told us. I continue to believe for our babies and just ask me about them :) We're ready for Khloe, Dakota, and Dallas to manifest themselves :) But until then, I continue to believe God, and we've got room for them in the house.

That being said, I was going through the heat of the battle right before school started. There were some awful times in there, and times when it just felt crummy. Those of you who have children have no way to understand this, but I consider you blessed. Be patient with those of us who are still waiting for children, as it is a very difficult road to travel down, and you are still in a different "club"

Anyway, for those of you parents who don't understand, some of the battles that you go through (or at least I did), are feelings of complete rejection, lack of understanding and anger...for me the worst part was just trying to help my spouse receive love. The fact that the "doctors" say we couldn't have children didn't change my opinion of my husband in one bit. But hearing that from my husband that things might have been different if it were ME experiencing the problems, well that was a tough one to swallow.

Well school training started, and wouldn't you know it? Our spirit-filled principal invited a Christian speaker, Flip Flippen (author of "The Flip Side") to train us on Capturing Kids Hearts...and I boo-hooed through most of the presentation. He was talking to us about how our kids have "baggage" with them every day...so what was OURS? And we didn't want to share OUR baggage with a complete stranger, so why should they? And how do we get past the BAGGAGE to meet the need of the child? AWESOME PRESENTATION!!!!

AWESOME! VERY ANNOINTED! And that's been working in my classroom :)

I made the decision that I liked what he spoke to us about, and I was going to incorporate that into my classroom,. One of the things he does is called a 'social contract' Wouldnt' you know THAT gets me out of my teacher comfort zone?

THere are like the 10 commandments of teaching, and one of my top 10 is definitely
Thou shalt not talk in my classroom (for the thoughts of an administrator walking into a "chatty" classroom is quite unnerving!)

Wouldnt' you know on the class contracts one of the things that EVERY class said was "we want to be able to talk while we work?"

YIKES!!!

But the whole thing with a social contract is that THEY get to make the rules (so they demonstrate ownership, it's not just you giving them YOUR rules for them to follow)...

It's been successful...and I even had one class say "We want to be able to sit anywhere we want to with teh knowledge that YOU can move us if it's not working!" AMAZING!

I couldn't stand the noise level the other day as they were working, so I took up their work and told htem it was for a grade---surprisingly they did well...at least I'll have the documentation for my "noisy" somewhat unorthodox classroom...

But that very same clasroom gave me a kid that now says "can I be in math ALL day? I didn't think i'd like it this much, but now I do."

What an honor!

Every kid that walks into my room is a ministry opportunity, and sometimes we have to come out of our teacher comfort "boxes' to experience it, Last year, I missed out a bunch. This year? Ah, I'm relaxed, and having fun :)

It's great.

I'd write more, but it's late, and I want some sleep. Cheer uniforms tomorrow :)

Monday, February 23

the fun of house buying

Hey yall :)
So Erik and I have exceeded my wildest dreams (literally!)...I remember telling Erik as we were dating and then planning a wedding that my DREAM home would be a double wide trailer---and he said no...but i insisted, a double wide would be AWESOME :)

Well anyway, 5 years down the road, we've exceeded that...on New Years' Day (as a Christmas present), I agreed that Erik and I could go look at houses---and I was TOTALLY thinking like way down the road (Spring breakish?)...

Okay, here's my advice column to all ppl looking to buy a house:
1) START SAVING NOW!!! SAVE LOTS NOW!!! BE READY TO SPEND MORE THAN YOU'VE EVER SPENT IN YOUR LIFE IN JUST A COUPLE OF MONTHS...

now, this totally isn't a bad thing---in fact, it's quite fun :) LOL :) But i like things nice and structured, and this move WASN'T.

We went to shop for a house (just looking) on New Year's day and ended up putting in a bid on New Year's DAY!!!!

After the bid got accepted, we got a phone call saying we needed to put up $1000 earnest money THAT DAY or the deal was off...crazy bank ppl!

The next 40 or so days (avg time to close house) was a combination of lots of spending...and not spending. We were told NOT to spend things on major purchases and to keep as much money in the bank as possible---translation, make sure that you can get your bank statement BEFORE you pay your bills---they want to see what you start with, not what your checking looks like AFTER the bills...

yeah, fun stuff....better know how to manage things.

So then you buy the house and you wait and wait and wait for closing (which by the way, there's things that come BEFORE closing such as shopping for house insurance, working on getting the loan approved, and a nerve-racking inspection...we were BLESSED to have a very informative inspector who cared more about EDUCATING us than telling us our house was in horrid condition...i hear several inspectors aren't nice like ours was)

Anyway, God blessed us through the whole thing and we had provision and very little things went haywire---in all, i think that our purchase was a smooth one.

Be ready to purchase things for your new house (and might i recommend NOT purchasing valances?) LOL :) We have about 9 or 10 windows in our house, and purchased curtains for ALL of them with a valance for ALL of them...needless to say, even if curtains were cheap (domestications.com), curtain rods were NOT.

Then of course, if you don't own your appliances- there's that fee...we were blessed to only have to buy a fridge---which i am LOVING...it's pretty darn cool :) And when it's your HOUSE, you tend to appreciate things so much more (my example? I actually put things back in the cabinets where they belonged!!! AND i cleaned up after myself---something i never did before!)

Yesterday, I prayed that God would reveal to ERik and me whether or not to go ahead and purchase our furniture (we've been waiting on tax return)...I prayed that we'd either be approved or rejected for credit, and that God would reveal to us through that...well, we got approved for financing, and I learned again what my pastors had said that you just invest the money in the bank (because our furniture will be FULLY paid for in a matter of another week or so), and then pay it off after accumulating interest...

And the furniture we chose? Oh my goodness, i'm so ready to receive it...it's a chocolate colored microfiber/leather sectional, with a separate 1 1/2 size chair----very very very very comfy for the princess :) We also are blessed to have 2 dining rooms in this house, and we needed something to go in the formal dining room (as Erik is desiring to be a host quite often for game nights and other events)...so we invested in a rectangular granite top table with six chairs that will match our sectional----very very cool :)

The furniture is so comfy, and I look forward to a completed look on the house after its arrival.

Special thanks to ALL who helped us move this past weekend---there is NO WAY that Erik and me could have made it alone...

Now we unpack boxes, and by next week (on Wednesday) the house should have a completed look.

What a blessing being a home owner (home ower?) is...there is no other feeling in the world than coming to a QUIET house and waking up to the sunlight---it's just an incredible feeling that i never really appreicated until now...

But it's wonderful, it's quiet (no noisy neighbors, no other running water as in apartments, etc...), it's just WONDERFUL.

I pray that God blesses all of you with your heart's desire of a house soon if He hasn't already done so.

God bless you all
Hugs,
Kristi

Sunday, December 21

updates and such

Hey there
Well, I'm finally a brace face and modeling the year's newest fashion- a full set of (non-pink) brackets on every one of my teeth complete with a nice wire running through them and even a nice coil spring over part of them. And what a look it is...I actually like it :) For the first time since Rissie was first pregnant, I feel okay smiling---why? Because this is a NEW BEGINNING for my smile ;) And now, it seems like everywhere I go, i'm getting asked about "how long do you have to wear them?" To which I reply---at least a year and a half. Which is true. Projected date to lose the brackets and gain a retainer will be June/July 2010. Who knows? But for now, i'm enjoying the new look which came equipped with a diet :) Haha :) In addition to finding it hard to chew, I've noticed it's now a pain to eat in between meals...why's that? There's a thing called "elastics" in the orthodontic world---and in MY world, it translates to having to take those suckers off every time i eat or brush my teeth followed by IMMEDIATELY putting a new set on. I very quickly realized that since these are not "re-usable" elastics, it is NOT worth the trouble of putting them on later, you know??? And actually- today was the first time since Wednesday that I had something of a snack. I got my favorite snack in the world (reese's peanut butter cups) and had them combined with mac and cheese---but right now, it's just not the same. So what do I call braces besides the newest fashion for the new year? I call them INSTA-DIET!!! So any lady (or gentleman) who's been wanting to lose the weight? Why not try braces? It's a guaranteed plan for 2 years!!! And after 2 years of this, i bet you come out of it with new habits, you know? It's only been a week (less than!) and i've found i've already lost 3 pounds! This is pretty cool :)

So i'm a nerd, oh well :)

Have a very merry Christmas ya'll :)

Love,
Kristi

Saturday, November 8

something i learned

Hey there,
I know it's been AGES since i've written, but being a teacher can keep you really busy (and tired!). Anyway, I've noticed how spoiled I've become to every day things...one such thing would be water. And when i'm spoiled by something, I tend to take it for granted that I have access to such a privelege (again talking about water)...

Seriously, think how important (and wonderful) water is. We use water for almost EVERYTHING: drinking, bathing, washing clothes and dishes, going to the bathroom, etc. So what happens when you DON'T have water? It's AWFUL!!!

Today, well actually last night at about 11, our apartment AGAIN lost its water. This time I was slightly more than aggravated because it's about the 7th time it's happened over the last few months, and let me tell you...NOT knowing whether you'll have water to take a shower the next day is NOT fun!!! Today I was especially annoyed because of reasons I won't discuss here...but I DID learn a lesson here.

And it's time for me to go "preachy" for a minute...actually, I just want to share with you what the Bible says is going to happen to our water (probably very soon!)...

In Revelation, after the church is raptured, the world as we know it now goes through a series of judgements. One of these judgements will directly affect our water source (and our whole life as we know it)...i thought I'd take a minute to talk about this on my blog and just be real with you.

In Revelation chapter 16, we are seeing the bowl judgements begin to take place. These bowl judgements are the third and final judgments from Almighty God. In the second bowl judgement, the seas are turned to blood. That's right. BLOOD. Every sea that is left on earth will be BLOOD...and not just blood...ROTTEN blood...because it is "blood as of a dead man" EWW...

But it gets worse. In bowl judgment #3, the waters turn to blood...all the rivers and springs? BLOOD.

Translation: by this time...no more good water to drink...it's all blood! EWW!!!

Now, back to me thinking like i was earlier...it totally sucked not having water to take a bath in or brush my teeth, and I'm so grateful for my brother and sister who lended me their washing machine to wash clothes...but it was still awful. And I was complaining and bitter having to go to Wal-Mart to buy 12 gallons of water so that I could go home and flush a toilet...and all of that "MINOR" annoyance is NOTHING compared to end times...

After rapture, if you're still around---watch out and REPENT while you can!!! But even better, GET SAVED NOW!!! God is a merciful God and is willing to forgive you of your sins and cleanse you to righteousness to be able to live in heaven with Him for an eternity...how wonderful!!!

The other option is to be stuck here after rapture and watch hell on earth become LITERAL!!!

Back to the water thing...can you imagine the thirst you will have? there will be NO water to drink, and you cant just drive to Wal-Mart to get something---what will you bathe in? BLOOD??? EWW!!! You can't wash clothes, you can't brush your teeth, and you will be wanting to DIE but you can't...at this point in the end...you're stuck there...with no more mercy...it's AWFUL!!!

Please please please here me now. Live for God NOW...give Him your entire life, it's so easy and worth it!!!

Jesus said "I have come that they might have life and life more abundant!" MORE ABUNDANT!!! How wonderful!!!

All you have to do to become saved is this:
1) confess with your mouth JESUS is LORD
2) believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead

That's it. That's how to be saved according to Romans 10:9-10

Have a blessed day, and please please email me if you want to know more about becoming a Christian or living a Christian life.

Also, check out my church's website:
www.powerhousechristiancenter.org

Be blessed!

Saturday, September 20

Keep Lockhart Beautiful

What a fun experience I had this morning. I attended a community service event called "Keep Lockhart Beautiful" I was able to work with my administrator (8th grade AP), and some others to paint a bridge in the local park. Now, with green paint on my arm and shirt, I'm tired but blessed. The bridge looks GREAT, and I got 2 1/2 hrs of excercise painting :) I'm not an expert, but it was FUN :) If you ever get the chance to participate in community service, you totally should

Be blessed!
Kristi

Sunday, July 27

My Time to praise God

We make our plans...God laughs at them. I don't THINK that's scriptural (couldn't find it this morning...if it is please give me its address) But regardless, i believe in this case it's true. I had made some plans (a whole life of plans) and they weren't even in the direction God was taking my life...

To catch everyone up, if you're not around me...i was working at a school, Barton, and had almost been promised ALL YEAR that i'd have this special ed resource math position at the school for the next school year...and I was counting on it! They had me take 2 new certification tests, and my whole year was built around staying at this school.

While at Barton, the Holy Spirit just FILLED my heart with a vision about the school, how I was to teach these kids...what would be happening in my classroom...WONDERFUL vision! So I held onto it with gratitude as I waited for the all important "interview"...

Well...for the first time in my LIFE...the interview wasn't so great. I don't think it was any lack on my part because I had Christ in me, and I spoke things according to how God had given me the vision. But somewhere in that interview, my principal heard that i said i was afraid of the children...that part could not be any FURTHER from the truth!!!

I was really upset about it (knowing what he heard), so I called and sought counsel from my pastor...who told me that satan can cause people to hear other things than what we say to them...when I asked him what to do about the vision that God had placed on my heart, he challenged me to think about whether the vision was truly for Barton or whether God gave it to me for another school.

As I was driving to go babysit, I was praying to God to heal my heart...you see, my heart was truly truly hurting---how could I not have something that i've just counted on for SOOOO LONG??? And why, why God would I have to go through job hunting again??? Where would I go? In everything, I trusted Him to heal my heart and to provide answers. Very quickly after that prayer, as I was allowing God to come enter in the situation and fill me with His peace??? I got a phone call from Lockhart asking if I wanted to come in on Wednesday for an interview at the junior high for a math position (you have to know my heart on math---i LOVE teaching it!!!)...

There you go, God was answering the cries of my heart!!! He sent me provision...and regardless of whether I got the job or not, I knew that God was providing.

On Tuesday nights, my sister and her family meet with me, and we have "soaking time" listening to soaking.net just allowing the Holy Spirit to minister to us. We've been doing this for about a month now, and NO TIME has been the same. Anyway, that particular Tuesday night, God ministered to my heart some more...telling me that I hadn't let go of Barton, and that I was actually in BONDAGE to them...I spoke it out loud and later Rissie and Sean prayed over me...concerning my interview the next day.

THat day, Wednesday, I prayed before I went into the interview---I didn't want them to see any of my flesh...all i wanted them to see was Christ in me. And if they didn't like what they saw...then i didn't need to be there. i laugh now because it was one of those times where satan was doing everything in his limited power to cause me to think it wasn't the place for me to be...

The interview started about 30 minutes late (and i have a BIG THING with punctuality!)...but once i got in the room, everything changed...i spoke everything of the vision that God had given me, and realized that MY heartbeat was THEIR heartbeat...that God had placed on my heart the very same vision that He had placed on THEIR hearts...

That in itself is hugely amazing...if i wasn't happy enough? Everything that i had decided about teaching math? That's how THEY teach math (even in having weekly timed tests!!!!) God was so much a part of this interview it wasn't even funny! Toward the end, i realized that my principal is also a preacher's daughter :) HOW COOL IS THAT???

On the day that I was going to sign my contract, I met with my principal...she and I spent an hour just praising God and discussing God's plan for this campus this year---and what a miracle, she told me not to hold back!!! She had seen me speaking prophecy that i'd been told..she saw me giving testimony of how God was working...and she saw my heartbeat was in the MINISTRY that is teaching...and she told me not to hold back!!!

God is so awesome!!! Every part of Him??? Just awesome!!!

I could not be happier...and i hold NO bitterness toward Barton...don't get me wrong, i'm very happy to leave...but I hold NO BITTERNESS toward the principal there for not selecting me for the job...because I know that I am where God wants me to be...and i'm OUT of bondage...into a job where I can freely minister, and I KNOW that these kids lives will be changed and blessed!!! PRAISE GOD! AND HALLELUJAH!!!!

2 1/2 long (very long) years of waiting for a teaching job are so worth it because I know that I've found where I belong...and i'm eager to start :)

I could go on forever on how good God is, but for now, that's a good catch up point for you guys. I'll try to be more faithful in writing, so you can hear my adventures as I launch out into the minstry God has written for my life :)

God bless you all,
Love and hugs,
Kristi

Monday, May 19

God's Provision

HA! Who knew selling old stuff could be so fun??? My husband and i had these two mushroom chairs (like butterfly chairs only round)...and I thought. Hmm, i could sell them for about 5 dollars a piece, but I got an offer today for 25 dollars!!! WHAT A BLESSING FROM GOD!!!! That plus my tutoring tomorrow provides for another tank of gas for my husband's car (which, by the way, WILL NOT be on credit!!!) WOOHOO!!!

I have to praise God for this because of ALL of our piled up high bills every month, gas was the one bill that he consistently paid for on credit cards. When we started doing a budget (slowly but surely), we realized that his car alone takes 550/month for gas!!! OUCH!!! Now take that 550 and put credit card interest---you can see how quickly it would rack up a high balance...

And for all you DR fans, I know that you have probably been here done that...but when you're used to living on CREDIT...and having NO MONEY...don't you know the feeling of "what now?" when suddenly you have 550 dollars that you have to come up with that wasn't in your budget (because it was credit?) I don't know about you, but I was a little more than concerned...but not my husband...

He believed by faith for provision, and God has done it again :) We bought him a tank yesterday, and by Wednesday, we'll have ANOTHER tank :) I say "THANK YOU LORD!" for that provision!!!

Are there any other testimonies out there of miraculous provision of money being there where there wasn't any money???