Blessed but not crushed

persecuted not abandoned,struck down but not destroyed, I am blessed beyond the curse for His promise will endure and His joy will be my strength .... I wish I knew who wrote that song so I could credit them here. It is a praise and worship song and it often reminds me that though the enemy (satan) prowls around like a roaring lion, I am not his to take down! Trial will come as they may, they will serve to make me stronger, build me up, and strengthen my confidence in my Creator each time He delivers me from the enemy's snare but I will never be destroyed, never crushed ... ALWAYS BLESSED!

So I am still sick. I have confidence that this will only last for a season. It will not last forever, but for a season and through it God will teach me and show me more and more about His grace (unmerited favor), about His deliverance and about His mercy. I am His and He hides me in the shadow of the cleft. Thank you God!

So sorry I was not able to give reference to some of the quotes, the song a little bit of scripture. I will try to remember to look them up tomorrow.

Peace and Blessings,
sb

single parenting

solo parenting, doing it alone, being mom and dad, bringing up children without one parent present, balancing it all, the only breadwinner, booboo kisser, chauffeur, teacher, financial analyzer, disciplinarian, life guide, maintenance ummm "person", laundry lady, menu planner, nurse, ... oh I suppose the list could go on and on and sometimes as a single parent it feels just that overwhelming. Add everything I have to be to my responsibilities outside our home, church member, involved in ministry, small business owner, friend, daughter and well it all just multiplies.

I have been pretty sick for 2 days now, it started with a cough, tight in my chest and then yesterday turned into a fever. I thought it was over when the fever broke last night but low and behold my temp went back up today so as I type this I am in the bed going from hot to cold to hot again. UGH... I hate being sick!

Being a overwhelming responsibilities if being a single parent hits me the hard when I am ill, when I feel like I can't physically do it all. When my body aches, and my head hurts, when my eyes are running and despite the fact that it is 75 degrees inside I have to wear a jacket and socks and my teeth still chatter. When my kiddos are wanting to be fed or they are expected to be somewhere and I feel like I cannot lift my head from the pillow. God uses all kinds of circumstances to teach us lessons. In those moments I feel alone, as if I am hiking uphill carrying a huge knapsack alone, no one to help distribute the weight between. Jeremiah 17:9 says "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure.Who can understand it?" My heart often tells me I am alone, I am by myself with no one to call on, no one to count on and what God is trying so hard to teach me is that is not true. For instance last night, help was just a text message away, my mother brought me meds and made sure my kids had dinner and that the older ones were taking care of Miss ZC. She did all this despite the fact that she herself has not been feeling well either. A church friend who lives close by also wanted to know what she could do to help. Yes there are things that only I can do for my children, and at times those decisions seem insurmountable but when I step back and allow my friends and family to step in and lend me a hand with the smaller things the knapsack is a little lighter.



Suggestions for finding people willing to make you Knapsack a little lighter on your single parenting travels:
1.Find a church family that will embrace you and your children.
Of coarse the most important aspect of a church is that it is grounded in the word of God, that it is teaching and disciplining it's members, and that it is reaching out beyond its own walls to draw people in to the Kingdom but one of the benefits in being involved with people who love God is that generally speaking people who love God want to serve God and His children. They are often willing to help with rides, a little babysitting from time to time and some general maintenance and upkeep.

2. local single parent support groups. You can look online and in the newspaper for local groups of interest. Sometimes it is helpful to get together with others who understand your own life. Unfortunately many times groups like this turn into "gripe sessions" and though occasionally we all need to get some stuff off our chest groups that only focus on the problems instead of how we can bond together and help one another only make you focus on the "bad" stuff instead of all your blessings
3. family and friends - never underestimate the willingness of your family and friends already in your life to help you out. To help make things easier on you talk to them asking them about their willingness to help out in certain situations on certain days of the week, or a set number of hours a week. You may be surprised.

So where do you find your support? Who do you know you could call to ask to lend an extra set of hands?So let me hear from you, any single moms out there who need and extra hand? Any other suggestions?

Don't you hate it when ...

You try to make something better and only achieve in making it worse ... UGH! Ok, it all started when I wanted to improve the look of this blog. I wanted 3 columns instead of 2. I want to add some ad's and helpful information and I thought it would be more helpful if there were 2 side columns. So I started searching for a nice 3 column template. I found one and followed the instructions to install it. Well, I only managed to really mess it up. So stay tuned, I am trying to get it all back but it is a slow process. Good thing the blog is not very old. GRRRR OK little rant over, going to fix it all

Peace and Blessings
sb

Flying time!

Today we started week 5 of the Schultz Family School 2008-2009 Year. I cannot believe how fast time is going. I am amazed. Now I know we have not really had a FULL week due to hurricane scares and necessary evacuations. Despite those unwanted interruptions I think this is the best start to a school year we have had yet. In addition to Madison, Ethan and Zoe Claire, we also have 2 sweeties with us. K and K are twins in the third grade. The girls fit into our family so very nicely. They all love to find similarities they have. I really think Miss M is enjoying having the company around. She has been in a classroom of 1 for so long. It has been great to have her there to encourage and assist with the younger ones. It has benefited her as well. I am a firm believer in what I believe to be fact is that sometimes our brains are just not ready to take in certain information. Sometimes it needs to grow, branch out and develop in other areas before it is ready to grasp other concepts and processes. I think this is especially true for math. For years Miss M has struggled with math. It has been difficult to understand. Many years in a row she hits a wall before the first week is even up. It has clicked with her this year. She just "got it" and she is so excited. Not to say it is easy at all but she is understanding it, the numbers and their process' are making sense.
So I am hoping you are all having a great year so far. Praying you are enjoying one another and the bond that homeschooling helps to create. Praying you are all also enjoying your school year so far!

Peace and blessings
sb

here we go again...

Hurricane Ike is making his approach toward the gulf. Nothing is certain yet but they think it will go into the gulf and thus we will be threatened by yet another hurricane. This one looks bad. We will once again be heading up to Brewer, MS. Stay tuned.

Nana's birrthday rap

The kids did this today for their nana. We were laughing so hard when we watched it. I just knew I had to share it!

Hurrican Gustav Blessings ...

I am so happy to say we are home safe and sound. The small town of Pascagoula weathered the storm just fine. It is my understanding that we only briefly lost power and all else was well.

I have to share with you about our time in Brewer, Mississippi. It really was such a blessing. We arrived on Saturday to about a half dozen or more people who wanted to hug our necks and love on us. They jumped right in and helped us unload the kids and all of our bags. The group had so graciously prepared a wonderful dinner for us, a buffet of pizza, salad, chips, bbque sandwiches, drinks anything we could have wanted. They had gone to Sam's and loaded up on any kind of snack the kids could have wanted, breakfast cereal, fruit, etc.... They thought of everything. They had already set up the beds, stocked the bathroom with toiletires we could have forgotten when we packed and fresh towels. They had lined up groups of people to come cook each breakfast, lunch and dinner for us and to do our laundry while we were there. Their loving, giving attitude and actions took so much of the stress off of our shoulders. Even their youth came to hang out with our kids and even pitched in with the little ones. It was so obvious that everyone there was so very genuine and just wanted to be of service. They were truly the hands and feet of Christ. Before we left several people made sure to tell us in the event of another Hurricane we were expected to come and stay with them again.

I did a lot of thinking on the way home yesterday and you know this was the most pleasent evacuation I have ever experienced. Usually our time is spent, glued to the tv trying to watch what is going on at home while we wrangle with kids trying to keep them quiet and occupied so they dont disturb the other guests. Then there is the stress of all the money we are spending and the possible hurricane damage at home. So as you can imagine evacuations are stressful. This was just not the case in Brewer.

So to Brewer Baptist Church I say a great big THANK YOU! Thank you for your hospitality, for your prayers and for loving on us the way you did this week!

Peace and Blessings
SB