30 Days of Accountability: Days 16 & 17

1 Corinthians 16:18

¹⁸ For they refreshed my spirit and yours also. Such men deserve recognition.

Yes, I am cheating and putting two days together.  I was tired again last night and went to bed early again.  It was a good day at church.  We had a good sermon, the kids did good in Sunday school and then we all had a great time at the fellowship that followed.  Steven had kind of an iffy at church as one of his favorite people weren't there.  But, he didn't melt down like I was worried about for a little bit with the way he was reacting.  The afternoon wasn't too bad at home.  Bryan got some more yard work done and I did some housework.  Steven got warpy about 5-6 and was hitting and kicking some.  We were sitting down watching That Metal Show and he knocked over an end table by the chair.  I got him to settle down and we went for a ride on the mower.  I thought everything was fine so when we got back I went to get his medicine and I hear the table thump on the floor.  I go walking towards the living room and next thing I know the table is thrown down by the garage door and busts into several pieces.  Now I must tell you that table was special to me.  It was my late mom's.  I thought a lot that table and was none to happy that it was broke.  Steven understood this.  The rest of the night he didn't argue with me when I told him no to something.  The top did stay intact, so I am going to make it to where I can use it as a lap table.  Bryan had a good time at church listening to the missionaries from Mexico.

Monday-

Steven got off to school just fine.  I took off to the Master's Hands to start the week.  I finished off the paperwork for last week and then started on everything for the day.  Bryan came in about 9 and I had to leave so we could dropped the gold van off to get the brakes fixed and then take him to work.  I came back thinking things would be hectic and they weren't.  We had a very slow day today.  It was kinda nice, but also hard to keep focused at times.  The eating was pretty good today.  I could have made it better, but I only had pizza for supper and no salad.  I will save the salad for tomorrow.  We got the pizza and salad from Monical's and you can't let their salad go to waste.  It is just too good.  Our night was pretty good and Steven went to sleep easy.  I have picture at the end of how he fell asleep.  He cracks me up. 

I also have a picture of Steven with his white bear.  I thought about my mom yesterday with the table.  Today I was talking to mom to some people today, that used to work with her.  Talking about how long she had been gone.  Talked about how mom used to work in a meat shop at a grocery store.  When she started she wasn't allowed to wear jeans, but the men were.  That soon changed.  Mom bought the bear for Steven less than a year before she passed away.  It was the last Christmas present mom bought him.  It is actually no longer white, but he loves it immensely.  I miss mom and will every day.

I love the fact that I get to go to church and be with my family there and then the following day I am with my family at the Master's Hands.  It definitely recharges me and gets me going for the rest of the week.

Take care and God bless,
Sherri

30 Days of Accountability: Day 15

Proverbs 22:6

King James Version (KJV)

⁶ Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

 

I haven’t done much today beyond VBS.  We had a great turnout today with 19 children.  That is close to double what we generally have.  It was great to see all of the smiling faces.  The teens did great with helping out too.  It was a great day and everyone enjoyed themselves.   We are a small church and it is nice to see how many people pitch in to make it happen.  Of course, Roberta did most of the prep work and I thank God for her and her enthusiasm in serving the Lord.  Faith, Rusty, Mandy, Ashley, Jennie we our teachers and they did a wonderful job with the children.  Our teens Nick, Aaron, Sierra, Rachel, Chris, Bryce, and Brock were great and had fun as well.  Then Larry Joe, Marilyn and Regina helped out too.  Thanks to Larry for making the stands to hold up the containers as the colored sand was put in.  It was so much easier than trying to hold them and pour.  All in all we had a great day serving the Lord and teaching the children.   I will have all the pics and videos from it on my Facebook.  I promised Roberta that I wouldn’t post the video of the water balloon fight on Youtube.   She ended up getting doused in water after the first water balloon fight. 

Steven had a great day at Grandma’s.  He even woke up on Sunday morning talking about it.  He lied down for a little bit with Grandma in the afternoon.  Her dog Frankie went in on the bed with them.  Now generally Frankie and Steven keep as far as possible from each other.  So it was big that she was in there.  But, Steven also kept putting his hand out for Frankie to kiss.  Big steps for the both of them.  He had a good night and fell asleep before 8.  I actually fell asleep with him, which is why this is being posted the following day.  Bryan got some work done around the house.  He also had a chance to sit down and talk with Phil and Larry Joe at the church for a while. 

 

Take care and God Bless,

Sherri

 

The kids outside playing kickball.  It is a good thing we don’t have a fence as the ball kept coming to our yard.

30 Days of Accountability: Day 14

James 1:2-4 NIV

² Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, ³ because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. ⁴ Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

 

I sit here tonight and think that I have totally changed my way of thinking about accountability since I started this a couple of weeks ago.  I started out to keep track of what I did to try and make me better.  But what it has accomplished is that I may not be meeting the goals I made, but I don't feel bad about it.  Well, the eating part I do.  But, I have been very busy this week.  It would be different if I were just sitting here all day on the computer and not doing.  That is how it used to be.  I am getting housework done here and there.  I am wanting to exercise and will again when I can do it.  I am doing all I can to work for God.  I have found that I am accountable to God and to others.  But to the others I am more accountable to make sure I treat them right and take care of them.  Now, I want to clarify that you can treat someone right, but they think you are being awful to them.  I have found that I don't like to baby people that just want their ego stroked.  I have started to learn when that is happening.  I love the verse that is posted up at the Master's Hands.  It is Luke 17:10 " So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’”  That to me is the best description of how we should be to each other.  We don't do what we do for our glory or to be told what a great job we have done.  We do it for God we have only done our duty.  Not that we shouldn't encourage each other and let them know when they have done good.  That isn't why we should be doing our work.  With that being said, I will probably not do to much more on the accountability past exercise and eating.  Which today was a much better day eating.  I will just let you know how the day went and the blessings God gave me.  I will also let you know what the boy did.  Today, the boy had a full day.  He ended up at the Master's Hands four times today.  He even did good the first time he went in.  Of course it was just two people and not much happening.  He didn't take a nap today, but he didn't get grouchy either.  Which is a good thing.  He did throw his Barney at Bev today.  I don't think he meant to hit her, he just wanted to make mom leave.  He got a huge grin on his face when she started playing with it.  I guess I should say he threw it at George.  Not sure why he called he that.  Tomorrow will be VBS at the church and Steven will be spending the day at Grandma's.  Bryan is going to catch up on work around the house for the next two days.  It should be a fun day tomorrow at VBS.  The shirts are so cute!  I think that about does it for tonight.  Thank you for reading my ramblings.

 

Take care and God bless,

Sherri

 

VBS shirt

 

30 days of accountability day 13

well I'm sitting house here in the camper. steven is now sound asleep. has been an interesting day to say the least.  Steven did sleep in after being up early yesterday.  he was ready to go outside early to wait for Mr Lee and Rod.  he was doing really good until he decided to throw his toy computer.  we had a really good day at the master's hands.  I was sittingout front with the laptop again and things were really interesting.  first we had to call an ambulance for someone who wasn't feeling well. then we had four of the most well behaved children you would ever see. of course they were adorable to boot.  then when everything was done I got to go out eat lunch with my hubby.  course we had errands run too.  starting new insurance and then of course lovely Walmart.  I decided against exercising cause this morning with Steven I was not have an easy time keeping up with him.  I had planned on doing housework after Steven went to sleep.  but here we are in the camper so that's not going to happen.  now I'm getting hungry too because someone's cooking out.  well I think that about does it for now.

take care and God bless,
Sherri

steven sleeping in the camper

30 Days of Accountability: Day 12

James 1:17  NIV

¹⁷ Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.


So today has been a day of nothing going the way I planned.  I had planned on sleeping until 5 o'clock.  Well, Steven decided that would change.  He woke up at 3:15 and stayed up.  So I go the sent off to school without trouble.  So, then I decided I would go into The Master's Hands until about 11:30 maybe noon.  Well, first there was the wonderful testimony from Gene Gertsch and his beautiful wife singing.  I don't know if any of us understood what she was singing as she sung in Spanish.  But it was a very moving song.  She sang with such feeling and you could hear her love for God in her voice.  If you aren't busy Saturday afternoon at 4 go up to the Master's Hands as they will be talking about their mission work in Mexico again.  They will also be at my church, Calhoun Christian Church on Sunday night.  Within 15 minutes of him being done we received a call from Prairie Farms with more milk for us to pick up.  We got more than we could hold, so we called some other organizations to share the blessing with them.  Before we could get all of the milk put away, we received a HUGE box of canned goods from a local business.  So that all was put up, so then four hours after starting the paperwork for tomorrow I was able to finish it.  Then before I could leave to go get the pizza from Pizza Hut that we get three times a week for our families, I had to put up a donation of pizza rolls.  By the way we are now at 1pm.  So, now the pizza is done and I have to go shop at Wal-Mart.  I get the items that we needed and what I thought all the items I needed for home.  I start leaving and realize I forgot to have the keys made.  So, I go to Pool's.  Nope, the guy that makes them was gone for the day.  3:10, I am not going back to Wally the keys can wait.  I go and take everything back to The Master's Hands.  3:30 I tell Bev good-bye (which I just got a text from her, she didn't leave until now).  I head to Calhoun and take milk over to the church for VBS on Saturday.  I get home and sit down.  To bad it was a slow day, NOT!  GOD IS GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!   The surprises didn't stop there.  I was sitting on the porch and one of the cats that think they are ours decided he would sit on the bench with me.  Now G3 whines and meows at us, but we are not allowed to touch him.  This blew me away.  Steven got home and he was in a really good mood for being up so long.  It was a pretty uneventful night with the boy falling asleep about 7:15.  So to sum up, no exercise (per say), I didn't eat great, I did no housework and I didn't get any quiet time until I get off of here.  But, I think it was very productive and a day to be happy about.  I invite any of you who live around Olney to come in to the Master's Hands and check out what God does on a daily basis.  Tomorrow morning is food line day, so there will be people in and out with blessings flowing.  

Take care and God bless,
Sherri

some of me, Leroy and G3

30 Days of Accountability: Day 11

Psalm 100:1-2 KJV

1 Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands.
² Serve the Lord with gladness: come before his presence with singing.


Today has been pretty good.  I am still on the way to getting get all together, but a good day as far as I am concerned.  We had a good size group up at the Master's Hands this morning.  Sara brought her guitar and there was singing to be heard.  We had to remind someone that God doesn't care if the noise is on key, he cares about what is in your heart.  I haven't done much today, which is probably good.  I have had to use my inhaler twice today, it would have been more if I would have done more.  I spent most of the afternoon chilling out and listening to The Spirit on Sonic Tap.  I am trying to get a little housework done tonight.  I plan on doing more tomorrow. Steven had a good day and fell asleep easy and early.  He is really wanting to go see more fireworks.  Unfortunately, I don't think there will be anymore for him to see.  Bryan will be sleeping out tonight.  He had two loads so, he won't be back in tonight.  I have let Steven know, so hopefully we will be ok in the morning.  If you live around Olney and have nothing to do tomorrow morning, come up to the Master's Hands.  Gene Gertsch who is a missionary in Mexico will be talking starting at 9:30.  There even may be more singing. 

Take care and God bless,
Sherri


I know I have shared this before, but this is my favorite video of my son singing at the church.  Not a hymn, but singing and making me smile non the less.

30 Days of Accountability: Days 9 & 10

Day 9-

Long and short of it is this.  Physically and emotionally- bad day
Mentally-rough   Spiritually-Awesome!   

Steven had a pretty good day until bed.  2 hours later and several fits, he was asleep.


Day 10 I will start with a song

Ananias and Sapphira got together to conspire a plot, to cheat, the church and get ahead.
But they did not know the power that the Holy Spirit had, they lied to Simon Peter and they both dropped dead.

God loves a cheerful giver.  Give it all you've got.  When you're down and out with out a doubt you're in an awful spot.  When the odds are up against you and you cannot do a thing.  Praise God to serve him is a joyous thing.


I have been thinking about accountability and how it relates to responsibility.  We are accountable on several levels.  We are accountable to ourselves, to others and to God.  I think of Colossians 3:15-17 with this. 
¹⁵ Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. ¹⁶ Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. ¹⁷ And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

We have to remember that whatever we do we aren't just doing it in our name we are doing it in the name of Jesus. 

I have also been thinking about accountability means not making excuses.  To me an excuse is something you tell a person when you don't want to do something and don't feel like telling them the truth.  Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5 decided to tell Simon Peter that they were giving more money than what they actually were.  There was no reason for them to lie about it.  They thought it would be better to tell that they were giving it all.  Whether to make them look better or they thought Simon Peter would try to send them on a guilt trip for not giving everything they received for the land they sold.  How many times do we tell people what we think they want to hear to make them happy.  We know we aren't being truthful, many times the person knows we aren't being truthful and God definitely knows we aren't.  We need to remember that God gave us all different talents and you aren't expected to do everything.  In Romans 12 it talks about how God gives us these different gifts and we are to use it to glorify God.  I use excuses to many times to not do housework or exercise.  I am not doing housework tonight or going exercise in the morning.  Truth?  I had an asthma attack at Casey's earlier and I know better than to do anything but rest.  I don't need to have a major attack.  I will try again Wednesday. 

I am going to sum up with a passage from Matthew 5.  I think this will cover being accountable, responsible and truthful to ourselves, each other and especially God.

³³ “Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your oath, but fulfill to the Lord the vows you have made.’ ³⁴ But I tell you, do not swear an oath at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; ³⁵ or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. ³⁶ And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. ³⁷ All you need to say is simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.    

Take care and God bless,
Sherri



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