Life is preparation for eternity

This is an absolutely incredible short interview with Rick Warren,"Purpose Driven Life " author and pastor of Saddleback Church in California. In the interview by Paul Bradshaw with Rick Warren, Rick said: People ask me, What is the purpose of life? And I respond: In a nutshell, life is preparation for eternity. We were not made to last forever, and God wants us to be with Him in Heaven. One day my heart is going to stop, and that will be the end of my body-- but not the end of me. I may live 60 to 100 years on earth, but I am going to spend trillions of years in eternity. This is the warm-up act - the dress rehearsal. God wants us to practice on earth what we will do forever in eternity. We were made by God and for God, and until you figure that out, life isn't going to make sense. Life is a series of problems: Either you are in one now, you're just coming out of one, or you're getting ready to go into another one. The reason for this is that God is more interested in your character than your comfort. God is more interested in making your life holy than He is in making your life happy. We can be reasonably happy here on earth, but that's not the goal of life. The goal is to grow in character, in Christ likeness. This past year has been the greatest year of my life but also the toughest, with my wife, Kay, getting cancer. I used to think that life was hills and valleys - you go through a dark time, then you go to the mountaintop, back and forth. I don't believe that anymore. Rather than life being hills and valleys, I believe that it's kind of like two rails on a railroad track, and at all times you have something good and something bad in your life. No matter how good things are in your life, there is always something bad that needs to be worked on. And no matter how bad things are in your life, there is always something good you can thank God for. You can focus on your purposes, or you can focus on your problems. If you focus on your problems, you're going into self-centeredness,"which is my problem, my issues, my pain." But one of the easiest ways to get rid of pain is to get your focus off yourself and onto God and others. We discovered quickly that in spite of the prayers of hundreds of thousands of people, God was not going to heal Kay or make it easy for her. It has been very difficult for her, and yet God has strengthened her character, given her a ministry of helping other people, given her a testimony, drawn her closer to Him and to people. You have to learn to deal with both the good and the bad of life. Actually, sometimes learning to deal with the good is harder. For instance, this past year, all of a sudden, when the book sold 15 million copies, it made me instantly very wealthy. It also brought a lot of notoriety that I had never had to deal with before. I don't think God gives you money or notoriety for your own ego or for you to live a life of ease. So I began to ask God what He wanted me to do with this money, notoriety and influence. He gave me two different passages that helped me decide what to do, II Corinthians 9 and Psalm 72. First, in spite of all the money coming in, we would not change our lifestyle one bit. We made no major purchases. Second, about midway through last year, I stopped taking a salary from the church. Third, we set up foundations to fund an initiative we call The Peace Plan to plant churches, equip leaders, assist the poor, care for the sick, and educate the next generation. Fourth, I added up all that the church had paid me in the 24 years since I started the church, and I gave it all back. It was liberating to be able to serve God for free. We need to ask ourselves: Am I going to live for possessions? Popularity? Am I going to be driven by pressures? Guilt? Bitterness? Materialism? Or am I going to be driven by God's purposes (for my life)? When I get up in the morning, I sit on the side of my bed and say, God, if I don't get anything else done today, I want to know You more and love You better. God didn't put me on earth just to fulfill a to-do list. He's more interested in what I am than what I do. That's why we're called human beings, not human doings.

Happy moments, PRAISE GOD.

Difficult moments, SEEK GOD.

Quiet moments, WORSHIP GOD.

Painful moments, TRUST GOD.

Every moment, THANK GOD.

Dreams

If you've been pregnant than you've had pregnancy dreams. And man, they suck! They are so vivid and totally off the wall that they just leave me feeling like the wind as been sucked out of me! I have woken up Jason twice in the middle of the night this week due to these crazy dreams. When I have dreams like that it's SO hard to separate them from reality. I have to lay there and tell myself to be rational. I had a dream earlier in the week that something HORRIBLE, and I mean HORRIBLE happened to the kids. I knew in my heart it wasn't true, but it seemed so real. I had to lay in bed and force myself not to go check on them. I knew they were OK, but my dream told me otherwise and I had to force myself to be rational. AGH!

Today I am going scrappin'! I can't wait. We are heading up to Remember When in Whitesboro for a day of scrappin', shopping, and girl time. I do not even remember the last time I had girls day. It's been well over a year! Jason and the kids will be chillin' at home watching...THE 2008 NFL DRAFT!!! If you knew my family this is like a national holiday in our house! It's probably bigger than the Super Bowl around here.

Nothing New

Not much going on here at the Hallock house. Just wanted to say "Hi"

HAPPY

I am happy. I have so many great things going on in my life right now, how could I not be? Did I have it rough there for awhile? I sure did! There was a time that I never imagined I'd be where I am today. I never thought I could be this happy again. I am. Sometimes I'm even happier. If you only have good things happen you than you never truly appreciate what you have. You have to have the bad, the rough, the hard to make you realize how great things really are. To realize the important things in life. Yes, people are going to hurt you. Everyone will. The ones you love are the most likely to hurt you. Why? B/c you are more open with them, more real, more vulnerable. You have to remember that they are also human, which means they are not perfect, and they will make mistakes. It doesn't mean they love you any less, it just means they are regular folk.

My life is swirling with anticipation! We have so much going on and so much to prepare for. God has blessed me so tremendously. He is rewarding me for following Him and listening to Him. For not giving up when I wanted to, for taking my my trials and using them for His glory. This little baby growing inside of me to a true testament to that. I believe s/he is a symbol of rebirth. Mine. Jason's. Our Marriage. Our Family. Our Lives. I posted on the baby blog an e-mail Jason sent me right after I found out I was pregnant. It basically said, that while he knew he was forgiven by God, he didn't truly feel forgiven until he saw those 2 lines on that test. That's when he knew without a doubt that God had cast his sins as far as the east is from the west.

Thank you for sharing in my happiness. For loving me for who I am. For being great friends. I feel blessed to have all of you in my life as well, even you turds who read and never comment(T.C!) I love you all!

So Ready!

Everyday all 4 members of our family check the countdown clocks. We are so ready to get to Kansas! The kids are excited to get to Grammie and Grampy's and begin summer vacation. Jason and I are ready to get to Grammie's guest room. My Grammie's guest room is in the basement ( yup we have those in Kansas!). It is cool, and dark and houses THE MOST COMFORTABLE BED EVER!!! When I'm at Grammie's I sleep like a baby. My Grammie always laughs b/c she said it was the first bed her and Grampy bought when they got married and it should be old and worn out. It's not though. It's wonderful. Sometimes Jason and I will lay in bed and talk about what it will be like to lay in that bed. Today Jonathan asked if we could "get a house" on Grammie's street so he can go there "whenever I want". Sweet. That is why we moving to Kansas. So the children can have the relationships they've been missing out on. They know they've been missing out, and are ready to jump in feet first. They have never once complained about leaving Texas, ever since we announced to them we were moving they have been on board with it. I can't wait to get to Kansas and get a little break. You know what I mean...I'm ready for Grammie to take care of me! It's a desperately needed, long awaited pampering. When I'm at Grammie's she does what Grammie's do best...she takes care of her family, all of us. It's so wonderful. 2 months, 22 days.....

Lazy Day

Jason went to get donuts this morning and brought me back these! I love me some colored Daisy's! Of course the Blue and Orange are my faves :) Today is the first Saturday in a LONG time we have NOTHING to do. No errands, no shopping, nothing. Jason took the kiddos to the park to play and I'm going to do a little scrapbooking. I'm making the invites for the kids going away sleepovers and a mini book for a girl at work. I can't wait to dive in and get my hands all inky! Today was the first day in almost 6 weeks I haven't thrown up! Yippee! Maybe my morning sickness will end with the first trimester like a normal pregnancy (and very unlike when I was pregnant with Jonathan!!).

I'm not going to lie

I thought today was going to be awful, miserable, and horrible. It wasn't. It was just normal. Imagine that. Just a regular day. Time does heal all wounds, if you let it.

Emotionally Drained

I'm so ready for this week to be over.

Who would you want to meet???

At dinner we starting talking about people we would like to meet, it turned out to be a really neat conversation. Each person in the family chose 2 people they have never met before, one dead and one alive. Below are the people we each chose, kinda interesting. So, I wanna know, if you could meet anyone( dead and alive) who would it be??

Angel:
DEAD-Jesus
ALIVE-Amy Wood

Jason:
DEAD-Audie Murphy
ALIVE-Bill Gates

Jonathan:
DEAD-George Washington
ALIVE-The Manning Brothers

Savannah:
DEAD- Grannie DeuPree
ALIVE- Miley Cyrus

I love me some Saturdays!!

Today it was so beautiful out! We went out to run errands and bought kites while we were at Target. We hadn't flown kites in years!!

Jason and Jonathan flying kites

Savannah flying her kite
My 2 beautiful, wonderful children

Jonathan preparing for his GQ cover
For my April birthday gift for the year of Angel I decided to invest in some good make-up. I ordered Bare Minerals. I've heard wonderful things about it for years, but have been to cheap to to give it a try. I think it will go pretty fast once I learn the steps and how to apply. It didn't take me long this morning, but it could be faster.

Last month I bought the Mary Kay mircoderm abrasion kit, and I love it!!

It makes my skin feel so soft!!

Below is my before and after.

I hope ya'll are enjoying your family and weekend too!
I made a new banner of the baby's sonogram. I don't have a scanner, so I had to take a picture of the sonogram. That is why it's so blurry, plus the baby was only 6 weeks in the sonogram which means it was the size of a lentil. Ya, tiny. Be sure to keep checking out the baby's blog for updates!!

I miss it!

I had a totally different blog topic picked out for tonight. Then I started watching AI. The remaining 8 sang "Shout to the Lord" as their group song, and I'm not ashamed to say I almost lost it. I love that song. It's one of my favorite praise and worship songs. It made me realize how much I miss going to and being involved in Church. We have been a few times since we moved up here, but nothing consistent or fulfilling. I want it, I need it. I can pray, I can read the Bible, but I need that extra shot of faith that regular Church going provides. So it is my mission to go to Church on Sunday. We received a flyer in the mail for yet another Church this week, and I want to check it this weekend. It has a sermon series that sounds interesting to Jason and I, so off we will go!!

I'm not perfect, but I am forgiven!

Happy Birthday Blog!!

I've been doing this crazy little blog for 2 years!! So much as happened. Good, bad, and everything in between!! I've come to love blogging. I look forward to giving my little slice of the world to everyone out there. I will admit I'm not as honest as others that I read. I've struggled with that and decided that it's OK. That's not me. I'm as honest as I want to be. Maybe I don't want every single person to know every intimate detail of my life. I also love reading others blogs. I check them daily and often several times daily! Blogging is such a great way to keep up with so many people at one time. I love it.

Tired

I am hitting the hay early tonight!! We were up at 5:30 this morning so I could take Jason to work, so I'd have the car for my Dr's appt( update on the baby blog). Now I am wiped out, that extra hour of sleep makes a huge difference.

Sunday Night Already??

This weekend has been so great. It's the first weekend in over a month that I have felt good, and it's flown by so fast. Today Jason made a big breakfast, then we started in on the laundry. It's almost done. I love the feeling of accomplishment that comes with no dirty laundry. We didn't do much today. I took a nap this afternoon while Jason and kids played. I worked on some new digi scrap pages( see the other blog). They turned out so I cute!! Tomorrow we have to be up early so I can take Jason to work, b/c I have a Dr's appt over lunch. What a nice and relaxing day, I'm so sad to see it end.

I love Saturdays!!

Today was such a great day I'm kind of sad it's almost over. Jason went in to work for a few hours today, while he was gone Jonathan, Savannah and I cleaned the house and did some laundry. There is more laundry to do tomorrow, but the house looks awesome! When Jason got home we took Savannah to her friends house to stay over and me and my boys headed out for a fun day. We went to the theater and bought tickets for The Super Hero Movie, then we went and cleaned out the car, got ice cream, did some Target shopping, went to Petco, then finally back to the movie theater!

While we were at marble slab I dropped ice cream on my shirt. So we went down to Target to buy me a new shirt. I don't need it yet, but I went ahead and bought a maternity shirt. Who could pass up an orange V neck Maternity shirt?? Not I! Besides it was 2 dollars cheaper than the regular orange V-neck! We also picked up some stuff for the baby. I'll post pics on the baby's blog. Too cute!!

Now, the movie.... It's rated PG-13. We decided to let Jonathan go see it anyway. Bad choice!! It was full of raunchy jokes and language! Jason and I were laughing when we weren't looking at each other in horror! It wasn't OK for a 9 year old. Some of it was really bad!! We seem to have made it out unscathed, Jonathan hasn't asked any questions about what he heard, although he did quote a not so appropriate snail part of the film. I pray no long term damage was done.

After the movie we went and did a mega grocery shop at Wal-Mart. I know it sounds strange, but I love, love, love, grocery shopping!! I suppose it's because I love cooking. So here I sit in my super clean house, stocked with lots of yummy food, snuggling with my husband. What a life!

SO...

I suppose it wasn't a good idea to announce on April Fools Day. No one knew if I was serious and I got swamped with e-mails! YES! It's true. We are going to have a baby. According to my Grammie we have to have another one too b/c we can't have an uneven amount of children. Yes, it was planned! No surprises here. It was a little bit of a surprise b/c the first 3 tests said negative, so we thought it was a no go, but then the 4th and 5th tests were positive. The sonogram showcasing our bean confirmed it. The baby is due November 18th!!

Surprise!

The Flu: Type B

That is what my bubba has! He was sent home on Wednesday with a fever and hasn't been able to shake it. Today we took him to Care Now b/c if it was something little it should have run it's course by now. Well, he tested positive for the flu. I'm pretty surprised. No one in the family has had it. He probably picked it up from school or daycare. He can't go back to school until Friday! So we'll probably keep him home all week just to be sure he's rested and healed. He's going to go stir crazy by Tuesday I'm sure!! Pray for a speedy recovery!!

Shopping

We went today and got the kiddos some spring and summer stuff. Savannah picked out 3 outfits that are adorable!! She really has great taste for a 6 year old. She also got 2 pairs of shoes. One pair of sandals and one pair of pink jeweled fipflops. She needs a swimsuit too, but the only 1 piece ones in her size were still inappropriate for her age. The hunt is still on! Jonathan found 2 pairs of shorts he liked. I'm not hot on them, but I have to let him be his own person! He also picked out 2 pairs of shoes. One pair of sandals and one pair of black flips.

After Marshall's we headed over to Target. They had all their Easter stuff 75% off. BUT I refrained! We picked up the stuff we needed for dinner and that's it!! I'm getting pretty good at this sticking to a budget stuff!! I have to make a grocery list and go shopping tomorrow. I feel like crap still. I can't breathe out of my nose at all. I feel good when I'm a hot steam filled shower or bath, but out here in the real non steamy world life is sucking!

Sick Again!

That's right folks. Fever, chills, body aches, exhaustion, runny nose, cough. It's back! BLAH