Following God's Will

Have you ever been to a place in your life that you felt God leading you in a certain direction? I'm at that place right now. And I'll be very honest with you, it is the scariest place I've ever been. I know, I know, you all are saying that trusting God shouldn't be scary. Well, you try stepping off a cliff and not knowing what or if there is anything at the bottom to catch you.

My husband has been on me to sell our house, I love our house. We have totally gutted it and remodeled it and it's a dream house to me. I know it may not mean anything to anyone else, but nobody else has lived my life and went through the struggles and pain that I have. So, I fought against selling it. Then, it came to me that I was putting the house ahead of my husband, who is supposed to be the head of our household (sometimes I have my doubts about that one). So, I told the Lord that I would not be guilty of "laying down treasures on this earth" and that I wanted my treasure to be in heaven. I also told Him that if this is what He wanted from me, okay.

I know, I'm rambling, but I gotta lay a foundation. LOL

So, I contacted the realtor on a Monday. We signed a 6 month contract, she put up a sign. On that Friday, another realtor was in my driveway with a buyer. The buyer fell in love with our house immediately and made an offer while she was in my driveway!!! I tell you my realtor was in shock!!! Well, not everything is smooth sailing, even when you are in God's will. The lender required a home inspection and they told us we had to get a few things fixed in order to continue with the process. My husband said "nope". So, there went that. The buyer's realtor said that made the contract null and void. Then, this morning, my realtor calls and said that the buyer wanted to pay for the electrician herself, because she really wants the house. I told her she could do that.

Now we just wait and see what develops. I want to continue to be in God's will and not to be in His way.

my blinkies

My latest scrapbook pages

I've been scrapbooking my oldest son's pictures from his childhood. I plan to do all the boys, but right now I'm concentrating on the oldest. Here are a few of the latest pages I've finished.

Ode to Cloth Diapers

Cloth Diapers
When Michael was born, I believed I had to be the best mother there ever was. I am a perfectionist by nature and add that to being a Holy Ghost filled girl who felt she had to be perfect in everything, well, it was a disaster waiting to happen.
I had an odd sense of duty to God, not wrong, just odd. I took the Bible literally when it said that woman would bear children in pain. I had all three boys totally natural, no pain medicine.
Then, to make things really hard on me, I decided to use cloth diapers and plastic pants, instead of Pampers. I was on a crusade to be the best ever and to prove that I was some sort of Super Mom.
I had to wash them and rinse them at least 2 times to make sure all the detergent got out of them. Then, since we didn’t have a dryer, I had to hang them up outside on the clothesline to dry. I think I must have been the only human being on the planet in 1983 to be using cloth diapers!!
Oh, the mess, the dirty diapers, the constant washing and drying. I look back now and I wonder what in the world was I thinking of. Of course, I did the best I could, but I could have saved myself some horrible pressure if I’d only given it a break.
I just couldn’t bear the thought of you having a wet diaper next to your skin and I knew the cloth diaper would get wet fast and I could be sure to change you as soon as you wet it or pooped in it. I guess I’d seen too many other mom’s leave wet Pampers on their child and they got diaper rash and by George, that wasn’t gonna happen to you. When you did get diaper rash, I felt like I had failed you in some ungodly way. I know, I know, weird, huh? Anyway, you survived and I survived and somehow by the grace of God we made it through your childhood okay and hopefully not too scarred.

Dealing with Poison Oak

I tell you I have been having a time lately. My husband and I were working in the yard and we got into Poison Oak. I knew I was allergic to Ivy and Sumac and I should have known that Oak was next, but no.... Anyway, we went to the doctor and the medicine he prescribed for us both helped my husband, but would it help me, NO WAY!!! I had to go back to the doctor again today and he said I have developed a fungal infection in the spot on my leg. It is horrible, the itching, the redness, the swelling. OOOOHHHH!!!

Anyway, I'm waiting for the pharmacy to deliver my medicine and hopefully in about 5 days everything will be back to some semblance of normal.

Well, I guess that's all for now. I won't bore you with any more of my tedious problems.

Have a blessed day, ya'll.

Beware, a black hole ahead

Beware of the black hole that is off on the sidelines of life waiting to suck us in.

One day things are going fine, then BAM all hell breaks loose.

You feel yourself spiraling out of control.

Emotions running wild. Can't make a rational decision.

Anything and everything you say is wrong and someone twists it around to suit them.

You feel like giving up and giving in. But you can't, you know you have to stand strong.

Stay grounded in God. Pray, pray, pray--read the Word of God--fast.

Do what you have to do to keep from getting sucked into the Void, because once in the blackhole of nothingness there is no way back.

Don't give up, don't give in. Buckle up--- it's gonna be a bumpy ride.

But when you come thru this you'll be stronger than ever before.


Written by April Carroll while experiencing the very blackhole she's describing. April 21, 2009

Does anyone even look at my blog???

I'm just curious, but does anyone even check out my blog. I don't know and I sure would like to know. I know that it's not fancy or anything, but that's because I'm new at this and really don't know how to "fix" it up. So if you happen to stop by, please leave a comment and maybe some tips on how to "fix" my blog up and to get noticed. Thank you, thank you very much. Ya'll have a wonderful Easter weekend.

WooHoo, 2 more pages complete

My sister, Sheila, came down to spend a few nights with me since my honey is gone offshore. Our other sister, Denise, and our mom, Shirley, came over and we ate, fellowshipped, had a general good time. After some of them left, Sheila and I scrapbooked. I completed 2 pages and she did 2-2page layouts. Here are the pics of mine.

More scrapbook pages

The top two pages are my granddaughter's 1st birthday. The last one is my mom holding Lexia for the 1st time.

My latest scrapbook pages

I've been trying to complete my grand-daughter's scrapbook. She's 15 months and since I don't have a ton of pics of her right now, I thought that would be a great place to start. I've done about 20 pages so far this year. I love working on her pages because I can do girly things. I had 3 sons and I get a little tired of the boy stuff, so being able to work on the girly side has been fun.

Baby Shower invitations

Well, today I finished all 40 of the baby shower invitations. They are for the girl I work with. Actually, they are for a friend of hers that I don't even know. I sorta volunteered to help with them since I had tons of cardstock and envelopes that were given to me. I like to make cards and don't really know why I don't make them on a regular basis. It has been fun and I've used up a lot of bits and pieces and some older embellishments. I used my Cricut Expression to cut out the "it's a girl" using the Beyond Birthday cart. These are some of the cuter ones.