Words from Ms. Annie

After Church, we went to the Beach. The kids LOVE the beach.  Me - not so much. The sand, the trips across the sand, over to, where ever the bathrooms are, the man o war and the raccoon. What a day.It started out great. We got there, a new place, never sure where to go, the best place to park…

But we made a decision, parked, unloaded us, 4 children and ALL our beach stuff. We were on our way, down the beach, across the sand to a great place to set up.

Mariah, Nathan, Maggie & Meredith were off, into the water they went, a little chilly, but they were ready.  Floats were blown up, sand castles were built, fun, fun, fun!

Out of the corner of my eye I could see something coming toward us. It was a big, fat raccoon!  We jumped up out of our beach chairs – you know, the ones that sit almost on the ground, and watched. He looked around at our things for a minute, then walked over to the trash can and tried to get the top off, and then he left.

The kids continued playing, having a wonderful time, loving the sand and the water. Then Maggie came screaming over to us, holding her hands out, screaming “it stings, it stings!” I told her to go wash her hands off in the water so I could see, this only made it hurt more and the screaming louder.  We got her to sit down, put a towel around her and as we looked at her hands, they were swelling, turning bright red with white lines across the backs of them. She also had bright red places on the tops of her legs. I went down near the water where she had been playing and saw a man o war on the beach. I picked it up with a shovel and asked her if that was what she touched – yes, it was.  She thought she had found a pretty blue and purple toy in the sand — so she picked it up!

I picked-up a few things & stated off down the beach, back toward the bathrooms with Maggie, while Paul collected ALL the rest of our things and the rest of the children.  Maggie was a little ahead of me, still screaming, trying to hurry and get to the bathrooms, fussing at me to hurry, quite loudly, still screaming. Behind me came Meredith, crying and fussing because I was going too fast and wanted me to wait for her. What a sight we must have been! What a long trip down the beach.

We were finally near the restrooms, when a very nice family, that was on vacation, asked “did she get stung? Yes, I replied, and I’m really not sure what to do. One of the girls is a life guard at a beach and knew exactly what to do. I took Maggie into the bathroom and tried to wash some of the sand off and see if cool water would help, they said to be careful, if the water is too cold, it might send her into shock! That news sent me into shock! When we came out of the bathroom, the life guard had gone to the (sort of) nearby restaurant and gotten some vinegar. We put it on her hands, and legs, all the while, she is still screaming. The life guard said that it would take about 30 min. but then all the pain should be gone.

What a blessing that family was. They were trying to leave and stopped and took time to help us. They sat with us (on the side walk, in the sand) and talked with us trying to help Maggie calm down and reassure her that the vinegar really would help and that soon the pain would be gone.

As we were loading-up, back into the car, Maggie wanted to know how much longer it was going to hurt. I randomly said 5 minutes, and for the next 10 minutes, we counted down 5…41/2, 4, 31/2, 3…and by the time we got to 1, amazingly, all the pain was gone!

On the way home, we talked about how the Lord works all things out for the good of them that love God. We explained that God never promised us that nothing bad would happen to us, but that He would work it out for us. We talked about how we could have parked somewhere else at the beach that day, not near a restaurant that had vinegar, or where that wonderful family was who knew what to do to help us. God is always watching over us. He loves us very much. This really seamed to “sink-in” with the kids–especially Maggie. And it was a much needed reminder for me.

This is from a dear friend of mine from NC:

I have to tell you something that happened with Freddy on Friday. He was working (at the fire station) on Friday and he called me around 6:00 that evening and asked me to pray for a family. I could tell he was a little upset. The lady (27 years old) had collapsed in the Food Lion on Tarboro st. She just had a baby (1st baby) 2 weeks ago. Freddy said that by the time the firefighters arrived she had coded. One of the firefighters (she graduated with Freddy) is also an ER nurse and happened to be at the hospital that night. They worked on her for 3 hours and could not revive her. Freddy called me later on that night and told me that she had passed away and to pray for her husband the rest of the family.

Well evidently she was an organ donor and they called the neurologist in to confirm her death and he did so, with the families permission they hooked her up to some kind of machine to harvest her organs while they waited for the donor folks to come. When the donor folks arrived to get her organs she had a blood pressure !! They went back and told the doctors that her BP was up and they checked her and sent her on to Greenville.

She woke up and can communicate with her eyes, she’s not able to talk yet but they showed her a picture of her baby and she began to cry. There’s no brain damage but she does have a ways to go to fully recover.

Freddy said that the firefighter that was with her for the 3 hours they tried to revive her called the fire station and told them “I have seen the Hand of God” and she’s not a saved person. He said all the firefighters are in absolute amazement !! Freddy’s captain told him yesterday “Now I know there is a God” !!!

The young lady happens to be Ruhammah’s neighbor, Ruhammah told me yesterday that she did not attend church or know the Lord. God raised her up for a 2nd chance !! HE IS SO GOOD !! Freddy was just rejoicing and having church at the fire station yesterday, he was really excited and giving Praise to God. I get chills every time I think about it. Our God is all powerful, He gets the final say and there is nothing too hard for Him !!!!

I received this article from Alpha Omega Publications. I think almost any Mom can relate and identify, whether you home school or not. I know it speaks LOUDLY to me!

Foolish Dreams
“Be content with such things as ye have.†(Hebrews 13:5b)

As much as I loved teaching my four children, there were certain desires that I longed for while we homeschooled. Selfishly, I looked forward to uninterrupted nights of sleep, a neat house that stayed clean longer than five minutes, and a noise level in my home that was below fifty decibels. Now, twenty-five years later, the very things that were so important to me are mine in abundance. However, the empty nights seem long and uninteresting, the house sits empty all day and has no reason to be clean, and the quiet is agonizingly loud when I’m home alone. My foolish dreams of yesterday have come true, and I chastise myself for trading productive moments with my family for grumbling and complaining.

God gives us so much to be thankful for each day, but we choose to look past His blessings. Focusing our thoughts on illusive mirages of happiness, we think we know what will satisfy us best. We disregard God’s provision and constant care and trade His blessings for future “if only’s.†Patiently, He waits for us to discover two important facts: He has already given us everything we need (Philippians 4:19), and He only can satisfy the longings of the soul (Psalm 107:9).

What about you? Are you content in following the Lord or do you long for the “somedays†of tomorrow? Dear one, please don’t waste one more moment. The homeschool blessings that God is giving you today are far greater than any future dreams you may sacrifice and lay at the Master’s feet. “Delight thyself also in the LORD: and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass. And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light.†(Psalm 37:4-6a)

Father,
Please forgive my ungrateful heart and help me see afresh all the blessings You so faithfully provide. Cause my heart to rejoice instead of complain and to realize I am serving You when I serve my family. In the name of Jesus, Amen.

MY comment:

So often, I think we (or maybe just me) become overwhelmed with the “busy-ness†of day-to-day life, that we pass right by the†business†of day-to-day life. That is, spending time: having fun, laughing, playing, singing, working together…just spending time filling our children with love and smiles.

We (or maybe just me) mistakenly think, “I need to get my work done today, tomorrow I’ll laugh & play, tomorrow I’ll spend time…

TODAY, I think I’ll take my children to the park & laugh and play!