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Monday, June 22, 2009

A women of Excellence

Phil 1:10-11

vs 10: That ye may approve the things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ;

vs 11: Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God.

You may say becoming a women of Excellence seems like an unreachable goal and challenge, but I know all of us have a desire in becoming the person God wants us to be and that is a “Women of Excellence”

>What Characteristics must we have to be an excellent women

There are many characteristics that we need in becoming a women of excellence but the one I would like to focus on is being Content.

What is contentment: It is the ultimate acceptance of yourself, your surroundings, your circumstance, and your future. It is being satisfied and happy in every area of your life.

I am not saying to become a women of excellence that we don't have a bad day or loose focus of the Prize, I’m saying it should be a on going decision and goal of ours to strive in all we do to be content.

There are moments in life when the trials and tribulations seem to never end, and your spirit gets weak, their are moments where you can’t see your way but He knows, He is there to lift your burden, if you reach out to him He is there to take the hurt, failures, and discontent and fill it up with His hope, His success for you and the contentment of life that he longs for you to have. The Lord is always there to take control and he will not put more on us then we can bare….it is a promise in His word that we can cling to.

Also the word of God says “in every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. (I Thess 5:18)

Why should we be content:

It brings unity in our home, our marriages, our church and in ourselves. When a women is content at home, it brings a since of stability, hope and the ultimate satisfaction that our children and husband can thrive in. Also being content in your home can cause a peace in yourself and in others when they are around you.

What you dwell on will show in every part of your life. When we strive to be content it is easier to Worship and Praise the Lord, for when we are truly content we have a sincere heart of thanksgiving for all that the Lord has done in our lives, for what he has protected us from and is going to use us in.

The enemy can come in and whisper things of discontent in our ear, we must not be fooled by our emotions or by our circumstance. Learn to trust in the Lord with all your heart, soul and mind. God will provide for us, we decide to have faith that God will provide. He is a loving God, He is in the business of working things out in His time and in His Will. He is a gentlemen who see’s our desires, our needs and our wants.

Ps: 37:25
I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken nor his seed begging for bread.

Being thankful, positive and optimistic will lead us to a life of being content. A sure way to bringing a discontent spirit to yourself, your home and your church is being critical, negative and dwelling on the things that the world describes as bringing true contentment, happiness and success.

It shouldn’t matter what brand of clothes we wear as long as we have clothes, it shouldn’t matter the status we hold in our work place as long as we have a job, it shouldn’t matter what size our home is as long as we have a safe haven of protection over our head, this also goes for what kind of car we drive, you may not have an automobile but if you have a means of transportation to get you from one place to another then you should be content with what God has provided for you.

Being thankful is the avenue to a life full of contentment.

As you trust God’s gifts to be sufficient, you can accept the way you look, the means you have been given, the family in which are living, and the struggles you have gone through.

God has not given us the gift of being content, he choose rather to teach us to be content as we allow him to be the ruler in our life. Contentment is learned.

-Phil 4:11
Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.

>God delights in Excellent Women

There are many godly women in the Bible that we can learn from, all of us can agree that Esther was a women of excellence, she choose the things of God over the world, and she choice to trust the Lord completely. She could of had anything she wanted but instead she choose holiness she choose godliness over worldliness and the king fell in love with her, she was content in who she was, choosing not to violate her convictions not even for a moment. She was obedient and had a servants heart to what ever the Lord wanted her to do.

-Ruth: Was a women of kindness, she was meek and also content to serve her Mother in law. Even in all Ruth’s lost and sorrow she choose to serve the Lord…she did not become a women of bitterness or self pity yet she choose to praise the Lord in all she had and God gave her the desires of her heart.


-Lydia: Is a women we do not hear of that often but she is one who displays wonderful characteristics of a women of excellence. The Bible tells us that she was a true worshiper. She was given to hospitality, her home was full of love, she welcomed many, fed them with very little and was content with what the Lord had given her. She wanted nothing more but to worship God and to serve others. She made her home a place of refuge for even Paul and Silas. I know that I want my home to be a place others feel welcomed in, I want to be an example of a true worshiper one that God looks upon and says well done thy good and faithful servant. Content in all that he has given to me, wanting of nothing more but His will in my life.

We must trust that God has given us everything needed for this moment in
Time. We should be content with ourselves, our family, our surroundings, and our job. As we depend on the Lord, we are content as we pursue His goals for our lives.

Becoming a women of Excellence is a goal worth pursuing.

It has to be a daily decision to be disciplined, joyful, peaceful, prayed up, positive, patient, Holy, Modest and content.

Together through prayer and fasting we can become the women God intended us to be (women of Excellence)

Friday, June 19, 2009

My Husband Rocks....Friday

I think my husband rocks Fridays are a wonderful way to honor our husbands. I am so thankful that I found Katy Lin's blog "the great adventure", her post are very encouraging and will inspire anyone who reads them.

So often it is easy for us to dwell on the time our husband's are not able to spend with us instead of be thankful for the time they do make for us and enjoying the moment that is given.

I have often been caught up in a conversation with many women of what my husband calls "Husband bashing sessions", this is where we as ladies get together and compare what he does or does not do. I am not saying it isn't good to have that one good friend that you might share things with to get some positive outlooks on the situation you are facing but the thing that I discourage us all from doing is getting in a session of discontent conversation about the needs our husbands do not meet or compare one husband to another. I challenge you when you feel the urge to indulge yourself in the next "Husband bashing session" think would I want my husband having this same conversation with another man about me, what if he were standing there, would that be honoring or dishonoring to his self pride, his image or his testimony.

Charles and I have set one day a week where we find a babysitter from 5-8 p.m, it is not a 3 hour get away to do errands, teach Bible studies or work in the yard, although I have to be honest with you there have been many times where I have wanted to but Charles has been so wonderful in making that 3 hours a week very special and ours. We take the time to go on walks, sometimes we've just gone to the McDonald's parking lot and talked, it is a challenge to have a full uninterrupted conversation with a 1 year old babbling and a 4 year old who also tries to be apart of each and every topic we have. I am so thankful that even though he doesn't have the time he has made the time and has kept it safe and set aside for us.

He recently brought home a book called "The Love Dare" by: Stephen and Alex Kendrick (with Lawrence Kimbrough). Every night for the past 10 days we have been taking 20 minutes in the evening to do this wonderful devotion together. Some dares we have already gone through and feel we have a handle on them but other dares have been challenging and have taken some effort from us both.

My husband Rocks....Because he cares about the small things that make me happy, he brings me flowers every week, he takes time when he can, he has always been my safe "Haven" and after almost 15 years of marriage he still opens the car door for me. I am his #1 princess.

Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails-I Corinthians 13:7-8

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Signing Time

Signing time is a great dvd series that has been apart of our family for a little over 3 1/2 years and we are still enjoying and learning from it.

Signing time is a way that I spend a fun filled 30 minutes with Aleia and Brienna most every morning.

It is educational, exciting and tons of fun.

If you have small children I definitely recommend this sign language series, even if your children are not hearing impaired..... it is still a wonderful tool to help your children communicate and learn a hands on language in a fun way.

Go to www.signingtime.com and order your own series, I promise you will not be disappointed.


Saturday, June 13, 2009

Our Team

Just missing Savannah and Josh and looking forward to when they get back to Austria from their trip to Texas.

We are so thankful that the Suppan family is here to help us in Vienna, along with Sis. Amber. They are all such a great help and compliment the ministerial team our the church.

Aleia, Brienna and I were taking public transportation to church last night and she said "Mom" when we find Josh he is in serious trouble...I said honey he is in Texas and she said yeah we need to go find him:-) Aleia adores both (Josh and Savey).

Thursday, June 11, 2009

T-Rex

With her hair as soft has a feather, her eyes as bright as the sea, a smile that can make your heart do flips, and with hands that are so petite you wonder how she can do the things she does.

You might wonder how can it be that something so sweet and happy can earn the nick name T-Rex?

She is a destroyer of all things:-) it is as if she stops, stares and attacks. She will look at something just long enough and figure out how to get it unzipped, unbuttoned or completely tore apart just in a split second. We can walk out of one room just long enough to get something and by the time we walk back in, she has the shower curtain down, all the trash out of the can and every ounce of the toilet paper off the roll, it has at this point become a laughing matter in our home, you can hardly discipline her for her clapping for herself... when we come in the room with the face of utter shock and say what have you done.....? she thinks that as being words of affirmation as if we think she did something fabulous and begins to rejoice for her accomplishments :-)

So you see, T-rex is the most appropriate name to describe this little girl....but to make it a little more feminine we've said "TREXIE" will suit her just fine, of course we still call her "Boo-Bear" when she is almost asleep and you no longer see the little mischief in her eyes.

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

A celebration to remember




The cake they brought out was the most exciting experience a 4 year old could imagine, it was loud, big and lite up like a fire cracker, her face showed utter curiosity of how they got that candle to blow up like that. I'll never forget her face, it was a face of (Mom is this safe and ok) so so cute.
We had a wonderful time in Croatia celebrating little princess Aleia's 4th Birthday, it was a dream come true as Aleia would say. She was in heaven when I let her wear the Cinderella dress Auntie Kim got her and it made it an even happier day for her when she saw the whole table was decorated in her favorite princess theme...when she saw the room decorated she said "all for me".

Monday, June 8, 2009

Our Trip to Croatia

Our recent trip to Croatia was a trip of business and pleasure. We were able to get the stamp we all needed in our pass ports and also have a little fun while we were there.

We were so thankful that the weather was so wonderful, the water was cold but that didn't stop these two fish from getting in.

The Suppan family and Amber H. were able to come with us and it made the trip that much better. The food was fabulous, weather was great and the company was perfect.

More in my next post on Aleia's 4th Birthday party in Croatia.

Sunday, June 7, 2009

Honest and lasting


I recently came across an amazing blog site that was promoting "My husband rocks...Friday" I began to read and was so encouraged by the words she wrote. She has not been married long but she wants to be happily married forever. She points out so many things that we actually take for granted and that if we would just dwell on the positive things that made us fall in love with our spouse in the first place our marriage would blissfully last forever.

I encourage you all to go to my side bar under my favorite blogs and click on the great adventure it will then take you to her blog, you can join many women in "MHRF", I know I am going to be looking forward to every Friday, posting about what an amazing man God has given me.

Also I just enrolled in a by weekly e-mail Bible study from the website (union28.net) once you get to the site click on the marriage link and sign up for your next e-mail and receive an amazing Bible based lesson on Marriage, Family and Love. In this world we need all we can to build, strengthen and unite our Marriage and Family.

Hope you are as blessed by these two resources as I was....if you have any sites that can help us make our family and marriage stronger fill free to leave a comment.

Saturday, June 6, 2009

One unexpected surprise after another

This morning we woke up to a knock at the door, which most of time means the mail man has a package from the states for us. We were all excited and came to the door as if it was Christmas. It caught us off guard when the mail man was a face we had never seen before, he was young, friendly and spoke ENGLISH which all 3 were a wonderful unexpected surprise.

He gave Aleia one box, wished her a Happy Birthday then headed back to his truck, we shut the door behind us and could not wait to open the unexpected surprise box from Scott, Kendra and the girls. We heard a knock at the door yet again....the mail man (HUM) another box, this can not be. Oh yes one more box....(YEAH)!!!!

Another unexpected surprise from The Soto family...(Auntie Der)!

The boxes were full of unexpected surprises....something in them for us all. We are so grateful for these unexpected surprises today, it brightened our day, made us feel loved and thought of. We always love getting boxes of goodies from the states, it makes us feel American again:-)

A great big thanks to Heather and Kendra for putting an unexpected smile on all of our faces today and for remembering our girls for their Birthday, so very thoughtful of ya.

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Hurry Home...



While Rev. Lee Stoneking was here ministering in Austria we were able to take him to a few places of his choice.

This is a concentration camp, about 45 minutes from our house. It truly is heart wrenching how those poor people were treated.


This is the Suppan family with Rev. Lee Stoneking. They enjoyed meeting him and spending some quality time with him. Savannah and Josh left on Sunday for Texas. They will be gone for 3 weeks and we already miss them terribly. Aleia got to church on Sunday and didn't see Savannah and she said "this just isn't fair". The Suppan family are the Asst. Pastors here and are such a wonderful blessing to us all. Hurry home guys.

Monday, June 1, 2009

A miracle is born

Little Oliver Dadzie is a precious miracle from God. Susan and Rolland Dadzie are a faithful couple in the C.O.A church of Vienna here where we are the Missionaries and they have wanted and tried for a baby for over 10 years.

At every service they would ask for prayer and she would come to the front to be prayed for that she would one day conceive.
Her faith was always strong, she believed and never gave up on her promise or healing.

Little Oliver Dadzie was born 2 days past his due date, healthy, beautiful and strong, and look at all that hair, and you just can't help but notice that proud smile on Mama's face.

They are all home and adjusting well, he is a bit demanding she says but she is so thankful and praising the Lord for her miracle.
We went to visit the Dadzie family and in the recovery room there were 7 other Mother's who had delivered that day. It made me so very thankful that I delivered Brienna in a private Hospital. The Hospital I had her in was already so free and open compared to the states that I couldn't imagine what the social hospital was like, but here it is....8 Mama's with their babies in one room.












Being held for the first time by his proud
Pastor....a miracle is born.