REVIVAL!!!!!!!!

I am writing this short post to explain why I and many of the people listed in my favorite blog sites have not been posting lately. We have been in an exciting revival with Reverend David McKemy! There have been powerful services and many people have received the gift that is the best gift you could ever receive...the gift of the Holy Ghost, evidenced by tongues.

In one service last week, there were two ladies who returned to God and were refilled after 25 and 50 years of living a life away from God. There have been other backsliders who have come back to God. We also have had close to 20, in only two weeks of services, new converts as well. Most are from the family of new members of ILC, Von Trey and his wife Brittany. They have had close to 10 family members filled with the Holy Ghost! On this last Monday night alone, there were at least 8 people filled with the Spirit with 3 of them being from Von Trey's family. Tuesday night, one of Von Trey's cousins begrudgingly went to the front when altar call went out. She prayed a little and then, again, begrudgingly allowed Bro. Booker to pray for her. When he did, she was powerfully filled with the Holy Ghost. When she was baptized in the name of Jesus, she rejoiced, danced, shouted, and had a Holy Ghost time in the water for close to 15 minutes! It was so exciting!!

It was awesome! And even more awesome is the assurance that God is a loving, long suffering, gracious, and merciful Saviour who wants nothing more than to fill His children with His Spirit. It doesn't matter if you knew Him, shunned His grace for 1 or 50 years and are now returning to Him. It doesn't matter if you have never really been close to Him, never knew His voice, never accepted Him into your life as Lord and King. He only wants to hear your voice asking for forgiveness and asking Him to save your soul. He will do it! And the angels, who know no sin or the joy of redemption, rejoice when a sinner is filled with the Holy Ghost! And how much more do the saints of ILC rejoice over these for we have been been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb and washed in the waters of baptism!!!

An added bonus in this revival is Bro. McKemy's exceptional talent on the harmonica. He is simply amazing in his ability to draw out powerful melodies on a tiny little piece of metal! WOW!! He also is an amazing preacher who has a burning desire to see people who have left the Lord be restored and redeemed. If you have never heard him preach, be sure to visit http://inlandlighthouse.com/ and listen to the wonderful messages he has preached over the last two weeks.

And to all my friends who haven't posted during this revival, we have a break and it is time to update!!!! So get to blogging!! :-)

Deep Thoughts for Today

Some of these are truer than others!! Some of them actually fit ME to a T! LOL

Enjoy these deep thoughts and if they bring you some joy in the form of laughter, all the better!

• Worrying works! 90 percent of the things I worry about never happen.
• It may be that your sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others.
• It is far more impressive when others discover your good qualities without your help.
• Good judgment comes from bad experience and a lot of that comes from bad judgment.
• Never test the depth of the water with both feet.
• If you think nobody cares if you're alive, try missing a couple of car payments.
• If you lend someone $20, and never see that person again, it was probably worth it.

* Found on a website called Oh My Aging Funny Bone....Gini Pederson is the submitting party.

Valentine Joys

Happy Valentine Day everyone!

Today, Mark went to the doctor and was told....surprise, surprise....he has the FLU! Yes, the FLU! Who would'a thunk it? LOL He did get some awesome meds and is feeling some relief from the chills and fevers. The kids stayed home due to fevers and coughs all night and we had a quite day of rest.

Since we both are sick, it wasn't a very "romantic" day. However, Marissa and Jessica were awesome and made us dinner. They made, from scratch, heart shaped chicken, zuchini, and tomato pizzas with a wonderful Romano cheese and garlic sauce. They made the dough and sauce from scratch and it tasted sooooo yummy! They also served a Ceasar salad and made a Tiramisu for desert. The tiramisu was made with a wine cake (secret family recipe) and layered with pineapple, strawberries, and french vanilla whip cream!! Delicioso!!! They decorated the table and had Mark and I sit next to each other (we normally sit on opposite ends of the table.) I wish I had taken a picture, especially of the heart shaped individual pizzas, but I didn't.

I hope all of you had a nice day and were blessed to be surrounded by those who love and cherish you. God bless and keep you until we "meet" again.

UPDATE re: Sniffles, Coughs, and Wheezes!

For those of you who read the RN's suggestion re: the solution to the sniffles being passed around which led to ILC sounding like a TB ward, I took her suggestion and stayed home tonight with my VERY ill husband and relapsing son! Mark is running a fever, has the chills, and sounds horrible. Justin was doing better until about 8 PM tonight when he started coughing and "wheezing". At one point, he was crying because he felt like he couldn't breathe. Please don't tell anyone but I gave him a short puff of my albuterol inhaler and he is sleeping peacefully now in the recliner in my front room so that he is propped up and can breathe easier.

Tomorrow, I will call the Dr. and ask for another round of antibiotics for myself since my cough is growing worse at the end of this first regimen of Z-pac. It is awful to take meds and then relapse!!!!! WAAAAHHHH....I am soooooo tired of being sick! Oops, sorry for whining!

I covet your prayers for Mark, Justin and myself, as well as Marissa and Jessica who are just now starting the coughing. Maybe I will just tell the Dr. to give ALL 5 of us a Z-pac. That should help kick this flu bug (and bronchitis) to the curb! God bless and keep each of you from this horrible flu bug and remember to get your flu shots next year AND to stay home when you are sick instead of sharing your illness with your church family! LOL

I will sign off now, go take another hit of Albuterol and crawl into bed.
Good night!

Sniffles, Coughs, and Wheezes!

These last two weeks have been quite an experience for me. First, I had the flu with the prerequisite nausea, stomach problems, fever, malaise, etc. Then I felt better for three days. Last Tuesday, I woke up with a cough. A deep rattling cough. From out of nowhere. By Tuesday night, I was feverish and coughing like I had been sick for a week. The next four days slowly drug by as I slept almost constantly except to take and pick up my children from school. Friday, I was sicker and had had enough. I get asthmatic bronchitis religiously every year, sometimes 2 or 3 times, and so I have a cough medicine prescribed by the doctor and 2 inhalers that I use when it flares up. I used those last week to no avail. When I finally went to the doctor, he said, "Yes, you have a nasty bronchitis that needs a heavy antibiotic to knock it out." So I filled the prescription, went home, took the meds, and slept some more. Saturday arrived and I felt a little better. Then my son complained that he didn't feel well. He has been running a fever since Saturday and coughing and sniffling and blowing his poor little nose. Tomorrow is school and I have a feeling he will be home with me and another visit to the doctor will be necessary.

To add to my sad story, the church family of Inland Lighthouse has been hit heavily by this flu bug and we have had a lot of absentees! I was one of them two Wednesdays in a row! The choir has been decimated to half it's usual size. The praise team leader has his phone ringing off the hook for finding replacements, as do I for the musicians. Last night during the preaching, there was so much coughing at one point that Bro. Booker said it sounded like a TB ward!

So many are sick that one of our resident RN's talked to Sis. Booker about looking into a flu shot clinic sponsored by the church this next fall!!! They are going to look into the logistics and see if we can't circumvent this awful sniffle season next year! I hope they can but if not, I WILL BE GETTING a flu shot next time! It has been horrible and I am still not well!

Please, pray for the Inland Empire and all the sick saints of ILC!! We need deliverance from sniffles, coughs and wheezes!!

Feb. 13, 2008
Editor's note: Alas, this morning I woke to find my husband and eldest daughter are now battling this awful bug. Justin feels a little better and has finally stopped running a fever but now Mark and Marissa are coughing. Mark went to work because he has not missed a single day for sickness in 3 years!! He doesn't want to ruin that record but I have a feeling I will see him much earlier than usual.

Thanks for the prayers! Oh, and be sure to read our resident RN's comments posted below. She has quite a lot to say! And I must agree with her!!!

New Markisms!!

Okay, finally my hubby has come up with new markisms to share with you. Tonight, we were playing a Bible trivia game and Mark started making up his own questions. I thought I would share a couple with you and see if you can determine the answers.

Here goes....

1: Which prophet couldn't sing?

2: Which prophet liked people to hear what he had to say?

Please, feel free to make a guess about the answers to these deep Bible trivia questions. These questions might have made a great addition to the Occidental Gazette!!! LOL

I love having Mark as my husband because you just never know what he might say next!