On Monday, Nathaniel and I had some precious Mommy-Nathaniel time together and went on his class field trip to the Baa Moo Farm. We had so much fun! It was FREEZING–as you will notice he’s wrapped up in my scarf! Us Charleston folks just aren’t used to 30 degree weather in October. That is crazy.

The highlights of the morning, other than having some time just the two of us (like old times!), was feeding the baby calf his bottle, going in the hen house and finding the eggs, meeting Jake and Tammy Faye the long horn cows, petting a giant pig, getting nipped by a huge naked sheep (his wool had been sheared), and milking a cow while a kitty cat drank the milk from the bucket! What a great time! I’m starting to suspect that I really am a country girl at heart.

After four years of vacillating between infant baptism and child dedication, we finally decided to adhere to Mosaic’s viewpoint of child dedication. Thus, our children were dedicated to God this past Sunday at church! Not only was it special to have them dedicated, but the company we were in made it all the more special. Three other Mosaic Pastor’s kids were dedicated at the service. It felt like family to share such a special moment together.

At the dedication, each child was given a Bible. Nathaniel has been fascinated with his Bible and takes it with him everywhere! Sunday night he asked if Nate and I would read it to him. I read Psalm 23 and talked to him about Jesus as his shephard. I also showed him where a few of his past Scripture memory verses were. He was amazed they were all in the book! Then Nate read to him from Ephesians 6 and told him about the Armor of God. It just so happens that we have a Knight’s costume, so Nate put each piece on Nathaniel and told him what they stood for. It was a special night. His little heart for the Lord is so tender and ready for seeds to be planted. I can’t believe it! He’s such a big boy…

My computer died a tragic death, and then our internet connection got capped. SOOOOoo….I’ve been total Slogger lately. Here’s the latest with us. Bear with me til we get into our house and I can be back to my usual blogging self.

For some of you, this’ll be a boring post so just scroll down to the next one. This one’s for the family so they can keep up with the growth of our three babies (Nathaniel, Ella, and Troubadour Lane).

XOXO,
Carrie

“They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.”

Yesterday our Pastor’s wife, Ashley Fazal, invited Mom’s of the church over to her house. Each Mom brought clothes their children had outgrown, toys no longer played with, & maternity clothes they didn’t need. We laid everything out in a room and then took turns pilfering through it all to take home what we needed. I came home with an entire winter wardrobe for my two kids…for FREE.

All in all, we had over 32 kids running around. At one point, all the Mom’s sat together while Ashley shared what God had been putting on her heart. Times are hard for everyone, and scary too, especially for one-income families who have multiple children. (Ashley, Mandy Devine, and I were the Mom’s with the least amount of kids…everyone else had at least four!) Ashley shared that God was teaching her to stay focused on Him, regardless of what was happening around her. Other Mom’s shared their hearts.

We can read about the early church and be inspired by it. We can even romanticize it, turning it into a Camelot-ideal. But yesterday, I feel like we lived it. Not only did we come together and help meet each other’s material needs, but the Lord used us to meet each other’s spiritual needs as well. We shared the miraculous wonders God had performed for us in past hard times, encouraging and reminding ourselves that He will be faithful again…and again…and again.

We are building a house in the worst market America’s seen since 9/11, and possibly since the Great Depression. With the credit freeze, even the most likely candidates are getting denied loans. The couple buying my childhood home found out three days before closing that they were denied their loan. It was baffling for us all, since they seemed to be ideal candidates. Regardless, the word resounding in the ears of the American Market these days is a big fat, “NO”.

For us personally, it’s been up and down, where one minute it seems like we won’t get the house and the next minute God provides some form of amazing encouragement. Every low has faithfully been followed by a high, and then followed by another low. Here’s my thought on that:

As the Israelites wandered in the desert, they had no way to get food. Miraculously, God provided manna that appeared on the ground each morning. Here’s what struck me—God’s provision was sufficient for one day at a time. Each day the Israelites received fresh manna as a reminder of God’s love for them. If they attempted to store it for the days to come, they found that it had spoiled by the next day. It was impossible to stockpile God’s provision, because God wanted them to trust in Him, not in their pantry. God’s grace was sufficient each day.

God wants us to trust Him daily with our needs. God is aware of what tomorrow will bring and how we should prepare for it. He knows the problems we will face, and He has already made provision for us to overcome them. He asks us to trust in Him daily. Our faith in Him today cannot substitute for our trust in Him tomorrow. If we walk with Him closely today, we will be prepared to receive His love and provision tomorrow.

“Give us this day our daily bread.” Matthew 6:11

“Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you. See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the Lord rises upon you and His glory appears over you.” Isaiah 60:1-2

We are 30-days out from closing on the home we’re building, and the market is in the toilet. Not even the most ideal candidates are getting approved for loans right now. Things are at an all-time history low for America. Nothing is for sure. Banks are hoarding cash in an effort to stay afloat, loans are few and far between, jobs are evaporating, gas is scarce, Wall Street is in the pooper, the U.S. government is in turmoil, and the American people are panicked. I’ll be honest. I’m with them.

The bad news is that everything is connected. We are all connected. My husband’s job security as a Pastor is directly impacted by the faithfulness of our tithers, who are directly impacted by the state of the economy. Your job loss affects me. Wall Street affects Main Street.

The good news is that we are all connected. We’re in this together. This is our time to band together. We’re faced with a “United we stand, divided we fall” moment in time.

Doom and despair are closing in on many. NOW is the time for Christians to share the Hope of Jesus Christ like never before. NOW is the time for us to cash in on that Hope for ourselves. He has made the sacrifice so that we may have PEACE, every second of every minute of every hour of every day. No matter what is being said on CNN or Fox News. For every minute we spend watching the news, listening to talk radio, or discussing the devastation of the US marketplace, we need to be spending two minutes saturating ourselves in God’s Word, listening to Worship, and reminding ourselves of His Truth. He is our Waymaker. He is our Jehovah-Jirah–our Provider. He dropped bread from the sky to provide for the Israelites in the dessert! Start looking up people! Prepare for the Manna. God will not let His people be snatched from the palms of His hand

“Build up, build up, prepare the road! Remove the obstacles out of the way of my people…Peace, peace to those far and near, says the Lord.” Isaiah 57:14, 1

On Wednesday, with my gas light shining bright, I drove around Charlotte for 45 minutes hunting for gas. After finding four gas stations completely tapped out, I finally struck gold at the fifth. Lines were just beginning to form. I managed to fill up at $3.98 a gallon, which I (sadly) considered cheap. Come to find out, a panic was settling in over the city that day. Only a few hours later, my husband couldn’t find a gas station with gas or without an extensive line anywhere locally. We were forced to park his car with an empty tank, hunker down, and wait.

The Charlotte Observer and Washington Post reported lines with as many as 60 cars waiting for their turn at the pump as of Wednesday night. Driving down the road this week has been like a trailer for the next Apocolyptic film. A true Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde moment, gas stations have been either complete ghost towns with the occasional tumbleweed blowing between the pumps, or like the local rabbit farm with consumers multiplying by the dozens at the mere sniff of petro.

Lines, traffic backups and scuffles at Charlotte pumps were reported by local news stations on Thursday and Friday, with people in some cases parking at gas stations overnight, waiting near the pumps with their gas gauges on empty.

The Charlotte Observer also reported an instance where a woman stood in line at a Citgo station and told others in line she was saving a place for her father, who was on his way with gas cans. The station was selling only premium gas and had a 45-minute wait. Although perhaps a creative and bold move, this did not settle well with other customers.

Several people got out of their cars and began cursing at the woman, who went nose to nose with one man before someone called 911 amid a cacophony of car horns. In pouring rain, one man threatened to “hurt” the driver of a Ford F150 who was confused by the line and got to the pump before him. Police officers arrived to calm everyone down.

At a Texaco at Independence Boulevard and Sharon Amity Road Friday morning, motorists waiting in line for up to an hour honked horns and yelled at each other. One woman trying to back out of the swarm of cars hit one.

This week’s shortage is a result of hurricanes Ike and Gustav, which hit the Gulf Coast earlier this month, disrupting refinery production. Refineries had enough fuel in reserve to stock Southeastern pumps for about a week, but many stations ran out before the refineries could resume full production.

Four of the 17 Houston-area refineries remain closed, with most others in partial or full operation, AAA said.

Charlotte isn’t the only place grappling with a short gas supply, though the area saw the most serious disruptions in the state, with little or no shortages reported in eastern North Carolina, AAA reports. Stations were also running out of fuel this week in Florida, Tennessee, Virginia and elsewhere, with the Atlanta area feeling some pressure, the Associated Press reported.

The Mayor has promised large gas shipments are on the way. All I know is my family has one car parked in the driveway on empty. Looks like we’ll be skipping Church tomorrow.

Any stories on how the Gas Crisis has affected you and your family? Please share.

1. A vulture boards an airplane, carrying two dead raccoons. The flight attendant looks at him and says, “I’m sorry, sir, only one carrion allowed per passenger.”

2. Two fish swim into a concrete wall. The one turns to the other and says “Dam!

3. Two Eskimos sitting in a kayak were chilly, so they lit a fire in the craft. Unsurprisingly it immediately sank, proving once again that you can’t have your kayak and heat it too.

4. Two hydrogen atoms meet. One says “I’ve lost my electron” The other says “Are you sure?” The first replies “Yes, I’m positive.”

5. Did you hear about the Buddhist who refused Novocain during a root canal? His goal: transcend dental medication.

6. A group of chess enthusiasts checked into a hotel and were standing in the lobby discussing their recent tournament victories. After about an hour, the manager came out of the office and asked them to disperse. “But why?” they asked as they moved off. “Because,” he said, “I can’t stand chess-nuts boasting in an open foyer.”

7. A woman has identical twins and is forced to give them up for adoption. One of them goes to a family in Egypt and is named “Ahmal.” The other goes to a family in Spain; they name him “Juan.” Years later, Juan sends a picture of himself to his birth mother. Upon receiving the picture, she tells her husband that she wishes she also had a picture of Ahmal. Her husband responds, “They’re identical twins! If you’ve seen Juan, you’ve seen Ahmal.”

8. A group of friars were behind on their belfry payments, so they opened up a small florist shop to raise funds. Since everyone liked to buy flowers from the men of God, a rival florist across town thought the competition was unfair. He asked the good fathers to close down, but they would not. He went back and begged the friars to close. They ignored him. So, the rival florist hired Hugh MacTaggart, the roughest and most vicious thug in town to “persuade” them to close. Hugh beat up the friars and trashed their store, saying he’d be back if they didn’t close up shop. Terrified, they did so, thereby proving that only Hugh can prevent Florist friars.

9. Mahatma Gandhi, as you know, walked barefoot most of the time, which produced an impressive set of calluses on his feet. He also ate very little, which made him rather frail and, with his odd diet, he suffered from bad breath. This made him a super calloused fragile mystic hexed by halitosis.

10. There was the person who sent ten different puns to friends with the hope that at least one of the puns would make them laugh. No pun in ten did.

To all the girls in the ‘Hood out there (Mommyhood, that is…), this one’s for you!

Top Ten Clues You are “THAT” Mom:

10. The words “clean house”, “peace and quiet”, and “folded laundry” are synonymous with “unicorn”, “Bigfoot”, and “Santa Claus”.

9. Upon returning home you suddenly realize your toddler doesn’t have pants on, but you could’ve sworn she did when you left the house…

8. You realize the reason the cashier’s looking at you funny is because you’re still talking baby talk.

7. You realize that thing stuck to the bottom of your shoe is your 2-yr. old’s toothbrush. Awesome.

6. You find that you’re the only one left in the room still watching Sesame Street.

5. You find yourself swaying back and forth in the grocery store line like you’re rocking a baby, even though you’re only holding a gallon of milk.

4. Common staples in your diet is mac ‘n cheese, Dora yogurt, and hotdogs…things you used to think were totally gross.

3. You have more pairs of toddler underwear in the wash than sexy lingerie.

2. You find poop on your pillow….and then in the closet. (True Story)

1. You think that all you want is peace and quiet, but once you have it you realize how much you miss the chatter of little voices.

These are just a few from my own life. Feel free to add some of your own!

*Note: Love and hugs to all the Mommy’s out there…keep pressing on! These are the days you’ll laugh about when you’re old and boring.