Has it really been OVER a year since I last posted????

Time flies when you are......

• Busy with life...
• Having fun....
• Working hard building two businesses and tutoring....
• Married....

Excuses...I know...so what follows is a recap of the past year!

• April 2015....Paul and I were feeling the pull of the Holy Spirit away from a small group we'd been a part of, but to where, we didn't know.  
• May 2015....I had coffee with a good friend who was moving away, and she shared with me about her Messianic Congregation called Kingdom Living.  It's a "Spirit-led Hebraic Living" congregation.  I raced home and told Paul.  We visited that next Shabbat (Saturday), and during worship, both Paul and I were healed of some deep emotional issues.  We returned the next week, and again, Holy Spirit met both of us during worship and healed us.  Clearly, we'd found our spiritual family, and have since landed in a home group as well.  KL is under the umbrella of Tikkun International, which is based in Jerusalem, Israel.
• June 2015...Paul and I went camping with friends and enjoyed 4 days of rest and fun at a secluded lake just 2 hours from our home!  Arden's mom turned 85!
• July 2015...We travelled to Colorado to visit friends, family, and catch Roger Campbell and his band at the Evergreen Jazz Festival.  We also enjoyed an overnight in the mountains where Danna Campbell (sister-in-law) performed with her band, Sisters of Rock in Dillon, CO!
• August 2015...Nothing too exciting....
• September 2015...We traveled to Salt Lake City, UT to take part in the annual doTERRA convention.  Pleasantly surprised by the non-hype, we enjoyed being with 25,000 other wellness advocates and learned about the positive global impact that doTERRA is making!  We are thrilled to be a part of such an amazing company that is so incredibly generous!
• October 2015...We traveled to Chicago for Paul's 30th reunion at Northwestern.  Saw friends we hadn't seen in 30 years!  We also had to tell Paul's mom that she would be staying in a nursing home, which was a difficult challenge.
• November 2015...We traveled to Colorado to spend Thanksgiving with Arden's family in the Denver area.
• December 2015...We traveled to Chicago to visit Paul's family for the holidays and worked for a friend, too.  This was the first client for Paul's new business:  Ordered Life Solutions.  He is working on being a certified professional organizer!
• January 2016...We both continued to work our businesses and Paul subbed.  Paul turned 53!
• February 2016...Arden traveled to Arizona to spend a week with her mom while her dad flew to Colorado to go skiing with her brothers!  What a special time that was with mom!  We also attended the NAPO meeting in St. Louis.  National Association of Professional Organizers.  There, we also got to reconnect with one of Arden's former students from Charlottesville!
• March 2016...Arden turned 52!  
• April 2016...We traveled to St. Louis again for the NAPO meeting, and Paul won a prize for an organizing coaching course he will begin in May!  We believe the Lord is really ON this business choice and covet your prayers.  (We'll also appreciate your referrals!)

Which brings us up to date...as we launch into May, 2016, we are asking the Lord to breathe on our businesses so that we can invest in Kingdom works globally.  Join us in praying this way!  Thanks!

If you would like to check out two of our businesses, go to these links:

Thrive Life Freeze-dried Foods

doTERRA Essential Oils

(Please note that the prices on the doTERRA site are retail prices.  No one pays retail because it's so easy to get a wholesale account.  Wholesale prices are 25% less than the prices on the website.)

How's Your Gut?

The holidays are over and everything is put away, but my body is hanging on to the remnants.  I've re-upped my gym membership...now when can I find the time to get there?  

So much is going on in our lives that, once again, I see it's been OVER a month since I last blogged.  My apologies to those who are faithful readers.  

I want to get this word out to as many as possible.  A dear friend of mine is doing a class in a week that I want to invite everyone to come and be a part of.  Here is the flyer:

It's free and everyone is sure to come away from it with great information to help themselves and others!

Register here:  Gut Health Class

DoTerra Essential Oils

My newest adventure!  Yes, I have been using DoTerra essential oils for over 2 years, but only recently have begun to dive into the business side of things.  Why?  Don't I already have many things on my platter?

Yes....I do....however, DoTerra is well-worth pursuing!  Why?

Health.

Wellness.

Helping people who are desperate.

After seeing someone who drank contaminated water for 3 weeks come down with 7 different life-threatening diseases LIVE and not die (as was thoughts she would) as a result of taking DoTerra essential oils, I am convinced that this is the way to go!  Of course I still believe in doctors and traditional medicine.  It's not an either/or question but rather a both/and situation.

I cannot say enough good things about this company, their integrity and ethics, and my team!  

FLU SHOTS

It's that time of year again!  Time to get a flu shot.  

WAIT!  STOP!  

Have you ever stopped to ask yourself:  "Why am I giving in to public pressure to get a flu shot?"

I am not saying that people shouldn't do it; what I am saying is this:  please consider looking into using therapeutic grade essential oils as an alternative to synthetically generated drugs.

WHY?

First, essential oils are NATURAL.  In fact, people used these down through history to treat illnesses, and the Bible is FULL of examples of oils being used.

Second, they go to the cellular level and do not simply treat symptoms.  

Third, when you use the purest forms of essential oils, i.e. those which are created from plants grown in their native environments, you are using the most potent forms of the oils possible.

So, in order to face flu season, my husband and I are taking our DoTerra On Guard beadlets every morning.  On Guard is a blend of oils that builds the immune system of the body.  What a better way to face this season of germs!  

Have a look here to find out more!  Arden's DoTerra Website



Contact me with any questions!

A wonderful teaching on Sodom and Gomorrah

Good morning!  What follows below is a teaching from a friend of ours here in KC.  His name is Alan Lee, and his knowledge, wisdom and insight on the Word of God are enough to make anyone stop and think.  Ponder the following today:

A couple of days ago I was watching a video on you tube on how the TV is programming our society. I have always known this, but it never struck me like this until now.

Thank you Abba for peeling enough layers off in my life, over time (gently & mercifully) to make me open and sensitive to some of the stuff that's really going on out there!

Yeshua said, as it was in the days of Lot, so will it when He returns. I've always been taught, since I was in HS (back when the dinosaurs used to roam the earth) that the world is like Sodom and Gomorrah and that's a pretty good indicator that Yeshua is coming back soon.

In Genesis 18:21, Yahweh Elohim says,  "I will go down and see if they have at all done according to the cry coming to me.

Why would a cry go out? I thought they were eating, drinking and marrying and having a good ole time. As in the days of Noah, the days of Ezekiel and the days of Jonah, a cry went up to the Lord.  He heard it and decided to bring judgment upon the earth.  But unlike our mistaken ideas about Sodom’s sin, the cry God heard was not about sexual immorality.  Our Sunday school stories do not teach the real sin of Sodom.  It was not homosexuality, lasciviousness, lust or any of the other sexual perversions.  It was far greater.  And it’s all wrapped up in the Hebrew word tse’aqah and its companionze’aqah.  The first word is found in this verse (cry) and the second in the previous verse,18:20 (cry), but as you can see, there are two different words in Hebrew.  Nevertheless, the impact of these two words melds into a single offense so great that God brings wrath upon those who embrace them.

What does tse’aqah and ze’aqah mean?  They describe the anguished cry of the oppressed, the agonizing plea of the victim for help in some great injustice.  This ismoral outrage at the total disregard for human compassion and civility.  This is the very opposite of what any human being would consider justice.  This is not simply dishonoring Yahweh.  This is dishonoring our own kind, a wanton display of human insensitivity toward other human beings.  If you want to see what this looks like, you do not have to descend into the brothels or the porn shops.  You can watch the news about “racial cleansing” across the globe.  You can recall the history of the Holocaust or the actions of Pol Pot.  You can realize that we live in the most brutal, most inhuman, most despicable century that the world has ever known.  And there is no evidence that things will improve.  The potential genocide in the name of Allah that lurks on the horizon has the possibility of making all other acts of cruelty pale by comparison.  The destruction of human beings in the name of religion, politics and economics makes us all look as though we not only live in Sodom, but that we have also expanded its city limits to the edge of the globe.

Do we really think that Yahweh will not repeat His expunging wrath on a world gone mad with the lust for power, possession and personal gain?  Do we really believe that He can find ten righteous man among us?  It is a very frightening thing to contemplate.  How long God’s mercy will outweigh His judgment is a gambling bet no man should ever want to take.

So, push aside the idea that Sodom was about sex.  Sexual perversion was only one of the symptoms of a culture that cared nothing for those who could be used and abused.  Ezekiel lays the blame right where we need to hear it: 

“Behold, this is the guilt of your sister, Sodom.  She and her daughters had pride, were more than full of food, and prosperous case, but did not aid the poor and the needy.  They were haughty, and did abominable things before me; therefore I removed them, when I saw it.” (Eze. 16:49-50) 

What does God see today?  What are you going to do about it before He comes down to see if the cry is great from all humanity?

It's time to act!

Shalom,

Alan

Catching up!

I can't believe I've let this much time pass since the last time I blogged.  The excuses are a-plenty, but rather than going down that path, let's just jump back into blogging.

Life in my world continues to be exciting and ever-changing.  Not only am I teaching adults ESL two nights a week, but also another conversation class to adults on Friday mornings.  In addition, the Lord has richly blessed me with 9 private students this fall.  

A friend said to me:  "You may not be going to the nations, but God is bringing the nations to you!"  He certainly is, and I love it!  

I have 11 different nations represented in my evening classes, 8 different nations in my Friday morning class, and amongst my private students, I have 3 Chinese students, 1 Hungarian, 1 Ukrainian, 1 Taiwanese, 2 Brazilians, and 1 American.  

God so knows my heart and how much I love internationals!  Each day is a kiss from Him through these individuals.  

Challenged to love

We all need love.  Many of us long to be loved and long to love.  Hollywood tries to define love, but most of the time, their perspective is far from the reality of what love really entails.

Love means dying.  Dying to self, dying to 'my way', and dying so that others may live.  Death is never pretty, nor is it easy.  Not too many people would sign up for love if they opened the dictionary and the definition read:  Love:  death to self and making choices to see others' needs met.

Anyone who has walked in loving relationships knows that the ooey-gooey pictures painted of love are not really, well, shall we say, real?!  Indeed, love is a many splendored thing, as the song goes, but we sometimes forget that love is a choice.  Sometimes that choice is painful and feels like the one doing the loving is somehow being cheated in the 'deal' we call relationship.  

That's the cost, though, for true love to grow.  Seeds are planted in soil, watered, and they break through the shell and become what they were intended to be.  So too with love.  It's a seed that has many factors working on it and seemingly against it, but when it blooms, it is beautiful.  Along the way, though, there are cuts, trimmings, and dry times.  In the end, however, the fruit of love is sweet and life-giving.