My adult ESL students

This past summer, I applied and was hired to be an ESL teacher for adults at Johnson County Community College.  This has been one of the best teaching experiences of my life so far because I have highly motivated, respectful students who are working full-time jobs and then spending 6 hours a week in the evening studying English.  

My group of 18 students is a level 1 class, which means we started with the alphabet and numbers.  I am proud to report that 16 of 18 received "gains" on their state level exams.

On Monday of this week, we had an end of the semester party where everyone brought food.  Only a handful of my students showed up, but we had a great time eating, laughing and speaking a little bit of English.  Here are a few pictures of my class!

Yolanda and Patricia - both from Mexico

Armando from Guatemala - He wants to be an English teacher back in his home country!

Maria, Armando, Jessika, her daughter, who came to the party, Jose, Yolanda and Patricia

Irene and Michael - from Ukraine

Arden, Jose, Aphinya, Patricia, Yolanda, Meseret, Maria, Jessika, Irene, Maria, Armando and Michael

Auschwitz and the United States

This is a heavy blog entry.  However, I believe it needs to be posted.  

I first visited the former concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau in 1985.  My fellow AIA teammates and I were on a trip around Poland playing basketball, and our leaders decided we should visit the former Nazi death camp.  Quite honestly, and I hate to admit it, but my history lessons were sorely lacking in high school and I only knew smatterings of what transpired in this infamous death camp.  

We drove through a quaint little town called Oswiecim (Auschwitz in German) and there on the outskirts lay a HUGE plot of land dotted with the remains of barbed wire fences, brick buildings and smokestacks:  the infamous death camp of Auschwitz where the Nazis exterminated millions of Jews and other "undesireables".  After completing the tour, I remember feeling like someone had kicked me in the stomach and the ache would never go away.  Slowly, it did fade, and I proceeded to live my comfy life in the U.S. only giving a slight thought or two to what transpired in a far off land so many years earlier.

It wasn't until I taught my 8th graders about the Holocaust in the late 1980s that the gruesome reality of what took place ripped my heart open again.  

Fast forward to the mid 1990s when I began taking groups of high schoolers to Hungary to teach summer English camps; on the weekend between the two camps, we piled onto an overnight train to Poland to expose these American high school kids to the realities of the horrors of WWII death camps.  As we passed through the sweet quiet town of Oswiecim again, I couldn't help but wonder why the residents of the town didn't stand up and say anything during the holocaust?  

You see, there were furnaces burning humans cranking 24/7, especially during the final years of the war, and stories of ash falling from the sky and coating cars and trees and roads still exist.  In addition, the smell must have permeated the air, so why the silence?  And what does any of this have to do with the United States today?

I found these "answers":

Why didn't Auschwitz residents help the people in the holocaust?

The concentration camp and the extermination camp were well outside the town and surrounded by an exclusion zone.  Also, because if they did, they would probably be captured and sent to the camp as well as the person they tried to save.  Not to mention when they got captured they probably would have been whipped.  

And another:

Most residents of the town were not involved in the holocaust.  Obviously, the Jewish inhabitants were taken to the camp and killed.  The camp itself (or rather complex of camps) was surrounded by an exclusion zone.

Here is where it gets interesting and relevant to us in the United States today:

From a German woman… when she was about sixteen years old she said to her grandmother, “How come nobody stopped what was happening with Hitler. How come they didn’t stop them from taking the Jews away?”

And the grandmother said to her, “You don’t understand. It wasn’t one day that we woke up and all of our rights were taken away from us. They took them away from us slowly. And then one day you couldn’t speak out, because if you spoke out you were dead.”

We are not facing standing up for a particular people, although I do believe that day will come, but more significantly, we are facing standing up for ourselves!

As a believer and follower of Yeshua, I am advocating ONE THING:  Repentance and turning to the Lord.  

If we remain silent, if we continue on in our lukewarm ways of cultural Christianity, if we continue to feed the Babylonian spirit that has invaded our nation, families and individual hearts, we too will be asking the same question our German sister posed above.

Maybe you think I am sounding gloom and doom; Ezekiel is clear:  if I, as a watchman of the Lord, do not sound the alarm and warn people, I will be held responsible.  

In all of this there is GREAT HOPE!  His name is Jesus, Yeshua, and His heart is FOR us, not against us.  He is coming again for His pure and spotless bride, and so we must stand up, declare the praises of our King, share His love and His truth, not watered down, and shout it from the mountain tops:  WAKE UP AMERICA!  The Lion of Judah is coming and our compromise, our flirtations with sin, our bowing to the cultural tide of "whatever feels right is right" has got to stop.  

Our King is mighty to save, mighty in love and mercy and forgiveness, mighty to overthrow all that hinders His love from being manifested in our hearts.  He will do it because He is a jealous God, longing to defeat the true enemy who has done nothing but lie, steal, kill and destroy humanity.  He wants nothing more than His goodness to be manifested in our lives and in our nation; the key is discovering what HIS GOODNESS really is.  That goodness is fully encapsulated in One Person:  Jesus, Yeshua, the Messiah...a Jewish man who came to seek and save the lost, and is coming back for a pure, spotless bride.  HE is the way, HE is the truth, and HE is the life, and no one comes to the Father except through HIM.  

In WW II, it was not popular to take a stand for the Jewish people; it could get a person killed.

In 2013, it's not popular to take a stand for Jesus; in many parts of the world, people are being killed for their faith in Him.  

We in the United States are faced with this question: 

 Choose this day whom you will serve:  God or man.  Ironically, either choice will bring death:  death to self, or eternal death.  

An alternative to government healthcare

Now that we are faced with the choice to sign up for government healthcare or pay a tax penalty, how about a sane alternative:

Christian Healthcare Ministries!

Click on the above link and have a look at a wonderful way to live out New Testament life with other believers!

One of the newest blessings in our life!

For the past two years, we have needlessly fed a phone system that has taken us for a ride financially.  Sadly, we spent about $1920 over the course of the past 2 years for our cell phones which we could have saved had we been with THIS COMPANY.

We are AMAZED!  Not only do we have better coverage and lower bills, but we can also earn discounts as people join us and switch carriers.  Click on the link above, especially if you would like to spend less than $50/month for unlimited phone, text and data usage!

Our International Thanksgiving Celebration!

We shared a blessed Thanksgiving this year with friends here in Kansas City.  Around our table we had seven new friends from Ukraine, one new friend from Brazil and one friend from New York.  We feasted and shared about our various nations, talked about the state of America, and opened up our hearts about our relationships with God.  

How would you like tomorrow's food at today's prices but NOW, up to 50% off?

Many of you know that I am an independent consultant with Thrive Life.  We specialize in high quality freeze-dried foods (not your grandma's powdered milk and not tasteless scary stuff), but rather non-GMO, picked at the peak of ripeness fruits and vegetables, meats, etc., that I am using in my everyday cooking and have on hand for those times of emergencies as well.  

TODAY through Monday, we are having our biggest sale of the year...up to 50% off!  But it's not only food but also emergency supplies and camping gear!  

Follow this LINK to see my store and order today, while supplies last!

Thanksgivukkah!

What a great celebration we had here at the Czaszewicz household hosting people from other nations for Thanksgiving!  We treasure these new friends and loved sharing one of our favorite holidays with them, sharing the stories of Thanksgiving and Hanukkah!  

Health Care redefined

Wow!  The airwaves are filled with talk about healthcare these days, and as one who spent 11 years in a nation that has socialized medicine (which is where we are headed, by the way with the newest health care measures being introduced), I am thrilled to have an alternative.  Don't misunderstand me:  I LOVED the health care I received in Hungary.  I had an amazing GP, I was blessed with a neurosurgeon who performed a stellar laminectomy, and I loved the fact that everything, yes, EVERYTHING was free.  Or was it?  

Of course I didn't have to dig into my pocket and pay for any of those doctor visits or surgeries, but the government dug into my pocket for me.  In fact, they dug into my pocket every month to the tune of approximately 40% taxes on my meager salary.  

It was a beautiful thing to receive major back surgery and a 7 day hospital stay for "free", which included 3 MRIs and a plethora of doctor visits.  My doctors there were professionals, outstanding in their fields, and cared deeply about me and my needs.  So, were there any drawbacks?  Of course.

As I've already mentioned, my Hungarian teacher's salary was taxed at a level most Americans may never see, and EVERY Hungarian that was employed had to pay these exorbitant taxes for the blessing of these services.  Another drawback was sharing a room in the hospital with 5 other women, and sharing a toilet with 30 women.  In addition, I received about 500 calories of food every day in the hospital.  But that's where GOOD friends came to my rescue by bringing me food, juice, water and treats every day!  Hungarians know the system well, and they love each other (and loved me) in the midst of it.  

However, I am leery of where our healthcare is headed here in the U.S., mainly because I don't believe the average American is ready for the kind of system outlined above.  So, for the past couple of years, I've been a part of a fabulous ministry called Christian Healthcare Ministries.  In their own words they say they are "The biblical solution to healthcare costs."  I strongly encourage everyone to check them out at:  www.chministries.org  

According to CHM, people who are a part of CHM are exempt from the Obamacare tax and requirements.  

So, just as my Hungarian friends met my needs, we here in the U.S. through CHM can help to meet each other's needs in our times when medical bills need to be paid.  Contact me on my blog here...I have comment moderation on so your information will not appear publically...if you want to sign up for CHM!  You will not be disappointed!

Learning.....

There is nothing greater than the moment the Lord gently grabs a hold of your heart and squeezes it with His love, even as He points out places where you need to change.

Such was the case this morning.  I didn't sleep well last night.  Anxious.  Worried.  Questioning.  I crawled out of bed and went to the living room where I continued reading Cliff Graham's book Song of War, hoping to lose myself in the battles of King David and his men.  

I finally made my way back to bed a couple of hours later and awakened to my alarm sounding at 6:30.  One thing I like about my I-phone is that I can listen to the Bible being read to me by a fabulous man with a British accent.  So, I lay there in bed, allowing God to minister to my still-troubled heart through the reading of His Word.  Then, that wonderful, still small voice came through as I cried out.

"You are trying to rescue, and you need to repent."

Of course there was much more to this morning dialogue with God, but that comment above pretty much sums up what I am learning.  

Being single, with all of its drawbacks, had its advantages.  I only had to be concerned about me, really.  God was my husband and provider and He always came through.

Being married, with all of its blessings, has its drawbacks.  Dying to the way I've done things my whole life...stepping back from taking care of myself and allowing my husband to take that role.  Walking a walk of faith like never before, trusting and knowing that He is good and he is good too!  

Repentance is a good thing, especially in this season leading up to Yom Kippur and in this season of the fall feasts.  It makes sense that God is stripping away all of the old ways of functioning to make way for the new.  

As my husband came in to pray with me, the presence of the Lord descended and His peace drove out all anxiety and stress.  He is faithful to lead us perfectly.  I am learning......

Happy New Year....almost!

Yes indeed, we are fast approaching the new year, 5774!  In fact, we are celebrating this new year with our spiritual family on Wednesday evening!  I've never felt more alive and more in tune with the Lord than in this past year as we have entered in to His timetable, His calendar and His cycles of blessing!  

Some of you know that this past year has been challenging on numerous fronts....but, IT ALL MAKES SENSE AS TO WHY!!!!!!!  As we have aligned ourselves with God's calendar, He has seen fit to be faithful in each of His months to what He is doing to form us into His perfect bride.  How freeing and exciting to know that we don't have to "guess" about what His purposes are.  

So, Happy New Year, everyone!  May Yeshua be lifted up and praised!

Life's complications

I once heard a saying:

Life was much less complicated back in the sandbox.

How very true.  I just saw the movie "Elysium" this afternoon, and life was complicated both on earth and on Elysium, but for very different reasons.  

People are complicated.  The older I get, the more complicated they seem to become.  I long for the simplicity of the sandbox sometimes.  At least there, everyone who was present wanted to be there and they worked together toward a common goal...building something.  Creativity abounded and a natural cooperation unfolded that forged friendships.  The sandbox became our own little world where we could create life as we wanted it to be.  I remember it was always constructive and never destructive, unless of course your brother came plowing through with the sole intent of disrupting everything.  But it could all be re-built fairly quickly, and in the process, improved.  

Maybe there are valuable lessons we can learn.  We are continually faced with those who come and plow through our creations.  If we stick together, we can rebuild, stronger and more creatively than the first time.  Life's complications are merely that:  complications.  They are not defeats, nor are they completely destructive.  Great hope, life and fortitude is forged in the fires of life's complications. 

Simon is gone....not forgotten....and God has been teaching me through it all!

My last post was about Simon and his downhill plunge.  Sadly, two weeks and one day ago, we had to make the EXTREMELY hard decision to put him to sleep.  

The morning we took him to the vet, he awoke and came out to the kitchen and drank water...the first in 4 days...and he didn't throw it up.  I began to have second thoughts about putting him down, but the reality of what his life would be like post hospitalization convinced me that he would be miserable, and so would we.  

The gift I got at the vet was to be able to say goodbye to him with my hubby Paul right beside me.  The greater gift was to be able to hold him when they injected him with the "sleeping" medicine.  You see, Simon was a cat who hardly ever let me hold him.  On rare occasions he would let me pick him up, but within about 15 seconds, he was squirming to get out of my arms.  So, when I held him for the last time at the vet's office, and he fell limp in my arms, I wept.  The vet asked me if I wanted to put him back in his carrier, and I said, "No, Simon never let me hold him longer than 30 seconds his whole life; now I am going to hold him all the way home."  And I did.  I held his lifeless body in my arms, stroked his soft fur and enjoyed every second of it.  

I miss my little boy so much, and in the days following his passing, I asked the Lord many questions.  

"God, why did you take Toby (my other cat and my favorite) before Simon?"

Answer:  "I took him first because you had to learn how to love Simon as much as you loved Toby."

Of course I broke down weeping hearing this because indeed, I had loved Toby more, but in the last two years, I'd absolutely fallen in love with Simon and had grown to appreciate all his quirkiness.  

"God, why didn't you just take Simon in his sleep?"

Answer:  "I wanted you to make the hard decision to let him go yourself, to do the unselfish thing, even though it would break your heart.  You had to learn to say goodbye to one you had grown to love so deeply."

As I write this, I am weeping almost as hard as I did when I first heard the Lord say these words two weeks ago.  

"God, how does this apply to me and life?"

Answer:  "You had to learn to love Simon, who was difficult to love at times.  (He really was challenging to love....I have lots of stories)  I'm bringing people into your life who will be very difficult to love, and you are called to love them...to learn to love them...just as you learned to love Simon."

Sobered is the only word that captures how I felt when I heard the Lord speak these words to my spirit.  God uses EVERYTHING to shape and form us and prepare us.  

I love my little buddy and always will.  Of course he and his brother, Toby, are memorialized in my book, Walking Forward-Discoveries in Freedom and Forgiveness.  

So long for now, Simon....I wonder if Toby was there to greet you when you passed....I sure hope so!

Simon is not doing well....

This is a picture of my precious cat, Simon when he was doing better than he is today.  Three days ago, he began showing strange signs of not feeling well.  

Backing up, about a month ago, I noticed he began losing weight and was drinking a lot of water.  I know this is a sign of "something" in a cat....not something good....especially in an older cat.  Simon is now 15, so he is no spring chicken.  We just kept loving on him, and he kept losing weight, but he was eating, playing and talking.

Finally, yesterday, I took him to the vet because he'd not eaten nor drunk a thing since Sunday afternoon.  He'd lost 3.5 pounds over the last year, and was really looking thin as he stood on the table at the vet's office.  We brought him home after they took blood and have been waiting for him to urinate to get that sample.....no luck.  He's just gotten increasingly lethargic in the last 24 hours and is now camped out under our bed, the place he goes when he is scared during a storm.  I've tried giving him water with an eye dropper, and while I've gotten a little in, he pulls away and is not interested at all.  

My heart is breaking....I wept this morning, realizing this may be goodbye to my buddy of 15 years.  This little guy has been through it all.  He nearly died shortly after I hauled him and Toby to Hungary back in 2000.  The vet there said it was a miracle that he lived, and he only had 1/2 of one kidney still functioning.  After 9 years of living in Hungary, I carted them back to the U.S., and upon going to the vet learned that God had healed Simon's kidneys!  The vet here said both of his kidneys were functioning 100%; praise God as I had asked God to heal them and He did!  

In 2011, just 2 months before I got married, my other buddy, Toby, died suddenly and tragically after having a seizure.  I was devastated.

Now I'm facing losing my other buddy.  I told Paul this morning that he's been with me through a lot....and I'm so thankful to the Lord for his companionship these 15 years.  I know he's not gone yet, but I will miss this little guy....I just pray he doesn't suffer.  I've asked the Lord to have him fall asleep and not wake up....I pray this happens when it's his time.  

Partnership

I love partnering with people, and as I am building my own business, I want to plug a friend's business here in Kansas City as well.  

Ben and Katie Fetzer own Fetz Cleaning Services.  Follow this LINK TO FIND OUT MORE!

They have been busy of late, after all this rain, helping people get water out of basements.  Great people, great service, and I know you will be pleased!  :-)

Celebrating life with our Bulgarian friends!

Our Bulgarian friends, Hari and Penka, got to meet some of our American friends here in Kansas City at a fun cookout on Sunday!  

Hari and Penka are very talented artists, which is how they raise support for their work in Bulgaria sharing the love of Jesus.

What an honor to have them in our home!

 
 
 

Preparing to host missionaries from Bulgaria!

My heart is beating a little faster today.  In about 24 hours, we will be hosting precious Bulgarian friends, Hari and Penka!  They are an amazing couple, artists, lovers of God who are having a major impact in their home country of Bulgaria and to the nations beyond!

I first met Hari and Penka two years ago when they came through Kansas City.  My heart was wrecked by their humility, their stories and I feel like I have pieces of them with me all the time because we happen to have 3 pieces of their artwork in our home.  

I am so excited for more of my friends here in Kansas City to meet them this coming week!  These folks walk the talk and all are blessed who know them!  Below is a recent letter about their ministry.  Read and be blessed!  


Dear Praying Friends of Hari and Penka,

Since you last saw Hari and Penka, their ministry has taken off, and, because of your prayers and gifts, 

continues to expand. 

Thank you for loving them and standing with them.

Using an evangelism-training method called T4T (you can read about it at www.t4tonline.org), Hari and
Penka have launched new small groups in eight Muslim villages. 

Using T4T, new believers
are immediately taught how to share their faith. Two of these small groups have exploded,
which is great, but where do they meet if there are too many for a small village house or a
small apartment? The solution is “temporary” (which in Bulgaria means “made of wood”)
meeting rooms. So now one congregation meets in its own building, and another is completing
its structure. More of these will be needed as the other house groups expand in their villages.

George Ainsworth
ANM’s Desk Director for Eastern Europe and Russia
Here is the story of what’s happening in their ministry now, in Hari’s words:
According to God’s plan this is the first small church building among 500 Turkish and Bulgarian
Moslem villages in all of the Kardjali region. On April 17th Penka and I visited the group and met some of the
parents and children there. We had a prayer with them for God’s blessings, for a good start, finishing, and for
Salvation of many souls there. After 17th of April with some help of local people and three paid specialist
builders we started and later, next week April on 23th we visited the village again and already the foundation of
the building had appeared. People were happy seeing this small progress.
Now they are meeting in their building! But we need a similar building for another village, where
people are turning to Christ and being baptized. The materials for one of these simple wooden buildings cost
only about $1000. God originally opened the door to this village several years ago with a miracle. The people
here depend heavily on tobacco as a cash crop. When we first visited this village, we told them the Lord sent
us, so they asked us to pray blessing on their crop. They had their best harvest ever! So now, when we come
evangelizing, they are mostly very open.
Advvvaaanccciiinggg
Naaatttiiivvveee Miiissssssiiiooonsss
When the Gospel of the Kingdom
is preached throughout the
September 2012 world… (Matt.24:14)
A view of the
Rhodope Mountains
in the Kirdjali Region
where Hari and
Penka minister
CHRIST RESURRECTION MINISTRIES
New church buildings in the Kirdjali Region of Bulgaria
New believers in the Kirdjali Region of Bulgaria
‘In addition to these things, we did three 3-day seminars on “T4T” evangelism in different cities in Bulgaria. And now, as this letter goes to you, we are doing child evangelism through art camps for children in the mountain villages. This year we are working in a new area close to the Greek border among Bulgarian Muslim villages. We have to go village by village and to be with the people and children very close to their houses. Penka and I will do two art workshops each day over about one month visiting different villages. We expect to work in 7 villages in August. One art workshop we plan in the morning and one in the evening. We will sleep in a small local hotel there. In some places we will work together with the local authorities who are happy someone is trying to help their children. The Lord has provided about half the cost of this through Bulgarian Christians, and we are trusting Him for the rest.
There is one problem where we need your help and prayers. Our old van, which we need to visit these small congregations and also to teach seminars, is costing us a lot of money in repairs. We really need a new one, but that probably means $8000 to $10,000 that we don’t have. If you can help, God bless you! If you can pray for this, God bless you also!
There’s one more area to share with you. Many of you know that our church building in Kardjali has been “under siege” because of the unfair demands of the contractor who built it. In June the Supreme Court reviewed the case behind closed doors, but they have not yet released their findings. If they determine the appellate court did not follow proper procedures then they will send it back to the appellate court and three new judges will be assigned. The new judges should then send it back to the court in Kardjali for clarifications. After the clarifications the builder will once again be allowed to appeal and it will go back to the appellate court, where the judges will hear arguments from both sides. This process could take anywhere from a few weeks to a few months.
Before the builder sued for over double his contract amount, the church had paid him about $50,000, which is about half what we owed. Since then, thanks to the generosity of both American and Bulgarian friends, the church has most of the balance sitting in a bank account, IF the court decision comes out in our favor. We only lack about $4000 of what is owed, but once a decision is issued, we only have two weeks to pay the balance, so we really need to have it on hand!
Pray that the Supreme Court would agree with the church. Pray the court will issue a ruling shortly after returning from recess. Pray that all the money needed for settlement will be on hand when the decision is reached. Most importantly, pray that the builder will come to know the Lord!
Dear friends, we hope these few lines convey some of the joy and excitement we have here as God breaks through with His light and love in the Rhodope mountains of southern Bulgaria. “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light!” (Isaiah 9:2). THANK YOU for your gifts and prayers so that the true Light can shine among the Bulgarian and Turkish Muslims and the Turkish gypsy people of southern Bulgaria.
God bless you!
Hari and Penka
Hari and Penka minister in the area of and around the red dot which is called the Kirdjali region of Bulgaria.
Gifts for Christ Resurrection Ministries are tax-deductible and should be made payable to Advancing Native Missions.
P.O. Box 5303
Charlottesville, VA 22905
Tel: (540) 456-7111
Fax: (540) 456-7222
Anm@adnamis.org
www.advancingnativemissions.com
ADVANCING NATIVE MISSIONS is a U.S. based agency called to seek out, evaluate, and send support to indigenous mission groups throughout the world. 10 % of all gifts is reserved for administration purposes. This, and the amounts raised by the staff for their support; and gifts especially designated for defraying administration expenses (including portions of gifts designated ‘where most needed’) are utilized to cover the total administrative and operational expenses of Advancing Native Missions. A financial statement is available upon request from the State Division of Consumer Affairs of the Commonwealth of Virginia. ANM is a member of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA). Overseas letters may be edited for space and clarity.
344 CRM U04312
Editor: Dee Brookshire

Gardening in new ways this year!

We are trying the method of "Back to Eden" gardening as can be seen on YouTube.  We have our soil, our compost and our woodchips....we've planted our seedlings and we are watering.  Now we wait. 

Another change is that we planted posts in concrete around the garden and put up a wee bit taller fence with a home-made gate, made by yours truly, Paul Czaszewicz.  :-)  

Already we are harvesting....asparagus which is going into year #3, and kale from last year's crop. Somehow, it survived the winter.  We've made the choice to avoid squash crops this year due to the severe infestation of squash bugs we had last year.  This makes me a bit sad as I love pumpkins and zucchini, but fighting the bugs was a full-time job!  :-)  

Pictures to come later......

Another year with Write at Home completed

I have one of the best jobs in the world...I'm a writing coach online with Write at Home.  You can find them here:  WRITE AT HOME  if you are interested in learning more.

I love helping students with their writing even though it is not face to face, which took some getting used to.  It's rather odd, as I finish my last set of papers, to say "goodbye" via the internet.  There is a tremendous lack of personal touch, not being able to look these students in the eye and give them high fives for all the great writing they have done over the course of this academic year.  However, I still love it.  

Now, it's on to building my other businesses, Visalus and Thrive Life!  Have a look at these links if you want to help me by supporting these businesses!

Visalus Shakes

Thrive Life!

Clogged?

We have a drain in our driveway that collects the water from rainfall as well as from the sump pump and sends it through a long underground pipe into the backyard.  For the past couple of weeks, we've noticed that it's overflowing, causing flooding in our driveway and flowing into our neighbor's driveway, littering it with dirt and wood chips.  

I kept thinking, "Oh great, we're gonna have to call someone and have them do a major job of fixing this drain."

This morning, as I was sitting on the front porch and hearing the gurgling, watching the water pour out and over to our neighbor's driveway, I thought I would lift the grate and see if I could figure out the problem.  When I lifted the grate, I was greeted by a huge pile of leaves, dirt and worms!  It was a simple fix:  clean out the blockage.  The second I pulled out the junk, the water flowed normally.

No more mess...no more blockage....removing the junk....what a life lesson.  What junk do we have in our hearts that is creating a blockage, which creates a mess in our lives and in the lives of those around us.  As I looked at the junk, I thought, this would make great compost for our garden as the worms squirmed around in the leaves and dirt.  So, I tossed it in the garden, realizing that that which caused problems can be turned around to bring life.  

God's design

Two days ago, my husband Paul made the comment, "Shouldn't our asparagus be coming up by now?"  

Curiosity got the best of me and the next morning, I ventured out to our garden to look for asparagus.  I'd just cut the old, dead winter stalks down the week before and was a bit discouraged as it appeared that maybe our crop had died out.  Imagine my excitement when I found three heads of asparagus poking up through the wood chips!  

I love God's designs in nature....things "die" in the winter time, and He resurrects them in the spring to feed His children in the summer and fall.  And as we learn to steward the harvest during the fall, we can be well-fed through the winter and spring months. 

If I didn't have to have a paying job, I could very easily live on a small farm and garden, have animals, and of course a retreat house and ministry center where people could come to be healed, refreshed, restored, equipped and sent out again.  

Entering the new month of Iyar

We are on a tremendously exciting journey into the heart and timing of God.  According to God's calendar, we are entering the month of Iyar (Ee-yar) and here are some of the admonitions:

• This month is linked with light, which signifies increased revelation.  Light is the opposite of darkness.  If darkness tries to overtake you, this month say, "No, I am increasing in revelation."  Isaiah 60 says that the glory can be seen on you and radiates off of you.  This is the month you need to light up with His glory.
• In Iyar, God revealed His covenant secrets.  He is our healer, He is our provider, He is our banner of victory over every enemy.
• Biblically, this is the month of natural healing.  That's not the same as miracles.  god wants to permeate the body with natural healing.  You do not need to strive for healing.  "I am the Lord your Healer."  (Ex. 15:26)   (From A Time to Advance by Chuck Pierce)

As I continue to walk in God's timing, I am seeing His face more and more and experiencing the presence of His Spirit to deeper levels.  Even so, I have barely scratched the surface to know this amazing God!

Believing God for miracles....

There are things all of us are believing the Lord for in this season!  I'm being challenged on many levels to believe God for tangible miracles.

Transforming lives....

Gold crowns....three to be exact....

Good jobs to replace old jobs..........

Debts paid off.............

Who's with me in standing in faith?  

College buds!

For the first time in over 25 years, I got to celebrate my and my best friend from college's birthdays together in Minnesota!  Kitty and I met my freshman year at Northwestern when I went through sorority rush...yes, I was a sorority girl....and we lived in the same dorm that year as well.  She ended up being my pledge mom in Theta, and she is one of the only "sisters" of mine with whom I've kept in close touch over the years!

Our birthdays are two days apart, so when I was in MN this past weekend, we took advantage of the time and celebrated!  She, in her generosity, took both me and Paul out to a wonderful dinner!  Sadly, her hubby was out of town on a ski trip with their son, but it was fun nonetheless!  

Good, long-time, LIFETIME friends are a rare species; I am so thankful for our friendship!  

I am looking VERY tired after working 5 days, 10 hours/day!  

Men's brains and Women's brains

I knew that men's and women's brains were different, but the book I'm reading...see below blog posts...really fleshed some things out that I'd not considered.  Helpful is an understatement when it comes to being married to one of those men whose brain is very different than mine. 

The 'division' of the brain which occurs in utero in a male causes them to be more 'one-track-mind' thinkers, thus enabling them to be very focused, detailed and thorough.  On the other hand, we women naturally multi-task because the two halves of our brains were not, in a sense, 'severed' from each other in the womb.  The positives for women are obvious:  we can accomplish a lot all at once; the negatives are that we can expend more energy and not be as focused on something as we might need to be.  For me, it's not being as thorough.

The joy in rediscovering these truths is that I can love my husband more fully, understanding him and the way his brain functions, and knowing that it's different than they way mine functions, and that is a GOOD thing.  

Laugh You Way to a Better Marriage

Here are a few more thoughts from this great book I am reading by Mark Gungor:

"You are going to lose in the marriage enterprise if you don't stop, drop, and roll over the fact that men and women are not equal. We may be equally valuable, but we differ in a litany of ways.  If we don't recognize and adjust to those differences, our marriages will not be what God intended them to be.

When we are able to talk openly about our differences, we will learn how to actually enjoy and celebrate them. If we can't be "naked" about how different we are from each other, we will never be able to experience intimacy in our marriages.  We'll just be playing roles.  Conflict may come when we first start discovering and discussing our differences, but conflict eventually gives way to appreciation and celebration.  When we don't give our spouse room to be himself or herself, conflict comes, too, but it comes to stay.  

Remember this law the next time you hit a rough patch when your expectations are not met:  Men and women are not created equal (the same).  Manage your expectations and endeavor to better understand each other.  Learning about each other, and accepting, celebrating, and negotiating differences are not natural practices for us.  But we must learn these skills if we want to have great marriages."

Quote from Martin Luther

"Faith, like light, should always be simple and unbending; while love, like warmth, should beam forth on every side, and bend to every necessity of our brethren."

A book I am reading

Late last fall, I went to a HUGE book fair and happened to pick up a book called Laugh Your Way to a Better Marriage by Mark Gungor.  It sat on my shelf until this past Friday night when I decided we needed to laugh more in our marriage.

After looking at the table of contents, I turned to a chapter called "What's Sex Got to Do With it?"  I wish I could write out the entire chapter here.  As soon as I began reading silently, I laughed, which meant I had to read it out loud to Paul as well.  So, we had a fun Friday evening with me reading this chapter out loud to my husband.  The further I progressed, the more "Wows" came out of each of our mouths.  We both agree that every person needs to read this book, single or married, and especially young people.  I want to take some time in the next few posts to share some of the author's words and let blog readers ponder them.

"There are some so uptight about this subject (sex) that they refuse to even say the word "sex"!  Most pastors prefer to use the word "intimacy."  I've often wondered if it's not this Pollyanna approach that is most responsible for such statistics as 50 percent of Christian men are involved in pornography; Christian teenagers having sex and getting pregnant with as much frequency as those outside the Church; adultery between Church members becoming an everyday occurrence; or sexually transmitted diseases pouring into Christian families.  Maybe this is happening with greater frequency because we can't say "sex"!" (p. 144)

"The early Christian church was composed exclusively of Jews.  Over time, however, those outside of Judaism (the Gentiles) outnumbered the Jews and the Church became predominantly non-Jewish.  As the Church moved forward without their Jewish brothers, we lost something truly vital to understanding God's plan and meaning for marriage:  we lost thousands of years of Jewish tradition in which sex was viewed as something wonderful in God's sight.

As heathens turned from their pagan ways and joined the Church, they knew sex only from the perspective of lust, debauchery, perversion, selfishness, and even violence!  Heathens used sex in every sickening way of which they could conceive.  When people openly repented of their sins and were baptized, sexual sins where the ones most frequently confessed.  Viewing sex as something wonderful stayed with the Jews, however, and the Christian Church struggled with that concept for centuries.

History shows that the early leaders of the Church---priests and even popes---were married and had children.  Early on, marriage and physical lover were viewed as good.  But as time passed and the Church moved further and further away from her Jewish roots, she began to view sex as something pagan and dirty.  

The negative view of sex that has percolated during most of Christian history was never part of Jewish thought."

I won't go on, but trust me, Mark Gungor fleshes out his writing with hits and humor that bring to light the realities of how we have been duped in our thinking about the different aspects of marriage, AND how our Jewish roots shed much light on how things really should be done.  I look forward to more fun evenings of laughing our way to a better marriage!

The state of education

My hubby texted me yesterday afternoon telling me that three of his fourth graders had been suspended.

These are 10 year olds.

One was suspended for popping a classmate in the head.

Two were suspended for bullying.

Last week, another fourth grader was suspended....he's now been suspended twice since the 3rd of January.

Apparently, there are other students in this elementary school being suspended as well.  It's about time.  The school just got a new administrator who is not afraid to lower the boon on these kids and their unacceptable behavior which is keeping teachers from teaching and other students from learning.  

As we were driving out to an appointment last night, I asked Paul if he had EVER been suspended from school.  Neither one of us was....EVER.  And here he is facing 10 year olds who NEED to be suspended...and the stories continue...first graders punching teachers in the eye, a second grader dislocating the shoulder of a teacher.  

And then teachers are told that they need to be kind, loving and gentle with these kids, building their self-esteem.  We are seeing the results of the "feel-good" approach to education.

As I told Paul last night, I lived in a good fear of my parents, the administration of the school and I respected my teachers too much to be disrespectful.  It breaks my heart to hear stories like I get to hear now every day.  I completely understand why more and more families are choosing homeschooling...I sure would!  

More reasons NOT to watch TV

I mostly work from home as a writing coach and editor, and I have two businesses online.  Today, I decided that, while I ate my quick lunch, I would turn on the TV just to see if there was anything worth watching at 1 p.m. on a weekday.  

I am further down the road now of beginning to understand why our nation is where it is spiritually, physically, emotionally and mentally.  First I found the Ricki Lake (?) show, and as I munched on my chicken salad and crackers, I listened as a woman who had lost her husband to death sat with a medium who talks with the dead, engage in the witchcraft of speaking with the dead.  One of the most disturbing things to me was watching the medium as she scribbled on her legal pad of paper these boxes and chaotic looking things and then she would "relay" what the dead husband was communicating to his wife. I could literally feel the demonic spirits being released into the atmosphere in that tv studio and over the airwaves.  The thing that amazed me, but did not surprise me, is how hungry the widow was as well as the people in the audience to 'connect' with the spiritual realm.  They don't even know that they are messing in the demonic realm because the enemy has so deceived people into thinking that whatever feels right or good is perfectly fine to engage in.  There is ZERO understanding of the kingdom of darkness because we now live in an age when darkness is considered light and true light is considered to be darkness.  

I supposed what was disturbing to me is that this kind of stuff used to be relegated to the side-show of a travelling circus and was engaged in in secret, but now it is wide-spread, accepted and even acceptable by the masses without question or concern about what is really BEHIND this medium's abilities.  Her prophetic gifts are given by the Lord, but she is using them for the kingdom of darkness and under its influence and thus infecting and inflicting the talons of the enemy of our souls on myriads of people who lack the spiritual discernment and knowledge of the Truth. 

Changing the channel, I hoped to find something a bit less overtly demonic and found the show "The Talk".  There are about 6 women who sit around a table with coffee mugs and talk.  I turned it on just in time to see them cutting to a David Letterman clip where he makes fun of Chris Christy and his obesity.  As they returned to the "talk table", I was completely astonished to watch one of the women, clearly overweight, "jokingly" stuffing a donut into her mouth while everyone laughed and talked about how great it is that Mr. Christy is just fine with his obesity and how the most important thing is that someone be satisfied with themselves no matter what they look like or how large they are!  My mouth nearly dropped when woman after woman agreed that if an individual is satisfied with him or herself being overweight, then it's good that they can make fun of themselves and just be satisfied with their bodies.  

HELLO???  Do we have a health crisis in this nation with an obesity epidemic and health care costs going through the roof partly as a result of people not eating healthy foods, not exercising, not caring about their weight and therefore opening up their lives, bodies and our entire society to monumental health crisis issues???  

As I watched, I saw a veil over each of these ladies eyes as the god of this age has blinded them to the destructiveness of our own personal choices to live unhealthy lives that are literally costing all of us millions in tax dollars, millions in lost income due to illnesses, and millions in lives lost due to premature deaths.  The enemy surely is out to steal, kill and destroy, and blind the minds of unbelievers, and these ladies are living proof that this nation is in a crisis of unprecedented proportions!  

We are so deceived.  We have given in to the spirit of the age and justified ourselves under the lying veil of "tolerance", thus bringing upon ourselves, our children, our families and our communities sickness, deception, lies, disease, and eventually, death.  And we want to call this way of thinking LIFE?  

After just 10 minutes, I turned my TV off.  Enough lies, filth, and worldly influence flowed out of that object today to last me a lifetime.  What is sad to me is that there are thousands if not millions of people watching those shows and feeding on the refuse that is being propagated, slowly but surely playing right into the enemies' hands.

I realize this is one of the harshest and most negative blog entries I have ever written.  Part of this is simply processing for me, especially after having been what I call 'slimed'.  I do know this....I am not missing a thing by not watching these particular shows on TV...along with many others like them; in fact, my life is RICHER and HEALTHIER because I am choosing to meditate on those things which are true, good, wholesome, life-giving, and hopeful.  I will continue to spend my time on that which gives THESE GOOD FRUITS rather than the rottenness so prevalent today.  

God help us!

A surrendered life

As we rise up into the joy of this day, the reality of a life surrendered to the Father is possible.  What we gain when we surrender is amazing grace, love, hope, joy and NEW LIFE in abundance.  Let the old be burned away so the new and true can reign! 

Francis Frangipane captures my heart for today so well:

"Like prospectors of old, you must stake your claim high in the kingdom of God, being ready to defend your rights to the “pure gold” of Heaven (Rev 3:18). And as you pitch your tent at the throne of grace, something eternal will begin to glow in you, like hot coals on a furnace floor. As you persist in faith, the sacred fire of God's presence will consume the wood, hay and stubble of your former ways. Power such as Jesus had will reside in your inner being. Angels will stand in awe, for your gold will be refined, your garments light, and your life holy. -- Holiness, Truth and the Presence of God."

 

Writing

I used to write a lot.  Daily, in fact.  I kept a journal, I 'journaled' here on this blog, pondered life, and gave my not-so-biased views on many things.  What's happened to keep me from writing so frequently?

Life.

Nice excuse.  But real nonetheless.  There is a reality to living in the good-ole-U.S. of A. that I didn't experience when I was living in Hungary.  In Hungary, even though life took LONGER to live each day, life in the U.S. is just busy because it seems to take MORE effort just to make ends meet.  At the end of the day, when all the papers are graded, the connections made with customers, and the bills are paid, I crawl into bed, spent, often exhausted, my mind filled with unmet desires as I look at the stack of unread books on my bedside table.  

How did I get away from the topic of writing so quickly and into the mode of complaining?  Forgive me.  Back to writing.  I found great solace in putting pen to paper or plunking out profound thoughts on my blog.  There is something very therapeutic about processing on paper, as the saying goes.  

However, now, writing seems to be daunting for me; there are simply not enough hours in a day to do the kind of justice writing deserves.  Plus, these days I am spending many hours per day reading other people's writing, and so come close of day, I simply want to turn my computer off and not write or read another word.  

Now I understand why I quit giving my students in Hungary papers to write  ha ha ha!  

Call it mid-life crisis or whatever you will, but I'm definitely finding great joy in trying my hand at different things other than teaching school.  However, I digress yet again.

Back to writing.  I want to write...I really do.  I have a couple of books churning inside of me, but finding the time to write while having the ability to pay bills is the dilemma I find myself in these days.  I'm praying for the day when I can spend hours on my laptop doing my own writing, revising and editing of my own pieces.  

We'll see.....til then...enjoy my musings, convoluted as they may be.  

      

Do you need an extra $1000?

If you have received your January paycheck, you have probably seen that the tax increase did not just affect the richest of rich, but also the average person.

How about needing to lose weight?  Could you stand to lose an extra 10 pounds?  

I have a challenge for you:  Lose 10 pounds in a week and be in the running for $1000.  

It gets better...how about earning an extra $1000 every month? I would love to help people get fit, lose weight and earn extra money.  

Go to THIS LINK and get the whole scoop!  

THE NEW CHALLENGE IS ON!

The new Body By Vi challenge is amazing and on for everyone! 

Check out the video ON MY WEBSITE HERE

 

Resolutions vs. Transformations

This is the time of year when gyms are full, health food aisles in stores are running low on items, and fast-food restaurants are searching for ways to draw in customers.  Many people have made resolutions, seeking to change long-time habit patterns.  Some succeed, but most do not.  

How about focusing on something different?  What if people decided to make new year's TRANSFORMATIONS instead?  Transformations take time, discipline and diligence, but the end result is an entirely new 'being', rather than a spruced up one.  Transformations mean commitment, and I believe they must begin from the inside out, rather than the outside in.  There is a decision that must be made, every morning, every minute, every hour, every meal, every day.  The beginning of a transformation must be charted, recorded, and then the steps to reach transformation must be taken, one at a time, one decision at a time, one hour at a time, one day at a time.  It's an ongoing process rather than a one time declaration.

The key, in my opinion, to transformation is this:  for whom are you transforming your life?  The answer must be outside of yourself...is it for your spouse?  Your neighborhood?  Your children or grandchildren?  Your colleagues at work?  Your friends?  You see, transformation is about making those choices that will transform your life and the lives of those around you.  Resolutions are inherently self-focused and therefore fail because we were not created to satisfy ourselves but to be in relationship with others.

When we commit to transformations in our lives, the impact is far-reaching because it's not primarily about us, but rather about the world around us.  

So, care to join me on a journey of transformation in 2013?