Prayers

I am sitting here at my table listening to my favorite radio station. The topic is Heaven. Needless to say, I felt that I needed to post this request today. I have a very dear friend who is struggling with some health issues. I am asking for prayers for her over the next several weeks. She will be leaving for Mayo next week and will be there for a couple of weeks. She has one child still at home and another that is in his first year of college. I ask that you will pray for peace, comfort and guidance for her and her children right now as they seek to find out what is going on and a course of treatment. I also ask that you pray for strength for her right now also. She is struggling with much, and I know what she is feeling, I have been there. It breaks my heart and I cried all the way home from church Wednesday night. This women has been there for our family, has taken our children so Jason and I could have a night out, has been an ear for me to talk to and ask advice with my own kids (especially Briana). So as you can tell this women means a great deal to me. So I ask that you will all pray for her, you can call her T. Please be as specific as you feel to be in your prayers. The Lord already knows our needs and has a plan for her. I pray that He will heal her and that this will bring Him glory. I ask that you come along side me and pray for her as well! I know the power of prayer, it has brought me out of the deepest pits of hell. I also ask that you ask the Lord to give wisdom to the doctors not only here in Sioux Falls but also at the Mayo Clinic. She has had some very extensive testing done the last couple of days and another round of tests today. Please just pray in anyway that you feel the Spirit is leading you. Thank you!

Cathi

Science Fair

I am such a duncecap! I was going to post this sooner, but forgot until I was on my way to school this morning. Briana placed 3rd in the science fair on Monday! We are very proud of her. She placed 1st last year and got to go to regionals in Brookings but she didn't have that kind of luck this year! But she still placed which I know made her very happy. Anyway....enjoy the pic of Briana with her ribbon!

Cathi

A night off.....

I have the night off from teaching piano lessons as my student has to be at school for science fair, which by the way is where #1 is at tonight with her dad. I have been very crabby today and so it will be a nice break for me tonight. Sometimes you just need to have that "break". I know that this is only my 2nd week teaching but between working all day, coming home fixing dinner and shoving food down my families faces and cleaning up before my first student arrives is in itself stressfull, add to that the fact that I had to squeeze in a 1/2 hour lesson for my oldest kid also. YIKES!!!!!!! So now I am going to relax in front of my computer while the 3 younger kids play downstairs and do some homeschooling research. Time to start getting prepared for this upcoming adventure. I have to figure out some activities for Briana to stay involved in that are not school sponsored and that is hard considering what they want to charge for these activities. YIKES!!!!! So anyway...I hope you all had a wonderful start to the work week. The weather around here is still a bit chilly but am hoping that will change very soon!!! Come on one can dream, it is almost March for crying out loud! Have a great week!

Cathi

Peace....

Today for me has been about finding inner peace with myself and moving on. In Sunday School today we were talking about the cross and forgiveness. I brought up "what are we as Christians suppose to do when we have asked for forgiveness and the other person is not willing to forgive." My pastor told me (he is our Sunday School teacher), that I have already asked for forgiveness and that is time for me to move on. I need to release it to God and let Him have it. So I spent a good portion of today doing just that. I am letting go of my sister and her lack of forgiveness and moving on. I am no longer going to carry that burden around on my shoulders any longer. I have done what is required of me, and I have been forgiven by what Christ did for me on the cross. Am I happy about the fact that she lives in the past and doesn't want to let go? Of course not, but I am not going to continue to "grovel". That is not what I am suppose to do. It is uplifting to release this to my Lord and Savior. What He does with it now is up to Him, but I am no longer going to take it on as my problem because it is not mine. I have had great conversations with my brother Mike over the last couple of weeks and he has really shed a lot of light on things. Thanks Mike for your thoughts and your words to me, they mean the world! Whatever I do in life, my first focus is Christ, then from there it trickles down to my husband and kids. I have had great conversations with #1 (Briana) over the last several days and I see things changing for me and her in many ways. As I begin to release more and more things to my Lord, the more He helps me in my relationships with my hubby and kids. Her and I had great laughs this afternoon at Wal-Mart and on the way home. I LOVED it!!! I see our relationship flourishing even more when we begin the homeschooling journey in the fall. Even though we will be around each other 24/7, she will no longer have the influences of the secular school system, she will be more open with me and Jason and a lot of her attitude will melt away as she learns to lean on us as her parents but also as she grows in her relationship with Christ. As a teenager, I didn't have that influence. Church for me was a "requirement", go do your 1 hour of "duty" each week. I don't see it that way now, I see it totally different. I want to go to church to fellowship with the body of believers. I love church service, because I am worshipping the One who gave me life. We are but a vapor, here today, gone tomorrow. I don't want to waste one minute more on petty things. Everything happens in my life for a reason, whether it's by God's plan or by His will for my life, I am going forth in His grace and mercy. He is sufficient enough for me.
Thank you Lord Jesus for all You have done and all that You will continue to do in my life, my husbands life and in the lives of my children each and every day.
Peace to all of you who read my blog! You are loved by us and by Christ.

Cathi

Cheer Clinic video

I finally got this video to work. I did some tweeking to make it shorter but to still give you the jist of what she did during half time last Friday. I am so excited that this finally worked! YIPPEE!!!!! Anyway...I have my last piano student for the week in a 1/2 hour and I have been gone from home since 9:30am and I had this uploading while I was gone (praying that it would work). Anyway...then we are off with 3 other couples for a Christian comedian and then dinner. It will be a very good night. Laughter and friends....what could be better? Anyway....enjoy your weekend and enjoy the video!

Cathi

PS: you will need to pause the blog music at the bottom of the blog! :)

woo-hoo

My computer is FINALLY fixed and I will be picking it up tonight! I am so ready to be done with the kids' EXTREMELY slow computer. Not to mention I have missed all the other things that I can do with my computer. Oh the joys of technology! So I am off to get mine back tonight and to get it back up and running tomorrow night. I have had a good week so far and hard to believe that tomorrow is Thursday already! UMM....where does the time go? We are finally closing on our house Friday which means that our March payment will finally be lower! YES!!!! Nothing makes me happier than to shave some money off of something on the budget and apply that extra money somewhere else. I have had SO MUCH fun teaching piano lessons this week and I am not even done yet. I have my last student on Friday. They have been a breeze and will be easy to work with! That is a BLESSING!!! Jason and I are going out Friday night with some friends from church for a comedy show and dinner. We are pretty excited not only to just get away from the kids but to also do it with close friends! It should be a good time. I can't believe that February is almost over with and there is only a little over a week left of the month! What in the world? Time moves way to fast sometimes and other times it just doesn't move fast enough! That is it for us for the week. Watch for that cheering video to be up and running this weekend (hopefully). That still remains to be seen. We will see how it goes. Anyway...have a wonderful Wednesday!

Cathi

Piano lessons begin....

I survived my first piano student tonight. It is a good thing that she was a little rusty because so was I. I am excited to see how things go. I have another student tomorrow night and then my last one on Friday afternoon. I am pretty pumped about it and am liking that I am keeping my group small until next fall. I am getting my feet wet and seeing where the Lord takes me in this. But am happy with how things went tonight, and it will only get better each week as we get comfortable with each other. Next fall I will be advertising for a few more students (if this is indeed where I am suppose to be going), I need to have at least 5 to make a go of it. So if I can get 3 more in the fall, I will be in like flin. I am pretty happy right now in spite of how my day went otherwise. I am leaving my past behind and moving forward with my focus on Christ and my His will for my life. Priority #1 is my kids and my husband and that is where my energy will be placed from here on out! My blog is back and I am back for the long haul. So onward march with life and all the great things that lie ahead for me, my kids and my husband!!! Love you all!

Cathi

not blowing it off....

I can't get my video to upload onto Youtube. so you will all have to wait until I get my computer back from the shop. it is faster and does a whole lot more than this computer of the kids'. And the sad part is that their computer is only about 5 years old. but still way slow. anyway....I just wanted to let you know that i have been trying the video but it is not working. hopefully this weekend!

Why I married him #2

Who can resist a man in yellow and black??? Personally I don't like Matt Kenseth but he does so I guess whatever! Race season begins today (and I will become a "widow" for awhile, well okay not really but it sounded good huh?) and we are off to our friends house for food, racin' and fellowship! Happy Sunday!

Cathi

Happy Valentine's Day!

The day of love! We had a pretty good day! The kids and I watched the movie Fireproof! I seriously could watch that movie over and over again. I watched it last Saturday and then again on Sunday. I just love that movie. Mikayla has been on us for days now about watching the movie. So her wish was our command this afternoon. The movie still tears me up. We played the Wii and munched on food. We didn't go out or doing anything. My hubby finally stepped out of the box and created his Facebook profile. I about fell over when he told me what he had done. He is already up to like 10 friends. Way to go, Jason. I think the only reason that he did it was because a couple of guys that we go to church with had facebook profiles and I have been bugging him for months about doing it. So he did. If you have a profile, look him up and become his friend, he could use some more :0). Then it was off to bed. Now hubby and I are spending some quite time together with our TV. Watching 48 hours mystery. It was a typical Saturday in our house, not really caring that it was Valentine's Day. We don't make a big deal out of it. The kids were happy with the cards and money that their Grandma Bottelberghe sent them, you could see the wheels turning in the teenagers head. Ha,Ha!! Tomorrow will consist of church (we are greeting at 8am service, we love greeting) and then off to our friends house for the NASCAR race. Not much of a race fan anymore but still love to go and hang out with friends. Monday will be a day to just hang out and enjoy a day off from school. Monday begins my piano lessons. My first student will be that night. My nerves are okay right now. I am confident in my abilities. I have been teaching my own kids for a month now and I am seeing great progress in them. Especially Mikayla. She is excited to move forward in her book. Some days it is hard to get motivated to teach them but the time goes by so fast. I am sure that is how it will be with my students as we get going and we get to know each other. It is all good. I am going to become a pro at teaching piano lessons before summer arrives. By fall my goal is to have at least 6-8 students. I am moving forward with my curriculum. Not sure yet what I am going to use, but do have a scope and sequence for each grade level through 12th grade. I am ready and will be more ready as we get going! Have a wonderful Saturday evening (what is left of it), must finishing watching my show now!

Cathi

Mikayla's cheer clinic

Mikayla was a part of the Garretson cheer clinic last night. She begged us to let her participate in it this year! She had alot of fun last night. She had to cheer with a bunch of other girls in front of a crowd of people during half time of the varsity girls basketball game. Here are some pics from last night. I am hoping to get some video up for you tomorrow or Monday but don't know. My computer is out of commission right now and is at the shop being "repaired" so I am on the kids' computer and it is SLOW!!!! So hopefully I will be able to get the video footage up on utube and then up on my blog but don't hold your breath! Enjoy the pics!

Cathi

Why I married him #1

How could anyone resist that???? A Sunday funny for me today, he will probably kill me for posting that, but seriously, I was laughing when I saw his getup when he went outside to do chores!! I thought it would be a good post this beautiful Sunday afternoon.

Time.....

It flies by so fast.....I can't believe that it has been almost 2 weeks since my last post on here. Life has been busy as usual but mainly with things of old. Work, activities and such. Jason and I had a very engaging conversation tonight, I really feel that God was in the midst of it. We haven't been going to church lately and the main reason is just sheer laziness on our part. I have also been trying to read my book for bible study but there are parts that get so convicting that I just shut the book and move onto something else. Tonight being such a time. I am on chapter 3, I got to the part where it said...."Be still and know that I am God". I shut the book and said, "Lord, I know that I should be still and listen to you, but my head is swimming with so much, and I am questioning you right now." Why do we go thru these periods in our lives? As many of you know, I have been out of contact with my baby sister for 3 years now, tonight I sent her another email again to try and rectify my actions (which BTW were not good and totally out of line) and I asked for forgiveness (again), I pray that the Lord will bring us back together again and help us to start over. I will not question the Lord anymore in this area, but instead leave it up to Him to heal(which for me is very hard to do again a control issue) . I miss my sister, and I know that the Lord has something up His sleeve for us, what I don't know, but I know that it will bring Him all the glory. So please pray for this area in my life and my sister's life as well.
I also know that the Lord has given me an answer to prayer in the area of homeschooling and again today I began questioning this process. I have NO DOUBT of my ability to homeschool my children, I know that I can do it, now I am questioning our financial area. I know and believe that the Lord will provide for ALL of our needs, when we have the faith to believe in Him and I guess that is where I am lacking. My faith in Him and His ability to provide for this family is lacking, how do I find my way back to that? When I first came to Christ, it was new and exciting and I was learning and leaning on Him for EVERYTHING and now it feels so stagnant like He is so distant and out of reach of me. I know that alot of that is because of me and my own way of being. So many of my old ways of being have been coming out more and more lately and I am not 100% sure why, I know a little bit of why but not 100%. I am questioning and wondering and asking God "why". He is not answering me right now, but in time I know that He will. I had a very engaging conversation with my mom last Saturday (she was back to spend some final time with a dying friend of hers). I have realized how hard life is sometimes when you don't have your own family so close to you, yes I have Jason's family close by and for that I am forever grateful but it is just not the same as your own. Sometimes you need that motherly support in your life, and for a brief moment she was that support I needed. Thank you mom for your ear and for your advice. I only wish that you lived closer for more of that. I see my relationship with Briana now as it was with me and my mom when I was a teenager, and I look forward to the day when Briana and I have that kind of relationship that my mom and I have now. I pray that it will come sooner for me and Briana than it did for my mom and I, but still pray for that day to come soon.
I try not to wear too much of my heart on my sleeve, but I also know that this is the best way to heal from pains that are hurting us. Thank you all for taking the time to read this post, please pray for me and the situations listed above! Have a good weekend!

Cathi