Today I took my son to have a "little procedure" as we are calling it. I had a beautiful time caring for him and in one moment my heart overflowed...

As he was waking up from anesthesia he started to cry. I picked him up to comfort him and gave him a bottle. He fell asleep in my arms only to go through bouts of flailing, screaming and sleeping again.

As I kept holding him, all of a sudden a song burst out of my mouth.
(Now I do love to sing, I sing all the time. I am not good at it, but I like too.) Each of my kiddos has a song I made up just for them.
When I was singing to Nehemiah's he was so relaxed. He smiled and gazed at me, babbled and rested. But when I stopped, he was fussy.

Then the holy moment came.
God planted revelation in my heart by reminding me of this verse.
"The Lord your God is with you,
He is mighty to save.
He will take great delight in you,
He will quiet you with His love,
He will rejoice over you with singing."
Zephaniah 3:17

Then the tears.

To think. I am picked up, comforted, given something to drink, rocked, patted and ultmately sang too. All this so that I will smile, gaze, babble and rest in Him.

OH LORD, you are so good. What would I do without believing that my God comforts in this way.
If you have not experienced this kind of comfort. Run to Jesus. "Come near to God and He will come near to you." James 4:8


We had our 5th To Be Free Women's Ministry this weekend!
The speakers did an awesome job and I know seeds of freedom were planted in every heart.
Pictured with Bernadette and April, co-leaders in the ministry.

Sippin QT half hot chocolate/ half decaf with flavor. Try it!
Natasha
perrymanadoption

Its gettin hot in here

I am one of those who refused to get an email account until starting college when they required me to get one. I was actually mad about it. But now, come on, I can't live without it.

I was stubborn about starting a blog because it seemed like too much work. But I loved reading my friends' blogs, so I did it. And it's so easy and a great way for family/friends to see your kiddo's growing and share your thoughts! (and now that you can print your blog in a book, its better than scrapbooking.)

I DID NOT want to get into the Facebook thing because it was introduced to me by my very cool college aged cousin who said it was, "like, all the rage." I wasn't going to go there. But after some real poking by some friends, I joined and yes, I ... well you will have to read on to see what I think.

I have not texted or used twitter. I do not plan too. But you can see from my past history here, things aren't looking good for me.

So like yo' Facebook me. My issue with facebook.
First I want to say I like it. I really do. I like the 'today' part of it. Seeing what is going on now.
But what I do NOT like is...
The quizzes, votes and polls.
I have tried to get into them, but just can't. Again, check my past history, you will probably see "what celebrity would play you in a movie" quiz tomorrow on my facebook.

Obvously I know all the people taking them, so it is interesting, but some polls are just wanting to add gas to a fire. Namely, vote yes or no to gay marriage.
This one really got my goat. By the nipples. and twisted. then pierced them.

Here is why.
I know God's Word says we are not to judge. I am not judging here. We are told to stick to what the Bible says so I will. Our personal opinions are now subject to His standards.
If you are not in Christ, I don't expect you to hold to His teachings, but if you are, I do.

In general we do not want people living in a harmful lifestyle...
We do not want people to murder, have orgies, lie, commit adultry, live in rage, or fear, molesting or abusing, having a jealous heart, full of greed, lust, I could go on and on here.

But WHY? Because it is NOT what is BEST for the person.

We want what is best for someone. God wants us to be free from sin through Jesus and depend on Him to NOT LIVE in that sin. Daily dying to our desires and choosing to live for Him. Hard? Ummm, YES!!!
Its the whole "love the person, hate the sin" thing.
I want someone to love me and hate my sin.

So... born that way? This is the great rebuke. Yes, we are all born that way. A slave to sin. In bondage to the world. Loving delicious sin that is not God's best.
People say," just love them the way they are." I am supposed to love my neighbor as myself, not the choices they make. Those who want to break free, its totally possible. I have to believe we can break free from ANY sin that holds us captive. If I didn't, where would my faith in God lie?

OK, OK, off the soapbox. Basically I am just disappointed. I am hurt. When people I know who love Jesus do not take a stand for what God's Word says, its like a slap in the face. Confusing. And they are airing it with the facebook world. I know there is someone on the fence about it and they see someone they trust vote Yes to something and now they will too.

P.S. I KNOW I continually get tangled in sin -and struggle in many areas, but do not want to remain in the sin. I have also been rebuked by fellow believers to keep me in check. (Gossip, hateful, controlling, just to scrape the surface) And you know who you are- thank you. This blog is not to check anyone, it is to air my heart and what is going on in my life.
Leviticus 18:22

Sippin some hot tea!
Natasha

a bit self indulgent

As Simon from American Idol would say, "I think it was a bit self indulgent." Well that explains this blog post. But its my blog and I'll be indulgent if I want too.

From the 5th grade when I got my hands on my first bottle of Sun In, my haircolor has not stopped changing color. I recently made it back to natural color, but then one day thought- I want to go dark red, then all that hard work was instantly changed with my five dollar bottle of hair dye.
In high school I stuck with the blonde shades. In college the reds/oranges and in the last few years the darks shades of brown/black. If haircolor made a wife, Adam has been married to many different women. Thank goodness he doesn't have any favorites (or so he says).
Here was the super short almost black. This is my personal favorite.

I had the best time in beauty school. Thanks to being laid off from teaching, my unemployment paid for me to accomplish one of my dreams, being a "beauty operator." That is the official term, ask anyone over 70 yr's old and that is what we were called.
During those 9 months I, the beauty operator, was able to perm, streak, color, style and seriously do anything my heart desired to my hair and my girlfriends hair. So much fun!

This month marks 2 years that I decided to let my hair grow long. I had not had long hair for about 10 years and so I made a pact with myself to just do it. Now thats it is long, my thoughts: girly, don't have to wash it everyday, easy to wear up, looks "pretty" but not necessarily cool.

I have been looking like this... fairly normal
Summer is here and now I look like this... (a few more blonde highlights are still needed) but basically its strawberry with blonde highlights and a little shorter. Fun for a season, then who knows, maybe I'll cut it into a faux hawk or section off some dreadlocks.
"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are still full of greed and self-indulgence." Matthew 23:25

Enjoying something new,
Natasha