are you good at math?

*** Update: the puzzle is not solvable. Somewhere in translation it got left out that we needed a 0 in it. It can't be solved using 1 - 9 only. Sigh.***

I have a puzzle that is driving me crazy, see if you can help...

You can only use the number 1 - 9, no repeats. Remember multiplication comes before adding and subtracting. Here goes:

we danced. in church.

To the glory of God ya'll, tonight we danced! This will be a short post as it's 12:30 a.m. here but oh my goodness I have to tell you the joy my sweet God gave me tonight. Let me pause here and say, please read my earlier post! You'll catch the fever that is pure joy. Tonight we danced. Moonwalked. Lawnmowered (oh ya'll should have seen that!). Shook our booties to the beat of the Holy Spirit! I mean it. We danced and delighted in it! I even managed to get some of our more "conservative" folks to dance! Wanna know why?? Tonight at Judgement House we witnessed.... *drumroll inserted here* 18 (eighteen, ya'll!) people come to know Christ as their savior. Eighteen more new brothers and sisters in Christ were welcomed into the flock tonight. I was a giggling, smiling, bubbling, crazy woman by the time the night was over and I had to stop and dance a little with the PAH-TAY I knew was taking place in Heaven. Oh my goodness. It was so awesome! A couple of people laughed at me, but I told them... "if you can't give God some awesome praise for 18 salvations, something is wrong!" So we all did a little bootie-shakin' for Jesus tonight! Even got one guy to do the lawnmower with me. My Pastor may now think I'm certifiable, but my God just loved it! 18 souls saved in 3 hours. God is GOOD!

I'm still smiling. Still crying. Still loving on my Jesus. Oh the awesome joy He brings us. Brings me. I am so madly, deeply, over the moon for this guy.

special time of year

This is a special time of year for me. And despite my current situation (see previous post) God has been so good to me and given me so many things to praise Him over. One in particular I wanted to share with you. Each year our church does a program called Judgement House. If you want to know more about it click here. For the past 3 years I've been a guide. Taking groups from room to room, introducing each scene. And I have loved doing it! It's been amazing. But this year, something stirred in me to not sign up to be a guide. So I didn't sign up to work. Everyone kept asking me and I kept making excuses. Finally the Spirit inside me had had enough. He put His almight foot down and said, "young lady, you will help!". I didn't know where or how, they'd allready filled most of the spaces. Then in class Sunday morning our leader said he needed one LADY (yeah, God is cute that way!) to help in the closing room. To help counsel any women that might want to stay behind and talk. Sigh. Got me. But I've always thought the closing room was boring, not really for me. I'm too high-strung to be in there. It's serious time. Quiet, elevator music flows while a nice, calm, person talks about and delivers the gospel message one final time. Stick me in there and I'd stick out like a sore thumb with my loud mouth, bubbly personality, and constant need to chat. :) But stick me in there God did. To be honest I think I scared them. They didn't really know what to do with my chatting and giggling style. But I kept them laughing ya'll. And in a good way. They had fun with me. And to God's glory, I got to stand in that room group after group and watch as 17 people turned their lives over to Christ and were saved. It is the best feeling in the world to see those hands go up. To sit quietly and pray that each and every one of them be touched in someway by the hand of God, and then witness their hands come up, almost reaching out for salvation.... it gives me chill bumps. I can't even describe the joy my heart was filled with by the end of the night. Yes I was tired. Yes I had to haul sleeping boys to the van. Yes it had been a long night. But none of that matters. Even if it had only been one hand raised the entire night, folks, it would have been SO worth all that other junk. But to get to witness as God lovingly placed His Spirit into 17 new creations.... I just can't explain it. It was the most awesome thing.

eventually london bridge came down

That's how I feel this week. Trapped. You know when you're kids and you play London Bridge and you trap someone between your arms when the bridge comes down? I used to hate that. I hated feeling trapped. I always wanted to be the one that snuck by, skated through, just before the bridge came down. Oh how I hated getting stuck. I still can't bring myself to play the game with my boys. I can't stand being stuck. No where to go. Arms pinned. Can't move. It still gets to me. But right now, I'm stuck. The bridge fell on me, and I can't move. I have something weighing heavy on me. So heavy it leaves me tired and dragging each day. I feel it when I wake, when I sleep (IF I sleep)... I feel it all the time. I know satan is upon me. Attacking my every step. Coming down on my so hard at times it's hard to breath. I spent a good 20 minutes bawling in the car the other morning because I just didn't know what else to do. Why am I sharing this? I have no idea. Probably not a wise choice. I just feel a huge urge to reach out. I need some prayer. I mean, serious prayer. Knees to the floor kind of prayer. I know I'm not one to tell you how to pray. I just know when I have a sister who's down like this, my knees hit the floor. So that's what I'm asking for. Deep prayer to pull me out of this state that I'm in. I can't stand feeling the way I feel. I just wanna break out of the arms that are pinning me down. No amount of struggling works. These arms are sealed tight. I keep begging God to make it easier. Make my choice easier Lord! But I know this is something He doesn't want to be easy. It's hard on purpose. And I think I dislike that even more. Why do I have to go through this? I feel like I might burst. I want out. I want out from under this pressure. Free from this weight. Break me free Daddy! Get me out. I know I can't take much more. But I also know I'm not done until you say. Give me strength Lord. Strength to get to my feet and fight. To get away from what's trapping me. I know Your will is perfect. Give me strength to understand that. Give me peace when I rest. Quiet my mind and calm my nerves. Let me rest Father, and wake up ready to fight. I love you Lord. Whatever You have for me, I will do it for You.

my weekend in photos

So we had a very busy weekend! (and stressful, but it's getting better) Friday night we had a fall festival at David's school. Didn't get to take pics cause I worked the cake walk. The other ladies working it with me decided it would be fun to have the kids dance for cakes.... Sigh. I'm sorry girls. I had to do it. The "Macarena" came on. I'm so glad my child wasn't watching. I might have scared him. I scared myself. But I had a great time doing it! The on Saturday I took the boys to Boo at the Zoo. We had a great time! The line was insane but didn't take too long and once inside we had a blast! The boys got to see all the zoo animals and hit up almost every candy booth. They came home with halfway filled buckets of candy! (good loot too!) :) And then on Sunday David's class at church won a picnic for reciting the most Bible verses, and so we went after church to the park for hot dogs and swings. It was a great time despite the 90 mph winds we Texans are so fond of. Sigh. Big hair and Texas really DO go hand in hand. Okay, so here are some pics from our fun fun weekend!

praise the Lord I can finally have two Spidermen!

and here they are taking a candy break...

this is David (right) at the picnic with his friend Jeb (left)

and this is my favorite photo of the weekend. this is Daniel playing on the playground Sunday afternoon. I'm not sure why I like it so much. maybe the angle or all the clean lines... can't quite put my finger on it, but I love it.

the spider cake lives!

I did it folks! I managed to make the spider cake! It does not look exactly like the picture and I'm okay with that. But it did turn out darn cute! David was so excited he asked if we could keep it home so he could eat it. :) I made 2 of them, both will be headed to the cake walk later today, and then home with new owners. I may cry to see them go. Haha! Just teasing. Those little suckers took me an hour each, but I think they are worth it. Here are a few pics of my creations. :)

this is cake #1:

here are the "baby spiders" made from spiced gum drops and icing:

this is cake #2:

what's doin'??

Okay, so it's not Wednesday but what the heck, let's do "What's Doin' Wednesday" today. Share some thoughts about what God is doing in your life this week.

God is giving me some amazing insight into his word. I can not express how blessed I am through BSF. The women are so nice, my son practically leaps out of the van when we pull up to the church, and I get to meet God each Wednesday. Not the god I want Him to be, or the god I've perceived Him to be, but God. The one and only God. My Father, Savior, Friend, Redeemer.... I get to meet with Him each day in my homework and each week in lecture time. Sometimes I feel so close I can hear Him breath and I get chills. It's awesome! So what God is doing with me this week, is teaching me how to have a one-on-one encounter with Him amongst a room full of amazing gals. He meets me where I'm at and then sits with me. It's awesome.

Your turn! What's God doin' in your life this week??