have you penciled in the apocalypse?

I absolutely agree that the "end" is nearer than ever before! I also believe that the beginning is further away today than it was yesterday.. duh.

However, until today I was unaware that the apocalypse has been penciled in on Saturday. This news comes from Harold Camping, who predicted the apocalypse to take place Sept. 6, 1994 but has now gone back to the drawing board and now has correct calculations.

Now, I am not mocking this man. I assume that he really believes this, even after a failed attempt. He is 89 years old... so the end is probably VERY near, for him anyway.

What I don't understand is this, he says that " A genius could not understand this because God has to open your mind to allow you to understand this."

Well I opened my mind, and my BIBLE (The WORD of GOD) and I found this:

Mark 13:32 (New International Version)

³² “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.

and this,

Matthew 24:36-37 (New International Version)

³⁶ “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. ³⁷ As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.

My Bible doesn't say "I'll be back 5-21-11" (get that Arnold dig?? :)) So I am making plans for Sunday dinner.

And if he's right? I'm OUTTA here!

The evil dieting mother!

Today I feel like an evil mother, and a fatty.

See, Wyatt (my adorable almost 6 year old) gets up really early every day. He usually gets a drink, maybe a cereal bar and watches t.v. until I get up and make him get ready for school.

Today however, he became a chef. He made cookies (he broke them into smaller pieces) and cut up a banana, an orange, grapes, and poured a yogurt into a bowl. He served this too me with a big glass of milk. He is incredibly thoughtful! But I am on a diet. I am counting calories... and I was staring at a plate full of them. So I picked at the grapes and banana and he starts badgering me, saying that I don't like his breakfast & making me feel awful. So I told him it was a lot of food & could he help me eat it. He did a little and then watched me try to eat the rest. I convinced him to let me save the orange & yogurt for a snack, and he helped eat the cookies. Ugh! I bet I ate over 300 calories before I even had a cup of coffee!

So then when I am bringing him to school I told him that I thought he should only make breakfast on weekends, when daddy was home to enjoy it too. He kind of left feeling like I didn't like it!! I tried to explain that I just can't eat that much for breakfast... didn't go over well!

I guess today I am a bad mom and a bad dieter:( Now I feel like crap because I ate too much and my kid worked so hard & I asked him not to do it again!

I love you anyway

My head is SO full of thoughts today that part of me is tempted to post a copy of Webster's dictionary on my blog because if you read enough of those words you could almost begin to put what I am feeling on paper (technically its a computer screen, not paper)... and it would be alphabetical, which is always helpful!

I realized that I am like an emotional filing cabinet, all neat and put together.. but as soon as I get a work overload (emotional or mental) the papers start falling in a mess on the floor. I loose all order and control. Papers flying everywhere and me running in circles trying to catch them while damaging the files in my attempt to catch up!

This is usually the point that I send an emotional e-mail to my mom & sister and whoever gets it first calls me and "talks me of the ledge" ... not literally, of course:)

Last night this was my sisters job. She did the same thing she always does, listens, sympathizes, gently advices and makes me laugh. Then I am magically all better and can rationally start organizing my brain files all over again! I am not even being sarcastic here, it is magic... sister magic, mother magic... maybe its only in my family! Ha ha I have a magic family and you don't! Sorry, that was bratty!

We all have someone, or many people in our lives who's mission (or so it seems) is to bring us down, step on our spirit and grind their heel as hard as they can. These are sometimes people we have to deal with daily, or often. Sometimes we "get along" with them to make life tolerable and silently deal with the hurt. Other times they are people who seemingly exist to appear every few months to ruin your life! Whatever the case, these people often hurt you and then walk away without a care until the next time they feel like stepping on you. While they get to come and go (and say) whatever they like, you are left dealing with the boiling madness that have left for you! My question is why do they get to have that power over us? Because we let them, that's why!

So last night when my magical sister told me to go read 1 Peter (I must say there is a lot of good stuff packed in such a short book!) I did & I picked a few quick points to share... they are good reminders of who and how God expects us to act! I recommend reading the whole book (its like 3 pages) because you will get a lot out of it!

1. Rid yourself of ALL malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy and slander. (Thats hard to do when "that person" gets to act on those feelings!)

2. Love one another deeply & from the heart (that is REALLY hard when your dealing with someone you don't even like!)

3. Live such a good life that even though they (someone) accuse you of doing wrong they may see your good deeds.

4. Do not repay evil with evil, insults with insults. Be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble. (Insults come pretty easy when you've been insulted!)

5. Keep your tongue from evil. (I translated that as: SHUT UP AMBER)

6. Be holy in ALL you do! (That is an ENORMOUS task!)

It goes on to talk about living NOT for your earthly desires (revenge, anger, etc.) rather live for the will of God. Why? Because we will be judged. They will be judged for what they do, and you will be accountable for what you do in return. I would love to have my revenge, but the joy would be fleeting. Facing God someday and being able to say "I loved them anyway" is a much greater joy and one that cannot be taken from you.

1 Peter 4:8 says "Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers a mulititude of sins."

This reminded me of a song from Sidewalk Prophets that talks about Jesus loving us anyway. Read the lyrics, if He can love us anyway.. we can love others even when they continue to hurt us.

The question was raised
As my conscience fell
A silly, little lie
It didn’t mean much
But it lingers still
In the corners of my mind
Still you call me to walk
On the edge of this world
To spread my dreams and fly
But the future’s so far
My heart is so frail
I think I’d rather stay inside
But You love me anyway
It’s like nothing in life that I’ve ever known
You love me anyway
Oh Lord, how You love me
How You love me
It took more than my strength
To simply be still
To seek but never find
All the reasons we change
The reasons I doubt
And why do loved ones have to die
I am the thorn in Your crown
But You love me anyway
I am the sweat from Your brow
But You love me anyway
I am the nail in Your wrist
But You love me anyway
I am Judas’ kiss
But You love me anyway
See now, I am the man that called out from the crowd
For Your blood to be spilled on this earth shaking ground
Yes then, I turned away with this smile on my face
With this sin in my heart tried to bury Your grace
And then alone in the night, I still called out for You
So ashamed of my life, my life, my life
You love me, You love me
You love me, You love me
How You love me
How You love me
How You love me

Skinny girl update

So... after my initial skinny girl wanna be rants, I haven't really updated anyone on my progress.

Well here it is.

I have lost zero pounds. Nice, huh. This is my story. The week after that post I went home to Mi for a week visit and apparently if you eat Russ' 3 times, plus Mc Donald's twice and Perkins, pizza and 2 Kids Easter baskets full of candy in one week you don't loose weight.... in fact, you may gain a pound or two, or three.

So, I went home three pounds heavier then when I arrived but I have re-started my "program" which really isn't a program at all. Its just diet and exercise, but it sounds more like I know what I am talking about if I call it a program.

Anyway, the running is going very well. I have moved onto week three (four starts tomorrow) of the couch to 5k running plan. I am actually enjoying the runs too. I never thought I would be able to run for minutes at a time without panting to death, but I can!!

I have lost (or re-lost) the few pounds I gained over Easter and am back at the starting point. I now have a 2lb a week goal, at least for a few weeks to make up for my little "set back"... oh, how I love Easter bunnies. Eat the ears first, always!

I also accomplished a MAJOR chore, swimsuit shopping... and it wasn't as horrible as I planned. I found a semi-attractive one piece suit that will cover my body without horrifying anyone too badly! Of course, I wouldn't have needed a new swimsuit if I hadn't thrown mine away last year in an "I hate my body" rage!

Anyway, that is the update as of now. Hopefully my next update will have a little more progress to report!!

Osama bin Laden is dead...

Warning: what you are about to read is not happy, turn back now if you don't want to face some serious business: HELL.

Most Americans are celebrating this morning because finally, finally, FINALLY that notorious evil villain is DEAD! I, however, am a little sad.

No, I am not sad that he is dead.

My heart is mixed. I am happy for America, I am happy (and oh so proud) for all of our troops, who leave their families everyday to defend our freedom.. and for very little pay.

But this is what gets my heart a little... a man, who walked the earth yesterday, is in hell.

I am assuming of course that bin Laden didn't find God before he died. If he did, God would have forgave him... what a guy, that God of ours that no one can sin too much to be saved. I have a feeling though that Osama wasn't lucky enough to ever feel that sweet grace, given so freely.

So, although I am happy that he is gone from this earth I can't find it in me to be happy for bin Laden being in hell. We all have the choice to serve the one and only true God or to serve the god's of greed, pain, terror, money(the list goes on and on). It just hurts my heart to picture bin Laden standing before God and being given his final sentence. Death from this earth was not his punishment, but he will be punished eternally. He may just deserve that. But I still can't bring myself to celebrate it.

A victory for our country, indeed! A victory in Christ... opportunity missed.

Let the death of this evil man make us all realize that hell isn't a place designated for only those as evil as Hitler and Saddam & Osama, although that is a nice thought to think. Your ticket to Heaven was bought and paid for on the cross, but you still have to accept it.