The Vision

A simple, private, safe place for me to unload and reflect my thoughts.



Spiritual Food for the Day

Friday, February 11, 2011

I Refuse <------ CLICK FOR VIDEO

I woke up with this song on my heart this morning and thought I would share.  It is by Josh Wilson and is a very powerful song with a powerful message!  Enjoy!


Sometimes I, I just want to close my eyes
And act like everyone's alright
When I know they're not
This world needs God, but it's easier to stand and watch
I could pray a prayer and just move on
Like nothing's wrong

But I Refuse


I don't want to live like I don't care
I don't want to say another empty prayer
Oh, I refuse to sit around and wait for someone else
To do what God has called me to do myself
I could choose not to move
But I refuse

I can hear the least of these, crying out so desperately
And I know we are the hands and feet of You, oh God
So if You say move, it's time for me to follow through
And do what I was made to do
And show them who You are

I don't want to live like I don't care
I don't want to say another empty prayer
Oh, I refuse to sit around and wait for someone else
To do what God has called me to do myself
I could choose not to move
But I refuse

I refuse to stand and watch the weary and lost cry out for help
I refuse to turn my back and try and act like all is well
I refuse to stay unchanged, to wait another day to die to myself
I refuse to make one more excuse

I don't want to live like I don't care
I don't want to say another empty prayer
Oh, I refuse to sit around and wait for someone else
To do what God has called me to do myself
I could choose not to move
But I refuse

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Valentines Weekend and Anniversary Plans

Can’t believe it is Valentines already!  Seems like we just celebrated Christmas!  Anyway,  just curious what, if any, are your plans for Valentines?  Do you do something special every year or is it hit and miss?  We used to never really do anything major, especially since our Anniversary is in the beginning of March but a couple of years ago, we found that a semi-local Christian radio-station puts on a Valentines banquet every year.  It is really neat, lots of people dress up like prom dressing up, tux or suit and tie and very nice dresses!  Some even arrive in limos!  They have appitizers and punch fountains in the lobby and kinda like a social hour.  You can also get your pic professionally take for free!  The backdrop is all done up for Valentines, etc….  Then when they open the doors, you go into the ballroom which is decked out, lights dim, tule draped everywhere, black and red décor,  you find your table number that you were assigned on your tickets (135.00 per couple but well worth it).  The tables are round with seating for 4-5 couples.  Everything is set fancy down to the butter for the rolls which is little heart shaped molds, almost looks like mints!  You first start out with rolls and salad and tea or water.  After that the main course is either chicken and rice or beef and red potatoes (your choice when you purchase tickets) and then they give you some fancy veggie. And finally  the dessert is some kind of cheesecake or a yummy choc cake!  The whole evening takes approx  5 hours.  The whole time you are eating all your courses, there is either a concert and/or comedian show going on on stage.  It is so nice to be able to dress up and do this , just you and your spouse!  And the best part for us…. There is no alcohol!!!!!!!!  We do not drink nor do we go places that serve so our nice eating out places are very limited which is fine but once in awhile it is nice to have a luxeray feeling meal! 

This year, we however, are not going.  We didn’t really know the singer and comedian that was going to be there and some other things ended up coming up when we needed to purchase the tickets so we decided to skip this year which I am a little bummed but it is ok!  We are going out for a Valentines breakfast Saturday in Valpo with some people from our church in the Portage area.   We may hang around for a little afterwards and then that eveing we are coming home and my sis and her family may come up for games and munchies.  Sunday we will be getting up pretty early b/c my husband is going to be preaching at a church we have in MI which is about a 2 hour drive so we will be there on Sunday.  Monday, back to work!  Corbyn is having a party at school however so that should be fun for him!

One thing I am looking forward to is our Anniversary getaway this year!  It isn’t much, we are just going to Ft. Wayne on Friday for the afternoon/eve/night and then the next day we are meeting up with my mom and her bf to go to the Home and Garden show!  Yes I am very excited about it!  Next year will be our 10 year so we are planning something really special!  When we got married we couldn’t afford a big Honeymoon at the time so we just went to a small town around here that has a resort in it that is on a lake.  B/c we got married practically in the winter, no one was there so we ended up basically having it to ourselves!  The rooms are either 1 or 2 bedroom, we had the 2 bedroom.  The second bedroom is in the loft with a big Jacuzzi in it and it also has a living room, fireplace, kitchen, the works!!!!!  We loved it!  Were there for 2 days.  On our 5 year we ended up going back and fell in love with it again!  So I don’t know if we are going to do that for our 10 year as well or not.  We know for sure that we are getting new rings.  Hubby hasn’t been able to wear his since our first year of marriage.  He put a nail thru his finger and they had to cut the ring and bend it in the ER so it was destroyed…. He doesn’t want just some plain cheap one so decided to wait till we could get new sets!  I am so siked.  I am getting a princess cut on silver or white gold which is what I have wanted for years!  His will have diamonds on it, ‘cause that is just him but other than that, he really isn’t sure of the design.  We also talked about taking a trip to Maine or Denver, CO, those are places we both would like to go, so we will see!

Well I think I have bent your ears long enough!  Lol!  Love is in the air!  J

What are your plans?  Do you plan something special for Anniversaries?

God bless!

Monday, February 7, 2011

A good weekend and a Packers win!

Hard to believe it is Monday already!  Seems like it was just Friday.  We had a really good weekend though!  Friday I picked up my daughter then went to Aldies to get a few necessity items then I met my husband at home who and picked up our son and went and got my youngest brother (17) for the weekend.  We headed back into Warsaw for their Fire and Ice show and to eat at a really good Pizzeria!  The ice show was really neat!  It was a bunch of huge ice sculptures randomly placed throughout downtown on the sidewalks.  Some of them were hooked up to propane to where the tops of the sculptures were lit.  It was really neat!  The pizza place was PACKED but it was so good!  After that we came home and just relaxed the rest of the night.  Saturday we slept in, had breakfast and then I took a pair of cute jeans I had gotten at goodwill for Jocelyn and split them and made a cute long jean skirt (we don’t wear pants).  It turned out really cute!  I am thinking I might make some more in the future when I can find jeans on sale or at Goodwill.  I even thought about cutting the legs off the pants and attaching a skirt to the bottom.  Idk, I will just play around and see what I come up with.  It is so hard to find long enough skirts anymore for her.  For the winter that is fine, I just put leggings or tights on her but once warmer weather comes, I want her to have modest length clothes that don’t consist of all dresses (even that is hard to find long enough anymore).

Anyway, Saturday afternoon we had a birthday party to go to for my niece that turned 7 last week.  (hard to believe, I babysat her when she was first born till she was 1.5 and it seems like just yesterday!  I miss the cute little baby crawling after me calling, “Mama”.  No she wasn’t confused, She knew who her mom was, I was just Mama Steph.  Too cute!)  But she has grown into a beautiful, smart , admirable young lady!  I am so proud of her!  Our gift to her was the box set of the full color Laura Ingalls Wilder books!  I think I was just as excited for her to get them as she was when she opened them!  It brought back a lot of memories.  I used to have them growing up and read them several times over.  She has grown to love the TV show that they have now and so thought it would be fitting to get her the books.

After the party we came home and just relaxed.  Hubby did some major rearranging with his fish aquariums.  (We are getting ready to do some major remodeling and moving our bathroom and so there is a lot of rearranging stuff that needs to happen over the next few weeks).  I took the kids upstairs and went thru and cleaned out their dressers and put a bunch of laundry away.  I was trying to keep my daughter preoccupied since she has grown into quite the “daddy’s girl” and it is hard for him to do big stuff like that with her around getting into everything.  The kids played very well!  It is so cute to just sit and watch them sometimes!

Yesterday we ended up have one mid-day service due to the weather that we got Saturday and the weather that they were calling for last night.  So we were able to lay around a little in the morning and then after church, an elderly couple that Andy helped them put up a shed last fall, took us out to eat as a Thank You gift.  So nice and generous of them!  (It is not cheap for a family of four to go out to eat anymore!  So when we are able to, it is a special treat!  That is the way it was growing up!)  Last night we once again came home and were lazy.  I did some dishes from the weekend (sometimes I sure do miss having a dishwasher) and Andy played with his digital pic frame I got him for Christmas, loading it up with pics so he can take it to work.  And then I think I did a first!  I sat down and watched a whole entire football game from beginning to end!!!!!!  It was sweet too!  I was rooting for the Pack and they pulled it off!  Very exciting!  Even my son who I had to send to bed at the end of the 3rd quarter was happy!  I promised him I would wake him if the Pack won and when I did, he was still sleeping but mumbled “Go Pack Go!”  Too cute! 

Hope everyone has a good week and God Bless!
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