We are on Week 3 of "Mom's Boot Camp"

Last summer was not fun for me. My kids had many opportunities afforded them (King's Dominion, the beach, the boardwalk, NYC, etc.) and all I heard was whining all summer long! This year, I decided I was not going to put up with that. So, I developed a boot camp for my three boys. They are ages 9, 11, and 13.
Every morning, we drink our glass of water and read the Bible. We drink a glass of water to prep for the exercise coming up. While we are drinking our water, I did not want to waste that time, so we read our portion of Scripture for the day. I'm reading Psalms at the moment. Different tunes pop into my head as I read various chapters (because the words correlate with a praise song) - I love when that happens. Anyway, after we read our verses, we work on memorizing our passage of Scripture for the summer. We are memorizing Matthew 5 - the sermon on the mount. So far, we've gotten verses 1 through 10 memorized. My oldest son actually struggles the most with memorizing them. It's odd - he just finished geometry at the age of 13 but it takes him the longest to memorize these verses.

We alternate days for the physical exercise. Mon., Wed. Fri. we run. Tue., Thu., Sat. we do sit-ups and push-ups. Many books I've read said it's best to run on alternating days. The sit-up and push-up regimen we are following also advised to do these on alternating days. Perfect! And Sunday, we rest.

When we run, the younger ones run about 2 miles and increase it half a mile each week. My 13yo and I are up to 3.5 miles. On Friday, we go to our local high school and do speed laps around the track. The best book to follow for a solid running regimen is Galloway's Book on Running. The younger boys do not have to run the entire time. In fact, they usually opt to walk half the time. I don't mind. Walking is often more healthy for you than running.

For the sit-ups and push-ups, I found a good guide on the internet called 100 push-ups challenge. They also have a 200 sit-ups challenge. I don't really care how many I end up doing, but I really liked how they gradually increment the number. All of us tested ourselves the first day. My 11yo and 13yo are at the highest level for sit-ups. My 9yo and myself are at the lowest level. For the push-ups, my 13yo can do the most, 11yo the second most, and I can do more than my 9yo but not much more. For me, the push-ups KILL me! But, I really want to get stronger in my arms. I've noticed that I am barely improving in my push-ups, but with the sit-ups I've improved drastically. It has amazed me. I started out only being able to do 20 situps but now I can do 40 easily.

So, all of this is required at the beginning of each day. On the running days, I have to go to work at 9am, so I make the boys get up at 7am in order to complete everything. Plus, during the summer, we need to run in the morning while it's cool.
Do the boys complain? You bet! But only for a little at the beginning. They actually got quite excited about the possible results - feeling stronger, looking stronger - being able to pass the Presidential fitness test. Also, last year, they were lying around so much and being grouchy. This year, the physical activity every morning has given them good energy, and they are more creative, less whiny. I've always heard that getting some sun (vitamin D) really helps with depression and mood, so I think I'm seeing that effect.

Just so you know, the "amount" of exercise is self-determined. The boys can decide if they want to do more or less. We don't automatically move forward on all the schedules. We've already slowed down on some of them (namely, the push-ups one for me - I think I'm going to be stuck on week 3 for the rest of the summer, lol). I just like having a schedule for the boys. They get to play the whole rest of the day! This has turned out to be a good start for the day, though.

I finished my first year as a special education teacher

As you can see, a lot has happened in the last year. About a year ago, our special education director called me and asked me if I'd like to become the special ed teacher via provisional license. I had already taken a required special education course. At the moment that it was posed to me, I was very nervous. Being a teacher's aide was wonderful. I didn't have any worries. In fact, when I read over my typical day, it seemed so idyllic! This past year was not like that, at all!!!

However, I felt a strong urging to attempt the teaching position. I could see the storm brewing - the recession. What if this were the provision God gave us to weather this storm? Not only that, my husband felt this was a good decision.

Being provisionally licensed means that with my B.S. degree and the special ed course I took, I promise to complete the rest of the required courses plus 2 certification exams to obtain official teacher certification. I do this while working FT as a special ed teacher.

Did I feel like I was drinking from a water hydrant? You bet! All year long. I learned how to write IEP's, set up BIP's, analyze cognitive tests, deal with failing kids, and even handle a student that had to do with due process (yikes). I taught my own reading class and collaborated with a history, science, English, and math teacher. I learned the state standardized test objectives in all of those subjects. Whew. Besides that, I took the GRE, the 2 certification exams (passed), obtained entry into a college master's program for special ed, and have taken about 4 more classes. I am taking 3 this summer and tutoring a student. But next fall, I only need to take 1 class per semester, and will probably finish my coursework by next year at the end of the summer. AFTER that, I will take a few more classes for my master's. However, I need to pass a couple more exams to complete the master's program. I'm not thinking about that, yet, though.

I learned a few things about myself through all of this chaos. One, whenever we are required to do something, it IS possible to do it. I've done more this year than I have in my entire life. I didn't think it was possible. Two, this was a wise choice we made. All of those families that wavered back and forth finally decided to leave our church. This left a huge gap, financially, for our church. We still average around 80 in attendance, but most of those are visitors, new attenders, and new believers. We had a couple of months that my husband could not get paid his regular salary. If I hadn't been getting paid my FT teacher salary, we would have been in a mess.

Three, I've had to do a lot of things I didn't like doing. I've had to confront students, be honest with co-workers, and pull back on socializing with friends. I've become more cynical, more realistic, but probably, more balanced, as a person. I think I was too idealistic and my head was in the clouds. I am still very hurt and disappointed with some of my friends who have left our church. They all left on pretense of my husband doing something that offended them. They thought he should've done more visitation. They didn't like how a monetary gift was handled. They thought he was too bossy. They thought he wasn't sensitive enough. Really, none of the reasons were big issues. None were major character flaws on my husband's part. I know my husband's flaws and those people didn't mention his major flaw! None of them mentioned what a messy guy he is and how he doesn't clean up after himself! Now, if they had mentioned that, I would've wholeheartedly agreed with them, lol! Anyway, all of their reasons for leaving were so petty. A part of me wants to email all of them and say, we offended you?? YOU offend ME! (I'm venting).

All of this to say, things have changed quite a bit. I'm working FT as a teacher. I'm taking classes to finish up my certification. I'm tutoring to get extra money. My husband is still pastoring, but now, to a fairly new group of people in our church. ALL of our core team members have left. My husband is trying to find some PT jobs to make ends meet. He's now truly a bi-vocational church planter. We both agree that being bi-vo is a great plan. Having a pastor that understands the daily grind the average person goes through, and can show by example, that he is a witness in his workplace, is a good thing.

We don't know what will happen with the church. We are keeping our eyes wide open. We realize that this could be the beginning of the end of our church plant. Or, God could have other plans. However, I do have a peace about everything that has happened. I cling to God and His righteousness. We want to have integrity in everything that we do. I know that we did not try to hurt anyone in any way. We did not manipulate, we did not use, we did not wrong people. And, I want to make sure that I remain as wise as a serpent but as harmless as a dove.

Maybe next year, I'll be able to post that we got over this hurdle! Or maybe I'll be posting my last blog under this pseudonym. Either way, I don't regret one thing we've done, and if we could do it all over again, I would. There has been much good that has come about through this whole process.

All or Nothing

I've known for quite some time that I am a perfectionist. The only thing we ever appreciate from perfectionists is the result of their projects. Everything else can be a royal pain.

I can get easily overwhelmed. I think it's because I see all the details that need to be done to get something accomplished. I see all of those details, and it overwhelms me. I realize I can't do it all, but all of it has to be done in order to get a perfect result, right? So, I simply choose not to do it. A lot of people mistakenly think that a home of a perfectionist will look perfect. Wrong. The home of a perfectionist usually looks chaotic. Some things will look perfect, but everything else will look in shambles. Why? If the perfectionist can't get the area perfect, she'd rather not do ANY of it. It's ALL or NOTHING.

So, that's where I've been with church stuff. I got overwhelmed with ALL of the spiritual issues going on in church, and I've done absolutely nothing about it. In my head, I told myself, I couldn't do it all. I can't. So, it's no use trying. So, I didn't.

That was wrong of me. God didn't ask us to BE perfect. He promised us that Jesus would complete His perfect work in us (Phil. 1:6). There's a difference. We can't be perfect no matter how hard we try. (Isaiah 64:6) Our righteous works (anything good we do) are like nasty rags. If *I* could be perfect or attain perfection, where would the glory be? It would be in ME. But, glory belongs only to God. (Jeremiah 9:23) So, God constantly uses those of us who CAN'T do it, those of us who are weak, so that we might be strong through Christ (2 Corinthians 12:8).

The ultimate purpose for ANY of us to do good is to glorify God (Matthew 5:16). When I get overwhelmed, I need to ask God to pour Himself in me. I need to ask Him to work through me. And that's what I've done. I don't have all the answers to each of those problems I listed previously. I don't have the personality, the perseverance - it doesn't come naturally to me. But, that's okay. I just need to be willing to be a Pastor's wife, because that's the role God has given me. And yeah, there are tons other people who could do a better job than I could, but that doesn't matter. If I let God work through me - it's not me that's doing the job - it's God!

The Rain Won't Stop....

It's been raining a LOT these past few weeks. The weather seems to be reflecting what's been going on at church, as well. I'm beginning to think that all of these "issues" that families have in a church is common. The average pastor must have to deal with all of these problems - and I had no clue. I guess, I just didn't expect there to be so many, all at once. It's a bit overwhelming.

A daughter of a strong Christian family in our church has been put into a program for anorexia. She definitely has it bad. Several of us have joined together in prayer and fasting. This girl's mind needs a breakthrough. At the same time, I get very frustrated. I was willing to leave, straight after work to head to this girl's clinic (2 hrs away). All of these other ladies were telling me they would join me, and now, not 1 out of 10 ladies can make it. Half of them don't even have little kids like me. I try not to focus on that, though, but my flesh is frustrated.

A good friend of mine has decided that she needs a break from her husband, so she is renting a room and is staying there w/one of her kids. She left her husband and other child. She's still in the same town, but she says she needs to think through things. She's positive that she's not in love with her husband and wants to find true love, I believe. I want to knock her on the head. Not a good response from a Pastor's wife, is it? So, I just keep praying - at a distance - because she's been avoiding me. She already knows what I think about it, I'm sure that's why she's avoiding me.

The music leader has stepped down. She is still going to be on the praise team, but she doesn't want to lead, anymore. I know it's because she's working a FT job and life is just stressful doing all of that. I couldn't do it all. So, I don't know what's going to happen. I hope it isn't her way of leaving the church.

We are still averaging roughly 115 each Sunday (give or take 10). We had a successful Easter egg hunt (over 200) but not very many for Easter Sunday (more than normal, but not our highest).

Lastly, I had some long, deep debates with the teacher I assist. We get along great, and I don't anticipate that our debates will affect that, but still - our discussions were pretty intense about evolution, creationism, believing the whole Bible and every other topic in between. At least, I was able to let her know I am one of those who believe the Bible literally. She really seems to look down on the "literalists." She feels the Bible is good for sharing how to get along with others, just like many other sources of religious works. I like that she is honest about what she stands for. She's pretty tough to crack, though. I just hope some things that I say make sense to her. At least I was honest about what I stood for.

An exciting day in the life of an Instructional Assistant

Why they call it instructional assistant instead of "teacher's aide" I have no idea. I say teacher's aide, because why say in 7 syllables what you can say in 3? lol!!

I get up around 6:00am, every weekday. Oops, that's misleading. I *wake* up around 6am. I look at the clock and get excited that, once again, I woke up before the alarm. I really detest the sound of the alarm. I also continue to lay in bed to hear if my 12yo got up, yet? Most of the time, he doesn't. This determines whether I will get into the shower BEFORE he does. If there are 3 of us that need to shower, the last one gets a cold one, ugh. I really wish we could get a new water heater.I wake up my other 2 boys at 6:30am.

All of us head out the door about 7:10am. Dh takes 12yo to middle school. I take 10yo and 8yo with me to *my* school. In the car, I tell the boys the "word of the day." It's usually words like integrity, joy, honesty, kindness - character-building words that I can support with a few Bible verses. We discuss what it means and pray for each other to show that character trait during the day.
My 8yo usually prays like this "Dear God, thank you for this day. Pray that 10yo has integrity, In Jesus' name."
My 10yo usually prays like this "Dear God, thank you for this day. I pray that 8yo will show integrity throughout his day. That he will have integrity with his classmates and friends and teachers. In Jesus' name, amen."
Then, I pray and we all say amen. Then 10yo shouts out "Oh, we forgot to pray for our cousin!" I then tell him to pray for her and he does. It's kind of amazing, we forget to pray for her, *every* day, lol! But we always remember that we forget!

Once we are in my school parking lot, we meet up with my 10yo's carpool ride. He catches a ride up to the Christian school that he attends - it's about another 30 minutes north of us.8yo and myself go into the school, which is about the same time that all the kids are supposed to be in school - 7:20am.
We get settled in our classroom and 8yo stays with me. He eats his crackers and juice (his breakfast), and reads books that I put in my bag. Currently, he's reading a Children's Bible! We say the Pledge of Allegiance at 7:30am, and pause for 1 minute for our moment of silence (the state law). I ignore all the morning announcements, led by students, and try to figure out how my schedule will be for the day.

At 7:40am, 8yo and I go into the Resource room. I'm in charge for the first period. Students who need to do makeup work come in here. It's sort of like a study hall. Sometimes, I get students that are learning disabled, so I can help them through their work. I have one student currently, who is autistic. Her biggest problem is that she can't focus to do her work. So, I usually tell her to stop telling me stories and to pick up her pen so that she can work. About every 10 minutes, I tell her to focus, concentrate, and encourage her to get her work done.
A student usually walks in about 8am and hands me toast w/peanut butter or a bagel w/cream cheese or a muffin (I like those days). One of the teachers makes this for me and the teacher I work for, and gets it delivered to us, each morning. Yes, I'm spoiled! I'm usually reading my Bible at that point. Also, I pray for the students that we'll have in class, that day.
At 8:05, my 8yo goes to the front of the school, and waits at the front door for the school bus. This bus will head straight to his elementary school. Did I mention that I was spoiled?

8:30, I make sure all of my students sign out, and I head to my classroom that I'll be in for the rest of the day. The following is what usually entails my morning: making copies, grading papers, organizing homework, sending work to students who get in school suspension, or taking over the classroom because my teacher has to have an important meeting. Although our students are extremely well-behaved in OUR classroom (my teacher is mega-strict, it's awesome), the students tend to be bad elsewhere, so they get into trouble a LOT. There has not been a single day that we've had every single student in all of our classes. The other half of the time, our students have parents who couldn't care less if their kid attends school regularly. So some of our students miss about a third of their school days, just because.

By 10:30am, we're into our 3rd class (but 4th period of the day), and it's lunch time. My teacher OR our teacher friend (who provides us with breakfast), shares the lunch responsibility. Yes, they feed me lunch. Sometimes, I go out at 10am to pick up lunch bc both were too busy to make lunch, but they pick up the tab since *I* drive out for it. (No, I'm not really spoiled).
At 11:40, our 3rd class is over, and so is more than half of our day. It always shocks me that it's STILL morning! We only have 2 classes left, and I feel like the day is almost over.
From 11:40 until 12:30 - I get a planning period. Actually, my teacher gets a planning period. Her other planning period is 1st period (but that was my resource room time). Teacher aides don't get planning periods, but they actually didn't assign me duties anywhere, so in one sense, I can take a break. My teacher works me hard, but if there's no immediate work to do, she doesn't care if I relax during this planning time. However, I usually do miscellaneous work that I didn't get a chance to do during classtime.

After the last 2 classes, I run to my car at 2:35pm. I drive half an hour to 10yo's school and pick him and this 3yo boy up (our carpool rider). During the ride, I ask them if they had a good day and they say, yes. 10yo asks me if I brought snacks, today. I usually do - crackers or candy, sometimes. They munch on their snacks and we listen to our local Christian radio station. I always forget to talk, so no one talks. It's completely silent the whole way home. Half of the time, both boys fall asleep, and sometimes I wish I could sleep, too! We get home about 3:50pm.

I get home and check out my favorite forums on the internet. I tell myself that I can take a moment to relax. As I sit in front of my computer, I yell to my boys to practice their trombone, practice their piano, finish their homework, and ask them what projects are coming up. I sign their agendas, check their tests and quizzes, and keep on them about finishing their homework. I browse the forums, and tell myself that I *need* to start cooking. I hate cooking, I tell myself. About half an hour passes, and then I'm really convinced that I need to start cooking. All while I pull the pots out to make something, I tell myself how tired I am and really don't want to cook. However, once I chop veggies and prep the meat, and it's IN the oven or whatever - I'm very happy!

I go back and check a few more responses on the forums, lol! But then, I feel guilty because I realize that I didn't put a load of laundry in the washing machine. So, I come off the computer once again, and put a load in the washing machine, and pull a load out of the dryer onto my couch. I also pack my lunch (just in case my teacher doesn't feel like feeding me) and set out my outfit for the next day. I also tell my 10yo to make his lunch. My 12yo and 8yo get to buy lunch (it's cheaper to buy school lunches than to pack lunch).

Supper is usually ready by then, and I go through the process of getting mad at the boys for not coming to supper, already. We pray, we eat, and talk about crazy stuff like, how can 8yo's hands be washed when there's still dirt visible. His hands CAN'T be clean. 8yo insists it IS clean, he washed it, feel - his hands are still wet. Other important stuff is discussed too, like, how many vegetables have to be eaten so that we can have dessert? Is mom going to make chocolate pudding for dessert? If so, please tell bc then they will WAIT to eat dessert. They hate when I decide at the last minute that I will make chocolate pudding but they have already eaten their allotted dessert! Dh then gets mad bc we're talking about such important stuff and we won't settle down to read out of the Bible. And I get mad bc, sheesh, what's the rush that he's in? He wasn't in a rush to get to supper (I digress).
So, we calm down and figure out whose turn it is to read out of the Bible. We love when 10yo gets the chapters where there are LOTS of names to pronounce. He's very expressive and makes reading geneologies so entertaining! Who would've thought that was possible? Anyway, after the passage is read, one of the boys quizzes another on something that was read. Then, 12yo and 10yo take turns cleaning the kitchen. I usually put the food away, but they put the dishes in the dishwasher, clean off the table, sweep the floor, and take the garbage out.

It's usually 7pm, and I'm wondering when 8:30p will come so that the boys can go to bed and I can go to bed. At this point, dh usually has to go out for a meeting of some kind. I usually fold the load of clothes that I plopped on the couch. I stack them neatly on the other couch and from there, the boys take their stack and put their clothes away. Sometimes, the boys and I play the Wii. Sometimes, the younger boys will take their showers. Always at 8pm, they go to their rooms and read in bed until 8:30pm. 8:30pm is bedtime. Once in a while, 12yo has a project that he is still working on and stays up until it's done. It usually goes along with a 15 minute lecture from his mom about how dare he wait until the last minute to finish up his project, how long did he know it was due? etc.

At 8pm, I get into my pj's, plop in bed, and have my plan of what I'll watch either on video or TV. This is my FAVORITE part of the day! I'm cozy in my bed, thinking about nothing, the boys are in bed, and I wish it could last forever. But, 10pm rolls around and I get VERY sleepy - so that's the end of the day for me! However, if I'd just watched American Idol, I do usually have to run to my computer and post a few comments on my favorite forums, lol!

Summer swirled us into a tornado....

We had a pretty relaxing summer. Little did we know what was brewing. The end of the summer required us to talk to one church attender, who we really felt had some mental issues. My dh talked to this woman, and as you'd expect, she didn't take it very well. We were pretty honest with her, though. Either she needed to get some professional help, or we just couldn't continue to have her in our church. She'd been regularly offending people - like yelling at them for something SHE felt they should've done. Some of these victims didn't even know what hit them over the head. So, we really needed that put to a stop, but we preferred that this woman get the help she needed - we were more afraid for her own children.

She told us she was leaving our church. We were really saddened, but felt we did what we needed to. Three days later, she emailed us and told us we were right, she was getting help, and no, they weren't leaving the church! Wow. We were very surprised. Sure enough, she did get some medicine, and is doing great!

The next month, nearly at the same time, two of our core team members told us they were considering leaving!! They told us that they were exhausted with all the work to set up for church, every Sunday. They needed a break, and maybe they wouldn't even come back!! One person emailed praise team members telling all of them that he was taking a break for a month, probably visiting other churches. A praise team member called it what it was. He emailed back "why don't you just admit that you are checking out other churches because you plan on leaving? Don't leave us hanging - be honest." At least, that was the gist of what he said. This kind of surprised that core team member, and he never did take the break. I don't know what caused our other core team family to halt their plans of leaving. But they never did leave.

At the end of that month, the husband of a good friend of mine (from church) stopped by our house. He told us that they were on the brink of divorce and he didn't know what to do. We had a long talk with him. I already knew half of the story. I'd been praying for my friend the entire summer!! She was out to destroy her marriage. I was watching her balance herself on the edge of a precipice and I couldn't get her to come back to safer ground. However, I think her husband visiting us made a change in her. I don't know why, but from that point on, she began talking "normal." She told us that she thinks she got to drinking too much during the summer, and perhaps that caused her imbalanced thinking. I have been greatly surprised at how much alcohol plays a role in messed up lives.

Not 2 weeks after that incident, a major leader/heavily involved family in our church called us and told us they were leaving the church! This was a complete shock to us. The woman was offended by something dh said to her in an email. There was nothing to be offended about. It turned out that the woman was battling severe depression (probably still is) and she thought she saw something in a comment that wasn't there. I had a long talk with this family. The woman is getting some medicine to help her with post-partum depression. They really didn't have any reasons for wanting to leave - just the one comment.

Through all of this, dh and I realized what spiritual warfare we were dealing with. We prayed harder, fasted, and prayed heavily for these different families. What was also interesting was during this time, our attendance dropped into the 70's. It was over 100 in the summer.

Dh came to the realization that we were just not going to focus on the next program, project, whatever to get people IN the doors of our church. We were going to focus on telling the blunt honest truth about what the Bible has to say about our lives.

I was a bit sad that Pastor Appreciation went by without notice. But, we were slowly recovering from all the crazy stuff that happened with all of those different families. There were more, but I shall not continue to list all of the problems that arose. December came, and everyone seemed more excited about what our church was all about. We started getting some new families in, who normally didn't attend church. Our December series was on Christ's second coming, and how we need to be prepared for it, just like we prepare for Christmas (His first coming). This seemed to really turn things around. From December to January, we've been averaging over 120. It's really strange to see that blip in our attendance!! In December, I have to be honest. I was a little hurt that very few people acknowledged us. One person gave us a cookie jar. However, I was very relieved that the general spirit about church was good. People were focusing on Jesus, and we were seeing baby Christians move a little further along in their growth.

In January, dh began a message series about being a bigger Christian. He's basing it on 1 Corinthians, where Paul tells the baby Christians to GROW UP! Our themes have been - God knows the exact sinful life you've led, He accepts that, but now, it's time to change! Meeting God means change will occur in your life. You can't be the same person once you've met Christ.

We're feeling a momentum. And what do you know? We can't go to church, Sunday! The school that we rent told us no activities are allowed there (probably they won't guarantee that the snow has been removed). So, I'm very disappointed about that. But, the last time we weren't allowed to meet at the church, we had a prayer walk around one particular neighborhood. The next year, more than 5 families attended our church from that neighborhood!! So, our plans this year is to serve our community. We're going to our local grocery store and passing out hot chocolate. We plan on helping people put their groceries away and return carts for them. There have been times that I've dashed to the grocery store right before service because I had to pick up supplies, and I was quite shocked at the number of people that go grocery shopping at 10:30 on Sunday morning!

Oh, and remember how disappointed I was that our church didn't seem to appreciate us? Well, they are having an appreciation dinner for us at the end of this month. :o) My heart is encouraged. I should not desire accolades and stuff like that - I know. We serve Jesus and that IS enough. But, I was just being real about my feelings. I hope you understand.

Serious Battles, the Fun is over (was that fun before?)...

Uh, yes, it was fun before. Remember my excitement about setting up the rooms? I felt like I could do it EVERY week! Now that I *do* do it every week, I don't want to. Neither do the rest of the "core team." But, that's really not an issue. That's just us getting bored/tired of the same old thing.





Actually, on a serious note, my husband and I have had to grow up, really quickly. I'd heard other pastors and pastor's wives tell me, "it's a spiritual battle, you know." Yes, I know it's a spiritual battle. I'd nod in hearty agreement, but I *really* didn't know. I only knew in my mind. I'm not sure there's a way to prep for this kind of thing, either. I think, we just go through it, like a soldier goes into battle. He knows it's a battle, but he really doesn't realize how hard and heart-wrenching it is until he's in it. He doesn't understand the *real* fears he faces, nor how hard it would be to pull the trigger, knowing he's ending a life, a precious life, that some individual did value.





We're in a battle, a spiritual one. Perhaps one difference is, my husband and I knew it may/would be coming. I guess others were blindsided and shocked. The evil one is the father of terrorists, so why should we be surprised when he employs terroristic tactics?





Now that I've explained the *real* issue. This is how it's playing out in the "shadowlands." (I'm referring to CS Lewis comment that we live in the shadowlands, and the *real* world is the spiritual world).