Don't you just love Sundays? Everything just feels like a "fresh start." Its a day of rest and preparation for the coming week. That's why I love church service too. It's a critical part of preparing you for the week to come. It always feels like I am "recharging my batteries," in a way.

Today, it feels even more like that because tomorrow will be a big kick off date! Our church is starting a  new 40 days of prayer which wraps up with a bang on 07/07/07. What is so cool, for me, is that that is also my 25th Birthday! How cool is that?! :)

I am grateful to be participating in this new 40 days of prayer. You can check out the daily devotional guide on our church's page that I moderate: www.myspace.com/life_churchpw Feel free to post comments and join the group as well! Also, check out the banner ads about "The Call: Nashville" where we will be staging this great revolution on July 7th. I can't wait to go to Nashville and be with thousands of believers!! What better way to spend my Birthday than with something like this that will hopefully change the course of our nation and start a whole new "Jesus Movement." :)

I encourage all who are willing to be a part of it; even if you can't go to Nashville. Go on this 40 day prayer journey, and do a "fast" if you can. It can be a water only fast, a "no tv" fast, a "no junk food" fast, or a fast from anything that is keeping you from the Lord. For me, it will be a very important fast, because I will be "fasting sleep." No, I'm not going to stay awake for 40 days, I'm just going to make sure that I don't over-indulge in sleep anymore. I want to make the most of my days, and I can't do that by sleeping all the time; no matter how tired I feel. I will get up at 7 a.m. every day and be in bed, no later, than 11 p.m. I will also start the day by praying one hour when I wake up. This is going to be tough, but I love the Lord more than I do sleep. I will keep my promise, and do this for 40 days. Hopefully, I will also keep this going even beyond that; once I get into the habit of it.

Anyways, that was the main point of church today. We also focused on "foundations." Of course, we all know how important a foundation is for our house. It's just as important in our lives too. So, we have to make the choice of what foundation our life is going to be built on. We can build our foundation on sand (ourselves, our selfish ambition, money, material things, etc.) or, we can choose to build on the rock: Jesus. Jesus is the only foundation that will stand. Period. If we build our lives around ourselves and our own ways, we will ultimately fall (both in this life and in eternal damnation). But, if we build on our faith in Christ, we will have a solid foundation, which will profit us both now, and in our eternal life with Him.

Our pastor explained that there are two solid pillars: "Life" and "Way of Life" The bridge that connects those two pillars is obedience. Do you have that connection, or do you only "know" that Christ is "Life," but nothing more? If we know Him and LOVE HIM, we will obey His commands. (John 14:2) Is there any real difference between you and a demon, because even THEY believe in Christ. Do you have head knowledge or heart knowledge of Christ? Head knowledge is nothing more than that you may know and believe that Jesus is God and did all He did. Heart knowledge is when you know and believe that Christ is Lord and that He did all He did and you are LIVING your faith by walking in obedience to Him. In other words, the difference between head and heart is surrender; YIELDING to Him and giving your heart to Him.

I hope anyone that knows me knows that I live in heart knowledge. I love Jesus Christ. He is the Lord and Savior of my life. I can't imagine my life without Him. I am grateful for His salvation. I can't imagine being eternally separated from Him when I die, so I choose to believe in Christ and walk in faith. How about you? I can't imagine not sharing heaven with you, which is why I pray that all who read this have a relationship with Christ. If not, it's not too late to choose. It's only too late when you're dead, and then,.....well,.......I don't even want to think about that!! Just choose Christ! You'll never regret it!! God bless all who read this!!

As silly as it sounds, sometimes, we need to heal ourselves and tell ourselves the things we need to hear the most. It's time for me to let go, forgive myself for "flaws" and "imperfections." It's time to stop beating myself up for being a "bad" wife/mom, not losing weight as fast as I'd like, and for whatever else I think I should fault myself for. I will not let Satan condemn me, for I am in Christ and "Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." (Romans 8:1). Neither will I take over for him and start condemning myself too.

I forgive myself and I‘m letting go of self-directed anger (depression: anger turned inward). If I don’t do everything right, so what. I forgive myself.

Melissa, it’s ok. You don’t have to be perfect, and you can’t be perfect. You won’t be “happy” once perfection in every area is achieved because that will never happen. Choose to be happy “NOW.” Count your blessings. Enjoy the things you have. Give yourself what you wish others would give you if you’re not getting it. Be good to yourself and love yourself. God loves you and there are many other people that love you. They may not show it in the way you most need, but don’t fault them for that. Not everyone knows how to love, or to love you in the way that you crave. People aren’t always “in tune” to a person’s deepest needs. That’s ok, because even if they aren’t, God is! It’s alright. It’s all going to be alright.

Jesus loves me. :)

We never know the full impact we make on someone. Our words and actions run deep; and they imprint on people, whether good or bad. Even if I don’t always see the “fruit” of my prayers, I know that it is there. Maybe it’s not on the surface, but God sees it where it is growing down deep. Maybe that is why God doesn’t want us to grow “weary in doing good” (Galatians 6:9). It’s His way of saying, “keep up the good work, because even though you can’t see the rewards right now, I can.” Our efforts matter, and no effort is too little. We all make a difference!!

As soon as people were mobilized to prayer, my son got better. No more medicine for his fever. :) The rash the doctor talked about looking for did show up yesterday, though, so I assume it was roseola. I don't think there is much else to do since the rash comes after the fact. He is starting to act more like himself. So, thank you everyone for uniting in prayer for my son!! I appreciate all of my brothers and sisters in Christ!! God bless you and praise be to God! :)

Well, I have two updates:

1. Casey's fever has gone, and I pray it doesn't return. He still isn't acting quite himself, though. I'm keeping an eye on him. Thank you everyone for your quick mobilization to prayer. I have no doubt that God heard and answered quickly. I pray that Casey is truly better.

2. We gave Rocky back to Cheryl. I know we only had him a few days, but it didn't seem to be working. I should have thought it through a little better before we got him, but it seemed like a good idea at the time. There just wasn't the extra time and room to mess around with him, and even though it seemed ideal, it just wasn't something we really wanted. I guess once a cat person, always a cat person. LOL I just don't fancy dogs long term, no matter how cute they are. Playing with them and being around them is fine, but I just wasn't into the 24/7 job of it. I already got the kids to worry about, plus myself and my weight-loss priorities, and my spiritual life, and we are always on the go and so busy. I didn't give that enough consideration. I feel rather foolish for diving into something that I really wasn't wholeheartedly sold on, but I'm glad to have things back to our "normal" around here. Having a dog in the house just wasn't our thing. (No offense to anyone else with a dog. Sorry.) I guess I just thought it was somehow meant to be because the dog is deaf. But, even when things SEEM ideal, they aren't always. Even Satan can be an "angel of light." Even when things seem to be a good thing, it doesn't necessarily mean it's meant to be, and in our case, it wasn't. Forgive me Lord for not truly coming to you in prayer and seeking your guidance.

Well, that's all I got for now. I'll keep everyone updated on Casey. Right now, he is acting very whiny. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? LOL Maybe he's at the end of whatever is in his system. I don't know. Thanks for all your support everyone!!

In Christ,

Melissa :)

Having a dog makes you appreciate the obedience level of your children. ;) They now seem like saints compared to this dog! Rocky is a nice dog; definitely devoted. He has a lot of good points. However, I just can't seem to get him to look at me long enough to teach him a sign to learn. I am also having a problem with him going potty. Cheryl said he was good about going out. However, I'm not seeing it. He goes out only to come back in and have an "accident" a few minutes later. I don't get it! What am I doing wrong? This is getting frustrating, and I'm beginning to wonder what I got myself into.

We definitely feel like we have recharged our batteries, and that coming "home" feels all the more enjoyable. Taking vacations are so essential to refreshing the routines of our every day lives.

A lot of times, you "save the best for last," but for me, I felt that the best was first. We started out on our road trip, with some shopping along the way, and came to Kentucky to stay with my weight loss buddy, Michelle, from spark people.com. I can't tell you how great that was!! I was so happy to meet her and her family and we had SUCH A GREAT TIME of Christian fellowship!! Our kids also had a great time running around and playing with her darling kids as well. We miss them already and hope we can see them again sometime.

After a reluctant good-bye, we headed to Gatlinburg Tennessee. What a time of seeing all that beautiful scenery and attractions that Tennessee has to offer!! There is so much to do down there!!

Wednesday, we drove up to the Knoxville zoo. They had a lot of neat animals!! We also met my Mom and Nat up there. They had just finished recording his second southern gospel cd and were ready to start having some fun together! (By the way, I will have his new songs up on his myspace page soon. www.myspace.com/nathanielbrownmusic )

The zoo was fun, but for me, it was almost unbearable. Like my last vacation, I somehow managed to get sick. Monday morning, I woke up with a mild sore throat, which progressively got worse. By the time we got to Tennessee on Tuesday, it was so bad that I had a hard time swallowing, and I felt achy and weak. So, when we were at the zoo on Wednesday, I felt like I could barely go on, but was determined not to let my vacation be ruined. So, after we left the zoo, we had to take a break in Pigeon Forge to go to the doctor. He said I had a bacterial infection (maybe strep throat) and I got a nice shot in the butt, and some medications to get rid of it. So, I was able to "get through" my vacation. The sore throat lessened to where I could comfortably swallow again, but the medications made me tired and nauseous; but I trudged as best as I could

Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge was so fun!! We did a lot of shopping! There are also a lot of "time share" people down there. We got snagged by this guy who said if we listened to the 90 minute presentation, we would get 100 dollars. So, we went ahead and did it and got 100 bucks. Sweet deal! The timeshare was for Westgate Resorts, and the deals they offer are out of this world! I didn't know much about timeshares, but the cheapest one they offered (which was a trade in) was only 4,000 dollars! Can you imagine? Only that much for a lifetime of vacations and no more having to rent a nasty sub-standard hotel room. Definitely something that is doable for us sometime down the road, and we were able to negotiate a "hold" on it (being that those offers are a one time offer thing, because of legal issues). So, that's something to think about later. At least we got 100 bucks vacation money! J

So, after the time share stint, Mom and Nat took us to the comedy barn at Pigeon Forge. Man was that funny!! It's CLEAN comedy too! And, the best part was, Mitch got up on stage to play the "hero" in one of their comedy skits. It was SO FUNNY!! They make DVDs of all their performances, so we got Mitch's 15 minutes of fame on DVD. Ha ha! The kids and I also got up on stage when they invited the children to come up and dance. Casey danced a little, but Gianna got a little stage fright and clung to me.

Friday, we went to "Ripley's Believe it or Not Aquarium." That was so neat, and the kids especially loved it. There were so many different kinds of fish, and a tunnel that you can go through where sharks and all sorts of things are swimming above and all around you!! That was the coolest!! I highly recommend seeing that place (aside from the evolution crap that they interject with their "facts" about the animals).

After the aquarium, we went to the Hard Rock Café, there in Gatlinburg. The waiter told us that it was the smallest and most visited Hard Rock that there was. It was an interesting place to go to, and something I wanted to do, just for fun, even though I really have no interest in the "world's" hard rock music.

In addition to all the places we visited and ate at, Mitch and I were able to get a "date" to see Spider-man 3. I recommend that movie. It has a good moral to the story.

So, after all that dining, sight-seeing, and endless walking and shopping, it was time for Mom and Nat to leave for home. So, after they left, we were like, "now what?" So, we decided to go visit my friend Susan from myspace, who currently lives in Knoxville. It was such a blessing to visit her and her family. We certainly were blessed with a lot of good Christian fellowship on our trip. I can't get enough of that!! I just love meeting genuinely good people, who love the Lord, and love others! I feel very blessed to have met this woman who has such a beautiful testimony, and strives to share her story with others and leads other people to Christ!

Yesterday was our last day. We got on the road, and stopped to shop for a few more things. We even went to Petsmart where we shopped for our new dog. I don't know if I mentioned it before, so I will tell you a little about the dog. It's a little Boston Terrier, named Rocky. Our friend, Cheryl, thought of us right away when she decided to find a home for him. The dog is deaf, and our son is hearing impaired, so she thought he would be perfect for our family. I must tell you, I was never a "dog person," but this dog and I bonded right off the bat. It definitely was "puppy love," and he curled up in my lap and went to sleep. Oh how cruel it was for her to bring him to us right before vacation and have him on my mind the whole time until I got home! Ha ha. So, anyways, we decided that we would take him in as soon as we got home. She is coming by, later, to bring him to us!! I am so excited!! Thank you Lord for this special kind of gift!! He's the perfect dog for us in so many ways!!

Anyways, after all that shopping, we stopped in Connersville to see my friend, Heather, and her new little baby, and then came home and crashed. I am still tired, but I know I need to work out and make up for a week of carefree behavior. I think I may have overdid it a little bit. But, nevertheless, I am committed. I will lose the weight no matter what the setbacks, and no matter what illness comes my way!

I'm glad to be back!!! Pray that I will recover from this nasty infection, and that I can get back on track with my exercise and nutrition. Also, pray that I would be able to organize and adapt to all the new changes with the dog. There are a lot of adjustments to be made, but all of them will be worth it!!

Dear Lord, I love my family!! Thank you for the vacation, the new dog, and the success in my life and continue to help me to persevere!! Thank you also for everyone on my friends list, and especially for the families that we have met on vacation, who are now a part of my heart, and my family, forever!!!