Happy Halloween

Whew! It's been a busy week. I hit the ground running when I returned from New Mexico. I haven't had a chance to post about our trip and probably won't get to anytime soon, so I'm directing you to Carol's site to see her post. She has a great slide show of pictures. She took all of these pictures. I took my camera and never even pulled it out :-) More to come on the Glorieta trip later hopefully, but for now here's the latest with the fam.

The kids had a blast this week preparing for Halloween. I know some people don't "celebrate" Halloween, so I hope I don't offend anyone by posting these pics. As a kid, my family always took me trick or treating, and I didn't turn out all that bad... ( at least I don't think I did :-) ) So, I let my kids dress up and we usually go to the church outreach carnival and trick or treating.

Yesterday at school, Mary Lyndsey had favorite book character day. She dressed as Little Red Riding Hood. We dressed one of her dogs to look like the wolf/granny. We put reading glasses, a dress and a shower cap on him. They both were adorably cute.

Spencer had a fall festival party at school today too. They made some really cute crafts... bats, tie dyed t-shirts, slime, a popcorn hand and a few other things. He had a great time.

And, his class at school presented him with a huge basket of cards and gifts for his trip to Chicago for testing next week. We were a little overwhelmed with the support and love. I'm telling you, if I didn't know today was October 31, I'd think it was Christmas instead of Halloween by the looks of all of these gifts! We are blessed indeed to have so many friends who love us! This year for Halloween, instead of heading to the church, we had a small party in our back yard for some of the kids in our cul-de-sac. We ate pizza and cupcakes, made some crafts, and I handed out goody bags with way too much candy in them! I think the kids had a good time. Here's the whole crew!

Iron Man, Iron Man 2, A Camp Rock Girl, Batman, Mr.T, A Ninja, A Kitty Kat, Little Red Riding Hood, Mulan, Snow White, A BCA Knight Fan and a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle... what a guest list.

Spencer and Mary Lyndsey dressed up as Little Red Riding Hood and the Woodsman to go trick or treating. We tried to get Lucia to wear a wolf mask, but she wouldn't keep it on. I had plans to dress up as the Granny, but it never happened. I barely made it through everything going on today, so I didn't get to dress up. It was kind of a let down after winning the costume contest last year dressed as the Wizard of Oz. The kids had a good time though and got way too much candy!

The day started out with me going to vote. I don't know if the lines are long everywhere, but here in Georgia it's been crazy. Greg waited four hours yesterday to vote, and I waited three hours today. Actually, Greg waited two hours for me, and then I switched with him in line and I waited the last hour. He is the best husband ever! He went and waited in the cold to save me a spot while I took the kids to school. Now that's love!

The day ended kind of crazy too. Spencer had a status seizure when we returned from trick or treating. I think it just wore him out to walk all over the neighborhood. Also, he had a pretty full, exciting day today. We had to administer his rescue med. He is sleeping comfortably now. The last thing he said, with slurred speech, before falling asleep was, "Do I get to eat my candy tomorrow?" Poor baby. Please pray for him this coming week.

Well, I'm off to write Then Sings My Soul. I hope you will come join in! Can you believe October is over already?!

Sweet Blessings,

Amy

We're Home

We are finally home from Glorieta and trying to get back into the swing of things. I seem to be having re-entry problems. It doesn't help that ML is sick, I ran a fever all day and we leave in less than a week for Chicago for testing for Spencer's surgery. I covet your prayers.

I will post pictures from Glorieta and updates soon. For now, I'm off to get some much needed rest!

Faith Lifts - Put on, Put off

Have you ever been to a special event or on a trip and you just couldn't decide what to wear? I know I always over pack when I'm traveling because I wonder if the weather will change or what is more likely my mood will change.

I'm over at Faith Lifts today. Come join me.

Then Sings My Soul Saturday

We've been singing this song in Worship this week at Glorieta. I love the part that says 

"Behold He Comes, Riding on the Clouds

Shining like the sun, at the trumpets call

So lift your voice, it's the year of Jubilee

And out of Zion's Hill salvation comes."

Sorry I'm late getting this up. We've been in meetings the entire time. I'll be back soon.

Have a great week.

Sweet Blessings,

Amy

We're Here!

Carol and I are in Glorieta this week.  Please pray for us and for our families while we are away! 

Be back soon... with pictures.

Amy

Then Sings My Soul Saturday - Every Season

Is life so busy that you sometimes forget to stop and enjoy it? Do you ever forget to look around and take in all the majesty of creation. Do you see God in everything?

In the whispering of the wind,

in the crack of thunder,

in the warm rays of the sun on your back,

in the refreshing smell of the air after rain,

in the twinkling of the stars,

in the color of the flowers,

in the expanse of the sky,

in the crashing of the waves on the shore,

in the feel of grass on your bare feet,

in the chirping of birds,

in the leaves falling from the trees,

in seeing your breath on a winter day,

in the difference of each snowflake.

Do you trust Him through every season of life that you encounter?

"But blessed is the man who trusts me, God, the woman who sticks with God.They're like trees replanted in Eden, putting down roots near the rivers—Never a worry through the hottest of summers, never dropping a leaf, serene and calm through droughts, bearing fresh fruit every season.

Jeremiah 17:7-8 The Message

Girls Getaway Cruise Contest Entry

***My husband has decided I need to be entered into this contest. I'm wondering if he's just trying to get rid of me for a few days :-) I cried when he sent this to me. Here's his post:

Amy Wyatt, my wife of 15 years and mother of two, needs to win the Girl’s Getaway Christian Women’s Cruise Giveaway. Despite encouragement from her family and friend’s, Amy has been unwilling to write her entry into this contest because she feels other people are more deserving. We are a very blessed family and I love my wife dearly (and I am talking Fireproof type love) but she is wrong on this one: Big Time Wrong! She needs a Getaway Vacation with a girlfriend and other Christian women so she can relax, rest, and recharge.

John Eldredge in his best selling and life changing book, Wild at Heart, got it right when he wrote, “women in the church today are tired.” Well I guess so - if you spend every waking moment in service to Church, your husband, children, and community. Combine this service with the task of always sleeping with one eye open, and the thought of having a true vacation where you can fellowship with other believers, have fun in the sun, and sleep all night long without interruption starts to fade.

If you are in a hurry and want the Reader’s Digest version then this is for you: My son has epilepsy and is headed for probable brain surgery within the year, he has a seizure response dog, Lucia, that we love dearly but usually wakes Amy at least once a night, my daughter is 5 and usually wakes in the middle of the night a couple times a week, I am a Sales Manager so I travel a good deal (80 nights in a hotel so far this year) and while I try to help, Amy carries most of the responsibility of the work at home. Amy speaks to patients and caregivers with Epilepsy at least once a month, she leads a Tuesday morning Bible study at Church that is reviewing EVERY book of the Bible, she helps co-teach a Sunday morning class for recently married couples, my daughter is taking dance lessons, my son is in Tae Kwon Do, and has a physical therapy and occupational therapy appointment every week and in her free time (laugh to yourself) she is working on becoming a better speaker and writer so she can share the hope and love of Jesus with other women. The most amazing part of all this work and service is that she does it with a cheerful and eager heart to serve others.

I try to take my wife on short 2-3 day mini-vacation getaways every 3-4 months so that she can recharge but she doesn't like the thought of us both being away from my son without being able to drive home or catch a direct flight at a moment’s notice. She needs a Girl’s Getaway vacation so she can unplug from all the stress and connect with other Christian Women having fun. I will try to cover while she is gone for a week, but I am not sure I can do all that she does even for just 1 week. The truly scary and intimidating part for me is not the above, but the thousands of little things she does every day that no one appreciates or understands; like putting my daughter’s hair up or what she packs in my son’s lunch every day. Those are the things that are intimidating and make her and most mother’s I know deserving of a Girl’s Vacation Getaway. I think Anita Renfro got it right when she put this sequel together about What Dad’s say in a day.

What makes Amy’s situation truly unique and the biggest challenge contributing to her physical and mental tiredness is our 8 year old son, Spencer, who has epilepsy. Since June of this year, his epilepsy has not been under control and we have made at least 3 Emergency room visits and called EMS at least twice a month. We are now in the beginning stages of the process for our son to have brain surgery. This extraordinary step is necessary because my son has a type of epilepsy called Status Epilepticus, which basically means that once he starts having a seizure it will not stop without significant medical intervention. During the summer of 2007, he seized for so long at the hospital that they had to airlift via helicopter to another hospital in the Atlanta area. This thought and fear is always on her mind and as a result she always sleeps with one open on the video monitor watching my son while he sleeps to make sure he is not having another seizure.

One last thing, Candace spoke at our church (Hebron Baptist) over a year ago and my son wanted to know where Amy was going for the evening. Amy explained there was Women’s Speaker at Church that she was going to hear. Spencer asked lots of questions and then responded with, “Tell DJ I said Hello and make sure you have your picture taken with her for me.” Amy was encouraged that evening by Candace’s talk but she missed out on that picture opportunity. Winning this contest would give her a second opportunity to get that picture with Candace that my son wanted.

Please select Amy as your Girl’s Getaway Cruise Vacation winner so she can have some fun with God, other Christian women, and rest without the every day stresses on her physical and mental condition and sleep with both eyes closed for at least 4 days in a row.

Submitted by Greg, Spencer, Mary Lyndsey, and Lucia.

Midweek Motivation - Praying your ABC's

I'm over at Writer Interrupted today for Midweek Motivation. Come join me.

My daughter has been learning the sounds for the alphabet and how to write her letters in preschool. The ABC song is now the song of choice in our car every morning. We pray every morning on the way to school too. Recently she said, “Mommy, let’s pray our ABC’s this morning.” Not a bad idea.

To read the rest of this devotion, click here.

Sweet Blessings,

Amy

Playing Catch Up

Whew! It's been a crazy few weeks. We've had so much going on, it seems I haven't been able to catch my breath. Where do I begin? I've been promising pictures and other updates for weeks, so this is my catch up post.

A couple of posts ago, I told you guys I was headed to Women of Faith in Atlanta. It was incredible. I had a great time with three of my best buddies, Carol D, Janet and Carol H.

We not only enjoyed the conference, but we headed to The Cheesecake Factory at midnight on Friday night. Oh the stories we could tell :-)

Sweet Times, Sweet Food and Sweet Friendships. I couldn't have asked for a better weekend! And Carol H and I have decided this is our new theme song.

Right after WOF, I left for Canton, Georgia for CLASS. It is a speaker training program started by Florence and Marita Littauer. I attended a few years ago in Texas, but I wanted a refresher course, so I attended as an alum since it was being held so close to where I live.

It was a great conference, but what made it even more fun was I got to meet and room with Melissa Mashburn from Mel's World. We had a blast! She is the sweetest, coolest girl! We definitely hit it off and hope to make plans to get together again soon. It's so cool when our bloggy world friends become our real life friends too.

When I returned from CLASS, I finally got to see the movie Fireproof. I loved it. If you haven't seen it, go see it. I highly recommend it! And if you have seen it, go see it again! We need to support movies like this. I think it kind of shocked people that it ranked number 4 on opening weekend in limited release theaters. I hope the numbers will hold and it will continue to do well.

You could probably tell from my Faith Lifts post yesterday we are trying to make some decisions about Spencer's healthcare. We are trying to determine if we want to pursue having epilepsy brain surgery and if so, where to have it done. I covet your prayers during this time of trying to make the best choices for him and his future. We have had one small seizure in three weeks so he is definitely doing better. He is still really tired from his medication increases though.

And in the middle of all of this craziness, I am trying desperately to get ready for the Glorietta Christian Writer's Conference. Carol and I are presenting this year and are finishing up the last touches on our workshops. We are also busy trying to get the stuff we want to pitch to publishers completed. If you think about it, lift up a prayer for us and for our families while we are away.

By the way, I have been very neglectful of passing along awards given to me on this blog and actually completing any tags I have. I'm so sorry if you have awarded me or tagged me and I didn't pass it on. Like I said, it's been kind of crazy.

I do want to thank Michele at Michele's Morsels Beelieve for this award. I will eventually get around to passing it along I hope.

I hope you all have a great week. I will be back tomorrow for Midweek Motivation with Writer Interrupted.

Sweet Blessings,

Amy

Decisions, Decisions

Have you ever been faced with a tough decision? I'm not talking about where to go to dinner, which movie to see or which color shoes to buy. I mean the kind of decision where you truly do not know what to do because it affects your or someone you love's future. What do you do when you are faced with such a decision? When you need wisdom? Many people will tell you to weigh the pros and cons. They will say you should choose whatever has the  greatest potential for a good outcome. But what are we to do as Christians?

To read the rest of this devotion,  click here and come join me over at Faith Lifts.

Sweet Blessings, 

Amy

Then Sings My Soul Saturday - Still Calls Me Son

I saw this song on Leila's site this week and I just can't get it out of my head. Aren't we all prodigal children at times?

Luke 15: 11-24

11Jesus continued: "There was a man who had two sons. 12The younger one said to his father, 'Father, give me my share of the estate.' So he divided his property between them.
13"Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. 14After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. 15So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.
17"When he came to his senses, he said, 'How many of my father's hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.' 20So he got up and went to his father. "But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.
21"The son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.[b]'
22"But the father said to his servants, 'Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let's have a feast and celebrate. 24For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' So they began to celebrate.

When will we come to our senses? He's waiting with open arms for us to return.

If you don't really want to know the answer... don't ask your kids.

This morning as we were getting ready for school I casually asked Mary Lyndsey if I'm a good mommy. Heavens, I don't know why I asked this.  Maybe it's because I recently read Lysa TerKeurst's post about good mom, bad mom. Anyway, I wondered how my five year old would answer and the curiosity got the better of me. 

Here is what she said: " You are good when you let me do what I want to do, but when you yell or make me follow the rules you're not so good."

Hmmm... I wonder if this is sometimes how I feel about my Heavenly Father. My human nature wants to do what I want to do. And when He doesn't allow it or disciplines me, then I sometimes wonder about His goodness.

Friends, God is Good. All the time God is good. He only disciplines because He wants what is best for me. Sometimes I am hardheaded (read stiff necked)  and don't listen... during those moments, it may seem like He has to yell to get my attention. If I had only done what He asked in the first place and didn't always have delayed obedience, things would run much more smoothly I think.

When I reminded Mary Lyndsey of all of the wonderful things I do for her and provide for her (you know like taking her to Build-a-Bear and Olive Garden for her birthday, making her chocolate cupcakes, playing Hungry Hungry Hippos - things that rank way up there on the list for a five-year-old) she said she forgot I did all those good things. Then she said, maybe you are a good mommy.

I'm signing off now to go list in my journal all the good things God has done for me, His bountiful blessings, to remind me how good He is. I don't want to forget them.

Psalm 100:5  For the Lord is good and His love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.

Sweet Blessings,

Amy

Oscar Meyer Weiner revisited

You might recall I was at Women of Faith last weekend. One of my favorite parts of the weekend was seeing Nicole C. Mullen perform. I love her music and it's so fun to watch her dance on stage with the group of teenagers she mentors. One of the teenagers is her daughter and another is her nephew Andrew Thompson. Here is a clip of them dancing and singing.



When they introduce the kids, they always have Nicole's nephew sing the Oscar Meyer Weiner song. In 1997, when he was four years old, he beat out 65,000 kids from across the nation to sing the Oscar Meyer Weiner song. He was a guest on Oprah to sing then and again in 2007. Take a look.



All that talk about Oscar Meyer weiners made me hungry. It also made me want to revisit this post from January.

You guys know this song… “Oh I wish I were an Oscar Meyer Weiner that is what I really want to be. Cause if I were an Oscar Meyer Weiner, then everyone would be in love with me.” (I know - now you are going to have this tune in your head all day… but at least it isn’t “It’s a Small World.”) I’ve decided that there is truth in this song. I’ll explain more in a moment.

Did you know that a recent survey showed Americans consume 20 billion hotdogs each year? That equals 70 hotdogs per person a year. I don’t know about you, but somebody is eating my hotdogs. I really don’t care for hotdogs all that much; however, sometimes when I am watching television at night with my husband, a commercial for Sonic will come on and they will show a foot long coney with cheese and chili and mustard… or a Ballpark Franks commercial will come on and some little kid will be smiling while eating a hotdog…and right at that moment…I REALLY WANT A HOTDOG! Sometimes that commercial is then followed by a Coke commercial. You know the one where you hear the ice tinkling in the glass, then you hear the familiar pop of the can or of the lid being unscrewed, then you hear the pouring and fizzing of the Coke over the ice and then the person gulping. Well then, I REALLY WANT A HOTDOG and A COKE!

The power of suggestion is amazing isn’t it? Advertisers use it to their advantage all the time. One night several years ago my husband and I were watching television and a “Be like Mike” Gatorade commercial came on. Greg got up, went to the refrigerator, got a Gatorade and sat back down. He did it without even thinking about it. I made fun of him that he was too easily manipulated; but the reality is when we see someone else enjoying something; we often want that thing too.

Wouldn’t it be great if we as Christians used the power of suggestion to advertise Jesus? If others saw us enjoying Jesus so much that they wanted Him too? If our lives were so changed by the presence of the Holy Spirit, that others wanted to be like us? I am currently teaching an Angela Thomas study called “Living Your Life as a Beautiful Offering” and in it she says: “When I am empty or without spiritual hunger, if I can come alongside someone who desires God, then I feel my spirit being renewed in their presence… After I have been with a spiritual giant, my heart is renewed. My spirit longs for more of God. She has sloshed out Jesus and made me thirsty.”

This is where the truth in the song comes out. I kind of want to be an Oscar Meyer Weiner so everyone would be in love with not me but Jesus in me. Changed so much by my Redeemer that people want to know what the difference is. I want to have people come alongside me and hunger and thirst for Christ because I have “sloshed him out” all over the place. I want them to see Him in me and then want to taste Him too. Christ says in the Sermon on the Mount “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” (Matthew 5:6) In this day and time when so many people are searching for something to fill them because they feel so empty – shouldn’t we be advertising Jesus as much as possible with our lives? We should let them know that He is worth hungering and thirsting for (much more than a hotdog and a coke). Let’s let our lives make others want to “taste and see that the Lord is good.” (Psalm 34:8)

Gotta run. Sweet Blessings. I think I'll fix hotdogs for dinner tonight.
Amy

Then Sings My Soul Saturday - Audio Adrenaline

Sorry I haven't been around this week. It's been kind of crazy. As soon as I returned from Women of Faith, I left for a conference. I've been playing catch up the rest of the week. I promise to post some pictures from WOF and from CLASS soon. I had a great time and learned a lot! Thanks for all of your prayers for Spencer. We are almost two weeks seizure free. Keep praying!!

Heard this song on the radio today and just had to sing along. I forgot how much I liked this one!

Enjoy! Have a blessed weekend.

Amy