Wow what an outpour of

wonderful advice. You know I knew that if I had any doubts, I could just put it out there and you all would come to my rescue (so to speak). You can't understand how thrilled and appreciative I am, of all the great comments left about the prayer.

I wish I could answer you all one by one, but that would take forever. I did notice that there seemed to be a general consensus about one thing. "Speak to Him as if He was right there, like a conversation between a parent and child". THIS is what I wasn't doing, and here is where I get real and honest again......as much as I love Him and as much as I understand that He is my Father, there are still times where I don't make the connection. I start talking to Him as if He is a stranger just listening to me vent. How wrong, how extremely wrong of me!!!

Last night I sat in bed and decided to just BE. Not to try and rehearse some sort of perfect prayer, I thought of every word you all had said and took your advice. Well it turns out that the conversation went something like this:

Me - Father, I know I've been struggling with the prayers, and I'm hoping that I can just be myself for once and talk to you openly. I just hope I don't say anything stupid.....and
Lord - Stop, right there.....See...you're doing it again Sandra!
Me - What do you mean, I was just being myself?
Lord - No dear daughter, again, you forget that I just want to talk to YOU, I want to hear about your day, what is on your mind, what is worrying you, there's nothing stupid about that.
Me - Well I just meant that I want to pray without babbling or repeating myself or sounding sort of dumb.
Lord - Just be yourself, I'm right here, no matter what....and I have all the time in the world.
Me - I'm trying to, I'm trying to remember what everyone told me so that I can do it right.
Lord - Again you're trying to rehearse, I don't want rehearsed, I want your inner most thoughts and struggles, just imagine I'm right there next to you.
Me - Oh, Oh I get it, well in that case......

Next thing I knew, I had spent 20 minutes talking to Him, not even realizing that I had spent that much time. The words just flowed from me, I didn't stumble, I didn't babble, I was just me. Little Ol' Me, sitting in the lap of the wonderful and loving Father, and for the first time in years, I felt it. I felt like everything would be ok, no matter the outcome, no matter if I got what I asked for, or if I didn't. Now THAT is pure contentment at it's best.

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God - Philippians 4:6

So again, thank you ALL for the advice and for helping me through this. I know it may not seem a big thing to some of you, but it was really frustrating me the past few days.

Yesterday I went by the thrift store on base. I walked out with some goodies and only spent $7. Yeah, that's the beauty of thrift stores. I could have picked out a few more things, but Nicholas was getting impatient and I guess I could wait until next wednesday when they have the $5 bag sale. I'm going to practice for that, seriously, I'm going to see how much I can cram into a bag LOL

So this is what I found. A vinyl tablecloth for the table (very useful when kids want to draw), 2 big cross stitch books, a bundle of 6 dinosaur books for Jasmine, 2 toys for nicholas, a curtain/valance set that brings two patchwork pillows ($3) and then my last find I couldn't believe. For months now I have seen on TV, the ad for Slim in 6 weeks. I wanted to get it, but couldn't bring myself to justify spending the money on it. Well I found it, the DVD's AND the Slim Training Band. Guess what I'm going to be starting next week??? Yeah, I'm changing my schedule a bit so that I can work in an hour to exercise. Can't wait!!!

Oh and that little pillow that says "This House is Ruled By the Dog", or in our case, it should say DOGS. LOL
Love it, thought of hubby when I first found it and new I had to get it....he lets the pugs get away with everything.

Well it's 7:30am and time to get the kids ready to leave, then I better get started on my to do list. I hope you're all having a beautiful morning. Oh and before I leave, I want you all to go on over to The Flipflopmamma, go on and see how the Lord is working in their lives and how truly amazing He is.

Finish Laundry
Mop kitchen and hallway floors
Make budget for payday
Make menus for next two weeks
Ironing

God Bless,