Moments with God | Marcaritaville's Blog

Interview Part II… Matt and Nikki are going on a great adventure!

28 Jun 2012 1 Comment

by marcaritaville in Moments with God Tags: Child Trafficking, India, Rebuild The Ruins

For those who fell in love with Nikki last week from her interview (It is pretty much impossible NOT to, she is just so loving!), here is the second part to our interview~

What are the most important things about child trafficking we need to know?

The stats on Human Trafficking are heart wrenching. You may find statistics at here:

The statistics in the above link are dated 2007, but the horror of Human Trafficking has only increased in five years that have passed since the article was written. With any inhumane situation out there, though, there is hope. Thankfully, there are people out there that are combating Human Trafficking every day. When reading the stories behind modern day slavery, it doesn’t take long for your heart to break.
I think that the most important thing to realize about Human Trafficking is that those trafficked truly are victims in every sense of the word. There are a number of reasons that children and women are trafficked. I believe that sometimes people view Human Sex Trafficking as part of the commercial sex industry. That isn’t true at all. Often times women will apply to a promising job that is another country or nearby city. These job posts look very legitimate. They may be advertising for jobs such as receptionists or waitresses. Once the women arrive to the job location, their passports are stolen and they are initiated into their new job as a prostitute. The initiations usually involve drugging the women and allowing them to be raped multiple times.
You may wonder how women could be that naive to apply for a job and accept a job offer long distance. Most of these women are in severe poverty and these “job posts” serve as a glimmer of hope in an otherwise hopeless situation. Some of these women are single mothers that will leave their child with family so she can go earn money for her and her child. The families never hear from the mother again. Children are often trafficked when parents send their child to work in the city. They often think they are providing their child with the opportunity for a future they otherwise wouldn’t have had by staying in their village. Some parents blatantly sell their children into the sex industry.
Some other useful links include:
http://www.thea21campaign.org/
http://www.freedom.firm.in/
How can we help you reach your goals?

Our goals regarding our trip to India go beyond just the financial need. We need prayer! Here are our prayer needs:
-To raise the remaining $2,000 for our trip to India in September.

-Continual guidance from God and the willingness to do what He wants of us.

-A continued passion for those in need. We are passionate about seeing those enslaved set free! Isaiah 61 tells us that Jesus was sent to set the prisoners free.

-A strong network of prayer supporters and missionaries in India.

-Prayer for the ministry we will be helping in September. (Due to security reasons, we cannot disclose who they are or where they are located in India).

-Good health for Nikki.

How can we learn more?
Want to learn more about our trip to India? Keep updated on our blog, Rebuild the Ruins

OK – back to me here… Nikki and her husband Matt are literally weeks away from the next step of their wonderful, God-filled, journey! Please consider supporting them in any way you can. Whether that be through prayer or financial support. I believe their remaining financial need is around $2,000. We are truly believing in God to carry them through this final step. If you feel so moved, and would like to know how to contact Matt and Nikki, or how to donate, please feel free to contact me and I will get you in contact.

I can’t wait to begin giving you all updates on their trip! Great things are about to happen, folks, great things! I get goosebumps even thinking about it!

Digging deeper… Pressing In

14 May 2012 5 Comments

by marcaritaville in Moments with God, My Crazy Life, The Lovely Hubby Tags: awakening, calling, God, pressing in, purpose

Some amazing things have been growing in me. I don;t think it is a mistake that God stretches me in the spring. He grows in me the seeds planted over the winter. I struggle in the dark winter months. Many years, just aimlessly wondering what life has for me… what my purpose is… How anything I am, or anything I do can have any effect on those around me… I pray to God to give me a direction. I stand in the shower with tears rolling down my face begging for Him to fill me up with His purpose… for a direction.. for anything, just to know that I am worthy of being something He can use.

Have you felt that way? anyone?

See, I know that God has something for me that is BIG! I have known since I was little. I have just been sitting and waiting. And living my life. A life with so many struggles and failures. A life of successes, too.

So, what is this THING? For a couple of months now I have felt it growing and moving within me. I have heard it described by others as a birthing process, and it actually feels sort of like that. I feel something incredible developing within me, knowing it is there, but completely unable to describe it, or share it with anyone yet, as I don’t know exactly what it is.

So I wait… and I lose myself in worship, and in His words.

This weekend, Kevin and I went to Niagara Falls for a weekend to have some quiet and enjoy each others presence without the day-to-day bombarding us. It is such an amazing place. If you haven’t figured this out about me yet, I am rarely at a loss for words, but there is something so overwhelming about the Falls. This creation that we are blessed with. All of this power in one spot. So majestic.

At one point, we were walking along the Riverwalk, and I felt this stirring. I lost my breath, IT was the most amazing thing to experience. I told Kevin I just needed to sit and pray for a bit, so he backed off a little, and I went up on a rock by this raging course in the river. And in the middle of all these people, I was alone with God. I have described it as this before, I know, but it felt like the beating of a thousand wings inside of me. Taking my breath away. I am certain that I was probably glowing. It felt like I was. There were other moments through out the weekend that felt similar. Many times tears started to come to my eyes.

(Are you still with me and my ramblings? Thank you for that)

I share this all with you as part of my journey. I am not there yet. It is still coming. In all of this, God is saying “Marcy, press in to me… dig deeper into your faith, into who I am. Press on.”

Exciting days are ahead. Thank you to all of you who lift me up in your prayers.

Changing in God’s Time

07 May 2012 4 Comments

by marcaritaville in Moments with God, My Crazy Life, The Children Tags: God, Jeremiah 29:11, life's musings

Changes… Changes… It’s in the air… It’s in my yard… And I can feel it coming in my life… Coming like a freight train. I have been feeling God stirring in my heart for a while, and it is growing louder by the day. Sometimes it feels like a breeze blowing in my heart, some days it’s like the beating of a thousand butterfly wings.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11

So, for now, I wait, and I pray for God to reveal His plan, hoping I will be ready when He makes His plan known.

But… while I wait… we do this…

Remember back in October when I was so excited about the loggers who were coming in to clear out some of our property? Well, they demolished the place, left it in ruins, and then left us. This is how my yard looked last week (and since November)

Now, you all know that I believe that God has plans for us, and that He cares for us. We have been praying for a way to get this cleaned up. And been waiting for some sort of sign, and picking away at it, log by log. But, honestly, we were so beaten down by the entire thing, it was permeating our lives.

A few weeks ago, friends we had met through our finance class (Dan and Sharon are actually the leaders of the class), suggested we have a cleanup weekend. They were able to arrange everything. They were able to get 2 log splitters, and chain saws. Through their willingness and eagerness to serve, we were able to get the front of our house cleaned up. My son had 2 of his friends with him. And they worked alongside us all day long.

It was incredible that they were able to participate in the weekend.

Anyways… thanks to Dan and Sharon, and the work we all did all weekend… our yard now looks like this:

Praise God for His Blessings, and His timing.

Sometimes ya just gotta give up and have fun…

26 Apr 2012 Leave a Comment

by marcaritaville in Knitting Needles, Moments with God, My Crazy Life, The Children Tags: Family, fun, hiking, Kancamagus, knitting marathon, Lincoln NH, The Wilderness Trail

I was supposed to get quite a bit done on my Harry Potter this morning… I got it out, figured out where I was on a pretty detailed pattern I haven’t touched since before Christmas, and knit part of a row. Then? Ya, I pretty much remembered why I put it down… Because, DANG!, it takes soooooo long to go around this tiny intarsia bag. And takes total concentration. So, when Maddy called from her Geegee’s to ask when we were leaving for the hike, I was all “Um… NOW!”.

Then I called my Mama, and begged and pleaded until she said she would come and enjoy the family hike. We all got in the van and took off up the Kancamagus in Lincoln, NH. We stopped at this great place that a friend suggested called The Wilderness Trail. It is a great, almost level, hike of different lengths and difficulties. We opted for a 3 mile round trip along the Pemi.

The hike started at this fantastic suspension bridge that spanned the river below.

There were wonderful mini-waterfalls along the way, and the girls just couldn’t resist climbing out and posing on the rocks…

My family? Is silly…

Sometimes I feel amazingly blessed!

I got home, had dinner, took a bath, put on jammies, picked up the Harry Potter bag, and my hands said “Um… not a chance hiker lady!”. So, lesson learned… Don’t drive 3 hours and hike for another 2 and then expect to go home and knit intarsia on size 5 needles.

Just Sayin’

Cover the Night… A Child’s Heart in Action

21 Apr 2012 2 Comments

by marcaritaville in Moments with God, My Crazy Life, The Children Tags: Cover the Night, Grace Capital Church, Invisible Children, Joseph Kony, LRA

If you haven’t already heard about it in the news, or online, or on YouTube, but there is this really bad guy out there doing really horrible things to young people. His name is Joseph Kony. He is the head of the LRA (or Lords Resistance Army). Two years ago, my son Aidan and his friends were at their Youth Group, and had the wonderful opportunity to hear a presentation from a group called Invisible Children. Aidan and his friends learned about children the same age as themselves. He heard stories of boys and girls who could be their peers and friends if they lived here. He listened as a gentleman from Uganda shared his story of being ripped from his parents in the middle of the night, being forced to kill his parents, and then being brainwashed into fighting for the LRA. Aidan was shaken to the foundation of his being. HE was moved. And then, he began moving. He felt a call on his heart that has led him to do some pretty cool things to help this nation of young people who are threatened on a daily basis by this horrible man, Joseph Kony, and his army.

Two years ago, Aidan stood in front of his entire school with 2 of his friends and asked his classmates to donate money to help Invisible Children build radio towers so that the villages could communicate with one another and could be alerted when the LRA was moving in their area. Last year, Aidan got people to sponsor him, and then was silent for 25 hours. His silence spoke more than his words could have. A nation of kids here in the US were silent for 25 hours in solidarity with their brothers and sisters in Uganda who have no voice to save themselves. This year? This year is a different type of campaign…

This year is the year of KONY2012. The goal this year is to get as much publicity as possible on Joseph Kony. The goal is to have everyone in the world looking at him and for him. The goal is to get his face and his actions in the public eye so that there is no where on earth he can hide.

Last night was the night the kids have been planning for. Last night was Cover the Night. The night that the kids went out and did small community service activities, like cleaning up trash on the side of the road, and then left behind KONY2012 signs. My three kids and their friends went out last night in the cover of darkness and put up over 60 signs. We had a blast. And today, in the light, it looks so cool to see all of the signs up.

Please forgive the picture quality – it was really dark, and my flash wasn’t cooperating.

My kids do a lot of things that make me proud of them, but every now and then they do something that blows me away. If anything can bring this man, Joseph Kony, to justice, it will be the heart of my children and the thousands upon thousands of others like them around the world.

On Being Yourself…

12 Apr 2012 1 Comment

by marcaritaville in Moments with God, My Crazy Life, The Children, The Lovely Hubby Tags: Authentic Self, Budgeting, Budgets, Church, Dave Ramsey, Family, Finances, Financial Peace University, Grace Capital Church, Life, Love, priorities, The Blind side

Last night I watched, probably for the bazillionth time, The Blind Side. One of my favorite parts is when Sandra Bullock’s character is shopping, looking for clothes for her soon-to-be son. And it hit me… as she says “Well, one thing I know about shopping, is that if you don’t absolutely love it in the store, you won’t wear it. The store’s where you like it the best. So before you choose something, think of yourself wearing it. Ask yourself ‘Is this me?’”

Is this me?

Kevin and I have been making extreme changes in the way we live over the past couple months. We have been married 5 years, and have had a wonderful life together so far. But, we have found ourselves where the majority of Americans have found themselves – in debt. With our debt ruling our decisions. And I find myself asking the question “Is this me?” Is this how I want to be living my life? Is this how I want my kids learning how to live?

Together, and with much prayer, Kevin and I decided: No, this was NOT us. At least, not who we want to be. But by the time we realized it, we found ourselves beyond what we could figure out how to fix on our own. Enter Dave Ramsey. Our church, Grace Capital Church, was offering a 13 week financial class. We began Financial Peace University 7 weeks ago. Now when we go shopping or when we make decisions, we ask “is this us? Is this what we want to become? Does this purchase or expense fit who we want to be or how we see our future?” Mostly we are realizing that we don’t need or want most of what we think we do at first.

Amazingly, this new way of living for us is really helping us to be more clear about our goals, where we see ourselves, how we want our kids to grow up, what we want them to learn from our mess. Dave Ramsey has a favorite saying “Live like no one else now, so that later you can live like no one else”. By really making an effort right now to live like no one else, I am discovering what is important to me, and who I really am.

I am: A child of God

I am: Wonderfully made

I am: A mother to two by birth and one more by choice and love

I am: A wife to a wonderful man

I am: A creative being: sewing, knitting, beading, baking, creating

I am: going to live a life with no debt so we can make our own decisions, not have them made for us!

Putting it all out there… or, the ugly fat roll

19 Mar 2012 1 Comment

by marcaritaville in In Stitches, Knitting Needles, MarcyMade Bakery, Moments with God, My Crazy Life, Stringing Beads Tags: budget, goals, Spring Cleaning, to do list

Well, it’s Monday! I hope your weekend was as fabulous as ours. We were blessed with such wonderful weather, and today is no different. The sun is out, it is probably over 70. They are forecasting this for the week. It is this time of year that we all take inventory of our lives and our surroundings. How many posts have you read in blogville or on facebook about Spring Cleaning? OR that diet to get ready for Summer? And me? Seriously, no different.

I have some big plans… It seems I always have big plans… It’s the follow-up that I stumble a bit on. I guess that’s one of the things I like about blogging. Putting it out here, no matter how few or many actually get to reading it, makes it a commitment. Anyways back to my goals for the next few weeks…

*after writing this, I realized I missed the most important part – Get my application done and jewelry ready to be looked over to see if I can put it in a local shop. That happens on Weds!

1) I have been given a wonderful opportunity to read and review a new eBook titled The Good Wife’s Guide by Darlene Schacht. If you don’t know who she is, she has a blog called The Time-Warp Wife. I found her blog last week, and fell in love. She writes with the heart of a servant. Kindly guiding and nudging us to be our husband’s “Help-Meets” – offering guidance on how to maintain and run the home. You can also find her bible studies (she is currently 6 weeks in to the book of Esther, one of my favorite books).

2) As a subset of #1, I need to get my house “Spring Clean-ed”. Denise has a great outline of deep cleaning in those rooms we just can’t seem to keep control of. I am also completely gutting my clothes. I have FAR too many, none of which even fit me anymore. Some too small, some too big, some too short… And don’t even get me started on the shoes…

3) SOCKS… I knitted my first pair of socks, and have fallen in love. I am now working on a pair for Kevin – he chose black, ug – I have the first one all but done, and would like to have them done and be on to my next pair ASAP.

4)Finances… Kevin and I have been going to financial classes at church (Dave Ramsey’s Financial PEace University) and we have been going gangbusters on our budgeting. The biggest part for us is grocery shopping/meal planning and NOT eating out.

5) Personal spring cleaning… I went back to the gym today after not going for over a month. I had done so well leading up to our January cruise. Once we got back I really lost my workout mojo. (along with my crafting mojo). I had been doing so well, and went from 187 to 172 (yes, that’s pounds people). I weighed myself this morning, and I am back up to 175. I thought it would be more, as I have that wretched back fat roll that makes my bra uncomfortable. I would really love to be fit for summer. I don’t care what my bathing suit looks like, I just want to be able to run around with my kids all summer and not have to stop to catch my breath or adjust by waste band.

6) Work on my Anniversary Quilt!!!!!

I guess that’s all for now, but there you have it. Not my normal type of blog today, just a little accountability check…

What’s on your Spring List?

Anatomy of my life… or, What is housekeeping?

16 Mar 2012 6 Comments

by marcaritaville in Moments with God, My Crazy Life, The Lovely Hubby Tags: cleaning, laundry, Time-Warp Wife

It is absolutely no secret that I love to be a mom. I love to be a wife. I love being crafty. I love cooking. I love doing just about anything that involves watching something on a big screen (y’all are shocked, I know). And, if you know me, it is absolutely NO SURPRISE that I DO NOT LOVE cleaning. I mean, I really want to. I want to be the kind of wife and mother that everyone talks about, whose family comes home to that lemon pine scent and clean floors and counters. I want my husband to go down to the bedroom and NOT see all my clothes piled high on the floor. But, again, y’all know me, and you ALL know… this is just NOT my skill set.

Now, I don’t want you to be totally grossed out. My house isn’t “dirty”, it’s just cluttered, filled to the brim with stuff, and things, and what-nots. And kids. And shoes… Dear Lord in Heaven, where on earth did all these shoes come from? and the clothes???? really? all Kevin does is laundry (That’s right, ladies… I said KEVIN! HE does the best laundry. Be jealous, be very jealous!).

Anyways, I really need to get on figuring out this housekeeping thing. Enter The Time-Warp Wife… ( http://www.time-warp-wife.blogspot.com/ )… I just found this blog. What an incredibly inspiring blog. She really speaks to my heart and makes such easy connections between life and gospel. Very inspiring.

Back to cleaning… OK, so I was browsing about her blog and reading about being your husbands help-mate, really providing what he needs at home so that he can be relaxed and feel loved. Real Proverbs 31 Woman stuff here. The woman we all aspire to be.

She also has a tab with a cleaning schedule. Today says to clean and mop the floors. I’m all “oh, I’m just gonna jump right in and do this!” then I looked around and was like “um… where’s my floor?” lol.

So, today I will start with cleaning up the stuff on the floors. I figure, if the stuff is all over the floor it can’t really be all that dirty underneath, right?

*** I have some fabulous messy house pictures that should be in here, but my USB driver doesn’t want to play nicey nice with my computer brain, so you will just have to imagine it. ***

Accomplishments Abound

18 Nov 2011 Leave a Comment

by marcaritaville in In Stitches, Knitting Needles, Moments with God, My Crazy Life Tags: Baptism, Boroco, crocheting, Knit UGGs, knitting, Quily Top, Ravelry, Sugar and Spice Booties, The Lovely Crow, Woolie Bullie

Well, you all got to see the “before picture”, here is the “AFTER”:

The highlight of my day was heading over to my local yarn store to pick up yarn to make knit baby UGGs. The pattern is so freakin adorable I could cry! Apparently Boroco no longer makes their “suede” yarn, so I opted for a silk/linen blend in a DK/sport weight. Then, I found this fabulous fuzzy yarn called Woolie Bullie to do the seaming and the accents so that they look like real UGGs.

After finishing the sole, I looked at how big they were, looked at the pattern, and realized that the smallest the bootie goes is 3-6 months, so I will be ripping it out, doing a little math, and making a new pattern for a “newborn” size.

Just in case THOSE don’t melt your heart, I picked up this pattern and a crochet hook to make these Sugar and Spice Booties by The Lovely Crow. If you have facebook, go “like” her page ASAP! She has the most adorable baby booties and shoe patterns ever! She sells the PDF right off of her facebook page.

I would really love to get these booties done this weekend, but at the same time I want to make my quilt top. So, I think I may ammend my goal list. I will be reworking the UGG pattern, laying out my quilt, knitting one of the soles, cutting the remaining pieces of my quilt top, and then heading to church to see two very special friends get baptised on Sunday. Think I can do it? hmmmm….

I’ll keep you posted through out the weekend.

Sacrifice, Decisions and Rewards

11 Nov 2011 2 Comments

by marcaritaville in Moments with God, My Crazy Life, Stringing Beads, The Children, The Lovely Hubby Tags: beads, Crohns Disease, Gemstar, hope, Naturopath, treatment

I was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease about 10 years ago. The time between that day and now has been a rollercoaster of good times and bad. But the one constant was that my disease, or more accurately the treatment of my disease, has controlled what I can and can’t do. Back in June I finally said to hell with that plan. I called my cousin, who is a naturopath, and after a series of tests we decided on a plan. That plan included some very strict diet changes. HUGE sacrifices, which included no sugar, no alcohol, no yeast, no vinegar. To say it was difficult is an understatement. Fresh cukes from the garden WITHOUT vinegar? Come on!

For the past 8 years, I have been going up to Lebanon, NH every month for my Remicade infusion. Today, I was able to go to my LAST infusion. This is not saying that my disease is gone. I spent quite a bit of time going back and forth to make the decision to go a new route with my treatment. I will now be taking control of my treatments by changing drugs to an at-home injectable. With my Crohn’s in remission, I am very confident in this decision.

I left my infusion today and decided to give myself a reward that I would have to memorialize this day that will change my path forever. I stopped at a fabulous hole-in-the-wall bead shop called Gemstar and bought myself some real beauties to create a few pieces that I will keep forever.

I have some turquoise, some fabulous pearls, fiesta jade, and bone.

Now, I am not in denial – I know there will come a time when I go back into a flare, but for right now, this feels pretty good, and I will take it! I cannot say Thank you enough to everyone who has helped me, taken care of me and my family, and prayed for me over the years.

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