This will probably be long...

SO much to write about... a lot has happened in the last 2 days!

First.. the Alert '08 Prophecy Update Conference! I had so much fun.. There were about 4,000 people there, and we had a blast. I stayed up until 1 am the night before, trying to get everything ready for my mom to watch the kids at my house. Made lunches for the boys, made bottles for Lily, filled sippy cups for Caleb and Seth. Got diapers and wipes ready and accesible, set up the DVD player for her to put on if she wanted to and brought toys downstairs for them to play with so she could keep them all downstairs. We got up at 6 AM (I think this is the first time I've ever intentionally woken up the kids, lol! They are usually MY alarm clocks!) I got everyone dressed and fed and was ready to leave by 7:50 AM.

We got there and it was completely packed! We were able to squeeze in the middle front area of the Sanctuary. (BIG MISTAKE)... We apparently got great seating near a woman that spent the entire time saying, "Wow," "Praise Jesus," "Amen," "Mmmmmhmmmm...." It was SO distracting. I mean, I'm all for being interested and upright during the speaches, but it was SO distracting I had a hard time channeling her out and focusing on the prayer/speaker/etc... So that was a major bummer!

The first speaker was a former terrorist, (I think his name was Kalim Saleem or something :X I don't remember).. And all I have to say is, wow... foreigners are SO unpredictable... I mean, he was ALL over the place. Very entertaining, sometimes difficult to follow but very informational. He gave a lot of food for thought, especially concering the rising number of Radical Islam/Muslims in America and in other countries seeking to destroy us in any way possible. The pure statistics were STAGGERING... I felt so sheltered from this information, quite possibly as a cause from the radical Islams plan. Regardless, I praise God for speaking to this young man's heart and getting a hold of his faith that he now is able to share with others from a perspective that is not typical.

Next, we heard a brief message from Lt. General William G. Boykin. He was VERY cool.. He gave insight from the things he has seen in his military career, as a born-again Christian. He gave startling facts and descriptions of his experiences. His faith was truly and inspiration.

Then Skip Heitzig (our Senior Pastor), did a message... it was short and what I would consider more of an introduction. The problem was that even with the alotted time, they had WAY too many people doing messages... So everything seemed like a breif summing up, that only scratched the surface. I think the conference would be great for people concerned and unaware of the Prophecies regarding the "End-Times", found in the Bible. What to look out for, where to find these passages in their Bible's, etc.. But for someone that has heard all the basics before, "The second coming of Christ is coming, SOON, and what to look out for and what to do before He comes back and raptures His Body (The Church) and brings His wrath for all the 'unsaved' people," it seemed to leave more questions than answers... I suppose I will need to buy or rent some books that will give me a better look at these prophecies and what exactly should be done by us as God's Church.

Onward, after lunch time we went back in for more music by Chris Sligh, (a former American Idol finalist,) and the message I was looking forward to most. Tim Lahaye Writer of the Left Behind series. He discussed prophecy and how it is so incredibly important for us to understand as believers. It was very interesting, I wish he had more time, but I plan on checking out a few of his books!

Over all, I had a great time.. it really peaked my interest in the End Times, which is a constant thought in my mind.. though I feel like I should know more than I do about it and I am going straight to work on that.

So today, we got up, got ready for Church and as Brian was driving home I got a call from him telling me that he had been in an accident. :( He drifted off the road and hit a rail... it dented the entire side of his car and tore off his mirror... I first thanked God for protecting him and Alexxa in that, it was incredibly minor, he was certainly being protected by the hand of God... but it was scary nontheless. I realize, and he realizes, he's killing himself working as much as he does. He doesn't sleep but 6-7 hours a day, and works all night... often working over an extra shift. He's picked up another $300 payment for child support, that he is essentially going to be killing himself even more to make per month. I feel so helpless.. my husband is in way over his head, and there's nothing I can do about it. I've slammed my monthly budget down to as low as I can for me and the kids to just live at home... go to church and I work at home sewing as well... I can't get a job, I can't seem to do anything to help him, I'm just watching him drive himself into the ground. Brian and I both take responsibility in this, we were young, dumb and didn't consult our God before any purchases or financial decisions we made. I was living as if everything in this world was what would make me happy and fill my emptiness.. Only to find out that God was the ONLY thing I needed. I sold my purses, quit buying extravagantly and changed my life to a way that was profitable for a life in line with God's purpose as soon as this was brought to my attention by Him. But the damage was done... we had bought too many cars, too much of a house, too much on credit and now we're paying... REALLY paying... we don't qualify for state assistance because Brian makes good money, the problem is that our bills come out to almost double his income if he didn't work any overtime. I pray daily for an answer to this mess... for something to help us get out of this. I pray that God be with my husband everytime he gets in the car and risks his life.

Thank God he was fine... We had a long talk about what he needs to do if he's too tired. I know he was forcing himself to drive home because he had Alexxa this morning and he hasn't seen her in 2 weeks and was excited to see her again. He hadn't been able to get her yesterday because he got forced to work a double and wasn't comfortable driving with her in the car. If he didn't get her this morning we would have had to wait another 2 weeks to have a weekend day with her... the more I think about what could have happened and the day I could have had today had things not turned out the way they did, I cringe and cry...

After church, I met my soon-to-be engaged sister and mom at the bridal store. She was looking at dresses and because I had Alexxa with me she wanted to look at flower girl dresses as well. She chose a really pretty dress, I think it suits her very well! She's much more plain than me, I was all about "BIG" and "PRINCESSY" lol.. I even tried on a couple dresses for the bride's maid dresses. Those are still to be decided. After that Brian was awake so I took the kids to Brian and Lily and I met up with DeAnna and Sheena.

Then we went to lunch at a hole in the wall mexican joint. We talked about marriage.. oh, what a topic ;)

After that we went to a dollar movie and saw "Step Brothers." The movie was funny, though it cussed 2984084085098 times than it had to! :( Aside from that, there were some really funny parts.

Better head to bed... I have a busy day of sewing ahead tomorrow.