…Cristin, Nicole and Morgan – the 3 brave souls who joyfully assisted me all weekend at the CHEA Bay Area Convention for home educators.  These gals were champions – carrying all the weight of managing my booth and helping customers while I was busy presenting workshops on all sorts of parenting and leadership topics.  God was so good to provide these lovely ladies-and several folks commented on what a blessing they were!  If you’ve kept up with my blog, you’ll know that Cindy, my treasured assistant since 2001, was just married 2 weeks ago to her Prince Charming and departed for South Africa today, where she will reside at her new address on the South Coast.  She will still assist me via cyberspace, but cyberhugs will have to do for the time being until we meet again…CHEA was a marvelous time of connecting with like-minded folks who are endeavoring to raise kingdom kids and build kingdom homes for the glory of God.  Idaho State is coming up in mid-June…more on that to come, but for now I’ve got to unpack!

This Friday and Saturday, April 24th and 25th, I’ll be sharing at both the CHEA Leaders’ Conference and the CHEA 23rd Annual Bay Area Home Educator’s Conference. 

You’re invited!  For more info, head over to…

http://www.cheaofca.org

…and you can download a printable brochure with all the details. Can’t wait, can’t wait, can’t wait!!!

…after our big weekend away for Cindy-Lee’s wedding along with a time of ministry on Sunday.  (I snapped this shot of our three girls with the glowing bride hiding away just before the ceremony on Saturday.) God kissed EVERY day with sunshine (in Washington State, mind you!) and joy, and friendship and yummy food and anointing and everything else our hearts could possibly desire…

Thank you to those of you who have written me special emails in the past couple of weeks – I make every effort to reply to personal messages, but it’s currently a crazy-busy time.  Thank you for understanding.  As soon as I UNpack, I’ll REpack for a conference this weekend in the Bay Area.  More details to come soon….

My assistant since 2001,  Cindy-Lee Marsh will become  Mrs. Trevor Francis.  How many prayers have led to this day – the beginning point of so much destiny unfolding.  Many of you who have come to know and love Cindy are rejoicing with us as we celebrate this grand occasion, when these two lives become one and this precious couple begin their journey together – on a new continent – yes, the bride and groom will reside in South Africa, not too far from Durban.  No need to tell you what a big day this is for all of us who have come to know and treasure our dear Cindy.  Many tears have fallen as we ponder her move, and yet we are bursting with joy as we watch God’s plan for her and Trevor unfold.  Trevor is truly all we prayed for and more for our girl! The sun will shine brightly today in Washington state!

Updates to come…

.…heading out in the wee hours for…drum roll please: my assistant’s wedding (crashing symbols, trumpets blaring, people cheering “HURRAH!!!” loudly), a time of ministry and lots of family FUN this weekend. The only hitch – (oops a pun) – is I don’t yet know what I’m wearing to the wedding…can you believe it?!?!?  Well, I won’t bore you with all the details, but I’ve got two huge conference commitments coming up in the next 6 weeks and as I said my assistant is getting married so that means that every little thing she always did to keep my life sane, NOW I’M DOING BY MYSELF – (LOUD SHRIEKING). 

I’m better now, thanks.  I’ve stuffed a few different things in my suitcase and my big girls in WA are gonna help me sort it all out-they promise it’s going to be just fine…they have about 2 days to work their magic .  I’ll keep you, uh, posted…yeah, another pun…I am just full of it tonight.  Probably delirious.

Who or what is standing in your way?  Bullying you.  Flashing his badge and flaunting his authority.  Assuming you’ll stay put in your cubicle because he has the keys in his pocket.

It could be the words of someone significant in your life.  Your old coach, the popular  girl from junior high,  your ex-husband, your mom or dad, that teacher…Now I’m not one of those psycho-babblers blaming everything on someone else, but the words of others can be powerful, even binding, if we allow them to be. Perhaps you’ve received a proclamation  that you’ll always be fat, timid, afraid, selfish, alone, rebellious, stupid or whatever.  Time to recognize what’s actually keeping you where you don’t want to be.

It could be a mind-set (wrong, unbiblical thinking) you’ve developed over time.  Kind of like a muscle you’ve worked on for awhile…

It could be tradition.  The Bible mentions old wives’ tales, myths and the traditions of men as very real enemies of our freedom in Christ.  These things can hold us back and keep us small.

Could it be religion?  I didn’t say Jesus.  Jesus is life.  Religion is rules and works.  Hmm.

Expectations of others.  Some folks have very low expectations of us and we’ve satisfied them.  It could be time to move on and find some big thinkers to hang with.

JAIL BREAK!

I must confess…I am a 1/2 a cup and 1/2 a cup and maybe another 1/2 a cup coffee drinker on many a day.  I might re-heat the same cup of coffee 3 times and still leave it sitting on the counter – in the bedroom – laundry room – patio – wasted.  This time I actually found two ‘floating’ half cups about the house…I bet I’m not the only one!

This week has been sort of a hodgepodge of “MyLife” as in Denise Mira, mom, wife, minister, home schooler, human being you get the picture. Nothing too exciting or out of the ordinary…stomach bug, community board stuff, Bible and prayer, teaching prep, dinner with friends, grocery shopping, date with hubby (that was lotsa’ fun!) and all the normal stuff moms do.

My week really got off to a roaring start on Sunday evening with a last-minute invitation my boys received to go to the beach with friends on Monday.  Sounds easy enough, right?  sigh.  (now you get to see how human I really am)

Their family is on Spring break, so they were in ‘vacation mode’, anticipating their next 7 days of freedom!   We’ve had so much fun lately with all sorts of wonderful house guests and field trips (including a beach day) and days off school that I immediately thought: “Simple.  NO”.  We are not on Spring break this week.  We must be productive.  (Matter of fact, we had plans to head out of town in 11 days for my assistant’s wedding in Washington, so  a beach day was not happening because that will be our Spring break.) This mom knows that to shift gears and take kids out of ’school mode’ into vacation mode, back into ’school mode’ the next day is not an easy feat and I didn’t want a fight if you get my drift.  My kids were in shock.  They knew the beach day was a perfect plan (sunny weather was predicted!) and they could not believe I was considering a ‘no’ to the whole idea. Kids are very convincing, especially when Mom is tired, Daddy’s out of town all weekend and it’s late Sunday night….

So began (unbeknownst to the children) my double-minded self-introspection  which lasted for approximately 12 hours.  Daddy phoned that night to check in, prayed with me and we decided…nothing, really, although he was happy to have them home safe with Momma-but whatever I wanted he would support.  AH!  The ball was officially in my court.  So I stewed.  Tossed and turned and thunk. 

It was perfect weather.  But it takes 2 hours to drive there.  Would I be at peace, since I’m not now?

Perhaps I’m being legalistic. 

Friends can’t always go to the beach. 

I really needed to study for my upcoming conference, so the house would be really quiet if they did go to the beach.

  I could flip a coin. 

Can anyone relate?!??! I called a couple friends because I really truly could not decide and I needed to talk about it.  Was I just being emotional?  Argh.

What I really appreciated was that neither of my friends tried to convince me of a decision.  They listened intently as I talked, which was what I needed the most. They reminded me of what I already believed.  God’s truth, common sense, yada yada.  One prayed for me.  I really  needed their friendship.  I even broke into tears at one point, which felt kind of dumb considering this was just a day trip.  But sometimes we’re wrestling inside, feeling emotional, a little irrational and God made friends for just such a moment! 

I went with my gut.  They stayed home, got loads done, the house was clean for Daddy’s arrival and I bought them dinner out at their favorite Taqueria.  It was PEACE.  Thank you Jesus. 

Now I’m staring Sunday in the face once again and here comes another week…