God's Story From My Perspective...

One Year ago....

2009-12-31T10:37:00.001-05:00

...I was kissing my son good-bye as the surgery team wheeled him into surgery.

To read more about my most memorable NYE visit my blog www.godsgroovygirl.wordpress.com.

I HAVE MOVED

2009-11-30T15:52:00.003-05:00

Dear Loyal Readers,

Due to tough economic times, I am being forced to move locations for my speaking website. Boo Hoo! My new site will take on the form of a blog site, with more tweaks. My new site where I will be blogging specifically about my speaking is www.godsgroovygirl.wordpress.com. I will be changing is to godsgroovygirl.com...minus the "wordpress" soon.

I will still be writing on here from time to time, but any speaking/acting news will on the groovygirl site!

Out of sight...out of mind!

2009-11-17T22:37:00.003-05:00

Sooooooo.....I'm blogging. Yup, it's me. It has been a while and I know the five of you have been dying to know what has been going on in my life that has kept me from blogging. Well, here it is in a nutshell.....
August 14th through November 17th.....

Spoke at a Women's League Training
Mother-in-law's first visit in 18 years (1 week)
Brother-in-law and wife, 3 kids and her cousin visited
I left town while they were here...went to the lake for a long weekend
Came home
Joined Facebook
Kick off week! I spoke at Cedarcrest Church, Grace Community Church, Cobb Vineyard Church and West Cobb Church
Rested for a day
Brother came for a week
SEPTEMBER
Started a Bible Study in my house
Started weekly facilitator training in my house
Redecorated our school room
Quit Facebook
Rested for 3 days
Mom and Dad came for a week
Rested for a day
Started school...not going well
Started building a Speaker Team
OCTOBER
Sunday night services...didn't miss one
Speaker evaluation
Started basketball practice for Tahd (6 hours a week in a parking lot waiting for him)
Planned and ran a retreat
Kelsey's Birthday
Made a quilt
Ruby's 60th birthday
10 billion other birthdays
Started a new curriculum for Kelsey
Tahd's retreat
Working on a huge presentation for TWL for our Speaker's Bureau
Halloween
NOVEMBER
Kelsey got a bunny
Presented my presentation
Wyatt sick
Levi sick
Me sick
more birthdays
my Bible study ended
basketball games start
working on a teaching for Winter/Spring Kick off's
Doctor appointments out the wazoo
Made a quilt
baby shower
basketball, basketball, basketball
started Dave Ramsey
first free Saturday in months...I raked the yard!
Wyatt sick...strep throat
More doctor visits

Today....drove to Tahd's school and back 4 times, home schooled, cooked at the church for Night of Hope, and went to the chiropractor. I fell asleep to Dancing with the Stars. Woke up to Jay Leno asking a guest if they have ever Googled himself. I googled myself, found my blog after 3 months and here I am.

Good night!

When I Grow Up....

2009-08-13T22:52:00.002-04:00

Wyatt has been playing Levi's electric guitar and trying to do everything that his big brother Tahd can do on the guitar. He works very hard at mimicking him. He comes to us all the time to show us the latest music he made up or mastered.

Tonight he said, "Hey mama! Listen to this." He played a little somethin' that he heard on "School of Rock."

"Wow Wyatt! That was great," I said.

"Yup! Pretty soon I'll be on the Worship Team," he responded.

"Is that was you want to be when you grow up...a guitar player on the Worship Team?" I asked.

He responded, "No, I am going to do that soon. When I grow up I am going to be a Ninja."

What did you want to grow up to be?

I wanted to be a wife, a mom and a teacher. Check!

How about you?

PITIFUL!

2009-08-08T11:22:00.003-04:00

Pitiful describes many things about this week:

1.My ability to update my blog.

2. The amount of time I have spent building a website!

3. Our unexpected visitor.

I wanted to take one day at a time and write about my She Speaks trip. Well...I got all the way to Thursday! Pitiful!

Instead of filling in my blog I decided to build my website http://www.godsgroovygirl.com/. Part of my She Speaks training was on marketing myself and catching the attention of people through a value statement and a tag line. Why should people want to hire me and what value will I leave with their church or organization when I leave them? I want to be known for more than, "She was a nice speaker. I liked her outfit."

So I thought about what I bring to the stage and what I leave there. I HOPE that I leave a passion and a desire for women to start a new trend in being in tune with God, following after Him, life change, getting into the groove He has made for them to follow. There was my tag line! The domain was open and I went for it. And you want to know what was cool? As I fretted over buying the domain and building the site and the cost, I prayed that God would give me clarity that this was the right thing to do. I added up what it would cost to build and run the site for 3 months and then I checked my checking account which had my donations for She Speaks in it. (I knew I had just a little left over from the trip.) It was exactly the amount plus 1 cent! I couldn't believe that I had the exact amount through donation! So thank you to those who donated to my trip. You helped pay for my new website also.

The last thing that was just pitiful was our unexpected guest on Thursday. On Wednesday, I heard this dog in my woods just barking its head off. I had not heard this dog before and after it went on for 1/2 hour straight through my quiet time, I decided to find the dog and rip its head off. Just kidding...sort of. But I did go down to see if it was stuck or what. As soon as I called for it, it ran off and I went back to my quiet time. The next morning, during my quiet time AGAIN, the same dog was back and he brought a buddy to join in the barking. This wasn't normal barking ...it was as if it was barking AT something . Visions of baby deer and defenseless, adorable kittens flashed through my head. I went back down the hill and the dogs took off. I decided to search for a bit to see if I came across anything. I felt a little like Nancy Drew as I pieced together clues like trampled plants, muddy footprints, muddied water...and then I saw it! Laying in the creek bed, almost completely covered with mud, was an Opossum. It appeared that it had fallen into the mud which acted like quicksand and trapped it. By all appearances, I think it had been there for days. I thought it was dead, but upon further investigation, she was barely breathing.

I got gloves, a box, and a towel and pulled the poor, pitiful thing out of the mud. To this day, I have never seen such a pitiful sight as her. She was caked with mud and skinny as anything....see for yourself. This is our guest after I washed her off with 3 gallons of warm water to remove the mud.

It seemed as though her back may have been broken, so we called the Humane Society and they sent Animal Control. During our wait, she started coming out of her "playing dead" mode and her little nose started sniffing the air. We offered her a little snack and she devoured it. She ate a whole hot dog and a can of cat food before Animal Control came. The lady assured my kids that they would take care of her and a vet would check her out. If she was OK, they would get her strong and then release her. She even said she would contact us and release the opossum in our yard if she did recover.

I know not everyone would have rescued this baby, but my dad taught me that you do what's best for any animal you can. So little Miss Pitiful at least got a chance and my kids got a chance to help one of God's precious, all be it ugly, creatures.

Day two of She Speaks will have to wait another day!

She Travels!

2009-08-03T20:37:00.004-04:00

She's Home!!!

I've decided to tell you about my trip one day at a time. Too much to say at once.

My girlfriends picked me up at 10 am and off we went. 3 Sanguines and a Phlegmatic make for a lively trip...at least 3 of us were loud! The trip was perfect, no problems! We loved the surprise text from Skyler letting us know that Mr. G was arriving the next day. We all did a "Praise Jesus" Happy dance in our seats!

Lots of potty stops and lunch at Zaxby's. Yum!

We arrived and threw our luggage on a Dolley and then realized how pitiful we all were...we over packed just a bit.

Our hotel room was magnificent. It was as big as my entire downstairs...a 2 bedroom suite. Mmmm...my own comfy bed. First order of business was to set up the coffee maker and then off to dinner at the Rocky River Grille in the hotel. Here is where the first "issue" with Jodi's food began. I had read that this placed had incredible mac'n cheese so decided to try that with my dinner. My dinner arrived and the mac looked yummy! I was excited. I took a bite and I guess I made a face that said, "What the heck is in this?" I couldn't quite place the odd taste, but they definitely didn't make it like Aaron makes it. I tried one more little bite to find it FILLED WITH ONIONS! Yuck!!! God blessed the women I was with by not letting me puke in front of them, but it was close. My side of coleslaw was HOT...gross! The food took a long time to arrive so they gave us free chocolate cake. At least that was delicious! Make note...a trend in bad food just started.

Leaving dinner I ran into one of my favorite people, Amy Carroll. She is a P31 speaker and was my evaluator last year. She is also my mentor when it comes to speaking. I love her to pieces. It was great to see her right from the start and we enjoyed some time together the night before the conference started.

We headed back to the room and Christie and I read through our teachings to Kim and Denise who were not being evaluated as speakers. Then off to bed to get ready for that 6 am alarm.

She Sleeps!

My Bags Are Packed!

2009-07-29T10:35:00.005-04:00

Well, my bags are packed.

They are filled with my favorite outfits,

shoes too uncomfortable to wear to a conference but too stinkin' cute to leave at home,

directions, schedules, my coffee maker and favorite coffee since my Starbucks runner(AKA Chad) is not coming this year, make-up, hair stuff, jewelry, earplugs(never leave home without them), toothbrush and paste, notepads and my Bible.

Tucked inside my bags are two precious pieces of paper that will be pulled out and shared with a group of strangers... my teaching and testimony for evaluation time.

I have fretted, prayed, written, erased, tweaked, crumpled up, started over, timed a hundred times, and had critiqued...two little crisp sheets of paper. Memories flood my head every time I think about my testimony. This 3-minute version is about my brother and his car accident that took the life of another and marked our "Fisher" name forever. This was probably the most painful part of my childhood, but here I go, spilling my guts in the name of Christ and what He has saved me from. One thing is for sure, my story won't be the worst one shared. There will be stories of unimaginable hurt, but complete victory in Christ. Like the story of my evaluator, who was brutally raped and beaten on her graduation day.

Coming with me are the prayers of precious people who think I should do this thing called speaking, people who believe in me and want to see me better myself. They have contributed to my funds, paid for my hair to get all pretty, will watch my kids and pets on this trip, have helped me by critiquing my teachings with love and all in all just told me to go for it. This is the precious thing that I couldn't leave home without.

Two more things in my bag...2 pictures that Wyatt drew for me.

The first looks like a scribble. This was our conversation when he gave it to me:

M-What's this?

W-A map.

M-Oh, to where? Where am I going?

W- I don't know.

M-Then where will I know where I am going?

W-You just walk and follow it and you will know when you get there. Oh and bring a shovel.

I sure don't know where I am going on this adventure of a ministry, but God does. Wyatt may have just been playing, but he spoke life into me that day. I just need to follow the path God has placed me on and I will know when I get there.

The 2nd picture is one that Wyatt drew of me and him with a heart in the middle. He gave it to me last week when I was heading out for another conference. As I was getting into the car after saying good bye to all my kids, I wondered if they understood what their mom was doing. I wondered if they believed that this was OK...for mom to leave a lot and do this ministry. Did they support me...especially Wyatt because he is so young? When he came running out of the house to catch me as I was pulling out of the driveway to bring me that picture, God told me, "He does."

Only a few more things to do:

Enjoy my last day with the family

Drop off my dogs and doggy day care

Finish packing my boys

Drop off the little boys with Jen

Kiss everyone good bye

Wait for my ride

and have the time of my life!

See ya!

CUTENESS!

2009-07-28T13:23:00.004-04:00

IN CASE YOU HAVE EVER WONDERED WHAT CUTENESS LOOKS LIKE, I FOUND IT!

LESSONS I LEARNED FROM WYATT THIS WEEK:

#1-YOU CAN RIDE YOUR BIKE FASTER IF YOU WEAR "THE FLASH" COSTUME!

#2-NOTHING SAYS ROCKER LIKE A MOHAWK!

#3- EVEN ROCK STARS NEED BATHS, BUT ALWAYS BE READY FOR THE PAPARAZZI TO SHOW UP AT ANY MOMENT!

PRICELESS!

PRESSING IN!

2009-07-25T12:18:00.002-04:00

Distractions are really hard for this Sanguine, people lovin', wanna have fun all the time but I can't because I have to get down to business kind of girl! I am midstream preparing for 2 evaluations at "She Speaks," a 2 hour teaching for our WILD Workshop on August 15th and 4 Kickoffs all in a row at the end of August. It excites me to be used by God in this way, I just wish all the other junk would just float away.
When the final 'straw that broke the camels back" distraction reared its head the other day, I found myself crying out to God in frustration, but I gave it to Him. He reminded me that this was no shock to Him, He was in control and He would move it if He needed to. Now what is my part in this equation? Distractions are here and they will continue, but I have a job to do, prepare teachings.
I need to press into my God now stronger than ever. I visualized myself pressing into His body like a child who has fallen asleep in His parent's arms. I want to leave a visual indent in Him that will cause Him to be indented into me. I need Him more than ever.
I felt like yesterday He told me to begin writing out my Kickoff teaching with the info that I have been gathering since February. I came up with a lot of buts as to why I couldn't start on that day, but I was obedient and sat at my computer and began. A few moments later, I received this email from one of the churches that I will speak at for kickoff:

Today please pray for our Kickoff speaker, Jodianne Adams, as she prepares her message--that the LORD will give her direction and clarity for His message to us, and protect her time to work on it; also boldness to speak the Truth in Love.

"She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue." (Prov. 31:26)

"Trust the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes...." (Prov. 3:5-6)

"Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel...." (Eph. 6:19)

"Give thanks to the Lord, call on His name, make known among the nations what He has done, and proclaim that His Name is exalted... Let this be known to all the world!" Is. 12:4,5)

Thank you, bless you!

(Getting rooted, growing stronger)

Whoa! How awesome!

So here I go, I pressing in!

Two Brothers and a Funeral

2009-07-08T11:40:00.006-04:00

Our sweet little S'Mores

My heart was tendered on Sunday night as my little boys said good-bye to sweet, little S'mores, Levi's guinea pig. We have lost pets in the past, but when it is a child's first loss, it is especially hard. S'mores stopped eating and drinking last week. The vet couldn't figure out what was wrong, so basically we brought him home to live out what little was left of his life in peace.

Dexter, Wyatt's guinea pig who shared a cage with S'mores, couldn't seem to understand why his little friend wasn't playing anymore. We had to take S'mores out of their cage so that he could have a little peace from the rough housing that Dexter was tormenting him with. We let Dexter out of the cage to roam and he chose to go lay beside his friend, just outside his cage, until he passed. OK, that choked me up a bit.

Then I watched my little boys hold each other and cry over their loss. This tendered me to no end.

We told Levi that he could get another guinea pig. So the next day we headed out to go to every store we needed to go to in order to find the right one. Thankfully, we found Snickers at the 2ND store. He was perfect! Levi fell in love with him as soon as he saw him and Snickers proved to be gentle and loving to Levi.

Dexter and Snickers first moments...a lunch date!

Dexter was thrilled with a new buddy. I don't think he enjoyed his first night in his life alone.

We had a funeral today, sorry you weren't invited. Mom dug the hole and said the prayer. Levi carried the casket (an empty Ziploc bag box) and Wyatt filled in the hole. Tears still flowed, but two brothers stood by each other and carried each others pain.

"He ain't heavy. He's my brother."

So S'mores is gone but Snickers is here. Life is sweet!

Mmm...breakfast

2009-07-06T23:15:00.000-04:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYqM9-Fj0Pg

Sticky situation

2009-06-24T14:24:00.002-04:00

Note to self:

When the at-home hair remover wax system says to not get the wax on any hair that you don't want removed, BELIEVE IT!

Please don't stare at my right eyebrow...or lack of. Thanks!

Perfect!!!

2009-06-23T16:19:00.004-04:00

They were words I have been waiting 6 months to hear. From behind the curtain I heard Dr. Fantastic say, "I couldn't have hoped that it would have healed up any better." He came around the curtain and said to me,"He's perfect."

PERFECT...the words I have waited for. Perfect. It is hard to believe that this whole ordeal with Tahd started almost a year ago. Longer than that if you count the years that he suffered in silence, not knowing he had an issue. When things are wrong for what seems like forever, you just assume they are normal.

Since September 23rd, Tahd has had a catheter in place for 6 months, 2 of those months with 2 catheters. Tahd went to school with one in place for 3 months, and missed 8 weeks of school. He spent almost the entire school year catching up. He endured 2 visits to the ER for attempted catheterizations (12 times all unsuccessful), 3 operations, scopings of the most private kind, and many embarrassing moments. But unless you were one of the few people who saw him on the 2 days following his major surgery, you never heard a complaint or saw his face without a smile. He was so brave, so patient, so PERFECT.

I never have felt helpless in my life, until I spent 10 hours away from my son while he was in surgery and recovery. As Chad and I sat there alone, waiting, worrying, praying, I took comfort in 3 things:

1. God loved Tahd more than me and would take care of him in my absence.

2. Dr Fantastic was THE best doctor...he invented the surgery he was preforming on Tahd.

3. My friends were lifting us all up in prayer.

To look at Tahd you would never know anything happened. He may have a few physical scars, but it is as if he is emotionally unscathed. I think this was God's protection over him. He can talk about his ordeal and not be embarrassed and he can talk to his father and I in an open way that may not have been if we had not walked through this journey together.

Jen said it best. She was one of the few that I allowed to come see Tahd at his lowest point in the hospital. The day after surgery she commented on how sad and hurting he seemed. She recalled looking at Tahd and looking out the window at Stone Mountain in the distance. She told him that someday they would hike to the top of it together when he was all healed up. On our vacation together, as she watched him jump off the big rock with the biggest smile on his face, she was glad to see him healed and able to do whatever he wanted to do.

He is perfect! Thank you Lord.

JUNE 18TH-LAST DAY

2009-06-20T18:09:00.003-04:00

GROCERIES-$300

GAS FOR JET SKI'S-$120

TUBES AND FLOATS-$25

SUNSCREEN-$15

DOCTOR'S VISIT FOR SWIMMERS EAR-$40

PRESCRIPTIONS AND MOTRIN-$37

A WEEK WITH FAMILY AND FRIENDS CLOSE ENOUGH TO BE- PRICELESS!

JUNE 17TH...STILL HERE!

2009-06-20T17:58:00.003-04:00

QUESTION.
HOW DO YOU GET ONE OF THE WORST CASES OF SWIMMERS EAR THE DOCTOR HAS EVER SEEN?
JUST ASK WYATT.
IT IS AS EASY AS ONE...

TWO...THREE...

JUNE 16TH...WE STILL LIKE EACH OTHER

2009-06-20T17:41:00.004-04:00

ASHER, ARE YOU NOT HAVING FUN?
OK, JUST CHECKING!

HEADING OUT ON THE TUBE, KELSEY AND ROSIE

WHO'S DRIVING THIS THING?

SO MUCH FUN!

JUNE 15TH...THE PARTY CONTINUES...

2009-06-20T17:08:00.006-04:00

YELLOW RIVER FALLS...OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT

JEN AND A SNOOZING ROSIE ON OUR PONTOON RIDE HOME...

LEVI WENT DOWN THE LITTLE FALLS. IT WAS SUCH A BEAUTIFUL PLACE.

NOTICE THE POOL OF WATER BEHIND THEM? IT WAS ABOUT 15 FEET DEEP, HENCE THE LIFE JACKETS...

ISN'T SHE BEAUTIFUL?

OMG!!!! YUP, THAT'S TAHD JUMPING OFF THAT GIANT ROCK WHILE I TAKE A PICTURE, HOLD MY BREATH AND FEEL 100 MORE GRAY HAIRS POP OUT OF MY HEAD!

BETTER SIZE ROCK TO JUMP FROM...NO GRAY HAIR.

LEVI WAS THE FIRST TO TACKLE THE KNEE BOARD. HE DID AWESOME!

June 14th- LAKE WEISS ALABAMA

2009-06-20T16:30:00.008-04:00

Yes Jen, I am totally copying you. You are worth copying!

DAY1...

PATIENTLY WAITING...

KAYACKING FUN... AARON AND RACHEL, TAHD AND KELSEY

CUTENESS...

BIG TABLE... BIG FUN...AWESOME FOOD... BLESS CHAD FOR COOKING AND ALL THE OTHERS.
MY FAVORITE PICTURE!

The Vacation with Jesus and ducks!

2009-06-12T23:02:00.007-04:00

It's been a good week...great week...it's been WONDERFUL! I had great plans for this VACATION week. The kids were all attending VBS in one way or the other. I was going to have a morning stay cation at home all to myself.

So this was my week....

Sunday...visitors arrived...3 of them.

Larry, Darryl, and Darryl are Marlie's latest rescue babies. We watched them while they went on a vacation. They were a lot of fun. We enjoyed taking them to the pond, the creek, the garden. The dogs and cats were quite intrigued.

Aren't they adorable?

Monday...VBS...Mom's stay cation begins! Hooray...I cleaned my room. How relaxing! I can't wait for all the fun that awaits me tomorrow.

Tuesday...sick kid at home along with Wyatt who wouldn't attend VBS without the sick kid! No fun!

Wednesday...sick kid not going back...there goes my breakfast date with Chad. Lazy day at home. But as I sat and soaked up the day, God spoke to me and gave me my 3-minute testimony for She Speaks. I was so excited! I wrote it, read it out loud and guess what?...it was 3 minutes on the dot! Great day!

Thursday...BEST DAY EVER! Coffee with my favorite lady, Ruby. She is amazing and I love her to pieces. Our meeting was cut short so we decided to meet again for lunch. In the mean time, guess what my little Wyatt was doing? GIVING HIS LIFE TO JESUS, THAT'S WHAT!

Woo hoo! I told you a while ago that he has been big on the God questions. Daily he has a new question or observation about God and what He means to Wyatt. I have prayed for this week for Wyatt especially. It's not that I have been praying for my 5-year-old to get saved. It is a big step, not to be taken lightly and he is 5. Don't take me wrong, I'm thrilled. But I never wanted to push him. It would happen in time. My prayer was that Wyatt would feel comfortable being at VBS which would lead to him wanting to venture into Sunday School on Sundays. He has only been in Sunday School once and that was enough. I have prayed for his fears to go and bravery to take its place. Out of that prayer came bravery to stay in VBS even when Kelsey wasn't coming back to stay with him and bravery to declare that he wanted Jesus to live in him. HUGE steps for a little guy. I see a difference in him already. Jesus is in Him and I see his confidence growing every second. You never know...he may just start Sunday School.

Through The Women's League, I was able to purchase the Podcast equipment to start recording our podcasts! Hooray! They will start in August! I am so excited to start this ministry leg of TWL along with the Speakers Bureau. It is my passion! I can't wait to start recording.

Friday...the ducks went home...VBS ended...and we are packing up to leave on a real vacation with my favorite family, The Curtis.' Good times! See you when we get back.

Cleaning Up!

2009-05-30T09:45:00.000-04:00

Last year, right after I put my pond in, we had a huge rainstorm and my pond filled with runoff from my neighbors french drain. He didn't know that it would do that. I didn't know that it would do that, but I was left with the effects of the muddy water contaminating my perfect pond. It took me all summer to repair the damage that was done. I had to be very careful not to shock my fish by doing some sort of drastic cleaning, so the process took all summer. It wasn't pretty anymore. It was filthy. I couldn't see my fish. I was a bit peeved to say the least.

The bottom line, because it was my pond...my baby, I was left to take care of what was mine. It wasn't what I had planned on doing for the summer. I wanted to do other things. I wanted to work on flower beds and creating pathways through my backyard for my kids to discover. I wanted to work on the landscaping around the pond. All of this was put on hold, because I was in charge of the clean up.

I have been dealing with something in ministry lately. As I was thinking about it, the memory of my muddied pond came into my memory and for the first time I feel like I can finally express how I am feeling.

I feel like I got this great pond established. It was perfect! Running beautifully. Perfectly balanced. Everyone was enjoying it. I was able to walk away from the pond and not watch over it 24/7 because it was established and running well. But now the water has been muddied up and I have to leave what I was doing and clean it up. It is not that I don't care about this pond anymore, because I do. But I have been out planting gardens and creating pathways. I have found such incredible joy in what I have been doing and I am fearful that I have to leave them all to come back to the pond and clean up the mess.

I want to be able to do it all and I do believe that "I can do all things in Christ who strengthens me." I am fearful though that weeds will grow over the paths that I have worked on and my flowers will wilt if I cannot water them. I know my first priority is my pond, because there is life in it that needs to be taken care of. But I am saddened to walk away from the path I was on.

I was enjoying the adventure.

"The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged." Duet. 31:8

The Ponderings of a Mom on Mother's Day!

2009-05-14T15:02:00.000-04:00

I found myself mesmerized by the life around me on Mother's Day.

First, there was Tahd. I have always called him my first Mother's Day present. He was born the day after Mother's Day in 1993. I spent that day before preparing to meet him the next day...planned induction. I celebrated that Mother's Day knowing I was getting the greatest gift the next day.

This past Mother's Day was also Tahd's 16th birthday.

He played on the worship team and I was so blessed by watching him worship God through his music. I took in those moments, hoping I would never forget the day he turned 16. We have grown incredibly closer since his illness and I cherish the time that we have had together this past year.

Kelsey...she is a beauty.

We spent the day with the entire Curtis family(minus Aaron and Jen) and I watched Rosie and Rachel and Asher shadow her every move. They truly love her and she is just so sweet and tender to them. She was especially doting on Asher as he was missing his mom and dad. I thought how great of a mom she will be someday. She has such tenderness to kids.

Levi's moment was during church.

He seemed to want to almost curl up on my lap. We couldn't get any closer. He has always been a mama's boy and sometimes that is overshadowed by Wyatt. I loved feeling his warm body next to me as we followed along in my Bible together. Levi always spent the mornings first moments on my lap when he was little. I remember the day after I brought Wyatt home and Levi came downstairs to climb in my lap and there was a baby laying where he used to sit. He just smiled and slid up next to me. It was a sad moment for me, but his eyes almost said,

"It's OK...I'm the big boy now."

Wyatt's moment was tender.

We were at Stephanie's before the whole crowd got there

and Wyatt headed to the piano.

He played it softly and tenderly and sang, "Hallelujah...Hallelujah!"

It wasn't just him singing a song...he was worshipping like I have never seem.

I took that moment in and committed to never forgetting that moment ever! Wyatt has been asking a lot of questions about God. It has been wonderful and at times quite entertaining to talk to him about spiritual matters. Like one day he said, "So mom! God and Jesus...what's up with all that?"OK...I wasn't sure if he was looking for a definition about the trinity or what. I think that when I tell him that Jesus lives in my heart, he pictures a mini Jesus action figure in my body.

I loved spending the with some of my favorite moms like Stephanie.

She has always sheltered Chad and I under her wing. I loved being with the Grandmas too. I am not going to wallow in self-pity, but when you can't honor your own mom, it means a lot to be around ones that you can. I started my own tradition a few years ago that I would give cards or flowers or something to a different mom who is special to me in place of my own. This year it was Stephanie and Ruby. Ruby's early morning call to wish me Happy Mother's Day was a precious gift. Being honored by Don and Stephanie at their house was another.

Watching Skyler with Jen's kids, being pseudo-mom,

was another precious moment.

Knowing that very soon she will take on motherhood in a way that most of us wouldn't contemplate because of the "issues" was exciting and humbling. I am so excited for her!

Even though I wasn't with Jen,

one of my favorite mom friends, I loved being with her kids and family and thinking about how wonderful of a mom she is. Her kids are some of the most special kids to me. (You are my other favorite mom friend, Lynn...I know you are reading!)

No gift could ever match my moments on Mother's Day.

Thank you to all who made it special!

A Mormon Who Became A Baptist...well, sort of!

2009-05-05T14:50:00.000-04:00

Saturday I spoke at Kennesaw First Baptist Church for an event that they called, "On The Dot." I was so honored to spend the evening with these ladies and share my testimony. Skyler Curtis went along with me. When I was first approached about sharing my testimony and whether or not it would fit into their theme for the evening, that Christ is always on the dot in our lives, I confidently said yes. Little did I know that He was going to make sure that I truly believed that He does show up on time and not a moment too soon.

As I was getting ready the week before to share, I felt like I kept hitting a brick wall. I likened it to a back draft. Every time I tried to go forward with planning my testimony/teaching I would hit this fiery wall and I just had to stop. See, I feel like I have come to a place in my life that sharing my testimony is not JUST about what God saved me from, but also about what He saved me for. I try to pull a Biblical teaching into my testimony, because that is one aspect of my life that I feel He saved me for...to speak God's truths to women. But what seemed like a simple thing to plan was leaving me feeling scared to death that I did not know what to do. Sure I could have just gone up and shared my testimony like I had the last time and it probably would have been fine, but I was wise to the fact that God wanted it done a different way, and it would not have been honoring of Him to do it the same way. So...I waited...I fretted...I got frustrated...I got mad at everyone...and I sat with a sick feeling in my gut.

Saturday morning, Skyler asked me if I was ready. Sure I was ready...I was ready to hear from God and know what on earth He wanted me to do!!!!! She said, "Isn't it funny that you are supposed to be teaching about Christ being on the dot and that is exactly what you are waiting on?"

NO, it's not funny!
But...yeah, it is...it is funny.
OK God!
You have my attention!

At about 1 pm that day, I prayed again and just asked for clear vision of how He wanted me to share and asked His forgiveness in trying to do it myself. Within a minute He made it perfectly clear how to express what He wanted to say to the women. Still, I wasn't sure how to end it, but I left for the event confident that HE would end it "on the dot." Sure enough, when the moment came, He gave me clarity as I spoke. He didn't show up before I needed Him. He WAS on the dot.

The event was such a blessing to me. Stephanie and her mom attended, not even knowing when they purchased their tickets that I was the speaker. When I told Stephanie where I would be speaking next, she said, "Oh it's you! It's you. My mom and I are attending the event and when we asked who the speaker was, they said, "It's some Mormon who became a Baptist." Well, close but no cigar! I kept thinking as I was about to share, "Someone out there is going to be waiting for me to start talking about Salt Lake City!"

My favorite moments of a speaking engagement are the moments afterwards....the afterglow. It's not that I am dying to hear women tell me how great I was or something, because believe me, I have had them tell me how I could do it better next time. What I love is hearing the impact of a teaching on people, how God has moved in them during my brief moments on stage. Mostly, I love how women come and share with me their lives in the raw, and how that greatly impacts me. One women came up afterwards and told me how at the age of 71-years-old her father accepted Jesus Christ as his Savior and how her father-in-law did the same at the age of 88. She wanted to encourage me that there is still time for my parents to accept Jesus and not to fear....remembering that Christ will fight until the very last possible moment for every human life. I needed that!

As Skyler and I left the church that evening, she turned to me and said, "Did I ever tell you that I was baptized into the Mormon religion?"

I said with excitement,"It's you! You are the Mormon who got baptized!" HAAAAAA!

Good Times!

My, You Have Some "Splendid Koi"!!!!!

2009-04-25T17:45:00.000-04:00

What makes one Koi more valuable than another? I have wondered this for a while...ever since I got my first Koi for my little 100-gallon pond 6 years ago. She was a beautiful yellow, with long flowing fins. I thought she was the prettiest thing I had ever seen...fish wise that is. I was told because she was a Butterfly Koi, she had no value. Huh? Why? She is beautiful, isn't she? Oh well, I still loved her.

I have added many Koi to my pond in the recent years, thinking that I needed to find one of value. I stopped buying those butterfly koi, since the standard Koi are the valuable ones. I own and have owned some beauties. Some were eaten by Herons, but that is another story.

Last October I rescued two Koi from an elaborate pond on an estate that was being forclosed on. They were big and beautiful and I thought for sure they were valuable. Even the guy who helped us rescue them said they were valuable. Cool! Free Koi and they were valuable!!!! I love these fish. They are so pristine and majestic as they flow through the water. They have brought me much joy.

Today I took the kids to a pond store that specializes in Koi. We had never been there, but according to their website they have a fish worth $13,000! Holy Cow! They claimed to have several between the value of $3,000 to $10,000. I thought that these are the people to give me the heads up on my fish. Their fish were beautiful! SO beautiful! I was amazed at them and they let my kids hand feed them and pet them. Some even swam onto a shelf on the edge of the pond to be petted. Very cool!

So I told the lady about my Koi and asked her what their value might be. My smalled peach colored male...."He is nothing," she said with a Spanish accent! What? OK...what about the big, beautiful white female? "She is nothing...probably born in the pond she came from...no good. She is not like mine." OK, there was an over exaggeration if I ever heard one! Is this where the term "pond scum" came from, because I think that is what she was calling my Koi?! Hhhmmmm....I saw ones just like mine in their ponds. I also know that ALL Koi carry value, at least a few hundred dollars. Apparently, it is all about the pedigree. Hers came straight from Japan. Mine came from Woodstock, though they weren't born in the pond they came from. She was a little proud of her Koi, I guess much like an owner at a dog show thinks their dog is better than the one I got from the pound. Oh well! But here is where she has the value of my fish wrong:

When God gave me those fish, He had a plan for them. I was due to give a teaching in January for a Women's League, Inc event and I didn't have any idea what I was teaching on. The week before I rescued my two Koi from the elaborate estate, I came across three goldfish at another foreclosed home who had been abandoned in their pond when the owners moved out. Here were two sets of fish, one set from a dinky, dirty pond and another set from an elaborate pond. 25 cent fish verses $500 fish. The fact was both sets were abandoned, both sets desperately needed to be rescued...both sets needed a Savior, just like us!

As Christians, God calls us to seek out the lost. It doesn't matter what our pedigree is, we are all orphans or "pond scum," and we are in need of a rescue. Christ died to bring us into his royal family, to clothe us in royal garments, to rewrite our stories. Now that we are saved and in that royal family, we can direct the other orphans of the world to the most incredible family tree they will ever be part of, the one that made the cross.

I'll take my "pond scum" Koi any day, after all, they are just like me! SAVED!!!!!!

"But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood,

a holy nation, a people for His possession,

so that you may proclaim the praises

of the One who called you out of darkness

into his marvelous light."

1 Peter 2:9

If the Son has set you free, you are free INDEED!

PS The $13,000 fish is the one in the left hand corner swimming toward Kelsey in this pic! Hmmm, REALLY?

Wyatt, Rosie...and the caterpillar

2009-04-20T10:20:00.000-04:00

Could it really be that my son is 5 years old and has never gone to the Zoo before? What kind of a parent am I? Chad and I sat in amazement at our lack of parenting skills that this boy hadn't seen an elephant or a zebra before, even though they are right here in Atlanta.

So on Thursday night, I told Wyatt that we were going to the Zoo the next day with his favorite person, Rosie and her family. Jen (Rosie's mom and one of my BF F's) has a Season pass to the zoo and invited us along. When I told Wyatt we were going to the zoo, he asked "What is the zoo?" OK, now I officially felt like a loser parent. I explained it was a place where all the animals lived and we could see most any animal he ever wanted to see.

"Like squirrels?"he asked. So I broadened his scope of imagination with the thought of seeing lions and tigers and panda bears! Oh my! He went to bed with a head full of imagination.

When he woke up in the morning, he was beaming. He said, "I can't believe that I am going to see an elephant...I wonder if they have caterpillars?" Ah, caterpillars! Wyatt's favorite spring past time is collecting the massive amounts of caterpillars that hatch every year. Last week he had a box full of at least 100 caterpillars. I like caterpillars, but I box of 100 was just a little creepy. I will write another blog about that experience.

So off to the zoo we went! Giggles and squeals of excitement followed us the whole way. The elephants amazed him. The birds astounded him. The snake creeped him out a little. THEN IT HAPPENED! He found a caterpillar! No panda or lion or tiger compared to that caterpillar. As Jen put it, Rosie and Wyatt became like a divorced couple fighting over parental visitation of the caterpillar who became known as Twitchy. Every 20 feet we heard, "Can I hold him now? It is my turn. I haven't held him in forever."

I thought we may have ditched Twitchy for good when I told them that he couldn't go in the Parakeet exhibit because they might eat him. So they took him to the bamboo jungle and said their goodbyes. When we were done with the parakeets, they bolted from the exhibit and headed to the bamboo jungle. I heard Rosie yell, "We found Twitchy!" Great!

"Wyatt look at this amazing bird, " I would say.

"Yup! I love my Twitchy! Can I take him home?" Wyatt responded.

"Wyatt, look at the lion," I said.

"Aaahhh! I can't find Twitchy!" he screamed. It was hanging on his shirt. At that point I became sick of Twitchy. He was interfering in the incredible zoo trip and he was coming between two friends who both thought they had parental rights to him.

Then at last peace came to the expedition when Rosie found her own caterpillar. Her name was Lady and she was in love.

Rosie and Lady

OK, so I wasn't thrilled with the idea that Wyatt was paying no attention to the animals anymore, but in the end, Wyatt LOVED his zoo visit. He loved his Twitchy time and his Rosie time. They left Lady and Rosie at the zoo, because I told them that their mom would miss them...a tactic my own mom used on me throughout my childhood. Then it hit me, I would have done the same thing as a child. He is just like me. He loves to hold creatures and love on them. It meant the world to him to carry a friend with him through the zoo.

I won't ever forget Wyatt's first trip to the zoo...or Twitchy! Oh, and he did see a squirrel!

Wyatt and Twitchy!

Putting “IT” Back in the Box

2009-04-18T18:41:00.001-04:00

PUTTING IT BACK IN THE BOX

Nothing frustrates me more than trying to put something that I have purchased back into the box it came in the same way so that I can return it. The box never closes.

Putting it back in the box the same way proves to be an exhausting and ultimately a defeating task. Part of the reason I have this outcome is because I fail to pay attention to the way it came out of the box in the first place. I am too concerned with opening it, playing with it, and using it that I may have never considered that I might need to take it back.

I started to think about how this return issue is much like our own mouths and the words we have in them. Once we open our mouths and say what we choose to say, we cannot put them back. Good or bad, they are out of the box and they will not go back in, voiding any return policy. So many times I have wished that I could return the words that I have said because I didn't pay attention when I opened my mouth.

James 1:26 tells us that, "Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless." I don't know about you, but I don't want my words to be worthless.

James 2:9 says, "With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God's likeness."

As Bible Study facilitators, we would be wise to heed the counsel of James. Our participants should feel that Bible Study is a place of safety and we should set the example of examining our words carefully before we let them out of the box. Remember, we are charged with the care of "those who have been made in God's likeness." Ultimately our words will either praise God or curse Him.

"May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart, be pleasing to you, my God." That is my desire.

( Many of you know that I am heading up a new leg of ministry for The Women's League, Inc. which will be podcasts from the website. This was my first attempt at writing one...actually God woke me up on Thursday with this whole idea for this specific one. Any comments?)

Tellus more! Ha!

2009-04-16T20:10:00.000-04:00

ROCK 'N ROLL...HOME SCHOOL STYLE!

The 3rd Thursday of the month is a great day for my kids and myself. Kelsey, Levi, Wyatt and I join our friends the Wilson's and attend the home school day at the Tellus Northwest Georgia Science Museum in Cartersville, GA. It is always a great day. I finally remembered my camera.

Today's learning extravaganza was called "Rock and Rock"....yup we learned about rocks and minerals. Science is not my strong suit in homeschooling, so I count this museum as a great blessing from God to teach my kids about science.

The Cain's came also, so Wyatt was thrilled to spend this learning time with his buddy Sam. I hope you get to visit someday.

I love this place! My kids love this place!

18 years and counting!

2009-04-08T09:18:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was my anniversary! Chad and I have been married 18 years. Compared to my parents 54 years, 18 is nothing. But in this day when celebrity marriages sometimes don't last through the honeymoon, I'd say it's something. I love that guy.

Our anniversary date was simple...a quick trip to Home Depot, burgers at Chili's with our favorite margarita's, nothing worth seeing at the movies so we rented "Bedtime Stories," watched it with the kids and we both fell asleep during it. Ah yes, it's the simple things that we live for!

So let me brag for a moment on my guy and what he does for me:

1. He kisses me good-bye every morning even if I am asleep and won't remember it.

2. He calls me everyday to remind me that he loves me!

3. He doesn't get upset if I decide I am not cooking dinner and he has to do it when he gets home.

4. He doesn't get mad (to my face atleast) when he doesn't have clean underwear for the next day because I spent the day trying to perfect my blog.

5. He lives to surprise me, like yesterday when he bought me a special tree for my anniversary. The one I just loved, but thought I wouldn't get because it was too expensive. I walked outside and there it was!

6. He'll buy me tampons if I need them.

7. He makes me laugh...boy does he make me laugh.

8. He has let me get every animal that I have wanted...except a parakeet and a ferret...not sure why.

9. He tells me the truth even when it hurts.

10. He supports me and the ministry God has called me to.

11. He loves me!

Yes, God has blessed me.

Two years ago, it snowed on April 7th. "What a fluke!", I thought. It hardly snows in Georgia to begin with, let alone in April...let alone on my anniversary. Guess what it did all day here yesterday? Yup, it snowed! God lives to surprise us. He makes all things new and beautiful. As I stared in amazement at the snow falling again on my anniversary, God reminded me that He likes to surprise us and lavish his love on us, too. You may not have been thrilled at the weather this week, but I was! I LOVE snow and my God knows that! That was my anniversary gift from my Heavenly Father and a reminder that He is Lord of this home and this marriage.

Update on my Speaking Ministry

2009-03-18T11:43:00.000-04:00

So this speaking thing is going pretty good. Even in my off time, I am continuing to see God grow this ministry. He continually shows His favor, always leaving me in AWE! For instance....

..."She Speaks" Conference
You may have noticed by my donation tally, that it hasn't moved in a month. But that doesn't mean that God isn't providing. On the same day that Chad realized that he couldn't make this trip to She Speaks with me, a fellow Women's Leaguer contacted me, asking me if she could go to She Speaks with me and room with me. Instantly, the cost of my gas and hotel was cut in half! But He didn't stop there. Then she let me know that one of her friends wanted to go and asked if she could share the room with us! Now the cost dropped by 2/3's. So the hotel that would have cost close to $600 is now $178 and gas is what?...maybe $20 or $30? Yeah God! Another way to look at it is that in the month of March, I have received $500 AND an all girl's trip! Make no mistake though, I'd rather travel with Chad!

...The Women's League, Inc.
In January, I stepped down from the position of The Women's League Coordinator for Coob Vineyard Church, because I felt God was leading me in the direction of speaking and that I really couldn't do both well at the same time. God raised up a gifted leader to take my place and I felt that was God's confirmation to step out in faith.

In the past week, I have been contacted by 4 churches to speak at their Fall Kickoffs. Hooray!!! I am so excited about that. God has been revealing the teaching that He would like me to share at these events, and it is nice to finally get some dates concreted for August. I was honored to be asked back by Cobb Vineyard, my home church.

I also have been given the reigns for leading the Speaking Ministry for The Women's League Inc. One thing that we will be offering the women that I will be in charge of are Podcasts from The Women's League, Inc. website. We are in the process of working out the kinks to accomplish this, but I am very excited about the possibilities that lie ahead for this. I have two women who will be working with me on this project and hopefully we will have our first podcast up and running in May.

...other avenues of speaking

I remember when I went to "She Speaks" last year and attended a breakout session on getting more bookings, they said the number one way to get bookings was through word of mouth. I thought that it would be a long time before that started happening, but it has been happening quicker than I expected. OK, so my phone is not ringing off the hook, but it is happening. Huh?!

The thing that I love the most in this new venture, is the passion that is in me to hear from God and dive into the Word. I don't think that I have ever been so hungry for something in all my life. I don't ever want to lose that hunger. I want to wake up hungry every day, knowing that the only thing that will fill me up is the nourishment of being in the Word. I hope you are hungry, too.

Quote of the Day!

2009-03-17T16:57:00.000-04:00

"Do I need to be liked?
Absolutely not.
I like to be liked.
I enjoy being liked.
I have to be liked,
but it's not like this compulsive need to be liked.
...Like my need to be praised."

- Michael Scott, The Office

LET THEM EAT CAKE!!!!!

2009-02-25T09:52:00.000-05:00

I haven't really gotten this adding pictures to my blog thing down, so this page will be all screwed up. But I wanted to show you some of my favorite birthday cakes that I have made my kids over the past few years. Wyatt had his 5th birthday party on Sunday and it was a blast. He wanted a "Hockey party." So we set up a rink in the neighbors driveway and he played hockey with all his buddies.

This party gave me the challenge of creating the perfect cake for my little man. I knew immediately what I would do...flat cake with white frosting...hockey rink. But that is too easy for me. I wanted a challenge to rise to, so I decided to add fans and a player. I took pictures of some of Wyatt's favorite people cheering and then laminated them, then put them behind the rink. The rink walls were made of cardboard and advertisements that the kids added.

In the past I have made pig cupcakes, Batman cakes, Spiderman cakes, a dragon cake, ice cream cakes, and an Ipod cake.

This was a cake from Tahd's survivor party! THe next cake is Kelsey's 12th birthday cake and the other is Levi's 6th Galactic Heroes Star Wars party cake. Then we have Wyatt's 2nd which was individual Sesame Street character cupcakes. His 1st birthday party cake was the cutest...the caterpillar from Baby Einstein! Too cute!

Nothing brings me more joy than to make cakes for my kids. It has become an Adams tradition and my kids look forward to the surprise of their special cake. I look forward to the day before the party when I devote the entire morning to the making of the cake. It is truly on of my favorite things in life.

Who was Praying?

2009-02-05T15:00:00.000-05:00

Ok, who was praying for my She Speaks donations? Someone was! The $ that I need to get the initial fees paid came in completely today! PRAISE GOD!!! PRAISE GOD!!! That is all I can say! PRAISE GOD!

I'm Diving in AGAIN!!!!

2009-02-04T13:37:00.000-05:00

Here I go AGAIN! I officially signed up for the Proverbs 31 She Speaks Conference today. In June, one of my first blogs was about my first trip there. It was an incredible trip and a solid confirmation that speaking is the ministry that God has called me to. In the past year, I have had the privilege of speaking to over 1,100 people. I have spoken 3 times already this year to 250 people, with 3 more speaking engagements on Friday. WooHoo! In the past year, I have developed 4 teachings and was able to revamp my testimony to a "big girl" version. I am currently working on a teaching revolving around Mary and her role as Jesus's mom and how we can learn from her sacrifice.

Today, I stepped out and registered, having faith that God would provide the monies that I will need to pay for the conference, hotel, gas, and all the extras I will need. See, I don't have $1,300+ to pay for this trip. I can barely pay for my son's tuition. But God provided, right down to the last penny last time, and I am praying that He will again. So many of my church family members gave me incredible donations and words of love and encouragement that I was blown away.

So hear I am again, sending out donation letters and asking for support. This time, timing is a little more critical. I have a deadline to pay the conference cost itself. Too hard to explain, so I won't, but I need to pay $415 by the middle of March. Praising God that I already have $100 to put towards it. So I am down to $315.

Would you join in praying for me, that God would raise up people to donate before the middle of March? I didn't have this initial issue last time, because I was paid upfront for speaking at NorthStar for The Women's League Kickoff. My prayer is that I will receive speaking engagements that will pay for this trip entirely. Would you join me in praying for that? I have two churches outside of GA that are thinking about using me. I am praying that I hear from them soon with positive news that they would like to hire me. Both churches have been given the recommendation by a close family member of theirs or a church member to use me. Pray! Pray! Pray!

I know that God likes to keep me totally dependant on Him and I totally am at His incredible mercies again to see this conference through.

I am going to keep a running talley on by blog of the money that has come in so far!

February is Birthday month!!!!

2009-02-02T15:55:00.000-05:00

Is it my birthday month, already? My goodness how time flies! My friends are already sending me messages of love and GIFTS! Why, just the other day my girl friend Victoria from Victoria's Secret sent me a Happy Birthday card with a $10 gift card in it. Isn't that nice? Of course, I couldn't show the card to most of the members of my family because she sent me one of those silly cards with the mostly nude woman on the front. That crazy Victoria!

Then I got a gift from my friend Moe. You know Moe, right? I can't believe that he remembered! He's so crazy. He sent me a certificate to use at his OWN Restruant. Because it is my birthday month, he may even have his employees yell to me "Welcome to Moe's!" I'll tell him to do it for you too if you come in on "Jodi's Birthday Month Extravaganza!"

Then I got a $5 gift from the gang over at Famous Footwear because they are such good friends and know all about my shoe needs! My BFFs at the FF!

Even Office Depot remembered, but their gift kind of stunk. They want to give me $15 in free stuff IF I spend $50. I sort of felt special until I saw Chad had one too and it is not his birthday.

What is in store for tomorrow? Who knows, but so far I have $35 to spend IF I spend $35...so I am no better off than I was in January. I will keep you posted as my GIFTS come pouring in!

As a birthday gift to you, here are some wonderful pictures of meand my friends at my 80's birthday party in 2007. Party on DUDE!

Sometimes life just sucks!!! A worship song by Jodi Adams

2009-01-27T18:09:00.000-05:00

Sometimes life just sucks. Sometimes we think it is going to be the best day and then life just sends you to the middle of a big pile of suckage.

Today was supposed to be a great day! Tubes were coming out of Tahd and school just might be able to resume tomorrow! NOPE! I just knew when I saw the doctor's face that today wouldn't be that great day. Tahd's urethra hadn't completely healed from the surgery. So after they removed both catheters and gave him a moment of freedom...they put one back in and said to come back in two weeks! Aargghhh! I dreaded seeing Tahd's face as he came out of the radiology room after the procedure. I knew he would be so disappointed and he rightly should have been. He tried to squeak out a smile to be polite.

We got to the car and he was quiet. I gave him his "Hooray your tubes are out!" gift of the signed book from Travis Cotrell which became the "So sorry your day just sucks!" gift and he squeaked out a little smile and a little bigger one when he saw Travis' signature.

Wouldn't you know that the entire way home we heard songs that talked about praising God through the storms and when we hurt, AND WHEN YOUR DAY SUCKS, and that our God is big enough! Now I didn't actually hear a song with lyrics that said, "Praise God when your day sucks," but there might as well have been one because that is what I heard. So we praised God that we have this incredible doctor who wasn't willing to say that Tahd had healed close enough to 100%. Nope, even 99% wouldn't do. He said two more weeks is better than a lifetime of problems. And we praised God that we are at 99%! Woohoo!

"So I will praise you, God, through this sucky day,
knowing that tomorrow may be just as grey.
We might still need gauze and bandaids, tubes and bags,
but our God is bigger and on this we'll brag!
Sleepless nights and broken hearts,
my God is in them, every part.
He hasn't left us and soon you'll see,
that someday my son will be free...free to pee!
We praise you!"

Girls Night Out!

2009-01-26T11:54:00.000-05:00

Ginny, Sky, Jodi, Jen

Girl's Night Out!

January 25, 2009 was a girl's night out that was long overdue for me. After all the drama that has taken place in our house since September with Tahd's ilillness, I was ready to

GET OUT! What better than a night out with the girls and Travis Cotrell!

Travis preformed a live taping concert at First Baptist Woodstock and brought in Beth Moore and Cindy Morgan to participate in this incredible event! BETH MOORE...HOLY COW! I was beyond excited when I found out about this FREE event and decided this was what I needed.

Ginny, Jen, and Sky tagged along and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. What an incredible night of worship. Afterwards, when we finally came to grips with the fact that we weren't going to meet Beth Moore, Sky and I went to meet Travis. WAY COOL! I had him sign a music book for Tahd that I will give him tomorrow when all his tubes come out. What a pleasure to meet such a Godly man who's passion is worship. He definately brought us into a place of intense worship that night.

Then we met Cindy Morgan in a very intimate setting off of the backstage area. She was so kind and seemed blessed that we wanted to meet her. Ginny was so moved that she decided to tell her, "I loved listening to you when I was a little girl!" REMOVE FOOT FROM MOUTH! (Meanwhile Jen was trying to charm her way through the black curtain to see if Beth was back there. No dice!)

We ended our night around a table Starbucks reliving the evening that was so incredible. I felt so incredibly blessed that I had been there. As I took that night of worship in, I thought to myself, "What did I do to deserve this privelege of being here?" I can't even put into words the way God ministered to me that night. All I can say is that He did.

The Word, prayer, The Women's League and Lynn!

2009-01-13T21:23:00.000-05:00

You know, after I wrote my 101 things that I am thankful for I realized how many things or people I left off...like Lynn! How could I leave you off? My first friend at Cobb Vineyard. Oh I am such a moron. Well I am not going to list 1001 things I am thankful for, but I wanted to take a moment and tell you why I am thankful for The Women's League, Inc. Last night I had the incredible privelege of speaking at Roswell Street Baptist Church as I introduced their church to The Women's League (TWL). This was an incredible honor for me, to be entrusted with such a responsibility.

I shared with the women how we introduced TWL to Cobb Vineyard and how it started with the most important words that someone ever spoke to me while I was in Women's Ministry. At an event pre Cobb Vineyard Women's League, Ruby Berry said to me, "LISTEN GIRL, IF YOU ARE NOT ENCOURAGING THE WOMEN OF YOUR CHURCH TO BE IN THE WORD AND PRAYER DAILY, THEN YOU ARE DOING THEM A GREAT DISSERVICE." That was like getting a spanking from your mama! Ouch! But it was true. I told the women last night (I really didn't want to say it, but I did...), "How could I be encouraging my women to be in the Word and Prayer daily if I wasn't doing it myself?" I wasn't...you would think that the Director of Women's Ministry would be , but I wasn't.

I am thankful for TWL because through this ministry I have established a habit that is as constant that the 2 cups of coffee I relish every morning. It is not just a habit, it is a passion. I look at where I am now and where I was then. I do believe that if I had not made the commitment to be in the Word and prayer daily, I wouldn't be the speaker that I am now. I wouldn't have been given the privelege by God to speak His truths to others. When we are obedient to what He asks of us, then God opens up new doors that He can trust us to walk through.

I am so thankful for TWL. I have a passion for the Word and a hunger to hear from my Father everyday. I wake up everyday on empty. But I fill up at His feet before I drive off full for the day!

If you aren't in a Bible study and would like to be, check out the Women's League website and get plugged into a Bible Study in your area!

The ponderings of a mom after Christmas!

2008-12-26T17:21:00.000-05:00

I don't think I will ever forget this Christmas, though there was one big thing that would definately hinder that...we couldn't find the battery charger for our camera. I think we took 4 pictures and then the big empty battery sign flashed on the camera. "Everyone smile real quick." Sitting there a little miffed at the whole camera thing, I was reminded of the story of the birth of Jesus in Luke. Verse 19 says, "Mary kept all these things to herself, holding them dear, deep within herself." There were no video cameras or digital cameras or polaroids in that old barn, she just relished the moment.

So I decided to relish our moment.

I thought of Wyatt, the first Adams kid to believe in Santa...his choosing. He even asked to go see him. Of course his motives were purely selfish...he wanted the Batcave and he was told that Santa was the man who could deliver. I won't forget that moment at the mall when he crawled up on his lap and asked, or the moment he opened the Batcave and squealed with delight. Wyatt loved the countdown to Christmas advents in our home and couldn't get enough of them. So we bought four more for him to use next Christmas.

I watched Levi as he opened two guns and a compound bow. What were we thinking? But Levi needs focus in his life and those were perfect for him. Levi memorized scripture for our Christmas Eve service and sang in the chorus. I was so proud of him. And I loved that on Christmas day, he didn't want to play with the neighbors, even though he had permission. He wanted to be with his family, he loves his family.

I watched Kelsey as she opened her gifts of choice. Gone are the days of Littlest Petshop and Cabbage Patch Kids. She was so practical this year, but she got all she asked for...socks, hair dryer, flat iron, Bible, make-up, hair gizmos, shoes. But the little girl in her still peaked through in one gift...Puffles. Now I had never heard of them until 2 weeks ago and found out they are no where to be found before Christmas except on Ebay, but Daddy made sure his girl had her simple request. She giggled with delight when she opened her three Puffles.

Then there was Tahd. Oh that boy! It saddened me when his one Christmas request didn't match out budget...a new mandolin. Tahd took up the mandolin after his health took a turn in September. Now he awaits a major surgery on New Years Eve with a catheter coming out of his abdomen. These are the things that kids shouldn't go through, but Tahd is. So back to the mandolin. Did I mention he is incredible at playing it? No lessons...two months...incredible! We told him that the one he wanted just wouldn't fit our budget this time. So we fretted over what to get a boy who you just want to give the world to, but can't. We picked up things here and there and figured we would just give him $ to put towards a new mandolin later. Then Chad and I went out shopping for the last time on Monday night, the 22nd, and stopped by the music store to just see IF by a miracle they had gotten anything in like what Tahd wanted that matched our budget. And wouldn't you know it, there was one there! PERFECT! What a miracle! My eyes teared up as I watched Tahd take his first strum on that gift he wanted so desperately and had given up on! He played all day and did his mama's heart good to hear those sweet melodies.

The past few months have been hard on our family and the next couple are going to be a little tough as we deal with Tahd's health, but as a family we will get through it.

So I sat that morning taking captive in my mind and heart that Christmas together that no camera would capture. And we ended the night as a family just talking with two teenagers who wanted to hang out with their mom and dad, as Wyatt fell asleep in my arms and Levi got cozy next to me. Chad and I both smiled as our day ended, thanking God that we are together and whole when so many are broken.

"Jodi kept all these things to herself, holding them dear, deep within herself." There's my picture!

I love to Embarrass my kids and Chad!

2008-12-11T15:44:00.000-05:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

I stink at blogging and I am a copy cat!

2008-12-11T14:31:00.000-05:00

I don't know what I was thinking when I said I was going to be a blogger. Where was this ever going to fit into my day? It doesn't, then I get a guilty feeling thinking of the thousands of people who must visit my blog everyday waiting for a posting! Well, never fear!!! I looked a a blog today that listed everythingthat someone was thankful for and I thought, "Hey I can do that! Wow! What a simple thing to write about!" So here is my total copy cat rendition of what I am thankful fo this year (Thanks Jen!):
JODI'S TOP 101 THINGS SHE IS THANKFUL FOR THIS YEAR!
*My Savior**
1. Chad
2. Tahd
3. Kelsey
4. Levi
5. Wyatt
6. A warm house that is never boring
7. Goodyear
8. Cobb Vineyard
8. Jen and family
9. Ruby
10. Dr Carney
11. Emory
12. The Women's League
13. my house
14. Danny and Jessica
15. 2 parents married 53 years
16. 5 siblings
17. 15 nieces and nephews
18. 12 great-nieces and nephews
19. children of my friends who I consider my nieces and nephews
20. Seattle Mountain Coffee
21. A COFFE MAKER that makes my coffee before I get up!
22. Cornerstone
23. Beth
24. The Willms
25. Miss Kitty
26. A surgery called uroplasty
27. God's calling
28. HOT PASS
29. Mandolin
30. The Office
31. Santa
32. The Core Team
33. Palm Centro
34. Jacuzzi tub
35. New family room
36. 90% off at Kohl's
37. Melanie Mooney
38. grass seed
39. Scottish Rite
40. Brutus
41. Pippin
42. Kassie
43. Templeton
44. Cricket AKA Lazarus...back from the dead
45. Leo
46. Chloe
47. Pepper
48. my creek
49. fish pond
50. hawks
51. no Heron at my fish pond
52. The entire Curtis family
53. six stockings
54. A wonderful teenage boy
55. A wonderful teenage girl
56. My bed
57. renters
58. Survivor
59. Beth Moore
60. a standing ovation
61. friends who stay the night
62. Ginny
63. USA
64. The Constitution
65. the freedom to homeschool
66. Dogwood trees
67. internet
68. Caitlin Cooley
69. HUSBAND WHO STILL IS ATTRACTED TO ME!
70. Jan Cagle
71. Suburbans
72. Electricity
73. Todd Agnue's voice
74. Wyatt's curly hair
75. Christmas lights
76. 27 pairs of shoes by the garage door
77. butterflies
78. youth group
79. speaking engagements
80. Amy Carroll
81. Proverbs 31
82. Will Ferrell
83. God's spoken Word
84. Acts of Compassion
85. Petsmart
86. Target
87. my front porch
88. computer solitaire
89. Claire's Christmas tea
90. Elf yourself
91. laughter
92. text messages to Santa
93. family nights
94. Chili's margarita's
95. silent farts
96. because you are the only one reading this...Jen
97. Jen
98. Jen
99. Jen
100. Jen
You rock and I am very thankful for my truthteller friend!

Miss Pepper Potts it is!

2008-09-16T11:05:00.000-04:00

"WaHaHaHa! My evil plan

to take over this house
is working!

Now for the WORLD!"

Miss Pepper Potts AKA Miss Potts, Pepper, or Pepper Potts, has adjusted quite well to our home. She has brought much joy and excitement to our house. This quiet, nervous little critter has turned into quite a wildfire! She loves all her toys and finds great fun in getting caught up in Brutus' fluffy tail. Leo wants to play with her, but he needs to learn how to play a little more gentle. Templeton is as kind as can be. Cricket could care less and Chloe seems a little ticked off.
Pepper Potts has bonded extremely well with all of us and never wants to be alone. She likes to sleep on my bed. Last night, I woke to find her sleeping on Chad's chest. AAwww!

Miss Potts came to us from our friend and former neighbor, Kathy! Miss Pott's mother was a stray with older kittens when Kathy found that she was pregnant again. Kathy brought her in her home and let her have her babies in a safe place. Chad and I alway have a soft spot for the underdog(cat) or the unique and we fell in love with Miss Pepper Potts the first time we saw her. We also wanted to help Kathy out, who by way, has taken in the Mama cats older kittens in an attempt to tame them and place them in loving homes.
Here are some of our cute moments with Miss Pepper Potts over the last five days!

The Family Guardian

2008-09-12T08:52:00.000-04:00

At 2:00 pm yesterday, I walked into the livingroom to see the little box with the sleeping kitten in it surrounded by 4 kids, 3 dogs and 1 extremely curious but nervous cat. They all waited patiently for her to stir. Brutus, my Chow Chow, took his usual role of guardian. He loves babies of all kinds and feels it is his duty to protect them from whomever he thinks they should be protected from. In this instance, it was the cats. (Though none of the cats would ever try to harm her) We were surprised to find Kassie, our Maltese, taking on the same guardian role, until we realized she was just guarding the bag of treats we brought home with the kitten.
Miss Pepper Potts, as we have named her for now, is an American Bobtail. She has no tail, just a little tuft on her butt. Her mom was a beautiful Bobtail also, though her siblings both had tails. When we picked her out, we laughed as she chased her siblings tails as we thought about what must have been going through her head: "Man, what is that thing stuck to your butt? Mom and I don't have that. You are so wierd."

Brutus is still guarding her this morning as she naps in her box. Seeing him reminded me of the study of Ruth that I am going through right now with the Women's League. Boaz was the family guardian and Naomi and Ruth found protective covering from him in a land where they needed protection. Boaz went beyond what he needed to do for them, but he guarded them with his life and made them his own. If I was the only one in this house who had a say on her name, I may have named her Ruth. But I will always be reminded of the protection that Brutus continues to offer Miss Pepper Potts and the protection our Family Gurdian in Heaven gives us everyday.

I CAN ALWAYS FIND A LIFE LESSON FROM AN ANIMAL!

(I will add a picture later so that you can see her tail or lack there of! You can see it in the picture of her curled up by herself. Isn't she cute?!!)

Safe in His Walls

2008-06-27T09:04:00.000-04:00

Apparently, my pond is the perfect habitat for fish and frogs to breed. Who knew? Since we built the pond in May, we have had atleast 4 fish lay eggs and those eggs have hatched. What a surprise it was to come out one day and see baby koi along the waters edge!

Kelsey and her baby fish catching tool of choice...a meat baster!

Ever since the first day we saw the babies, my daughter Kelsey has been on a constant search for babies in need of rescue so they will not be eaten by the big fish. I catch a glimpse of her out there everyday with net, meat baster, and bucket in hand looking for babies. We find them most of the time in the shallows where there is a rock wall and plants to hide in.

The shallows and the rock wall!

Yesteday I was sitting by my pond and thought, "We should build a wall that will protect the babies from the big fish. Then we can just put them inside the wall when we find them, instead of taking them out of the pond altogether." I gave this task to Kelsey. She used bricks with holes in them and created a wall that let little fish in but kept the big fish out. She provided a place of safety to those in need of shelter.

This morning, I went out to the pond and saw her wall for the first time. There were baby fish and tadpoles all safe and sound behind the walls with the tall rock wall looming above. There were even a few in front of the wall who had ventured through the holes, but stayed close to the security of the wall. It gave me this picture image of the walls of Jerusalem with Mount Zion looking down on the city.

There is security when we are within the boundaries that God sets for us. We are safe within the shelter. He makes it easy for us to enter and a desired place to stay. But it is a difficult place for the enemy to enter.

Psalm 122:6,7 says:

"May those who love you be secure.

May there be peace within your walls
and security within your citadel."

Psalm 125:1,2 says: "Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion,
which cannot be shaken but endures forever.
As the mountains surround Jerusalem,
so the Lord surrounds his people
both now and forevermore."

We are not only safe behind the walls of Jerusalem, but we are also protected by Mount Zion. We are protected on all sides, above, below and all around!

WE JUST NEED TO STAY PUT!

Take comfort, we are in God's hands!

I'M DIVING IN!!!

2008-06-26T08:43:00.000-04:00

I sat by my pond on Thursday morning feeling a bit anxious about my huge weekend ahead. I watched this little koi in the pond who normally swims by himself, but this morning was in motion with the big koi. Up until then, he felt like he was too small and it was too much of a risk to swim with the big fish. But here he was right with them. I smiled because I was waiting for him to get the courage to jump in. Every baby fish goes through this period.

As we headed out for North Carolina, "I'm Diving in" was playing on the radio and it pumped me up. "SHE SPEAKS...HERE I COME!" Chad was going with me as my support and Starbucks runner!

I woke up Friday morning feeling very confident as I prepared to head down to the conference and then I looked in the mirror...I WAS COVERED FROM NECK TO TOE IN A RASH!!!! WHAT ON EARTH WAS THIS? It didn't itch, it just consumed my every thought! Was I contagious? Could others see it? Was I dying? What was next? I gave it to God and moved on...I'm diving in!

I felt confident and sure that this was where I was to be...until the first session. I walked in and saw hundreds of women (560 to be exact) and I about came undone. What was I doing HERE? The devil whispered the same thing and I said, "I don't know!" Micca Campbell later said the same thing about the devil and I thought, "Man he sure gets around." I gave it to God...I'm diving in!

It was now time to head to my first speech evaluation. One sweet woman asked me where I was headed now and I told her. She said, "Well then...walk tall for you are in God's hands!" Wow! What precious words. I felt confident as I entered the room to give my first evaluated speech...my testimony. Then I stood up. This is always hard to share. The raw emotion sometimes overwhelms me. But here I go with 3 minutes. I asked to go first and gave it to God...I'm diving in....I made it through!

I felt good that night and OK in the morning, but as the day wore on, DOUBT set in as to why I was here. My testimony was stupid. I presented it badly. This is not what I was called to do and I should just go home and be THE MOM. I felt like that little fish in the big pond. Then sweet Amy Carroll, my She Speaks evaluator, saw me and told me how well I had done the night before and how she was looking forward to my next presentation that evening. What? I didn't stink? Are you sure? I gave it to God...I'm diving in!

FINAL EVALUATION....DUM DUM DUM DUUUUMMMMM! It went great but the buzzer went off...ARGH! I was really trying to avoid it. The women in my group were so wonderful. Their teachings were incredible. I loved them all! I thought to myself, "These are the women God has handpicked to reach others." What an honor to be with them here.

I came to She Speaks with the knowledge that if you are evaluated there is a door open to you to apply to be on the Speaker Team. When I read that I thought, "Hmmm! Is this really a door for me?" This is how I feel about doors...go through the ones open to you and God will shut the ones you are not to go through. So where was the table to apply? It was never talked about and I was discouraged. I figured I would just need to find a speaker and boldly ask. Easier said than done! There is nothing about me that is bold. I think it in my mind, but I don't act on it often. I know God is tailoring me in this area.

So I boldly, like a mouse afraid to get stepped on, decided to ask. When I made the move, God met me halfway when a speaker told me to apply even before I asked! WOW! How good is God! What does this mean? Who knows! Will I be accepted? Who knows!

I struggle with self-doubt heavily in this area of being called to speak! The one thing I walked away with from this weekend is that the devil wants nothing more than to pile on doubt in the area that God has called us in. And He wants us to be BOLD in the giftings He has given us. I don't believe it is honoring to God to shrink back from where He leads us. So I BOLDLY in the name of Jesus say that I am a speaker and this is my calling from GOD! I am a broken vessel that He has taken and used his Super Yahweh Glue on and formed into the vessel that He wants for His Ministry. I am change in God's pocket and He can spend me any way He wants! I am the little koi who God has been waiting to see get out of the shallow water and jump into the deep end! Who am I to argue with God?

"If You say,"Go," we will go.
If You say, "Wait," we will wait.
If You say, "Step out on the water and they say it can't be done, we will fix our eyes on you and we will run.
Your ways are higher than our ways and the plans that You have made are good and true.
If You call us to the fire, you will not withdraw your hand.
We will gaze into the flames and look for You!

I GAVE MY DOUBT TO GOD THIS WEEKEND...I'M DIVING IN!

Happy Father's Day

2008-06-15T21:26:00.000-04:00

My dad and little Wyatt having a jam session!

Chad and Levi

"Happy Father's Day" rang out each time a child walked down the stairs this morning! What sweet words...they just love their daddy. For 16 years, those words have tickled Chad's ears...even if his babies were too little to say them! Tahd was 1 month old on Chad's first Father's Day...now he's 15!

These words never echoed the halls of my childhood...not because we didn't have a Dad, but because our religion didn't let us celebrate it. What a shame, because my dad is worth celebrating!

I sat in church today and heard a sermon about how we shouldn't judge our heavenly Father by our earthly one. My pastor said HE is bigger and better than the best dad of the year! HE is always ready to welcome any child into His big arms. This put a picture in my head of my dad that only came to reside there recently.

Three years ago as we went home to celebrate my parents 50th Anniversary, my mom let a few skeletons out of her closet. She told me that my older sister, age 51, wasn't my dad's actual daughter. She told me how her real dad left my mom when she became pregnant. When my dad returned from the military and found her pregnant, he could have left my mom. But he chose to be there and raise this little fatherless girl as his own. WE NEVER KNEW! He never treated her different or loved any of us more. WOW! What a dad! He needs that Father of the Year award!

So here's to you daddy! I have never been so proud to call you my dad as I have been these past few years! I pray you come to know the same Heavenly Father I know! Happy Father's Day!

Signed,

Your Little Pumpkin

PS Happy Father's Day Chad! There could never be a better dad than you for Tahd, Kelsey, Levi and Wyatt!

The Devil wears mud boots, but so does God!

2008-06-14T10:39:00.000-04:00

I had this great blog all written out that slambasted the Devil and the attack he has on my life. When I went to post it, it disappeared. Well you didn't win. You are slinging mud at my life right now, but I am equipped through the the blood of Jesus! You might have mud boots to smoosh me into the muck and the mire, but God has some too! He will find me and lift me out every time.
I'm heading to She Speaks because He wants me there! I think you are sinking!!!!

"You rule over the surging sea; when its waves mount up, you still them!" Ps 89:19

"Dear Lord, today I thought of the words Vincent Van Gough, 'It is true that there is an ebb and flow, but the sea remains the sea.' You are the sea. Although I may experience many up and downs in my emotions and often feel great shifts in my inner life, you remain the same...There are days of great sadness and days of joy; there are feelings of guilt and feelings of gratitude; there are moments of failure and moments of success; but all of them are embraced by your unwavering love.
My only temptatiom is to doubt your love. To do these things is to move into the darkness of despair.
O Lord, sea of love and goodness, let me not fear too much the storms and winds of my daily life, and let me know that there is ebb and flow...but that the sea remains the sea.
Amen."
HENRI J M NOUWEN

Thank you Lord that when the Devil slings mud at me, you are there with Clorox to make all things new.
MoJo Jodi

Two peas in a Blog!!!

2008-06-10T09:38:00.000-04:00

Hooray!!! I'm a blogger!! Why? Who knows! Is this what people do who have loads of dishes and laundry staring them down as they sit and type? Then this is definately for me!

This is all Jen's fault. After all her complaints about no church friends who blog, I decided to step up to the plate and be there for my bud! :)

I have no stories from the pond today. I went to sit there and the major storm that hit last night had sent mud to fill up my pretty pond! Isn't that just like life! Everything is just the way we want it and along comes the Devil to screw it up. Sometimes I do it myself! I am very good at screwing things up! Thankfully I know that I have a Mighty God who can always create beauty from any mess. Sometimes it just takes time for the dirt to settle and see that everything is OK! Too bad some of us have to wait for the water to clear to know that He was always there!

Hey! I did have a story!