Remembering what I learned

It is so easy to fall off track.  To walk towards temptation and to forget that some titles and activities are not what you are called to do.  When God seems the quietest, it happens during those times.  We have to remind of ourselves continually of what we have been saved from and Whose we are. 

I reasoned within myself something that many would consider something minor was okay for me. However and thankfully, I was quickly reminded by the Lord by text that this was not acceptable to Him. I regretted my choice.  So yes, even though my life seems quiet and like I am not being directed by Him, when He sees we are really walking in the wrong path, He will intervene. 

I am not encouraging anyone to purposefully choose to do what is not right just to test if God will step in before we move forward or correct us when we mess up.  Definitely don’t do that.  But do, pray continually that He will lead you in the way you should go.  Pray that evil will not entertain you, tempt you, and cause you to forget who God called you to be. 

I am thankful that Jesus is still working on me and that the Holy Spirit is with me.  The word says,

What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?  For ye are brought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s. (1 Corinthians 6 10-20).

We do not belong to ourselves.  We belong to God.  I was watching a program last Sabbath that I enjoy each time I see it.  The show Signs and Symbols with the four speakers (one being Ivor Myers) were on chapter 12 of Revelation breaking each section down piece by piece.  If you have not seen anything, I recommend watching that. It’s Revelation seminar and makes more sense to me. When the time comes for us to see Him in all His glory, don’t we want to have less to be ashamed about?  He is giving us ample opportunity to live right and do right by Him.  Jesus is available to help and strengthen us.  The Holy Spirit is here to guide us.  We don’t want to make it to that great day and not be able to stand.  I have much in my life I can be embarrassed about and I’m sure that you do too. 

Each day, each week, let’s strive to be better than we were before. 

So my testimony is that text from Corinithians.  It came when I needed correction and guidance the most.  I am thankful that the Lord still gives a word to help us even when we are in a sorry sinful mess. 

What Are You?

Happy Sabbath

This month is almost over and I am looking forward to next week.  I am taking several days off during the week to make for an extremely long holiday weekend.  I still don’t have clear plans as to what I will do, but I can’t wait for the time to come.

“I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
    your works are wonderful,
    I know that full well.”  Psalm 139:14

Mother’s day was Sunday and a very nice time and I thank the Lord for it.  I sat last night looking through pictures and doing so brought up some wonderful but also bittersweet memories.  God knows our ending and our beginning.  He can answer all questions and tell us everything we need to know about our selves. 

About a month before my mother’s birthday, I thought a nice gift for her would be a ethnicity dna test so I looked on the internet and found Ancestrydna to be on sale.  I had also watched a video about four tests (ancestry dna, family tree dna, 23 & me, and another test) done on sets of triplets and quadruplets and the two tests that came out on top were Ancestry dna and 23 & Me.  My older sister bought the family tree dna test last year for my dad and it was very disappointing.  The company could not give us any good information and gave general info such as Africa and Saudi Arabia.  After my sister contacted the company and told them that we were black, the researcher assigned to our dad’s case gave a rushed and less thought through response about my dad’s dna.  I had forgotten about that test, but occasionally videos about dna would come up in my youtube feed and I continued to be interested in them.

Recently, after watching dozens and dozens of videos from other people about the two tests that were great from that news video, I also learned that the Family tree dna had an algorithm issue that needed to be fixed.  I ordered Ancestry dna because there was a sale for St. Patrick’s day and also because I didn’t like hearing many people who took 23 & Me were getting 3-5% of dna that could not be determined.

I ordered one for my mom, but also got one for myself.  My mother’s birthday came and went.  Finally on the eve before mother’s day, I noticed an email notification pop up at the top of my phone.  I opened it and covered a portion of the screen hoping not to accidently expose myself to too much and I’m glad that I did because I read the first percentage of my make up.  I only opened it because I wanted to see if both of our names were listed.  It wasn’t until 2.5 hours later that my mother’s results came in.  I brought the results over to my parent’s house on mother’s day and allowed my mother to see her results.  She is a splendid mix of African, 96% to be exact.  She also had a percentage of British, Northwest Russia/Finland, and Native American.  I was surprised at her results because most African Americans today are on average a mix of 75%-85% African ancestry and the other results are of the slave trade or intermingling with the natives. 

I read mine after hers and I was even more surprised.  I am 32% Nigerian, 29% Mali, 17% South eastern Bantu, a couple 4 and 1 percents of Senegal, Benin/Togo, Ghana.  I had expected Ghana to be the highest.  I never expected Nigerian, but I guess that does explain my eyes and the gap that I had before I had braces as a child. I had nothing against that gap.  My grandmother, mother, and son all have that gap. 

So the first surprise was the Nigerian being so high.  I was even more surprised to see 1% central Asia on my list.  I also had 4 % Scandanavia, 1 % Northwest Russia/Finland, and 1% Native American.  My dad is the only person who can say he knew Native American family members and they appear to be through his mother’s lineage. 

I am surprised I am 93% of African descent and I am surprised that despite all the intermingling and my unique English last name and Irish first name, I have not one speck of British blood flowing through my veins.  When I saw that 32% Nigerian by accident the day before, I spent too much time looking at cuisine, thinking of vacation plans, and how I would make my flag for the car.  I made a flag by the way (it’s green and white).  So it make sense now. This is why I love Iranian/Pakistani food, Ikea, have all these Russian language books in my living room, and have a packet of Egusi in my kitchen cabinet still to this date.  Seriously.

In looking on the website, it showed I had 278 cousins and my mother had over a hundred more.  Names were familiar to her and my dad and we could see their individual results.  Some were as evenly blended as my mother.  Others had Jewish genes, Polynesian, and other stuff running through them.  It’s really amazing how far science has come and how much we can learn about ourselves simply by spitting in a bottle. Doing this test has made my older and younger sister order test kits themselves and depending on the result my older sis gets, she will order a new one for my dad.  I think I’ll eventually get one for my son.

The test does not require people to give any history, names, or other information about themselves.  You simply spit, put whatever name you want assigned to the dna specimen, and wait for them to figure out what you are. 

Imagine the day that we can sit before the Lord at His feet and ask Him.  He could tell us all.  Science is fun and all, but there is so much more we can learn from God.  He put each and everyone of us together (cell by cell, gene by gene) in such a unique and special way and I am thankful for the way He has made me.  I thank Him for the way He made my son.  I thank Him that I could even afford to get the tests and offer a different gift to my mother this year.  I also thank Him that I am almost 100% African.  I need a vacation in Lagos; need to live it up J

Saving Money

Happy Sabbath,

This week has been a good week, as every week.  There is always something good you can find that the Lord has done, something to give thanks for.

Well on Sunday, I went to the YMCA and started my summer membership with them.  It was not listed on the website but I was so happy to hear that I could do Child Watch again for free as an option of my son didn’t want to exercise with me (or if I wanted to use the machine or weight rooms which are too dangerous for him).  When we were last there, he was 2 years old and had to go to Child Watch most of the time when we were not able to get the basketball court free.  At four years of age, he is a good motivator and helped me to run around the track more than I planned.  Out of all exercises and things I can do, I enjoy jogging/running around the track the most and I’m so happy that I can do it with my son along my side. 

Okay, so I went Sunday and had a great work out.  Monday I did the same and pushed myself on the seated leg press.  I used to lift a decent amount of weight, but sitting around at a desk, in my car, or at home, my body is not as strong as it used to be so of course I was sore all over on Monday and Tuesday.  Monday I went to return to the car and the driver’s side door handle popped and broke. 

I went to my parent’s house on Tuesday to realize that my dad’s van was with the mechanic and I planned to talk to the mechanic that morning but he was busy so I came by that afternoon after work.  The mechanic started taking apart the door which meant I would have to leave the car there and my dad picked me up in the little blue car I was stuck driving all of the end of January into April and made it back to my parent’s house in time for my insurance agent to meet with me at 4pm to write up a policy for my son and update beneficiary information.  On Wednesday, my car was fixed and I drove my son and I to the YMCA to get in another work out despite my right knee feeling not the best.  I made it around the track one jog before I ruined it for the rest of the week.  I was in such pain and could hardly handle the steps to get to my son who had run off.  Turned out he went to Child Watch and wanted to stay in there so I signed him in and decided to focus on upper body weight work outs for the next hour. 

Thursday I borrowed a leg brace from my mom and I’m so thankful for this because I was afraid of keeping position when I would sleep and not having support when I drove my car.  Thursday was a long day in the car and Friday was a shorter day.  I am still wearing the brace and it has helped a lot.  I really want to take it off for Sunday tomorrow, but I know my leg is not 100% yet.  It feels like how it felt on Tuesday before I ruined it the next day.  I guess I strained it, I don’t know, but I thank the Lord that I can still walk on it and go about my usual routine with minimal issue.

Today I went to church and left early.  I left because although my son didn’t make a huge mess this time or run all over the church, he was not obeying me for everything I put past him.  Also, the mothering room turned into a drop off zone for parents who could not bear to deal with their children.  They were loud, messy, constantly peppering me with questions, and blocking my view.  I could not hear the sermon or focus and I did not want to be a baby sitter.  Then someone put a sign up on the door after I had entered the room (I think I know who) saying that the room was to be quiet, clean, and all the stuff that visitors could dream of.  I’m sure that other people look at me to be responsible for the room since I’m always in it, but I am not the parent of all these random children.  In fact, one mother came and retrieved the older well behaved sister and told the youngest one to stay in the room because she couldn’t deal with her noisiness in the sanctuary. 

Despite this, it is still a good day.  I listened to some beautiful praise singing on Magnify Him and read a little.  I had a great lunch and am enjoying some quiet with a delicious smelling candle spreading it’s fragrance throughout.  It is a good time to pray and rest. 

I thank God for an easy work week.  Things could have been chaos this week but they weren’t.  I thank God that the car door handle broke on the day it did and that I had the money to pay for it.  I thank God for the mechanic I have.  He gave my car to my dad and my dad picked me up from the train station.  My dad dropped off his van a second time to the shop because something else was going wrong with it so he used my fixed car to leave the shop. I drove back to pay my mechanic.  I thank Jesus that it didn’t take 2 months to fix the door handle, that it was less than 24 hours. 

I thank Jesus that my son has better life insurance now.  I forget what he had with the other policy I started 2 years ago, but I just got him on a 100k policy that I feel like I can manage for many years.  I thank Him for a safe place that my son and I can work out and have fun.  I wish I had known about these summer membership specials because in 2015 when I signed up, I didn’t know anything about it.  I signed up during the summer time.  I am saving so much money this go round. 

Lastly, I thank the Lord that my dna results are in as of today. I'm waiting for my mom's so we can review them at the same time. Hopefully I'll get hers in time for Mother's day.

God is good.

Lovely Things

Happy Sabbath,

I went to church today expecting to see many youth there but it turns out that this is the weekend of the first of a few camping trips and my son was the only child there.  I declined participation for the Adventurers camping trip because my son has some behavior challenges he needs to work through and overcome.  Those same challenges surfaced during the service today.

I had hoped other children would be there so that way, my son would stay back in the mother’s room and not disrupt the service.  Since he was the only one and since everyone who did come saw him, he had to go up and I sat with him for Children’s story but he chose to be disobedient and pretend to be sleep, laying on the pew, me, and burped loudly.  Every time we go he pledges he will be a good boy and it really irks me because he behaves appropriate when he wants to.  At least he didn’t run all over the church, but I didn’t give him a chance to.  My son is one of the things I pray about and I really hope that he is able to get something out of going to church.

I am thankful for being able to sit in adult Sabbath school.  I am also thankful for being able to hear the sermon in full and to not be interrupted by my son or any other person.  The sermon was entitled, “Be Strong In The Lord” and it was very encouraging to me.  It encourages us to build a strong prayer life, to not be afraid to pray for the things we want (healing, success, the power to forgive others and ourselves, anything within God’s will).  It reminded me of how I used to pray and I prayed a lot.  I had a designated fasting day and I prayed daily and talked with Jesus about everything.  I want to do these things again. 

I am thankful that God allowed me to see this week, to drive out there safely when there are so many lunatics on the road.  To have food to eat and good food at that.  I saw the big family yesterday on my journey out of Walmart (I step inside and immediately forget what I came to purchase and don’t know how to get out—not quite like Ikea, but still harsh on the wallet the more hours you stay).  I am thankful for the money to buy what I needed from that store.  I am thankful that the maintenance people fixed my central air! 

I was at my last appointment on May 3^rd and my phone died.  I went to the car to charge it but when I went to turn it on, it got stuck on the ATT screen and wouldn’t go past.  I took it out of the case and went to take out the battery but then realized that the Samsung 7 edge does not allow for this and I had nothing small enough to go into a hole to reset it.  I even tried a combination of buttons but to no avail.  I drove to Lowes to get some insecticide for my plants and noticed an ATT store was in the same area so I went there and they reset it, I praise the Lord for that!  As I was there, I asked about the tablets and wanted to drop the insurance I had on the tablet my son uses because his was replaced within 3 months of him owning it (he dropped it) and I had one remaining replacement option which I was saving to cover my phone for this family account if I broke it.

 In talking to the representative, I was able to get a new tablet for the same $10 per month I was paying before and a 2nd replacement option put back on my account.  If my son breaks his tablet, he can use the one I just purchased, but for now, I am planning to use it for work and it is functioning as a back up phone for when my edge battery power dies. 

I am thankful for having all of this technology for my son and I to use and it definitely makes our lives a little easier.  I am also thankful for an opportunity to do the YMCA.  I missed going to the YMCA as I used to in 2015.  I received a special offer in my email and plan to go tomorrow to take them up on it.  I would then get to run-jog in an comfortable indoor track, swim for free, use the weight/machine rooms, and can utilize child watch for my son’s less cooperative days.  Depending on where God takes me, I might extend the membership past the summer, but I desperately wanted a safe and comfortable place where I could pound the pavement without disturbing a neighbor, getting side eyes from family members, or having to dodge bees and other creatures that want to do me harm.  The YMCA is just that.  My diet change is not enough.  Semi-veganism has not made the difference I was used to when I was 10 years younger.  I have serious health challenges I need to deal with and exercise is key to overcoming these issues.   So I am thankful for that email from the YMCA.

I am also thankful that Ancestry.com has started processing my mother’s and my lab results (that too on May 3^rd).  It sure is taking a long time.  I hope to get the results this month and review them with my mother.  My dad had the Family Tree dna done the other year, but I would like to see him get an Ancestry or 23 and Me test instead.  That’s a birthday gift for another year I guess.

I am thankful that my plants are flourishing.  When I was living with my parents, I was not able to keep anything alive.  I was not permitted to use lights for my plants (too much electricity being used up), use too much water, or even keep them inside when the weather outdoors would kill them.  I am thankful for a home where I can grow these plants, enjoy the natural beauty God created in each of them to display and to be able to maintain them with all freedom in the privacy of my home. My avocado trees are growing.  The last seed I planted is the tallest one.  I plan to grow it to 6 ft and keep it at that height and the way it is growing, it is well on it's way. I hope that one day I will not only have a 3 bedroom house to live in, but be able to build a green house to house my plants.  For now, my garden will be well maintained in my kitchen and other rooms.   I have a vineyard started and the plant looked so pitiful in the store, but is doing wonderfully now and so green.  My ginger tree is taller than me and has three tall stems and one small sprout ready to grow to the same great heights. 

The closing text that the speaker of today left me with was found in Phillippians 4, verse 8.

“Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.”

My week wasn’t as perfect as I would like it to be, but there were good things that happened this week.  There were lovely things I was able to see (the quick growth of the small leaves to big ones popping out the top of the avocado tree; my son coming in the room to ask if I was okay or say he loved me).  There is always something you can thank God for.  Thank Him today and have a great week J