Vacation (cross posted)

I will be around a bit today, and in the morning. Then you most likely will not see me again until the 18th or 19th, depending on what time I get home. We are going to a family reunion in NM. I cannot wait. I am also having another reunion of sorts. I am going to have lunch with two of my jr. high/high school friends, who I have not seen in years. We have been in contact through MySpace, but not regularly. It will be wonderful to see these two girls again.

Look for a BIG announcement about my blogs when I return.

See you then.

Post over at My Journey

I just made a post at My Journey that could have been made here. Rather than cross post, I am just letting you all know it is there.

God bless you all!

Membership referral contest

With the opening of the forums over at Faith Filled Wives, I would like to have a membership referral contest, to build our membership.

To refer someone for membership you must:
Be a member yourself.
Have posted an introduction.
Have a least 2 other posts in the first week of your joining (you can refer people before then, but you cannot get credit for that referral without the posts).
Remain active for the duration of the contest.

To qualify as a referral, they must:
Put your Faith Filled Wives user name as the person who referred them
Post an introduction
Have a least 2 other posts in the first week of their joining
Remain active for the duration of the contest

Prizes are:
The person who refers the most people will receive a $25 Pay Pal deposit.
The person who refers the second most people will receive a $10.00 Pay Pal deposit.

Contest starts 5-25-2007. Will run through 6-30-2007. Winner will be announced on 7-6-2007 to allow for posting requirements to be met for each referral.

Good luck and happy referring.

Faith Filled Wives Website

is down for a couple of days. :) It should be ready for the public, soon! You can take a peek as the new front page is "live" but I am still adding things.

Thank you for your patience.

Up coming changes

Yep, more changes. :)

I will be making changes to the Faith Filled Wives website soon.

Eventually the blog will be moving over to there. I will be using Word Press for both the site and the blog. The new website should be live this week or next. The blog will not switch for a bit. I have some other things to do, first.

Please pray for Heather as she works on getting my WP site and design up and going. I really appreciate all that she is doing for Faith Filled Wives.

Please be in prayer for me as I get things ready to change over. I do appreciate it.

Also, we will soon have our own forums. I pray that they will be be a blessing to you. They should be up and running later this week or early next.

Apologies - *Cross posted*

My dear friends,

First off, this will be posted on all three blogs and several message boards. It is my blanket apology for my "disappearance" from the blogging world and several of the message boards that I frequent.

A few weeks back, I had a flair up with my irritable bowel. A little TMI here, it all but quit working on it's own, and I could only have a bowel movement, if I took strong laxatives. I had several tests ran and Praise the Lord! It is just what my Dr is calling a lazy bowel, which is basically a spastic colon. It is completely treatable. However, my Dr put me on Amitiza. This is a wonderful medication, if you have a lazy colon. It has done what it is supposed to do. But it has also made me irritable. It has affected my bi-polar, and made me a very angry person. I will be stopping this medication when I have finished this bottle. It is $60.00 per month and that is more than I want to pay for crankiness.

So I hid. I figured it was much easier to hide from you all than to have you all listen to my rants, my raves and my fits. I knew that some of you would see through my "Everything is fine" attitude. I did not want anyone to know that anything was wrong. I wanted to maintain the ideal that I had my bi-polar under control. Yes, I was wrong.

I was reminded that I need my friends. God does not give us anything we cannot handle. He also gives us the friends, family and support that we need to be able to handle some situations. He wants us to lean on Him, but He also gives us loved ones to lift us up in prayer and support.

I know that many of my readers and many of my friends were worried about me, and I sincerely apologize for "hiding" from you. I would like to ask that my readers and friends please accept my apology and please forgive me. I let my human nature take over and did not lean on the Lord. I know that many of you would say this post was not necessary, but others needed to know what was on my heart.

I love you all and I am thankful for each and every one of you. I have a ton of catching up to do, so I will close this post.

Sincerely,
Melissa

have you ever... (cross-post)

done something really bad?

I have recently. I went into hiding, because I was afraid I would say or do something hurtful. Yeah I know, I should have been honest and up front and told everyone what was happening and why. I did not. I am so sorry.

I went to try to apologize to someone for this. I really wanted her to know that I was so sorry. When I went to talk to her, I misspelled her name. ACK! Yes, that looked and sounded sincere. *rolling her eyes* I am such a lousy friend. I really am.

My deepest apologies to all of you out there in the blogosphere.

Going on vacation

I am headed out the door. Hubby has a business conference in Las Vegas and he would like me to attend with him. Since all we have to pay for is my plane ticket, and his company is putting us up in the Bellagio, I am going. That and he wants me to go, so it is a given. ;) This goes back to, would you go to a bar? Well, I would go to Las Vegas.

Have a good week, everyone, and hopefully I will get some quality reading and writing time in.

Book Review: Surviving a Spiritual Mismatch in Marriage - By Lee and Leslie Strobel

I picked up Surviving a Spiritual Mismatch in Marriage, at the local Christian bookstore. I figured with Lee Strobel writing it, it would have to be well written with lots of information. Leslie, Lee's wife was a Christian for a couple of years before Lee. This book is written from that perspective. Lee tells all about how he felt when Leslie was trying to get him into church.

This book gives me hope. It is honest and upfront. It tells you that not all spiritual mismatches last only 2 years. Some spouses have been spiritually mismatched for 25+ years. Some have sadly seen the unsaved spouse pass before accepting Christ. However, this book gives advice on how to handle the many differences in ways that should not add more stress to an already stressful situation.

While most of the book is about being married to an unbeliever, there is a section for Christian couples who are out of sync. One spouse is more spiritually mature than the other, and the one that is not as mature seems to be not growing at all. They give many helpful tips on how to deal with this situation, as well.

I highlight in books. I mark things so I can find them easier. I have to tell you, a big part of this book is highlighted. It is wonderful. I have gotten so much out of this book, that I will be able to in turn help others through these situations. I would recommend this book for anyone in a spiritual mismatch or out of sync, spiritually, with their spouse.

It is Finally Here!

After months of working on it. Between the emotional struggles, the spiritual struggles and the mental blahs, I finally finished Faith Filled Wives. Future additions to Faith Filled Wives will be a newsletter and a forum, but for now, here it is. I hope you all like it. Let me know what you think.