Blessed in So Many Ways!

Marvelously Magnificent Miraculous Monday! This past weekend I was moved to tears by the kindness of two strangers who gifted my family and I and disappeared into thin air. I was not able to thank them directly and knew in my heart God had moved them to bless me in a way that gave all the glory to Him. So very thankful for the hands and feet of Jesus. 

Today's encouraging word reminds me that Jesus is not only my Lord and Savior, He is also my friend:

There is no greater love than to lay down one's life for one's friends. ~ John 15:13, NLT

So this weekend was truly something indeed. I left work Friday, jumped on the interstate with five of my children and my five gift bags to attend my 'Ladies of Hagar Saved With Amazing Grace' annual fundraiser for 'The least of these'. 

We had a fantastic night and I was blessed to be able to share my wallet story with another girl who markets for Scentsy. I met her on Facebook and fell in love with her attitude before I ever met her in person. 

If you are into candles but fearful of house fires, you should really check out her website. Beautiful warmers and non toxic wax! I learned that the wax begins cooling instantly, so no fear of your little ones getting hurt should they become curious and tip the warmer over! Here is her website http://www.pefleybelieves.scentsy.us should you like to take a look for yourself. These make great gifts for your friends and family as well as for yourself! 

I could not resist this warmer with a single tree on it that lights up. I love trees. There is just something so magnificent about them. As soon as I saw this warmer I knew it was the one for me! Years ago when Mike and I first moved back to Indiana, he went to work on a tree farm. I was blessed to be able to work with him for a summer and help him plant trees. When you walk into a barren yard and plant 10 tall trees you truly appreciate how they beautify the scene. Mike had an art of dropping a clump birch tree into the freshly dug hole. I would stand back and watch in awe as he would spin this monster tree, they were never smaller than 15' tall, and place it in the ground making it look as if it was always there. It is still one of my favorite trees.

Funny enough all the scents I picked out were lilac and lavender scents! They have all kinds of amazing scents, many of them smell like home baked goodies. I joked with Tammy and said, no food scents, I still have 40 pounds to lose! This candle warmer is my reminder of the home I lived in surrounded by trees for seven years before the state plowed my home and all the trees down for the new highway.

All in all we had a great night. Many of our guests won a gift of some kind. I believe we have raised enough to sponsor 80 children at this point. Our next event is going to include horse drawn carriage rides and personally handing out the gifts to the children. I can hardly wait to see their faces. What fun it is going to be. 

So speaking of gifting others. As many of you know, Mike is in Florida currently. He has not been able to help out financially as he landed in hot water almost as soon as he arrived in Florida. Nothing of his own doing but from an event where lose ends were not tied from over seven years ago! I will know tomorrow when he will actually be allowed to head back home. I had earnestly prayed at the end of August, beginning of September for God to either convict him or remove him. Many of you have read about all of this in previous posts and know how it went down already. For those who have not, I will simply say, when you pray God hears. How He answers is always according to His will. Since God is always good no matter what strife we face here, when you pray, my advice would be to let it go, have faith in God, and keep your focus on Him! I have done my best at this. 

Being a single mom of many children can be scary. Every month I make out my budget, look at these growing children and say a prayer for provision. Going into November I knew I was going to sponsor a child so my clothing budget had to grow a little. I also knew I was going to this fundraiser and I would support anyone who stepped up and came to the event. It just so happened I was looking for a night light of sorts so thank you God for helping me make my dollars stretch to do all they need to do in a given month!

This year, I enrolled Michael in basket ball. Thinking with no father in the house, being a part of a team would be healthy for him. We had our first game on November 2nd and I watched as Michael did great, stealing passes and rebounding, but he would have done even better had he not been sliding all over the place! I had not budgeted for basketball shoes in the month of November but knew he truly needed a pair for his own safety. I played on a basketball team most of my childhood. I know how much shoes matter. I woke up Saturday morning bound and determined to purchase a pair of shoes for him even if it meant being more creative with our menu selections this month.

So I loaded all the children in the car and off to Dicks Sporting Goods we sped. When we got there we headed to the shoe section and a kind employee helped us with the right size. I allowed Michael to pick out his favorite pair, praying that he would pick one of the least expensive pairs, which he did. Still, it was more money than I would spend purchasing shoes for all of them combined! He laced them up and I had him shift and turn and move around. He loved them. The employee handed me the box, told me he could wear them out and we went to go pay for them. The first cashier I approached was already calling for help from management so I asked if there was another cashier open. She pointed over to the other side of the store and said there should be someone on the east side. As I headed to that side, the same employee that had helped us came running up to me with an envelope. He informed me that he had no idea what was inside but he was asked to give it to me by another shopper. When I got over to the cashier, I opened the envelope and began crying. It was a gift card with enough money on it to completely pay for Michael's shoes. 

I shared the good news with the children and the cashier. It was awesome to watch Michael play this Saturday and not slide! We lost the game by two points in the final few seconds of the game. It was an awesome game to watch!

After that we headed off to the store, joyous that we had enough to buy two weeks worth of dinners and breakfasts and snacks as long as we were smart with our money. I have assigned all the children duties so that I don't have chaos in the aisles. Marissa is my tally keeper. Michael helps me pull the cart along. Delilah and Marie are my fetchers and Jeffrey is consulted on options. When we got to the cashier, she rang up all my items. We joked and talked as she is one of my favorites there. I've been shopping at Aldi's since I was a teenager! When she hit the total button she leaned forward and said, "I just have to ask, did you or your children talk to anyone in the aisle?" I said, "No. we didn't." She then held up some cash and said, "Well a lady that shops in here all the time like you said she wanted to bless you. So is it okay if we take this off your bill." Again. I stood in awe with tears in eyes and said, "Yes". 

I was so overwhelmed by it all, my eyes hurt from holding back tears. I told the children I needed to unload the groceries and then we needed to go do laundry. Jeffrey looks at me and asks, "Can we go to the hotel and do the laundry?" I thought to myself. With the money I was blessed with I did have enough to cover a room and it would be nice to not be in a laundry mat. To pretend I was doing laundry where I lived would be a blessing so I caved. When I called to see if there were any suites available I was informed there was. I booked the room. When I arrived, I was given the room for $10 less than my normal charge which is already a gift in itself. I got all the children settled in the room and went to get some quarters for the washer and dryer. When I got to the front desk, I was told they did not have enough quarters to give me change but was invited to do my laundry for free in their industrial machines. 

This week the Lord provided every need I had in amazing ways leaving me in awe. When I went to church on Sunday, as always we were asked if anyone had any praises or prayer requests, I had to share my blessings. I told everyone about my Saturday. 

I love my home church for I truly feel at home. I have shared both blessings and asked for prayers here. What I love most about my home church is that I truly feel at home there. 

This month of November the youth group decided it would add more fun to the day if we had 'Themes' for each Sunday. Last Sunday was 'Goodwill' Sunday. In other words go to goodwill and find an outfit that is not the norm and wear it. This Sunday was 'Crazy Hat' Sunday. I love having fun so of course I have been participating. Here are pictures of my outfits for the last two weeks!

So This is a dress I found on the rack at goodwill. It was obviously hand made. Pink was not anywhere in my wardrobe until I added this festive item! It helped me win the prize for the week. Up until it was announced I won best dressed for the girls, we did not know there would be a prize! I took this same hat and dressed it up a bit for the following Sunday.

As you can imagine, I got quite a few compliments when I wore it! One even from the bowling alley manager! I saw a lot of crazy hats this Sunday myself! 

This coming week is twin day and I am pretty sure I have talked another friend of mine into checking out my church. I have already worked out our outfits. This is going to be so much fun. We are ending the month with Formal Day as the final Sunday. I have my eyes open for a fancy dress I just know God will provide for me in the nick of time. That Sunday is also when we will stay after church and all eat together in the banquet room. Nothing like hanging out with family!! 

If you don't feel at home where you seek the word and are in search of a home church in Hamilton / Marion County, I would love for you to check out where I enjoy fellowship each Sunday. We meet at Pinheads Bowling Alley in Noblesville, Indiana, in the Bar or Banquet room. Worship begins at 10, but feel free to arrive a little early for conversation, donuts, milk, juice and coffee! You will learn right out of the bible and I promise you will be made to feel at home!

Father today I pray that all and any who are in search of a home church find just what they are looking for. May the place be full of members of the body of Christ. There is nothing like hanging out with true believers and learning your word. I am so blessed to have found Leavener as my home church. I am singing your praises Father and am so thankful for how you shower me with love and as promised provide all my needs for me. May many more step out if Faith and be blessed in seeing how much you love them as well. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.

* My wallet story can be read here:

#1:  http://youareworthytoo.blogspot.com/2012/12/show-me-sign.html

#2:  http://youareworthytoo.blogspot.com/2013/07/unpacking-treasure-show-me-sign-part-ii.html

** These are the blogs regarding my prayer for Mike to be convicted or removed:

#1: http://youareworthytoo.blogspot.com/2013/09/convicted-by-god.html

#2: http://youareworthytoo.blogspot.com/2013/09/dont-fret-god-is-faithful-he-always-has.html

#3: http://youareworthytoo.blogspot.com/2013/09/better-off-with-god.html

All I ever ask of any reader is if you find yourself moved, encouraged, inspired at all, please share my blog link with anyone you think is in need of some hope, faith and love!

Wendy, Walks with God

Mom of Many

© Wendy Glidden 2013

Suckerpunched!

Here it is Simple Sincere Seeking Sunday. When I went to church this morning as always, the floor was opened for sharing what was going on in our lives as well as the opportunity for prayer requests. I don't usually say anything but this week I did. I explained that I was struggling with my feelings and keeping my focus where it needed to be. I shared that this week was scary and I was attempting to keep my focus on Jesus but I was overwhelmed with my own emotions and my feelings of betrayal. If you have not read my previous post titled 'Have You Ever Been Pancaked', I would highly recommend you do for this blog is a continuation of that story. So I ended that post with explaining that I had chosen the title and then had run out of time to write anything and I had headed off to the courthouse. When I got there I was not sure where I needed to go so I stopped at the information desk. She pointed me to the second floor and from there I was told what room the hearing would be held in. Of course it was being held in a side room and they had not marked the door with the number they had assigned it yet. I asked a man who worked in the court house to help me and that was when I stumbled upon Mark, Tia and the Sheriff that was her escort.

They informed me that Tia was still not being compliant and that we were going to be seen in front of the judge next. Mark began berating Tia. Asking her if she understood how much worry she had caused him and most likely me. I looked at him and said, "You need to keep my name out of this. I am not into berating my children. As a matter of fact I didn't have as much time to worry because you never even bothered to pick up the phone and let me know she was missing. You never called me when you called the police and you didn't call me when she was arrested. I got to learn about all of this from a sheriff." He looked at me and said, "Can we please not argue in front of our child." I turned and looked at him. I promise if my eyes were laser beams I would have sliced him in half. I said as calmly as I could, "Look, don't talk to me and we'll be just fine. I am hanging onto one strand of Grace and I swear if you talk to me again, I'll lose it." I turned back to look at Tia who informed me I had an epic fail where grace was concerned. She was right. I smiled at her. Right then my phone rang. I looked at the number and thought it was my mother's new home number since it started with a 765 area code. I answered it quickly, fearful of what was happening as she knew I was supposed to be in court. When I swiped it to grab the call, I said, "Make it quick, I've got exactly two minutes."

"Is this Wendy Glidden?" a female voice I did not recognize inquired. "Yes." I answered wondering who I was talking to. "This is Rachel with the Morgan County department of children services. Are you aware of an incident involving your children Michael and Marie?" I was puzzled as to why she only named two of the five children but I answered, "Yes. I am aware of it. I was there at the hospital. I met Mary. We put a safety plan in place." She said, "Oh. Yes. I know about that incident too. I am calling about another incident involving just two of your children." I could barely breath. 'What now?' I silently screamed in my head. She continued, "Do you recognize the names Cheyenne or Ciarra?" My head was spinning. "Yes." I stammered. "Do you know how old they are?" I could barely think. I answered, "Cheyenne is 4 and Ciarra is 3." She then asked me how they were related to Marie and Michael. "They are cousins I answered." Honestly they are their nieces but they are more like cousins and again I was so freaking confused as to where this was heading. She then informed me that Michael and Marie had been reported for sexually assaulting their cousins. I began weeping uncontrollably. She next informed me there would need to be a forensic criminal investigation performed and wondered when I would be able to bring the children in for that. She also said we would need to have another safety meeting with Mary, her, my mother and I and asked when that could take place. I replied, "Schedule it, I'll make it work." She said okay. I need to make a couple of phone calls. How long is your meeting going to take. I asked the sheriff if she knew how long we'd be. She answered about an hour. I then told Rachel I would call her in approximately one hour and I hung up. Tia looked at me and all I could do was cry. As if my day wasn't already hard enough. I know it is purely on the strength of God I was able to stand on my feet. Almost immediately we were ushered into the court room. I could not talk. I sat there with tears streaming continually down my face. I listened while the judge informed me that Tia's father had requested both a psychological evaluation and a drug screen. The judge thought both of those requests were reasonable and was going to grant them. He assigned Tia a lawyer and sentenced her to continue residing in the shelter until her next court hearing which would be somewhere between 10 and 27 days from today, Monday, August 5th, 2013. We, the parents were instructed to wait out in the hall to meet with Tia's probation officer. The room was spinning for me. I got up, followed Tia out of the courtroom and down the hall way. She looked at me and said, "I'm going to fail." which totally caught me off guard. Again, the room spun. I stepped into the elevator with her and somehow managed to say, "Must have been some party, hugh?" She said, "Yelp. It was." When we stepped out of the elevator I remembered I was supposed to be waiting upstairs and I got back in the elevator and headed back up to the 3rd floor. When I arrived Mark was talking with the probation officer. I apologized for following Tia and he said, "That's okay." I was still crying and I don't know what he thought I was crying about but he said, "I've seen kids like her before. She is tough today but she will go back and be in that room and reality will sink in. You'll see, she will soften up." Someone else came out and handed Mark and I both a sticky note with a name and phone number on it. As I walked away with the number in hand and headed toward the steps. Mark followed behind me. Through my tears I gandered at the sticky note realizing I had no idea who this person was. I stopped half way down the flight of stairs and looked at Mark as I held up my sticky note and said, "I only want to know who this is. That's it. Just who is this?" He said, "That's the lawyer for Tia. She's really good." I shook my head and continued down the steps. He called out from behind me, "This is hard for me to you know." I spun around and stated, "You know Mark, when Travis comes to visit and acts up and threatens to run off, I pick up the phone and I call your mother and ask her to let you know what is up. You know what that is called? It's called common courtesy, something you did not give me. You didn't talk to me then I don't care to talk to you now." and I headed quickly and angrily toward the center spinning door. Just as I stepped in and began to push the door forward, I heard him say again, "This is just as hard for me as it is for you. You know she was my baby from day one." That was the straw that broke the camel's back. That was the straw that broke my last stand of grace. I pushed that door in front of me so hard, I am positive the force caused Mark to come out behind me a little quicker than he should of. As he tumbled out onto the concrete I shouted angrily, "You were drunk our entire marriage. You beat me every chance you had. Exactly WHEN was she YOUR baby girl? You may live in some fantasy world but I live in reality." He took off in the opposite direction. Who knew he could move so fast!

When I got in my car, I called Rachel. She apologized for telling me the way she had. She actually said, "Had I not known you were not aware of the situation, I wouldn't have told you the way I did." I was having trouble following her and why she would have thought I should have already known and then I thought, she must have called my mother first and mom didn't call me because she knew I was in court. I told Rachel I did not know how this could have happened and wondered if there was any truth to it but promised I would not interfere with the investigation. I told her I was ready to quit my job and stay at home with my children. She told me not to make any crazy decisions. She reiterated that we had a safety plan in place and told me to remain calm. When I got back to my office, I called my mom to inquire if she knew anything and she said she had just been informed herself that day. I asked when and she hemmed around and said, "I don't know around 11." I was shocked. I asked, "Why didn't you call me?" She claimed it was because she thought I was at court. I said, "I told you I had to be there at one. I got the call from this lady two minutes before I entered the court room." My mom said, "Oh I'm so sorry." I excused her and then began discussing how I didn't know where this horrible accusation had come from. I was sure it must have stemmed from my complaint to the sheriff or perhaps the hospital. It was so appalling. My mother allowed me to go on. I told her somehow we would make it through this. I called my sister who insisted something was fishy and we were missing a piece of the puzzle. I called a friend and shared my awful news. You could say I was a mess beyond a shadow of a doubt. Later that night I rang my oldest daughter to inform her that she was most likely going to be getting a call regarding this accusation and in talking with her, she let the cat out of the bag. She had called in the report. As if that wasn't hard enough to swallow she chimed in with the news that my mother had also called in and reported it herself as Cassy had advised her to do to protect herself. I could barely breath. The conversation turned VERY ugly and I informed Cassy I was not going to listen to her talk to me like that and I said, "I am ending this conversation." Next I called my father who could not believe what I was saying. He advised me to calm down and not make any rash moves. As calmly as I could I rang my mother and informed her I knew she had been dishonest with me. I asked her how she would feel had her mother conspired against her in such a way. She answered that she would have felt betrayed. I said, "Yes. Exactly." I then told her that she and Cassandra should be thankful that I kept my nose in the bible and my focus on Jesus because that was the only thing allowing me to have any Grace at all. I informed her she was lucky my children had school the next day because I wanted to drive out to her house right then and grab my children from her. I said,"It is only because I want help for my children if this has indeed taken place and I don't want to freak them out by snatching them in the middle of the night nor do I want to do things out of anger that I am going to sleep on this tonight. I feel like I just got sucker punched and honestly I am reeling right now." She started to say something and I said, "Mom. Don't. I can't listen to you right now. I'll talk to you tomorrow."

My night has come to an end and I must get ready for bed. Tomorrow is another big day. Rachel is coming to my home to talk to me, the children and to do a safety inspection on my home. There is so much more left to this story and the betrayal isn't over. Stay tuned. I will update as this storm continues. Please keep me in your prayers.

Father, today I thank you for the fellowship I am able to enjoy every Sunday with the church you brought into my life three years ago. How much I have grown over the last three years. I am so blessed to have been introduced to Leavener and all the wonderful people who attend fellowship there. Thank you for Rusty and his constant teaching about where to keep my focus. Where would I be without you? Where would I be without your strength. I shudder to think. I am so blessed Father. Even in the midst of this awful storm I feel your love for me and I am hanging onto your promises. The evil one has come after me through all of my children. I have been betrayed by those I trusted and my feelings are hurt. I am going to do as Rusty suggested though. I am going to keep my focus where it belongs. All of this outside stuff, that is the work of the evil one and I refuse to fear him. He is nothing more than air. You are bigger and you love me. I know you have me. Thank you for your protection Father. I know you are leading me somewhere. I don't know where that is but I am trusting in you. For you are always faithful. You have always been good to me. Thank you for loving me so much. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.

Wendy, Mom of Many

© Wendy Glidden 2013

Spare the Rod ~ Spoil the Child

This does not mean "beat your children". I consider the rod the "truth hammer". This basically means step up to the plate of parenting. Love your children but don't coddle them. Teach them about God and the Fear of God. Take your household back and do it through Love. Find a church that teaches . . . not one that preaches. If they aren't telling you every Sunday that the Holy Spirit resides inside of YOU, you are in the wrong place. Keep moving until you find this type of fellowship. Only there will you feel safe in sharing your shames. Isn't that why you go? If you only go to church to look good I say to you, "God is not fooled". He knows your heart.

As we go forward today many are still questioning the violence going on in the world. I say to you since the time of Adam and Eve evil was sown into our flesh. It is important that you think of God daily and give praise for every little element of your life that is good. The more you do, the happier you will become. I am not claiming that life will suddenly become easy and you will no longer have problems. That will not happen until we live in the Kingdom of God. We live in a fallen world right now. Pain is a part of it's fabric. People act on pain. Some cry . . . sadly some kill.

People are so eager to buy into God allowing or even worse causing bad things to happen. He is not the ruler of this fallen world. Satan is. God gave us free will. That means it is there for everyone . . . even those who allow the evil side to win the spiritual battle that wages inside all of us. Help your children win this raging battle while they are young and impressionable. It is vital that they learn about God. If you are a parent and you yourself do not have a relationship with God I say it's high time you got there. Do not seek a place that teaches a false religion. The church is inside of you but you go to a place where other's are for fellowship, support, encouragement, prayer and hopefully hugs and laughter as well. This fallen world beats us up daily. Just like no company will ever sway every person to purchase their product line, not everyone will build a relationship with God. That means evil will remain to be "a force to reckon with." When you go into battle don't you dress for it? Read the Holy Bible. Listen to Christian programs on the radio in the car. Fill your childrens head with the knowledge God and HIS love. They get more than enough knowledge of evil especailly if there is a TV in your home. Speaking of TV, the charmed ones are not the only people to have seen the work of demons. They are written about in the bible and they are here still today. When someone gives in to the dark side all you can do is pray for that person. You can lead a horse to water but you cannot make them drink!

Today let's pray for the parents who are raw with emotion. I know that pain too well. My oldest son lost a child. He was only 18 and his daughter was only 3 months old. I held him while he howled in pain. Just recalling that memory has my eyes overflowing, my heart swelling and I am overwhelmed myself.

Once again I sit here crying and my fingers have stopped. I am going to go back to bed and cuddle with my youngest for another hour and then we are off to have fellowship ourselves.

May you have a blessed day <3

Wendy, Mom of Many


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