Last year I became enthralled with this man’s talent. I’m looking forward to the release of this song. I believe in miracles! It’s at the very core of my being.

I came up with this idea a few years ago while shopping at Sam’s Club.

A lot of the stores my kids frequent would sell them little bags of chips, pop (soda), nuts, lollipops, etc. for prices that were way more than I could buy them for myself. I decided to open Mom’s Snack Shack.

I bought several of the items that my children liked to snack on. Little bags of popcorn, chips, candy bars, fruit roll ups, gum, nuts, juice packs, popsicles, etc. Then I set up shop. I took the amount it cost me to buy the items, and tacked on 10% for my time. Now, the kids would use their allowance money to buy stuff from my store. Every couple of weeks, I would take the money and go back and get the same items. They weren’t allowed unlimited access to the store, there is only so much junk I allow them Basically we we
to eat. You could run it like a canteen at camp if you’d like, where the store is only open on certain days, which would help with the problem of one child having too many snacks.

Some of the kids got in on the act by buying cans of pop, keeping them cold in the refrigerator with a sign that said, “50 cents.”

Recycling the snack money continued to replenish the supply. I gave the kids an allowance, which also went back into our own coffers. Another great benefit was that the kids wanted to earn money so they could buy themselves a snack. Therefore, I was able to get some of those undesirable jobs done and didn’t have to pay someone else to do them, I could just pay my own kids.

Occasionally I would open the store as a “Good Kids Store” to bless the kids that day with a free treat. It was funny to hear my kids say to me, “Mom, since we’re having pizza tonight, could we have a free pop?”
Another benefit of this store is that my children have learned the value of food that comes from the store. (Yes, I would take them shopping to pick out some of the items) I have never known my kids to take anything from another child without offering to pay for it. Even if there is something in the refrigerator that they think belongs to everyone, they will also ask if it’s okay to have it, or if it will cost them money.

If you find your kids are spending their allowance money on snacks somewhere else, that you could probably buy at Wal Mart or Sam’s Club cheaper, I would recommend you set up your own Snack Shack.

Sometimes things in life don’t always go the way we would plan them. However, I have chosen to try to make the best of any situation, by seeking out the Lord to discover if there is perhaps a lesson the Lord is trying to teach me.
Recently I had taken a trip on an airplane for a speaking engagement. One of the things I use in my talk is a Supermom apron with lots of pockets, which I fill with different items that aid my talk. I have items like a plastic frog, a picture of my last baby at his birth, bubble bath, a squirt gun, a diaper, and liquid laundry soap.
Upon checking into my hotel room, with about 30 minutes to prepare myself for my first talk, I discovered the laundry soap had leaked out, spilling onto many of my clothes. It also created a red dye that stained many of my clothes too. Frantically I cleaned the apron in the little sink. Attempting to dry it with the hair dryer was futile. Almost in a panic state, I rinsed out some of the clothes, leaving the rest to simply dry. Fortunately the church where I was speaking had a dryer so I was able to get my apron dried in time for my talk.
I still had three travel days left, and was a bit beside myself about what clothes I could wear. The following morning as I was getting dressed, I realized the undergarment I needed had not been rinsed out, but was dry. It took me awhile to figure out that something was very wrong. I assumed that I had been sitting too much, which had created the pain I seemed to be feeling on my “sitter.” I didn’t investigate the cause of my discomfort; I simply tried to ignore it.
The following morning I realized I had developed a serious chemical burn, obviously from the large concentration of liquid laundry soap that had penetrated my undergarment. I still had an entire day of sitting while waiting in airports and sitting on my flights home. There was no way to find some place to get some kind of medication to apply to my burn.
On the shuttle ride to the first airport I began to ponder my pain. I tried sitting delicately, which is a near impossibility. There was nothing to do but try to find something redeeming in my pain.
I began to think about the laundry soap like sin. It can so easily penetrate and after sinning, we can sometimes not see the effects of the sin. Even though we know the sin is there, we will often try to hide it, much like feeling like no one would know if I simply put my clothes on over the large stain. We may be able to hide from our sin for a long time even. But then one day, suddenly, we discover there is great pain associated with our sin. When we try to hide and bury our sin, it sits and festers, burning into our very souls.
There comes a time, when we must come clean. With sin, that means we must repent and make amends for the sin we have committed. Even though I cleaned up as best I could, soaking in a tub for quite awhile, I still had much pain. There was no way to undo what I had already done. That is the same with sin. We will be forgiven, but we cannot undo the effects of the sin. It has been allowed to fester, and is now forcing us to deal with the consequences of the sin.
Sometimes when we sin, we don’t get to the very root of the problem; we simply apply a salve to help erase the pain. But it still doesn’t help; it’s only a temporary problem.
After we repent, we know we have been forgiven, yet we must deal with the pain of the consequences for quite awhile.
The pain I’ve been dealing with has shown me how much I take for granted, like walking without pain, and sitting. Even though several days have passed, the pain is perhaps even more painful now that I have cuts from skin drying out. It is also like that with sin. Sometimes the initial pain of the sin isn’t as bad as when it has had a chance to fester in our heart. When we are making our choices in life, we often take for granted the fellowship of the Holy Spirit in a pure heart.
Sitting with my pain has prompted me to ask the Lord if there be anything in my heart which has grieved Him. Oh repentance, the healing balm of our hearts!

About three years ago, I met Mike. Mike was unlike anyone I had ever met before. He enjoyed taking me shopping. I struggled with that a lot. The idea of someone spending money on me was such a strange concept. One of our early dates he took me to a nice department store. I can honestly say I had never even browsed the shoe department of a nice store. Their shoes didn’t look practical. And I was a mom with eight kids at home – practical was not my middle name, it was my first name! These shoes with the heels were NOT practical.

So here I am with Mike in the shoe department. I’m averting my eyes out of habit. And he’s drawing me in. He picked up a pair of shoes and said, “These would look darling on you.” Oh my goodness! They were the cutest shoes I had ever seen! I wasn’t even sure I’d be able to walk in them. After much urging I tried them on. I walked, and walked, and walked. I loved them! Mike bought me two pair of shoes that day. One pair, I referred to as my “magic shoes.” They made me feel so wonderful. I can’t even begin to tell you how marvelous I felt in them. But there was a transformation that took place when I put on those shoes. I can only imagine it was much like Cinderella and her preparation for the ball. Can shoes really be magical? Mine were.

Mike loved to take me shoe shopping. I think it was because I was like a little kid who just discovered candy. Excited, fun, and full of gratitude to him for spoiling me and making me feel magical.

Now, whenever I go in a store, I must browse the shoes. It’s fun! I rarely buy a new pair myself – I let Mike do that. But the other day while out shopping with my daughter for her wedding stuff, I came across the pair of shoes in the picture. Cathy said, “MOM! You have to get them!” After talking the salesperson into a 50% discount, I took my 13.00 shoes home. I’ve been admiring them for a couple of days now. And thinking, maybe I won’t wear these shoes, maybe I’ll just use them for decoration.

My room is decorated in red, black, and white. They would be a perfect accent!