I'm Leaving An Inheritance

Proverbs 13:22 A good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children. But the wealth of the sinner is stored up for the righteous.

I read this about 2 months ago and it stirred something in me. No no no I wasn't jumping up and down with excitement because our financial retirement is secure. Quite the opposite. I was a little discouraged. How in the world am I suppose to leave an inheritance for my children's children when I'm not sure I can leave one for my children. Things are tight. Let's not forget what Houdini did. One night while we were asleep, Houdini visited our retirement account and did some kind of magic trip. It was a magic trick that had gone wrong and we weren't laughing. Still, in spite of it all I was stirred with excitement. I don't have lots of money to leave my children's children, but I have a great inheritance to leave. My children can and will inherit more than money from me.

God has given me so many gifts and talents that I can pass on to my children. I can teach my girls to sew and they can teach their daughters. What a precious inheritance that I will leave for the females in my lineage. I love the holidays when the girls and I are standing over a big mixing bowl crumbling cornbread to make homemade dressing. In the kitchen we talk about life. It's an opportunity to share secrets. Secret ingredients to make a meal that's sure to touch the heart of their future husbands and put his mommas food on the back burner.

I love to utter the words King Lemuel's mother uttered to him in Proverbs 31. I teach my sons to stay away from wayward young women. Don't give them your strength and when they come your way, I tell them to run like they stole something. (I don't encourage my kids to steal, but you know what I mean.) Oh what an inheritance the men in the King family will receive as they pass on the wisdom on what to look for when trying to find that good thing.

I'm not sure how much money we will be able to leave our children and their children. I'm at peace about our retirement, my children and children's children financial future. I'm not the least bit worried because the 2nd part of the verse tells me that Houdini and his friends are storing up for us.

*Here on this blog I will leave an inheritance of wisdom and transparency for my children and their children. Wisdom to follow God because they are world changers. Transparency so that the world can see God in them.

Marriage Is a Promise to Love

Marriage is a covenant between two people who deeply sense that their lives are, and always will be, shared as one.

Marriage is the fulfillment of a dream and an awareness that reality also can bring us the beauty of dreams.

Marriage is a promise that today is the beginning of a future that will nurture love, respect, honor and mutual faith as the greatest strengths for its foundation.

Marriage is an understanding between two sensitive, intelligent, and caring people who have evidenced that true love can survive all obstacles and grow stronger with the passage of time.

~Edith Schaffer Lederberg

Whew!

It's Saturday and I just found out that I don't have to take Trae driving today. He's 17 almost 18. He's graduating in May. He got his permit a couple of months ago and every Saturday some how I found myself sitting in the passenger seat of his car. At this present time I can not drive. I really don't like being at the mercy of a 17 year old to drive me around when Don's at work.

Trae brought his first car last month. A friend from church works at a dealership as a mechanic. Eddie found a great car that was a trade-in. It was almost to good to be true. It's a 1987 Oldsmobile with only 84,000 miles on it. At the price of $500.00, we jumped on it. We paid half and Trae paid half.

I'm at my wits end sitting in the passenger seat. For example 2 weeks ago we were driving. I directed him to get in the right lane because we are going to make a right at the light. What does he do? He gets in the left lane and goes straight. I told him to turn left because he missed his right turn. He turned left and ran onto the curb. I grabbed the steering wheel. I told him to pull over and I was going to drive. Sarah (10) was sitting in the back seat starting crying because she said she didn't want to die. I'm like what?! She said, "Mommy the doctor said you can't drive because of your seizures and Im afraid we're gonna die."

I was so upset then. I realized that she was right, but my son wasn't driving the way I wanted him to. You know, maybe the problem wasn't his driving. Maybe the problem was I didn't have control over the way he was driving.

Oh, that word control. How many times have I missed out on precious moments in life because I didn't have "control." It's a good thing I'm careful about the type of music I listen to. You know what song I'd be listening to all the time?....."Control" by Janet Jackson.

God help me to sit in the passenger seat with my hands in my lap, a smile on my face and sweet praises coming from my mouth.

Blestshe

I posted on my blog about how God made a way for my hospital bill which was over $11,000 was paid. Since blogging I've met a dear lady Civilla's Cyber Cafe . She was making a comment on my blog and had to do a word verification. Unbeknown to her, God used her and this word verification to speak to the entire King Family. Civilla could have just thought it was random letters that appear quite often during a word verification. Not Civilla. She knew that God had spoken and the word was for me. She took it a step farther and took a picture of it and emailed it to me. Thank Civilla ;)

I'm putting it here to share with you all because it's not just for me. Like me, many of you have been going through some major trials. My family and I have had our fair share during the last year. For those of you who don't know me, I need to let you know that at times I can be very transparent. For years I sat under the teaching of Pastor Paul & Denise Goulet (www.iclv.com). Transparency is their middle name. As I give you a glimpse into my life during the past year, hopefully it will inspire you to share and be transparent.

About a year ago my family felt as though the wind had been knocked out of our sail. One morning we woke up and realized, "What in the world have we done?" We moved to Idaho in Sept. of 06. Before moving to here we lived in Las Vegas. Don had a very good job with benefits. He made enough money for us to live good. I was able to be a stay at home mom & home school the kids. We lived in a single story ranch style house inside a gated community. We had new cars, went on cruises, etc. The only problem with his job is that it kept him away from the family.

We had this brainy of an idea one day to move to Lewiston, Idaho. Sure why not. We knew the Wilsons who had already moved there and loved it. We had a church because one of the pastors from ICLV was pastoring a church there. We prayed and were very specific about some things we needed to happen in order for this move to take place. We needed to sell our house, which we tried selling 3x before with no success. Even when the market was hot. Don needed to find a job in Lewiston.

We went to our leaders and told them our plans and ask them to pray with and for us. Put the house on the market. Took a vacation to Lewiston. Don got a job while we were here on vacation. Got back home and about 2 months late our house sold.

Back to the past year. Things were going okay. Some disappointments. We just continued to encourage each other every day. Things will get better, they always do. Don't they?

Spring of 2008, we experience some hurt. We have a motto in our family that we say to each other: "We will not give anyone the privilege of making us bitter. Because bitterness will only keep us away from our destiny." God told us to be still. That was hard for me to do because I don't have a problem with confronting. You know that old saying, "You can take the girl out of the ghetto, but you can't take the ghetto out of the girl." We decided to be still and know that He is God.

Summer of 2008, we found out our house was infested with bedbugs. Yikes! We were trying to figure out how we got them. Did we get them from staying in a hotel? Did they come in from all the teenagers that were hanging out at our house on a weekly basis? We talked to the landlord and they had someone to come and spray. It didn't work the 1st or 2nd time. We had to throw away most of our furniture. Which we couldn't replace. We had bites all over our bodies. We were exhausted from lack of sleep. Then I got a call one night that my 22 year old nephew had past away. Thank God for my pastor giving us a night at a hotel so that we can get some sleep. Only to get up the next morning and Don's truck wouldn't start. I just wanted to lay on the ground in the parking lot and cry. Finally got rid of the bedbugs on the 3rd try. They had to remove all oxygen from our house. Thank God for the youth pastor and his family for letting us camp out at their house.

Fall of 2008, out of no where I started to have seizures. At first my husband and I didn't tell anyone until the kids witnessed one. I knew then that I had to go to the emergency room. Since that night, I have seen my fair share of doctors and specialist. I've also had my fair share of seizures. Sometimes multiply seizures. We are still in the process of figuring out why the seizures occurred. We laugh when we hear people say what they think can be causing the seizures. They don't have a clue. We've been open in the past about going through this trial, but have now decided to keep the most recent discoveries private until further testing is doing and some things are confirmed. We told our kids that no matter what happens, God is good. We decided as a family that after every seizure, we would worship and praise our Lord. To come out of a seizure and hear the sound of my husband and children praising and worshipping the Lord is heavenly. As of today, I've been seizure free for 25 days. It's the longest time span I've had between the seizures. God used His people to show so much love to our family throughout this time. We will forever be thankful to our church family.

These past few weeks things have shifted so fast in our lives. Now we have so many doors that are opening for us. We are still in the mist of a major trial, but it's like God has come along and blew on our sail.

When the word verification said "blestshe" I knew it was for me. I'm blessed and so are you. I was reading Deuteronomy 28:1-14 and it confirmed the word verification. I have diligently obeyed the voice of the Lord my God. Blessings will come upon me and overtake me. No matter where I live, in the city or in the country, I will be blessed. I will be blessed going out and coming in. The people who rose up against me will defeated before my face. My storehouse is blessed. The fruit of my womb is blessed. My husband is blessed. You my friend are blessed.

*I would love to hear comments from you. In your comments, please don't diagnose my condition or give me your opinion about the cause(s) of my condition.

What do you see?

Has anyone asked you lately what do you see when you look at your husband? I for one can answer no. It's a question that I do have to ask myself sometimes.

On Wednesday morning of last week I took a look at my husband. I no longer saw him through the eyes of a woman who was abused and rejected on the day her married her. I still remember when he asked me to marry him. I told him I was a mess and he would be taking a big chance by marrying me. He said okay and married me at his own risk. (Now that I think about it, maybe I should have made him sign a waiver. haha) It baffled me until one day when I realized he saw something in me. He was looking at me through a set of eyes that were not his own. He saw me through God's eyes.

When was the last time you saw your husband through God's eyes?

A times I can be so quick to jump up and judge the motives that I think are dwelling within the heart of my husband. He'll respond to something I said not quite how I wanted him to. Or he won't respond at all. Then I have to say to myself that maybe he responded the way he did because he really didn't understand what I was saying. Maybe he's upset and thinks I want him to solve all my problems. At that moment I have a choice to make. I can allow the enemy who's job is to come between us by allowing him to kill the moment and make something out of nothing. Steal the moment by taking away precious time that I can focus on the good that's within my husband. Or cause this to make me bitter and eat away at me for hours or days and eventually destroy what we've built. I choose neither of those. However, I do choose to see the purity that dwells within him.

When I can see the purity that dwells deep within his heart, it allows him to be transparent and open his heart to me. He doesn't have to be afraid of me dwelling there because I'm looking at those good things. I'm looking at the vision that God has given him regarding our family. I can see him wanting to be vulnaralble without appearing weak. Those sweet words of affection for me are hidden there in that secret place. Oh how he wishes he had just the right words to express them. I love dwelling here because this space is so big. I can see so clearly how he views me as a mother and how it saddens him when I'm too hard on myself. His heart rejoices because I'm content with the simple things in life.

As a woman, I'm bombarded with words from others and images from the ads that tell me I need to question his motives. I can't allow anyone or anything to question the motives of his heart. I know his heart because I dwell there. As I'm there dwelling in his heart, I see someone who's familar. I love this place, his heart. Here I get to see him.

Tamale Pie

Ingredients for the filling:
2 lbs. ground beef
1 onion, chopped
2 cups enchilada sauce
1 can of corn
1 small can of sliced black olives
1 tsp. salt

Ingredients for crust:
2 1/4 cups of white corn meal
2 cups of water
1 can (12 oz.) of evaporated milk
1 tsp. salt
1 cup of shredded Cheddar cheese

*Preheat oven to 425 degrees
*Grease baking dish

Filling: Cook ground beef and onion in skillet; drain. Stir in enchilada sauce, corn and salt

Crust: Combine corn meal, water, evaporated milk, 1/2 cup of cheese and salt in saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, for about 5 minutes or until it thickens.
Reserve 2 cups of corn meal mixture; cover with plastic wrap or foil. Spread the remaining corn meal on bottom and up the sides of baking dish.

Bake for 10 minutes.

Spoon beef filling into corn meal crust. Spread reserved corn meal mixture over beef filling.

Bake for 15 - 20 minutes. Sprinkle remaining 1/2 cup of cheese.

Bake an additional 5 - 10 minutes of until cheese is melted.

It's almost similar to the recipe on the back of the Albers corn meal box. Just some variation.

Marriage Is a Lifetime of Love

Marriage embraces two people in love for a lifetime of sharing.
Marriage is a unique sharing of day-to-day events.
It's having someone with you in spirit to give support and love at all times.
Happiness in marriage doesn't just happen.
A good marriage requires time and devotion; it's often filled with compromise and sacrifice, as two people learn to live together in harmony.
In marriage, little things become big.
It's important to never take one another for granted and to always be able to hold each other.
Marriage is having a mutual sense of values and common objectives.
Being married means having a lifetime best friend, someone to laugh with, dream with, and cry with.
The true foundation of marriage is giving love continuously and unconditionally from one's heart.
~ Sherry Jill Shaw-Levine "Marriage Is a Promise of Love"

Beefy Nacho Crescent Bake

Ingredients:
1 lb. ground beef
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp black pepper
1 tbls chili powder
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp dried oregano leaves
1 can (11 ounces) condensed nacho cheese soup, undiluted
1 cup milk
1 can (8 ounces) refrigerated crescent roll dough
1/4 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
Chopped fresh cilantro (optional)
Salsa (optional)

*Bake 375 degrees
*Spray 13x9 baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.
Cook beef and onion in skillet; season with salt and pepper. Drain fat. Stir in chili powder, cumin and oregano. Cook and stir 2 minutes; remove from heat.

Combine soup and milk in medium bowl, stirring until smooth. Pour soup mixture into 13x9 dish, spreading evenly.

Separate crescent dough into 4 rectangles; press perforations together firmly. Sprinkle with flour to keep from sticking, if necessary.)

Spoon about 1/4 cup beef mixture into center of each square. Lift 4 corners of dough up over filling to meet in center; pinch and twist firmly to seal. Place squares in dish.

Bake, uncovered, 20 - 25 minutes or until crusts are golden brown. Sprinkle cheese over squares. Bake minutes or until cheese melts. To serve, spoon soup mixture in dish over each serving; sprinkle with cilantro, if desired. Serve salsa, if desired. Makes 4 servings.

Recipe is from the book "Mealtime Express: 3 Cookbooks in 1"

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

I love to watch people. When I lived in Vegas, I would go to the food court in the mall and buy a corndog & lemonade from "Hotdog On A Stick." I would find me a table somewhat in the middle of the food court so that I can have a good view of my surroundings. I would take my time eating because I was always entertained by the show that was taking place around me. I'll call it "The People's Show." Maybe I gave it that title because I remember how people would put on a show by "cuttin up" in public. You always have the toddler who doesn't want to eat the hamburger, but wants to play with the toy from the Happy Meal. You always have the Jr. High girls giggling with her friends because they are being followed by a group of Jr. High school boys who didn't know exactly what to do with their hormones. The teenage girls who needed help purchasing some extra clothes to cover to body. Well, if her body isn't covered up all the way that will make it easier for her boyfriend to get aquainted with her 36-24-36 measurements while standing in line waiting to order food. Or the man who's checking out the other babes wishing he had a different one on his arm. Last but not least, it never fails to see a woman disrespecting her husband in some form or another.

At times you can see it on the poor guys face. Red from embarassment. Steam coming out of his nose and ears from anger. Some men just retreat into their little "innerman" to continue coping with the disrespect that his had to live with all these years. Maybe sometimes it's easier that way than to cause a scene whether in public or in the privacy of their homes. What saddens me the most is when we as Christian women fall into this category.

The Bible (not Sandra) tell us that we are to respect our husbands.

Definition for respect = The special esteem or consideration in which one holds another person or thing; reard, esteem and honor.

Respect is treating someone in an edifying manner. Respect is an essential for any relationship to flourish.

Ephesians 5:33 - Nevertheless let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

It's so easy for us as women to love because that's the way we were create. We are nurturers by nature. I believe it's more difficult for us to show respect. The first place a man needs to be respected is in his own home. When we show respect to our husbands, it sends a strong message to our children. If our children are not showing our husbands respect, then we need to make sure we are modeling it for them. When we respect our husbands, it will reflect in his life. He will be a better business man, a better leader and a better father.

We need to also respect our husbands even when no one else is around.

One day my husband was getting ready for work. I was not being respectful to him. I was angry at him and I allowed my anger to turn into sin. Yes when I was disrespecting him aka "telling him off" I was in sin. Even if my anger was justified, I didn't have to fall into sin. Later that night I felt so convicted about the way I spoke to him. I asked the Lord to forgive me. Then I thought about the fact that my husband was probably having a horrible night at work. So, I packed the kids up and drove on a Saturday night to the Las Vegas strip. Traffic was horrible. When I made to his work place, he was shocked to see me. I asked him to forgive me for disrespecting him the way I did.

Something broke that night. I didn't have to seek forgiveness from my husband. I could have just continued to live life the way I had been. Afterall, no one but him and me knew what took place. No one else saw. Isn't that just like the enemy. He wants us to justify and not expose sin even if it's "little" or "no one else will know."

Someone said, "Treat him like a man and he will act like one. If you treat him like a child, he will act like one."

When we show our husbands respect, so will other people. How do you think the Proverbs 31 husband was respected at the city gates, where he took his seat among the elders of the land? (Pro. 31:23)

A final note, I thought about Aretha Franklin's song R-e-s-p-e-c-t. What if a man would have sung that song first. Would it have been as popular?

Things that make you go hmmm......

Old-Fashioned Soft Pumpkin Cookies

I'm trying to use all my cans of pumpkin before they expire. These cookies are very good. For the recipe go to www.verybestbaking.com and type in "old fashioned soft pumpkin cookies" in the search box.

Mother Bradford

I will never forget the older lady that lived a across the yard from me. I called her Mother Bradford. She would take me to church with her on Sundays. She would invite me to her house just to sit and talk. I loved going over the Mother Bradford's house. It looked so pretty. It was always neat and clean. She would always encourage me about my life and the future plans God had for me. At certain times in my life, I couldn't see outside the neighborhood I lived in. So those plans that God had for me were to far for me to imagine.

I grew up in a non-Christian home. Being a young black girl living in "the projects," I was on my way to becoming another statistic. But Mother Bradford wouldn't have it that way. She would always have her Bible open. She would tell me what the Bible said. She taught me to always seek the Word of God and His answers for life's questions.

One day she told me that God was going to send me somebody that would cherish me. I couldn't comprehend that because girls like me didn't find men that cherished them. Now if she would have told me to take any man cause "a piece of a man is better than no man at all" I would have understood that. In my heart I really really wanted to believe that it could happen, but my mind was trying to bring me back to reality.

Just about every married man I knew had a "woman" on the side. It was worse knowing that the wives knew it and were okay with it cause "he's a man and he has needs." It was acceptable where I came from. I decided that I didn't want that for my life. I didn't want to have to share my husband with any woman. I so longed for that man who would cherish me, but it was hopeless. So I said to myself, "I ain't getting married and submitting to no man & having no kids. I'm going to be Ms Corporate America."

I wanted to be a lawyer and stand for women's rights. Had I been old enough when the women were burning bras, I probably would have been the ring leader. Why cook & clean for a man? Why have all those babies by him hoping that when the next baby is born he would stay? I wanted to help my sisters out. I wanted to show them the path to freedom. After all, I wanted to help womankind, right?

I would lay in bed at night remembering all those words spoken to me by Mother Bradford. Could God really send me someone like that? I was so hurt and confused. The pain from my childhood had left so many visible and invisible scars. I didn't make the best choices during certain times in my life. One choice I did make was allowing God to have complete control of my life again.

"Cherish me!" Oh, the words of life that were spoken to me on that great day.

The power of life and death is in the tongue. Because of the words that Mother Bradford spoke over me is the reason why I am the woman I am today. I'm married to a great man who loves and cherishes me. I love to cook and clean. I want to have more babies with him. Today, I am free to be the woman that God has designed me to be. Now my help to womankind is to introduce them to a Man who changed my life when I was a 16 year old young woman stuck in the miry clay.

Something that has stuck with me throughout the years....."Speak life!" By doing so may save someone heading down a path of destruction.