By Nicole

Uh oh... I am dropping off the face of the blogsphere.  I read a post of mine a few weeks ago about how I hoped that at some point in time there would be a time where there wasn't a lag between posts.  This lag isn't near as bad as the hiatuses I have inadvertently taken before... but that's how it starts.  Anyway, disclaimer done.  This last week we had an emotional and amazing night of Bible study.  I held it in again... only crying a little.  If you know me, you know I am like that.  But, the topic really got me to thinking.  We are doing the Beth Moore David: Seeking a Heart Like His  study, and I am loving it.  (Sadly, I have missed two of the four nights because of travel for work, although I caught up on the videos this weekend.  On a completely shallow note, I love to see what she wears.  I couldn't stop checking out Beth's boots in section 4... still trying to figure who made them...). Okay, back on track again....

Here is why my blog is called Woman in a Wheelbarrow... this is a part of my testimony .  For some reason, I feel the need to share it again.  If you are visiting my blog for the first, or if you haven't had the patience to dig through the old stuff, I want to make sure that you know this about me.

I just finished reading Ascent from Darkness   by Michael Leehan.  And, well, to be perfectly honest, I was scared to request this book to review.  I have read every Frank Peretti book at least once, and I absolutely love them... but when the spiritual battle is a real story and is so honest and in your face... it is a lot more sobering.  Michael gives us a clear and honest picture of his life as a satanist and his eventual salvation and transformation through the redemptive blood of Christ.  He is unwaveringly honest and gives enough of a vivid retelling to wake you up to the reality of the spiritual battle waging around us.  His writing is a little choppy, but he states at the beginning that he isn't a writer.  He is blunt and to the point, which is how the story needed to be told. I never felt like he was embellishing or trying to glorify the darkness he was serving at anytime.  I read this book in two sittings (since I was on ...

Finally.... I get to go home today (well, technically today, since it is after midnight).  I have been gone on travel for work since last Saturday.  I miss my kids SOOO much.  I just want to hug them and snuggle them and kiss their little faces.  Although, I know how it will go... Get home after an hour of driving 2 hours on a plane, 2 hours layover, another 3 hours on a plane, 4 more hours of driving and 1/2 an hour on the ferry... bladder bursting and straight exhausted.  I will run in to kiss and hug my pajama'd darlings.  They will be happy to see me for about 2 minutes and then... "Where's our presents Mommy?"  Haha - I have created monsters.  The last time I was gone for only three days, they were disappointed, to say the least, when I only brought home one "practical" gift.  After I have taken a sacred moment to pee, then I will run out, get my suitcase and have them help me rip it open to find their...

"Don't hold in your emotions; get them out now.  Or else you'll end up like me, cynical and unpredictable."  This was my advice to my coworker as we traveled out of state for a work conference.  Next to me, our other coworker burst out laughing... only because she knows it's true.  I'm not sure at what point I realized that I might be too cynical... but I can at least explain the unpredictable. About a month and a half ago, my brother and his wife told our family that he was going over to Afghanistan for a year in the middle of October.  When he told me, I was kind of shocked, but otherwise just asked questions about how R was going to handle being a new bride in their apartment all alone for a year.  About three weeks ago, my sister and I brought our kids to stay the weekend with them.  We went shopping and went to the zoo and had pizza and played X-box together.  The kids had a blast, which was what AJ wanted.  As we ...

After reading through As Silver Refined by Kay Arthur, I cannot get that song out of my head... "Refiner's fire... My heart's one desire... Is to be holy... Set apart for you, my Master... Ready to do your will..."  I hummed this all through the beginning of the book as she told a beautiful story of the ancient process of refining silver.  I almost cried as I pictured God peering into my soul... looking for His reflection and most likely not yet finding it. Kay Arthur does a brilliant job of explaining God's true purpose in allowing us to go through struggles and difficult times.  She is fully transparent in sharing her past and ways in which she did and didn't allow God's refining fire to work in her life.  She also has a calm and thorough way of explaining each concept.  I have never understood meekness and how important it is in the life of a Christian until now.  Not only does she provide multiple examples of how Jesus portrayed meekness in His li...