Rumor Weed

Have you seen the Veggie Tales video about Larry Boy and the Rumor Weed? Right now that is one of my daughter's favorite things to watch. It is very ironic that she is so drawn to that particular one right now because it is exactly what has been happening in my life over the past month. As the situation dies down and the truth starts to come out I can start to see how small it started and then how big it grew. It is just a wake up call to remind me that if I EVER get a feeling that someone is even POSSIBLY upset about something to not dismiss it, but rather ask about it and get it straightened out before it has a chance to grow. Sometimes you just get a feeling about something and you don't want to make a big deal out of it because you thing it will turn out to be nothing. Most of the time that would probably be ok, but then there is that ONE TIME in a million that there is something going on and it just gets worse the longer it goes on. People are very sensitive creatures and we are very self concious and sometimes that makes us think that someone is being critical about us when they are not. It seems that is what happened in my situation and it got twisted and turned all around and grew into a big rumor weed. I just wish I had known about it sooner and I might have been able to clear things up much easier.

Fortunately, God can heal all our problems and hurts. I am praying that over time He helps heal mine and the others involved also. I also pray that anybody that is still hearing about the rumors can realize that it was all based on a lie and that the people involved would never do or say the things that are being passed around. It is very hard when you know people are being told lies about you and that they would even consider believing them. The only way I can truly get through this is with God. I know for sure that He can be trusted!

Toby Mac Concert

On Saturday September 24th Mike and I went to the Toby Mac concert in Redmond, WA. It was pretty cool. He was joined by his old DC Talk buddies Michael Tait and Kevin Max. They all did their own solo stuff and then finally did 2 songs together at the very end. I just love going to Christian concerts and have been to quite a few over the years. It always is so encouraging to be together with thousands of Christians in one spot to have fun together and praise God at the same time.

I have to admit that it is a little weird now that I am older and not in high school and college anymore. I look around at all the people who came to the concert. This concert was actually very diverse in age. There was everything from infants to over 50. There were quite a few families that came together. The parents in their 30's and 40's and kids in elementary through high school. There was one family in front of us that I could not help but notice. I kept thinking that it was what my family could look like in a few years. The mom and dad were there with their 2 sons. The parents were just as excited, if not more, to be there as the kids were. They were clapping and singing along and dancing the whole time. They seemed to know every word to every song and tried to be as cool as possible. I started realizing that once you get older you just can't help but look a little weird and dorky. I guess that is in my future too. I hope that I am a cool parent when my kids get older, but even if I am not I still want to have fun and enjoy being with my kids.

But the concert was good. Not quite as good as the last one we went to with Third Day and Toby Mac, but it was cool to see all 3 guys from DC Talk together. That doesn't happen very often! I look forward to the next concert we get to go to. Maybe I can stay young a little while longer.

8 hours of sleep!

My son Jordan is 3 months old today! He has been different from his older sister Madeline in some ways and one of them is in sleep. Since he was born he has only gone 2-3 hours between feedings day or night. A few times he went 4 hours and once for 5, but most of the time it was 3 hours max! This has been very exhausting for me and Mike, but mostly for me. We had a really busy summer and didn't get Jordan set up in his own room until just this past week. We had alot of rearranging and moving around to do before we could accomplish this, but we finally did. Well, the first 2 nights in his own room and in his crib he slept for 6 hours and then last night he slept for 8 hours! I am so excited and I pray that this pattern continues. I was starting to think I would never sleep through even half the night without having to get up to feed him. Praise the Lord!!

I hate it when friends move away!

We have now been living in Oak Harbor, WA for almost 2 1/2 years now. Things have been busy since the day we arrived with our church and youth ministry. Over the past year I finally found myself settling into life here and making a couple of good solid friendships. One of those friendships has really become strong. Jessica has been one of my only best friends that I have made since I was in college almost 10 years ago! She has been such a blessing in my life and has been such a great friend to me that it is hard to describe. It had been so long since I had a best friend that was not hundreds of miles away and we could talk every day and hang out as much as we wanted. Well, in just a couple of weeks Jessica and her husband and two girls are moving to Georgia. I am not prepared for this and do not want this to happen! When we moved here I knew that this was a Navy town and that people are always coming and going. I just didn't count on making any good friends I guess. After Mike and I moved away from Oregon where I grew up almost 5 years ago I did not understand what it would be like to live so far away from our family and close friends. I think we assumed we would not be away very long and that it was just a temporary thing that would not be a big deal. Well, now that I have found such a good friend I have to deal with the fact that she will not be here in the same town or the same church as me anymore. We will still be friends, but it will be long distance. About as far apart as we could get without her leaving the country!! I just pray that God gives me strength to endure this and strength for Jessica too. I know that we will all be ok, but that does not mean it will be easy.

God is Trustworthy!!

The doubts that I have been having are not because I do not think God is trustworthy. I think it is more about not trusting myself. And the good news is that I don't have to trust myself. I have God on my side and He is taking care of me and my family. I don't have to be good enough or smart enough or anything else. I have felt a peace come over me and do not fear the unknown as much. I will need to remind myself who my trust is in. But thank goodness I don't have to do it on my own! When we put our trust in God and allow Him to be #1 in our lives things are so much easier. That does not mean that I will not have any struggles, but the struggle I will have will be easier to handle with God.

How Much Do I Trust God?

I am supposed to be cooking something for potluck at church right now, but I keep putting off posting and I hate not keeping up with it. I will figure something out for dinner, but for now I have some thoughts that I will try to keep short.

God is working really hard in the lives of myself and my husband right now. We have grown so much in our spiritual ideas over the past couple of years. I don't take as much study time as I should, but I really enjoy discussing things with Mike and we seem to always support each others ideas. I am so blessed to have a Christian husband who is really passionate for Christ and for reaching lost souls.

The question is now, how much do I trust God? With some of our new understanding of scripture we can't ignore the real reason we serve God. That is to reach lost souls and share Christ with them. We have to think outside the box and reach those that our churches are not reaching right now. This can be really scary when I have become so comfortable in my life and my safe place at church. I don't have to be with people that make me uncomfortable or are different from me. But that is what God has been telling us we must do.

There are alot of other things that go along with that. We are praying that God use us in our ministry to do this. We are praying that God shows us his plan for us and how we should minister. We are praying that God show us where we need to minister. I do not do well when I can't see the future and make plans accordingly. I am getting better at trusting that God will provide for me and my family, but it is a challenge. I want to get better at this, and am telling God every day that I am working on it.

my son

God gets us through

Haven't we all wondered if it really is true that God won't give us more than we can handle? I know there have been many times that I have asked that question. It seems that the world and satan throw us so many curve balls in life. Yet somehow we survive it. When we are right in the middle of it, it feels unbearable. But once we reach the other side, we feel stronger and wiser. It is a painful process that we go through to be molded into holy and godly people. It starts when we are born, and I am guessing that it keeps going until we die. I see a big increase in the "pain" during the teen years. My heart goes out to the teens in our youth ministry. They are dealing with so much and have so little knowledge of how to handle most of it. I guess that we all learn by experience, and by failure and success. It is so hard to watch others go through it and not be able to express what you learned when you went through it the way you want to express it. I hope to get better at this as I have opportunity to talk to them about their struggles.

Girls' ministry

I have had it on my heart for awhile that I wanted to have an acitve girls' ministry within the youth ministry at our church. I am finally taking some small steps to start making that happen and it is very exciting. As with many things it is starting out small. We are just doing some fun outings and get togethers to try to form some closer relationships within the group. We went to the movies a few weeks ago and saw Miss Congeniality 2. It was a good girl movie and was pretty funny too. Next weekend I am hosting a sleepover at my house while my husband is at a weekend retreat. I hope that I get a good turnout and that everyone has a lot of fun! I would like to eventually have a girls' Bible study once a week or so too. I am waiting to see how God brings this all together. If nothing else, I am proud to have done something now instead of putting it off even farther into the future.

Busy, busy, busy...

It is Friday and the end of a very long week. Sometimes I don't know what I did with all the time, but if I really think about it I can come up with some things that I did or just know that I spent alot of time chasing my toddler around. I really do enjoy having a full life. I don't think I would like it if I didn't have the things I do to keep me entertained and going every day. I never thought being a stay-at-home mom would keep me so busy though. But when you add all the other things we are involved in these days it does add up to alot. Being a wife and mother and keeping up with a house and even just one child right now is a much bigger chore than I first imagined. Then add our church activites: Sunday school teacher, youth ministry, praise team, leading the moms ministry, small groups, children's ministry team, and just trying to be social and get to know as many people as possible. Wow, that is a pretty long list right there. Then add that I am still a Pampered Chef Consultant part-time. I have had to cut back on my business a little right now as I prepare for a new baby in a few months, but I still want to remain active in that too. Even though all these things can seem to pile up and at times might be tiring, I love it all. I would not do anything different right now. I have some energy at this stage in my pregnancy, and I am excited for the future. I enjoy all the things I do and I can keep it somewhat flexible when life gets overwhelming. One thing that is helping right now is that my husband's ministry is going so well. I invest alot of emotion into being his support and when things are going well it helps our lives so much. We are not dealing with any big criticisms lately, and God willing, things will keep moving in the positive direction that they are now. Lord, please continue blessing us and help me to enjoy my life and do things that honor you always! Amen.

Resolution

Every new year I can't help but think about making resolutions. I have noticed that I seem to make the same ones every year. Lose weight, pray more, read my bible more, be more organized, etc... Well, this year I have some of the same ones. I don't have to lose weight yet because I am pregnant, so I don't even have to worry about that one now. It is kind of nice to not have that on my list. I still want to pray more and read my bible more. I think that one will always be on my list of resolutions. I think that is a good thing though. I should always be striving to do better in my walk with God. As a mom of a toddler and a new baby on the way, that seems to be harder now than ever before. I think I definitely pray more out of desperation sometimes, but I don't have the discipline to read my bible. I never had a good routine before I was a mom, so I kind of set myself up for that one. I know that it is something I can do and become better at though. I hope that I remember to keep working on it throughout the year. The only problem with new year resolutions is they are so easy to forget when it is not the new year any more.

The Spirit of Christmas

When I was a child I always looked forward to Christmas. The lights, the tree, the PRESENTS! I would always be amazed Christmas morning at the mounds of gifts under the tree. I think some of that had to do with the amount of people in my family. Put six kids and two parents and all the gifts together and it is going to be a pretty impressive stack. My family never had lots of money, but my parents were somehow able to make it stretch enough so that we felt blessed on Christmas morning.

I am struggling with that now that I have my own family. I feel blessed in my life, but the past couple of Christmas' have reminded me that we just don't have the funds to do even a little bit extra at Christmas. I want my daughter to feel the excitement that I felt as a child and the blessings that Christmas brings. I feel thankful that she is only 18 months and does not really have a concept of that yet. She will be happy with just a couple of things. I guess it is really me that is feeing sad about not being able to buy gifts.

I have been trying to remind myself that Christmas is about more than just presents. It is about Christ being born and what that has done in my life. I would not be who I am without Christ. I am so thankful and blessed by Him. That love and goodness that I feel in my life makes me want to give and share with others too. But, at this time in my life I am not blessed with monetary blessings that allow me to do that. I can hope and look forward to a time when that will be something I can do, but for now I need to be grateful for what I do have.

God has blessed me with a wonderful husband, and daughter. Our parents and brothers and sisters are also very close to us and that is a rare blessing. Our friends are scattered throughout different states now, but we are still bonded with them and are close to some still. We are looking forward to welcoming a new baby into our lives this summer. We have shelter and food and basic necessities for life. There are those that are not blessed by even a fraction of what we are. Thank you God for all you have given us this year! Help me remember the true Spirit of Christmas, Jesus!

This is new

Well, I don't know how much I will actually write on this site. I have enjoyed reading other people's blogs so I thought it might be fun to have this to try out myself. It is kind of intimidating knowing that someone might read what I write here. I don't know if I will measure up to other blogs that I have read, but I am willing to try. This will be an experiment for me. I am a mom of one 15 month old girl named Madeline. She is the cutest kid I have seen, but I am not very objective in that area. My husband Mike has been writing blogs and is probably not expecting me to do this. I don't know if I will even tell anyone much about this until I can come up with some interesting things to write about. I am working on naming my blog and am just hoping something catchy will pop into my head. I am sure something will.