Family Time

We got to do something really cool a couple of weeks ago. We made it a plan to find time to spend some time as a family. You all know how easy it is to get caught up in the day to day. Well, we got the kids tickets to Disney on Ice! The tickets weren't that pricey, and we all loved it! Check out Travis in the Dash mask! It was well worth the money to see the smiles on their faces and get to spend that time as a family!

Here we go, Stingers!

Well, we are smack dab in the middle of baseball season, again! I love it! It's one of my favorite things that we do. I am so proud of Tyler and the progress that he has made the past few years. We have had a couple of really hard years, but this one looks to be great! He's already got to pitch quite a bit. He started out in a hitting slump, but it's starting to pick up, too! I'm ready to continue cheering on the Stingers!!! Also, if any of you would like to come and watch him play, he would really like that! Just let me know and I will tell you when and where his games are! Let's PLAY BALL!!!

A Day to Remember

Every now and then I think of something that has to do with my dad. And then I think, would people think I am weird for that? Is that normal?

Well, today is my dad's birthday. And as I thought about that all day today, that thought came into my head. Would people think I was weird for continuing to think that this day was special. I started thinking about the plans that we would have been making if my dad was still here. I wouldn't be running back and forth to Ozark this week taking care of the dogs while my mom was gone. We would probably have plans to meet with my sister tomorrow after church for birthday lunch (probably Golden Corral). Then, it occurred to me, it is still his birthday. So, forever after this I will not feel bad about taking time to remember this gift that God gave me....a father who loved God and loved his family.

Easter 2009

It has been really exciting getting online today. Looking at my Facebook page and other's blogs, I can see that God was working everywhere this weekend!

So, I am equally excited about sharing what He was doing at our church. First of all, let me say that I was kinda in a weird place to start things out. My human nature was taking over and equating success with how many people were there. Now I know that the more we have, the more opportunity. But sometimes God doesn't have it planned that way.

Well, there is a girl in our Youth Group that has been requesting special prayer for a friend. But she didn't want me to know what her name was or get in contact with her because she wanted to keep her relationship with this girl between the two, but also felt the need to come to me for prayer. I just told her that since she didn't want me to talk to her, she should just continue being the best friend that she could and I would pray for her. Well, she invited this girl to the church on Friday, where we were showing "The Passion", and this new girl accepted Christ immediately after the movie was over!!! The girl from our Youth Group said, "Well, I guess God answered my prayers!" I think that's soo cool, not only do we have a new member of the family, but we are also getting encouraged by answered prayers!

Then, Saturday at our Easter Egg Hunt, we had way too much candy!! :) And then got to spend some time with some of our youth's families that don't attend our church. It was great to get to know them a little better!

Then, on Sunday God really smacked me in the face! I was feeling kinda let down because some of my kids didn't show up for the Easter choir special. But, then that went fine! And then at the end of the service, we had 2 people receive Christ for the first time!!! It was like God just reached down and was saying, "See, I'm gonna do it my way! Quit trying to "fix" it!

It was an amazing weekend and I am looking forward to some baptisms!!

Malchus

I am sitting up at the church getting stuff ready for tonight.  Well, I'm not, obviously, I am on the internet, but Travis is.  Anyway, we are showing "The Passion" tonight and we are making sure everything is ready.  So, the movie's running a little here and there, and I am reminded of one of my favorite parts.  Jesus, healing Malchus.  I think growing up, that part was overlooked....by me, by others, whatever, but I just don't remember thinking about it too much.  But, I love what Jesus does.  They are there to arrest him....there's chaos all around, and he stops to tend to someone else's need.  When it would be perfectly understandable for him to be selfish and be thinking of himself and his hour, he is caring for one of his attackers.  In the years before, there were lots of people who sought out Jesus to be healed and he took care of them, too.  But Malchus was there for another reason.  And I imagine that he left the garden with another perspective on the Lord that night.  I also love, in the movie, the way Malchus is left.  He just sits there, letting the weight of the moment set in.  There was no denying his encounter with the Savior that day.   Isn't that just like Jesus?  He knows what we need before we do, he knows what to do when we don't, he takes care of things without us asking, and he died for us-even when we sometimes don't appreciate it.  

Easter Time!

I am very excited about this Easter season. There are so many things going on at the church and I feel like this is our chance to say a Big Thank You to God for all of those ways He is blessing us! I want to be in a state of mind this week of total worship of God and Who He is and What He's done! One of the things that we are doing that I am looking forward to is watching the Passion movie. It always gives me that uncomfortable feeling, but that's ok. We need to feel uncomfortable. The way things are and the things that we do should make us uncomfortable.

So, this week we have lots of things available for people to come and celebrate with us. Here they are ......

Wednesday 7pm: Communion and Feetwashing
Friday 7pm: Showing of the movie, "The Passion of the Christ"
Saturday 5pm: Easter Egg Hunt
Saturday 6pm: Easter Dinner
Sunday 10:30am: Sunday Easter Services

Pray for lives to be changed! What a great day to begin your relationship with God than on Easter! I am looking for Him to do something great....please help me to pay attention!

Stepping up to the Plate

You know sometimes I get really tired of all of the bad press that Christians seem to get. I know there are times when we bring it on ourselves, but I've realized that a lot of what people think about us is just assumption. There are a lot of us out there who are real, caring, genuine people.

Last week my mom and Abby went to a benefit concert for a man who has been recently diagnosed with colon cancer. His family is relatively young (a set of twins and a 2 yr old). He has been through all of the stuff like the surgery and all, but there was someone ( I don't know who) that felt the need to show some encouragement. So, they got together all of these great singing groups and personalities to raise some money for this family. By the end of the evening, a great night of entertainment was had by all, and over $10,000 dollars in donations were given. O yeah, I forgot to say this....the admission to the concert was suppose to be diapers and they were given so many that they covered most of the stage at the Cowan Civic Center in Lebanon!

I just wanted to say thanks to all of those Christians who stepped up to the plate to help someone out in their time of need!