Missing...

One of the biggest things that Rob and I miss about living out where we used to live is the closeness of our friends/neighbors, in the context of our backyards! We were all so close. There weren't many weekends and even weekdays that we weren't sharing our home and meals with our friends. Either at our home or theirs, we had dinner together many times a week and just really knew one another because of the ongoing presence in each others lives. We miss that terribly! And since we've moved here just haven't been able to recreate that!

This evening we invited some friends from church over, which was out of the ordinary for us but I believe it is going to start being a regular occurrence.The Avery's came over tonight. We ate, hung out, and just got to know each other a little better. There is something about sharing a meal that really connects people. Jesus did it. Not only with His disciples but with people like Zacchaeus. In their day, sharing a meal meant accepting a friendship, and being willing to accept any shame that may come with those you are eating with. So Zacchaeus was hated and resented, so Christ sharing a meal with him would mean that they were friends but in the publics eye, some of that shame would be transferred onto Christ. The great thing is that He didn't care. He came to seek and save that which was lost!

Sharing meals together is something we should all be doing. Like I said, I believe that we are going to be doing it more often now. We definitely miss being that close to people!

Beth Moore Simulcast

Do not fret because of evil men

or be envious of those who do wrong;

for like the grass they will soon wither,

like green plants they will soon die away.

Trust in the Lord and do good;

dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.

Delight yourself in the Lord

and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Commit your way to the Lord;

trust in him and he will do this:

He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn,

the justice of your cause like the noonday sun.

Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him;

do not fret when men succeed in their ways,

when they carry out their wicked schemes.
Refrain from anger and turn from wrath;

do not fret--it leads only to evil.

For evil men will be cut off,

but those who hope in the Lord

will inherit the land.

Psalm 37:1-9

This Friday and Saturday I had the opportunity to take a group of 25 women to see a Beth Moore Live Simulcast at a neighboring church here in Oregon, including my cousin, Katie. I absolutely love Beth Moore. If any woman has been given the preacher chick gift - it's her! God uses her in big ways to share His Word. The passage above was her topic - The Desires of our hearts!

She pulled 7 facts out of those verses: 1) Nothing dictates our lives like our desires - at the end of the day what we want wins! 2) Beneath the desires of our hearts is the heart of our desires. 3) Delighting in the God adapts our desires into inevitabilities. 4) Nothing external can steal our right to delight. 5) To make room for delight we've go to commit. 6) Nothing is passive about patiently waiting for desire to turn into delight, and 7) Till faith becomes sight trust God & do good!

It would be forever long for me to go into detail about each of those points. But there is one statement/acronym that she used to really hit home number 4 - Nothing external can steal our right to delight. We give away our joy all the time and sometimes we give it to people. It's not their right to take it from it. So here was she pulled from it!

"What's taking a bite out of my delight because delight is my right."
When your delight is fading take a look at your own JAW.

J - Jealousy (vs. 1) - Jealousy is a desire tinged w/resentment. We become jealous because we want something someone else has.

A - Anger (vs. 8) - Anger is a desire of the flesh that displaces our holy delight. We get mad because we don't get something our way.

W - Worry (vs. 1, 7 &8) - Worry comes from our desire to control everything. We worry when we aren't the ones to determine the outcome of something.

We were created for holy passion and holy desires! However, we substitute these fleshy desires for what God intended for us and our delight is strangled out of us!
So when we are unable to delight in the Lord, we first must check our JAW to make sure that we aren't allowing something to steal our delight.

Beth also talked about the difference between the desires of heart and the heart of our desires. When it seems that we are doing everything right and we aren't getting the desires of heart, we can be sure that God sees the true motive (the underneath girting of our desire) and He's going after that heart of that desire for His glory!

Expectations

Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Deuteronomy 11:18

I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. Psalm 119:11

When your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart's delight, for I bear your name, O LORD God Almighty. Jeremiah 15:16

His word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut
up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot. Jeremiah 20:9

The seed is the word of God. Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their
hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. Those on the rock are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away. The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way
they are choked by life's worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature. But the seed on good soil stands for those with a
noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop. Luke 8:11-15

"The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart," that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: Romans 10:8

Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near. Revelations 1:3

How is it that we don't EXPECT that people read their Bibles? That we don't urge them to hide the Word in their Heart? That we EXPECT that we be protected from worry, sin, doubt, basically protected from everything Satan has to throw at us, yet we don't EXPECT to learn the Word of God and hide it in our hearts, when it is the very thing that will guard our hearts the most?

Why is that we wonder why people today are still searching, that they can't see what's right in front of them? Is it because we have no EXPECTATION of them reaching out to grab it. We've been taught to have our faith spoon-fed to us. And then we wonder why people think we are hypocrites. Why people look to other of the worlds great religions. Why? because we haven't EXPECTED them to actually look into Christ. We preach the Good News, yet we don't ask people to do what the Bible clearer states "retain it!"

Knowing God's Word, being in it daily, reading, studying, retaining it, hiding it in our hearts...that is our defense! It is our sword! It is what will keep our thoughts pure and holy. It is what will change us from the inside out. They are the very words of God spoken to us. It is God's love letter to us and we take it for granted! We assume that people understand its importance and we think that we can just be like Christ.

Well, you want to be like Christ...here's the reality...by the age of 12 Christ would have had the ENTIRE Old Testament memorized!

Community Worship

On Sunday night, we took a ride out to Maumee Bay State Park for a Community Night of worship. About 8 different churches in the Oregon Area participated. It rained. So many prayers were lifted for the rain to subside and praise God it did! However, 2 or 3 churches never got to play because of time constraints. It was a good night! It was awesome to see the body of Christ come together and worship like this.

Another bonus: as I walked in the bottom of ampitheatre and I skimmed the audience above the first person I saw was Juan, my friend from Food for Thought. When not attending church with Charlene, he has been going to Solid Rock Church here in Oregon. He came with them. I was able to visit with him for a bit!

First Official Day of Kindergarten

The day has come that I have to put another one of my children in the hands of the public school system. Jourdyn never road the bus until 6th grade when she started in public school. Even in Kindergarten for her, we drove her back and forth to school. But Nadine is hitting the bus right off the bat. Rob and I were even talking yesterday about not letting her ride the bus home because she will be on it for 45 minutes and she told us "no." She wants to ride the bus not be picked up!

It is definitely a love-hate situation. I love the fact that she is growing up sometimes, other times it kills me. I love the fact that she is going to learn, yet scared of things that she might be learning. I love the fact that she will be gone all day, and hate the fact that someone else will spend more time with her than me during the week.

I bathed her with prayer last night and this morning. And I'll be praying all day for both her and Jourdyn.

May the light of God surround Jourdyn & Nadine,

May the love of God enfold them,

the power of God protect them,

And the presence of God watch over them;

Wherever they are, God is.

Amen.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Jourdyn finished childrens quizzing this summer. she is now going to move onto teen quizzing, which is completely different. This is about teamwork when the other is very individualized. TQ is also jumpseat competition instead of cardpulling from a box. So if you know the answer the first to jump gets to answer. Sunday we went to Solid Rock Church to check out their quiz program. In fact we are going to partner with them this year! Its very exciting!

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Oh, she's gonna be mad....

Why is it that I can go to the store and buy new clothes for my child, only to have her throw them on the floor, instead of put them in her drawers? And why is it that I can go to the store and buy her new clothes, and yet she chooses to wear last years fashions?

These were my questions this morning as I looked into my preteens bedroom from hell. (and don't say what your thinking, Mom!) Well, I've gone through her clothes. I've put away most of her summer clothes and got rid of last year's fashions! So she has no choice but to wear the new stuff!

We are going to take her room to the next level this fall! Right now its light purple with pastels on the blankets and such. Jourdyn is huge into zebra's and yellow. So we are going to paint the walls bright yellow. I am looking for a zebra print comforter set. If I can't find one then I'm going to make her a zebra print blanket/overlay and curtains! I still need a white full-size dresser for her. Right now she's using a lingerie dresser (very tall and very skinny), which I'm sure contributes to her inability to put all of her clothes away.

Seventh grade has started officially! It's off on the right foot so far! She's been getting up and out the door on time (but its only the second day!) But she's a good girl! She'll keep that up all year! :)

Summer thoughts

I haven't written anything to deep lately. I feel that I'm slacking a bit. But hey its summer! It's not that I haven't been in deep thought or meditation this summer because I have. I started something new in my devotions. Instead of reading others devotions, I have begun taking my concordance out. I think of a topic of the day and many times that topic of the day is where I stay for many days. I look it up and read every verse associated with it prayerfully. Every time God has spoken to me. I have this summer met with God in some amazing ways. I've read about freedom, redemption, grace, love, service, etc.

There is something big going on in our conversations and a door in the deepest parts of my heart has been opened. I have found a measure of healing and grace that I had not allowed to happen for many years. I've always known it but this summer God has really driven home the fact that we are all in a process and that process has so many places that we can delay God's plans and hold back His will and workings in our lives. We CAN stop a blessing from happening in our lives, when we don't hand things over to Him completely - not just to forgive but to also redeem and work for His glory.

Verses like Exodus 6:6 and Jeremiah 31:3-4 have captivated my thoughts and really driven my heart to allow God to work His miracles in my life and the lives of others.

"I am the Lord,

and I will bring you out from under the yoke...

I will free you from being slaves...

and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm

and with mighty acts..."

~Exodus 6:6

"I have loved you with an everlasting love;

I have drawn you with loving-kindness.

I will build you up again

and you will be rebuilt."

~Jeremiah 31:3-4

One of our General Superintedents, Jerry D. Porter said, "Our creative God constantly surprises us with new forms and strategies to accomplish the divine mission." This summer for me has been a time of surprise in Christ. He is giving me new strategies to accomplish my call! I'm excited at what is to come and to be completely honest almost as equally terrified at the response. But God is faithful and He is taking me somewhere that no one else has to understand, as long as I do, He will complete His good work in me!

Camping Weekend

This weekend our family was invited to camp with the Boy Scouts out at Maumee Bay State Park.

Friday night Rob had to work so he came out and helped us sent up camp and then left for work. I spent the evening with the kids hanging out at the site, riding bikes and having dinner with Amy and Jason.

Saturday, Rob joined us but not before going to his Uncle Louie's funeral at noon. We had several visitors, Curt came out to visit, as well as Julie and later in the evening our friends, Doug and Traci came out with their kids.

It was a great weekend overall! It was stinkin' HOT!!! But good! The kids swam, rode bikes, played cards, cornhole, and I believe used up all the water in the spickets near our site! They had fun!

The nights were cool and we definitely made use of the sleeping bags. Camping here in Ohio is nothing like camping out west. For one, we have bugs here! Out there its too cold at night for the mosquitos! Nadine has mosquito bites above her eye. She looks like someone hit her in the eye. Her knees are all bruised up from falling off her bike so much this weekend, but she loved doing it!

Rowan faired pretty well, but by this morning his belly hurt miserably! Probably all the smores last night! He wouldn't swim this weekend. He was too busy building sand castles and walls on the beach.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

On another note: Sept 26th is the Put In Bay 5k Run. Rob is running it and I have told him that I will run too! Not just that but that I would beat him as well! CRAP! Me and my big mouth!!! Well, I guess I said it to get him practicing since he really hasn't ran all summer. I was trying to motivate him. However, I said it so I guess I have to accomplish it! I've begun running at the park. I went once last week with Crystie and then I had an appointment with my foot doctor. I haven't been able to run since because of how the doctor treated my foot. But I'm going to start running again this week! Wish me luck! I don't have to win the race or anything. I just have to beat him!!!

Jourdyn's Volleyball Tryouts

My kids are growing up. I can't believe Jourdyn is going into the 7th grade. She is spending every evening this week trying out for the 7th grade girls volleyball team. She is working really hard. She has a slight disadvantage. In today's world, some of these girls that she is going up against have played volleyball for years now because of pay to play teams. She hasn't. Some of them have been to clinics and such and she hasn't. And there is about 50+ girls there trying to get on the teams and only 12 will make it onto both. So she has less than a 50/50 chance of getting picked. But she is out there giving it her best.

On Sunday, we watched Facing the Giants, which gave Rob and I the perfect segway to talking to her about leaving it all the court and doing her absolute best at all times. I'm praying that she makes the team and can have fun playing this year.

Jumpstart

Nadine woke up this morning at 7:30 ready to go to her first day of Jumpstart Kindergarten! She will go half-days all this week! She had her breakfast and cup of milk. Put on her skirt and shirt. I brushed her hair and put a braid in it. The only we forgot in our busy morning is to brush her teeth! Oops!!!!

We were out waiting for the bus at 8:15 and it didn't come until nearly 8:55, but it arrived and boy was she happy! Of course, she wanted to go up all by herself. I refused and walked with her anyways!

She is going to love school!
We took video and pictures and for some reason when I transferred it to youtube we lost all quality with it.

Fall is coming...

I've spent most of this weekend working. I haven't worked consistently this summer, especially since Grandpa was in the hospital. So it was nice to be back. However, it gave me the opportunity to tell my boss that after Labor day, I can't work but rarely.

Jourdyn is going to be trying out for volleyball and the community theatre and it looks like Rob is going to be working 3 weekends a month. It doesn't make sense for me to drive all the way there and have to pay a sitter every weekend. She was okay with it.

I've still been applying for jobs as I see them, but not to aggressively. I am waiting to hear back from one of the area hospitals about a chaplaincy job. And the position that I interviewed for a few weeks back wasn't for me. Although I had figured that would be the case.

Nadine starts school tomorrow morning! I can't believe she is already going to kindergarten! Where have 5 years gone? It's a little easier since I've done this once before but it's still hard to watch them grow up so quickly.

She is VERY excited! She knows the date, and the time that she is going. And she knows her bus driver! Which is also fabulous for her. Today, she told me that I had to take her shopping for a new outfit for the first day of school. I told her "No" she can where what she has for now.

I garage saled on Saturday and was able to find Rowan nearly a whole fall wardrobe. Unfortunately, I found nothing for Jourdyn or Nadine. Our favorite second hand shop reopens this Friday and we'll be hitting up there. Also Elder-Beerman's at Woodville is finally closing so that will be a good stop for us as well!

rowans 1st ear of corn

Visiting

I've still been helping my grandpa and grandma out. I went Monday to take Grandma to her physical therapy appointment and Grandpa stayed home to nap. It went well. I took Rowan and Nadine over to Oleander Park to look at the water for a minute. They weren't too interested, so we went to Once Upon a Child and discovered how expensive they were. I've decided to hit more garage sales for fall clothes. And then we took Grandma home.

Yesterday, I made Turkey Stuffed Cabbage for them for dinner and was supposed to go and take Grandma again to her appointment. When I arrived, Grandpa came straight to the door gave me a hug and told me he was taking her. He made the decision, it was his decision. He's sick of sitting around doing nothing and he was driving her. I could go home. He was nice to me, of course, he said thank you and such. But he was firm that he was driving her.
And I wasn't going to argue with him. So I said, if you're sure, I'm already here. He said "Yes, I'm driving her." So I left the dinner, gave them hugs and headed out.

Grandpa is really struggling with his independence. He has been blessed with a mind that has not deteriorated at all. So while his body seems to be failing, his mind is flourishing. That is driving him nuts. He doesn't want to sit and be waited on. He wants to go and do.

I left and called Uncle Jeff just to let him know that was the scenario and decided then since he was home and lives around the corner that I would go visit with him for a while. Nadine and Rowan love Uncle Jeff, especially since Uncle Jeff took them to McDonald's. After lunch, we went and hung out at his house and they got to play with his cats! :)

Slip N Slide Fun

Make a Smilebox slideshow

This weekend we decided to pick a slip n slide up for the kids. They played with one at a friends house and loved it. The same was true this weekend! It even got a bit cold and they didn't care as long as they could slide!!!