the life you’ve always wanted

i recently read (again) john ortberg’s book the life you’ve always wanted. i love this book and think that this is one of the best books on spiritual disciplines. here are a few quotes that stuck with me:(Ortberg, 2001)

-God’s purpose in guidance is not to get us to perform the right actions. His purpose is to help us become the right kind of people.

-Every human being who has ever lived has suffered from a messiah complex-except one.

-the great danger is not that we will renounce our faith, but settle for a mediocre version of it.

-if my problem is that i am doing something i ought not to do, i need to practice a discipline that strengthens my not-doing muscles.

-(Sleep) is an act of trust: i am reminded when i go to sleep that the world is in God’s hands, not mine. The world will get along very well even though iam not awake to try to control things .

-i lie down and sleep; i wake again, for the Lord sustains me. (Psalm 3:5)

-spiritual transformation cannot be orchestrated or controlled, but neither is it a random venture… we need a plan.

since i don’t twitter…

since i don’t twitter here are some “twitter type” updates:

1. I love sharing with kids how they can know Jesus in a public school and giving out a Bible each week.

2. We have over a hundred kids coming to KBC every week between three schools.

3. We will be starting in at least one more school with a possibility of two more starting in February.

4. I am tired of writing papers for school- the reason i am writing twitter updates for blog.

5. my baby is wearing underwear and is saying things like “I fink we outta do dis, mommy.”

6. I am ready for some holiday fun and breaks.

7. I will be going to Virginia for a week long course the first of January.

8. we made it through the stomach virus and my laundry is all done…for now.

9. I truly have been blessed by amazing friends in my life… one’s that are far away and i don’t get to talk to very often…and one’s that i get to see here in cartersville. i pray often for all of them and feel very grateful to God for them.

10. my husband is snoring next to me while i finish work/school on the computer… He is cute …and i think it is my  time to go to bed too.

what has happened lately…

i admit that i have a hard time finding time to update this blog but i love reading other people’s blogs to know what is going on in their lives. it is sad but it is a great way to stay connected when our lives get crazy. Some of the things that have been going on are sad, some happy, and some neither .

1. Braden accepted Christ as his Savior this summer and we are so excited. i can already see the Holy Spirit working on him in the past couple of months. the night before he prayed to receive Christ i went around to all the kids rooms and i prayed over Braden while he was sleeping. i was prompted to pray for him to come to know Jesus because I knew he was close to having a better understanding. it gave me goosebumps when he came up the stairs that next morning telling jonathan and i that he wanted to pray to know Jesus! Jonathan is going to baptize him at our next baptism on October 26th in between services- in a portable baptismal right outside the movie theater! I love it!

2. Kinley’s close friend from preschool passed away about a month ago. He had a brain tumor that was discovered only two weeks before he died. She had been in half day preschool with him a couple of days a week when she was 2, then 3, and he was in her class for 4 year old preschool this year too! This little boy had an exceptional gift. He was very sensitive to spiritual things and he could read and count from the time he was very young. Continue to pray for his family. I know he is better and is happy in heaven but it is hard for all the people who knew and loved him. Kinley talks about him almost everyday, has shed tears, and asked more questions than I can count about death, God, healing, and even the age old question of why does this happen?

3. I finished my first class for my master’s degree. Why am I doing this again? Just kidding, I really enjoyed it. I start back again Monday.

4. Kids Beach Club started in two schools and will be starting in the 3rd school very soon. I also have the possibility of 1 to 3 more starting very soon as well. It is fun and I love seeing kids who do not go to church anywhere or very often come and hear about the Bible. We give out one Bible per weekand those kids have never forgotten to bring it back the next club. They are excited, they have memorized Scripture and can repeat it back to me from even three weeks before. It is a great ministry and I think that every church needs to be involved in this while we have an open door into the schools. It may be a hard door to get through but it is where the kids are!

5. Jonathan is getting settled in to his job at the church and has made wonderful strides and improvements -with some great volunteers in sharing with Oak Leaf kids and parents. We have some people that have been coming with us to church who love the kids ministry and one of the adults said,” I can actually understand that guy and I don’t have to go home and look up any words that he uses. This is the first time I look forward to going to a church” (refering to Michael’s teaching). That is what it is all about and shows that God is working and drawing people to Him. It is exciting. They have been going home and reading their Bible. (Or either it means that Michael doesn’t use big enough words. lol)

6. Camden is getting really big and although Kinley is technically my “smallest” child I seem to be getting very sad about my baby growing up. Camden is older now than Logan was when he was born. I have gone from four car seats down to two. – Logan technically could still sit in a booster seat. I had three in diapers and one in pull ups at night and now I have one in pullups all the time and one only at night. sigh. a new season is coming and although jonathan is really excited i am pretty sad.   it felt like i would be in that season forever when i was in it and now i can see how it won’t be very long at all.

7. Logan is knocking it out of the park at school! I went to his parent teacher conference and his teacher told me that he is one of the best behaved students that she has! I cried right in front of her. tears of excitment for him (and for his teacher.) Nobody had to know him as the challenging child. he just gets to be Logan. praise God!!!!

8. i got a picture taken of all the kids together. they are all looking the same way smiling! this is a picture of the picture so it is not very clear but i am so excited i thought i would share it anyways! I could have scanned it in the computer but this made the most sense to me at the time.  

9. i am going to bed. goodnight!

tag..im it!

my friend jamie tagged me so here are six things you may not know about me. (this will be hard since i am an open book.) i did not add my love of fountain cokes on here since you all probably know this about me.

1. i love books…i mean love books and bookstores!

2. my most favorite relaxing thing to do is to get a cup of starbucks and walk around the super target in acworth (by myself). i don’t usually  buy anything i just walk and pray and regroup to regain perspective.

3. i love kids and love being a mom. the least favorite thing about being a mom is kids fighting. i can handle them all little and in diapers but i can’t take the fighting.

4. i am an only brat… I mean kid. another reason i hate the sibling fighting. i always wanted siblings- they should be sitting around loving on each other..right?!

5. i am an extrovert on steroids. although the older i get the more i have to have a little retreat by myself to regain energy.

6.i am a dreamer…and i love new adventures. jonathan is a realist and much more of a present thinker. we compliment one another well. and i see how we have both rubbed off on each other.

little momma

i have some wonderfulfriends… i ran into one of them who i know from preschool at Tabernacle. my friend has two little boys- one Logan’s age and one Kinley’s age. Her boys have been and are currently in class with my kids. My friend has recently added another sweet baby girl to her mix and i don’t know if kinley just loves babies or has some deeper connection to this little girl who also has lots of brothers.

we ran into them at the soccer field and my friend took(i told you she is amazing) kinley and logan to the playground with her boys and baby while i was watching braden play. i could see kinley from a distance sitting on a bench “petting” the new baby. She is so excited about this little girl and talks about her all the time. my friend sent these pics of the crazy kids….

 

family

We celebrated Kinley’s 4th birthday at Babyland General!

The boys are still too young to really know what they were going to and they had a really great time.

Logan is coaching his sister on how to blow out candles.

Camden had a blast running all over the place. (Thank you Bi-da and Mammy for chasing me around!)

I am thinking this is a wonderful picture for a pre wedding slideshow .

We did not have to coach our little lady on how to pose. She is all girl…4 going on 13.

here we go again…

i am in bed and i am totally exhausted. i have kissed my babies goodnight, jonathan is helping out at the House of Rock (our new building that Oak Leaf has purchased-a former bar that we are turning into a church), and i have two textbooks sitting next to me that i am suppose to be reading. soccer does not begin until thursday and i am pumped about Kids Beach Club starting in a little over a month. (continue to pray for the school districts to allow us in without a hassle.) lots of exciting things happening but for now i am off to bed. night night.

final days of shopping before preschool

this is me attempting to shop with a two and three year old in hobby lobby. they hid in feather boas! the two others were in school – i don’t take any pictures when shopping with all four. sad about preschool but happy about my one day shopping day without kids.

going public

i have read many books on schooling options since having kids and especially as i drew near to my first baby turning 5. we have thought about homeschooling, briefly thought about private school until we found out the cost, and lastly public school. i have to say i have read and researched more about homeshooling than any of the other options- all written by Christians who are having much sucess in this area.

then came my current ministry position and my need to help out  our family budget. i work directly with public schools and churches in trying to get basically a “Bible club” in the schools. it would not work really if i homeschooled my kids and in all reality the time would not work out with having meetings. what was i to do. we prayed long and hard and we are now in to our second year with our first in public school and now logan has joined him for kindergarten. God has given me complete peace about this decision and i am excited about volunteering in their classrooms. it also helps that the PTC president was logan’s preschool teacher last year and kinley’s teacher this year. we will continue to pray and take it year by year- kid by kid- discerning what God desires for each child until they can follow Him fully.

so as i always do i looked for a noteworthy( always check out the authors before reading:) ) book on the subject. this was not an easy search in a Christian bookstore. but alas i found one right next to a book with a school bus and policeman with guns. it is called Going Public: Your Child Can Thrive in Public School by David and Kelli Prichard. i highly recommend this book if your child goes to a public school.  i don’t 100% agree with everything but what they have to teach is amazing. the pritchard’s have eight children and live near Seattle- that’s not exactly the Bible belt. david works with young life and they have impacted tons of kids around their community. i will post more that i have learned out of this book later but one interesting tidbit is this:

        -a student spends aproximately 6.5 hours a day in school with 180 days in a school year totalling 1,170 hours out of a childs year.

         – parents have about 4,670 hours a year to influence their children.

         – parents ( if one parent stays home, but even if both parents work it is still over 3,000 hours) control 80% of their childs time and the school receives 20%. And in all reality it is a parent who also is still in control of their childs life, education, and time. 

 

PS- spouting out all these numbers i wanted to include how many hours a church actually has- about 40! no matter how you try to avoid it you have to “homeschool” in spiritual matters no matter what.

rest

so the summer is drawing to an end. my second child logan will be starting kindergarten in the fall and braden will be in the first grade. i am really relishing this time with them and i am a little sad to see the summer end. but next week jonathan and i are having a wonderful break. we will be without two of my children for a week and without all four for three nights.

he is taking time off from work and we are just going to rest. he has not had a vacation in well over a year and a half and my last “vacations” were with children. (which is like my normal day on steroids with less sleep and more activity). although it is the end of summer we are not feeling guilty at all to take this time and gain momentum for the fall. with lots of kids- even though we limit their activities to one thing at a time- comes lots of stuff.  we are resting before beach clubs get started, school begins, football, soccer, dance, and grad school. we are watching movies and going out to eat before oak leaf has another “big” announcement and jonathan is working lots of hours. we are sleeping in before early mornings and late nights come our way. we need to regroup before we have neighbors over to our house and our constant watch for people who God brings in our path to minister to. we need rest before sickness and homework and discipleship continues on- before small group and ministering to children continues.

but rest assured after we have rested i am ready. i love the fullness of our life. the disciples lived full lives- i know they were not doing activities but it is through our activities that we meet lost people and people looking for a church home. everytime i read stuff on taking time for ourselves (which is important) i think of Jesus and the disciples and what their lives were like. they were tired people. we are called to retreat with God, our spouses, and our family but those who followed Christ worked hard and long. Jesus was followed when He was tired and after a full day. even if you are not a people person God calls us to minister and lead people. jonathan and i are blessed to have time to focus on each other and to relax but we are also blessed with the four little people who we are called to lead everyday.  we are then blessed by the many people that we come in contact with throughout the school year and in our ministries to love on. it is not by our own strength that we are able to do this, it is by the One whos strength never runs out.