I Hate Waiting!

One of my all time favorite movies is the Princess Bride.  There is a scene that keeps coming to my mind this morning. 

Inigo Montoya: I donna suppose you could speed things up?
Man in Black: If you're in such a hurry, you could lower a rope or a tree branch or find something useful to do.
Inigo Montoya: I could do that. I have some rope up here, but I do not think you would accept my help, since I am only waiting around to kill you.
Man in Black: That does put a damper on our relationship.
Inigo Montoya: But, I promise I will not kill you until you reach the top.
Man in Black: That's VERY comforting, but I'm afraid you'll just have to wait.
Inigo Montoya: I hate waiting.


Hahahaha I just love this funny scene between those two characters.  What a casual conversation between a guy arduously climbing the cliffs of insanity and a guy waiting to kill him?!  Inigo Montoya just had to "wait" to do his job and that was to take care of the man in black once he reached the top.

There is this unexpected "waiting" in church planting.  Now I am not waiting around ready to enter a sword fight with the man in black....but I am hating the "waiting".  God has a job for us to do in Bay City and that is to reach those who have never heard His name.  He wants us to go and be His arms stretched out to those in need.

 But, it is so hard to do that and hour away.  

I am so excited about the vision God has placed in our hearts.   I am so excited about the ideas and dreams He has given us to do in our new town.  I feel like a kid waiting to open their gifts at Christmas.  Honestly, I want to be moved over there now.  I want to be busy doing what God has called us to do.

But, we have to sell our house. 

We have plans.  We have goals.  We have dates and dead lines.  We have a team that is growing.  We have people already there wanting an Assembly of God church in our new city.

But, we can't leave yet .....we have things to finish here first.

Waiting, Waiting, Waiting....it can be frustrating!  I hate waiting!

Waiting is a part of life!

Ugh!

 BUT, learning to wait on the Lord is a virtue a virtue that is very hard lesson for me to learn. In some ways, waiting is like waiting for my spring flowers to bloom.  It seems like forever for those sweet little flowers to peek their petals out from their green buds.  But when they do it is perfect, beautiful and so fragrant. 

Let all that I am wait quietly before God, for my hope is in him.

Psalm 62:5

Waiting is an act of OBEDIENCE!

When I wait on Him, I show Him that I am willing to allow Him to move in His perfect timing.  If I try to make things "move faster"  then I am doing what He has called me to do in my own efforts.  That is not God building His Church that is me building mine.  Ouch!  There is obedience even in the waiting.  Huh... I think I will chew on that for awhile.

Wait patiently for the LORD. Be brave and courageous. Yes, wait patiently for the LORD.

Psalm 27:14

Waiting is an act of TRUST!
When I wait on God, I learn to trust Him more.   There are something's I cannot make happen, no matter how hard I try.  I cannot make someone buy my house.  I have to trust in God's call for us to move to Bay City.  If he has asked us to move, He will provide the buyer at the right time.  I have to trust Him for that!  No options...just trust! 

But if we look forward to something we don’t yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently

Romans 8:25

Such things were written in the Scriptures long ago to teach us. And the Scriptures give us hope and encouragement as we wait patiently for God’s promises to be fulfilled.

Romans 15:4

When I choose to wait, God will build His church in His perfect timing.  Then and only then will this new church in Bay City be a perfect, beautiful and fragrant offering to the Lord.  Today, I will choose to wait.  Not because I like it, He never said I had to like it;  but as and act of obedience and trust.  I will wait bravely, courageously, patiently, and confidently before the Lord. Then I will watch His promises be fulfilled and see something amazing blossom.

 While I wait, I will...

GET JOY!

The pictures of the flowers are from around my house this morning!  Trillium, Lilly of the Valley, Columbine and my Lilacs!

A Tween Party!

My 12 year old daughter wanted to have a duct tape themed birthday party!   Yikes!  How does one do that???  If you have been following my blog you may have noticed that our lives have been a little busy.  So, here is my interpretation of that theme.  You will notice her favorite color everywhere in the party too. 

I am also crazy and I let her have an all-nighter.  I know...I know...crazy right?!   We had 7 tweens in our home...this was going to be quite the adventure or the worst idea of my life. 

On the snack menu, cupcakes with duct tape flags, chips, mini homemade pizza squares, chocolate covered pretzels,  marshmallows dipped in chocolate, orange candy slices and lots of lemonade.  (One smart thing I did was that I got each girl an orange water bottle and wrote their name on it. If it tipped over...no spillage and no sharing of germs or wondering who's drink was whose.) 

I wanted to incorporate duct tape somewhere...here are some flags I made with all of her fun tape. 

I spent the week thinking about what the girls would want to do at the party.  I came up with a few ideas.  There is a playground very close to our house so we walked over and took some very fun photos.  The girls really got into coming up with some fun shots.   They were pretty fun to hang out with and they didn't even mind mom hanging out with them. 

One of my favorite shots!

I didn't want to hear "I'm bored" all night.  So, I came up with something brilliant.... I filled a box with slips of paper with things to do on them.  I came up with almost thirty different things.  I had a bucket with all the things they needed to accomplish each task.  The rules were...
1.  They could only pull one slip out at a time.
2.  They all had to agree to pull out a slip.
3.  The birthday girl got to pick out the slip and read it.
4.  If they decided to pull out the slip they had to complete the task.
(Oh and since I came up with them, they were all "mom approved"!  Brilliant isn't it?! LOL)


Here are the ideas!
1. Do sparklers
2. Paint nails
3. Talk like a pirate for the next 20 min
4. Make balloon bracelets
5. Make up a skit and preform it
6. Tell silly ridiculous scary stories
7. Paint a frame to take home
8. Have a biggest bubble blowing contest.
9. Have a burping contest
10. Make duct tape bracelets
11. Say "Bazinga" after every sentence for the next 10 min.
12.  Put glow in the dark tattoos on.
13.  Play a game...taboo, apples to apples or balderdash.
14.  Play truth or dare (but only do things mom would approve of)
15.  Write out facts about each other on paper, don't write their name on it,  mix them up, try to guess which fact belongs to each person.
16.  Tell and embarrassing funny story.
17.  Watch a movie.
18.  Take a zillion funny pictures.
19.  Start a story.  Each person tells one sentence at a time and continue until the birthday girl says, "The End"!
20.  Everybody lay on the floor.  Close your eyes, make the strangest noises you can and nobody laugh!
21.  Play the game concentration.  
22.  Spray the sour candy in your mouth and say a tongue twister really fast.
23.  Do something weird you know how to do like wiggle your ears, bend your fingers back...etc.
24.  Put stickers all over your faces.
25.  Make the funniest faces you can and nobody laugh.
26.  Play the Wii
27.  Sing five silly songs in a weird accent.
28.  Do everybody's hair in a weird hairstyle!


 They only made it through half of these and some they did the next morning.  It was a lot of fun and I never heard..."We're Bored!"


It was fun going outside and doing sparklers!  A side note...I love, love, love my camera!

These are the fun frames they painted and I put a fun picture we took at her party in them.  We used duct tape here too. These were the party favors.

I put up the twinkle lights to make my living room even more fun. 

The girls didn't make it all night.  Once a movie went on they got sleepy.  I think they were all asleep by 3am. 


For breakfast we had french toast bake, sausage, string cheese and bananas.  So Good that I wanted to share the recipe for the french toast!

Baked French Toast~allrecipe

Ingredients:
1 loaf texas toast cut or broken into bite size pieces (you can really use any kind of bread, I used french bread)
8 eggs
2 cups milk
1 1/2 cup half and half cream (if you don't have you can just do milk, I used buttermilk)
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Arrange the slices in bottom of buttered 9x13 pan. Beat eggs, milk cream, vanillla and cinnamon. Pour over bread slices, cover and refrigerate overnight.

Sauce:

3/4 cup butter
1/13 cup brown sugar
3 tablespoons light corn syrup

The next morning in a small saucepan, combine butter, brown sugar and corn syrup, heat until bubbling. Pour over bread and egg mixture

Bake in preheated oven at 350 degrees uncovered I cooked it for about 40 min.  It will puff up and set.


This tween party was a big success!  All the girls had a lot of fun, there was no fighting, no crying and no getting in trouble!  I even got a little sleep...Whoo HOO!  However, my house is trashed; but it is worth it!

Happy Birthday to my 12 year old!

GET JOY!

Oh To Be Twelve!

Birthday dinner with her grandparents and Aunt Jenni

I can hardly believe my daughter is 12 today!  I watched "The Fiddler On The Roof" yesterday and I am beginning to understand that "Sunrise, Sunset" song a little bit better, such phrases like...

Is this the little girl I carried,
When did she get to be a beauty,
Wasn't it yesterday when they were small?
Seedlings turn overnight to sunflowers,
Blossoming even as we gaze.

Sunrise, sunset, Sunrise, sunset,
Swiftly fly the years,
One season following another,
Laiden with happiness and tears.

I love what Tevye asks in the song.  It so clearly speaks to what my heart feels.  I will join with him in song....

What words of wisdom can I give them,
How can I help to ease their way?

Okay, I will stop being so melodramatic now; but, hey I am a mama of children who won't stop growing up no matter how much I beg, plead, and make them promise to stop.  

Skipping school for some birthday smoothies!

I love my girl!  She is turning into such a beautiful young lady.  She has the best personality.  She is witty, spunky, creative, beautiful, out going, even tempered, nothing shakes her, unique, quirky, a leader, and just plain fun.  I love that she constantly is making things out of duck tape, boxes, and just about any scrap she can get her hands on.  I love that she hangs around talking to her math teacher about math.  I don't get how a kid can love math so much?!  I love that she tallies everything...she is awesomely weird like that.  I love that she wanted a bible on her Kindle and wants to read the whole thing.  I love that she doesn't care what people think about her.  I love how she over exaggerates a bazillion times.  I love that she never...never...never wears matching socks.  I love everything about her. I love that she is mine. I love that she is more importantly the Lords.  

Excited about her Kindle...thanks Grandpa M!

What a cutie!

Her cute 31 organizer, duct tape and glow in the dark nail polish.

More crazy socks she can mix-n-match!

Today, we celebrate her life.  I made her an over easy egg for breakfast!  We took her and her BFF out for lunch and a bunch of McD's workers sang happy birthday.  Her friends at school decorated her locker.  I cooked for her a favorite meal...BBQ ribs, rutabaga fries, green beans, and an ice cream brownie sundae.  She opened presents and cards,.  She got her special "Happy Birthday" phone calls too.  And we are also having a big all nighter party this weekend with her dear friends (pray for me like you have never prayed before! I may be crazy or I will be soon). We pretty much made it all about her.....because she deserves it!  She is pretty cool!

Our precious 12 year old, WE LOVE YOU!

GET JOY!

The Name Game

Christina!
Christina, Christina bo Bina Bonana Fanna Fo Fina
Fee Fy Mo Mina, Christina!


Hahahaha I loved singing that song as a kid.  I know it is not quite right with my name...but that is how I made it work.  I love my name.  I always have been very thankful for the beautiful name my parents picked out for me.  Yes, I could never find it printed on anything as a kid like fun barrettes, key chains or stickers...bummer.  But, I loved my name.   


Names are so much fun.  Names have a lot of meaning.  Sometimes those names came bring a smile, a special memory, heartbreak, thoughts, or even love.  Names are important. 


The right name for our new church is important too and not so much a game!  A church name can evoke so many kind of feelings as well.  We wanted to pick the right one.  The list of names was long at first, a brainstorm of sorts.  Then that list became more narrow...until one jumped out at us!

Here is our name for our new church in Bay City...

We just love it and it feels just right for our new community.  May God bless this new church and our prayer is when people hear the name they will know and feel Jesus.

GET JOY!

Here's Looking At You Kid!

Somebody got new glasses for the first time.  It is cute watching her checking them out.    There are fun adorable periwinkle stars on the side. Little brother does not like them though, I do!  

GET JOY!

Strength In Numbers

Never, in all of my days, have I ever felt the strength of the body of Christ like I have today.   Today, we had a meeting with surrounding Assembly of God churches about joining with us as we start a new church in Bay City.  I am so encouraged as I see the family of God come together and fulfill the Great Commission found in 

Matthew 28:19.

Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Several churches are joining with us and helping us plant this new church in our new town.  I have never left a meeting so excited; because, seeing God's people working together to do something great is inspiring.  God is truly making church planting fun!   John and I felt such love and support.  I think simply knowing we literally have an army of believers surrounding us is empowering.  

We also want to encourage other churches to be planters too.  If we can help inspire pastors and lay people to do the same, we could not be more pleased.  Growing God's family in our town and other communities is our passion and God's desire.

At our meeting, we were able to share our vision, mission, and journey with these great men and women of God. We then were able to share some opportunities for them to become involved.   Here is our timeline, events and ministry opportunities that we are providing.   
 

Everyone, please join us in prayer!  We cannot do this in our strength.  We are finding that out very quickly.  We need God's strength and His wisdom every single step of the way.  If you cannot partner with us by sending teams or by giving, we ask that you partner with us in prayer.  God can do far more than anything we can come up with or contrive.  We need Him and His followers!  


If God is speaking to your heart about Bay City, please contact us.  We would love to hear from you.  Check in on my blog often and hear the amazing God stories that are happening each month as me move to our new home.  

Everyday, I am amazed about what Christ is doing. 

GET JOY!

A Hospital Easter!

Our spring break ended very differently than planned.  Instead of an Easter weekend filled with church, baskets, and eggs...there was iv's, ct scans, gowns, surgery and medicines. 

Our oldest daughter suddenly got very sick during a good Friday service and 48hrs later she was appendix free on Easter morning.  Wow, what a crazy weekend.  I will have to say it was weird spending Sunday in a hospital room on my daughters favorite holiday.

We had to take some pictures and these are approved by my daughter.  We decided to not show the picture of her infected appendix (that did not rupture, Thank You Jesus!)...you can thank me later....it was ugly!

(I did ask for her appendix to take home.  I thought she could take it to science class for extra credit.  They wouldn't let me...they said it was a bio-hazard...whatever!  I guess I will just have to be happy with the pictures. LOL!)

Here she is in our town's ER, Saturday night.  She was not in a whole lot of pain.  Her tummy hurt just a little bit.  But after 24hrs of being sick and never feeling any better and a slowly rising temp...this mom was ready for doctors to take over. 

 She was so brave.  The only time she cried was for about one minute.  It was when she was accepting the fact that surgery was necessary.  She was very nervous though the whole time.   This next picture is our ambulance transport to a much bigger hospital.  Mike, our paramedic,  was so nice at 3am.  He showed her everything in the ambulance.  He really made her feel at ease....so much so that she fell asleep. 

 Thankfully, daddy was able to be with us at 1:30am.  Even with surgery looming daddy was able to make us all smile.  He can be so silly, especially at 4am.   When we got to the pediatrics floor they made her put on these odd hospital pants.  We called them safety pants; because of what they said on them.  They were so weird and so funny.  We had some good laughs over the safety tips such as:

Don't eat wild berries

Learn about resuscitation (that is the one she is pointing too)

Don't climb (I guess we should never climb anything in our lives bwahahaha)

Stay away from poison ivy

Look out for wild animals 

Play Safe

Safety is Best

Here is the after picture and the appendix free girl!  The surgeon was pretty impressed with her amazing pain tolerance.  I think that may come in handy later.  LOL

Aunt Jenni came on Easter after her surgery to save the day!  She brought a chocolate bunny, Easter lilies, food, and games.  She knew exactly what this girl needed since they are both appendix free.  They are now officially appendicitis buddies. 

 The nurses were all so wonderful.  I have never had such kind and attentive nurses. They had a beautiful blanket, a stuffed animal and a coloring book for her.  We felt so cared for.   Of course it was just her on the whole floor for pretty much all Easter that had a lot of care to give. 

We had dear people come and visit us.  Thanks Chris and Elaine, Angie and Telisha (found her on the elevator visiting her grandpa, she wanted to check in on Rachel...so sweet).  Sweet calls from concerned grandparents, families and friends were so encouraging.  

I have to say that I could not be more thankful for all my friends and family that were praying for her.  One of the reasons I love facebook was that during the whole night, during her surgery, and after I had an army of believers lifting my daughter up in prayer.  Kind words, prayers, love and hugs were so encouraging and uplifting.   Words could never express my gratitude.  So, I humbly say, "Thank You from the bottom of my heart."  We felt God's peace and presence the entire time.  There is nothing more reassuring than knowing God loves my daughter more than me.  He has her best interest in His heart.  So, I was able to place her in His hands.    

As Easter was coming to an end we managed to get in a  rousing game of Rummikub, watch Hook, painted nails orange, created some fun things with Bendaroos  and we thanked the good Lord for His love!

I will end this post with my favorite status on facebook Easter morning.  It was Aunt Jenni's....

"Celebrating how Christ came to our rescue this Easter at the hospital and waiting for my niece to wake up from her appendectomy. Thank you Lord for coming to her rescue today!"

With that I will truly....

GET JOY!

Shalom!

My sister went to Israel last week.  The girls wanted to have a welcome home party & ressurection dinner.  They got busy with all the planning and decorating.  It was very adorable. 

It was soooo cute!  They made paper Jesus hats.  They had stories from them Bible on them.  We used some of our gifts from Israel as centerpieces.  We used colors to represent the plan of salvation.  It was fun!  And Auntie just LOVED it!

We had a wonderful dinner and looked at all 2,000+ pictures from her trip.  It was an awesome day!

Welcome Home Aunt Jenni and Shalom!

GET JOY!

Colored Eggs!

We are having fun coloring eggs!

My little man was hilarious.  His face says it all.  He was so excited to see what color the eggs turned out to be.

GET JOY!