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Newsboys Edition ~Weekend Re-Cap 4/18/2016

Posted on by Mary

NEWSBOYS EditionI know That blogging never really happens for me over the weekend and yet we find ourselves on some CRAZY adventures and this weekend is NO different.   And it culminated in one of the coolest concerts I have ever been to. THE NEWSBOYS !!!  It’s rare that our weekends are slow and are usually JAM packed with ministry stuff.  Well in all honesty this weekend was no different, but there were some crazy fun adventures as well.

A lot of times I get to Monday and say “Man I really wish I could recount everything!” Well I’m going to start doing just that!!!

Friday

Friday Night was our kids school concert.  We always enjoy school concerts.   They are very sweet moments as we see all the hard work our kids put in each semester!  It ends with an ice cream social and a late night but so worth it 🙂

 

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Saturday 

AM- Hubby has worship team practice.  It’s a couple hours long, so the kids and I were in full clean up mode,  getting ready for the babysitters that night .  I had food to make for their dinner and prep work for our Youth Rally Gym night!

That afternoon was a friend’s 15 YO son’s birthday party.  We were there for about an hour and then had to head back home.

Then it was back home to finish dinner prep and making sandwiches for the Youth Rally Gym Night.    We measure the amount of sandwiches we make by the loaf.  I made two loaves worth of sandwiches and took 6 bags of chips.  The babysitters arrived at 4:30 and we were on our way @5…

PM  Youth Rally Gym Night saw over 100 kids.   (WHICH WAS AMAZING)  a Local Christian Camp’s Assistant Director spoke, we played two Minute  To Win It Games, SANG some great worship songs and then the kids were released into  the local Middle school to play Basketball, swim, play volleyball, gaga ball, table games or to sumo wrestle  in these giant Bubble balls.   AND EAT!…cookies…..sandwiches….chips…..and they pretty much ate everything! (except the chips)

Home late again!   BUT AGAIN totally worth it!

SUNDAY

AM Church.  We can’t skip church because we were  out to late…My husband is the pastor after all..LOL   We (hubby and I)also teach the  4 &  5 year old Sunday school class.  At the last minute hubby found out he had to speak because our intern was SICK.

Sunday afternoon we as a family attended a local Autism Awareness event.  It is our second year at the event.  This year we had our college students who work with our son with Autism there with us.  They are amazing!  The local college football team was also there playing with the kids.   They were so huge BUT great with the kids.   Our youngest son said to us on the way home, “I must be famous because they kept picturing me”!  The football players wanted to take pictures with the kids  for school!

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Sunday Night…and the Biggest surprise…. we have been holding a secret from our kids for a couple of weeks now, and how they didn’t Figure it out is well, quite frankly beyond me.  They got to go to their first big concert…and it was a HUGE concert.  The #Newsboys, with Audio Adrenaline OBB and Ryan Stevenson.   First, check that off this Mama’s bucket list.  I have been a huge fan of the Newsboys since I was in high school….which was *Cough* years ago….ahem. and it carried through to this day and I have trained up my children in the way they should go…..it was great to watch them rock out to Big House, by Audio Adrenaline and I Believe and God’s Not Dead…..OH AND LETS NOT FORGET  JESUS FREAKS.   Which BTW is crazy what they do with the drummer during this song, JUST SAYIN’

Photo courtesy of J. Spinner
Photo courtesy of J. Spinner

YES That is the drummer tipped on his side….and yes he was spinning 🙂
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I think one of the most amazing things is hearing THOUSANDS of people whisper “God’s Not Dead He’s surely alive”  it’s no longer a whisper….and isn’t that how it really is?  iIf each once of us as believers stood next to each other, and whispered that truth….together, unified, it wouldn’t be a whisper….it’s a roar!     A GREAT GIANT ROAR!   But  instead we stay tucked away hidden, keeping our mouth closed tightly…..

Thanks Newsboys, Audio Adrenaline, OBB and Ryan Stevenson for a great show.   It’s good to see my kids enjoying every single minute.  Our lives had been infused with some very hard unspeakable things, and it was so amazing to watch them have so very much fun..

To step outside the fears of this life, which has recently reared it’s ugly little head again as one of our sons said “mommy can we go back to ________ to the place where my friend is? You know the place _______ and I went every week” (he is referring to his counselor’s office)  to see them shout out truth, being sung into their little lives, to see the smiles, and to hear shouts, whoops and hollers praising their Savior……makes the fear melt away, at least for a few hours!

And this…This is what I am enjoying today….HOME and sunshine!! I LOVE SPRING 🙂

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Putting On My Oxygen Mask

Posted on by Mary

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Have you seen Mom’s Night Out?  It’s a movie that released a little over a year ago, right around mothers day.   It took us almost a year to see and my darling husband found it at a store and bought it for me……I LOVE THAT MOVIE.  Without fail, it makes me cry..Every. Single Time !   No joke and it usually is a different part each time, for it meets me right where I am in that moment.

The title of this blog post comes from that movie, and it is the very thing my husband said to me 4 days ago.  I was a bit uncertain about this week.  In all honesty I was having second thoughts about the entire idea.  My husband had this idea for me a year ago as we were making he decision to place our camper on a permanent lot at a Bible Conference a few hours from home.  We had no idea at that time what our lives would look like in a year and let me tell you if I had the choice to live this last year over again, Im not sure I could do it.   It’s only by God’s amazing grace that we have made it through with our marriage and family intact and I believe stronger.  Im still not ready to post about it, but it IS coming I promise.  We were hurt in some horrible ways.  Most people who know of our last year are shocked that we are still where we are.   And we had no idea that the decision to put our camper at the Bible Conference would lead to such great healing and respite for our family.  So here I sit.  IN my little retreat I have been completely alone for nearly 36 hours.  Im at peace.  I am feeling refreshed and renewed and I sill have another 3 1/2 days .  I have written and read and studied and blogged. I have rested ….AND BARELY SPOKEN TO ANYONE!  I have talked to my husband and kids a few times over the last day on the phone but that is the limit of my conversing.  It’s ok Im an introvert.  Maybe that’s why I needed this so much.

The premise of needing to putting on my oxygen mask is this…a quote from one of my college profs

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And that was the premise behind the overly long observation of the husband in Mom’s Night Out.   The dad travels A LOT.  So when he FINALLY connected the dots, the idea of the oxygen mask in the airplane resonated with him.  you have to help yourself before you can help someone else get their mask on.  I needed to take some deep spiritual cleansing breaths before I can tackle another round of insanity..    If I don’t have my relationship with God front and center, how can I possibly give my kids and husband what they need?  How can I teach?  How can I write to you?   My husband knew this line would resonate with me and it did…it made me smile to.  he told me  ” you need this, and you are going to love it”   He was right…..on both counts.

So I want to say THANKS HONEY, for cheering me on to do this, to go beyond my normal, to stretch myself and to feed my soul .  and if you happen to be a guy reading this  and your wife is looking a little…or a lot frazzled, why don’t you consider a way to encourage her to put on her oxygen mask!  and if you are a mom, can I just take a moment to encourage you to take a step back, take a deep refreshing breath and sit at the feet of Jesus. Turn your chair away from the chaos  that is where you are and face  it to a window.  I know what it is to not have the words to say, the tears flow easily and no words come.  I know that ache that makes you want to be sick and I want you to know that HE hears the very cry of your heart without  uttering One.Single. Sound.   he knows and he loves you  even in the biggest of messes!  Wont you meet him there He’s waiting!

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Posted on by Mary

Children are a blessing from the Lord……

Blessed is he whose quiver is full…….

I’m not really sure why, but people often feel free to share their thoughts on how many kids a person should have! It has been that way for us for quite some time. I think that it started after our daughter was born. She was child number two and we had a bunch of people say “so are you going to stop now? You have the perfect little family, one boy and one girl!”

Over the years it has been more of the same….”When are you going to stop?”…”Aren’t you glad you can’t have anymore kids?” “I bet there are some days when you wish you didn’t have so many?” (for the record that has NEVER crossed my mind for a minute!) and the list goes on and on and on! I think people don’t understand just how hurtful these things are.

The perspective of this world is all messed up. Ashton Kutcher’s character in the new Cheaper by the Dozen movie defined the world’s way of thinking about children best by saying: “children are inevitable, like death and taxes”. REALLY?

And when people find out that we want to adopt the response is ALWAYS less than favorable. I continually hear “you have you hands full already”.  Yes yes I do, but my heart is full too! FULL OF JOY that only children can bring. Yes raising kids is one of the most difficult tasks a person can ever undertake, but because it is so very difficult it is also one of the most rewarding things!

Hubby and I knew before we got married that we would adopt someday…God calls us to take care of orphans and we both feel like this is something that God is calling us to do! We know that we have two empty spots at the table and two empty beds upstairs just waiting for us to show God’s love to the inhabitants. To be completely honest it makes me sad thinking I could be missing out on something with them right now!

My kids are not the best at anything, they aren’t perfect. I don’t know anybody who is! They don’t have a perfect mom or dad, but two out of the four have confessed to a perfect God as their Savior. I couldn’t ask for anything more yet God still blesses. Our 7 year old son is determined that he is going to a missionary and that just brings tears to my eyes and joy to my heart. He has a long way to go but that is why God doesn’t send 7 year olds alone to the mission field!

I have exactly what I wanted…people focused kids. They might not be the best behaved but my kids sure love on people unconditionally. They are service minded! My kids weep when someone in our church passes! They touch some of the older people by their smiles and love. Yes I have four VERY strong-willed children and yes they are assertive and yes they are persistent and determined. All things that will help them go far in life, if trained properly!  So yes it is hard and yes I fall into bed exhausted and yes I LOVE every minute of it….LOL…MOSTLY!

Hearts At Home – January’s Third Thursday Blog Hop

Posted on by Mary

Wow that was a mouth full.

Well this month’s blog hop topic is for us to share some tips in how we keep ourselves organized in the new year. I kind of already posted on that and how in our family we set goals for ourselves instead of resolutions. You can check out those posts both HERE and HERE!

BUT I have another tip that also helps a great deal and I have FINALLY finished it. I am happy with it at the beginning of each year BUT sometime in the middle of the year I am sure I will find another chart to “help” keep me organized!

The artwork is mine and this year I added Tabs…I was getting so much stuff it was hard to remember where it all was!

These are the charts that I use everyday for all the little stuff.

This is the section that has my yearly charts.

And this has my bible reading charts.

This is my daily chart (sorry for the poor photo I had to sacrifice the glare instead of having poor lighting)

This is our daily schedules which is NOT in a tab BUT before the first one.

Double sided menu chart…I plan two weeks meals at a time.

This is my master list of chores broken down by everyday, every weelk, every month, seasonally and yearly

Food Journal.

Master grocery list.

A cleaning calendar and a declutter calendar.

A sample of a Bible reading chart.

And the machine responxible for the punching and binding it all togeter.

Basically this along with my Kindle is my life in a nutshell. I can’t survive otherwise!

Goals verses Resolutions

Posted on by Mary

I remember back to one of my very first blog posts.  It was all about how I don’t do resolutions!  I have something else that I do and this year will be no different.  SETTING GOALS FOR THE YEAR AHEAD!

So why no resolutiona and why goals?  Well have no fear I will explain the difference and then share how I do my goals and then I will share my goals for this upcoming year!

 

Okay so RESOLUTIONS!  Resolutions are, shall we say, someimes (and I mean SOMETIMES) last minute not well thought out AND almost NEVER planned out.  You need to do those last two IF YOU WANT TO SUCCEED! And if you do those last two then the first one of Last minute is null in void!

Let’s give some examples:

I resolve to lose 5 pounds.  GREAT BUT HOW?  (you need a plan)

I resolve to spend more time with each of my kids. FANTASTIC, WHY?  (have a purpose behind why you do what you do!)

I resolve to spend more time in my sewing room making stuff for the kids.  WOOHOO BUT WHAT?  (what types of things do you want to achieve?)

The problem with resolutions is that they tend to be too vague!

Goals on the other hand can be some of the same BUT once you start thinking in terms of a goal to reach you need to think through how that is possible!!

A few examples might be:

I want to grow more in  my relationship with God by reading my bible for 30 minutes every day and praying for 30 minutes. (you can add as much detail as you like)

I would like to lose 30 pounds by using the Wii fit plus program for 45 minutes every other day and watching the calories I put into mybody.

I want to spend more time with my kids individually by changing the bed times to individual prayer time and switch with hubby each night.  (Hubby gets two one night and I get the other two and we switch each night)

NOW…a key to achieving and remembering our goals is to REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!!!  If you want to achieve your goals you must, and I cannot emphasize this enough, MUST review them weekely!  Set a time aside to review them or CHANGE them.  YOU CAN CHANGE YOUR GOALS.  They are NOT gospel!  Life changes and life can sometimes become insane!

And lastly…..Be careful not to set your goals too high BUT also be careful not to set them too low!  You want to stretch yourself as a person.  If you achieve your goals the first week in February you set them too low!  You don’t want to overwhelm yourself BUT you also don’t want to cut yourself short!

 

OK so now that we have the ground rules laid here is my layout.  Feel free to steal it if you like BUT if you use it on your blog give credit where credit is due.  It’s plagerism otherwise!

Goals for 2012

Family Goals

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  5. ______________________________________

Spiritual goals

  1. _______________________________________
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  5. _______________________________________

Personal Goals

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  5. _______________________________________

Ministry Goals

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  5. ________________________________________

Fun Goals

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Now as you can see you can copy and paste this.  You can omit a heading or add more or less lines.  You can customize this for you and your family!

I will post my goals later as I haven’t quite finished them yet!!!