We are attempting to get back in the groove. Parker went back to school yesterday and Jason went back to work after being off for a week. It has been so nice being at home!

I was reminded that God is all about new beginnings. He alone can make us clean and new.
One of my favorite verses relates to being a new creation. 2 Corinthians 5:17 states,

17Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!.”

What an amazing promise that God has given us. To think, He looks at me and sees me as brand new, not tainted with the stinch of my own sin. I long for my life to be a reflection of Christ. My life, my thoughts, my actions, all of me exchanged for His life, thoughts, and actions. So, many days I am needing a breath of newness by mid morning! I respond so naturally in my sinful nature. I too often don’t react as a new creation because I have not taken the time to replace my old thoughts with new ones or to renew my mind with His Word, but have relied on what I can get by with on my own. Isn’t that why so many of us don’t look like new creations? We rely on ourselves to look new, maybe we will speak differently, or change some of those outer characteristics that mark our old life, but never get to the part in our Christian life where we think differently based of His Word. Our actions don’t change because we have not allowed Christ, through His Word, and the Holy Spirit to refine us, to purify us. I think there is a narrowing process in our newly created lives. A process of chasing out all that inwardly and outwardly does not honor Christ. But, so many times we get stuck here. We get stuck in our narrowed state and too often look out at others, but don’t engage life with them. We live life inside our holy bubble.

I am still a new creation in Christ, even after 24 years of walking with Him. I long to not just talk about loving my neighbor, but to actually love my neighbor. I am tired of discussing what it means to lay my life down as a sacrifice for Christ, and actually lay my life at His feet. I am really sick of being tolerant of my own sin and not taking drastic measures to change those habits I have formed! Sometime our sin is like an old, comfortable sin, that we don’t even recognize because that is just “who we are.”

I am a new creation. In Christ. I will not settle for mediocrity in my own life, but will do battle with the memory of that sin nature that lives on.

Bring on the new year!

We have finally finished our rounds of Christmas gatherings and it has been wonderful. I have enjoyed being with our family this year and it has been so nice to be in our home. I have savored this Christmas much more than those in the past and I think it has a lot to do with not traveling! In our family, each year is different due to schedules, so we will see what next year holds.

I am looking forward to beginning 2008. I am not excited about the crowd at the Y! Last year, it was crazy! All those new year resolutions which seem to fade by mid February, make for a crowded workout.

The Lord has blessed us so much and I never want to forget to give thanks for all He has done in my life. My life is His to use and I am praying that in this next year, I look for more opportunities to make His Name Great. He deserves all this broken vessel has to give!

May God reveal more of Himself to you as you live out each day in 2008!

I had a fabulous weekend at a women’s conference in Nashville. The speakers were Prisilla Shirer, Beth Moore and Kay Arthur. I was able to go with my mom and four dear friends. The Lord spoke to several areas of my life such as, mothering beyond myself, having a God awareness in all I do, and studying Scripture for myself. I realized that I too often, just get by, in my walk with Christ and rely on myself. This has not been a conscious decision, it is just the result of not being intentional in all I do.
It was pretty remarkable to be with 23,000 other women.
Sunday, was fairly remarkable as well. I have been teaching 8th graders for about a month now. I teach the same material in 4 month rotations and the group I have now is mostly boys. They are split by gender for small groups, but on Sunday mornings, we have mixed groups. It has really challenged me because I am so used to girls! Getting to know them has been interesting, though. I am praying that God raises them into strong, men with a heart for the Lord and others. Right now, I would settle for 5 minutes without someone passing gas! I feel like maybe, just maybe, we turned a corner on Sunday. This is a group that I have to be creative with the lesson and come up with ways to engage them, so the Lord is teaching me a lot, through 8th grade boys! Sometimes, I just see Bradley when I look at them and I think of what I pray God is doing in his life as a 13 year old!
Blessings!

Yesterday, I got to spend the day with my sister. We rarely get time together without children, so it was a fun time. We shopped, of course, and had lunch.
We went to downtown Franklin, which has some really cool shops. We went to one of our favorite’s, PD’s. It has great home accessories and furniture at great prices. I got 3 lampshade for a dollar a piece! I also got this cute wrought iron baseball player to hang on Bradley’s wall for a whopping $6. Too cute.
While we were in another store, we were reading some cool wall plaques. One that we talked about said this:

This has been a great week in our home, filled with firsts!!
Here is a recap of some of the new!

1. Emery started Preschool: She was so ready and excited. Her day can never have enough activity in it! She usually asks me, early in the day, “Where are we going today, Mommy?” She has the same teachers as Parker had last year and we are thrilled.
2. Bradley slept on a nap mat!! Yes, I wrote that right! The boy who never stops actually laid down on a mat at MDO and slept. For an hour and a half! His first nap at MDO, his teacher had to stay beside him til he fell asleep, but by day 2, he was a pro!
3. Parker has a loose tooth! She showed me her tooth “that wiggles” and I almost cried! It makes her seem so old. The heat is on her now to stop sucking her thumb. Jason make a deal with her that if she stopped in the next four days, she could have a party at Chuck E. Cheese and have a sleep over. We have always told her she has until her permanent teeth start coming in or she gets the thumb appliance. I am not real optimistic about the party happening, unfortunately. She is committed to her thumb!
4. Bradley started calling Jason, “Moma.” He can say “dog or doggy” but will not call J Daddy! It makes me laugh because he used to say “daddy” all the time! J is not so thrilled!
5. I got the dreaded statement from my daughter this week that all moms could do without. I was taking Parker to school yesterday and she says, “Mom, are you going to wear that? Don’t you need something nicer?” WHAT?? Now, I was dressed to go to the Y, but before you imagine me in Jason’ old tshirt and paint splattered cotton shorts, let me explain! I had on my cool Nike running shorts, with matching long sleeve dri fit shirt. IT IS CUTE I TELL YOU! I had even put on a little makeup. I honestly thought this conversation would not happen for YEARS! Many Years.

We have had a crazy, fun week getting on track with new schedules. Some days, the logistics are difficult, but we are working it out! We met with Parker’s teacher this week and got a good grasp of all she is doing and her curriculum and God confirmed to us that she is where she needs to be. She is learning a lot in a short period of time and is still adjusting to her jam packed Kindergarten schedule, but she is home by 12:30 and we have the rest of the day to relax and play. She does have some homework, but it is brief. We have had fun learning scripture with her and realizing the difficulty of the english language! All in all, life is moving!

I am really behind on a tag I received last week from Deidre. She tagged me with the greatest one I have done thus far. I get to describe 5 things I love about Jesus. How cool is that! These are in no particular order!

He absolutely changed my life. He saved my soul for eternity. He pulled my from the pit and i am now standing on a firm foundation.

We had a huge women’s event at our church on Friday and it was truly a fun night. We had a program for about an hour and then had a lot of fun, girly things to chose from as a way to fellowship with other ladies and meet new friends. We had a lot of visitors and I saw a lot of talking, laughter, eating and playing games!

I am such a fan of female friendships centered around the Lord. I have been blessed with some great friends through my life who have encouraged me in my walk, prayed with and for me, called me out when needed and spent time around the Word. I have been blessed by knowing them and am encouraged as a believer, a wife, a mom and as a friend by their presence in my life. I am so thankful that I am not on this journey of life alone and that God continues to send people into my life to spur me on.

Here is a list of some of the women who have encouraged me with their friendship through the years:
Robin: Grew up together and went to college together. We were roomies for two years and both had times where we struggled in our walk with the Lord, but would constantly encourage each other to cling to Christ. I have so many fun memories with Robin and those crazy college years of figuring out what life is truly all about.

Jenn: We met the first week of seminary and just clicked. She didn’t have a place to stay on campus and ended up moving in with me in my one bedroom apartment in the “Gospel Ghetto.” We had a great group of girls we hung out with that year. We both left after a year to get married, but she made a hard year much more bearable!

April: We met my first year of marriage, when I was in a new town, and really didn’t know anyone besides Jason. We served in student ministry together for a long time, went on trips together, camps, infertility, pregnancy, a hard time of ministry, moving and many more ups and downs of life. We have really different personalities, but continue to grow in our relationship. She is going through the darkest time of her life with the loss of her son and I realize anew that God has placed her in my life, and vice versa, for the long haul. She is a friend I know I will have in my life until I take my last breath.

Yaunette: Precious woman of God who challenges me just by breathing the same air as her! She oozes Jesus from every pore of her petite body! She isn’t fluff, but substance and is so authentic in who she is. I learn so much everytime I am around her.

My Mom and Sister: My forever best friends. They will never get rid of me or me of them! I am so blessed that I not only love my mom and Kim, but I really like them, too. I drive my sister crazy (She is the typical first born and I am the typically youngest child!), but we still enjoy being with each other. They always support me and let me vent about life. They also bring me back to what life is about, Jesus.

Ashley: My latest gal pal. Our little girls were best friends first and now, not many days go by where we don’t talk. She is the friend I talk to the most, outside of mom and Kim. We talk about our kids, husbands (always in a positive way!), church stuff and about Jesus. We have been in bible studies and small group together. It is a great thing!

This list is not exhaustive or complete! I just wanted to remind myself and others that we as women have an incredible opportunity to bless each other. To rid ourselves of the things that do not honor Christ and serve each other as friends, is what makes life a little easier and more fun, on the days that seem long and difficult. I am thankful for you all.

What a fun week we have had at our house! We have great friends, Robert and Kathy, who were youth workers in Jason’s first church. They have been such great supports for us, especially since we had kids. Kathy, comes to our house every few weeks and makes cookies with the girls, takes them to lunch or to the park. She stayed with me the weeks after Bradley was born since my Mom was preparing for open heart surgery. She is such a blessing to our family.
This week, she and Robert, her husband, took all 3 kids to the zoo. I kept asking her, are you sure you want to take all of them, which she would respond that yes, she did! They had a great time, even though they only saw a few animals. They have a great play area, which is where the girls and Bradley had a blast!
Tonight, the girls are spending the night with the Lamberts. They are going to the park, making cookies and having one great time!
They have taught Jason and I so much. I hope when I have the chance to be a blessing to a young family, I will remember what a blessing this great couple have been to us!

SARAH, REBEKAH, RACHEL, LEAH I can’t imagine the life you lived.

I have been studying the Patriarchs and it has been truly a blessing. To look at the men that God established covenant with and to see how their lineage led to Christ and to the Jewish nation is truly remarkable. I have been awed by their faith, confused by their actions, angered by their deceit and impressed with their honesty before God. They are complex men who offered sacrifice to God, built altars in His Name and for His Glory, wrestled with Him and had true communion with Him. What a life, what an adventure they lived.

We all know behind a good man, is a good woman, and I believe this is the case, most of the time, with these women. Sarah left the city lights to travel to unknown regions of the desert with her husband. She sacrificed comfort to live in a tent. She fled to Egypt and watched her husband pass her off as his sister and leave her vulnerable to the advances of another man. Twice. She longed for a child. She waited. She prayed. Finally, she laughed because the notion of a child at her age would make many of us laugh! She loved her son. She was fierce in her protection of him, enough that she sent his half brother into the desert to die. Not her finest moment, but we all know the bear that emerges when our children are hurt by another. She loved her husband.

Rebekah went on the word of a faithful servant’s prayer to an unknown land and an unknown groom. She trusted the God of that prayer. She just thought she needed to help Him out. God had told her the younger son would lead the older, so she manipulated circumstance to make sure he did. She favored one son over the other. Sadly, in her attempt to help the son she loved, she never saw him again. She passed on her scheming personality to Jacob, who it seems, struggled to act in an honest manner. Oh, the things she can teach us moms.

Rachel was a beautiful Shepard girl. She caught Jacob’s eye right off. So much that he kisses her before he knows her name. Yes, she had Jacob’s love, but she struggled to have his children. And the sons she did have, Jacob favored. Yet, it was not through her lineage that the King of Kings came, but through the line of her sister. What a reminder that beauty is fleeting, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.

Leah. Scripture describes her as the one with “weak eyes.” She didn’t have that sparkle that her sister Rachel had. Her own father tricked a man who loved her sister to marry her. She fought for his attention, his heart, any little piece of him she could get. She even had to hire him for the night from her sister with her son’s mandrakes. (I have no idea what a mandrake is, but to Rachel it must have been worth it.) Can’t you just feel the insecurity in this poor soul? To see her strive to get the one thing that she would never receive. But, she gave Jacob some hearty sons.

These women were no wilting flowers, but strong and courageous. They were just as skillful at working the angle to get the best outcome for themselves. In a society where they were not valued and respected, they all showed their Independence, their fire, their strength. They were not mere ornamentation for their husbands, but their partner, their equal. They were all good matches for the men they loved.

They were by no means perfect. They did a lot of things that did not please God. They still have a lot to teach us today, though.
Who says God’s Word is not relevant?

Storms have been swirling around us both last night and on into today. The girls were dismissed from MDO early due to tornado watches. Thunder is cause for much yelping and running to mommy or daddy around our house! I remember as a kid that my grandmother’s dog would hide under the couch when thunder rolled!
I was reminded how when we are in the midst of a storm we can respond in several different ways.
We can run to something to comfort us like a couch, food, shopping, drugs, tv or any other thing that temporarily causes the storm to fade from our minds.
We can run to someone to try to help us through our storm. Someone to take our attention off of what is going on around us and give us a few moments of distraction. This can be a good thing or a negative thing based on the character of the person we run to! I know there have been times that the person I ran to made my storm become a hurricane! They stirred the waters even more.
Fortunately, I have people around me who I know will either help calm the raging winds around me or at least, get wet with me! Our girls run to us because we offer security and make the loud crashes of noise seem a lot less scary.
I think God sends storms to test and refine us, to see how we are going to respond. Are we going to curl in a ball under the couch or are we going to seek Him through it? The strength of the storm may change, but the Storm sender does not. He is constant, He is available, He is our refuge. I think many storms are more than we can bear alone and only through dependance on Christ do we come out of it with a lot of wind blown hair and soaked clothes, but we come through it with a deeper level of relationship with our Father. What the other side looks like depends on my response. So, it’s not so much the storm but my response to it!