New Read: Going All the Way

Craig Groeschel, founding and lead pastor of LifeChurch.tv, has written another book that looks to be a great read. His other two books, Chazown and Confessions of a Pastor were both easy to read, follow, and enjoy. I expect his new book, Going All the Way to be the same.

Going All the Way takes a look at marriage  that applies if you’re newly married, soon to be married, or happily married. It looks like there are many insights to be gleamed about putting God first then making the choices to make our marriages “go all the way”. Not settle for mediocrity, but desire and strive for the best with our life partner.

I am looking forward to it coming out on October 2nd.

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How often do we choose yucky?

This morning my dear son was having a very rough morning. His new “army” shorts were very dirty from a well-enjoyed picnic yesterday and he did not understand why he could not wear them today. As we were 20 minutes into the upset, driving to church for school, I told him he could choose to have a good day or have a yucky day. His little voice piped from the back seat, “I want to have a yucky day.”

We intentionally can choose the type of day we want to have. Sure, not everything will go our way. We will have moments we don’t understand, ones we don’t agree with, and ones we certainly don’t like. But when it comes down to it, we can choose to have a good day or a yucky day.

How do we deal with those frustrations and disappointments? Do we trust in the Almighty One to sustain us? Do we find joy in the things our Father finds joy in? Can we look beyond ourself in the circumstance?

I pray my days are filled with good ones I choose to have not yucky ones. And I pray my son changes his mind today and has a good day.

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loving the new curriculum!

We’ve been using our new First Look and 252Basics curriculum for about a month now and I can say that I love it! It is great to use – I love the digital format for it. I am able to open the files and modify the material to fit the format of how we’re using it. They both give plenty of variety and activities that we’re having enough material for both small group hour and large group time with another smaller group break out for 252basics. I have gotten good feedback from my volunteers on how First Look repeats the same simple point each week. The kids are remembering it! That’s the best! You can tell they are truly learning what we’re teaching. With 252Basics, we switched from KIDMO and the kids are responding well to “live” teaching vs. DVD-based.

If you have any suggestions on getting the kids to use their God Time books and Refrigerator Notes, I’d appreciate it! I am looking forward to going to Orange Conference to talk to others who use it and to learn more. I am loving the model of Family Ministry and know that the “church” needs to move more in that direction. I’ll post more about that later!

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They watch what you do – living a life of testimony

Tonight as we were eating dinner at a restaurant, the waiter was setting up a new table for a large party. It involved the moving of chairs in order to get it ready. Cade, our 3 year-old exclaimed, “Papa does that!” Since I am privy to the world of 3 year-olds and their interpretations, I immediately knew he was talking about my dad who stacks chairs each Sunday following our worship service. I said to Cade – “At church?” To which Cade replied, “Yes Momma, Papa does that!”

Wow! Something as seemingly insignificant as stacking chairs is setting up a testimony of service to my 3 year old. They notice what the men in our church do. Young girls notice what the women in our church do. For some of us, stacking up chairs is something we do just because it needs to be done or we’ve been guilted into it. Maybe it is greeting with a smiling face each week, or preparing communion in a kitchen room. It could be teaching Sunday School or leading a Community Group. Little ones watch. They see. They learn. They model.

Thanks Dad for being the kind of grandfather and man that I want my children to model. Thanks for living a life beyond yourself of service to others and the church. It doesn’t go unnoticed. I love you!

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there’s choices!

As I am living this life longer as being a parent, I am learning many things. One of the most frustrating to me is to learn that I have choices. See – a lot of things about parenting lead you to believe that “x” is the way to do something. Whether it is to vaccinate your child, methods of feeding, discipline, medical care, or schooling – there are choices that we have available to make as parents. I guess this frustrates me because on the surface one thinks they have no options. I once thought this about all these areas and more. But the more I spend time in being a well researched advocate for my child, I am realizing that there are actually a world of opportunities and choices we have as parents to make. I wish more parents would take the time to being exactly that for their child rather than taking the first suggestion as “what I have to do.” It has caused me to think and rethink on many things and then to make the best decision for our family and our children. Knowledge goes a long way and opens many doors.

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Tagged by Katie – 8 random facts…

I doubt I will be able to think of 8 random facts about myself that are entertaining to the readers of this blog, but I can’t let my friend Katie down, so I will give it a go!

1) I HATE, mean HATE getting up in the mornings. I am a bad wife in the AM. I am a bad mom in the AM. And I am probably a bad friend then too if someone asked. My dear husband lets me sleep in beyond when our 3 year old wakes, but I know it’s because he doesn’t want to deal with my sucky attitude rather than being a loving gesture!

2) I am addicted to coffee, but only good coffee. I refuse to drink a cup of Folgers or Maxwell House. It has to be ground bean, good coffee. Also, the cup it is in matters to me.

3) I have a few OCD tendencies. I cannot have towels and pictures crooked, must straighten them. In my house, and others. I also count things. Don’t ask. I can tell you how many doors and windows we have in our house, how many ceiling tiles are on the ceiling in my office at work, and many random other things.

4) I love Jazz music. There is no station that remotely resembles the music I like. It just mellows me and is like a mini-vacation. I like cleaning my mom’s house because they have on-demand music and I listen to it while scrubbing the toilets.

5) One day when I grow up, I don’t know what I want to be. I love teaching preschool children. I also love being around other people. I hate 9-5, but loved working for an interior decorator in college. I have a flair for artsy, and don’t like structured. I want to further my education because I love to learn and would like to go as far as I can, but still am not sure what exactly I want to do. Cooking though. I love cooking. I could see myself with a Food TV show.

6) I am a psuedo-crunchy mom, more than most people think. I never thought I’d be this way and don’t even know how I did it. I wanted to cloth diaper my kids (husband wouldn’t let me), I delay vaccinate, try not to medicate, make my own bread, use organics, cook most everything from scratch, extended BF with my first son, had drug-free birth, would like to homeschool (but know I can’t), we gentle discipline, and make some homemade cleaners. I also like to try homeopathic remedies. There. It’s out. I hug trees. (Thanks Laura!)

7) Having pink hair last week was liberating. I felt a sense of freedom in doing something so out of the ordinary for me. I tend to stay “safe” and actually enjoyed it. Then again I like being the center of attention (in a good way). So, it got that attention. Maybe blue hair next? A tattoo? Who knows?

8 ) I adore my children, but need to daily pray for the fruit of the Spirit to be a halfway decent mom. There’s only so many “WHY?” questions one can take, screaming frustrated toddler moments, and thrown and refused food before you start to lose it. God gives me what I need to make it through the day, but why does it seem like He never gives any extra?

Well, that’s it! Hopefully I didn’t bore my readers too badly. Really.

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getting back at it

Our house has been quarantined the past 2 weeks with some awful sickness. I am starting to feel better finally today after being the last one to get it. I should be back in the saddle of blogging by the end of the week or so.

We’ve started our school year for Mom’s Morning Out and it’s going great. We also launched our new children’s programs and curriculum and we are loving it! The teachers love First Look, the kids are coming home talking about what they learned, and it’s great! 252Basics is going well too. The first week was working solo, but this past week I had my co-teacher and it went awesome.

As far as working within a Sunday School model without “doing” Sunday School, it’s working. Unfortunately you still have the attendance of Sunday School.

I need a good book to read, any ideas?

Went to Newspring last week, I’ll share those thoughts later too.

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friends…

We went hiking this past weekend with our friends Katie, Josh, and their precious girls Abigail and AnnaJaye. Their girls compliment our boys in every way and they usually have a great time together. We had a great time at Table Rock State Park enjoying God’s creation and in worship. This picture reminds me of the verse Ecc 4:10 -  

10 If one falls down,
       his friend can help him up.
       But pity the man who falls
       and has no one to help him up!

Ah! The preciousness of friendship!

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why is it?

At church tonight we had two speakers that talked about recent mission trips. One of the men works with a local ministry here to minister to the homeless downtown as well. One common theme I noticed, and in my memories of being on several mission trips myself, is that on a mission trip – you’re there to evangelize. You don’t think twice about sharing the gospel with anyone you meet. The message of hope you share to a third world country is possibly the only message of hope they may hear. Why don’t we do this in our own world? Don’t we want our families to have hope? Our loved ones? Our children? Why is it more comfortable for us to go to a foreign country to tell people about Jesus than doing it to our co-worker? I think part of this is that we expect churches to do it. Is that what scripture says? Matthew 28:19 says “Go.” Does this mean to literally “go” overseas? Inner-city? What about “go” to the cubicle next to you? What about “go” to your parent’s home? What about “go” to the restaurant with a good friend looking for hope? We need to have more boldness and courage to preach a message of hope, forgiveness, and grace to those close to us. Don’t wait for the church to do it – it may be too late.

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