fall festival

Well here it is. My favorite time of the year for our church. Don't get me wrong, we do some fun things, all of which I love. But October... oh man. October. Just saying the word gets me excited. I get to witness first hand the love of God on our church an community. It's the neatest thing to watch and be a part of! Each year I have been in charge of getting donations for our Fall Festival. Sometimes it is a little challenging, but in the end people come through and we end up with fantastic prizes! It always blows my mind the people God sets up to help support this endevour. But then... oh then. To get to see the faces on the kids whose names get drawn! That makes it all worth it! Some of them run and stand right in front of the microphone towards the end of the night because they know we draw until we see a hand shoot up. It's the coolest gift God gives me! At the same time, our teens (who have allready been hard at work) put on Judgement House. If you've never been to one, you must. It's amazing. Our teens have worked hard year after year, sacrificing a lot of their time to evangelize to our community. Watching it all come together and being able to be a part of it... I can't even explain the blessings that come from it. And then to hear the final salvation tally... Girls, it's enough to make you swoon. So yes, October is my favorite month. It's when our church comes together to help each other minister to and serve our community in two very unique ways. And all for the purpose of reaching out and showing others the love of Jesus. Can you smell the harvest? I can. And it smells amazing!

please pray

Please pray for one of my best friends and cousin, Annette. She recently had a miscarriage due to some complications. This was her first pregnancy.

Thank you girls, I know there will be some serious prayers going up from you all. It means more than you know.

water water everywhere

Okay, can I just tell ya'll how proud I am of my kids?? All 20 of them. Yep, that's right, on Wednesday nights I have 20 kids. I direct the Kids 4 Christ choir at our church and it's become so much more of a priviledge than it ever was a job. I can't believe I get to do this every week!

So here's why I'm so proud of them. We're doing a Christmas program about a little girl who started a food and toy drive for the needy in their town. So with that in mind, we're doing our own food drive to benefit our local food bank, which will in turn help the needy in our community. The kids were super jazzed about it when we announced it on the first night. So our first mini-contest was a 3 week bottled water drive. I am so stinkin proud of those kiddos! They managed to bring in 300(!!!!) bottles of water! They did great! So Scott and I will be dropping the water off today and then we'll get a certificate mailed to the church saying how much was donated, which we will of course frame and hang for the kids to see. :) So the next thing we are doing is a peanut butter drive. I expect LOTS of PB to come our way! The best part about all this though is seeing the kids get so excited about giving to others in need. They're thrilled to get to bring in something each week and it's a HUGE blessing to me to get to see their faces light up with excitement over what the next drive will be. I think I just may have the best kids in the world!

what's doin?

I'm going to try to start a new "column" on my blog. It's called "What's Doin Wednesday's". Please feel free to post anything that God is doing in your life. I think it's very important for us to seek Him out each day. To find that hidden treasure He has for us in each little set of 24 hours. It's there. We may have to dig, but when we find it, it's worth it! So what's He doing in your life today?

For me, today God has given me peace over a broken relationship. Yesterday I experienced the most awesome gift of forgiveness and healing. Second only to the reconcilliation of my sister and I. It was a relationship that I definatly had an equal hand in souring. Sometimes WAY more than my share of damaging. The friendship went caput in a hurry due to gossip and grudges, of which I definatly carried my share. Over one tiny incident, and the gossip gates opening wide, I let my opinion of this woman get tainted which opened the flood gates for satan to come in and have a field day at the expense of a new and fun friendship. And so spanned years of resentment, gossip, false reconciliation, hurt, tears, pain, and heartache. The bulk of which I'm ashamed to say I caused. To her and to myself. What God is giving me today is a realization of how far He has brought me from that place. To say I was a new Christian back then is an excuse, but the truth. I didn't know how to handle that situation and so let others tell me what to do rather than go to the One that I should have. But now everything is different. I can look back with maturity and humility and say, I did do my fair share of causing things to escalate and stay that way. But I can also look back and say a big THANK YOU to my creator for getting me to a much more healthy and mature spot. Where now I can reach out to her, humbly apologize (we're talking tail between the legs apologizing here girls), and ask forgiveness. Which came, to the glory of God. I think we made some angels dance ya'll! Or hopefully at least made God smile. And so today I claim peace over that relationship. And I'm praying that God lets a new one blossom there. One not clouded by the past, but bright and sunny with a newness that only God can bring.

Okay, so let's here it! What's God doing in your life today?

Marvelous Light by Charlie Hall

another awesome praise song. Lift those hands and run into some Marvelous Light!!

dancing with the stars

Does anyone else watch this? I am hooked. Watched ever since season one. This season though is my favorite! (cept I think Wayne Newton needs to GO) Sabrina Bryan is on fire! She gets those legs moving and, watch out folks! Do you watch? Do you have a favorite? I just love seeing celebs get out of their zone and do something new. It's going to be a great season! Although poor Kim Johnson having to teach Mark Cuban to dance... let's just say the rhythm didn't get him.

What do you think about the show?

mother's day out

Well the boy will be starting Mother's Day Out next week. I am really excited about it. I have been pretty stressed over the past few weeks and have been finding it hard to get some "me" time. So I called and the class has ONE open spot and if we want it, it's ours. So he's signed up and will go every Tuesday from 9:00 - 2:30. And now that it's set and he's in... I have to admit I'm feeling some guilt. False guilt, but it's there none the less. I know to be a good mother I have to take care of myself, and being stressed out most of the day doesn't do any of us any good. So I know that's a plus. I just feel a bit guilty that I'm doing this more for me than for Daniel. He will love it, I have no doubt. I had a choice to either do Music day or Motor Lab day and I didn't even think twice. The boy loves music. With a passion more on fire than mine, the boy LOVES his music. I guess it's just that I haven't ever sent him to something like this. I know we both need it though, so we're excited! And the best part is that his Moms Day Out class will be at the same church that our Wednesday BSF is at. So he'll be in the same place both days. It's worked out great and so I guess instead of allowing false guilt to cloud this fun day, I'm going to put on some music and praise God for working this all out in the span of 4 hours. Man, He is FAST! Pray for deliverance from stress and, BAM - here it is.

What will I do with my time?? All of you that have had kids in Mother's Day Out... what did you do? Clean house? Read? Shop? Gimme some ideas!