No Rest for the Weary.....Right?

The holidays have barely begun and already I'm behind on everything as usual! We did get the lights up on the outside of the house and they look good, if I don't say so myself! The inside needs to be decorated by Sunday, as the youth group will begin meeting at our house this week.

My week includes working full-time at my school, tutoring 4 days a week, Nick's soccer on Tuesdays, Worship team practice on Tuesdays, Bible study group on Wednesdays, Elisabeth's soccer and Brownies on Thursdays, soccer games on Saturdays, and a day full'o'church-stuff on Sundays. Add to that, the fact that I work 2 nights a week at Target (carrying on my ability to use a discount on anything and everything) and it's Christmas shopping season....yeah, I'm tired! I worked at Target on Tuesday night, and I got off at 2:30 a.m., came home wide awake and got 2 hours of sleep. I haven't caught up yet and am working again tonight! "sigh"

Add to that all of the holiday stuff to do...
I'm trying to make a few presents for the grandma's, so I'd better get on that quickly for sure.
Still need to do LOTS of Christmas shopping.
Hosting a Christmas party for the youth.
Attending multiple Christmas gatherings (church, school, friends, etc.).
Baking
Cooking
More shopping....

I want to hibernate for the winter, could I? LOL

Thankfulness...

Wow, there are so many things for which I'm thankful so this will be hard but here goes...my list of things I am thankful for...

1. My faith--I have a tendency to take it for granted, but I realize more and more each day how much I need God and how grateful I am that He loves me...no matter what. I also appreciate those who were instrumental in helping to form my faith, allowing themselves to be used by God to help others.
2. My husband--He's my best friend. I can't imagine life without him, to make me laugh, to let me cry, and to love me. He's a great guy, words can't even begin to say how much he means to me.
3. My children--There's nothing better than getting a hug from your child. I tend to find myself in a busy frenzy most of the time, but I want to cherish their childhood as much as possible because it's already flying past me.
4. My health and the health of my family--If the worst thing we have to deal with is allergies/asthma and a few stitches or broken bones here and there, that would be great! So far so good!
5. My church--It's a rare thing to find a church that truly feels like home. Ours is brand new, but that sense of home and family is definitely growing and I love worshipping with my friends there.
6. My pastor and his family--Their vision and passion for our community is evident. They are so positive and hopeful of what God has in store, it's wonderful!
7. My community--I think Wesley Chapel is the best place in the world. I love living in Florida, but could not think of a community where I'd prefer to live. I've met some of the nicest people in the past 5 years of living here, it's truly home to me.
8. My country--No matter what you think about what's going on in current events, the US is the best place to call home. I am so thankful that I live here and have the freedoms that our military fights for. We had the privilege of having a Navy guy here for dinner today, he's an awesome guy, and if most of them are like him, we're in good hands!
9. My extended family and my heritage--I know I don't let them know it as often as I should, and it's hard to keep in touch when life gets so busy, but I love my parents and all of my extended family. I just hope my children will grow to love the traditions we have kept as much as I've appreciated them over the years.
10. My home--I am so happy to have a home where our family is happy and healthy. We have lots of space to share with others, and it was a blessing to be able to open our home to friends today. Need a place to hang out? Come on over!
11. My job--I work for the best (and biggest) school in our county. We have the best principal and teachers, and it's so much fun to go to work. How many people can say that? I love my job, and I love working with children. Helping them learn is one of the biggest rewards ever.
12. My talents--I don't use them nearly as often as I'd like, but I'm so thankful that God has pretty much made me a "jack of all trades" when it comes to talent. I love the whole quote about that: "Jack of all trades, master of none, though ofttimes better than master of one". I can sing, cook, sew, knit, fix things, teach, play the piano and flute, write poems and stories...just to name a few. I need to take more time to use my talents to their fullest, but I'm so thankful that I can do so many things, and actually do them rather well. (Not trying to brag on myself, but on God here...)

I could go on for days, but this one is basically over so I'm going to stop there. My life is brilliant and beautiful and I want to live my life with gratitude because I've been blessed with so much!

Hope your Thanksgiving was a wonderful as mine!

Since I think in song, I'll close out with the lyrics of a song our worship team sings...

I come before you today, and there's just one thing that I want to say... Thank you Lord,Thank you Lord

For all you've given to me, for all the blessings that I can not see..Thank you Lord,Thank you Lord

With a greatful heart, with a song of praise, with an outstreched arm, I will bless your name...Thank you Lord,I just want to thank you Lord, Thank you Lord, I just want to thank you Lord, Thank you Lord

For all you've done in my life, you took my darkness and gave me your light...Thank you Lord, Thank you Lord

You took my sin and my shame, you took my sickness and healed all my pain...Thank you Lord, Thank you Lord

With a greatful heart, with a song of praise, with an outstreched arm, I will bless your name...Thank you Lord, I just want to thank you Lord, Thank you Lord, I just want to thank you Lord, Thank you Lord

Leaving a Legacy...

I've been thinking a lot about life and how it's really so fleeting. Over the past couple of years I haven't been the most "spiritual" of people. I had sought God out, trying to figure out where He was right in the midst of the worst moments, not feeling His presence when I was crying out to Him. To even aspire to figure out the mind of the Almighty is not something I could even fathom. His ways and His thoughts are far too complicated for me to even grasp the tiniest glimpse of most of the time.

I know He's been with me through the bad times, because His presence is very real and He's pouring out his blessings on my family. I strayed from Him, I gave up at times, but He was always there, watching out for me. I think it's like a parent and a child. Something bad happens, and you try to console your son or daughter, but they are beside themselves with emotion about what's going on and they clam up, push you aside, and no matter what you say or do, you can't make them feel better at that moment. So, being the loving parent you are, you back off a bit though you never leave. You don't push yourself on them, when they're ready to talk, to listen to your advice, to feel your love....when they're ready, they'll seek you out and you'll be there for them...just like you always have been and always will be. That's God. That's my take on it anyway, and that's what I see as happening over the past bit of time.

So, let's fast forward from then to "now". My life is busy and I don't take the time to seek out God as I should, as much I need, or as much as I desire to. But then, something happens to make you think again and re-examine where your priorities lie. Something happens to give you a whole new perspective...

My pastor recently challenged us to write some "thank yous" to a few people who have truly impacted your life and you want them to know. I wrote a
post about an amazing lady who has had a MAJOR impact on my life. (Please read it before continuing.) When I wrote that, I had heard months ago that she had cancer and only had a few months to live. I hadn't heard anything else since I was first told that. I'd asked for an email address, but didn't get one for whatever reason, so I never knew anything else. I wrote that "thank you" not sure if she'd ever know how much I appreciated her or not, but hoping at least that her husband would know. This past week, I was asked for my email address because her husband, my pastor from when I was in high school and college, wanted to contact me. I braced myself for the worst, but hoped for the best.

Here's what he said: ...forwarded a posting you placed on "My Space". Wow! Thank you so much for your kind words!! Lynn was taking chemo as I read them. I brought them over to her while she was still taking chemo. She said "obviously she was told about my condition", to which I replied, I don't think so. She said "Wow!"

Whether you know it or not, she has Ovarian Cancer and has about an 8% chance of surviving 5 years. She goes in tomorrow for a blood transfusion. Your kind words are valued and appreciated.

When you get a moment, drop us a line.

"The Cookie Monster and Diet Pepsi freak!". :-)

Every time I read that, tears come to my eyes. I'm overwhelmed by the blessing that God allowed me to experience, by letting me have the chance to let her know how much she has impacted my life. I'm also overwhelmed at being given the opportunity to hopefully help her experience a small blessing of knowing the appreciation that I have for her. And by her example, I hope to have just a small impact on the world I leave behind. As a youth pastor's wife, those are some big shoes to fill, to always be positive and leave behind a legacy of faithfulness on impressionable youth with whom I come into contact. Life hasn't been easy, and I don't want to hide that fact from anyone. The life of one who chooses to follow Christ is filled with challenges and hard times, but the triumphs outweigh those 1,000,000:1 and I'd never give up the life I've been given to do anything else. Pursuit of a high-paying career could be do-able, but I choose to work with children in an educational field. Pursuit of acquiring "stuff" could be attained, but I would never have the chance to impact others, and be the blessing that Lynn is. I'd just have a house full of stuff that will eventually be outdated or destroyed, and nothing to show for my life when it comes to eternity. So far, Lynn's impact on the world (as well as her husband's) has helped to influence me into making the choice to become (and stay) a pastor's wife. In turn, the last we heard, two of our former youth have themselves become youth pastors, one has committed to becoming a missionary or doing something of that nature for Christ, and numerous others have decided to follow Him with their lives in whatever career they choose to do, even if it's not full-time ministry.

You may never know the impact you have on those around you, but if you're lucky you'll find out just a glimpse of the possible impact your faithfulness to the Lord has made on this world. I choose to leave a legacy of following Christ, to impact young people, and to put my treasure up in Heaven. I haven't always done that in the past, but this is my desire from this point forward. With that, I'm ending with the lyrics of one of my all-time favorite songs (from my high school years), and oldie, but a goodie...

"FIND US FAITHFUL
sung by Steve Green

We're pilgrims on the journey
Of the narrow road
And those who've gone before us line the way
Cheering on the faithful, encouraging the weary
Their lives a stirring testament to God's sustaining grace

Surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses
Let us run the race not only for the prize
But as those who've gone before us
Let us leave to those behind us
The heritage of faithfulness
Passed on through godly lives

Oh may all who come behind us find us faithful
May the fire of our devotion light their way
May the footprints that we leave
Lead them to believe
And the lives we live inspire them to obey
Oh may all who come behind us find us faithful

After all our hopes and dreams have come and gone
And our children sift through all we've left behind
May the clues that they discover
And the memories they uncover
Become the light that leads them
To the road we each must find

Oh may all who come behind us find us faithful

Wide Awake...

Thanks to working at Target tonight, I'm wide awake. Unfortunately, I want to clean my house...but would wake everyone up if I tried, so I'm here instead. I haven't had much "me" computer time lately, so it's a nice way to unwind and try to get sleepy (note: "try" is the key word here, but it's not working).

My goal this weekend is to get everything that is IN the house organized and put away, then I can start thinking about what's still in the garage that needs to be organized and all. The den needs to be set up, and the master suite needs some TLC. Those are the two main areas that need my attention before tackling the garage. I do have 8 boxes of "school stuff" to take to school, maybe next week. The trampoline will be out of the way this weekend too, so that will help immensely. I think if I could just get laundry all done and put away properly, that would be the biggest obstacle to overcome! But laundry is never truly finished, is it?

I want to hurry and get things in order so that I can do some sewing and fun stuff like that. (Making pumpkin butter is on my list of things I must do too.)

Okay, so I'm rambling, so I think I'll stop now! haha I think I'd better try to get to sleep...since I have to be up in less than 3 hours!

God is Faithful...

I wanted to post something like this back in September, but I wasn't ready yet. I knew there were numerous blessings coming, but nothing had happened yet. So here it is now... I got the inspiration for this post from a Sheri's hubby's blog. Our stories are different, but show God's faithfulness...

Over the past couple of years, our family has gone through a lot. But God is truly faithful, and has carried us through. We've had church, housing, and vehicle issues beyond belief, and though things are not "perfect" (they never truly are, are they?) we definitely see where we've been, where we are, and where God is blessing us.

CHURCH---is going very well. We have an awesome pastor who is fun to be around. The church is growing and so far there is no major stress there. There are always bits of stress with trying to get everything done "right" or "on time", but that's self-imposed, so I can deal with that! The youth are great, we have such a good group of kids to start out with, and hopefully it will continue growing. Our church is now 7 months old, and it is growing and becoming a family. It's awesome!

HOME---This time last year we were having the hardest time finding a place to live, nothing decent was available and we settled for a place that we pretty much hated the whole time. Now, we've found a better, bigger, and MUCH nicer place. It's so nice to be comfortable with having people over and having plenty of room for them to hang out in too! We have decent furniture in all of the house for the first time in forever. (Except the den...no furniture there at all! It's coming in a couple of weeks, hopefully! The lanai is naked too, but that can wait a bit! haha) I can't wait to have more guests over. We had Elisabeth's soccer team over for a parent meeting, and it was great. I want to invite people for Thanksgiving dinner too. We're going to have the youth Christmas party here as well. I want to have a busy house with people over all of the time like we used to have in WV and even when we lived in the parsonage a few years ago. I miss that.

VEHICLES---We still have our old car, and it's still running. But now, Jerry has a work truck. On top of that, we just got another car too! It's nice, a Grand Prix with an awesome engine, black and fast!

FAMILY---Since Jerry has started his new job, it's been wonderful. We actually see each other and eat dinner at a decent time most evenings. We went to the grocery store together yesterday, just to hang out. We hardly ever do that together, there's never been time. Football season is over for the kids, and soccer season is beginning, which is exciting for everyone. Jerry's coaching Elisabeth's team, and Nick loves soccer and was ready to start it back up. I love being a soccer mom, so we're all happy!

God is blessing, and He's just pouring them out these days...now just to get my degree underway and we'll be super!