11th Anniversary

It's a little late to be posting about our anniversary in August, but I want to remember it, so I am writing about it anyway. Better late than never:)
We had one of the best anniversaries ever. Kevin had been out of work for 3 months and we didn't have any money to go out. We were waiting on a check from some side work that Kevin did, but it never came in. We were very disappointed, but determined to have a great anniversary anyway.

That Saturday night of our anniversary, I was going to drop the kids off at my parents house to spend the night and wouldn't you know it.....our car died on us. Kevin worked outside on it for an hour in the hot sun and finally came to the conclusion that the new battery we just purchased just wasn't connected right, so he tightened it up and we dropped the kids off at my parents house late. By that time we were exhausted and frustrated, still determined to somehow have a great time. We went home and cooked dinner and got dressed up. We took silly pictures, ate the top of a wedding cake I made for us, and went swimming. The next day we went to Grapevine's Botanical Gardens. We had the best time.

The extra super cool thing was that Monday morning after our anniversary, Kevin got a job offer. Then, on Tuesday our dance class gave us a VERY generous gift certificate to go to one of our favorite restaurants. So we got to go out and celebrate our anniversary and a new job. We really felt blessed by God.

Summer Readers

Lynen and Luke joined the summer reading program at the Grapevine Library. They had to read 15 books to complete the program at the library. We told them that we would give them an additional prize if they would read 25 books. So they were very excited about this, and we didn't even have to prompt them to read to us. Luke read the "A" labeled books at the library, and we told Lynen she had to read "B", "C", or chapter books in order to put hers on the list. Lynen completed her 25 first which made Luke want to finish his last 5 books really quick.
We ordered trophies and awarded them to the kids at Palio's Pizza (their choice). They were so excited. Lynen was wanting a trophy for some time now, and she was thrilled. Luke even slept with his. They really earned their trophies and we are so very proud.

Luke's 5th Birthday

Our wonderful Luke (he would want me to address him as "cool Luke") had his 5th birthday on June 9. He has been counting down the days till his birthday since last year. We had a wonderful day celebrating his birthday. We took him to his favorite breakfast place, Cracker Barrel. Then his very best bud in all the world, Lia, came over to swim and have pizza. For dinner, my parents took him to Chuck E. Cheese. We had a great time at Chuck E. Cheese because it was a weeknight, and hardly anyone was there. I made him a wheat-free chess/Iron Man cake per his request. Of course afterward we had to come home and try out some of our toys even though it was way past bed time.

Luke has been such a joy to this family. He is adventurous, brave, sweet and caring. He always stands up for his big sister. We love him so much and thank God for him.
He asked me the day after his birthday, "Mom, how many more days till my birthday?" I said, "364 more days." And here we go again with the countdown!

Our Grapevine Paradise

We stepped down from CARES and moved on April 30. Our life has changed drastically. I had forgotten what it was like to live a normal life. Our children are so happy. After the first week of being in our new place in Grapevine, my daughter told me she was so happy that Daddy gets to spend time with her. Just the other day she told my mom that this place is magical because we get to do fun things with each other all the time. Today she told me after church that she is not sad to go home anymore because our new place is like a playground. I can't tell you how hearing this has blessed me. I find myself tearing up on the weekends while hanging with my kids. I am not sure words can describe how truly thankful I am.

Kevin has been out of work for 3 weeks, and we have had a wonderful time together. It's like a vacation that we so desperately needed. I am just so thankful for this new season in our life and as always thankful for the past season, so I could be EXTRA thankful for this new season. We are confident the Lord has something exciting up his sleeve for work for Kevin, and we are patiently trying to wait on him in our Grapevine paradise.

Bittersweet

On April 30th, we are going to begin a new phase in our life. We are stepping down from apartment ministry. We don't know where we are going, what we are going to do, or if Kevin will have work, but I know it's what the Lord is leading us to do. We are very excited, and we are looking forward to rest.

We will deeply miss the residents of Valley Oaks, and I am honored that so many of them let us into their lives and the lives of their children the past 22 months. I have learned many things from the residents and from the Valley Oaks experience. I will never forget the children that we have come to love. I will never forget all the trials and how God was with us through every one. I am so thankful God entrusted us with this. Where ever we go, we are going to take everything we learned and live for Christ.

Somewhere between the end, and the point where we begin...

I have been reading a lot of books lately, many of them westerns, well, Christian romance westerns, but still westerns. Anyhow, in many of the stories, death is a way of life, and the people understand that God has numbered their days. I began to think about death and about what I would want to be said about me when I die. I want people to say she loved the Lord, was a good woman to her man, and loved her kids with all her heart. I got pretty frustrated and sad when I realized that my actions don't always match my heart. I spend equal amounts of time trying to make everyone happy, doing the "right" things and sometimes serving other people more than the Lord, my husband, and children. I've seen a eulogy that praised a person's accomplishments, but never mentioned the kind of husband or father or son that he was. I was deeply saddened by this. What do any of those accomplishments really mean?

Sometimes God takes you places and helps you see what is really important in life. Valley Oaks did that for me. My desire is that my heart and my actions begin to line up, and when my days are over, people will say, I loved the Lord, was a good woman to my man, and loved my kids with all my heart.

Jesus Didn't Hurry

I read Lori Copeland's book called Unwrapping Christmas. At the end of the book, she includes a letter from her pen pal Karen Hancock. It is so much of what has been on my heart, and I want to share that letter here.

Jesus was never in a hurry. He accomplished the greatest work a man ever accomplished in only three and a half years, yet he was never worried or hurried or flustered or stressed. He wasn't concerned with building a big ministry, either, nor was he rushing off to do this or that, urging his disciples to get this or that, going to see such and such. He stopped and talked to the people who came in to his life without checking his watch. His disciples did not stand at his elbow reminding him he had to be in Capernaum by sundown or Jerusalem by the next day. Sometimes he just went fishing.

The only thing that struck me was that sometimes it's okay to do nothing. Because this concept is bound up in what I am learning about the creative process, I find this especially exciting. After a cell is finished dividing there is a period of rest before anything else happens. If cell division is about growth, and it is, then growth is about rest. This seems an obvious fact when you look at children, who grow at prodigious rates and yet need a lot of rest. Even as adults God has created us to require about eight hours of sleep every night. Americans seem on a headlong charge to do away with rest and sleep as quickly as possible.

Article after article documents the growing epidemic of sleep deprivation and everyone is always in a hurry, always pressed for time despite the time savers of fast food, fast cares, and a fast Internet. With cell phone, microwaves, and bagged, ready-to-eat lettuce, we have more time that ever and yet seem more frazzled than ever. Voices from our media-saturated lives constantly offer us new things to do and have, new ways to achieve, new areas to improve so we can get more done. There isn't much talk about doing nothing. Whatever happened to "come unto me, all you are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest?" As believer we are children fully accepted by our Father already. Why do we need to do all these things? What are we trying to prove?

I count it no accident that the Father called Jesus his beloved son in whom he was well pleased before he had done one thing in his ministry. The Bible's silence on those years between ages twelve and thirty is also not an accident. He wasn't doing great things for God during those times. And God made it a point to declare him already beloved and well-pleasing anyway. As believers, we are in union with him and thus we too are beloved and well-pleasing before we do anything.

So why are we so obsessed with achieving things? Why must we live harried, driven lives when all we are called to do is take his yoke and learn of him? As children of God, we have nothing to prove and nothing in this world to gain. Seek him first and all things will be added to your life, Matthew tells us. David wrote of grace and mercy pursuing him, not the other way around.

Jesus was not in a hurry. I don't have to be either. I don't have to worry about meeting my deadline, because he will see to that. I don't have to worry about building a big ministry, because he will see it is whatever size he has chosen it to be. I don't have anything to prove because children of God don't have to prove anything. I only have to follow him and learn of him, and in so doing, I will find the rest that is the Christian way of life.

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden in light." Matthew 11:28-30