the kids...

my kids can make friends with anyone!  they had them named and everything. ;) crazy kids!

 

the kids and their "towing business", jayden and her backwards overalls (personally  i think overalls are hard enough to put on, but to manage to get them on backwards...  now that's talent!), and jacee on her"bike".

jacee's 1!

well, my baby's not a baby anymore.  she's a big one year old. we took her in for her 1 year check up yesterday and she's 29 inches, and 19.8lbs  she is growing to be such a big girl.  she's really into twinkle, twinkle and playing with her brother and sister.  she's pretty good at wrestling with them.  she likes to take her sister by the neck and take her down.  it's actually really funny to watch.  she LOVES her new big girl carseat and she kicks and giggles everytime we get in the car now.  what a little cutie pie!

"mom, obviously you weren't listening to yourself!"

well, i had to run some errands, paysome bills and make a few quick stops the other day.  so, i decided i would take jacob.  the girls were going to stay with "gwammy ynda" and jacob would come with me.  well, first stop was walgreens for medicine for jacee and while we were walking around, jacob kept asking for toys.  what a teaching opportunity, i thought.  so, i told him that instead of thinking of ourselves we needed to be thinking of others.  he could buy something for one of his sisters if he wanted, or buy for a child who doesn't have many or any toys... we went on and you could tell his little mind was working.  well, we got the medicine and went on to mcdonalds... i was starving!  so i got a french fry and shared it with jacob and then we went on to pay some bills.  we paid the phone bill and then i wanted to stop and look at goodwill for a few minutes and i got a few crafty things and then i was ready to check out... but, not before checking out the purses. ;)  so, i was looking at them and showing jacob all of them in their beauty.  when, i showed jacob one and asked if i should get it for myself he pointed out the obvious... when he said..."mom, we need to have a talk...obviously you weren't listening to yourself! this is the season to think of other people not yourself!  if you buy that purse for yourself that would be very selfish!  so, put the purse down and lets go!"  so, on that note... we left!  gotta' love kids!

so it was 2 weeks ago...

it was almost 11:00 at night and i was already in bed when i heard crying in jacob's room.  he was supposed to be sleeping, as we put him in bed at 8:30.  when i went in there to find out what was wrong, he told me he was scared to die.  i asked him why, but he couldn't tell me much, but then we talked about how he didn't have to be scared.  how God died for him and if he chose to accept Christ as his Savior, he would go to be with Him when he died.  we talked about sin and being naughty and then we talked about Christ and forgiveness.  it was right there and then that jacob and mommy prayed together and jacob accepted Christ as his Savior.  PRAISE THE LORD!!  what a blessing that was and is!?!  afterwards, i told him the angels in heaven were havin' a party for him because they were so happy that he accepted Christ.  he was so excited he said "really!?!  let's tell jayden and she can pray and the angels can have a party for her too!"  the joys of being a mommy! 

women's ministries

I didn't write this, not sure who did, but it totally captures how I feel.

Dear Women's Ministry:

The world can give me cute cupcake designs and decorating tips, scrapbooking parties, casserole recipes, and other ways to pass the time. But truly, with my respect and love, may I be honest? If I wanted to learn how to decorate cupcakes, I would take a class in it. If I wanted to be educated on strategies for decorating my home inexpensively from Winners, I would just, you know, go toWinners. Or Pinterest.

But I'm here with you tonight because I want what the world cannot give me. We're choking on cutesy things and crafty bits, safe lady topics, and if one more person says that modest is hottest with a straight face, I may throw up. We are hungry for authenticity and vulnerability, not churchified life hacks from lady magazines. Some of us are drowning, suffocating, dying of thirst for want of the cold water of real community. We're trying really hard--after all, we keep showing up to your lady events, and we leave feeling just a bit empty. It's just more of the same every time.

The women of our world aren't looking for a safe place to cry about housework and ooh-and-ahhh over centerpieces. We're not all mothers, some of us work outside the home, some of us have kids, and others don't or won't or can't. Is womanhood only about wifehood and motherhood? What about those among us that are not wives and mothers? We're not all in the same season of life.

We are - or should be - diverse image bearers of a Divine God. We need Jesus. We are seeking deep spirituality. We are seeking fellow travelers. We are hungry for true community, a place to tell our stories and listen to another, to love well. But above all, point me to Jesus--not to the sale at the mall.

You know what I would have liked tonight instead of decorating tips or a new recipe? I would have liked to pray together. I would have liked the women of the church to share their stories or wisdom with one another, no more celebrity speakers, please just hand the microphone to that lady over there that brought the apples. I would love to wrestle with some questions that don't have a one-paragraph answer in your study guide. I would like to do a Bible study that does not have pink or flowers on the cover. I would have liked to sign up to bring a meal for our elderly or drop off some clothes for a new baby or be informed about issues in our city where we can make space for God. I would like to organize and prioritize, to rabble-rouse and disturb the peace of the rest of the world on behalf of justice, truth, beauty, and love. I'd love to hear the prophetic voice of women in our church.

Please, may we be the place to detox from the world - its values, its entertainment, its priorities, its focus on appearances and materialism and consumerism?

So here is my suggestion: Please stop treating women's ministry like a Safe Club for the Little Ladies to Play Church. We are smart. We are brave. We want to change the world. We run marathons to benefit our sisters, not so that we can lose weight. We have more to offer to the church than our mad decorating skills. I look around, and I can see that these women can offer strategic leadership, wisdom, counsel, and even, yes, teaching. We want to give and serve and make a difference. We want to be challenged. We want to read books and talk politics, theology, and current events. We want to wrestle through our theology. We want to listen to each other. We want to worship, we want to intercede for our sisters and weep with those who weep, rejoice with those that rejoice, to create life and art and justice with intention.

Let's be a community of women, gathered together to live more whole-heartedly, to sharpen, challenge, love, and inspire one another to then scatter back out to our worlds bearing the mandate to be women that love. Idelette McVicker wrote:

Let us RISE to the questions of our time.

Let us SPEAK to the injustices in our world.

Let us MOVE the mountains of fear and intimidation.

Let us SHOUT down the walls that separate and divide.

Let us FILL the Earth with the fragrance of Love.

Let us be women who Love.

Thanks,

Christian Women

jacee's happenings....

well, jacee is now 8 1/2 months and growing tall and strong.  she is learning so many things, like how to pull herself up and how to blow raspberries.  she has 2 teeth which she got in on the 2nd of oct. both on the same day. ;)  the same time jacob lost his second tooth. ;)  she doesn't like to sleep much at nights, well, i shouldn't say that.  she sleeps from about 9:30 to 11:00, wakes up for a snack, then goes back to sleep 'till 3:00 and then goes back to sleep and wakes up at about 6:00 and then if we are home she'll sleep 'till 8:00.  we praise God daily for our little surprise, the one we can't imagine life without!

"WHO ARE WE PLAYIN' FOR!?!"

jacob got a whistle at cubbies last night as a reward for completing another section, so, this morning he and jayden were playing soccer.  he was the coach, and she was the player.   he told her they needed to have a huddle, so they went back into the corner, where we overheard this... " O.K. TEAM... WE NEED TO GO OUT THERE AND DO OUR BEST!  'CAUSE WHO ARE WE PLAYING FOR??  'jesus'  WHO ARE WE PLAYING FOR?? 'Jesus'  I CAN'T HEAR YOU!!!  WHO ARE WE PLAYING FOR??  'JESUS!!' ALRIGHT... LET'S GO PLAY! "  then they ran into the canter of the office space and kicked the ball around.  as we cheered for them, praising them for playing for Jesus, they thanked us and said..."we're the huskers, we play for Jesus!"   what a blessing they are!