Barnyard Praise

Can you stand how cute these little praisers are?


My little horse is closest to the center and my cowboy is the closest to the center with the red bandanna.

If the video doesn't load for you, go here to see it directly!

Barnyard Praise TONIGHT!

Tonight is the closing program for the WAM Jr. program at Second Baptist Church. This is Avery's second year to be involved. Since February, Piper has been involved and I joined as a "helper".

Avery has the opening line of the program ... too cute. I'm hoping he doesn't clam up, although he's becoming less shy. I'm sure he'll be fine. The Kindergarten kids are dressing as farmers.

Piper will be on the front row. (A definite advantage to being short!) Her class will be costumed as horses. I may just die at the "preciousness". She'll think she's the coolest horse that's ever lived.

Videos and pictures will be posted! Wish us luck :)

Prayers for Compassion

Four bloggers that I follow faithfully online are headed to India at this moment. I began reading their blogs all at different times, so I thought it was very cool that they were chosen to travel on this trip together.

Angie Smith, Pete Wilson, Anne Jackson, and Melissa Fitzpatrick are the four that I feel like I know ... They are traveling on behalf of Compassion International.

Please pray for their safety and that they are able to tell the amazing story of Christ to the people in the areas where they will be serving.

Visit this page to read more about their trip and find links to their individual blogs.

TGIF

Thank God (literally) It's Friday!!!

This day has been a trainwreck for me. Anyone else see a recurring theme? I'm planning to spend a lot of time this weekend reflecting on what the obstacles are in my life that are causing me to stumble ... almost uncontrollably. The past three weeks have been out-of-control and I am ready to get the reins hauled back in. It's driving me nuts and making me unproductive to everyone involved in my life.

Tonight and tomorrow morning I'm attending a Women's Conference at church. I'm a little apprehensive about it because I don't know anyone else going. Originally, I had planned to invite some girls that I work with to join me, but something inside me said that I really needed to step out in faith and go this one alone.

I've spent a lot of time praying for a girlfriend that I can do things with and connect with. I have several that I love dearly, but don't get to see often enough. And, it's hard with the kids. Don works long hours and travels so much that it makes it hard to do anything other than work and wrangle kids. And truthfully, I'm nervous. The idea of walking into that big room all alone is terrifying to me. I'm not a loner. I need someone to walk in with ... you know what I mean. Someone to meet in the lobby. Someone to download with during the break.

This weekend will be uncharted territory for me.

But, I'm praying nonetheless and have had a strong feeling that I'm going to get something big out of this conference. It's testing my patience to see it revealed ... and I'm smart enough about this God-business to know that I probably won't see it revealed for some time now. And that's ok.

I love my church ...

.... for things like this - Changed Lives. Real people. Proof that God is alive and that he's not finished with his work.


Changed Lives 2009 from Second Films on Vimeo

If you can't see the player above, please click HERE to go straight to the video.

Bible Verse Video

As promised ... here are the kids singing Luke 6:31 (last week's Bible verse!)



If it doesn't load, go HERE

Next week is Ephesians 4:2 - "Be patient bearing with one another in love." Sung to the tune of "If You're Happy and You Know It ..."

Weekly Bible Verse

If you'll remember, one of my resolutions for this year was to do a weekly Bible verse with the kids. I was a little slow getting started, but we're on it now!

This week is Luke 6:31 - "Do unto others as you would have them do to you."

Now, sing it to the tune of "This Old Man" ...

Do un-to
O-thers
As you would have them do to you
L-uke six
Thir-ty one
L-uke si-x
Thir-ty one

It's preciously cute to hear the kids sing it! It's been a great way to talk about the entire concept of how we treat our friends. We started this on Wednesday, so next Wednesday we'll graduate to a new verse, and I'll upload a video (fingers crossed) of the kids singing this one for you!

Fall Riot 2008

The video below is a recap of Fall Riot 2008 at Second Baptist Church (West Campus). I love that my church is doing things to reach teenagers where they are and on their level. Although I'm not a part of this ministry, it makes me so proud to know that my kids can be a part of something like this during their teen years.

Today's society scares me to death. All the things that kids are exposed to and the pressures they are under are unreal to me. I'm so grateful for a church family that values teens. I grew up in a church that went above and beyond for their youth ministry and am so excited for my kids to experience what I had and even more!!!

Great Link on Houston Pastors

Fabulous link on some of Houston's best Pastors ...

http://www.chron.com/channel/houstonbelief/photogallery/Houstons_Celebrity_Preachers_.html

Maria Sue Chapman

Last night as we were laying in bed watching the news, a story ran that Stephen Curtis Chapman's five year old daughter, Maria, had been killed in an accident at their home. A pit just came into my stomach that hasn't left since I heard that news.

Stephen is originally from Paducah. So, having lived there for 8 years, you can't help but feel like you know him personally. But, my "relationship" with him officially began about 10 years before I ever thought about moving to Paducah. Stephen was a pace-setter in the Christian music industry when Contemporary music was just being formed in it's earliest state. He, Amy Grant, and Michael W. Smith were the first true pioneers in that genre, and I was a huge fan of all three! His music pulled me through some dark times in high school. I am such a fan of how he has represented his faith and himself. He's top of the list in my book!

More than my respect for him as a person, comes the fact that in just two weeks, I will also have a five year old child. I literally can not put into words how my life would break into pieces if I lost either of my children. I know that God's plan is perfect, and how much more joyous would it be for my children to live in heaven, instead of with me as a mom with all of my faults. But, my selfishness far outweighs what I could hold as "best for my child ... in God's perfect plan". I simply can not imagine the immense grief that their family is feeling on so many levels. They have lost a full-of-life little girl (watch the YouTube video tribute to her on Stephen's website!), and also have five other children to comfort and lead through this tragedy, too. One of those children - that is responsible for the accident - can you imagine the guilt that he must carry? How do you even begin to help him recover?

This is more than my heart and my mind can even begin to wrap itself around. I am praying for this family, and I hope that you will too. I am also praising God for blessing my family with healthy children and for the opportunity to hug and kiss and laugh and cuddle and celebrate with Avery and Piper for another day.

Another Monday!

Well, we made it through the weekend. Piper is feeling much better. She had a wonderful time at the doctor's office! She said that Dr. McDavitt looked into her ears and didn't see any butterflies ... so she assumes that she is cured. However, she has a bacterial sinus infection that could take 2 weeks to run it's course. So, she has some sort of medicine we've never seen before and it seems to be doing the trick. She's not as snotty and that horrible manly cough is nearly gone :)

Piper loves to swim. She asks us about it every day - "is the pool open?" "can we go the boat-slide swimming pool?" "it's not raining - can we go swimming?" Nemo should be her name! Piper fell asleep in the car the other night and Avery said, "All Piper talks about is going to the swimming pool!"

Well, yesterday was the day! We went to church, then had lunch with friends, naptime ... then pool time! I don't know where it came from, but all of a sudden Piper started pronouncing her swimsuit as her "swim soup". Something about the "t" didn't sound right to her so she changed it to a "p". We asked her all kinds of questions that would involve her saying "swimsoup" because it was so cute!

Avery was his regular good self all weekend. He is really enjoying the new church (Piper too for that matter)! He really loved the Children's worship time yesterday, so that makes me happy! The talked about sharing ... and this morning, he shared the big steps line leader privilege with his sister! That, my friends, is big time at our house. (We have two sets of steps - a big set and a little set. Avery is ALWAYS line leader for the big steps; Piper is ALWAYS line leader for the little steps!)

Here's to a quick week!

This AMs Prayer

We always pray in the car on our way to school. This morning, after I said my prayer, Avery informed me that he only wanted to pray for one thing. No problem.

Avery - "Dear God, thank you for this day and thank you for my teachers."

Piper, because of Avery, also just prayed for one thing ...

Piper - "Dear God, thank you for this day and thank you for my friends."

How appropriate that they pray in their true personality styles. Avery - always the smartest tree in the field - prays for his teachers. Piper - the future Homecoming Queen - prays for her friends. I'm sure that God was NOT surprised.