A Year in the Life

I'm not going to do a typical good read for today's posting.  There is the ultimate good read that I haven't posted about.  It's one that has saved my life not just here on earth, but for eternity.  It's a love letter.  It's been misquoted and misused, and improperly used to hurt millions, but if you know the truth that's found within, it will set you free.  It's a book that I want my children to know and love. Right now though, I'm sitting here alone, missing my peeps.  The older three are at Motion :  our church's student conference.  The cool thing is, I can worship from home & watch the messages they are seeing.  I love the internet & live streaming!  It has been a great conference so far, and the speakers that are here have been speaking biblical truths to all the kids.  I have been so blessed to be able to talk to the children about what they heard & what their thoughts are.  I really wanted to ...

The tag on the cookies. I dont' know why it won't turn the right way.  :/ Today was my church's annual Serve Day.  It is a chance for the church family to go into our city and show the love of Jesus in a tangible way.  The sky is the limit.  If you can do it to show someone some love, or help someone that needs to be helped...go for it.  The video team put together a video recap of some things that went on today. Josh, Henry & Elizabeth We had a cool experience as we said a little thank you to the firemen & police in our city.  As Elizabeth, Henry & Henry's friend, Josh, delivered the cookies to one of the local fire stations, one of the men on duty asked them if this was how they were serving today. They said yes, and he said that since he was on duty he wasn't going to get to participate in Serve Day.  It was cool to know that we were able to serve a member of the church who serves and puts his ...

Also known as Summer Blast...Day Three.  Everyone take a big deep breath, give a little phew, and you know you'll flash a huge smile.  Seeing children experience the risen savior will do that to you!  Today was the end of a great kid's conference.  The SideKicks Mr. Nathan & I work with didn't want it to end & they already can't wait until next year.   (I talked to a lot of kids who didn't want it to end either.  What a great problem to have!) Today was the last day for summer blast.  It's one of those bittersweet times.  Anyone who works a VBS will tell you it's hard work, but so amazing.  It's amazing to be able to serve with adults and teenagers who love to show Jesus and pour life into the children of our city.   Everything about it was fun; worship, games, cinema, snack, and the imagination station.  The game today was the bomb.  All kids li...

So yesterday I mentioned that worship is one of my favorite parts of Summer Blast.  I have to say it still is.  Today I wanted to listen to the theme song for VBS, so I did what my children would do & looked it up on youtube.  I had a hard time finding it.  When I looked up the the name of the curriculum, and clicked on the music I noticed rather quickly that their theme song and ours was not the same.  Hum...I'm not surprised by it, but for real, I need to find it!  Oh great, that means they changed the music, and I have no idea who wrote the rockin' song we're using that I can't get out of my head. I'm serious.  It's playing a continuous loop in my noggin.  I...just...need...to...hear...the...song...and...dance!  I emailed Anna, who works in our children's ministry department, to find out who sings the song.  I knew she would get back to me asap; thank goodness!  A few minutes later I received my answer....

Worship; Day One; Summer Blast 2012 Today began Summer Blast 2012 at my church.  (VBS for those of us over the age of 10.)  We had, we think, at least 2000 children.  Yes, that is 2000.  It was awesome & incredibly insane.  I've seen more than that many teenagers worshipping together before, but to have that many children is indescribable.  I have to say I think, of the entire day, worship was my favorite.  Our church's worship team played, and it just took it to a whole different level.  It's the difference between listening to a song on your ipod and going to the live concert.  The two are incomparable.  The live version is so much better. We have the most amazing children's pastor & leaders in our church.  (Love you Mrs. Beth & Ms. Natalie!)  The planning for something of this magnitude did not just happen willy nilly.  It's months of working logistics, order...

 I love this!  It's so true.  :) Being a leader of teenagers can sometimes be like herding cats.  I don't mean this in a bad way, but think about it:  cats have their own way of seeing and doing things.  Like cats, each person has their own personality and brings their own set of circumstances to the table when they serve, and it makes it interesting to say the least.  The teenagers I get to work with are amazing, but they are like cats.  :)  I really don't care for cats, but I love these cats! You want to know why I love them?  Here are my reasons why... They make me laugh a lot :  they love each other and the children we work with.  They laugh, kid around, and laugh with each other, but also lift each other up when they need it.  They love on kids who are shy or feel lost in our services. They make my heart swell with pride:  I watc...

Dream Team [dreem teem] noun 1.  A group of lay people with the same vision of bringing glory to Christ by loving God and loving people at Church of the Highlands.  The good thing about being on the Dream Team is that it's not just adults who serve.  Y'all already know how I feel about teenagers.  (especially the ones I serve with on Sundays.) Every year our church hosts a Dream Team party to celebrate those who serve.  We have:  greeters, info desk, kid's check-in, Highlands Kids, Highland's Preschool, Highland's Haven, small group leaders, Dream Center, Dream Team serve, prayer force, Switch, Worship Team, Worship Guide, ushers, SideKicks, and many others I know I'm leaving out. (sorry y'all!)  The adult leaders had a Cajun dinner party, but for the SideKicks, we had a MAC DADDY party!  Where do I start?  The first thing I need to do is say a HUGE thank you to our children's pastor, Mrs. Beth who gave...

I was able to spend most of my day today in a Kid's Leadership Summit at my church.  OK, wow...I was blown away.  First off, I serve a great God! Second, I have a wonderful Senior Pastor who made a room full of people who really love kids realize that we do have a special calling to love on kids & let them know that God loves them too. Third, LOOOOVVVVEEEE our Children's pastor.  PB, you're the greatest & I love your vision & can't wait to follow you as we live it out! Fourth, I serve alongside some of the most amazing, humble, committed, loving, crazy, spirit filled, on-fire for Jesus people I've ever met.  (adults and teenagers)  Love you guys!!! Mrs. Charmayne & Mrs Candi Ms. Natalie These pictures are from this past fall during our 'At the Movies' series.  These are just a fraction of the people I serve with, but they do represent some of the great people I get to do life and serve the ...

God's timing never ceases to amaze me.  It's always perfect.  Today we were talking with the 11:30 group of SideKicks at church about weathering the storms of life.  We told them they had two choices:  to try to stand on their own two feet, and be like the foolish man who built his house upon the sand; or be like the wise man and build the foundation of their house on the Rock.  (are you singing the song yet?) Not 2 hours later, this phrase come back to me... I am selfish.  Things for our family are great right now.  I have a new nephew who is healthy and beautiful.  My brother and his wife are doing well too & finding great joy in parenthood.  My children are doing great.  Husband is as fine as ever.  With all my blessings, I forget.  I forget others are hurting.  For some, life stinks, and they are ready for 2012 to be over with even though it just began.  Like I said...

On Sundays I get to serve with some pretty amazing young teenagers.  We have over 100 of them, called SideKicks, who serve at various times during our different Sunday services in the Preschool & Children's ministries at Church of the Highlands. This ministry kinda happened by accident.  It started a few years ago with one of our pastor's sons when he started helping with the sound board and lights during one or two of the services.  Others noticed & wanted to do it too.  Then we had some who wanted to help with worship, games, and small groups.  Some of our teens have a love of preschool children, and so we expanded to serve in that area as well.  God has ordained these young people with gifts, and let me tell you they use them. I work with the teens on the preschool side.  Wow!  They are absolutely amazing !!!  If you think this generation is going down the drain, let me give you hope.  It...