Back to School

We enjoyed our looong Christmas break and now it is time to get back to work.  Here are some pictures from this past month.

We took the kids to the Gilbert Riparian Reserve one day for a morning walk.  It was really nice, they got to see ducks, rabbits, and lots of different birds.  We even packed our lunch and ate there.

We love Dr. Seuss and one morning we had Green Eggs and Ham:

Jadon can keep himself quite busy during school....sometimes a little too busy!  :)

Jay was reading our Bible study one morning and Jadon had to sit just like daddy!  Too cute!

Who says school work has to be done sitting at a table?

One day we tried our hand at homemade pretzels and they turned out really, really yummy!

What better way to learn to add than to use oreo cookies! 

Best part of us being together all day is the love these two have for one another.  I caught them napping together. 

My Laundry Room

My laundry room is a catch all room with lots of room for improvement. I stumbled across an organizing blog and got some great and inexpensive ideas. So one night while the kids were at Awana I took Jadon to the Dollar store and we found some great baskets.

I was quite pleased with the results. I should have taken before pictures but just picture everything in disarray on the shelf and in the closet. LOL

Now if I want to get really fancy I can label the baskets, but this is good enough for now. ;) I just love how uniform it makes everything look.

The most exciting part however was the shoe closet. If we all just have 2 pairs of shoes that is 16 pairs of shoes!! I constantly battle to find shoes. We used to have one large basket, yea that didn't work so well. Then I tried to be really cheap and used Wal-mart boxes and nobody could remember whose was whose. I bought 6 baskets, one for each of the younger kids and one for my vacuum parts. This has been wonderful!! And the kids even love it.

Stay tuned.... I will be using baskets for many more organizing projects. ;)

An afternoon at the Park

January is beautiful in Arizona and a wonderful time to be outside. One afternoon we packed up a lunch, our marshmallow guns and headed to the park. The kids played on the slide, we ate lunch and then had an all out marshmallow fight. Lots of giggling and fun! The guns work great and even Jadon was able to blow and get us. And of course we cleaned up all of our marshmallows when we were done. ;)

They ended their afternoon at the park by rolling down the hill. :) (It made me dizzy just watching them.)

Life in between full time ministry

As I reflect back over the events of the last 6 months(and the last 3 years), Ecclesiastes 3 always comes to mind ---"To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven:" So much has happened and changed in our lives and even with the heartache I wouldn't change any of the experiences because with heartache blessings came also.

It has been a long, bumpy road some days but I have always stood by my husband and the decisions he made, standing firm on the Word and not backing down. Many eyes have been opened and many remain closed to the truth. None of these things were ever personal (even though my husband's character was personally attacked. And later those same people had to issue letters stating allegations were false.) We have spent many hours talking and praying about everything and we still love the people of our former church but we could no longer accept what was going on there. I think the saddest part of all is that the church is now reverting back to how it was before we came, all the families are going away and there again is no outreach to the community. I don't revel in any of that. It is quite sad.

So as doors closed and remained closed, we move on past that "season" of our ministry life and many new doors have opened. These last few months have been very busy with praying, planning and prepping for a new church plant.

After Jay's first seminary class he knew he was called to go plant a church. Our prayer was that we would be sent out with blessings from our old church. We were already prepping and get people to step into our ministry roles (mine being for some one to take over the Awana program. I want to be clear and not come across like I am a co-pastor with my husband in anyway. I just also led some ministries at our church). We wanted those things to continue at our church and thrive but it didn't work out that way.

Since the end of November Jay has been leading worship at a church in AZ City. This is just strictly as an interim to help them out. We also have been working with our best friends the Rogers and our families are the core team for Relevant Church. We will be having our first preview services in March. I can't wait to see what God has in store in this next "season" of ministry.
Everything Has Its Time

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

To everything there is a season,

A time for every purpose under heaven:

A time to be born, And a time to die;

A time to plant, And a time to pluck what is planted;

A time to kill, And a time to heal;

A time to break down, And a time to build up;

A time to weep, And a time to laugh;

A time to mourn, And a time to dance;

A time to cast away stones, And a time to gather stones;

A time to embrace, And a time to refrain from embracing;

A time to gain, And a time to lose;

A time to keep, And a time to throw away;

A time to tear, And a time to sew;

A time to keep silence, And a time to speak;

A time to love, And a time to hate;

A time of war, And a time of peace.

Our Very Own Girl Band

These girls love to sing and entertain! And I love to listen to them. :) The girl's favorite song right now is "Days of Elijah". This is their favorite worship song to sing in church. One day I caught them all set up in the family room with the Wii Rockband equipment and they were singing their hearts out! Give them a few more years and they can be part of their daddy's praise band.

It was great! Here is the You Tube video:

Family Bible Study

So how have we been doing with our commitment to our daily family bible study?? Please don't take this as bragging (just excitement) but I am happy to say we are still going strong and have stayed up to date. You can check back here to see how we got started on October 19. I don't share anything in this post to say "hey look at us" but to humbly give encouragement that you too can do this as a family if you make the commitment. We are sad to admit that this is our first year ever reading through the Bible together as a family. We should have started years ago. I just wanted to share some logistics with you of how we do it.

For our family, most of Jay's work is in the evening hours. So first thing in the morning when we are up and eating breakfast (usually between 8 and 8:30)is when we do our reading. Some mornings Jay reads and some mornings I read. I like to read because I love the way he cooks my eggs. :) So I read while he cooks. If the kids are done eating they are allowed to color at the table. I have found this works wonders for keeping hands busy and minds engaged; especially the little ones. This schedule works for us the majority of the time. But, yes we have gotten behind before but never more than 2 days. We either get caught up by reading two days in one or if we are all going somewhere together in the car I bring the Bible with and read then (captive audience).

We all commit to many things during a week and follow through. If you right now are saying "we just can't commit to that". Really think about what you are saying. Put the reading of God's word first and you won't regret it! It is amazing the things we are learning and the discussions we are having as God's word is being revealed to us in this simple way. This will be a tradition we will continue, year after year!

After we are done reading each day we pray together and right now we are praying through the world. Check out operationworld.org for more info.

Happy New Years!

2012 really???!!! I know it sounds cliche but seriously, where has the time gone? Wasn't it just July last week? As we get ready to ring in this new year it is normal to reflect back on the past year and set goals for the new year. (I will share some of my goals in another post). This past year has been one of many changes and much growth for our family (not number wise lol). I enjoy looking back and seeing how my children have grown both physically and in maturity. I need to take note and write things down because otherwise I WILL forget. I try to cherish these crazy chaotic days of just raising my children because I know they will soon be sweet memories.
We choose to ring in this New Year by celebrating with family and friends. I love hosting gatherings and having people over. So we had a card night complete with lots of yummy food, noise makers, sparkling apple cider and fireworks!
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! Here's to a terrific 2012!

The Party Favors

Oldest and youngest starting closing out the year together!

The food

I don't think she is going to make it till midnight!

Tasha snoring away ringing in the new year in dream land.

Our dog never goes in our bath room but this is where we found her shivering and shaking while the fireworks were going off. Poor thing!

Aww! Love it!

"For I know the plans I have for you", declares the LORD, "plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope." Jeremiah 29:11