Cardboard Testimony

I came across this video on Youtube and it made me smile, praise God, and cry. It's very moving and it has really gotten me to think about what my cardboard testimony is.

Click the link and view the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvDDc5RB6FQ

The more I think about it, I would need an entire refrigerator box worth of cardboard to really give a full testimony. These are a few, though:

Infertile.................. Mother of 2 amazing daughters

Angry...................... choosing to be joyful and thankful for all that HE has done

Single, impatiently waiting.............. happily married to my prince

Fruitless Christian................... trusting the Lord to help me grow and change

I could go on and on, but I won't. I want to hear from some of you. I hope that this topic is as meaningful to you all as it was to me. You can either comment, email me, or post about this on your own blog.

VBS

one of our science experiments was to make raisins "dance" in Sprite... it worked.

Pastor Ty our fun scientist (left)

(right) Genevieve can't wait until she can join the big kids

Emma went up front to help with the singing at the end. She's posing (r) after the finale.

Emma helped me and had a nice math lesson by sorting 100 each of 5 Bible memory buddies. She counted by 5's, 10's, and 1's. She sorted colors and characters. It was a FUN math lesson. Our church had VBS this week (b.k.a. Bible-cation-school, by Emma). Our theme was Power Lab and we learned how Jesus gives us the power to: be thankful, help others, be brave, live forever, and tell others the Good News! It's a fun, science theme w/ lots of cool experiments. (SEE PHOTO TOP RT.)

Genevieve stayed in the nursery and had fun w/ one other little girl. We taught her to say the catch-phrase of the week: AHA! It's adorable to hear her, but she will NOT perform for people at church when I try to make her say it.

Emma is having such a great week. She's in a group that's mostly visiting kids.... only 2 from our church. This has been good for her because she isn't bossy at all. She struggles w/ that, but she usually doesn't boss strangers around too much (although she has been known to scrap with new kids if she feels like they are wronging her or someone else... she's got a keen sense of justice, but a 4 year old approach to handing it down- not a good mix).

She has a girl in her group w/ a cast up to her thigh. Emma was really concerned about the little girl's inability to "have any fun" or "play the games", so she decided, with some helpful suggestions from Mama, to bring her magnetic dolls and play with the girl during recreation time. It was a blessing for Emma and for the girl- of course Mama was so happy to see her developing a sense of giving and sacrificing for others, too.

She's learning SO much about God's Word, His Plan through Jesus, and lots of great songs and motions. This week has brought up lots of questions too... I see a new awareness and interest in spirtitual things... so I am going to answer her questions and encourage her to keep asking.

We are worn out tired and the girls have been taking 2-3 hour naps all week... Genevieve is still sleeping and it's going on 4 hours (she's missed her morning nap every morning, but is making up for it in the afternoons). Friday is the finale and we'll be done w/ VBS for another year. It's so great for the kids of our church, for kids in the community, and it's a great way for us to reach out and shine the love of Jesus into a dark world. Enjoy these photos of our week.

Well.... this is a continuation of the post and we're all done with VBS. We survived. Emma thrived! It was a great week and I heard her this morning singing one of the songs- word for word. Too cute!

Hearing.....and Gratitude.

So, I had my little surgery today and it was pretty uneventful. Everything went according to plan and other than some nausea, pain, and a pretty funky headache all afternoon, I'm as good as new. I can HEAR again... Yeah! Having my ear clogged up for weeks on end makes me feel a little nutty... I can hear nothing out of that ear and ALL of the sounds around me go through the other ear, making it way too stimulated. Each time this has happened to me I feel a profound sense of thankfulness for the gift of good hearing- and for all of my other senses that work well. It's something that I take for granted when things are good, but oh how I have whined and complained when my ear isn't working. It makes me think that my life would be far different day to day if I took the time each day to be truly thankful for all of the good things in my life... the big ones, the small ones, and the ones that, if they were gone, would drastically change everything about life. That's an issue I have... I know that every good and perfect gift comes from God and I love Him and thank Him for that, but as I go about my life I feel comfortable and blessed, but don't take much time dwelling on it or being actively thankful. So when I wake up tomorrow and the next day and the day after that, I want to show my gratitude for my hearing... to really listen to God and others.... and I want to have an attitude of gratitude that shows in the smile on my face, my tone of voice, and the choices I make each day. It's something that I want to model for my girls so that it becomes part of their character as they grow up.

My First Post

Two of my good friends have these awesome blogs about their lives and families. They have encouraged me to create a blog for our family. What a neat way to keep a record of what's going on in our journey through life... the good, the bad, and the amazing! I enjoy writing and most of our family lives half-way across the country. We also have friends scattered around the country, too. I hope that this is a good way of keeping everyone updated. As I sit here tonight, I am a bit nervous about tomorrow. I have a minor surgery to insert a tube in my ear. It will be a welcome relief from all of the ear problems I've had this past year, but it requires general anesthesia, which doesn't seem like an enjoyable prospect to me. This is but one situation in which God reminds me that He is in control and that I am not. I will trust Him and rest in the knowledge that just as He has been faithful to me in so many other ways, He will be faithful to see me through this too. Being the control freak that I am, it seems that I need reminding very often... I am quick to fret and worry, to plan and organize, but often slow to simply trust and obey. Tonight I am going to do just that... trust and obey- for there is no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey (a little of my southern roots coming out in that hymn).