well I told you I was going to post from Illinois well we are back home and I never really got the chance. We had a great time, I got to do a lot of fun things and I even got to go to a huge scrapbooking store called Archivers. We got to spend this past Saturday in Chicago and saw such sights as the Sears tower, the Lincoln Park Zoo and the Bean ( It is a giant silver Kidney bean)! We had a great time. and I made a really great friend. We will see where God is leading!
Category: daily life
One of the hardest letters i have ever had to write!.
We are leaving very early tomorrow morning for our trip to Illinois! So despite deep sadness I feel for missing our last youth group “thing” I will have to miss it. I am very sad! I had to put together somethings for the girls and I wrote a letter which will be read for us when we miss it. Here it is! Dear Girls, Well it is Friday afternoon and I have procrastinated in writing this as long as I possibly could! This has to be probably one of the saddest letters I have ever had to write! We are so very sorry we can’t be there for our last AWANA banquet but know that we will be thinking of you and praying for you. The last three years have been way too short for Ron and I and we have loved every minute of being a part of your lives. As this year closes a chapter in all our lives close, and what a lovely chapter that has been. You girls have taught me something very important and that is to stay young! We have watched you blossom into beautiful young women. There have been some decisions made by you and we will be praying for you. You have impacted our lives so very much and we won’t forget that impact! You are about to receive a gift bag and in that bag are a few things I would like to explain! First off there is a book titled Don’t Check your Brains at the Door. Hopefully this book will help you to understand the ways in which this world thinks about the God you love and serve and show you how to defeat those ideas with Scripture. You will be bombarded with many things in life and know that you have the troth right before you in the Bible. Second there is a candle…a pretty smelling one at that but as you light this candle and watch the flame flicker remember what Pete taught us by his candle illustration. We are one candle in the dark and we are a light that helps others see the way to God! So be that light. Thirdly you will find a bag of Chocolate- to remind you to always be the sweetest! Also you will find a small bouquet of flowers…These are to remind you that you are beautiful in God’s eyes. But individually the hold significance as well-the white one stands for purity, always stay pure in your thoughts, in your actions, in your speech. This is not easy I know but this leads me to the next color yellow. Yellow stands for friendship. Make godly friends that will help you in your daily walk with God. Pink is for beauty -you are who God created you t be, and finally the purple is for joy. You can be sad and still have joy. Joy is what you have when you know that you are going to spend eternity in heaven, no questions asked. As a Christian you have accepted all that Christ has to offer you and No One can take that away. And nothing you do will keep you from entering heaven! Oh what joy that brings! And last but most definitely not least and perhaps most special of all you will find three letters: One from Tom and Laura, and from Pete and a copy of this letter From Ron and myself. As all of the other letters say please keep in contact with us we want to know the best ways we can pray for you! You are truly very special people and I think I can speak for the other leaders when I say. You guys have been so wonderful and a real joy to work with. We love you and will miss you and your joy that bubbles out of each and every one of you. I could ramble on and on but I am sure that whoever is reading this is getting tired. So again we love you and best wishes. With all of our love
Let The Games Begin!
And Boy am I not kidding! As a pastor’s wife Things are crazy As a wife things are crazy But as a mommy things are ALWAYS crazy! That is my life…Always has been always will be! Hubby and I live our lives in a way that is moment by moment you never know how or when it’s going to change. Our kids are a constant source of spontaneity. So when a lot of people have heard about our up coming weeks of seemingly endless travel they feel the need to rain on our parade so to speak. The talk about how awful the kids will be by the end! I am not a naive mother. So many people seem to think that I am that they consistently feel the need to point out life’s little trials. What they fail to realize is that i live with these three little bundles of joy and energy day in and day out! I know their strengths and weaknesses. We know their breaking points better than any other! More than the people who desire to point out the impending “doom” So here’s my proposal: Those who have felt the need to be negative about our life in general…Pray for us! Don’t be negative and don’t take away the joy we have as we endeavor on one of the most exciting times together as a family. yes we will be tired and yes there will be struggles and tantrums….maybe even from the adults, but negative thoughts and comments NEVER help anyone…we are a positive family..we don’t live a life of second guessing, depression, self-pity, weak, fearful, dreaded experiences. We take the bull by the horns and live life to the fullest…Our life can’t get any more full than it already has. Check this out: Apr 18 6 Pm-youth event at our house Apr 19 Phone interview 1 pm with a church in Port St Lucie Fl Apr 20 filling in for pastor who will be away (about 35 minutes away) Apr 21 7 30 Pm Phone interview with church from Illinois Apr 22 i I go to Michigan w/ hubby and after his classes we travel to FL (Apr23) (kids in Tow) for the week. April 27-28 drive back to Michigan for hubby’s classes Apr 30 head home May 4-11th travel to Illinois for canidating at church (Hubby’s going to attempt to go to class that week in Michigan) May 12th head home May 13-14 finals FOR Hubby mAY 17 AND 18TH Hubby’s b-DAY and we will be meeting with one church on Sat and canidating at a church on Sunday in Long Island May 19th come home May 25 Brown St Baptist church In Akron Oh May 26 at my parents for Memorial day–travel home! May31 Tim’s B-day party with grandma and pappy June 1st our last day of church here. It will be closing! It will be a sad day. That is why Tim’s party is on Saturday June 8th Ron is speaking in Skineatles church here in NY a semi local church Yep Life is crazy and yep it’s all worth it. we are a team. We work things out together. That’s one thing that hubby and I are committed too. No matter what else our lives hold…our family is most important to us. After all as a pastor if our family is not under control in working as a team we are not eligible for ministry. So that being said…if you can’t say anything nice ..Pray and tell your feelings to the Lord. He is our source of wisdom and strength. (Thanks Nora for being a great encouragement..anytime you want to “kidnap” our kids..hubby and I would love to take you up on the offer! And it sounds like the two of you could get some practice!) And all that being said….Pray for us..OFTEN!!!!! We will need it..in every way imaginable! 
A sad day!
Last night was our last youth group outing ! We had it here at our house. We ate Pizza and played games! It was a very bittersweet time for me. Our church will be having it’s last service on June 1st…Tornado’s B-day. Coincidently that is the only Sunday we are scheduled to be here for over the next month and a half. Our schedule is crazy and it all starts today. We have been working with this youth group for three years now and there are only three girls but we have become a close group. It would be one thing if we were just handing off the youth group to someone else but since the whole church is closing it makes one wonder what is going to happen t o the girls who aren’t church kids. I hope and pray with all of my heart that God brings other Christians into their lives that continue to bring them along into the next step of their faith! It’s so hard to know if two of them are saved! And I hope and pray that someday I will meet them again in heaven. I hope they know that they are missed so very much. The same goes for our church family on a whole. Yes we are moving on but they have all impacted our lives so much. Our life holds so much change for us right now. With closing our church. Traveling to so many new places and new churches. And we now have to get rid of our dog too! We just can’t keep him anymore. He has been a great dog and a great companion but we can’t take him to a parsonage and we can’t leave him alone while we travel so much. we have often said that if we would have known that we would have been leaving so soon after we got him we probably never would have gotten him! Our kids will be so sad but at this age I think they will recover and not hate the ministry because we had to get rid of the dog!. We have made some great friends….dog included! If you are a friend we have met while we have lived where we live. you will be missed so VERY VERY much!
Sadly Mistaken
Frustrated with Life at the time, I made a very bad and horrible mistake….the worst thing you could ever do. hurt your friends….you say but wouldn’t that be your family first..well sometimes but they still love you…you friends can just seem to melt away and you don’t realize they are gone until too late to do anything. that has happened a lot over the last few year but I have been on the receiving end. NEVER EVER did I intend to be the one causing the pain. And in a moment of frustration I posted something that I never intended on posting and the family read it. And to them I am so deeply sorry. I have read a book by Elizabeth George called Loving God with all Your Mind. It truly is a wonderful book. And so many times we get so me centered and so used to being hurt in a certain way that when something else happens you automatically assume that it was personal when it really was nothing at all. So how do you get to the point where that doesn’t happen. Well I will Tell you how Mrs. George handled it when she was struggling through life’s bumps. She said to ask yourself one simple question…is this true? What she is referring to is scripture based in Philippians 4:8 Where Paul instructs the Philippian people to think on whatever is true…you get the picture. Guess what trap I had fallen into? I really think that God is working on me to iron out even more flaws. It seems as though one goes through these refining times in their life where God brings a lot of unrealized thought and struggles into view. If you handle them well the result will turn out beautiful in God’s eyes but if handled poorly and with a “stiff Neck” (meaning resistance against God) the result is a bitter person . I really don’t want to be a bitter person. I know too many bitter people and I see the kind of unsatisfied life they lead. So now is my refining time. My deepest prayer is that i stay willing to learn..from my mistakes and from others mistakes and from others in general! Thank you JB and KF for your forgiveness. It means so much to me to have friends who truly care to see a Christian grow despite the mistakes they have made!