Birthday Cake #2

Yep, that's right...this is birthday cake #2.  The lovely cake pictured in the previous post was a big suprise to bite into.  It seems the pastry chefs at my house had forgotten a key ingredient, and although it was a beautiful creation, it wasn't the tastiest!  They left the water out of the cake.  (It was the first cake Keith had ever made.  I think Landry had made a cake before one time with his Mommy Gran when she was visiting.)

I got a big surprise this morning.  Would you believe that those sweet men in my house stayed up until midnight and made me a new cake!  I was so tired after the ladies retreat I'd been to and after the celebrating that we did, so I went to bed early.  When I woke up today Keith said, "I've got something to show you, wait right here." And he came back with this beautiful 2nd cake!  He was so annoyed that it hadn't turned out well and he was determined to get it right, so they stayed up late and took a do-over.

It was yummy, and you can see, there's not a lot of it left.  I'm so blessed to be the benificiary of their thoughtfulness X 2! 

Happy Birthday Me!

Happy Birthday Me!  That's right...it's that time of year...when I get to celebrate me, and better than that, those around me do too!  Ok, before you click off because you think I'm arrogant and loathesome (don't use that word a lot!), let me tell you that it's hard being a birthday girl!  Even though I have to be in front of people lots of the time, to have all the attention focused on me, and have people sing to me and applaud my ability to put out fire (at my age there's lots of "fire" on my cakes!), all makes me a little uncomfortable!

It's been a great birthday though!  I've celebrated for several days actually; lunch with friends from work, cupcakes at the ladies retreat I went to, funny cards, sweet cards, make-my-eyes-water-cards, original compositions and artwork from my siblings, sigh...I do feel duly celebrated and loved!

And then there's this birthday cake!  It's from my hubs and son!  They made it and iced it themselves!  It's my favorite...strawberry!  This is one of the sweetest tihngs they've done for me!  I LOVE it!  I love that they shopped for the ingredients (I mean a cake mix), that they got out the actual mixer and made sure there would be no lumps, that they bought a special icing thingy to ice it, and that they put it on a beautiful plate because presentation is so important!  I love that my husband made time to do this with my son while I was gone; and laughed with him, and worked together to get it right, all the while modeling a sweet gesture of love!  That rocks!

I could write more, but I gotta go get me a piece of that cake!

Olympic Sized Prayers

If you're like me, you're really enjoying the olympics! What is it about seeing those athletes and hearing their stories and watching them compete that is so captivating? For me, I love watching their eyes as they stand on the podium listening to their national anthem; seeing the hugs between strangers from different countries (don't you know the Father smiles at that?), and getting that lump in my throat as the cameras pan to parents who've no doubt sacrificed to get them there!

So I was thinking about how I can be part of the Olympics...now if you know me at all, you know I'm so not coordinated so that would be funny in itself...me being part of the Olympics, but I thought I could be a part of this special time by praying for them! Maybe you'd like to join me. As you watch the games, and see the stories about them, ask God to show you how you can pray for these young athletes, their families and home situations, and the countries that they will return to in just a few days!

Who knows what our Olympic Sized Prayers can do!

Snow!!!

We really got a bunch of snow today in Dallas!  7-8 inches...just can't believe it!  My sweet hubs went outside to warm my car up, except he got distracted making a snowman to ride on top of the car.  Um...so sweet/funny/creative...but I didn't WANT a snowman riding on the top of my car.  As it turns out, neither did my son want to be driven to school with a snoman on top of the car.  So what does the hubs do?  He gets it off by throwing snowballs at it as we were driving away.  Needless to say, I left for work today smiling. 

This is why I Love Being a Children's Pastor #3 Kids are Real

Sunday in Children's Worship the theme was finishing well.  I read out of 2 Corinthians the littany of hardships, sacrifices, personal offronts, etc. that Paul went through in the name of Jesus.  It is an amazing review if you are tempted to grumble about your situation!

I talked to the kids about finishing what you start, and to have a little fun with them, during the worship songs, we didn't finish any of them.  I let the kids choose which songs they wanted to sing, so of course we sang their favorites...and then they didn't get to finish them.  Ha!!

A little guy in the back raised his hand and this was the conversation that we had:
He:  Ms. Mary, I'm not gonna ask Jesus into my heart!
Me:  Really?  Well you really should, you're missing out!
He:  Nope, I don't want to!  Not now!
Me:  Ok, that's fine.
He:  I'm gonna do it when I retire.

It was really cute, he's in kindergarten. 
After church I thought about it and at first, I thought that it was a bad thing, and that maybe I handled it poorly.  I began the self-chastisement that comes so quickly when I make a mistake, but then I stopped.

I thought of all the adults that I have come across-across the years, who question their decision to follow Christ.  They aren't sure of when it happened, or wonder that they were so young, did it really happen?  They end up struggling, in many cases, and live a frustrated and paralyzed life with Christ.

• I'm so glad I didn't try to talk this little guy into making a decision for Christ when he's clearly not ready! 
• I'm sure going to pray that God will use me or other appropriate adults in his life to answer questions, and guide him to the cross and that he will ask Jesus into his heart when the time is right. 
• I'm so glad that I had the presence of mind, and the presence of the Holy Spirit in my words and my facial expressions, and my body language...to just accept his answer...for now!

So back to the title of this post.  I love it that kids are real. 
I love it that when they trust you and the environment, they can be honest, and just say what they think. 

It puts a whole new spin on that whole "iron sharpens iron" thing, now, doesn't it?