Five Random Pics #3

I live in Texas and LOVE it!  My family and I were having lunch in Subway one Saturday and some riders on horses came up and rode their horses right onto the sidewalk.  I took the pic from inside the restaurant.  Only in Texas!

When you help the Children's Pastor (me) set up for events, you get to test out all the equipment!

Driving home from work one day I saw this street vendor selling cotton candy.  In 30 degree weather.

My great-nephew.  Is this not the cutest kid ever?

This pic is so sweet.  I love the little boy wearing the man's hat. The bowed head of the man showing his love for this boy.  This is my brother and his grand son. 

This Was a Happy Day

This was a happy day because:
1.  I got to see my son receive an award at the awards assembly.
2.  The choir at his school sang a gospel song called "Anchored in the Lord".  I can't get the lyrics out of my head.  "I'm anchored in the Lord.  Do you love him? Do you trust him? Do you praise him? Do you serve him?"  Cool huh?  But you'll think it's even cooler when you realize that he goes to a public school!
3.  I took a turn sitting at the front desk for the receptionist and she had miniature reese cups in her candy stash.  (it doesn't take much to make me happy)
4.  My son was able to find everything he needed for the banquet this Saturday.  And I got it on sale!  That stress is over!
5.  I made it to the office today before the hail started!

Five Random Pics #2

Here we go again...ready?

Two sweet little girls.  Wonder what they are talking about.  So glad that our church is a safe place for kids and lifelong friendships are formed.

Our Pastor's wife, Monda, has had a boot on for several weeks.  One Wednesday night, I decided she needed some bling!

Taken at Thanksgiving, the road beside the lake house where we spend the holiday with my family each year.  This is an amazing picture my son took.

Me and My hubs.  He makes me laugh.

Hot air balloon at church camp. 

Ok...show me your randomness.  Post 5 of your own pics!

Today: My Life in Pictures

This is where I am.

(I'm working on VBS)

This is where I wish I was.

This is how I feel about it.

Sigh

This is why I Love Being a Children's Pastor #5 Their Faith is Huge

When I say, "sometimes I learn more from the kids than they learn from me", that's for real! I've heard Sunday School teachers say that for many years, and to be honest, I may have uttered an internal "whatever" before, but I gotta say, it's as true as the sky is blue!

I love this picture of my great-nephew.  He is ready. He is standing firm.  And he is expecting big things to happen!

That's how it is with kids and their faith!   We tell them about an all-powerful God...a three-in-one kind of God!  They can have a relationship with him, and read about the over-the-top miracles that are in the Bible...and yet sometimes when it gets right down to it, their faith is bigger than ours. 

I've seen this over and over praying with kids at church.  I ask them to pray about something, they do, and they believe that their prayers are going to be answered...as true as the sky is blue. 

So this is what I've learned. 

Bring my petitions to God in prayer.

Pray in faith BELIEVING.

Leave them there.

I'm not big enough to answer them anyway.

I do believe, Lord, help my unbelief.  Mark 9:24

A Fun Summer Afternoon

On Saturday, I had some time all by myself.  I took my son to a skate park with his friend, and I took some work to do. I knew there was a pretty little park across the street where I could work.  I made sure the boys were in the skate park and then walked across the street, and sat down.  As I was walking, I was thinking...It might be hard to concentrate on work, because everything was so green, beautiful, and there were happy families playing together.  But I was determined.  I got all my work spread out, got comfortable in my picnic table seat and looked up...

How are you supposed to work with that view?  It was beautiful!  I couldn't concentrate so I turned a little to get a NEW view.  Maybe that would help!  Maybe not.

Oh no!  I came here to work!  Another beautiful view, and very shortly, a mom and her adorable little girl with ringlets and a party dress on came to take pictures on the bridge. 

Then I noticed the background...see that rail car?  I had to get a closer look!

I've always wanted a rail car to have a classroom in at church!  That would be so cool!  (um...as you can see, after the little girl and her mother came to the bridge, I'd had enough work and packed it all up, to walk around and enjoy this beautiful park.) 

There were some guys dressed up like knights or some such period costumes that were jousting , but I didn't take a picture of them because they were armed with styrofoam swords and who wants to be charged by an angry knight with a styrofoam sword?

The next thing that caught my attention was this:

It looked so charming and inviting, and I wasn't disappointed.

and...

but THIS made me smile!!

It was one of those old fashioned coolers!  When I was little, and we would go visit relatives in a small Oklahoma town, there was an old country store with wooden floors and a screen door at the end of the road where my uncle's house was.  One of the coolest things about going to that store was that you could go in and get a drink and you didn't need money!  Everyone knew everyone, and you could just tell them who you were, and at the end of the month, they would send my uncle a statement.  He bought me lots of Fanta Orange Sodas without even knowing it!

I sure did enjoy my day, and the work got done later Saturday night!

 

Sunday School & Memphis

Gotta tell you a funny.  Today in Sunday School one of the teachers was talking with her kids and the conversation turned to a family who is moving to Memphis in the next few weeks.  She asked them to guess the most famous person who was from Memphis. 

They couldn't figure it out, and finally a little girl guessed.  Are you ready for this?

Miley Cyrus' father! 

Haha!  I love kids!

You May Not Know This About Me...

but I LOVE the circus!  Seriously.  I don't know why, can't remember when it started, but I love the circus!  It was always so fun every year when the circus came to town. 

So we were driving home from dinner tonight and passed the arena and I saw a sign like this on the marquee:

Immediately I let out a big "woohoo" because advertising has already begun for the summer run of the circus.  But my excitement was not shared by my family. 

They do not love the circus.

They do not love going to see the animals unloading from the train and led through town. 

They do not love watching the elephants get washed. 

They do not love the flying trapeze,

the car with 15 thousand clowns,

eating cotton candy

or my favorite part...

The Ringmaster!  Or more specifically, when the Ringmaster says these famous words as the evening begins:

"Ladies and gentlemen,

boys and girls,

children of all ages,

welcome to the greatest show on earth."

and the words that some people miss at the end because they leave too early:

"...and may all your days be circus days."

Corny, I know...but I love it! 

Maybe I love it because there's something for everyone: wild animals, silly clowns, displays of bravery and athleticism, junk food.

Maybe because of the mystery that surrounds circus people.  I mean really, who would choose a life like theirs?  It seems to be a family business though. 

Maybe I love it because you see people (you know, children of all ages) laughing, clapping, smiling and having fun together! 

That must be it, the children of all ages part. After all, that's what scripture directs us to do...to come to the father as a child, no matter what our age.  I love the word picture here...of coming to God in the most simple way we know...as a child.  Takes the pressure off!  I'm thankful for that!

So, I'll just keep enjoying the circus (sans my family), treasuring the memories of my own childhood, and making all my day circus days! (Cause my life is so crazy it really is a circus!)

Five Random Pics #1

I love looking at pictures, so in that spirit, I thought I'd post 5 random pics from my phone.  They don't go together at all, but I like them and thought I'd share with you!  I'd like to see the randomness of your life!  I hope you'll post 5 of your own.

Andre is one of the teachers on Wednesday nights at my church.  He and his wife Michele are so creative and LOVE kids so much!  I always want to peek into their classroom to see what fun things they are doing with their kids!

Remember skating on Friday nights?  All-skate, frito pie right out of the bag of fritos and trying to go to the bathroom with skates on?   We had a skating party at this old school skating rink, it was so fun. 

Michele and Missy at the rental car place at the airport in Nashville.  I love these silly girls!

The youth group had a garage sale, and Tyler and I decided we'd take silly pictures.  She'll do anything!

I love back pictures!  This is Landry and his friend Nic.

Ok-so there's my 5, post 5 of your own!

The Mom with the Drummer Boy

You know, I've said that I always thought it would fun to be a groupie & run away with a band, but I was thinking Bon Jovi or Aerosmith!  Not the marching band!  Life's funny like that!

All the band parents have to get to help the band set up before the halftime show.  It's funny what they ask you to do.  Landry's freshman year, my job during the show was to stand on the cord that connected the sound system to the outlet in the wall of the stadium.  Seriously.  That was a job! Until I got replaced by a generator. Sigh.  So then they found other things for me to do.

So here's me... I'm just the band mom, with the drummer boy.
I'm the prop mover, he's breaking his sticks.
I'm the gong pusher, he's keeping the beat.
I'm the uniform inspector, he's looking cool on the drumline.

I love it!  (and in case you're wondering, in the picture above...they have to hold the strap of their hat in their mouths so that if their hat falls off their head during the show when they're moving around, it won't fall into the drum head.)

I'm Glad I'm a Mother

My son, Landry, is 15. He's the coolest kid I know. I've loved every age he's been. Now we're at the age of him not wanting us to embarrass him. So sometimes I like to play with him and tell him that I'm going to burst out into song in front of his friends, or wear a t-shirt with his picture on it to the football game, or tell stories of him a a baby.

I love to be silly with him and try to make him laugh, and remind him that God thought that I was the best mother for him!  He matched us up, and I am the best that God could do! He rolls his eyes and says, "thanks, a lot." He has fun with me right back!

So this week I want to post some of my favorite pics of the little guy that made me a mother. 

In this pic he's saying, "I'll be your bu-ud."  Which he would say to me when he wanted me to do something. 

What a Kick!

Yesterday in children's church we had a first!  We got to skype with Jenny, our missionary friend who is currently in Thailand!  It was a 12 hr difference, so at 10:30a in Dallas, we logged on and were connected to her in Thailand at 10:30p.  (She's a young-un so it wasn't late for her!)

It was awesome!  The kids asked great questions, she kept their attention with details about her life there, and then at the end, she was very transparent and let them know how we can support her through prayer.

The best part for me was using technology in the church for good!  I get so weary of hearing all the bad things that happen/can happen on the internet.  It's just like Satan to take something and try to put fear in people where they won't use tools around us for the glory of the Lord!  (Now, don't get me wrong, I know that the dangers on the internet are real!)

So yesterday, we got to redeem the technology that we so enjoy today! For God's glory!  For his purpose!  And when we do that, we need to tell others about it!  What a kick it is to get to give "what for" to the enemy!

Here's the link if you want to watch a little!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BP5bW1otS0

Mother's Day Flowers

The Mother's Day luncheon yesterday was completely fun!  Here are some pics of the tables!  They are all so different and creative!

You know they say "it's all in the details", and our table hostesses did a great job of making sure all the details were over the top!

So here's mine.  I kind of took ideas from all those that I'd found and posted before and made up something.  I put a big vase in the center with a hydrangea, and then little vases all around with different flowers all in pinks.

Flowers are so beautiful!  Our Father in heaven created so many different ones for us to enjoy!  Imagine the beauty we'll see in heaven if this is what he did for us on earth!