Sunday, June 28, 2009

Sunday Edition Letters

Dear Target,
I'm a huge fan of your store, always have been. Could you just do me one favor? Could you put the $1 section somewhere else than the front of the store? Every time I visit I spend at least $27 before I even get past the front door!! There are so many little things in that section that I convince myself that I need because it's only $1. Well, 27 must have items later, and my basket is full of kneeling pads for the garden, Spiderman stickers, and Hello Kitty highlighters. None of these things I need, by the way. Have you seen my garden? That's right, you haven't because I don't even have one. I don't even have grass!! But in the event that I ever do decide to have a green thumb, I will be well prepared with the knee pad. So, while I love a good bargain, could you help me out a little bit? I have diapers and formula to buy!


Dear Jillian Michaels,
Today at Target I purchased your 30 Day Shred DVD. While the appeal of fantastic abs like yours is pretty strong, the 20 minute workout limit is what won me over. Let's face it, I don't have time to be crunching, and butt kicking, and bicep curling for extended periods of time. And while we're being honest, even if I did have the time, I wouldn't do it. So, 20 minutes, I can handle. I do feel however that there should have been a warning against the consumption of burritos 4 hours within starting the workout. I guess this is common knowledge, but to a workout novice like myself, I did not think about the fact that 2 combination burritos 30 minutes before a workout was a bad idea. I'm sure other workout newbees would appreciate the warning!


Dear garage sale shoppers,
You never cease to amaze me. Oh the things you will buy! While my two day sale was less than stellar, I still managed to make some money and what's most exciting is that I got rid of my junk at the same time. JUNK, people!!! That's right, you purchased junk. Random things that have been sitting around in the closets, dark corners and cobweb covered shelves of my home. Had I known that the almost broken toys, old books, VHS tapes, and yucky old bras would bring in cash, I would have cleaned out those closets long ago!!! Power to the packrats!


Dear Brooke Fraser,
Hello from your new friend! I know we've never met, but we've been in the same room before. Of course you were teaching a workshop to 700 people and I was one of those people, but still we should totally meet! Here are a few reasons why I think we would be such great friends: 1. You like cooking shows. I like cooking shows. 2. You are a great songwriter. I want to be a great songwriter. 3. You are comfortable talking about your bowel movements in front of said 700 people in the workshop. I thought it was funny that you were comfortable talking about your bowel movements in front of that many people. 4. You live in Australia, I would love to visit Australia! 5. I'm sure there are many more reasons, but this is all I can come up with right now. By the way, I'm not a crazy stalker or anything, I have just learned some of these things about you from Twitter. So maybe we should watch some Food Network and write some songs together! Just a thought!

Saturday, June 20, 2009

To the Dads in my life

Tomorrow is Father's Day, and I have lots of Father's to celebrate! First, I'll start with my dad. He is such a fantastic father. I'm sad I won't get to see him at all tomorrow. He is on vacation with the rest of my family, but I'm sending lots of love his way! As great a dad as he is, I think he's an even greater granddad. My girls are so blessed to have him in their lives! The other day Ava told me to sit down because it was story time. She started telling me a story about two little Indian girls, Running Water and Happy Face. She went into great detail about the day the girls spent at the lake. I realized that this is apparently some ongoing story that my dad tells the girls. He gave them Indian names and makes up stories about them. Ava thinks it's pretty cool, and made up her own story time for me! They sure love their Papa Jack!




Next is my wonderful Pepa! I have posted about him quite a bit lately, and I am just grateful for all the time I get to spend with him! I am so glad that my girls get to spend time with him too. Even though it's hard to see him in such poor health, I know that I will look back one day and treasure these times that we get to spend with him. I know that my girls bring him alot of joy, so I try to visit him as much as I can. Here is the most recent photo of Pepa and the girls!




And finally, my wonderful husband, Alan! One of the first things that I fell in love with was how great of a father he was (is). Alan raised Taylor by himself until we got married when she was four years old. He is such an amazing dad to our three girls!! He just loves them so much and loves spending time with them. He loves to spoil them and he is a cuddler. If it was up to him I think all 3 of them would sleep in our bed every night! He just loves loving on his girls. Alan, thanks for being such a great daddy!

Happy Father's Day!!!

Monday, June 15, 2009

It's a New Day

Well, today is a new day. I know everyday is new, but today feels extra new! I guess the cat's out of the bag now, and I would really love to get some of my feelings out, so here comes the blog! This weekend, the announcement was made that Alan and I are going to step away from leading praise and worship at Church on the Rock. It has been a very emotional week because we have made the announcement to several different groups and honestly it has been a bit exhausting. I think it was mainly because Alan was in Israel and had been gone for about 10 days, so I felt like I was dealing with all of the questions on my own. I knew when I made this decision that there would be a lot of questions and the only thing I really dreaded was having the same conversation 100 times!! Oh well, I knew it was coming so I just decided to suck it up and answer all the questions that people had with a smile.

It has honestly been received much better than I thought it would be. And I am soooo happy about that!! I have been involved in the praise and worship ministry at our church since I was 14 years old. I started leading worship for our youth group at that time. In the past 14 years I have led for the youth, the college, and the adult services at different times. I have loved my job mostly because of the wonderful people I get to serve with every week. My greatest friends are people on the team and during this transition they have all been so supportive! When you step out in obedience to what you know God has called you to do, there is always a fear that it will not be understood or well received. Our team has done just the opposite. They are excited about what is in store for me and Alan. In turn, I am very excited to watch them grow and step out in their giftings. I feel like a Mother Hen watching her little chicks hatch and grow into their own. I can't wait to see what God does through them.

So on to the burning question, "what are you guys going to be doing?" Well, lots of things! First off, we always want to be in a place where we can put our family first. With 3 growing girls, there are many times when being committed to something every weekend and 2-3 nights a week on top of work during the day, is just too much. The other main factor is our desire to write and record music. This is something that we've done a little bit of but haven't had the time to really dive in and see what is really there. All of these reasons don't compare to the number one and that is simply because we know God asked us to, so we want to be obedient. Worship will always be at the core of who we are and I hope to continue to have opportunities to lead worship, work with worship teams, teach on worship and whatever else God has for me!

Obviously there are some things about this change that are very hard. The unrelenting peace that I have had throughout this transition is what is keeping the smile on my face! I am so very excited about the things to come. Each step of this process just brings a new joy!! I am so glad I serve a God that is so much bigger than my little mind and I want to walk in His grace and peace always, and I know I am doing that now.

I can't even begin to express how blessed I have been at Church on the Rock. Back in October, 2007 we received a prophetic from Norman Barnes and part of that word was about what a great training ground it has been for us. I truly believe that. The opportunity I have had there has been incredible! I know that it will continue to be a place where we grow and have opportunity to serve and minister in different ways. The church staff and leadership have always believed in us and given us the freedom to try things. My dad (who is the Senior Pastor) has put so much trust in me and that has really empowered me to be a strong leader and trust in the gifts and the anointing that God has put on me. I am excited to see the blessings in store for COTR.

I don't think I even know everything that God has in store for us. That's what makes this fun. His plans for us are bigger than anything I could ever come up with and that's right where I want to be!!