Fantastic weekend!

Spring Break has come to and end and Daddy is back home!! :)

So the weather was absolutely FANTASTIC this weekend & we spent the majority of it OUTSIDE!

Here are some pictures taken of the kiddos outside Friday evening... but if your interested...(Grandparents in AR)... you can click here to view more.

Not sure why Parker's belly is showing here... :/

McKenna (aka~ my little popsicle lover!)

Parker (aka~ My Blue-Eyed Boy!)

Then Saturday morning went to get our annual flowers and mulch to "spruce up" our landscape out front. It was warm and gorgeous and yes, I got sunburned and it's MARCH!! The weather has been sunny & in the low 80's all week & weekend! Can't complain...that's for sure! :)

"Looking up to his Daddy" - I absolutely love this pic!

Have a great week!

First swim lesson of 2009!

Today was the kids first swim lesson this year with the great, Ms. Nancy!

They were SOOOOOOO excited!! We started the morning off at the donut shop, came home and worked in the yard, then headed out to their lesson at 11:30!

McKenna had her swimsuit on at 10:00!!! She was SO pumped.

She & Parker did SO well, it's like they picked right back up where they left off last fall!

A look into the heart of Ministers Wives...

This week is Spring Break here in Katy, and it has been such a great week for me to get caught up on a lot of things here at home! Not teaching this week has been such a nice break!

I've also been working on being consistant with Parker's potty training, but that is another post! Maybe tomorrow :)

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As I was catching myself up on a lot of the blog's that I love to read, but rarely have time to read anymore, I ran into this post on Beth Moore's blog at LPM blog and wanted to write some thoughts about it.... as I sit here with tears in my eyes, I was so touched by these three short clips... If you are reading this and you've always wondered how you can pray more specifically for your Pastor/Ministers & their spouses who serve on your church's staff... click here to go to a post of 3 videos she put up that are just some "annonymous" quotes/thoughts from a conference for ministers wives that she just did in Nashville.

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I could totally identify to many of these thoughts from women who's husbands serve in some form of ministry all around our country. Serving in full-time ministry is an absolute BLESSING!But, at times, it can also be the most isolated & lonely calling. I once heard someone say, that "there is no vacation in ministry because Sunday is always coming." And how true that is...

Brian & I have only been in ministry together for almost 7 years now and my "role" in the whole pictures has definitely changed over the past 4 years since having McKenna & Parker.

My #1 priority is my relationship with my God, #2 is to my marriage to my amazing husband, #3 is that I can be the best mother than I can be to my two children who I love with all my heart! #4 our Home, making it the place of refuge & our haven together, and #5 is serving in our church family/ministry.

Over the past few years, I really have struggled with my "identity" in our ministry together, because it has changed during thise phase in life. My main priority in my family right now and having two preschoolers is an extremely demanding job!

There are times that I feel guilty that I am not more involved in our student ministry right now than I am...but I have peace and rest in the fact that I know I am doing my best with what I have to give at this phase in my life right now. I definitely have a passion for ministry. Watching students give their lives to the Lord and to watch them GROW and develop their own passion for Him is the most gratifying feeling, and to be apart of what God is doing here in Katy just leaves me feeling completely blessed and humbled that He would choose to use Brian & I with all of our flaws & imperfections to do His Kingdom work! It is so exciting to be apart of what God is doing!! I wouldn't change it for the world! Yes, it is SOOO hard being 7-9 hours away from our families back home, but when you are where the Lord wants you to be, doing what He desires for you to be doing... there is nothing that can compare to that kind of peace. To see my husband so happy, fulfilled, challenged, growing, leading, and enjoying going to work every day makes it all worth it. I have the best husband in the world!! Not only is he an amazing Student Pastor, communicator of God's Word, and a great leader...but he is amazing at balancing ministry & our family. That is such a blessing that he is always so conscious about making time with me & the kids a priority! There is ALWAYS ministry to be done, but you only get these brief moments together as a family for a moment.

Anywho... sorry for the "randomness" tonight...isn't that what blog's are for?!? ;)

I just found her post tonight to be interesting and thought I'd share.... please do your pastor's wife a favor and bathe her and her family in prayer right now... you never know just what she or her family might be going through at this very moment.

There is so much peace & power in prayer!

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-Phillipians 3:8-11

"Nothing is as wonderful as knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. I have given up everything else and count it all as garbage. All I want is Christ and to know that I belong to him. I could not make myself acceptable to God by obeying the Law of Moses. God accepted me simply because of my faith in Christ. All I want is to know Christ and the power that raised him to life. I want to suffer and die as he did, so that somehow I also may be raised to life."

March MOPS meeting - Speaker Gina Warner

Tonight was our monthly MOPS meeting at church. I love this time because it's such a refreshing evening for me as a mother. I always leave encouraged and challenged to be a better mother! Tonight our speaker was Gina Warner...she was great!! She has four children of her own, three of which are now in college...
Here are some of my notes from tonight. They may seem "choppy" but I hope it can encourage anyone reading this in their parenting!

Things we can pass on to our children:

1.) GRACE... always give grace.
Grace means "to bend"... we need to be flexible but also relevant to our children...
**We need to pray that our home be "wallpapered" in Grace.
Some grace "killers" are, guilt, rage, high expectations, etc...
2.) IDENTITY.
What they do does NOT determine WHO they ARE.
We need to instill in them an UNSHAKABLE identity in CHRIST.
Challenge: "Who am I, that can not be taken away from me?"... not that I am Brian's wife, or Parker & McKenna's mom, or a Housewife... because all those things can (God-forbid) be taken away from me at a moment...so what is left that is the Core of ME?!?!
I am a Daughter of The KING of KINGS!
**Do I believe that I am someone, that I want my kids to become... a legacy to leave behind in them???**
3.) FAITH.
-Faith is believing in something that we can not see.
-If I as their mother, believe in the Word of God...do I live by it... will they, when the challenging times come, make their Faith their own?!?
-Can I pass these lessons in Faith on to them through my parenting?
- Do I live it?!?
-Build character in them... godly character that will withstand the hard/challenging times.
4.) THANKSGIVING.
-The ability to be thankful in ALL circumstances...the good & the bad!

These G.I.F.T's are what Christ gave to us, that we should give daily to our children. To leave a rich heritage of Christ in our children for generations to follow.....Not just to attend church, but to have them rooted and bathed in

GRACE, IDENTITY (in Christ), FAITH, & THANKSGIVING!

~Psalm 139~