Servant Hearts

The house repair punch list could be daunting and overwhelming. The things we put off to keep food on the table,clothes and shoes on the kids. The list that has to be completed before we can move forward with putting the house on the market. What is even more overwhelming than the list is the how the list is getting punched.  There have been days that I pull up to the house from doing errands and people are mulching, cutting down trees, and measuring crawl space doors.  A gentleman in the church coordinating efforts for  Saturday "workdays". Another family providing lunch for our Saturday "work day" just blows my mind with how even the details are being met.  A humbling experience that continues to provide affirmation and  we are praising the Lord for what is ahead in our journey. We are grateful and words can't express our thankfulness for your sacrifice of time in order to serve our family. Here are pictures of a few folks that we have caught in action over the past few weeks.  I am sorry I didn't get pictures of everyone. I wish I could capture pictures of all the prayers that have been lifted up for our families along this journey, however even if it were possible there wouldn't be enough space on this blog.
We love you and are blessed by all the partners we have in ministry.

¹²For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.     1 Corinthians 12:12

    
            

                     
       

               
    

I will continue to keep you posted........

Inside out

The kids were very excited to pick out pumpkins for carving. Logan grabbed the first pumpkin in reach and was ready to leave, Maddy pondered and dug around to find her "perfect" pumpkin. Olivia wanted the littlest pumpkin because she said that she was little. Breanna really didn't care she just wanted to the roast the seeds.


Logan was the first to open his pumpkin, it was nice and orange inside with an a lot of seeds. Next, Maddy opened her pumpkin and to her surprise it was brown, slimy and the seeds were no good. The outside of Maddy's pumpkin was fine, no bruises or bumps that would indicate the inside was bad. Olivia's little pumpkin was bright orange with just a few seeds inside. Breanna opened her pumpkin last, she had large seeds and actually pulled out 5 or so seeds that had sprouted roots and had begun to grow new plants.  Needless to say it didn't take long for the conversations to flow.


Maddy's pumpkin seemed to be "perfect" on the outside but the inside didn't reflect the outer appearance.  It allowed us the opportunity to talk about how the only way for our lives to be consistent inside and out is to acknowledge and love the one who created us. Maddy's pumpkin seeds were no good, only a vapor, they were unable to produce more fruit. Maddy was getting the picture that we were creating with the pumpkins.  She understood that like her pumpkin, people can look good on the outside and not have any hope on the inside, and then she said, "mom it's sad when good people that are doing good things may never hear or accept the hope that we have in Jesus." My heart ached at that thought as well.


When Breanna had opened her pumpkin she added to the conversation by pointing out that some of her pumpkin seeds had sprouted.  She said it's like when you accept Jesus as your savior and you start to read, pray and grow in your spiritual walk you begin to  produce spiritual "fruit"   ."... the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control." Galatians 5:21-23. The only way to produce fruit is to know Jesus as your Savior.  Then, just like Breanna's pumpkin you will begin to produce new fruit, not because the pumpkin was trying so hard, but because it was just being a pumpkin.  When we simply abide in Jesus, He will produce the fruit within us.


Needless to say our pumpkin carving had fruitful conversations as we talked about allowing God to clean out the "yuck" on our inside. We don't have to fix or clean it out in our own strength, we can come to Jesus with our "mess" and God will lovingly restore your heart so it will produce fruit from the inside out.

Logan's pumpkin

Maddy's pumpkin

inside Maddy's pumpkin (yuck)

Breanna's sprouts inside her pumpkin

High School Football

Thursday night we headed out to cheer on Charles and Defensive Coach Wallace.We had a great time watching Lana's "men" on the football field. Charles played great and we were so proud of him, he made great plays and ran the ball in for a touch down. He plays offense and defense so he was on the field at all times.  I can't believe that Charles is in HS, it seems like yesterday that he was climbing our tree in the font yard and building forts in the woods. Way to go #3!! (make sure you save us a seat in years to come to see you on the field.)

                                                                                

                                                                                               

                                          

Family Pictures

We had a ton of fun having our family pictures done.  Lisa Shay does a wonderful job with making this experience an enjoyable one!   http://www.wix.com/lisaqshay/photography

What a Privilege

Sunday, at our home church Billy, Breanna (our daughter) and I along with  Shawn & Lisa had the privilege of sharing our journey in this process of church planting. God's faithfulness to me even in the midst of public speaking is worthy of His praise!!  It was an honor to worship in 3 services with our church body and share our hearts with about 1,000 people by the end of the morning. It is difficult to put into words the depth of this experience and I could think of a million other things I could have shared but I rest in knowing God's plan is sovereign.  I am certain I can speak for our team: Billy, Shawn, Lisa and the kids that we are all being stretched, grown, and molded during this time for our ministry now and what is ahead on our journey.  I am so thankful for the church body that surrounded us to pray and will continue to do so, the power in prayer and the acknowledgment of God's continued faithfulness is completely overwhelming. My heart flip-flops when we attend church. I want to soak in the precious moments of worshiping, serving and learning together. As I sit now with tears flowing, I praise Him for the eternal impact that will be made through this process and in Harrisburg PA. 

http://www.faithnc.org/faith_planting

Toss out the To-Do List today!

As you can imagine the "to do list" can be overwhelming these days with all the preparations we are making for our move; such as getting the house ready to sell, cleaning, organizing, etc.  However, today I left the To-Do list on the kitchen table and Olivia and I headed out for some fun.

taking the time to enjoy shadows
priceless.........

Bubbles!

Perfect day for skipping rocks on the river

  
                   Story time



   "my tummy is talking and needs to
                  filled up"

     "take a picture of me!"

                                  What a great day with my "sweet pea"

I pray, that God will give me wisdom to know when to throw out the To-do list and to always hold it loosely.

But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. James 1:5

IN the game

Last Friday I ventured out with three of my kids and a few others from the neighborhood to the Carolina Hurricanes game (woot-woot).  It was a general admission game so we hiked in from the parking lot passing all the tailgaters with fancy setups that lacked for nothing. (large TVs, grills you name it) The arena was packed so we climbed up all the stairs to the "nose bleed" section.  The kids didn't mind and it was the wow factor of being so high at first.  The game was slow initially and  the Canes scored in the last few seconds of the 2 period.  The kids started to slouch in the seats with their knees in their shirts watching the game with a little less enthusiasm than when we arrived. We decided to take a bathroom break before the 3rd period and went back into the arena on the bottom level where we found seats closer to the ice.   The atmosphere was different it didn't seem as cold, it was louder and more exciting.  There were strangers slapping your hand during a goal and the kids danced around and cheered.  Just out of curiosity I glanced back at our original seats wondering if it was colder and less exciting up there.  My observation proved correct, it seemed the people in the "nose bleed" section didn't appear to be IN the game at all, just watching.
I just couldn't help but think that I had once been in the "nose bleed" section in my spiritual journey. It's not about being on the outside of the arena tailgating, or just watching from far off, its about being IN the game. When I accepted Christ as my Savior, I was no longer camped out on the outside or stuck way up in the stands. Asking forgiveness for our sin and having a personal relationship with Christ is our ticket to get IN the game.  No longer did I have to be like the people that were tailgating on the outside having all the comforts but never experiencing the action up close.  It took the work of Jesus on the cross to get me into the game.  All I had to do was join the team.

Romans 3:23, Romans 6:23, Romans 5:8, Ephesians 2:8-9, John 5:24

Carolina Huricanes "nose bleed section"

 

nose bleed section



bathroom break

New seats close to the action

Final Score Hurricanes 2 Thrashers1