July Happenings

Here's our July so far in pictures....

My Macho Man showing of his muscles

And mowing the yard with his Mater Bubble Blower

And being an astronaut

A rare picture of me with both my boys

Fourth of July....the fireworks were loud
(And YES it's light out! My children are miserable when they stay up late and I don't feel the need to force them to stay up for a few fireworks. And it's not dark until 10pm)

Hubby pulling on some fire crackers

Me showing off my muscles :)

Reading time with Grammy

I cut his hair! He looks like such a big boy!

The damage

Seriously cute!

My big boy!

Five Minute Friday: Welcome

1. Write for 5 minutes flat with no editing, tweaking or self critiquing.

2. Link back here and invite others to join in

3. Go and tell the person who linked up before you what their words meant to you. Every writer longs to feel heard.

Welcome.

You are welcome Lord of Lords, You are welcome King of Kings!
You are welcome here!

I want my home, my family and my heart to sing this song every day! I want to welcome the King of Kings into our lives so that my sons know is voice. I want them to hang out with Him like a friend, the one who comes over unannounced and puts His feet on your coffee table. You don't mind, because that's just who He is and you love Him all the more for it.

I want to welcome in those who may not feel welcome somewhere else. So that they might hang out with our friend Jesus as well. And they can take Him home with them - because even if He's with them, He's still with us. How amazing is that? We can share and still not lose what we have. In fact, when we share, I believe we get even more of Him.

I'm not saying I succeed in that now. No, in fact I would say I fail most of the time. But, it's my desire none the less.

Leader or Armor Bearer?

So today I had an epiphany....but I get ahead of myself. First I'll give you some history about myself.

Everyone has always told me I'm a leader. I tend to corral people into the direction the group should be going. I step up if a leader is needed. Sometime - some people say - I tell people what to do :) But in all honesty, I've never liked that role for myself. I don't thrive on being a leader. I get stressed and don't like the confrontation that comes with it. This is true in my work, in my church, and even really in my family (even though some may dispute that point).

Years ago I was an armor bearer to the Youth Pastor and the Music Pastor (husband and wife) in our church. For those of you who don't know what an armor bearer is, let me explain. An armor bearer carries the armor. He goes out before the King or General to protect him from harm. He does anything, including giving his own life, for the person he is protecting. To read an amazing story of an armor bearer, read 1 Samuel 14. So in today's terms, an armor bearer is a protector, a boundary guard and an ultimate support.

I spent hours and hours working for these two amazing people. I volunteered my services. I thrived. I even quit my job to work for them when they decided to pursue their personal ministry (that didn't work out unfortunately). But in the end, I was young and I failed. I do believe it was God's timing that I move on and let someone else take that role, but it didn't happen in the right way. I hurt them and to this day I am very sorry for it.

Ever since then I have not been an armor bearer to anyone else. But, when I took on an leadership role, God had already provided an armor bearer for me. I did worship for a small women's conference a month after we moved to Idaho. God spoke to a lady that weekend. She came to me and told me she would do whatever it took to support me in leading worship. To this day she is one of my dearest friends. We are each others "Idaho BFF's" - both of us having BFF's in another state.

Shortly after that conference, we became the Worship Leaders at our church. I love leading worship, it's my passion in life. But I didn't love being in charge. I struggled with it and fought my flesh. I thought I just needed to learn and get over it because I know that God has called me to be a Worship Leader. That only lasted about a year because we got burnt out and had a different vision than the pastor.

I have since struggled with where I belong in regards to worship. Right now I am a part of an awesome team and I am loving my role. But I've been confused with why I'm loving my role. If I know God called me to be a Worship Leader, then why am I content not leading? It helps that we have two of the most amazing people as our leaders - no joke! They are seriously awesome and I love learning and growing under their leadership. I know we all go through times of growing and times of shining, so I just figured this was my time of growing.


Today I had an epiphany. I'm not a leader....I am an armor bearer! Our Worship Leader called me about something that had nothing do to with church, but another issue all together. It connected with an issue she was having at church (she's also the church administrator). I immediately got defensive for her. I got emotionally upset because of what has happened to her and the stress it has caused her. I immediately stepped in to help however I could. Walking away from that conversation it hit me. I'm an armor bearer, not a leader. I AM and armor bearer! That is my calling. That is what is in me. That is where I get passionate. I'm not sure why it took me this long to figure out, but God's timing is perfect. He reveals things to us when we are ready and willing to hear. I'm ready to listen. I'm ready to thrive in my calling. I'm ready to embrace my role and get going.

Thank You Lord for revealing this to me. I hate that my friend had to experience so much stress for me to find this out about myself. I pray that she will be renewed today. I pray that you will align things in her favor to relieve the stress that is out of her control. Cover her with your peace. In Jesus name, AMEN!

Five Minute Friday: Wonder

Wonder

My boys.
My beautiful boys are a wonder.
Riley and his curiosity, adventurous spirit and independence.
Aiden with his smiles, activity and exploration.
Then when they play together it's the most beautiful thing.
Riley does crazy things and Aiden just laughs and laughs.
A laugh that makes my heart melt.
They are wonderful.

Riley will test every boundary, but always while looking over his shoulder to see if I'm watching.
Aiden is always smiling if he's not crying.
Riley doesn't stop moving...neither does Aiden.
They both eat all day - I need to start a food savings account.

I wonder at the new things they do and say every day.
When I told Riley to be good for the baby sitter last night he said "I will be good" - he's never said that before.
Aiden just needs to get the other knee under him and he will be officially crawling. He makes really good time scooting on his belly for now.

*Added after the 5 minutes: It's a wonder I get to blog at all with these two little munchkins :)

Wordless Wednesday: Summer is Finally Here!

Date Day

Last Thursday I cancelled a doctors appointment, asked my Mom to come watch Aiden, and took Riley on a date to the zoo. It was just one of those days where I knew if I didn't do it, it would be a while before we had the opportunity again. We had already gone on a walk to the park and played a little bit, but I really felt like going to the zoo too. So we headed home, packed a lunch, and off we went.

It was half price day (Riley is still free!) and they had the butterfly exhibit. Unfortunately, the only pictures I got were of the butterflies, not any of us.

I think they really liked the color of my shirt because they were landing all over me. I will admit, it was slightly creepy, but really cool at the same time. My shirt was thin so I could feel them walking on me. I wish I could have gotten a picture of this one with it's wings open, it was so beautiful. It was an amazing blue color. They were the biggest butterflies in there.

Riley had a lot of fun in here. I could tell he was a little scared, but not too much. He secretly thought it was cool too!

We saw giraffes, penguins, monkeys, snakes, lions, goats, an anteater - but can you guess Riley's favorite part of the zoo? The old jeep! He starts talking about the jeep before we even get to the zoo. Unfortunately it's pretty popular so we can't stay on it very long and he usually throws a fit when he has to get off. It wasn't too horrible this time so that was good.

(This picture is from last summer)

All in all we had a great day! But I was on my feet from about 10am to 2pm, went home and cleaned my kitchen, made dinner and then went to worship practice from 7pm-8:30pm (where I was on my feet again). I was pretty sore the next day, but it was worth it for a fun day with my boy!

Five Minute Friday: Home

Home.

Where little boys giggle and play.

Where Buzz Lightyear sits on the couch next to Mommy and Daddy while they watch TV in the evenings after the boys are in bed.

Where firsts are created - first tooth (today, yay!), first steps, first words, first memory verses.

Where baseball and "bollyvoll" (volleyball) is played.

Where babies cry in the middle of the night and where Mommy and Daddy get no sleep.

Where we live, where we play.

We have lived in three different houses in the three years that Riley has been on this earth, and all of them were home. Where ever we are is home. Where ever we invite God to be a part of our lives is home. Where ever we gather with friends, live, work, and play, is home.

My family is my home.

Join Gypsy Mama for Five Minute Friday
1. Write for 5 minutes flat – no editing, no over thinking, no backtracking.
2. Link back here and invite others to join in.
3. Get a little crazy with encouragement for the five minuter who linked up before you.