VBS 2015- Get ready to MOVE!

VBS is next week from June 22-25 9:00am-12:00 noon and then wrapping up with a Family Experience Friday, June 26 from 6:30-7:15.  We’re looking forward to a great time!

What I love about VBS is this week cannot be possible without the passion of our amazing church family.  Planning for this week takes an incredible team of people.  I want to thank all of our volunteers that have helped:

recruit volunteers

develop creative arts and crafts

organize all of our youth volunteers

plan all of the amazing decor for the church

volunteer to teach

volunteer to be a small group leader

help lead music

help in the large group each morning

I would like to specifically thank our  Leadership Team:  Debbie Anderson, Meridith Saunders, Heather Coleman, Cheryl Hamilton, Cathy Turner, Suzanne Judkins, and Elisha Harrison.   This group of church volunteers have worked so hard for months to insure that this VBS will be the best year yet!

St. Andrew shows again, and again what a church can be.  We support one another and work together to bring the love and light of Christ to all we encounter.

So, thank you St. Andrew!  You are all amazing!

I though the blog entry that I wrote from last year would be a great way to start VBS this week.  Let's get read to MOVE!  VBS 2015!!!

Looking for Amazing Things (6/27/14)
I just completed an AMAZING week at St. Andrew.  We had so much fun at our VBS!  We had about 500 people in the building (children, youth, and volunteers).

It was a week that was full of many things.  As the children's pastor, it is easy to view things in "how can we do this better next year" attitude.   Every day we looked on what happened each day and how we can make it better next year.  The problem with this perspective is that you don't focus on the amazing things that are happening.  You focus on what needs to be changed.

When I changed my perspective I saw:

- Children experiencing faith in a new and exciting way
- Volunteers putting their whole heart into make this week wonderful
- New families to the area getting connected to a church home
- All different generations working together (our volunteers ranges from teenagers to grandmothers)
- Over a thousand toiletry items donated to the Plus One Mission for our church.

The week of VBS is an amazing week. What will you see this week when you change your perspective and look for Amazing things happening all around you?!?

Looking for Amazing Things

I just completed an AMAZING week at St. Andrew.  We had so much fun at our VBS!  We had about 500 people in the building (children, youth, and volunteers).

It was a week that was full of many things.  As the children's pastor, it is easy to view things in "how can we do this better next year" attitude.   Every day we looked on what happened each day and how we can make it better next year.  The problem with this perspective is that you don't focus on the amazing things that are happening.  You focus on what needs to be changed.

When I changed my perspective I saw:

- Children experiencing faith in a new and exciting way
- Volunteers putting their whole heart into make this week wonderful
- New families to the area getting connected to a church home
- All different generations working together (our volunteers ranges from teenagers to grandmothers)
- Over a thousand toiletry items donated to the Plus One Mission for our church.
- Our children's teams working together like clockwork
- (Personal note) A husband that came home from work early to cook dinner so I could just sit.

The week of VBS is an amazing week. What will you see this week when you change your perspective and look for Amazing things happening all around you?!?

May Madness…..June bliss?

I don't know who I was kidding when I said….when May is so crazy- I can't wait until June.  May might be crazy but this June is really no different; we are moving out of our first home, VBS is the end of the month, the boys have baseball tournaments, birthdays, etc. etc.

Why do we always want what is next?  My goal: I want to stop saying, I can't wait until…..

It is such an easy thing to say…..

"I can't wait until the kids are out of diapers."-----This might translate in your head that you clean less poop, but when you do…. it is everywhere from the toes to the nose!  You must also have 2 changes of clothing with you at all times for about 2 years.  This also means that pretty soon they will not fit in your lap after you pick them up from school......

"I can't wait until finals are over (you really can insert anything into "finals").  Yes, I might have a few weeks off school, but it is not long before I get  my book list for the next class and that list always takes my breath away!

"I can't wait until summer!"  This sentence last for about 2 weeks and then it changes to…."I can't wait for school to start."  Ok....that might be a stretch........but you get my point.

Ok, you get the picture…we can always wait for, wish for, the next big thing.   OR we can enjoy the moment that we are in.

I am not saying that every phase of our lives is always awesome…in fact at times it really stinks!  The picture above was a horrible Christmas when Dan was in the hospital.  But, thankfully I can now look back and find the good that was buried in the bad.  When you live into that moment it will turn into: a memory that you are happy to leave in your past, or a memory that you will treasure.

My perspective:  Keep your eyes on what is happening now.  Live into it…. the moments are so fast and every day is a blessing.  Honestly, even the bad ones they are a part of who you are.

Ecclesiastes 5:18-20, MSG After looking at the way things are on this earth, here’s what I’ve decided is the best way to live: Take care of yourself, have a good time, and make the most of whatever job you have for as long as God gives you life. And that’s about it. That’s the human lot. Yes, we should make the most of what God gives, both the bounty and the capacity to enjoy it, accepting what’s given and delighting in the work. It’s God’s gift! God deals out joy in the present, the now. It’s useless to brood over how long we might live.

I have not blogged for a long time….but this time of my life I see so much stress in people lives (AKA my own life).....

My heart says, "Enjoy each moment….they vanish like a blink of an eye."  But, I am tired......

THEN- I sat at lunch last Sunday with a family of young kids, a retired man, and my oldest son. The retired man looked at us and said, "You are living life now.  Enjoy it. You are working, you are tired, you are overwhelmed.  This is the life."

WHAT?

Then he said, "I am retired, I have to think of things to do each day.  I am not ‘needed' at games, at school, etc.  I have done that.  I miss it so much.  Please enjoy this time you are in now.  It is overwhelming, you are tired, but you know you are loved and needed."

*PAUSE GAME*

I realize that as life happens we tend to ignore it.  We just do it.  We take our kids here and there and are annoyed about how busy our days are……but what else are our days supposed to be?  

I have a busy life with a busy family.  It annoys me.  I'll be honest.

This man let me look at it by a different perspective.

This is my life and I would not want it any other way.  I love my husband more that words can say.  I miss a night with him without anything to do……

but…..I also love the life that we have created.  I love the nights at the baseball fields, the night of homework, the stress of where are my baseball cleats, the mornings that I wake up thinking…"Can I take a nap today?"……

But, this is my life.  I really would not want it any other way.  I do what I can to make it suitable.  We have crock pot meals, random what is in the pantry meals, cereal night, and drive through night……that is just ok.  It does not need to look like  http://www.pinterest.com…..it just needs to look like my family.

May is crazy.  A family life in May is NUTS.  I also was on a work conference and we are taking an anniversary trip that I planned thought this would be a great time before summer (WHAT?!?!?)…….Don't' even think about finals, teacher appreciation week, Mother's Day, Promotion Sunday is around the corner….then VBS!!!!!

I hope my life stays crazy.  I am thankful that a family needs me, that my calling needs me, that my husband needs me.  I will take a nap when I am 70-- right before I remind people my current age/life stage that this time is crazy busy so very special.  Don't miss out.....