From "Job Oriented" to "Mom" to "God Follower"......I Love It

I find myself with so much so say but so few words to say it when I actually go to put it into print.  It has been a wild, crazy summer and while I have loved every minute of it I have found that it has slipped away from me all to fast! So I will recap from the start and try not to take too long, lol.  (Some of this may repeat from an earlier post, I apologize.)

In the beginning of June, Jaret finished his internship through Central Community Church and was ordained as a licensed pastor in the state of IL.  He quit his job at Midas after almost 7 years to go into full time ministry as an Associate Pastor/Youth Director at CCC. I am so proud of him for following what God is calling him to do in his life.  It is such a wonderful experience for the both of us because as much as he has grown in God, so have I. 

I began a Girls group Ministry at CCC in June.  Wow, was I scared but God knew what he was doing when he laid this group/study on my heart back in February.  Myself along with four other wonderful women of God  lead a bible study of 10-20 teenage girls and I think we learned as much as the girls did.  Watching these wonderful young women learn that God designed each of them unique and special to shine just for him was breath taking.  So many of the girls had major break through and have realized the God's plans are so much better than what we have planned for ourselves.  I am so proud of each one of them!

We were blessed once again to be able to go to Jamaica on a mission trip.  I have to say it felt like "going home" again.  I didn't realize just how much last year had impacted me till we landed in Jamaica again in July.  This year we built a house for a family with 3 teenage daughters.  Now a house to us has a living room, kitchen, bathroom, 2 or 3 bedrooms, etc.........but for them it is a one room (10' x 14') for 5 people......there was no kitchen, bedroom, or bathroom but to them is was a mansion!  God blessed our team with life long friendships and new family there.  if you ever have a chance o go on a mission trip to help others I highly suggest you take it.  Whether it is in the USA, Jamaica, Haiti, Dominican, or China I promise you God will not let you down.  It will change your life!

Over the last several months Jaret and I have been in prayer regarding my job.  I have felt a constant pull away from my current position over the last year.  It's funny how God seems to change everything you ever thought you knew about yourself when you let Him in completely.  God has answered us and in December I will be leaving my job and I will begin concentrating on my family and helping Jaret out at the church.  I am so excited!  I am also planning on going back to school but we will see where God leads us.

Our children have been pretty busy this summer as well, mainly just being kids as they should.  It's so great to be able to spend time with our children and not have to worry about the next errand or appointment to run to.  To laugh with them, play in the fountain with them, go get ice cream together, play on the slip-n-slide together.  Which by the way I highly recommend doing if you haven't in a while, I had forgotten just how much FUN they were!  I loved being a stay-at-home mommy!  As school starts back up we now have 2 - 4th graders, a 3rd grader, and a 1st grader.  Colin is 10 yrs old now, Hannah is 9 yrs old,  David is 8 yrs old, and Faith is now 6 yrs old.  We have a very full house and I LOVE IT!

I think I will call it a night at this point till I get the rest of my thoughts in order.  Till then I have to say not only do I love being a mommy but I love being a pastor's wife as well.  God really knows what he is doing even when we think it's crazy!

I Love This Life!

Wed AfterGlow and Designed To Shine

Tonight was the last Wed evening AfterGlow event before school starts back on Aug. 16th.  Some of the AfterGlow members went to Megan's house for a swim party, we also celebrated Sean's birthday.  It was great to just get together and act like goofballs!  Thanks to Megan and Sam for opening up their pool to us.  We had a great group tonight: Johnny, Reaghan, Alex, Blake, Carrie, Suzie, Emmy, Kyle, Sean, Josh, and Zac. Then of course you add Jaret and I, along with our 2 boys, to the mix and the pool was pretty full.  It was a great way for AfterGlow to end their summer break.

We are also coming up on our last night of Designed To Shine girl's bible study.  Just two more nights after tonight.  This is the first study that I have done and I think it has gone well.  While we started out with 19 girls, it had become a smaller more intimate group but this is a group of girls that I feel have gotten pretty close and have grown to rely on each other and that warms my heart.  I have enjoyed watching the girls grow in God and I see them getting a better/closer relationship each week. 

I am hoping to recap the summer for AfterGlow soon.  Right now I just don't have all the words.

1 Timothy 4:12

Sunday Superb

Sunday morning service was great as usual.  Last week was VBS for Central Community Church so at the 10 am service any of the VBS kids & workers went up front to perform one of the songs we learned last week.  Everyone had a great time, even Colin and David enjoyed it even though they were only there for the last 2 days of it. 


Sunday evening was AfterGlow, what an amazing group of teens we work with at CCC.  We had a record breaking 42 teens last night for youth group and everyone seem to really enjoy themselves.  A lot of new faces last night and I hope they will return.  We have been working with Afterglow for going on 3 years now and have watched many of them grow up before our eyes.  We have 4 that will be graduating this year and while this saddens me a bit it also makes me a very proud surrogate mom!  I know they have a wonderful foundation in Christ and I know they will make the right choices.  I couldn't be more proud of our teens.

After youth group we loaded everyone up and took them to Lytle Pool for the all church swim party.  We had a whopping 250 people there last night.  Might have been more but that is the amount that signed in at least.  It's always a fun time when the church gets together like this for fellowship, food, and fun!

http://www.mattooncentralcommunity.org/

Busy Summer

So I am completely new to this.  Not sure what I will have to say or if anyone will even be interested but this will at least be a good way for family and friends to keep up with us.

Ever since school let out in May we have been on the go.  The kids are always busy and on the go.  Jaret quit working at Midas in May when his internship at Central Community Church was finished.  He is now a full time Associate Pastor/Youth Pastor at CCC.  It has been an interesting change of events in our lives.  He is much happier working for God.  We have wonderful youth leaders helping us with AfterGlow, which is our youth group at CCC.  They are a great bunch of teens!

As for myself, well, I have enjoyed watching our 4 children this summer and am rather sad school is getting ready to start back up.  Luckily, Jaret and I have decided that in December I will be able to stop work and begin helping him out at our church.  I am very excited for this new opportunity in my life.

So when I think of more to say I will be back.  This may take some time to get everything up and going.