Sunday, June 29, 2008

God's Not Dead

Wow, two posts in one day! Just making up for the fact that I won't be posting much in the next week since we'll be on vacation in SD with family (and the majority of those who read this will be with us). :-)

So my title for this post is "God's Not Dead"--we used to sing this song when I was in what was called children's church at my church--yeah I know some of you are probably thinking, children's church at a church, crazy concept...you may have thought I was going to say at the grocery store or something else. Hahaha...hope the sense of humor comes through :-)

Anyways, back to the song...I was thinking about this song today as I was thinking about some of the ways I've been seeing God and how He is still working and moving. Hope these encourage you as they have me.

Last Wed night in youth group I really felt that Pastor Scott (our youth pastor) was supposed to ask if there were any youth who wanted to be prayed for, I really didn't want to have to interrupt Pastor Scott if he was going in a different direction, so my immediate reaction was to hope God would lay it on his heart too. WOW was I amazed when God did just this :-) It was a neat feeling to know that we (as a youth group) were following God's leading. So some of the youth raised there hands saying they wanted prayer and I got the privilege to pray with a girl who shared with me in previous weeks that there was a lot of fighting in their home and that her parents might get divorced--so she was asking for prayer for this...yes, this was a privilege to pray with her.

Another recent God spotting :-) was today when I was asked if I'd be a part of the publicity team for MOPS. I've been praying about being a part of the MOPS Steering Committee and now God is putting this all together. I really want to share MOPS with other moms who need a friend, need a break from their child(ren), just want to get out of the house, or all of the above. So I am going to be doing a blog for our MOPS group starting this fall as well as helping with other things. I am really excited to see how God uses me and where we go with this.

So now I will end with asking you to pray with me about the two things I just shared with you. Looking forward to seeing more of God and His works.

5th Anniversary

Just in case there is anyone out there reading this and wondering where the post is about our 5th anniversary...it's very hard to come up with something to do in comparison with the past 4 anniversaries. This year we opted to go to an authentic German restaurant to remind us of the past four years we spent in Germany. The food was great, the weather was great (so we sat outside--which we frequently did when in Germany's restaurants), the waitress was from Frankfurt and we felt like we were transported back to Germany as soon as we sat down. Tom had to work on our "real" anniversary, so we went out to eat a few days early...on our anniversary I made a nice meal and we exchanged cards and Tom brought me a bouquet of flowers.

Here are some reminders of past anniversaries...who knows maybe we'll do something later and call it our anniversary trip or event :-)

1st Anniversary - London














2nd Anniversary - Normandy














3rd Anniversary - London















4th Anniversary - Rome














5th Anniversary - Colorado Springs - sorry there's no picture :-(

Monday, June 23, 2008

First Swimming Outing

Today Gregory and I went to our first swimming outing while Tom was at work. Our friends and youth pastor, Scott & Ruth, are having a house built in a fairly new subdivision. One of the amenities they get to use already is a swimming pool. So they invited us and our friends Rachel and her little girl Emma. It was thunder shortly before we left to meet them at the pool, but it was in the opposite direction. The weather here is kind of funny with the mountains so close, it's hard to tell which direction the weather is moving...anyways we ventured out and into the pool. At first Gregory was pretty scared to be in such a big body of water I think. The water was really warm, which was awesome. I think I heard a little giggle once, so he wasn't completely scared, but then he got splashed in the face accidentally and that didn't make him happy one bit. Soon afterwards the lightning and thunder started up again, so we all jumped out of the pool and huddled around the warm fireplace that was by the pool. It was a short outing but we look forward to having fun with our friends again soon. Sorry there are no pictures...we were all in the pool and I didn't think to take any pictures before or after :-(

Friday, June 20, 2008

Happy Summer!

It's officially summer and we sure enjoyed the day--mostly outside. Today was the first of three MOPS park play dates. We had a great time...I got to know more of the other moms a little more, Gregory got to run around outside and Tom got to do some stuff around the house since he was off today--he even snuck a trip in to Home Depot--one of his favorite places.

Tom enjoyed getting to do some cleaning up the garage and organizing and using his new shop vac. I've never seen someone enjoy using a vacuum as much as he did today. :-)

Here are some pictures from today as we celebrated the first day of summer.

Gregory's had corn on the cob one other time, but didn't get into it as much as he did today...he loved it!


And playing in the water from the sprinkler is a new favorite activity too. I missed the photo of Gregory drinking water from the sprinkler, but it was pretty cute.

Saturday, June 14, 2008

Happy Father's Day

It's Father's Day and it's Tom's second year being a dad. I am going to take this opportunity to brag on my husband and what a good dad he's becoming. I think it takes a lifetime to become a parent--we're always learning something new.

I love it how you make Gregory laugh until he can't stop.
I love how you are quick to take a matter to God in prayer--whether it's finances, a headache or our upcoming day.
I love how you help around the house...no matter if it's laundry, dishes or a dirty diaper.
I love to see you actively worshiping God...it moves me to be more passionate about worship as well.
I love your passion about youth ministry.
I love how you care so much about your family and how important we are to you.
I love to see your interactions with Gregory...he is teaching us so much.

Yes, I know you're not perfect and I am sure your mom is wondering where you've been hiding all these wonderful traits for so long :-) but I want you to know we love you. And if for some reason you are thinking yeah but I lack in this area or that area, well take that as a nudge from the Holy Spirit--we all have things we need to work on.

Happy Father's Day Tom and remember there's a little boy wanting to grow up to be just like his dad...I know no pressure there ;-)

Monday, June 9, 2008

Bumps and Bruises

Here's a rough looking photo of Gregory...he fell off the ONE step from the deck onto the sidewalk face first. :-( Poor little guy.

Not too much else is going on here...Tom's working nights (only for one more after tonight) and I've been getting back to scrapbooking. Hopefully the next post will include my first page to Gregory's ABC book. I'm glad that I've at least found the motivation to get back to it all. Hard to put something away when you've invested so much into it already--now I've just got to get it done...someday. Keep looking :-)

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

How does my garden grow?

Last weekend we planted our garden. We planted Big Boy tomatoes, pear tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, lemon cucumbers, cucumbers, a green pepper plant, dill, carrots, peas, radishes, onions, lettuce and squash. So far the garden is doing pretty good...everything that was alive when we planted it, still is :-) Today we got a little rain from a quick thunderstorm or two, other than that we are having to water it like crazy. The tomato plants wilt quite easily. We also had our lawn aerated and fertilized and it seems to be looking better, in a month or so we'll put up some before and after pics and see what we all think.



Also in our gardening adventures we've planted two rose bushes in the front yard and they are doing wonderful as you can see by the pictures below.


It's so much fun seeing God grow what we plant, sure is like watching a parable in action as it all comes alive.