Heat Wave!

Wow! What a beautiful day! 35 degrees! I decided to take the kids and the dog to the Farmland Park today. It felt so good to just get out and run around. Lately, we have been stuck in the house so this was a nice change. I think our dog, Miley, enjoyed it the most. She was all over the park! It amazes me that a 20 degree difference in the weather feels so much better. I hope you enjoy the pictures!

Good Things

Yes, I have found some good things about winter here in Farmland. Note, the key word some. One thing that Cari Lott brought to my mind is baking. I love to bake when it's freezing cold outside. I don't bake much in the summer so it's nice to try new recipies in the winter. My favorite is chocolate chip cookies. There is nothing better than smelling cookies baking with that gooey yummy chocolate! The other day I was driving to work and the sunrise was a beautiful orange color on the horizon. God is such a breathtaking artist. To go along with things I am thankful for, I want to share some videos of worship songs that have really spoken to me lately on these cold, depressing days. Just click on my featured videos. O Praise Him is awesome!

Bad Attitude

I'm in one of those bad attitude moods about the weather. It's too stinking cold to do anything! I awoke this morning with my daughter trying to tell me there were pretty ice swirls on the inside of her window in her bedroom and that I needed to come look! All I'm thinking at this point is "the inside?". Since the freakishly cold weather, I have seen just how badly our house needs to be winterized. I can't start my washer tonight becuase the pipes are frozen, so that just adds to my bad mood. Here I am having the worst attitude and my daughter sees the beauty in the cold. As I was leaving the church the other day when it was snowing, someone said, "What a beautiful day!" I was like, "What?" She was trying to see the beauty in the snow and here I am having a horrible attitude. I think God is trying to teach me that even in the bleakest cold, His beauty is shone to those who will look for it. I am going to try and look for it even though I really am tired of the cold. I know God will not let me down. Hopefully tomorrow I will have a better attitude and I will be able to write about the beauty he is going to show me. Here is an awesome picture of winter that I found on the internet that I thought was really spectacular! I hope you enjoy it! I think my attitude is improving already!

More Random Thoughts You Didn't Know

1. When I chew strong minty gum I sneeze.

2. My favorite music group of all time is PFR (a.k.a. Pray For Rain).

3. I tried to ask Dennis Rodman (he used to play for the Spurs) for his autograph but he said and I quote, "Not right now, baby."

4. I love to snow ski, but I haven't been since High School.

5. I met Tiger Woods and got his autograph (ask me to tell you the story sometime).

6. I love sushi (Does anyone know of somewhere around here to get some!)

THE RETURN OF LOST

I can't wait! I'm so excited! Thursday,January 31st! I know I sound a little too excited, but if you are fans of the show, then you know exactly what I'm talking about. This season some of the survivors are getting off the island and this is huge! The last three seasons have been all about trying to get off the island. If you haven't been watching it and you want to start go to http://abc.go.com/primetime/lost/index?pn=index and click on the recap in 8 minutes of the whole show. It has everything you need to know in it. Here is several others links if you are a real serious fan. These websites try to help you figure out why the island is special. You'll find a lot of people with their ideas and thoughts and you can post some of your own. http://lostpedia.com/wiki/Main_Page

http://www.lost-tv.com/

http://www.losthatch.com/-- This one is really great becuase it has the transcripts of each show, so if you aren't sure about something that happened you can go here and search.

I know, I'm going a little overboard but you wouldn't believe all the websites out there for this show. The best part about the show is it's secrecy and randomness. You really can't predict what is going to happen next and it's hard to put everything together becuase there is so much going on. These websites help you understand the show even a little better than you would have yourself. I love it! Stay tuned for blogs after every Lost show. If I can find any fans out there I would love your feedback on it too!

Diary of a Children's Pastor #3

Well, I think the Pirate Party was a hit. It seemed to me that the kids were having a great time. I would have done a lot of things differently and I'm sure if you were there you would agree. That's the hard part about pulling an event off that you've never done before. The good thing is next time I know how many people to ask for help, what supplies I need, and how many tickets to get next time. I will say this, we sold out of tickets and had only a few people after that ask for tickets, so I came pretty close to what I anticipated. The few weeks before I was in constant prayer about this day and I know God was there. I even had one lady comment that she was surprised that all the kids weren't running around like crazy and that they were evenly dispersed among the games. I must say that I really wasn't surprised because I knew that was
God working. He is so good to me and it amazes me how he works around my failures. Thank you God! And a HUGE thank you to all who helped me today and last night. I think we worked really well as a team. You are AWESOME!

My thoughts this morning

I was trying to figure out what to blog about and several ideas came to mind. My husband has been talking on his blog about the "Emergent Church" so I threw around that idea. So here goes. The part I just don't understand about the whole issue of loving people but tolerating them is this: Why can't Brian McClarin just say the homesexuality is a sin? It's right here in the Bible! "Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanders nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God . . .the body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord." I think that God is VERY clear on living in sin. Our bodies are meant to be the Lords and when we fill it with sin of any kind, we become farther and farther away from God. It disturbs me that Brian McClarin isn't very clear. He loves people and that is awesome, but loving people also means being straight with them when they are doing something that doesn't glorify God. I think we need to pray for this church and for Brian that his eyes are open to the word.

"Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." Romans 12:2

Arrrrrgh, Matey!

I've been working the last three weeks to try and rent out a movie theater so the families in the church could go and see the new Veggie Tale movie: The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything! Today was the day I finalized everything. I'm so excited about this. I mean, how rare is it that a good, Christian film hits the theaters that's also kid-friendly? I really want our church to embrace this and support these film makers. I have rented out the Showplace 12 theater in Muncie on January 19 at 10:00 am. I hope all of you take advantage of this and bring your families. It's a great way to ask someone you know who doesn't have a personal relationship with Jesus to a church function. Ask your neighbors, friends, family, anyone you can think of. I will charge $2.50 a ticket for the first 100 people. After that, you can pay $5.50 at the door. Please sign-up in the Family Life Center this Sunday so I know about how many people are going to come. Next Sunday, we are having a Rootbeer and Cheese Curls party in honor of the Veggie Pirates during Big KidZone on Sat. night and Sun. morning. You won't want to miss it! I remember several years ago going to the theater to see the Jonah Veggie Tale movie and taking my whole family. After the movie was over, everyone stood up and cheered! I know this sounds a little much becuase it is only a movie, but what I really think people were clapping for was the fact that they just watched a movie that glorified God and was well done. It was such a neat feeling to know that probably everyone in that theater loved God. I know God works through these films and I hope our church can be a part of that.

The Comeback of the Century!

Oh yes, I did it! I beat James in our re-match just two minutes ago! Oh yeah! Let me tell you the glorious ending! I had 6,000 points, James just rolled his last and ended at 11,450 points, enough to win. My turn and I know there is no way I can come back to beat him with only 6,000 points, I roll and get enough to keep rolling several times. Okay, now I have 11,150. I need to roll another three, I have only one dice to roll. Yes, I think you know the rest of the story, I rolled a three to beat James with a score of 11,850! And the crowd goes wild! Well, I was the only one who went wild since it was just James and I in the room, but you get the picture. This game will live in my thoughts forever or probably until the next time we play and James kills me again! Oh well, I can rub it in his face at least for a little while.

Farkel: not just a fun game anymore

So, I had to blog about my big butt whooping in Farkel against who else? My husband who NEVER LOSES A GAME EVER! I can't believe it! Why, why, why! Just to let you know how the game went, my first score was 1,950 points, pretty good. James only got 1,050. I was ahead like this the whole game, I was rolling straights, triple pairs, five-of-a-kinds! It was awesome! The last rolls of the game I ended with 10,900. You need 10,000 to win. James only had 8,300 and one roll left. Little did I know he was going to have the ROLL OF HIS LIFE! He got up to 9,400, then 10,600, and finally ended with 12,100. Are you kidding me? Just when I thought I would finally beat him at something, BAM! Farkel is not just a game anymore to me, it's a chance for redemption. Watch out James, I want a re-match.

Rockin' at the CatBox

The beautiful coffee ladies, and would you believe one of them hates coffee!

I actually got a group picture!

Rock the CatBox Security, be afraid, be very afraid.

Oh my gosh, I had so much fun! James really out did himself and I think that all who attended will agree! You would think that my favorite part was listening to the bands, which by the way I got a headache from head banging (I'm too old for this). No, my favorite part about last night was connecting with people at the church that I really haven't sat down and talked to before. It was so much fun just hanging out and talking, I think we should do this every week! (Except the part about staying up until midnight) There are so many neat personalities at the church and I was grateful that I got to know some of them last night. And who doesn't love the T-shirts? Awesome! The one thing that shocked me was that my kids lasted all night without getting cranky and tired! Wow, they must have had a good time! Lucas' favorite part was "winning a prize" and his favorite band was "those second people"! Sidney said, "I had so much fun it didn't matter that I didn't win a prize, I got a t-shirt from daddy!" Needless to say, our family can't

wait until next year!