The Pinterest Challenge

I am in love with pinterest. Upon first discovery, I spent way too much time looking through things and pinning items that I will probably never use.  Chad thought it was another silly women thing and I don't remember exactly what he said but it made me want to challenge myself to actually do some of the projects I was pinning.

...and with that came the "pinterest challenge".  Basically I try and take 1 pin each week be it food, craft, cleaning, whatever, and do it.  I don't always get it done but my hard fast rule is if I pin new items then I have to do at least one.

With that being said I pinned more items these past couple days and thus had to do a project....I am actually quite proud of myself because in the last two days I did not 1 but 2 projects.  The second one I did yesterday was make homemade laundry detergent.  I've had the items for over a month now but just hadn't made it.  Since there are plenty of blogs out there on how to make it, I won't bother but here is the link to the one I used in case you are interested. http://www.onegoodthingbyjillee.com/2011/07/brand-name-laundry-detergents-last.html

The other one I did was a framed piece using Z's hand and foot prints.  I used this blog for instructions: http://www.thisgloriousday.com/2012/01/act-justly-love-mercy-walk-humbly.html

It was super simply and I love the finish project.

First, I took a piece of poster board I got at the dollar store for $.69 and cut it to my size. In the blog I think she said she did 16x20 but I made my 8x10 since Z is still so little.

 Next I had to find one of these =)

He wasn't so sure about the paint brush

Then I waited for the paint to dry.  

For the wording I had a metallic sharpie on hand that worked great.

And there you have it

On the wall above my desk. 

(I have since added pictures around it to make it not look so tiny on the wall)

And there you have it. My pinterest challenge of the week. =)

San Diego (Part 2)

 As AIM's West Coast Missions Conference wrapped up, I was left with a week to spend with my family and see some friends.  While I could bore you with a list of all those I saw, how bout some pictures instead?

Z playing the guitar with Uncle Samuel

Meeting Great Grandma Faith

Z and Aunt Joicers on her 6th birthday

He definitely got doted on by his cousins

All in all, it was a wonderful week.  One final thought: this visit I had the opportunity to connect with many different groups of friends.  I continue to be blessed by all the different people that God has brought into my life and it's amazing how each and every person ministers and challenges me in a different way.  So thank you to my California family (by blood and beyond). Until next time!

San Diego (Part 1)

These past two weeks I have spent in my home town of San Diego to help out with AIM's annual West Coast Missions Conference.  Well...the first week was to help with the conference and the second was to spend some time with my family. =) So much happened that I feel the need to separate this into two posts.

This year's conference was set-up a little differently as the AIM San Diego Team hosted it (normally headquarters hosts it).  What this meant was training the executive and assistant directors on everything it takes to put together a conference...it just happened to be a huge bonus that it was my mom and brother I was training. =)  I've spent a good portion of these last two months talking my mom and brother through the different steps of putting this conference together and even more, how to train those under them to run and put it together.

I then took on the adventure of traveling to San Diego with Z all by myself (which I've already written some about).  I was excited to touch down in San Diego and be mobbed by my nieces, nephew and siblings as I stepped off of the elevator.  I spent that night chilling with my family and mentally preparing for the next day.

Wednesday was filled with meeting with the SALT (Student ACTION Leadership Team) of AIM San Diego.  They each came individually or as a family group. I had back-to-back meetings from 9am - 6:30 pm.  Needless to say it was a full day.

Thursday was spent running through all of the last minute things and running errands for the conference.

...and then came the big day, Friday.  We again met with the SALT early to run through final details before the attendees arrived.  We had 69 students, parents and younger siblings attending the conference. This included the 26 AIM San Diego students, students from the San Diego area, and a team of people from Lompoc, Ca.

Something unusual happened for me this conference in that I actually got to sit in on several of the classes.  Normally, I am teaching during these times or doing other tasks to keep things on track.  This year however, with the SALT leading most of the classes and then parents teaching several as well, I only taught during one of the class periods.  Also, we had a parent completely in charge of the kitchen with a wonderful team of helpers so I did nothing in that area either...other than to sneak some samples here or there. =)

We wrapped up the conference with three different presentations.  One at a church, one at an American Legion family picnic and finally, one at Seaport Village.  It was neat to see how versatile the art of mime is as we went from ministering to a body of Christians, veterans, and then to anyone who happened to be at Seaport Village that day.

Overall, the conference was a huge success and a wonderful way to spend time with my family but more on that later...

Oh and what's a blog without a couple pictures of a bunch of mimes?

Group Picture at Seaport Village

Libs after a mime paint class 

thank you for blessing me

Two weeks ago, I took on the adventure of traveling to San Diego via plane with my 4 month old son...all by myself.  I really wasn't too nervous about the trip as he is an easy going baby but I think any parent always wonders if their child is going to be the one screaming for the whole two hour flight.  On top of that, I had several people tell me to just ignore any comments or glances from people about Z (meaning people aren't always that pleasant when they find out that they will be traveling with a child on the plane).  While I was quite pleased with how he did overall, I was even more blessed by the people God placed beside me.

On my first flight, I had a window seat.  I sat by myself for awhile and then a gentleman sat in the aisle seat.  I was pretty sure he wouldn't be bothered by Z as across the aisle was his family including a two year old.  Then came our middle seat companion.  He was a middle age business man and was heading home after a business conference.  Any uneasiness I had about how he would handle sitting next to a baby quickly dissolved as he starting playing with Z and told me about his 9 grandchildren with another one on the way.  He (the gentleman) even took a nap for a portion of the flight which allowed me to nurse Z without worrying if it would make him uncomfortable.

On my next flight, I was supposed to sit in the middle seat. I quickly got moved over by a mom of two who insisted that I take the window seat.  She was sweet and that flight too was uneventful.  As I was deplaning, I  reached to get my backpack out of the overhead when another passenger insisted in not only getting it down for me but also carrying it off of the plane.

Needless to say, thank you to you if you were one of those people I sat with or saw a mom in need and helped out...here's hoping that my traveling companions tomorrow are just as understanding. =)

Kansas Mime Camp

This past week, Chad and I had the opportunity to take a missions team of 10 to Kansas to help run a mime camp there.  Including our students, there were around 50 young people participating in 5 teams.  I have helped at this particular camp 3 other times dating all the way back to '03 (yes, I am getting old....er).  The camp takes place in Rose Hill, Kansas and is a true small midwestern town that I have grown to love.  I have  many wonderful memories here and it was neat to be able to share them with Chad.

This camp is always a wonderfully exhausting experience.  It runs from 9-9 each day and we fill it with Bible studies, Bible memorization, learning new mimes, (delicious) food, and chapel...we even had some down time where we "gave" our students the opportunity to practice their public speaking skills with impromptu speeches about "why rubber duckies should have mustaches" and debates such as "flip flops vs. sandals".

Since the camp ran over 4 days (5 nights), some of the local families opened up their homes to us.  Chad and I (and Ezekiel) were hosted by a family of 5.  Host homes are always a favorite part of any of my trips.  We had a great time talking each evening with our hosts.  In the mornings, the children were always excited to finish breakfast and get to play with Ezekiel on the floor.  They had a blast trying to imitate his "superman" pose. =)  This was a particularly encouraging time for me talking with our hosts and asking some on how they had raised their children.  While I know all children are a work in progress, their children were well behaved and it was obvious that they were intentional in their raising and instructing of them.

Going back to the camp, on Thursday evening, the teams put together a presentation to showcase all of the songs they had learned the past few days.  In looking at the program and deciding what we wanted our team to do, we decided we needed a light-hearted song to open up the presentation. Chad didn't like that options we had available and decided that we needed to choreograph a new one....and thus, "Joe, Joe, and Jehovah"  was created. Chad came up with the story line of the song and we spent a good portion of Wednesday night looking for just the right music to fit the story.  Click here if you want to check it out.  I think we can safely say that Chad has officially become "one of those mimes". =)

Finally, yet another one of my favorite parts of this camp is we always put an all camp mime together.  This year we did "Exodus" which, well you guessed it, is about Exodus. Click here if you want to see what a song looks like with 50 mimes.

Overall, I was blessed to have yet another opportunity to minister with my husband and son and to get to spend a whole week together serving the Lord.

and life moves on...

So, something about having a newborn just makes time go by faster.  Each day seems to be a whirlwind and I am always surprised when the end of the day arrives.  So much has happened but I'll attempt to summarize this and not make it a book. =)

April:

Through March, April and May our house was filled with many guests coming to see the new baby.  We enjoyed visits from my sister Jessie, friend Lizzy, Chad's family, my family, and Chad's twin.

Also in April, AIM hosted its annual Leadership Conference with over 70 people in attendance.  It was a lot of work putting together but was a blessing to all who attended. 

May:

We moved to a home a little further north and just outside of Branson.  We moved for many reasons, the biggest being: closer to Springfield were Chad will continue pursuing his Master's degree, cheaper rent, and best of all, it's outside of the city some, sits on an acre lot and has a wonderful back deck with a gorgeous view.  We are loving our new place and believe this will be a place we call home for awhile.

June:

June was a little calmer if you can call it that.  Chad and I celebrated our two year anniversary with a train ride, time on the lake, and of course, ice cream!

July:

We started out this month heading out to Virginia visiting Chad's family.  Ezekiel was able to meet a lot of extended family including all of his great grandparents on that side of the family.  As always the time went by too fast but we were thankful for the visit.

Upon our arrival home, our house was invaded by two wonderful young ladies.  They came to intern with AIM for the month and we have loved having them here.  They have had true servant's hearts being willing to do whatever the need is here and we can't say enough good things about them. =)

While the AIM team here didn't have a summer session, we did pull the team together for a presentation we were asked to do.  Here's a link to the song the presented.  It's called "Gifter".  (WARNING: I was holding a baby who was trying to nuzzle his face into my shoulder and fall asleep...so it might be just a little, itsy, bitsy shaky) =)

Current plans:

And now for the future plans...currently we are getting ready to take a team of 8 students on a week long mission trip to Kansas to run a camp there.  It will be my 4th time at this camp and the days are always full and crazy but rewarding.  I'm looking forward to the new challenge of adding a 4 month old into the mix.

Immediately after the camp in Kansas, I'll be flying out to San Diego for two weeks.  The first week will be spent with the AIM team and helping them run the annual missions conference out there.  The second week will be spent with my family.  I'm especially excited to have Ezekiel meet his Uncle Stuart who hasn't had the opportunity to yet.

And after that, hopefully things will die down for awhile...well as much as they can with a little one. =)

Ezekiel with his two new playmates...aka the iterns

Ezekiel Ross

Ezekiel Ross entered our world Thursday, March 22nd, at 1:58 pm.  He weighed in at a whopping 8 lbs 14 ounces, was 21 inches long, head was 14 inches and chest was 14 1/2.  While I will admit, the labor was intense, hard, and seemed like it would never end at times, I had a wonderful support group between Chad and the two midwives that were there.  The midwives stayed away for the most part and let Chad and I work through labor together.  Words cannot begin to describe how perfect he was throughout the whole process.

It has been amazing preparing for this little life since we first found out we were expecting last July. As amazing as it was to carry him in the womb for those nine months, nothing compares to the last couple of days carrying him in our arms...especially since Chad can take part in this too =).

One thing I have always loved was names and picking out names.  I loved any time I got a new fish or animal of some sort, and would spend hours online researching names, meanings and what-not.  Needless to say, I couldn't wait to be able to pick out names for my own child.  Chad felt the same way...although I don't know that he ever spent hours thinking about naming a fish =).  In fact, Chad and I already had several names picked out before we were technically even engaged….yeah we do some things a little backwards =).

When picking out names, I love looking back to the meaning in the name.  Ezekiel was a name that Chad had always liked and brought up during our first child name conversation.  When sitting down and reflecting on what our prayer would be for this child, the name just seemed to fit more and more.  Ezekiel means, "God strengthens".  When looking at the prophet Ezekiel in the old testament, his was a message of personal responsibility.  While Israel as a whole had sinned against God, Ezekiel preached that each individual must accept personal responsibility for the national calamity and must accept guilt for his or her own sin.  Besides personal responsibility, the book of Ezekiel also shows us that while God is a just and righteous God, He is merciful and forgiving.  It also assures us that God will triumph in the end. 

After we both agreed that we really liked Ezekiel not only as a name, but as a name for our child, we set out finding a middle name that we felt fit.  Chad and I have both been blessed with wonderful examples in our parents, family, and friends and we wanted to be intentional about honoring some of those people.  Obviously we'll never get to them all no matter how many children we have but we figured we'd start close to home.  Ross is Chad's father's middle name and thus our little one is named for him.

Going on to Ross and Chad's father, Kevin...it's hard to know where to start.  Chad was blessed to be raised by a man who loved God and taught Chad to do likewise.  He is a wonderful example of who a husband and father should be.  While I still have not been blessed with enough time to get to know him more, I cannot begin to describe the blessing I have received from him through the man he has raised Chad to be.  Chad has blown away every item and more I had on my "list" of what I wanted in a husband. In approaching our second year of marriage, he still opens the car door for me every time we go somewhere, carries my things for me, helps out majorly around the house, and tucks me into bed every night. But most importantly, he takes seriously his responsibility in leading this family spiritually and providing for us...which is what he watched his own father do for his mom and family while growing up.  But it's so much more than just the little things Chad does for me, it's just easier to put into words than the way he is learning to love me as Christ would have him to, in the strength that Christ is giving him. The way that his father reflected so well.

And this is our prayer for little Ezekiel Ross, that he will learn from the godly men that God has placed in his life. That he will learn what it means to live in God's strength.  That he will learn to love as Christ loves.

My two handsome fellows =)

One Final Date

In preparation for our coming baby, Chad and I decided to go on one last date before becoming the official parents of a newborn.  While we are eagerly awaiting the arrival of our little one, we do realize (at least to some extent) how precious this beginning time in our marriage has been before children.

So to start off our date, we headed to books-a-million and picked out a book to start reading together.  This was one of our favorite free dates when we were courting cross country.  We would each go to our local book store, pick out  a book, then take turns reading a chapter of the book over the phone.  I have to say, it sure is nice being able to read together in person now. =)

Then of course we had to find some food.  There is this small, cute Mexican restaurant just up the street from us that we pass almost every time we leave our house.  Today seemed as good a day as ever to try it out...and I can tell you, we were not disappointed.  The service was wonderful and the food was even better.

And now to top off our date, redbox decided to surprise us by joining in and sending us a free movie rental code so we are snuggled up with our  chocolate milk, popcorn (for me) and movie.  Thanks redbox! 

And now baby, we are officially ready for you whenever you want to make your arrival. 

The Patience in Waiting

So...I started writing this blog over a week ago.  It's interesting how much can happen in such a seemingly short week and now, how much I have to update what I had written.

Original Post:

I know I haven't written in awhile but mostly because my life seems to be in a stage of waiting.  Currently I have been working on helping plan AIM's annual leadership conference end of April and booking/recruiting for summer mission trips.  While I have definitely been busy preparing, most of what needs to be done can't be done till closer to the actual events...thus I am in a stage of waiting.  Waiting each week for food ads to come out so I can buy items off of the food shopping list for camp that are on sale.  Waiting for t-shirt orders so I can send it in to our printer. Waiting for...well, you get idea.

It seems that everything apart from AIM is at a stand still as well.  While these last few weeks of pregnancy seem to be flying by, it has a way of feeling like forever...just anxious and excited to finally be able to hold our child in our arms.  We are still waiting to hear back from Drury University on Chad's application.  Once we hear about that, then it's another waiting period for his transcript evaluation so we can know when he can register for classes.  Chad is still job hunting.  While there seem to be a fair amount of jobs available, the application process really has become such an impersonal process with online applications.  It can definitely be frustrating at times.  Finally, Chad and I are still looking for a home church.  I only wish that Sunday came more than once a week so we could visit more churches and find a place to call home and get connected.

And I think that is about a summary of our lives right now.  While I have never been the most patient person, I am thankful for these days in my life.  Having to practice patience is just another opportunity for me to learn how to wait on the Lord and to trust that His timing in everything is perfect. =)

Now the many updates:

Another food sale ad came out and I was able to cross off more on my shopping list =)

T-shirt orders are in and sent off

Chad is officially a Drury University student

With the recent tornado, Chad was able to find work on a clean-up crew for the last week

...still waiting on the baby =)

Touring Southern California

Chad and I were blessed with the chance to spend Christmas with my family this year. The main reason this worked out was because we were able to combine family vacation with ministry work.  The week after Christmas we spent in training with the San Diego AIM Team, preparing them for the following week where they would travel in Southern California.

This whole mission trip was a learning experience for Chad and I.  First off, I was in charge of booking the mission trip.  While I have helped with many aspects of the ministry in my years with them, I have never made a booking call before, yet alone booked an entire mission trip (even if it was only a week long).  It was challenging to say the least.  I was very glad to be able to start small as I will be in charge of booking all three 4-5 week long mission trips this summer.  Another area I was able to grow in was simply using the phone.  To say that I despise talking on the phone is probably an understatement, especially when it comes to cold calls...but after contacting over 90 homeschool groups (yes I did go through and count them), while I still don't enjoy it, I think I can say that I've got the hang of it.

The next learning part of the mission trip was the fact that we were taking a team and not just a group of AIM students from various teams.  While the ministry has had whole teams go on mission trips before, this was the first time that it was set up with headquarters leading a mission trip with the team.  A big part of what Chad and I were doing on this mission trip was identifying a process on how to walk a team through putting together a successful mission trip.  This meant many e-mails and phone calls with the team director and assistant director (who just happen to be my mom and brother) mentoring them through decisions on how the mission trip would be put together and run.

The mission trip itself was pretty much like any other mission trip in that they are all unique.  Training camp ran from 9-9 each day as we prepared Bible studies, worked on the songs they would be presenting, and prepped them as to what to expect at the different workshops.  After the week of training, we spent Monday helping a lady from our church with yard work as a service project and then hit the road Tuesday for our first workshop.  We had three workshops total (Norco, Lompoc, and San Diego) with over 60 students ranging in ages from 5-college.  Chad and I were impressed by the mission trip team as they learned how to handle different age groups, different sizes of groups, and yes, different interest/participation levels.

Even with a shorter mission trip, it is amazing to watch how much the students grow in their personal walks with Christ, in their relationships with others, in their confidence with speaking in front of their peers, in their teaching skills and in many other ways.  Once again, we were blessed to be a part of such a wonderful group of young people.

For those of you who haven't seen AIM present before, here is one video of the mission team presenting a song at the San Diego workshop: I Surrender All