This is How I Feel

*Sometimes* By David Crowder Band


Sometimes every one of us feels
Like we’ll never be healed
Sometimes
Sometimes every one of us aches
Like we’ll never be saved
Sometimes

When we’ve given up
Let your healing come
When theres nothing left
Let your healing come
Til were risin up
Let your healin come
Where You go we will follow
Where You go we will follow

It’s Your love that we adore
It’s like a sea without a shore
We’re lost in You, Were lost in You
It’s Your love that we adore
It’s like a sea without a shore
We’re lost in You, Were lost in You
Sometimes

Sometimes it’s like we never atone
For all the love we know
Sometimes like in a smile of a song
When you feel it come
Then that feelings gone
It flies

When we’ve given up
Let your healing come
When theres nothing left
Let your healing come
Til were risin up
Let your healin come
Where You go we will follow
Where You go we will follow

It’s your love that we adore
It’s like a sea without a shore
We’re lost in You, Were lost in You
(3x)

Its your love we adore
Its like a sea without a shore
Don’t be afraid, Don’t be afraid

Just set your sail and risk the ocean
There’s only grace
Let’s risk the ocean
There’s only grace
Let’s risk the ocean
There’s only grace
Let’s risk the ocean
There’s only grace

Where you go we will follow
I’m on my knees
Where you go we will follow
Oh God send me
Where you go we will follow
I’m on my knees
Where you go we will follow
Oh God send me

It’s your love that we adore
It’s like a sea without a shore
We’re lost in You, Were lost in You
It’s your love that we adore
It’s like a sea without a shore
We’re lost in You, Were lost in You

Where you go we will follow

Where you go we will follow
I’m on my knees
Where you go we will follow
Oh God send me

A Time for Rest

This is the year folks. It's been decided. The next 11 months of 2012 are being devoted to simplifying our lives, healing our souls, pouring into our marriage and above all finding REST. Rest from information overload, rest from constant busyness, rest from the need "to be" and "to do". The soundtrack of our year is David Crowder Band's newest (and final) CD appropriately titled "Give Us Rest". We have realized that we desperately need to slow down and really focus on ourselves. This sounds selfish at first, but we truly believe that by taking the time to work through our own baggage, emotions, fears, etc. we will come out better equipped for ministry. We don't expect to attain personal perfection by any means, but we know we will come out better at the end of the year than when we started. I have no idea where this year will lead us or what we will discover, but I know it will be a great adventure.

New Year's Resolutions-Part 1

Alright here they are, my Top 5 New Year's Resolutions:

1. Get to the gym and get in shape.- So far I have signed up for the membership, recruited a workout buddy and managed to work out for about 1/2 an hour. This is pretty good for me. I'm hoping to go to the gym 3 days next week for 1 hour at a time.

2. Make healthier food choices.- Aaron and I were doing better in the healthy meals department, but our snacks need a little work. I am trying to replace junky snacks with healthier ones. (Or at least snacks with less artificial junk)

3. Keep a birthday calender and remember to acknowledge friends and family members birthdays.- I don't always do so good with this and feel like I am always behind. I am headed to the store today to buy some boxes of birthday cards so I can be prepared. And I have my birthday calender filled in through April.

4. Floss once a week.- This sounds gross I know. My dentist always gets on me to floss and I am really bad about keeping up with it. I know once a week isn't really enough, but I have to be realistic about it.

5. Write a Missions Statement for our family.- Aaron and I have been given some great advice/ resources for how to do this. Now we just have to pick a day to work on it.

So far we are off to a good start for 2012. I have been off work this week, so Aaron and I have been working slowly, but surely to get the house in order. We also had fun on Wednesday talking about some future projects for our house.
Hopefully I will be able to post our Missions Statement and other goals/ plans before the end of the month.

Photos from Christmas

Post Christmas Reflections and Thoughts for the New Year

It seems that this last month has been a whirlwind. Christmas is always a busy season for us. I tried to plan ahead and in some areas I was right on schedule, but in other areas I lagged behind. It seems there is always something to do at the last minute. In the midst of all of this I had a mental breakdown. Not from the tasks of Christmas, but from all the other miscellaneous things thrown at me. I spent too much time online. It seems that all of my friends decided to share deep thinking blog posts at the same time. This is all fine and good until you read 4 or 5 in one week and try to process all of that information. Needless to say I found myself collapsing on the couch one night and begging my husband to order a pizza because I couldn't handle even getting up to make a PB&J.
After my breakdown I did manage to sort out a few things and put the rest on hold. But it just proved to me how much Aaron and I need to develop a missions statement and a good plan for the New Year. TV time and Internet time are definitely going to be lessened and reading is going to be priority. And not heavy reading either. I want to read the Bible for some growth, encouragement and hope. And I want to read some good novels to give my brain a little break from the demands of everyday life.
Exercise and healthy eating are topping the list as well. Stay tuned in the New Year for a more detailed list.

P.S. After my breakdown day I spent a lot of time reflecting on one of the names of Jesus found in Matthew 1:23: "...and they will call him Emmanuel (which means 'God with Us')". The thought that God became a man to come to earth and be "with us" has brought me much comfort these past few weeks.

Defining who we are

Aaron and I have had a lot of long talks these past few months. The kind of talks that become a turning point in your life/ relationship. We've realized that we have over committed ourselves to too many people, ministries, jobs, etc. We've had plenty of input from others about what we should do with our life. Some of it has been solicited advice and some has not. And we've come to the realization that we can only do what God is specifically laying on our hearts and putting in our lives. And because of that we've decided that we need to make a missions statement for ourselves. Much in the same way that a business has a missions statement. You can also call this a vision or a purpose statement. But the basic idea is that we need to decide as a family what our values are and in what direction we are headed. There are so many "good things" we can do. And my wonderful dreamer of a husband can think of a thousand great ideas a week for more "good things" to do. And we could probably find a Bible verse to support many of these ideas. The fact is, however, that we are only two people. We know that with God's power we can accomplish anything, but we still can't do everything. So we need to be clear about the "anything" God has for us. So we can stop feeling guilty about the "everything" we aren't doing. It is our hope that friends and family will show us grace in this area. If we don't follow you to the mission field of China, or sponsor your 5k run to end world hunger, it's not because we don't care about you, or Chinese people, or hungry people. And it's not because we think that God doesn't care. It's simply because we are only two people, with only enough time and money to do what God has specifically prompted us to do.
And when we do complete our missions statement and set some clear goals we'd love to share them with you. Not because we want you to do exactly what we are doing, but because we want to be a testimony to the way God works through each of us in unique and individual ways. And we really, really, really do love to hear how God is working in your life or your family's life. It shows us more of God's heart and His character when you share with us.

It's been far too long

I've never been great at keeping up with blog writing. I always start with the best of intentions, but often other things creep in and take up my time and brain space. I shouldn't be surprised though; I've never been good a keeping a journal either. I enjoy writing and find it a great way to record important events and work through thoughts/ feelings. I just get lazy about the writing/ typing sometimes.

That being said, here's what we've been up to for the past 5ish months...

Aaron is continuing to build his web design business. So far it has been doing pretty well for us and Aaron is still enjoying the work. He also started working part-time at Starbucks at the end of August. This has been good for us since it provides a stable income we can budget around as well as the health benefits available to us. The health insurance kicks in today and we are so happy since this will cut our health spending in half! Aaron is loving life at Starbucks and is even talking about moving up to a manager's position at some point. So the web design may just stay a side gig. But we'll have to wait and see what God has planned. For now Aaron is just working hard and waiting to see where things go.

I'm still working as a nanny and loving it. The boys I watch are as cute as ever and so funny. When I'm not working I'm either chilling at home or cleaning/ organizing.

The basement project has been on hold for the summer/ fall in favor of spending time outside. We hope to resume working down there in January after the hustle and bustle of the holidays. Although, I did manage to do some more organizing/ sorting down there. I have a nice sized Goodwill pile happening right now. I always enjoy purging.

Church life has been keeping us busy too. We are just finishing up leading two Financial Peace University courses and we are also leading a Monday night Bible Study. We are continuing to work with the Youth Group and hope to revamp our system sometime in January/ February.

All in all, life is good and God is great!

Stay tuned for Christmas Decor photos...we are chopping down our tree this weekend!