Tips! Too funny :)

Today at church I had a sweet little boy, Daniel, helping me hand out Bible Bucks.  When children come into Xtreme Kids they receive 1 bible buck for coming, 1 for bringing their bible, and 1 for memorizing their Bible verse.  They write their names on them and then they are filed.  Once a month we have a "Bible Buck Store" and they are able to spend their bucks.   On the table with the Bible Bucks there is a large jar that we collect the offering in.  The Children's ministry offering goes towards the support of a child, we as a ministry have adopted through World Help. We adopted a little boy named Junior who lives in Uganda. 

As children were coming in and dropping their offering into the jar, Daniel nudged me and said "Hey Ms. Melinda! You are getting a lot of tips today!"  I laughed and then explained to him that those are not my tips.  That money is offering money and goes to support Junior. :))))  Too Cute!
I told our Pastor Robert Russell that he might want to set out a tip jar. LOL

Daniel, in yellow, handing out Bible Bucks

1 Peter 1: Trials

Wow! lots of excitement at church this weekend.  Xtreme Kids jumped into the book of 1 Peter.  It was really hard trying to explain all the trials the Christians in Rome were enduring while Nero was the Roman Emperor.  Not exactly a fun teaching topic.  Nero, persecuted Christians is terrible ways.. I can't even bear to type them.  Peter decided to write the book of 1 Peter to encourage the Christians in Rome during this hard time of persecution.  How blessed we are to have the freedom to worship God!

The lesson was tied in with our Family Luau Movie Night.  We had watched the movie soul surfer.   Even though Bethany Hamilton lost her arm and that was a bad thing, God had a purpose for it.  God has been glorified through her trial.  Bad things happen, But God is still in control.

³ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, ⁴ to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, ⁵ who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. ⁶ In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, ⁷ so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ; ⁸ and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, ⁹ obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls.

Honor

Honor: Letting someone know you see how valuable they really are.

             Officer Hackler & Evo

                        Shelley Jackson & Jubilee

We have had a great time teaching about Honor in schools this month.  Special Thanks to Shelley Jackson and her dog, Jubilee & Officer Joey Hackler and his dog, Officer Evo.  They brought their dogs in the schools with us to demonstrate how their dogs honored them by obeying. 

Have you Honored someone lately???  Have you Honored God lately???

Here is a sweet story about dog that helped a quadriplegic boy raise money to help pay for the therapy he needed to walk again.  He is a Surfing Dog!

Good bye week!

I am so thankful to say "Good-bye" to this week.  Resembling the book of Job and quite possibly Lamentations, I am certain there is a lesson glean.

We had a great time of family bonding last weekend.  We spent some time doing absolutely nothing near Grandfather mountain.  It was a much needed time of rest. I actually fell asleep three different times in one day.  We stayed until the very last minute. 

We left on Monday... and the week began!

Monday = The transmission started acting up on my van when we got into Blountville.  We unloaded the van and made it to the Honda dealership.  The service department test drove the van and the transmission totally went out on them. They had it towed back to the dealership.  I know the poor guy was trying to avoid telling me.  Especially after I had cried on him a couple weeks ago.  We got the 4,000 dollar estimate to have it fixed.  I cried and my husband went nuts.  My van only had 103,000 miles on it.  We went home while the dealership called North American Honda to see if they could give us a break on the price.

Tuesday = My husband left to go out of town, leaving me to drive my father in-laws Crown Victoria.  We affectionately call it the hooptie, because it feels like I'm driving a low riding gangsta car.  Please understand, I am thankful I had something to drive.

Madeline, My daughter, had an Orthodontist appointment.  That cost us 2,800 cash on Tuesday and that was just the down payment!  Afterward, we had a school outreach.  I cried all day. 

Wednesday = Had to pay the Property Taxes :( ouch!  I cried again, most of the day.  My husband was so worried he sent me three sweet texts checking on me. 

Thursday = The Honda dealership called and said they could put a new transmission in for $2000. They gave me a black Honda accord to drive while they fixed my van.  I was so happy I hugged the service manager.  His name is Tony and he is pretty high on my "like" list right now.  Praise Jesus!  We had another school outreach on "Honor" and my husband returned home from his business trip.
Maybe things were starting to look up!

Friday = Oh No! There was Friday... I woke up feeling terrible, sore throat, chills, achy muscles.  I can't be sick! I have church this weekend.  I went to the urgent care to "nip it in the bud".  I found out that I was contagious.  I asked the doctor if I could teach this weekend and she asked what age I was teaching.  That was a red flag! I reluctantly told her  I was a Children's Minister and would be around 4 year old through 6th graders.  She smirked and then said she would write me a doctor's excuse and to stay away from children for 48 hours.  Not good!

 I went to fill my prescription and the medicine was $150. I politely asked that they call the doctor for a generic. While I waited for my new prescription to be filled, I called and text for desperate back up relief for the weekend services.  I went to church and loaded all the music for the weekend onto the computer and prayed. After I had retrieved my prescription,  I went home, soaked in a hot bath,  took my antibiotic and then fell asleep.

Saturday = The girls had some friends to play with.  They had actually spent the night with us.  I know it is crazy but, everyone in their house was throwing up so I suppose we were the lesser of the two evils.  It was a beautiful day, but I felt terrible:(  Macey, my youngest daughter, played outside with her friends all day.  It was a blessing that she had friends to occupy her and that it was such a beautiful day for them to play outside.  Madeline was able to hang out with a dear friend from Charlotte at her friend's grandparents store.
All was well until I realized we were out of hot water.  Oh yes! my husband had forgotten to call the propane company to refill our tank last week and we were out of hot water!  (My husband was in hot water with me. LOL)  I called the emergency hotline and had propane delivered. Of course, it was an extra $100 to have our tank filled on the weekend.

So... I am officially saying "Good-Bye" to this week!
If you can say a prayer for all those filling in for me at church this weekend that would be super :)

The Brick Won :((

Still practicing for the lifeguard test.  It started out great...  I swam my 300 meters, then did a lap on my back pretending to hold the brick.  I decided after such great practice last week I was ready to tackle the 10 pound "official diving brick."  Let's just say it didn't go so well.

I took a couple deep breaths and began trying to swim on my back using only my legs while I held the 10 pound brick on my  chest.  I pushed off the wall.  I was focused on the ceiling. I did about three or four strokes with my legs and suddenly my goggles became blurry.  Then I realized they were blurry because my head was sinking.  Then I panicked which made it worse.  I regained control and made it back to the edge of the pool.  I took a few deep breaths to calm myself and had a mental pep talk.  Then, I decided to try again.  This time I made it half way down the pool.  Yeah! But, not really.

I began to stink again and even worse, this time I was half way down the pool so I was in the deep end and could not touch!  I swallowed lots of pool water and thought I was going to drown myself. I made it to the rope on the lap lane beside me and held on for dear life trying to clear the water from my nose, mouth and throat.  I thought since I'm half way I will just continue to swim with the brick any way I can swim to the end.  Not a good Idea.  Started sinking again.  Had to regain composure on the rope for the lap lane beside me.  I was in the middle of the pool with a 10 pound brick that kept causing me to sink and I couldn't touch the bottom of the pool.  This time, I tried swimming on my back again with the brick and at least made it to where I could touch the floor of the pool again.  I walked the brick the rest of the way in and set it on the side of the pool.  I was not happy.  In fact, I was very upset.  I got out of the pool, dried off and changed quickly.  I cried and coughed up water the entire time.  I was so mad at that stinkin' brick! I exited the pool briskly.  However, the coach still had time to ask " How did it go today?"  DUH... Like he wasn't watching and secretly laughing the entire time.  It was obvious I had struggled.

On the way out to the car I was thinking.  That brick is a lot like the trials in this life, people carry burdens that must feel like that 10 pound brick.  They struggle everyday just to make it to the side of the pool, just to make it through another day. 

Ephesians 6:12

New International Version (NIV)

¹² For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 

 

  But,  I know ...

Our God is greater, our God is stronger

God You are higher than any other

Our God is Healer, awesome and power

Our God, Our God...

   Thank you God for the subtle reminders of your hand upon our lives.   The brick may have won tonight, but I will swim again on Thursday!

Raising Gerbils

Preparing for the Family Retreat at the Wilderness Lodge this weekend!!! So excited to spend time with other families who are actively seeking to spend more time together and more time with God.  Can't wait to share about my latest read and a few helpful tools to help you work more family time into your schedule.

Do you sometimes feel like a gerbil running on a wheel inside a cage as you scurry from place to place, chauffeuring your children from one endless activity to another? What if, for one moment, you could just step off of the wheel . . . and relax? How would you feel then? And what if that single moment could stretch into an hour, or even a whole day? It’s Your Kid, Not a Gerbil will provide practical solutions and helpful insight to get off the activity wheel so that you can put your time and energies where they really count: in establishing strong character and a love for home and family that will serve your kids well for a lifetime.

I challenge you to use the tools below aid you in simplifying your life and adding more family time.
 Make a family schedule to ensure activities do not control you :)

Plan your meals in advance using easymealz, and just follow the plan.  The nice thing about easy mealz is that is gives you a menu and a shopping list. Check out this link to learn more:  E-MEALZ Easy Meals for Busy and Frugal Families
 

Choose a family devotional book and make time in your schedule to read through it together.