Getting ready for xalt :)

So excited to be apart of reception preparation. Lots of twigs and flowers and woodland items. As we prepared last night Retha Greene pulled twine from her fathers twine roll that was housed on his farm. I pulled out my collection of mason jars passed down from my great aunt. It was like they were a part of the event. They would have been proud :).
It reminded me of our heavenly Father and how proud he is when we include him in all the events of our lives. The prayers we send up driving in the car, the praise we give him in the beauty I His creation and the ultimate gift of love he poured out on us through the gift of His Son, Jesus, who died on the cross for our sins. If we treasure the items our earthly relatives have left us, how much more should we treasure the gifts of our heavenly Father.

X-Alt dress rehearsal

Wow! After a great morning at church even more blessings came as I watched the x-alt dancers in dress rehearsal. Thank you so much to Leah Winegar, Lynda Hammes and all the teachers who put countless hours of work into making X-alt a unique worship experience. I can not wait to help back stage and watch lives being touched by this type of worship. Thank you Jesus for allowing us to have a dance ministry dedicated to worshiping you.

Nemo & Jude

Thank you Ms. Sandy for teaching this weekend on the book of Jude in X-treme kids. Who knew Jude and Nemo had so much in common. In the movie when all the fish are caught in the net and Nemo tells them to swim down, he knew what the right thing to do was. Just like we should be studying the Bible and praying so we will know the right things to do and can be a positive influence on the people around us.
A bit of sadness though... Our 6th graders have already began there transition into "ignite" our middle school youth group. It is so sad. I will miss seeing them each week in children's ministry:(. Like Nemo they are venturing out into the big blue ocean of youth. LOL

Small group

I love our small group from church. Cinco de Mayo celebration tonight :). The kids talked the waiters into singing "Happy Birthday" to Russ Mantooth. He is such a good sport! Let's see... Was this a lesson in humility?

Trying to regroup

I'm having a hard time being joyful. I don't know why? It is very puzzling to me because I am naturally joyful. So I ask myself, where does my joy come from? Well, it comes from God. I know that but I am just not feeling it. So how do you feel joy? Then I think sunshine always makes the world a brighter place. I like sunshine. Maybe I will go for a walk and sit in the sunshine today. Praying that the Lord restores my soul.

I wasn't going to publish the above thoughts however, we all struggle sometimes and we might as well be honest about it!  Later on that evening, I am happy to say I found a bit of joy!  My sweet friend Laurie Sharp graduated from Fire Fighter rookie school. I was a little amazed that there was such evidence of faith in the room.  The Graduation was opened in prayer and then followed by a sermonette on the fourth one in the fire with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, Daniel 3
Although I am no fire fighter, I had felt as if I had been going through a fire lately and that was God's little whisper to remind me that I am not alone.  He is always there.  He is the fourth one in the fire... no matter what your fire may be.

I was so honored to have been invited to graduation and so inspired by the strength  and determination Laurie had to get there.  She makes me proud!

Noodle muscles

Wow! This I a crazy weekend! Mr. Kemp Brown will be teaching for me this weekend since I will be in lifeguarding classes. He will be teaching on love out of 1 John. Special thanks to Mr. Kemp for filling in for me.

There are 10 young people in my lifeguarding class. They have all been very kind to the old lady in class ( that would be me :)). Yesterday we had class from 4pm till 10 pm. We were in the classroom for the first part and then spent the remainder of time in the pool practicing our skills. Today is a long day. We will be in class from 12:30 pm till 10 pm. We have spent most of the afternoon in the pool. We swam four laps with the lifeguard tube and then practiced active and passive rescues from the shallow end and then from the deep end. After that, we had to practice passive rescues in the deep end, swim them to the side and then place the backboard under them and hoist them onto the deck of the pool. That was by far the hardest part so far. The rest of the night will be classroom time & CPR practice. I am really glad we are finished with swimming today. My arms & legs are like noodles. On our break I went to panera to grab a quick bite to eat. I am sure the cashier was having crazy thoughts about me. Here I was exhausted, barely capable of making a decision about what to order, wet hair and my eyes were so red from the chlorine in the pool that I looked like I had been smoking drugs. Lol. Back to class...

"Thou shalt not covet"

I must admit I am struggling with "coveting" this morning. I have spent some time touring the children's ministry at Crossroads Christian Church this morning. They have a fabulous new children's building. Did I say building? Yes I did. The rooms are all very appealing to the eye. They have a playground, a huge outdoor slide going down the side of their building and a water feature for the children to run through and play in during the summer. I am green with envy :(
The children's pastor I a really nice guy named Jim. It was super sweet of him to show me around and let me ooh and awe over the facilities. I have already asked permission to bring children to play in their water feature :)) ...maybe a vbs road trip.