Life

I really like doing the top ten lists. It helps me to organize my thoughts.

The Top Ten Things that are Happening in My Life Right Now:

1. Youth Ministry Success: I have to say we're on an uphill journey in the hilly life of ministry. We've been having many baby successes lately. Some are in numbers - which I hestitantly use as a measure of success. The greatest success lately: the look on one of my girls faces when Richard was teaching a lesson and said that we call the kids in our youth group "our kids."

2. Youth Ministry in high gear: The hard part for me is that when youth ministry goes uphill the kids get excited. And when they get excited, life for the youth minister suddenly becomes much more intense. My job is supposed to be part time and lately it has felt like full time.

3. Church Confusion, Part I: Richard and I for a long time now have been dissatisfied with Coalbrook. Our pastor there is good and we really enjoy him. There are some people there who we really enjoy seeing; however, for the most part it's a "Sunday morning congregation." And honestly, we're really looking for more. We've started this Five Practices series, but only two of us volunteered to lead: I guess two more have since been coerced. I have missed several of the meetings now. Hmm . . . I guess I'm part of the problem. Anyway, I think the series would have gone better had we focused on one chapter at a time - for like 2-3 months. It's overwhelming to implement a series like that in five weeks.

4. Church Confusion, Part II: We've really been leaning toward attending Calvary more often. While they don't (at this point) offer much more for Richard and I, they do offer things for our girls. They would much prefer to attend there. Honestly, I would love to find a mid-week or Sunday Evening service or fellowship group that actually teaches 'the WORD.' And then attend Calvary on Sunday mornings.

5. Messy House: My house is a mess and it's annoying me.

6. Money Matters: Richard's route was split two quarters ago, and his bridge pay ended recently, which sucks. I totally freaked out about how I was going to compensate for a $500 a month pay cut, but fortunately God has blessed us and we live within our means, so we should be able to do it. And it turns out that it shouldn't be for that long as Richard is going to pick up more customers here soon. In a time where it's a blessing to have a job, between the two of us we have three . . . so I'm not complaining. I'm praising God! [I just have issues because when we moved in (almost a year ago) a developed a plan to get completely out of debt (including our mortgage) in five years. This was interfering with my plans: read down two posts].

7. Speaking of Plans: So life is not going according to my plans. I was really looking forward to having Amanda (and John and Maryn) in Ohio for the summer, but that's not going to happen now. So I'm sad, but God has been teaching me great lessons lately about letting go of my plans to make way for HIS, and I'm learning s . . . l. . . o . . . w . . . l. . . y. Amanda, I know life is scary right now and I'm praying for you, but I do absolutely believe that God has great plans for you and you'll end up exactly where He wants you to be.

8. Camp Presmont: [I have been asked to remove these comments.]

9. Crazy Kids: So my kids are crazy. They're good, smart, creative, normal, energetic, and adorable, but they're also a little more than I can handle. They certainly are challenging me.

10. Not Making Time for Myself: I haven't been making time for myself. So I typed this one to hold myself accountable. My shoulder has been acting up lately which is directly related to high stress and lack of exercie :(

Ewe, I hate ending on a downer. So I'll make an 11. Affix: Affix, my husband's awesome band, just hired a manager, which is awesome, and I'm totally excited for them. I'm not going to lie: I am highly critical of my husbands' band, because I would be embarrassed if they sucked. And if you told me three years ago that they were going to end up this good, I would have told you were lying. But they really are GOOD: I would hire them. For booking email booking@rockaffix.com. And check out their website http://www.rockaffix.com/.