RUSH camp

Seventeen years ago, when we lived in Virginia, Brian and I brought a group of high school kids to camp in Toccoa Georgia. I was pregnant with Taylor. The next year we brought a ton of kids, and I pushed Taylor in his stroller! God did some amazing things at camp.

I remember praying with a girl named Leah, as she trusted Christ. A guy named Nate accepted the Lord at camp and is now a student pastor. I remember the boys in our group dominating in sports competitions; and I remember where I was sitting in the lobby when my sister-in-law told us that they were going to have a baby!

Years later, after moving to Georgia and starting West Ridge Church, Brian and I talked about having a camp experience for West Ridge kids to bring their friends. Our amazing student ministry team began the tradition of RUSH camp, a West Ridge camp for high school and middle school students and all of the friends they could invite!

This year, for the first time, RUSH camp is in Toccoa, where I pushed Taylor around in his baby stroller. Over 530 In nine chartered busses! I can't begin to tell you how amazing it is to see the same auditorium filled with all of OUR kids. We can tell stories of God moving in the lives of teenagers years ago, and to have our boys be a part of something so powerful in the same facility is just especially cool :) I did not expect this to be emotional for me, as God has been at work in the lives of teenagers for years, but I can't help but be amazed and humbled at what He is doing. I am so amazed at the ways that God reminds us of where we have been, where He has brought us and all that He has done. Sometimes I think I get a glimpse of what He may be doing in the future--who knows the impact of camp in the lives of these incredible kids?! God is at work for sure. It's been a great week!!!

black sequin dress

When I was twenty two, my parents bought me the most beautiful long, strapless black sequin dress. It was fitted with a flare of raspberry tulle at the bottom of the dress. It was stunning! Never before had I been voted to be in any kind of homecoming or prom court, unlike my sisters, who were both homecoming queens; but to my great surprise, my senior year in college, I was voted to be in the Miss Liberty Pageant! The week that I found out that I was going to be in the pageant, I planned to go home for the weekend and get a dress. I would be one of twenty four girls to represent Liberty University. I was honored and excited, as the pageant was a huge deal!!

Little did I know, that I would never wear the dress.

When I returned from my weekend at home, I was called into a meeting. All of the girls in the pageant were told that the pageant had been cancelled for financial reasons. I was so disappointed and hurt. We were still in a homecoming court for the homecoming football game, but it was not the same. I had to wear a dressy skirt and suit jacket. I would have to return my non-refundable dress.

Sometimes life sends us disappointments that leave us hurt and confused. How do we handle disappointment? Like Hagar in Genesis chapter 16, I can refer to God as "the God who sees me." My interpretation: "the God who sees me in my black sequin dress." I am learning in disappointing times, that God knows something that I do not know. He has a plan for me, not to harm me, but to give me a hope, and a future. (Jeremiah 29:11)

There will be more black sequin dress moments in my life, I am sure! May we learn to lean on Him, as He will never ever disappoint us!!

trying to fill in the grand canyon

this past week, we heard a friend speak about the love of God. it sounds like such a simple thing to talk about, but we were overwhelmed with the fact that we do not fully understand that God loves us so much, and that He is totally accepting of us, just like we are.

our friend gave a great example: God's love is the only love we actually NEED. love from others is a wonderful thing, but we were created with a void that can only be filled by God. when we try to fill our void with love and acceptance from other people, it is like trying to fill in the grand canyon with a shovel !!!

i am reminding myself this week that God really likes me, and that i can get filled up with HIS love. when we do that, we are then free to give to others.

i'm thinking about trashing my kids' cars

This is an empty applesauce container in my car door handle. The many trash items, like this one, in my car over the past sixteen years has lead me to some serious thinking! I have decided that I am going to trash my kids' cars. First of all, I am going to open the little packets of sauce and kechup from Chic Fil A and I'm going to leave them in the door handles and seat pockets. Next, I plan to trim my nails, toenails included, and let all of the clippings fall in the floor board. I am going to drop fries down the seat, next to the seat belts. I am considering leaving an age old dairy product secretly in the cup holder in the backseat, and best of all, I will remove my socks after practice and leave them under the seat. When my boys cannot figure out why their car smells like football practice, they will find the surprise socks and take them to the laundry room, and wash them for me. I might put little coins in their CD player and press my face against their windows. I will spit nasty stuff in an empty water bottle and leave it on the floor next to my athletic cup. I will leave my phone in their car and beg them to drive to where I am so I can text my friends.

I am thinking about having a nice argument with Brian in the back seat of their cars. I will certainly chew all of the gum in their cars and play MY music loudly anytime I ride with them. I will probably be late, and they will be waiting on me, so I expect that I will have to bring my breakfast pancakes with sticky syrup to eat in the car. I'm sure they will bring these dishes in and wash them. I will unpack my bat bag in their trunk and leave all of my empty Gatorade bottles. I will hit my cleats together so that the dried clay falls off and I will dump out the dirt from the inside of my cleats. I will feel really bad about it, but I will probably do it several more times. There are a few more things that boys do in cars that require rolling the windows down, but I am a lady, so I will not do those things. These are just a few of the fun things I am planning!

goats :)

We received this picture in the mail today!! This is Kyui, the 15 year old boy that we have been sponsoring in Kenya for the last eight years. At Christmas, we decided to send Kyui's family a gift. Seventy five dollars was the smallest amount that we could send in order for his family to receive some special help at Christmas, and since we had never given this way before, that is what we chose to do. We were a bit skeptical because they would not tell us how the money would be used. I am so glad we did this!
The little amount we sent did a lot for Kyui's family. They received two goats, a school uniform, pens, leather shoes and shoes for Kyui's grandmother.

It is amazing that we can tangibly help needy people on the other side of the world!!! If you are not sponsoring a child or helping in some way with missions, would you pray about how you could be involved? It is not about you and me. There is a world that is dying physically and spiritually and we have the resources that they need!!!

"For God so loved the world that He GAVE." John 3:16

first chat

This past week, we had our very first Launch Network video chat for church planters' wives!!! We were so excited about it. It was really little but really cool. We had two girls. One was in Missouri and one was in Georgia. One of the girls did not have a working camera on her computer, so we could just hear her and not see her.

Because my computer was messed up, I drove to Cindy Lake's house and we shared earphones. I had one in my ear and she had one in her ear. We had to sit close to both fit on the screen! We laughed afterwards because we are not very technological. Here we were with our little earphones in Cindy's living room talking with church planters' wives about God's calling in their lives.

I have seen God do some amazing things that started out little. Maybe you are doing something that seems little or insignificant. Maybe things have not turned out the way you thought they would. God is the master of little things. If you are doing something where God is already at work, He can turn little into much!

I had to document this because, in thanks to God, through the Launch Network, we are going to connect church planters' wives all across the country and the world. We will look back on our little inaugural video chat and remember that God did great things!!

love this verse!

Psalm 89:8
"O Lord God Almighty, Where is there anyone as mighty as you, Lord? Faithfulness is your very character."