It's a bird, It's a plane, It's Burrito Man!!

Well, I turned 38 yesterday. My sweet family took me out to eat at Iguana Mia, our favorite Mexican food resturant. Needless to say I left very full. It was a really good time. With our budget being down to the bare minimum, eating out is not something we get to do alot anymore. So, it was nice to not have to cook and clean-up on my birthday.

While we were there, we got to meet someone unexpected.....

BURRITO MAN!

After I got to wear the wonderful sombrero, our waiter left it with us for Bentley to play with. He put it on his sweet head, stood up on the bench and announced to the entire resturant, "Hey guys, I'm burrito man!" I sure do love him!!!
I think his baby "tister" does too.
Mama to Burrito man.

And finally, my favorite four people in the world...
Adios Amigos!

Jennifer

Time

I'm sure you have heard the saying, "Time flys when you are having fun." Well, time passes whether you are having fun or not.

If any of you have read much of this very new and inexperienced blogger, then you know this idea of time passing has been very much on my mind. This is very much due to the fact that I have a four month old baby that seems to be growing up with every blink of my eye. Good grief, it was just this time last year that we were finding out that our little surprise was on her way. Fast forward to today and she is rolling over and is cutting her first two teeth.

I put an outfit on her today that my oldest daughter wore when she was a baby, and although it was a sweet moment, it was also one that made a little pain shoot through my heart. As I stood back and looked at Cecily holding JennaBeth with this outfit on, I again asked myself, "Where has eleven years gone?" And all the while, my almost four year old little guy is talking and acting so grown. He is maturing and learning so much every day.

Yes, time is flying by.

In the midst of all these thoughts about my children growing up so fast, the Lord has had me thinking and evaluating my own life. As I look back on the past 38 years, there are many moments I am proud of and some I am not so proud of and some seasons of my life that down right sadden me. I think of all the "time" I have allowed the "locusts to eat" (Joel 2:25) in my life and so much "time" wasted.

My sweet friend Stephanie over at www.notesfromthesoul.blogspot.com had a cd giveaway a few weeks ago and I had the blessing of winning the Matthew West cd "Something to Say". I had been hearing the song "Motions" for some time on our local Christian radio station and the words in the chorus stung every time I heard them...."I don't wanna spend my whole life asking 'What if I had given everything?'"

Listen to a live performance of the song by Matthew I found on YouTube and the testimony behind the song he shares.



That's the cry of my heart! I don't want to live one more day without God's all consumming passion inside of me!

"The Lord is exalted, for He dwells on high;
He will fill Zion with justice and righteousness.
He will be the sure foundation for you times,
a rich store of salvation and wisdom
and knowledge;
the fear of the Lord is the key to this treasure."
Isaiah 33:5-6

Jennifer

Pictures and More Pictures

Last week my mom and sister along with my nephew and two nieces were able to make the very long trip down from Mississippi. It feels really weird to say "down from MS", but living in Southwest Florida everything else is "up" from where we are. The only thing South of us is Miami and Cuba!
Anyway we had a good time with them this past week. One of the hard things about being a ministry family is being willing and obedient to go where God may send you to serve. Our present place of service is far away from family, so we don't get to see them often. Cecily, Bentley, and JennaBeth were blessed to get in some "granny time".

Here is granny with the girls.

JennaBeth was concentrating on something on the ground. Probably all the ants that are about to tote us off!
This is my sister's youngest little girl, Leah, with JennaBeth. The girls were sporting their purple jammies.
This is Bentley with his cousin Ryan, my sister's oldest child. Bentley loved having his cousin Ryan around for the week. He was so attached to him, and insisted on sleeping with him every night they were here. Bentley got up this morning and said, "Mommy, I've been dreaming." I asked him, "Whatcha been dreaming about?" And he said, "I been dreaming about my cousin Ryan." He really misses him.
Here's my sister giving JennaBeth a bottle. She and my mom fought over who would give her the next bottle during the week. I'm not sure why her leg is sticking straight up, but she waved that leg about the whole time Kristi was feeding her.
This picture shows JennaBeth prolonging her bed time. I think she was just wanting some extra Granny snuggles!
Here is the baby girl with her newest toy, a Leap Frog Exersaucer. My brother's wife is letting her borrow her little girl's. Thank you Aunt Julie (that's from JennaBeth)!
And of course, we had to make a trip to the beach while the family was in town! The morning we went it was very windy and the waves were huge. This made time in the water very tricky and a little nerve wracking for us mommas trying to keep up with the little ones in the water. However, the waves and blue sky made from some great photos.

Here is Bentley and granny playing in the sand.
Don't worry! We didn't keep JennaBeth out in the sun! But, we did get a few pictures of her getting in on some of the sand action.

Bentley is sporting his SpongeBob hat. He thought he was too cute. Isn't he the cutest little beach bum you have ever seen?
Here is the littlest beach bum with granny.
If you can stand the pink.......
We were hard pressed to get this picture. It was hot and the crew of kiddos were very tired at this point. As you can see, JennaBeth had said, "The heck with this mess!" and had fallen asleep.


These are my two favorite guys in the whole world. I think they are both pretty cute, oh excuse me, handsome!!
Finally, the last picture in this post....... Aren't these the cutest feet ever?


Well, that concludes this extremely long post full of pictures! I wouldn't trade them for anything though. I love pictures and even better than that I love pictures of my kids! I feel like time is passing so quickly that I want to capture as many of them as possible.

And speaking of time, come back tomorrow. I have some thoughts whirling around in my head about time that I'd like to share. Thanks for enduring all the pics with me and have a blessed rest of your day!

Jennifer

Parental Rights

Jennifer

Knowing You Jesus

Hal, our Senior Pastor at Northside, is currently preaching through the book of Ephesians. I am so thankful to be serving alongside and sitting under the ministry of such a sound expository preacher/pastor! Yesterday, Hal continued teaching from Ephesians 1:17-20. He has two main points centered in this passage:

The primary purpose of prayer is to know God.
The primary vision of prayer is to enjoy God's blessings.

He explained more on the second point yesterday. First, soak in these words from the Apostle Paul in Ephesians 1:17-19:

"I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father,
may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know Him better.
I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order
that you may know the hope to which He has called you,
the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints,
and His incomparably great power for us who believe.
That power is like the working of His mighty strength."

Hal developed the second point, the primary vision of prayer, in three ways:

1. A joyful realization of our calling. One of the most important things we can pray for ourselves and our loved ones is that they will "know the hope to which He has called you". The word hope in the original Greek is "elpis" and means hope, expectation, prospect. It is not the kind of flippant hope we sometimes think of such as "I hope it doesn't rain today". The hope we have been given as Christians is a certainty. Some of the things to which God has called us to that Hal pointed out are: To be Holy and Blameless people of love, to live as the adopted children that we are, and to live for the praise of God's glory.
   
2. A joyful expectation of the riches of our inheritance.
3. A joyful demonstration of His power toward us who believe.

Please pray for Hal and his wife Mamie. Hal will be leaving on July 9th for China where he will spend about 6 weeks. Petition the Father for Hal's protection, health, travel safety, and something for him to eat! Ha Ha! He doesn't particularly favor Chinese food! Pray for Mamie while he is gone as communication with Hal will be limited outside of emergencies.

So you will have a face to go with your prayers, here is Hal with our family on JennaBeth's Parent-Child Dedication Day at Northside.

Jennifer

Pump it up!!!

The last day of SonRock Kids Camp was an adventure! After the VBS portion of the day, the kids were supposed to go to a local water park, Sunsplash. Well, a little thing called rain messed those plans up. The kids were really disappointed. However, this
cured what was ailing them! We had to find an alternate activity for them and this seemed the most logical thing, so here are a few pictures from the day.

Here is Cecily with Christina sliding down one of the huge inflatable slides. Christina and her family not only go to church with us, but they are also neighbors.
And of course, Bentley could not miss out on all the fun. After all, he thinks he can do anything the big kids can do.
I was a little concerned when we first walked in the place. Everything looked so huge. I don't know why I waisted even half a second worrying about this boy! He had no trouble conqering the place!
All the kids had an awesome time. It was a really good place for them to burn off some energy.
Here is Bentley (in the yellow/black shirt) on the rock wall. He didn't skip a beat on it. He climbed up the wall and then came down the big slide on the other side with no problem at all. I bet he climbed this thing 25 times!!! He was asleep in the car before we were out of the parking lot!!
Even JennaBeth got in on the action. We were there for two hours and she never closed her eyes. There was too much for her to see. She never fussed one time while we were there. This is Dawn our Senior Pastor's secretary. She was sweet to let JennaBeth hang out with her while I chased Bentley some and took pictures.

The whole week was really a good time for the kids and the adults who worked with them. Although we had some rather "energetic" kids, it really was a joy to make this investment of time and love into their lives. Pray for us that in the weeks to come we will be able to minister further to the kids and their families.

Tomorrow I want to recap some of Hal's (our pastor) sermon from this morning. But for now I'd like to share the words from the song that Mike sang this morning. Be blessed!

I have a shelter in the storm
When troubles pour upon me
Though fears are rising like a flood
My soul can rest securely
O Jesus, I will hide in You
My place of peace and solace
No trial is deeper than Your love
That comforts all my sorrows

I have a shelter in the storm
When all my sins accuse me
Though justice charges me with guilt
Your grace will not refuse me
O Jesus, I will hide in You
Who bore my condemnation
I find my refuge in Your wounds
For there I find salvation

I have a shelter in the storm
When constant winds would break me
For in my weakness, I have learned
Your strength will not forsake me
O Jesus, I will hide in You
The One who bears my burdens
With faithful hands that cannot fail.
(Steve and Vicki Cook, Bob Kauflin - Sovereign Grace Ministries)

Jennifer

Technorati

I just joined Technorati (wp27d4utme). That crazy code verifies this is my blog. Kinda weird, but I'm following directions so my blog will be part of this website. Anyway, I am about through playing on the computer for the night. Tomorrow I will recap SonRock Kid's Camp in pictures. It was a great week!!

Praying all of you have a blessed day in worship tomorrow!

Jennifer