CRANKY Pants!!!

Oh my word, yes I am!! Not sure what is going on with me but I am not in a good mood. I'm just feeling overwhelmed and kind of stressed. I feel like I haven't gotten the house back in order from being gone last week. That always bugs me. I want to stay on top of that. I should have stayed home this week but seemed to have something everyday so far. I'm going to chill at home tomorrow. I took the kids to get haircuts today. Addy was great. Keegan started out great and then decided he didn't want his hair cut. It's shorter but still needs some shaping on the sides. It just frustrated me. My phone that I dropped in the toilet worked for a week and then died last night. I don't to spend a lot of money on a new phone. If anybody has a Verizon phone they can part with, let me know. I just need it to have a dial tone. I went to the Verizon store to see if it was a battery issue (I can get one of those cheap on ebay). Of course, they don't have any of those phones or batteries to test it. The kids are restless and I'm again frustrated b/c they can't fix or tell me what the issue is with my phone. We disconnected our home phone b/c we're going to get a SKYPE phone. We can't get the adapter to sync with our computer or something...Levi hasn't had time to fix it. I emailed and they sent me a solution but it's not working (probably user error on my end). I'm frustrated at that. I'm just frustrated. I was supposed to go to a playdate tomorrow but I canceled. I'm feeling like we need to spend time as a family and just chill. We leave to go out of town next week for a wedding and I want to get caught up on everything and in a better mood before then:)

Do you ever have days/weeks like this?

On a positive note, we're going with the Chatham Family to the Circus tonight. It's one of A's favorite things to do....I've got to improve my mood by then.

Catalyst Rocks

So today I led worship since Sprang was teaching. I always told Levi & Sprang that I would NOT lead. I didn't like it, I didn't feel comfortable, Don't ask me, I won't do it. Well, God has definitely changed my heart and attitude. I am okay with it, I actually like it. Isn't that crazy!!! It definitely stretches me and I get nervous but it's good. One of the songs really resonated with me this week. I've got a family member that is making some crazy decisions and my heart is breaking. We sang "Beautiful Jesus" today and during rehearsal it just kind of hit me. There are a couple of lines that I love. I'll just type the whole first verse because they're both in there. "Your love oh God, displayed for us as crimson covered over sinless hands. Your Majesty, for all to see, in raging storms & quiet cloudless days." Isn't that powerful?? I can see the imagery of crimson running over Jesus' hands for my sins. I love the line that talks about His majesty is displayed in raging storms & quiet days. That's who He is. He's there in both extremes & everything in between. I love that. Anyway, church was awesome today. The worship was flawed but so good. I almost had a top 5 most embarrassing moment. Somehow, Meagan's keyboard changed keys and the first song started WAY TOO high. I so tried to sing but my brain was churning. I realized I could sing the first part but by the end of the song would be singing in my opera voice (which I don't have). I noticed B-rad wasn't playing & Jonathan's face on the front row looked very concerned. I ended up looking at Meagan and she said, "I'll fix it." I just stopped and we restarted. She did it very nonchalantly so it almost seemed like the first chorus & verse were planned...maybe not:) Anyway, if you want a laugh, you can watch it here. You have to go to on demand and click on week 4 Baptism.

Another SUPER cool thing about today, we had 116 in worship. We had a Baptism & pool party at the Callahan's tonight. It was awesome. We had around 60 people there. It is so good to get to fellowship with our CatRow family. I love this church!!!!

Recap

Wow...it's been a while. Let me catch you up to speed....yes this may take 2 posts:) So first off, I spent the week at camp with Fusion Worship Band leading worship at a teen camp. We had a great time. Honestly, I feel like a rock star there (maybe that's a little bit of an over exaggeration). It is a very different environment for me. I like loud, rockin' music but let's face it, I'm older. It's good for me because it stretches me. I love making the connections with the kids. It makes me miss working with teenagers and being a youth pastor's wife. Camp was (and is) so much fun!! I also like connecting with other adults. It was great to be with the guys & gal from the band and just "hang" more. We had late night fun chats with JM and it was just cool!!

The bad part, I really missed Levi & the kids. Levi did GREAT with them. They all survived and had fun. They did come up and stay a night at camp so I got to see them, which was very nice. The kids got to go to Dollar Store and shop for Mommy! I love that. I feel like they both grew up during the week. I promise K is a foot taller and Addy all of a sudden started speaking in a British accent.

I'm glad to be home. It was good to have that time to myself but couldn't stand being away from my family!

Keegan's First Prayer

So we pray with the kids every night and tonight when I started to ask Keegan what he was thankful for, he said, "Becker, Mae Mae, Addy, JJ." I said, "What about Mommy?" He was teasing me but it was so cool to hear who he's thankful for. Sounds like a good list to me:) So thankful for friends who love our kiddos!!

Thoughts

Just wanted to update on my thoughts.I think about blogging alot more than I actually do. So, I am actually sitting down waiting on my non-permanent hair color to take. My roots are killing me after that Clairol Party. I don't want to do anything permanent...I am so low maintenance. So, it's the wash out but I had to go darker because my hair is..well...get darker. I hate to write that, I wish I was still that blonde. Oh well, such is life. Today has been pretty productive so far, accountability, gym, & walmart. Levi's parents come in tomorrow night and his ordination is Thursday. I'm trying to get the house clean and stay caught up on laundry, ha that is funny!

Last week, we read Song of Solomon. It's quite interesting but brings up a lot of questions for me. Why is that included in the Bible? It is pretty sexual. I wonder if it's to demonstrate the importance of the relationship between husband and wife. Maybe it's to illustrate or show the love that God has for his people. I don't know. I'm going to try to read some commentary this week. We'll see. I've also been listening to Erwin McManus. I listened to a sermon about "Blessed are the Meek" and what that means. You know what I've never thought about? When the soldiers came for Jesus in the Garden while he was praying and Peter cut off the ear, Jesus put it back on right there. They witnessed a miracle and yet still were unchanged. Why? How could you see a man replace an ear and still believe that he was a fake? And maybe it wasn't that they thought he was a fake maybe they knew the power He truly had and thought the grave could hold him. I don't know, something to think about. The point of the message was to live life by empowering instead of overpowering. It was really good.

Hope you're having a good week. Not sure how much I'll be able to blog this week so we'll probably just catch back up over the weekend.

Fusion CD release

So we had our CD release party last night. It was awesome. It was so great to see people from all over the area. It was really cool. I really am blessed to be able to play with talented musicians. They are great. I am humbled at what God does through us...it's kind of crazy. It's good to hear affirmation and be thankful for the gifts God has given. I don't want to ever lose sight of that.

We have a couple of busy weeks coming up. Levi is being ordained next week, that's a big deal in the Nazarene church. You have to jump through a lot of hoops (experience, education, etc). His parents are flying in and are going to spend a few days here. I am excited about that. We hate not being near our family so it will be good to see them.

I've started cleaning today. I'm going to try to pace myself. I need to really clean. I try to keep the house neat but now it needs a good cleaning. It'll be good to do that.

The week after is teen camp. Fusion is playing that week. I'm excited, it's always fun and makes me miss being in youth ministry. Levi is going to keep the kids and come up for a couple of days in the middle of the week. So, any of you in the area....please make sure they all survive:)

Fusion Worship Band CD Release Party

Hey everyone!

we'd love for you to join us for our CD release party on July 10 at Church in the City in Rowlett, TX.

Just click here and you'll be taken to the facebook event where you can see who else is coming and RSVP yourself.

You can also check out our new website with helpful links at www.fusionworshipband.com

Women of Faith Giveaway

Mommy Snacks at http://mommysnacks.net/2009/07/giveaway-women-of-faith-tickets/#comment-14223 is giving away 4 tickets. What an awesome giveaway. I love the Women of Faith conferences but would like it even more to go free:) Woohoo!!! Go ahead and enter for your chance to win!

Time is Flying

It's a new week. Tuesdays are great days, I think they are pretty productive for me. I'm up early and get going. I try to get my workout, shopping, & accountability done before 8am. I got 2 out of 3 today. I kind of hate learning pitfalls about myself but I noticed one today. We scooted our time back this morning to 6:30 instead of 6. Well, I remembered but the other girls didn't. My plan was to do my jog/walk from 6-6:30 and then do sbux from 6:30-7:30, hit Walmart and be back home a little after 8 (I had a short list today). Well, my friend texted me to tell me they were at Sbux at 6:05....it totally threw me off. I like to think I'm flexible but when I have a plan and it gets off....I have a hard time recovering. I realize that is really silly. I found myself being quiet for the first bit of our accountability time and really had to consciously get back on track. It was kind of crazy...one more character flaw to work on. We had a good time of meeting and the girls were ready to stop and I kept talking. I feel like there are parts of my life that are kind of chaotic right now, maybe chaos is too strong but kind of out of order. That drives me nuts. I like order and routine, even if it's busy. I'm trying to be okay with things being out of order (to an extent). I feel like I've got a lot to keep track of right now and I'm trying to balance a lot (more emotions than tasks).

We read Ecclesiastes last week and it's kind of random thoughts, they do tie together. One theme is to enjoy life and live where you are and be content with whatever is going on. I so want to do that. I want my kids to see me doing that and I'm not sure they do. I want to be okay with the interruptions and "pitfalls" of life. Another phrase that stuck out for me from the Word was "we work to feed our appetites but our souls go hungry." I have got to do a better job at being in the Word and letting it soak in my mind. It is a discipline that I really want to improve. I find myself thinking about it and pondering it when I do it, I just want to do it more often.

On another note, we had to take our van to the shop yesterday. Addy's door is literally about to fall off. I'm hoping it won't be too much and it will be a simple fix. I'm trying to trust and not worry...that is so hard for me. God has provided and taken care of us thus far.