No Voice

So I woke up this morning with no voice...yeah funny right:) So, I called Jonathan to tell him I'm a no show this morning. It will be cool to be in the CatRow seats instead of on stage this morning. The kids are still sleeping and now I have over an hour to relax and enjoy. I am going to read my Bible and do some journaling until the kiddos wake up. That will be nice!! So, just thought I would catch you up on my no voice self today:)

Sneak Attack

Sneak Attack
Today was a sneak attack....it started off and I thought "Uh-oh...today might not be a great one." I was pleasantly surprised. K man woke up with a BAD diaper rash. I mean the kind that makes him scream and I can do nothing to help. We thought we got that under control and decided to ride our bikes up to the donut shop for breakfast. We ended up driving because we were going to go to a downtown uptown festival. We weren't sure what to expect but it was great. There was all kinds of food, giveaways, and great music. We had a great time. Levi had to ref a couple of soccer games so I put the kids to bed for a nap only to discover neither would in fact be taking naps. My friend called and invited us to go on the boat with them. They've been so generous with their boat and "sharing" their time with their friends. It actually made us want a boat and want to be that way. To just be able to hang out and enjoy that time. It was so relaxing. We had an absolutely fabulous time with them. I love my friends and I truly am blessed with wonderful friends. I'm thankful that we're here. I'm thankful that today was a sneak attack wonderful day!!

Wacky Wednesday

Having a great week around here. Today Sprang & I sang at "See You at the Pole" at a local elementary school. It was a lot of fun. I love being around kiddos...it made me miss teaching. I'm glad I miss it because sometimes the thought of going back to work full time while being a mom and wife is daunting. Anyway, it was a great morning. Levi kept the kiddos at home. I know that's a sacrifice for him because he likes to get crackalackin' on his days and does his best work EARLY. I do appreciate it:) Chris & Shari took Sprang & I to breakfast at Chiloso...it's my favorite breakfast taco place...YUMOLICIOUS!! And I love Chris & Shari. They are awesome, so thankful for them. I'm trying to play catch up on laundry and cleaning the house. We have C Group tonight. Anyway, kind of a boring blog post but it's where I am today:)

Love

I love a lot of things, let me list a few that are on my brain right now:

1. I love Catalyst. I love that I am a part of a church for nonchurchy people. I love that I can be who I am. I love that people are shocked when I tell them Levi is the Lead Pastor. I love that our people may not know that I'm the pastor's wife. I'm fine to go incognito on that fact.

2. I love www.catrow.tv. I love that when I'm back in The Lab, I can still get the teaching for the day and not feel like I've missed out....how cool is that. Okay, I'm just being me and this is my blog so don't be offended by my next comment. I love to watch myself singing on the web. I know narcissistic, whatever. I do...I like to critique myself. Lots of times, I find the negatives but I watched today from the service yesterday and I loved the song. It's like Ground Hog's Day (the movie) you can relive it over and over. I'm not being vain but I think it's cool.

3. I love that we're hosting a C Group at our house (actually 2-kind of). We've had the youth C Group here the last couple of weeks (we may rotate). I love having people in our home. I've come to terms that my house is my house, it's imperfect, it's not huge but it's our house and we love to have people fill it. We are who we are and I love that people accept us just for that.

4. I love the people at Catalyst. They consistently and constantly amaze me. Yesterday, we spent our ENTIRE day with CatRow FRIENDS, I loved every second of it. My morning started @ 9am at church and ended yesterday around 8:45 pm. I got to be around teens, kids, babies, and adults at some point yesterday and it was awesome. I love our people. I love that their hearts are accepting and they are mission minded and aren't just concerned for "their" church but their community and their world.

5. And just when you thought I was going all spiritual on you.... I love Dr. Pepper. Enough said:)

6. BTW, these aren't in order of importance...I love my kids. I love to hear them laugh and play together. I love it when they help each other. I love that they are kids and I want to be okay with letting them be kids. I fight the urge to feel like people are judging me because we're a pastor's family. We will not live in a glass house, we are normal and my kids are kids. I'm so okay with that.

7. I love Levi. He is a HUGE goober and drives me nuts some days but I love him and am in love with him. My life without him would be drab and lonely. I am thankful for his passion for God and the passion that he has to bring people to Christ (whether that be at Catalyst or not). I love that he is bold. I love that he teachers our kids to scare me, to laugh, to try new things. I love him.

8. I love God...I love that I serve a God who is bigger than what my brain can comprehend. That He loves me more than I can fathom. That he accepts me right where I am and that He seeks me out. I love that!

9. I love my family. I'm so thankful for my parents and sister. I'm so thankful that they instilled strong family values in me. I'm thankful that we were a priority. I'm thankful that my mom is super silly and bright all the time. I'm thankful that my Dad is accepting of people where they are without judgment and believes in always learning. I'm thankful for my sister, she will always be my BFF:)

10. I love my friends. God has always blessed me with good friends. I'm so thankful for all of them. I have learned so much from all of them and am glad for those relationships.

Learning Things About Me

Okay so I'm pondering two qualities about myself tonight.

The first is that I get distracted by negatives pretty easily and I rehash and rehash and rehash in my brain. I stay focused on what happened, why it happened, whose fault it was that it happened. I replay the scenario and what I wish I would have said, etc. Do you get my drift?? This is not a positive trait to have. It keeps me frustrated and focused on the small stuff instead of moving on.

The second is this...hold on I seriously just forgot, give me a second. Oh yeah got it...I've always heard people use the term "God talk" and in my experience it was used in a negative way. I never really thought about it but here lately, I totally get it and am totally sure that it is negative. What I mean is when someone basically takes a situation and then makes it have a spiritual or religious tone. Kind of like instead of working out something in a healthy confrontation, using God language instead. I think sometimes, people don't want to confront so they hide behind words like, "Well, I'll pray that God will change you." or "You need to go pray and let God fix you."....is this making sense? It's like, just talk about it and work through it...if need be pray together that God would bring reconciliation but don't hide behind a God that encourages you to live at peace and confront in brotherly love. Anyway, just pondering those two things tonight.

Psalms

Okay so in my accountability group, we're reading through Psalms which I have really enjoyed. It's been easy to read and keep up with. Last week I didn't glean as much wisdom but this week's reading is really good. I'm reading out of The Message version of the Bible and I love it. It is so plain and I love the imagery. Anyway, it was neat to read and have so many "aha" moments. This is Psalms 51:16-17. Psalms 51 was written by David after Nathan confronted him about his affair with Bathsheba. This is from The Message.

Going through the motions doesn't please you,
a flawless performance is nothing to you.
I learned God-worship
when my pride was shattered.
Heart-shattered lives ready for love
don't for a moment escape God's notice.

How cool is that?? I love the last line, heart shattered lives ready for love don't for a moment escape God's notice. That is so cool & true. I love that it's relevant to me. I can definitely relate to going through the motions at different times in my life. I will tell you right now I am trying to be authentic and genuine about my walk. I don't have all the answers. Life isn't always easy. It sucks sometimes. I want to be true to that because I think that's what God wants. He wants us to be real with Him too. He knows us, He made us. I want to live constantly in a state of God worship no matter what state I am in. I never want to forget or take Him for granted. And the last line...dang that's awesome. We don't for a moment go unnoticed by God...how cool. Be encouraged!! Love when scripture smacks me in the face:)

I Triumph over the Bearded Dragon

His Mean Plot & My Reaction

Okay so we got this bearded dragon and the kids always want to hold it but they're always scared. Levi wants me to hold it but no thanks. He has told me that he's going to put it on me in the middle of the night and video it. Well, he did it while I was laying down with A for naptime today. It was not funny but alas I prevailed.

My Mean Husband

Not sure how to blog all of these videos in 1 so I'm doing 3. This will show you my mean husband's brain works. I'm just kidding, he warned me. I should have known.

Singing

So, for the past two days at the gym I've been listening to Rob Bell & his worship pastor teach on "Why We Sing." It was awesome. Some things stuck out to me....one was this. I didn't catch the reference, but the quote was something like this, "I don't love God, I don't want to love God but I want to want to love God." They changed God to singing. They said singing in a group at church is weird and they talked about how people vary on how they feel about corporate singing. I thought that was interesting. I love to sing and I love to hear people singing but I've also grown up singing. It was just what we did and I was okay at it so it just seemed the norm. It opened my eyes to people that haven't and that come to church and are asked to sing. It made me more understanding of those that aren't big singers.

One of the other things that stood out to me was that the worship pastor said that when the band gets together to practice on Thursday nights there is ALWAYS something missing. And then he said, "It's you." We are not complete until they play on Sundays and they have the audience singing and filling the hole. He said otherwise, we're just a good band and we're playing a good show. It's not worship until the worshippers get there to add their part. I thought that was really cool. It's easy to get full of yourself and into "your" talent.

There were a couple of other great points that I wanted to remember. I'm going to have to listen to it again. If you're in a rut with your singing, check it out here, it's "Why We Sing" from 7/26/09. It's a great reminder and encouragement.

I hope this makes sense. I sat down twice to finish it. I did it while I was thinking about it which is sometimes dangerous. Things are going really well right now. We started the first youth C Group this week and we're also hosting an adult C group at our house. It was tonight and we had one other couple. We know of at least 3 more peeps that couldn't come tonight. It was really good to be able to sit down and talk with this couple one on one. I love getting to know people....it's like cocaine or something....okay I am tired, good night:)

Restaurant.com

Just wanted to let everybody know about Restaurant.com. It is an awesome site. Right now they have 90% off of their gift certificates with the code NINETY. Check it out for some great deals. There are usually some stipulations. We went to a restaurant and used a coupon a couple of weeks ago, we paid $2 for the certificate. You had to buy $35 worth of food (doesn't include drinks). They usually add 18% gratuity to it. Still, you can get a great deal for around $17 (including tip) if you use it right;) I just bought some more for some new and different restaurants. Right now you can get a $25 gift certificate for $1 (they are regularly $10 but with 90% off, they are $1). You cannot beat that. It's a great way to try new restaurants. Just thought I'd share. ENJOY!

Week in Review

So this has been a good week. It's good getting back into a routine. I am working 2 days a week now and that is actually really good. The challenge is getting everybody up and out of the house but we're doing well. I think I'm going to enjoy it. The challenge will be learning personalities and I'm going to have to be more assertive. That's a good life lesson though. Anyway, the kids are doing wonderful. I love watching them do so well with change and transition. They're so awesome.

Yesterday, we met our playgroup preschool friends and just played. I miss those mommas, it was so good to be together with the. Almost all of our kids are in MDOs now so we're not meeting weekly like we did. We're going to have to get creative so we keep up with each other. I love those girls!!

Today we just took it easy and I got caught up on laundry and cleaning. I actually mopped (usually I let the scooba do it). I need to finish bathrooms and dusting but everything else is DONE....that is such a wonderful feeling. We got to keep the Bloomettes for a couple of hours today and we had so much fun. They are so stinkin' cute. We are blessed to have wonderful friends!!

Levi and I are doing awesome. We're both trying to put the other before ourselves...it's amazing how when you do that, you really get along better. I'm trying to be more thoughtful and patient with him & the kids too.


I've been reading my Bible more consistently. We're reading Psalms and I like it. I realize that I enjoy more narrative books, like Esther, Ruth, Job etc. However, Psalms has been great. It is encouraging. There is a lot of wisdom to be gleaned from Psalms so I'm trying to glean away:) I also like that I can read 2 chapters here and there and it's easy to digest.

Tonight we're doing Movies on Main with CatRow & the city. I'm excited. It should be fun!!

Family Night

So we try to do family night once a week. Sometimes it's cheesy and a last minute plan and other times it's well thought out. Tonight was off the fly. We had a gift certificate to a restaurant. It was on the lake and we sat outside on the patio. It was the perfect evening. We had a great time at dinner & decided to tour the Bass Pro Shop too. The kids had so much fun there. They loved all of it. In fact, A didn't want to leave, which totally shocked me. She said, "This is wonderful, it is so much fun please don't make us leave." We'll definitely be heading back there. We didn't buy one thing but had a lot of fun looking at all the animals, boats, etc. I even had fun with The Bear!!

Youdata.com

Okay so a friend told me about this company today. They are a new, small company but they pay you for clicking on the ad banner. It's not a lot but they deposit into your paypal account every Friday. I spent about 3 minutes and earned about $1.20. Okay so that's not a lot but for 3 minutes...it could be my sbux money every week...that'd be nice! Just wanted to share. If you're intersted, click my link Heather's You Data

Shewww!!

Okay so this week has been good. It's been good to get back into a routine. I really think I'm going to like the MDO. It will be a good experience for me. Learning different personalities and dealing with them is a challenge but good. Being the newbie is a challenge too. I really like the ladies there and the kids both have awesome teachers. I'm really excited about that part too. They're both going to do awesome. My mom called K's class the chain gang b/c they walk down the hallway all holding a link to this big rope with plastic rings. It is so cute!!! I love seeing him with his backpack and walking in a line. It's so cute. A is doing awesome too. She has already made friends and talks about having a "job" at school. So cute!! Levi & I are doing good. We're trying to make sure we protect our marriage and our time together. That's really hard for me. I want it but calling and asking for babysitters (volunteer babysitters) is hard for me. We're trying to budget well and save well. It's just hard. All in all life is good and I'm excited about the future.

First Day of Schol- Kind of

 

So we had our first day of school...kind of. It was a teacher work day but the kids got to go and meet friends who will be in their classes. It's going to be fun and I'm glad the kids and I get the opportunity.

We're doing well. This week I've been really tired. It's different to get up and out. Just a different kind of tired. Catalyst rocked it Sunday. It was so exciting. Check out catrow.org and click on the live tv link to watch. It was fun!