It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Two posts back to back! Is this Christmas...hahaha...
Anywho Matt was commenting on how he was reminsicing about our last Christmas through my blog, and since we decorated today, I thought it only fitting that I blog about it today.

C decorated the tree pretty much by herself! She had tunnel vision.

G kept dancing and trying to make his hat jingle. Caught him head banging and couch dancing a couple of times...

This is the best family picture I could capture :(

C gets pretty crazy when the camera comes out.

Pinterest worthy Idea

I thought of this all by myself. I'm sure someone somewhere else has done this, but I haven't seen it floating around the cyber world so here you go!

1. Eat a gallon worth of ice cream (we prefer the chocolate kind)
2. Wash out the container.
3. Cover it with contact paper

and TADA a cute organization container!



my plan is to take it to my classroom and keep my, My Little Pony collection in it...we'll see how long it lasts...

Faithful

So I was on the good ole pinterest and came across this tattoo pin with the caption, “I'm not religious, but this is beautiful.” Which got me thinking, religious is such an outdated, negative word for church. The church where you paid to get indulgences. What if we switched religious with faith, because I mean that it was it is, faith in something unseen and unprovable. So if I said, “I'm not faithful.” how would that make you feel? How does that make me feel? I personally, want to be known for my faithfulness to my husband, my children, my friends, to my profession. Why wouldn't I want to be faithful to my creator?

Just some thoughts I ponder on this beautiful Thursday.

Parenting Fail!

So this week C has been having problems in the little girl’s room, mainly at school. I have come to the conclusion that she is afraid of falling into the toilet. So she waits until it’s too late. One of the many blessings of working at the same school my daughter goes too is that I can take care of issues when they arise. So I was able to take C to the bathroom and try to work out her fears of the potty. First, I had to hold her while she used the potty and then I would hold her, count to 3 and flushed the toilet. She hated this part. I think the loud noise really bothers her. After the second time, of this interesting routine I thought it would a perfect time to teach C about conquering fears and trusting in Jesus. When I mention Jesus to her in the bathroom at school she became outraged and informed me that Jesus was at church and we were at school. Then it hit me I’m doing a terrible job of teaching my kids about Jesus! I mean I’m a teacher, Christian, even a church planter, yet I’m relying on the church AND school to educate MY child. Parenting fail! I am planning of changing this immediately, so if anyone has any curriculum ideas or great Christian blogs I would love the resources…It’s going to be a busy summer!

Ten Random things

1. I was a nose breather until the age of 3 when I had my tonsils removed and have never been better!
2. My fingers are double jointed.
3. My beauty regimen consists of baking powder and coconut oil.
4. I have IT syndrome. It’s a thing…look it up.
5.  I’m a “To Do” list kind a person.
6. I love rainy/overcast days.
7. I’m dyslectic. I’ve never told anyone before so…
8. I’m a lefty! Holla
9. I can paint, but I hate doing it. I’m frustrates me.
10. I would rather watch kids shows all day than an adult movie. I love me some Disney!

Washing with His soap

Hello my friends,
 It has been such a long time since I've blogged, and I think I say that every time I post. But this time will be different. It will be different because I am going to change. I am consistently changing. We had our first official Epoch Nation meet and greet. It feels so good to be doing the ministry! I want to be more active in the cyber world for all of our new members and for all of our friends back in Az. We are planning to focus heavily on Devotionals, so I thought what better way to start a change in my blog than with sharing my daily devotional with you. We will be using the SOAP format. For those who are not familiar...
 S-scripture- Where are your reading in the Bible? I like to reference the actual scripture I'm focusing on for reflection purposes.
O-observation- What did you notice in the scripture? Were there any commands, warning, blessings? A-application- How does this apply to your life?
P-prayer- Lift up your praises and requests to God. It is my prayer that through my example, the Holy Spirit will speak through me and change others too. Happy Reading :)

Scripture:1 Kings 6 11 The word of the Lord came to Solomon: 12 “As for this temple you are building, if you follow my decrees, observe my laws and keep all my commands and obey them, I will fulfill through you the promise I gave to David your father. 13 And I will live among the Israelites and will not abandon my people Israel.”

 Observation: This is cool because it is a generational blessing. What's even cooler is that there is no way we can follow, observe, keep, and obey everything God has told us to do. We are imperfect humans with a sinful nature. But we are blessed in the fact that we are living in the New Testament grace where, "we can do all things through Christ who strengths us." (Phil 4:13) is possible. Not only that, but we have the Holy Spirit living inside of us prompting us and guiding us to live a holy life through Christ. I may not be perfect and I may stumble, but God will not abandon me!

 Application: I will be honest, moving across the country, leaving my family, friends, and my familiarity has been hard on me, and the worst part is that I didn't even realize it until spring came and I knew something wasn't right in my spirit. Some might call it seasonal depression, others might call it a personality trait, but I know it's because I haven't been feeding my spirit (aka Holy Spirit) daily. Daily devotional are so important if we want to conqueror this spiritual battle we are in. Also, how can I know what God's decrees, laws, and commands are if I'm not in His word everyday? Just as I feed my body on a daily bases, I should be feeding my spirit on a daily bases. Up until yesterday I was reading the Proverbs 31 Ministries devotional that they send in the mail. Don't get me wrong they are good, but they are based on one or two scriptures and not sufficient source for a church planters journey. At Epoch Nation we are going to be reading through the Bible in a year, so I thought I would try an on-line Bible reading plan to find a good one. I joined the Bible Gateway reading program. Here's the link: http://www.biblegateway.com/reading-plans/ 
So far (it's only been one day) I've really enjoyed it. It has some Old and New Testament reading- apposed to the Chronological Bible we have that gives you several different passages all over the place to read each day :( It is my goal to post at least one Devo every week so you can see what is going on in my spiritual life, and so that I have someone/thing to be accountable to.

Prayer: Please keep Epoch Nation in your prayers, to help us find a launch team, and members that need Him.