Sunday, June 24, 2012

Youth Group fun

Taylor and I made rainbow cupcakes for our...


Cupcake walk! Instead of a traditional "Cake walk" where there are numbers on the ground, and whoever is on the number called out wins, we taped Scripture references to the ground and when the music stopped, we would read one of the verses and reveal which reference it was. It was fun!


There's Brandon, teaching the Word faithfully.


The guys reading along


...


Tonight, we had a Family Fun Night, which involved a Watermelon Seed-Spitting Contest 


I don't know if Tanner (white shirt) or his mom Angela (pink) won.


Then we had a water fight.


I was merciless. 


The younger ones even got to participate at their own level.


Now the remaining youth are outside, playing Sardines (kind of a reverse hide-and-seek). Those who are waiting play another game.


There's always something fun happening with the youth group!

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Speaking Kindly

I was holding Asher, but I needed to do something 
which would require free hands. 

"Take him!" I barked.

"Okay..." a girl in the youth group 
reached for the baby,
 assuming I meant for her to take him. 

"Oh," I reassured her,
 "I didn't mean you, I meant Brandon. 
I wouldn't talk to you that way..." 
I trailed off, realizing what I had just said. 


The week of youth camp was kind of hard on our relationship, as we didn't get to talk as much as we normally do. Brandon and I didn't get to spend as much time together because of his responsibilities in leading the youth group, which I totally understand. However, for some reason it made things a little tense between us. 

We didn't get to clarify misunderstood looks or thoughtless comments. We didn't get to show affection as much as we normally would have. We didn't have our relatively uninterrupted dinnertime conversations like we do at home. We didn't even sleep in the same room and talk and pray together at night as we usually do. Those and other situations made it harder to communicate as we would have liked.

Nevertheless, there's no reason to talk disrespectfully to anyone, but especially my husband. I am commanded to respect (Ephesians 5:33) and submit to him (Eph 5:22, Col 3:18) as to the Lord. Would I talk to God that way? Never. Would I appreciate being talked to that way? Nope.

I need to learn to keep a tight rein on my tongue (James 1:27) and speak "only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen" (Ephesians 4:29). I should set an example for others with my speech (1 Timothy 4:12) and my conversations should be always "full of grace, seasoned with salt" (Colossians 4:6).

I need to realize that even though my tongue is a small part of my body, my words are powerful - just as a small spark can set a forest on fire, or a rudder can steer a whole ship (James 3), the tongue can build up or tear down. "A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger" (Proverbs 15:1).

Do you have any suggestions for keeping your speech kind? What works for you?

"May the words of my mouth 
and the meditation of my heart
be pleasing in your sight, O LORD, 
my Rock and my Redeemer."
 ~Psalm 19:14


Sunday, June 17, 2012

Father's Day




Today is Father's Day, and it's Brandon's first one as a Dad! I'm so proud of the man that he is - a man who Asher (and our other future children, Lord willing) can look up to and emulate.



Brandon is a hard-working father. He works very hard at two jobs in order to provide for our family. I'm thankful for such a diligent husband.


He also has a caring heart. He is compassionate toward others, and shows it in many ways, primarily by serving others even when he doesn't feel like it, such as after a long day at work.



Brandon is passionate about the Lord and His people. He loves serving in ministry in our church, teaching the  Word and spending time with the youth.



Most of all, Brandon is a man of integrity. I am so proud of him for his honesty and trustworthiness in all that he does, especially when dishonesty would profit him (such as when he has to sign whether or not he read all of a book for class - a few times he hasn't read the entire thing and honestly admitted it, while some of his classmates compromised their integrity for a grade). His integrity is a blessing to Asher {and me} as well:

The righteous who walks in his integrity— blessed are his children after him! 
Proverbs 20:7 

Happy Father's Day, Brandon!


Also, I've been very blessed to have a wonderful father of my own:


And stepfather:


As well as Father-in-Law:


And Stepfather-in-Law:


I'm blessed to have all these men in my life, and Asher is blessed to call them "Papaw" (or "Grandpa" or whatever he ends up calling them:)

Most of all, I'm blessed to have a perfect Heavenly Father who is loving and just and who has adopted me into His family through the sacrifice of His son, Jesus. 

"As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who love Him." - Psalm 103:13

Thursday, June 14, 2012

Favorites from Youth Camp

My husband: Tough as nails.


Nick and Cupcake go night-night.


Reading the Word. That's what's up.


Dead bird. 


Mama-baby cuddle time.


Sweet boy. His eyes couldn't be more beautiful.


The youth loved sliding off the pontoon on the lake.


Family Photo. Ha!


Sweet, sweet, sweet.  


Tubing is awesome! But exhausting.


Silly face!


The guys and their frisbee.. 


Taylor! 


Kristyn!


Group Photo, minus DJ and Sabrina


Group Photo, matching shirts!


We are having a great time at camp, only one more day left!

friday favorite things | finding joy

Monday, June 11, 2012

Monday Miscellany {Camp Edition}

1. Packing is stressful.

I never thought much about packing for a trip until I had a baby. My, oh my, the equipment a baby requires for a measly week! Gone are the days when I could pack last-minute for a trip across the world {when I went to Tanzania, I waited until the last minute to pack and ended up staying awake until 4am the day of our departure - packing!}. I know I packed the kitchen sink somewhere, I just can't find it amongst all the other stuff.

2. Air Conditioning is very nice.

You never really appreciate anything until it's gone, right? Ugh. Our AC went out some time late in the week - Thursday evening, I think. It didn't bother me much, because it hadn't affected the temperature much. Friday, it definitely warmed up some, so I called my step-dad to come look at it. He said he'd come and check it out, but ended up forgetting. 

We went out Friday evening and didn't notice the heat that much. Saturday, we had two fans and two window A/C units and spent most of the day outside anyway. Saturday evening, however - it was ridiculously hot. I couldn't focus on packing because it was scorching! Poor Asher couldn't get to sleep because he was too hot. We ended up staying the night at Brandon's mom's house. 

Long story short, I am very thankful for air conditioning. 

3. We love our family. 

All of them.

We got a visit this weekend from Brandon's Grandpa Hazlerig and Grandma Janet, who we have not seen since our wedding. It was good to be able to spend some time with them.





We got together as many of the family members on that side as we could and got some pictures, and had a wonderful day. 

4. Asher loves to swim.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Asher loves the pool. We went swimming for a little while at the pool at Grandpa's hotel, and he was a-splishin' and a-splashin'.



5. Camp is going well.

It's the first day of Kentucky Heartland Outreach, a camp where youth and chaperones come and build decks or a wheelchair ramp, or work on a roof for a homeowner who couldn't afford it otherwise. Our goal is to meet a physical need and to also try to meet a spiritual need, by ministering to the homeowner throughout the week. On Thursday, there will be a Homeowners' Banquet, where a Gospel presentation will be shared - however, we'd like for the youth to step out of their comfort zones as they work and start a conversation with their homeowner. 

We've got a really good group this year. I am excited to see where the Lord will take us.









Asher and I obviously won't be able to work on a work crew, so I've got lots of Netflix movies lined up, plus we'll take some walks, maybe meet up with some friends. I look forward to getting a bit of a vacation from my housework this week. 

Linking up with miscellany monday at lowercase letters