the back door

....or is it? wee little man challenged me on my calling rant. he posed the question of whether it was actually the fault of the church for doing too much with too few people. interesting - i think i might have actually said this about 2 years ago at our leadership retreat. it was well received for about 3 months - and then the women desperately needed a bible study again.....oh boy, here we go... so does the church do too much? in most cases yes. do we have too few people for what we do? in most cases no. the problem we really have is that the same few do the same things because we don't teach faith without deeds is dead. i mean, attending a bible study is not putting faith in action. it is just gaining more knowledge. just recently, i was told i would need to move my children's sign-in because of the number of sign-ups for the women's minsitry. forgive me, if i offend here - i don't mean too, but are you serious???? we have that many things going on for ju

so hubby and i recently spent an afternoon at a new museum. we had heard a lot about this great place for the past 3 months or so. in fact, we had heard so much about it i was starting to wonder just how big it might be. it was obviously going to be pretty impressive. so after a leisurely lunch outside, hubby and i headed out south of town. we were a little unsure of what to expect but had high expectations. we were not at all let down. upon our arrival, we noticed a rather large crowd had gathered. so much so, we could hardly see the exhibits. geesh...this must be an incredible museum. we hung back a little bit to let the crowd move on. it was obvious they were on a class field trip so we wanted to be sure they had plenty of time. there was a power point presentation going that held our attention while we waited. the first exhibit we came to was hands on. it was a well done dinosaur dig. the next exhibit was just as impressive. as we turned around we could see posters

okay - so it's been awhile since i've ranted...and it's time! it is beautiful outside and i'm sitting inside my makeshift office at the church. i am lucky enough to have a door that opens to the outside so it is wide open and i'm loving that. but as i'm working here today i feel the need to rant so enjoy.... being in my position i often have to ask people to help out. you know, volunteer to teach or work in the nursery or teach or hang out with the kids, you know - volunteer! i love all the responses i get. i am particularly fond of the "i don't like kids one" - it doesn't go over real well with me when they have 3 of their own. hmm??? but the one that really gets my goat is the "i don't feel called to that." argh...really!?!?!!?!? well, i didn't feel called to wipe my kids bottoms either, but it is a good thing i did it anyways. surprisingly, everyone feels called to the waterpark though! now, let me back up a

well i grew up in a house that was just a little passionate about basketball. and while i love to watch it and am still a little bitter over the class system in indiana, i wouldn't consider myself needing to discuss basketball 24/7. but for mapboy, it is the current obsession. he has refigured his bracket. he has replayed the games from the past year. he reenacts the games himself. he knows who is returning and who is going pro and who will be good next year and who won't and on and on and on. in fact, when i get him from school his first words are usually, "so mom, do you know who i had winning in round 2 of the western bracket?" umm...no, and it is long over so i really don't care anymore. i don't mean that harsh, just who remembers such things..and why? so the other day after school, mapboy is working hard over a piece of paper. he sees me walk by and says, "mom, i've created a new conference!" oh boy....so the TCC was birthed. it

so while out with a friend yesterday, well, we were working together, we got to talking and although i don't remember what led to this statement, but i said to her that i thought i had a little bit hippy hidden inside me somewhere. she laughed (she has known me for quite a while) and said, "alittle bit hippy? girl you have a lot of hippy in there!" now, i don't know about that, but she proceeded to point out i wanted a barefoot wedding and i don't wear make-up - okay, maybe she is on to something. but somedays i wear make up and jewelry and cute fun clothes. so then this morning i was working with hubby. i stopped to read some random historic marker. then he took a picture and said, "i need to teach you how to take artsy-fartsy pictures." now, i looked a little perplexed because i don't really take pictures. when i looked at him odd and asked him why he said it would make my blog more interesting.... so all of this got me thinking - how would

fight for their heart - don't fight with them... ouch!! do you know how many times a day i go round and round with mapboy! why? okay, so let me back up here. every time i have a "confrontation" with my child i need to imagine the end. and if i'm imaging the end, then i'm fighting for their heart. so, when we are in the heat of the battle i need to stop and ask myself what the heart issue is. is the issue one of rebellion? is it one of selfishness? is it one of will? is it one of pride??? each one needs to be addressed differently. i can spend all the time i want proving my point or teaching my child to bend to my will because i know best, but do i spend the time to teach them how to make choices? do i teach them how to offer a different opinion respectfully? do i teach them to stop and listen? do i allow them to mess up? when my child tells me no, my immediate reaction is to go at it with them. how dare they tell me no! but if i stop and go back t

so while listening to carey nieuwhof speak on 5 parenting values i could hardly write fast enough. i am a parent. and sometimes i feel lost in that role. why is it never as easy as i thought it would be? well, i got a big chuckle when he suggested we burn our parenting books! huh???? what he did say, is that the 2 on our shelves probably contradict each other somewhere. that we usually feel guilty and that we've ruined our child. he also said that we are not perfect, nor will we ever be....so we might as well rethink parenting! geesh....again?? but then as he went through these values i learned that all the things i hope for my parenting to achieve are wrapped in these. so here we go with number 1. IMAGINE THE END! it is kind of like living in view of eternity. when we are in the daily struggles of parenting, remember the end result. what do i want for my child to learn from this. not how do i want them to conform right now. stop asking your child what he wants to be an

this past week i had the awesome opportunity to go to the orange conference! hmmm..most of you are trying to figure out what that is. isn't it supposed to be going green these days? well, honestly, i think the orange conference is definitely about going green, but i'm going to tell you all about going orange!! going orange is all about rethinking how you do ministry. they take red and yellow to make orange. red stands for the heartbeat of unconditional love or family, yellow stands for light or the church. and when you combine red and yellow, you get a beautiful shade of orange. just like when you combine family and church you get a beautiful result! no wonder orange is my favorite color! i'm loving this....can you tell yet? so all week we listened to francis chan, andy stanley, reggie joiner, perry noble(who is hilarious, i might say) steve fee, phil wickham, and many others. i also had break out sessions geared towards children's ministry. i was blown away and am on