"What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us."

Mom and Dad

Yesterday evening I hung out with my mom and dad.  I've been out of the house for about three months now and I've gone from seeing my parents every single day to a few times a week.  Yesterday afternoon, I stopped by my parents' house and took my mom with me to do some shopping.  It ended up being that I didn't find anything, but she came home with a myriad of things for her house.  We had a great time talking and just spending some quality time together.  When we got back my dad was ready to eat dinner, so we went out.  It was nice to share dinner with my parents and listen to them talk.  As I sat with them, I was reminded of how special times like these are.  I am blessed to have my parents in my life and I am blessed that we get to spend time together.  We always have a good time.  Here's what you need to know about my parents: 

• Every conversation they have will always include a story regarding one of their grandchildren.  They're grandparents, they have the right to brag. 
• My dad will tell a joke at some point in the evening.
• My mom could be an anchor, reporter, sportscaster, and weatherperson for FOX news.  She knows what's going on everywhere.
• They love God.
• They love their children.
• They love their grandchildren even more.
• They love their church.
• After 48 years of being together, they are still in love.
• They are our family's biggest cheerleaders.
• They are always there for us.

Those are just some quick hits about the two most fabulous people in my life.  I thank God for my mom and dad.  They are my life's biggest blessing.

 

Day 2

Well Day 2 was phenomenal.  It is very hard to conduct a meeting with 3 children's leaders for an hour, so imagine what I was in for when we held it all day.  Can we say ADD??  I prepared for my group early on.  I went to H-E-B and stocked up on snacks cause I know I am surrounded by snackers.  (is that a word?)  Breaks would have to come frequently...I don't know if it's cause we work with children or what, but potty breaks are the norm.  And as much as I love my team, they love to run off on tangents--just like children.  I guess they are in the right ministry.

Our meeting time was great!  We laughed, we shared, we dreamed.  The vision that my team has is amazing.  Let me say this:  We are not only dreaming BIG for our ministry, but BIG for the church!  They blew me out of the water with the ideas and vision they came with to the meeting.  We are so excited about where God is leading and we are going to be implementing some new practices and letting go of others that we find are not working.  We also took some time to do a bit of course correction and re-evaluate where we have had some mission drift.  We are looking at C-Kids with a fresh mindset and ready to make an impact for God's Kingdom through His kids!  WE ARE GOING TO RISK EVERYTHING to make C-Kids the best it can be.

I am so privileged to serve alongside Yadira, Micki, and LJ.  They make leading and serving such an awesome experience.  God has truly blessed our Children's Ministry with some awesome leaders and I can't wait as we Create The Future together.

Day 1

In the earlier post, I mentioned how the C-Kids team was heading out to San Antonio for a weekend of planning for our C-Kids ministry and for some fun time as well.  As children's leaders, we figured the best place to have some fun would be at a theme park...

We headed out yesterday and drove straight to Fiesta Texas.  It was a great time.  We skipped the mildly exciting rides and headed for the thrills.  We got on all the big, fast rollercoasters and had so much fun in the process.  To say it was hot, would be an understatement, but we had fun and got to strengthen our bond as we waited in the long lines.  I am so grateful for the group that is assembled to lead our C-Kids Ministry.  There is excitement and expectation as we look to the future and our team compliments one another so well. 

Today, we will spend the day focusing on the future of our C-Kids Ministry.  We will be dreaming, sharing vision, ideas, creativity, and just discussing how to further and grow C-Kids for the glory of God.  Our focus is going to revolve around risk.  Taking risks for God, our church, and our ministry.  I am excited to post about the outcome of our gathering...

As I mentioned before, we were going to bungee jump while at Fiesta Texas....well, there was no area to do that, so we altered what we would do.  Micki, our Pre-School coordinator had never been on a rollercoaster, so guess what she did...she got on all the rollercoasters and sat in the very front.  Yadira, our Nursery coordinator,  had never sat in the front, so she was a little nervous, but she did it as well.  LJ, our Elementary coordinator, and I are still figuring out what to do as we seem to be so carefree about trying things.  We might go swimming with sharks or try wrestling alligators.  It's still too soon to tell.

Pray for us as we seek God in His direction for the future of C-Kids.

MY GIRLS

 

This is my team that leads our C-Kids Ministry at Cornerstone Church and I am super excited because this weekend we will be taking a couple of days to travel to San Antonio to enjoy a great time of sharing, bonding, fun, dreaming, vision, and creating the future for our C-Kids Ministry.  We have been planning this weekend for a while now and we are really looking forward to what God has in store for us and the future of our children's ministry at Cornerstone.  What I love about this group of spectacular women is that we have built a strong foundation in one another and we are each other's supporters and encouragers.  We call each other out when need be and we trust each other with everything.  I think that is vital in ministry.  I love this team because they not only serve but they carry me as well and it enables me to lead the way that God desires of me.  They are a phenomenal team.  They work hard, they love on their leaders and most importantly, they invest in the lives of our children.  The theme for our weekend is going to revolve around risk and risking everything we have to make sure our children's ministry is the best it can be for the kids who walk through our doors.  We want to risk BIG for the BIG GOD that we have the privilege of serving and we want to transform the way we have been doing C-Kids to better honor the creative, faithful, loving God that we love.  We're going to cap off our weekend by risking together and bungee jumping.  It's gonna be great!

Grissom's Gone

Well, my worst fears have been confirmed.  Gil Grissom is leaving CSI.  He will make his departure after the 10th episode.  He will still make guest appearances but it won't be the same.  He is what makes CSI so wonderful to watch.  He is my favorite character and he's pretty cute too.  Ah, I am going to miss him.  Thank God for DVD's.  Here's a little video of him for you to enjoy. He loves riding rollercoasters, its his stress reliever.  We would be perfect together as I too love rollercoasters.  Enjoy. 

My beloved cat, Pootie Girl, passed away last night.  I wasn't home, but it was reminiscent of the way I lost my other cat, Chickee-Monkey, three years ago.  If you know me, I love my animals as if they were my own children, so when my mom called me this morning to let me know, my world stood still.  I got Pootie when she was 6 weeks old.  I was living in Houston at the time and I was looking for a cat.  My friend mentioned that there was a little kitten running around his apartment complex and he would try to catch it for me.  Well, he did and when I moved back home I brought her with me.  It was a joy to have her for 10 years.

Of all my cats, she was the most fiesty.  She had her attitude and no one could get near her - except for me and my mom.  We were the only two people she liked.  I will miss her dearly and my heart is aching, but I thank God that He allowed me to be able to give her a home and give her love.

God Told Me To Shut Up

Yesterday was a very perplexing day as it seemed I had more to do than I had time to do it in.  I know that's not the case, but sometimes doesn't it feel as though time is slipping through your fingertips and there is still so much that needs to be done?  Well, as I was busily going through my day, I received a call from a company that I made a payment to earlier in the month.  After taking about 5 minutes to explain the situation and the status and the fact that I had a receipt to prove my payment had been made, I was met with a "well, you'll have to come in before 5:00 to get this resolved...yada, yada, yada..."  Annoyed, I went to the office ready to state my case and ready to get after anyone that tried to prove me wrong, after all this was not in my schedule and I had already felt as though I was running out of time to do what needed to get done. 

As I was entering, I felt God nudging me to calm down.  I breathed and asked for the manager.  He was very attentive and asked me to sit.  As soon as I sat, someone else walked in and he quickly got up to help the other person.  I wondered why he had to do that since there were three other people working who seemed like they needed something to do.  I was going to ask about that when the manager spoke up and asked one of the girls to help me out.  When she sat, she looked extremely bored and begin to ask me what she could help me with.  I began to tell her about the phone call that I had received earlier and all the while, God is controlling my frustration at the whole situation and telling me to keep my mouth shut about complaining.  As I am opening my wallet to retrieve the receipt, one of my Cornerstone business cards falls onto the table.  She looks at it and starts asking me about the church.  She proceeds to tell me that she and her husband have been looking for a church and could she keep the card so she can tell her husband about it.  I hand her the card and give her some quick information about our church.  Well, the other two employees start asking questions and then there is this whole conversation taking place in this office about church and God.  The manager finishes with the other customer and soon he joins in in the conversation and for the next 15 minutes God is allowing me the chance to share my faith and to invite people to church.  It was awesome.

I walked out of there and thanked God for controlling my spirit.  I had allowed the busyness of my day to affect my attitude and God had something greater in store to show me that my focus should remain on Him and not be consumed by what I can't control.  It's refreshing when God shows up to remind us that He will take care of our situations.  What I pictured to be an unpleasant experience with this office turned out to be a huge blessing.  God uses everything to make himself known, even if its having to show proof of a receipt to spark a conversation.

Old Friend, Here We Are...

This is my friend, Johan.  You can't really see his face since he claims to be camera-shy, yet in a room full of people he's anything but shy.  I met Johan 15 years ago.  When we were 15 and 17 yrs. old.  We were in high school and we became close friends.  We shared many wonderful memories and always had a great time.  About 3 years into our friendship, we grew up and headed in different directions.  For a while, we lost touch and never talked.  About every year or two, Johan would find me and we would have a quick phone conversation, catch each other up and then the distance between us would creep in again.  That's how it played out for the last 12 years.  I never made the phone calls, just figured he was busy and would call me when he had the chance.  I never forgot about our friendship, it was always something I held dear, but I knew that time and life seperated us and I know that most high school friendships really don't weather well through time, so I was content in knowing that a phone call would pop up sooner or later.  12 years later, our friendship has re-surfaced.  I cannot pin-point how it happened.  I will venture to say that it was one of the phone calls that served as the catalyst.  Why it was different this time, I truly don't know, but it was a nice surprise.  It has been fun getting to know my friend all over again.  We have both been through so much over the years and to be able to re-connect has been a blessing.  Our friendship feels as though there was never this huge canyon separating us, but rather as if we had been going strong all along.  We have a great time together talking, laughing, eating, watching dumb movies, and he still likes to pick on me, so that hasn't changed.  We definitely are not the same people we were at 15 and 17, but our friendship, although, right now is new again, is still familiar.  I can't believe 12 years flew by without being part of one another's lives.  It has been a blessing to welcome Johan back into my life.  I thank God for him and I am so glad that Johan is discovering how real and significant God can be.  I am resigned to the fact that some friendships are seasonal and some may falter, but even in the absence of one another our friendship has proven fruitful.   

Hysteria

20 years ago, my sister and I were fanatics for New Kids On The Block.  Our rooms was adorned with their posters (that is putting it lightly), We wore their t-shirts, had their pillowcases, wore their buttons on our jean jackets and knew every lyric to every song.   Fast forward to this morning.  I woke up at 7 am to hear the official announcement on the TODAY show that the Kids are back on the Block.  I felt like a little kid at Christmas.  20 years later and I am as excited now as I was back then.  A couple of thousand screaming ladies would agree with me.  There were so many fans surrounding the area on the show.  We're talking ladies in their early and late 30's holding up t-shirts and buttons and posters.  It was 1988 all over again.  I cannot believe it... This is what all the NKOTB fans have been waiting for.  You don't know what this means for their fans.  This is going to be huge.  I promise.  Invest in some ear plugs and hold on cause the pandemonium is about to begin.

Kid Stuff

Every Wednesday I meet with three awesome ladies that make up the core team of our C-kids ministry.  Tonight was no exception.  We met at Chili's, had a great dinner and a great conversation over the changes that are coming at The Stone.  It was a great time of sharing and dreaming for our ministry.  Well, as we were getting ready to leave I received  a text message from my sister and one from another individual.  Both were helping out with our weekly student gathering and apparently our Connections Director, Brenda, and our Student Director, Joaquin, were challenging our students to step it up and start getting involved in serving.  There are about 9 student leaders that are part of our C-Kids ministry and several of them spoke on the power of serving.  The text messages I received were regarding what these students were saying.  I called my sister and she told me that these kids were speaking so highly of the children they serve on Sundays.  I was so delighted to know that these students who have so many things going on in their lives with school, parents, relationships, peer pressure, drama, i could go on and on were so excited to be part of something bigger than themselves.  They were sharing with the rest of the group that what they do matters.  One girl put it best, she said:  "Serving in C-kids has changed me, I think about my kids before I do anything.  I always think to myself 'if my kids knew I was about to do this, what would they think.'  Serving has saved me.  My kids have saved me from doing stupid things.  And they are my kids, not the kids."  God is totally changing this young girl's life through the power of serving preschoolers.  Never underestimate the power of God through children.