Okay so its been forever...

I know I know. You don't have to tell me that I took a summer vacation from our blog as well. I will get back in the swing of things I promise! Just to catch a few things up...
1. Summer was wonderfully busy. Bahamas, Florida and staying home with Hailey!
2. Fourth grade is a blast! I have sweet kids and hopefully I am going to set up a class blog!
3. Hailey is growing like a weed and talking up a storm. She loves "water" and "outside".
4. God is totally blessing the youth group! We had 77 kids at our back to school cookout!!!
That will get you started...I will give you more later!!!

Chapman Family

My heart hurts so much as I write about this. When I heard about it yesterday tears immediately filled my eyes. I have heard it said so many times that even though we don't know them personally we feel like we do because of the fact that he has been a part of my life for so long. Its amazing that someone can enter our hearts through an avenue of music in such an intimate way. I remember being in high school sitting on my bedroom floor bawling my eyes out to His Strength is Perfect on one of those days where I felt the pressure of parents, school and friends and found that I could not meet everyone's expectations. I remember the sense of relief that flooded me as the words carved a place in my heart telling me that I didn't have to meet them.
Since then so many of his songs have spoken such truth, comfort and joy into my life. "How Do I Love This Woman?" was played at our engagement. "His Strength is Perfect" was played at my wedding. "Cinderella" was played for my husband this Valentine's day as I had Hailey meet him at the door in an oversized Cinderella dress with a sign that said "Dance with me Daddy".
Living as a part of the Nashville community makes you feel closer as well.
My heart hurts so deeply for him today. I cannot imagine the utter devestation that must be threatening to overwhelm him and Mary Beth. You know I have heard it said that Satan only attacks those who are making a difference. Not only are they making a difference here in the states, but they are breaking light into one of Satan's strongholds and one of the darkest countries, China. Oh, the truth that we have to rely on though that the grave has already been conquered! Death is swallowed up in victory! Jesus sits and weeps with them. He feels every tear that falls to the ground and yet he is not pacing the floor of heaven ringing his hands saying "Oh no, I wasn't expecting this. What now?" He stands in utter control and offers grace and peace in a situation where there is no grace or peace to be found.
Father God, be Lord to them. May Satan's attacks be banished from their family in the name of Jesus Christ! May they find in You their only strong tower! Their hope when no one else is there! Jesus, that seems to be the only word that I can pray, Jesus. Lord, may they feel the hope and prayers of all those they have ever encouraged. May it be so Lord! Amen.

Mother's Day

Mother's Day was wonderful! I am so blessed to be the mother of the sweetest child I know ( i might be predjudice of course). I love spending time with her. I look forward to every moment that I have with her. When Jeremy and I found out we were having a girl it was such an exciting time of thinking that I had a friend for life who I loved more than I could ever imagine. We had an awesome morning at church and then a good lunch with family and friends.
Last night Jeremy and I got to go on a much anticipated ( and needed!) date night. We went and walked around the Aldridge Botanical Gardens, ate at Cheesecake Factory (which was AMAZING) and then went and watched "Baby Mama" which was hysterical. It was such a fun night just to spend with the man that I love more than anything. He also got me a new Beth Moore book for Mother's Day which I can't wait to read!

My husband

This is simply a post to say how much I adore my husband. It seems like at times I nit-pick him to death. Then I remember how blessed I am. He was at the altar yesterday during the family prayer time and I went, cuddled up next to him, looped my arm through his and settled into his shoulder. At that moment my heart felt such a peace. I literally almost sighed. This is my home. This is where my heart is. With this amazing man. I am so blessed by his love and his love for Christ. I shared this with him last night and it was almost like it warmed him from the inside out. We went to bed last night and he is not a cuddler he held my hand and we fell asleep just like that. I am so blessed.

Passion '08

Where do I even begin to tell about this weekend? This is my fourth Passion event and everyone has been absoluetly amazing but because of the journey that the Lord and I have been on lately it was even more awesome. First of all, just being in that type of worship is indescribable . There was such a spirit there of freedom and sincerity. The worship leaders from Passion have been so gifted by God to completely remove themselves from the equation and give students ( and student pastors) the ability to seek the face of God through music. The Lord speaks through many of the lyrics directly to my heart. At times, I had to stop singing and just listen because it was so overwhelmingly clear and I wanted to hear so perfectly what the Lord was sharing with me. Friday night Chris Tomlin led worship and as he sang the song about how God can move the mountains and then the next line swept all over me "My God is mighty to save, He is mighty to save". So many times Jeremy and I worry about the teens and think about what it will take to get them to desire this relationship with Christ, but its not a worry. My GOD is MIGHTY to save! He is mighty to reach out to wherever they are and save them whatever is surrounding them! Praise the Lord!
Saturday afternoon was a huge time of healing in my life as well. The Lord really spoke to me that sometimes I carry guilt and hurt that is not mine to carry. There are things that we have no control over. Things that happen in our lives that we cannot fix or overcome. And the best part is I DON'T HAVE TO. The Lord knows my heart, he knows my concerns, he knows when bad things happen but that doesn't mean that I have to feel guilt over them. Just because it is bad doesn't mean that I made it bad. The world around us is fallen. Bad things happen and we cannot control them. The image that Louie gave is for us to kneel at the feet of the cross, with all the hurt and shame and guilt and look into the eyes of a Savior who has been on the cross and says to us simply " I know". To think that being hurt and crushed is something that Jesus identifies with and simply wants to love us through is so healing. To think that he smiles on us because we have dedicated our lives to him is such a sweet truth over me. What a blessing!
The last thing I want to leave with is the encouragement I received from one of the songs played called God of this City. It simply says, "You're the God of this City, You're the Lord of these people...and there is no one like our God!" The Lord painted a picture of Jasper in my mind with such a dark cloud surrounding it and just the beginnings of cracks of light shining through. The Lord has placed us here for a reason. Because He is God of this city and we have been sent here to declare his fame and his renown! All glory to God!

Just for fun...

We had some Easter pics made of Hailey and they turned out so sweet...these are some of the best...

This child can pose!

Happy Easter!

Is she not so sweet???

I just want to squeeze her!

Testing Time...in more than one way

This week is probably the quietest you will ever hear an elementary school. Standardized tests bring out the fear in teachers and in children. Its making me ultra sleepy this morning and especially since I don't have any kids until 10:30. Its a nice quiet break and the Lord seems to always provide quiet times when he knows I need to focus in on him for something. Many times I don't know what the something is but when I start in on my time with Him I usually realize why he provides the few minutes of stillness. This morning when I looked at the passage to read in the Bibly study I am doing (which is amazing by the way) I knew exactly why the Lord had provided such a still place for me. It was the passage about worry in Luke 12. Now I admit that at times I am a worrier. There are times when I want to fix everything, see that I can't and become quickly overwhelmed. The Lord has taught me so much about this in the past few months and today was just a continuation of that. Beth Moore said this in my study today...

"We're never going to overcome worry by eliminating reasons to worry. God wills that we overcome worry even when we are overwhelmed with reasons to worry."

That thought hit me hard today. I guess when I turn everything over to God I just expect the reasons to worry to disappear, but as long as we are here that will never happen. God just wants us to turn the worries over to Him. How many times have I told my kids "Don't worry about all that. You just do what you are supposed to and I will take care of everything else." Oh how I believe that God wants to speak that into our lives today! He wants to look at us just like I look at my students and remind us just to do what we know that we have to and to let Someone who knows more take care of everything else! That is such an awesome reassurance.