One of the blessings of the month so far was traveling to Knoxville on a random Thursday night to hear Jen Hatmaker! I have read many of her books and I have learned so much from her books about widening who is invited to God's table. One of my favorite Jen quotes is "As Jesus explained, the right things have to die so the right things can live-we die to selfishness, greed, power, accumulation, prestige, and self-preservation, giving life to community, generosity, compassion, mercy, brotherhood, kindness, and love. The gospel will die in the toxic soil of self."
I aspire to be an includer-one who invites all to God's table to taste and see that He is so good. I am not always a model christian (hello, road rage...) but I try so hard to boast about God every chance I get. It was a wonderful and unexpected evening and it blessed my soul. We also were blessed with Nicole Nordeman's gorgeous voice.
Our "girls" are getting so big and I love them. They are funny, they are curious and they make me happy. We are somewhat concerned Tractor Supply may have mislabled one of our girls and that Felicia may indeed be a rooster instead of a hen. I cannot even imagine saying "bye felicia" to her but if she is indeed a rooster we will have to rehome her. We should know in the next month or so if Felicia is a boy or girl by the scientific method of waiting to hear her crow! Ha!
Thankful I had an unexpected night out to see Jen Hatmaker. I have always shared that I would have loved to have had a bigger family but our kids are at such a good age and because my parents came to help chauffer kids and feed them it was pretty painless to head out of town for a night that was good for my soul. Mike was out of town teaching his heart out to fellow administrators.
A joy this fall so far has been family and friend time at VT games. We love our Hokies but spending time together trumps what happens on the field. We are a dysfunctional bunch but we do love each other and have a lot of laughs. My brother is the tailgating drill seargent getting us all organized and hyped for the game. All of our boys are growing so fast.... Pops looks like he is shrinking but our boys are catching up to him.
Kyle was blessed with a great day of ACC football with his friend Jonathan and our friend, Dr. Bill. They were gone to North Carolina for 20 hours and caught the UVA football game followed by the Va Tech football game. They had such a great time making memories.
This has been a busy season with our youth at church. Each week I lead a bible study for middle schoolers after school on Wednesdays, we then have breakfast club at Mcdonald's every Thursday morning before school at 7:15 a.m., and then Mike and I are leading a study to guys and gals on Sunday nights. I love every moment of it. Youth ministry blesses you when you least expect it.... One of our girls admitted at bible study Sunday night that she finally "gets it" and it starting her journey of faith after being involved in our minsitry for several years. To see these kids fall in love with Jesus is amazing and blesses my heart. This is a place I never ever dreamed we would be yet here we are surrounded by teenagers....Life is good and God is so very good.
October you are living up to your hype!
