Ok enough about Emily!

Ok so lots of my friends that are reading this blog have asked me to share more than just Emily news! What's going on in my life, what is God teaching me as I walk with Him through life, marriage & parenthood? wow not sure where to start but here goes...

• Your husband is not always the right person to unload all your junk on :) Why do I say that you might ask, aren't we supposed to go to our spouse in time of need? Yes you are, but think about it, your husband is a man, and men try to fix things for their lovely wives. So when you are unloading all these struggles, problems, etc... his mind is going crazy trying to figure out how to help you. Most of the time, you don't want help necessarily, you just want to get it all out (am I right?) So here's what I have discovered, rather than stressing out your poor husband with stuff that doesn't really matter in the scheme of things, share those things with a good girlfriend (who will JUST listen & maybe offer some friendly advice) or God (who can solve the problems better than anyone, right?) In my experience so far, if you don't burden your husband with every little thing that goes through your mind, and only go to him with the important things, he's more likely to give you his whole hearted attention & love you more for it!

• Churches should be about family ministry!! What does that mean you ask? I along with several of my Grace Community colleagues attended an amazing children's conference in Atlanta, GA called Grow Up (www.growuponline.com). At this conference they discussed the importance of churches partnering with the family to produce a greater influence in a child's life. In other words, teaching biblical virtues to the children at church & then the church equips the parents with tons of resources to continue teaching the same principles in their everyday lives at home. Think about it this way, the church has approximately 50-100 hrs. with a child each year, while parents have over 3000 hrs with a child each year. Why don't we work TOGETHER to teach these children how to live abundant lives in Christ!! Novel concept, I know. Anyway if you want to know more about this unique approach to family ministry, check out this website, www.rethinkgroup.org. This is life changing stuff, don't go to this website if you aren't willing the rethink everything you know about church :)

• Last but not least, I'm seeing more everyday what God wants me to be! A joy-filled wife, a caring, loving mother & a JUMPER! You might say, what a jumper???? God has led me to make a huge jump for him into ministry to children! I never dreamed I would be in this position, & the more I tried to run from it the stronger I felt God say, "I told you to JUMP!" It's an exciting adventure with rewards beyond compare, as I see 50-75 kids each week worshipping God in a way I never dreamed a kid could. As I see kids coming to know Christ as their personal Savior & as I see our youth group gather each week to minister to these kids in a mighty way & come away with a deeper understanding of Christ from leading our elementary kids in worship & storytime, I understand why God called me to JUMP! I challenge you to seek what God is asking you to do for Him, He is asking us all to jump, what is yours going to be?

That's all for now, I'd love to hear what God is doing in your lives as well!!

CC