My BFF:)

These past few weeks I’ve been quite reminiscent about a few people…bear with me as I briefly travel through time:)

This is my best friend, Jennifer (Spules), and me at a Harvest Party (aka-the church party we went to a few days before we went trick or treating:). I was a bum (why?) and she was a baby…btw, she wore those pj’s for years!

We met in 3rd grade at our church’s Missionettes group and immediately connected. Jen and I were apart of a group of girls that called each other BFF’s…we had bracelets and everything! 🙂 Just about every Sunday after church we were either over at my house, Jen’s house, or our friend Eileen’s house. Of all the girls that I used to spend hours doing my hair and putting my makeup on with, Jen’s the only one that stuck with the Forever part of BFF. I could write for pages about this friend of mine, and although at the age of 28 I have a plethora of God’s gracious gifts of friendships, Jen will always be the friend that’s known me the longest, and the one that’s seen me through the most…sounds selfish, doesn’t it? She’s been God’s gift of friendship to me for 20 years.

We were in 7th grade and we went to Poquessing Middle School together. We continued onto Neshaminy High School together, where we were proud of the fact that we enjoyed wearing sweats and our hair pulled back in pony tails most days. I remember our senior year we had this one place where our paths to our first classes crossed and we would say, "Hey, you look cute today!"…knowing full well that we looked like, well, you know. I remember taking computer classes with her, and us always (always) getting done early and being able to talk. Study Hall with Mr. Hoy where we’d get gently scolded for talking, but he liked us so, not scolded too much. "This too shall pass" was what she
used to always say to me whenever I was frustrated. We would pass notes in Geometry like there was no tomorrow. What a confidant! We would pray together all the time and even if we didn’t understand what was going on in each other’s lives…we would still somehow understand. Jen and I went to the same church, too, in high school(a different one than we did at first). We were apart of PRIZM youth ministries together and we got to do ministry together. What a sweet time in life with my friend…even in tough moments. 🙂

We went away to college together-not meaning to go together-with a group of our friends. What group of friends goes to school 24 hours away? ECF (East Coast Fellowship) is what we called ourselves, and we always tried to spend our birthdays together. Jen
and I intentionally didn’t live together when we first went away to NCU. We said it was because we wanted to be sure to meet more people…secretly I think Jen just knew I was a little bit messier than her and didn’t wanna chance it:) Hah! Her first roommate was kinda messy too…but after some agreements, we ended up having our first apartment together our 5th and last year of college. We were the last ones to make it into an apartment that year and ended up in a tiny, tiny studio apartment that wouldn’t hold beds if we wanted it to. We bought Coleman sleeping cots on clearance at Target and slept on those:) You had to go through our closet to get to the bathroom. Oh, what an interesting apartment that was. Chris Woelfle, the apartment guy at the time, vowed to never rent that apartment to more than one person ever again and had us move for the 2nd semester to a more normal place. And so we graduated together for the second time.

That summer, my best friend married her new best friend:) I received the privilege of being a Maid of Honor in her wedding, which meant the world to me. Currently I carry around, in my purse, a little white Bible that I carried down the aisle that day…I get to think of Jen all the time…that little Bible means so much to me!

So much of our relationship cannot possibly be recorded in even a series of blog posts, but I am reminiscent for one main reason…Jennifer called me a couple weeks ago to tell me that she’s having a baby! She said that I get to be an Aunt Mim again! Yay! I’m still bubbling over with excitement over this announcement and I am amazed at how gracious God is to intentionally place people in our lives…sometimes for a season…and sometimes forever.

Here are the Gowell’s and me, from the last time I saw them last June….we’ve aged fairly well, right? 😉

My New Pastor’s Wife

So this is my pastor’s wife and me! Yay! I can actually say, "my pastor’s wife!" How much fun is that?

Leah Leach was absolutely beautiful as she walked down the aisle, completely glowing on Saturday afternoon. And Brad was teary eyed as he watched her come down.

Here are a few pictures from the day…

This is Allison, intercessor for my future husband:)

Bradley as he watched his bride.
(Jonathon kind of looks like a giant:)

Leah and her dad…she was that giddy the entire time…very peaceful and joyful.

It was right about this time that Leah "promised to dream big dreams with Brad…even it meant dreaming that this would be the year for the Lions."

The Kiss:)

The pronouncement!
(seriously, Leah had look on her face the whole day…so happy:)

The wonderful couple (Leah in her "white witch" muff and robe).

Brad is a dear friend and an awesome pastor to me. Leah has become a wonderful friend and I’m looking forward to serving her as my pastor’s wife. Her heart is enormous; she loves Jesus and loves people (that sounds familiar🙂 I love them both! They are such a great example to me of seeking Jesus first and allowing the Holy Spirit to move and guide. I was ecstatic all last week and it was such a pleasure to see them on such a beautiful day (no matter how cold it was outside:) God’s presence was evident during the entire event and I can’t wait to see what He will do through them as one. He is truly amazing.

**My friend, MaryBeth, posted about this as well, and she’s got links to the whole story (which is pretty stinkin’ cool if you haven’t read about it yet.

29 points!?!?

Perhaps I’m a hard worker, and perhaps I’m quite passionate about what I do, but I would be a fool to take credit for something that God has done. He is so good, and so kind to us in our weaknesses! It just so happens that I’m a teacher and I teach all kinds of kids, with all kinds of weaknesses…here’s a snapshot of a great thing God is doing in my classroom…

Email to a parent from earlier today…(name has been changed)

Matt is definitely improving in reading! His fluency and
comprehension have both bumped up quite a bit on the DRA test. And on
his MAP test (on the computer). His normal growth by the Spring would’ve
been 15 points, but he actually grew 29 points in half the time!!!!
That’s fantastic! He’s still at about a 3rd grade level.but his growth
over the course of just months is great! I’m so proud of himJ

…and this was a part of mom’s response…

YOU SHOULD SEE ME AT MY DESK CLAPPING AND DANCING IN MY SEAT. WE HAVE BEEN
WORKING SO HARD WITH HIM AND WITH THE READING.

…my conclusion?

God is SO faithful to accomplish in us what we can’t do in ourselves, by ourselves…

Monthly Marathon

In pursuit (again) of being healthier…I’ve been inspired to complete a marathon a month. Don’t worry, I haven’t gone off the deep end and gone crazy…

Over the course of a month, I will pursue walking/jogging 26.2 miles. This should be doable, right? Pray for me. I’ll let you know how that goes:)

Hey, if anyone else wants to make that goal, we could definitely pursue that goal together…if you want to add biking in there too, you can.

2 Corinthians 12.9

So, I’ve really begun to realize that I’m even more of a failure than I often realize. Not to beat that into the ground, but I was just going back to look through some blog posts from the past and it makes me really sad, on so many levels. I won’t even divulge you with details, neither big or small. But probably the most comforting thing right now is this…

2 Corinthians 12:9 (The Message)

7-10Because of
the extravagance of those revelations, and so I wouldn’t get a big
head, I was given the gift of a handicap to keep me in constant touch
with my limitations. Satan’s angel did his best to get me down; what he
in fact did was push me to my knees. No danger then of walking around
high and mighty! At first I didn’t think of it as a gift, and begged
God to remove it. Three times I did that, and then he told me,

My grace is enough; it’s all you need.
My strength comes into its own in your weakness.
Once
I heard that, I was glad to let it happen. I quit focusing on the
handicap and began appreciating the gift. It was a case of Christ’s
strength moving in on my weakness. Now I take limitations in stride,
and with good cheer, these limitations that cut me down to size—abuse,
accidents, opposition, bad breaks. I just let Christ take over! And so
the weaker I get, the stronger I become.

I continue to be challenged to pursue things that I’ve failed at in the past. Jesus is cheering me on-I sense His presence doing that. A friend of mine has recently been talking to me about my heart health….simply speaking life into my heart. Oh how I’ve missed her these past couple weeks! But Jesus took some great opportunities to do that through His word, moments of worship, and a book that I’m reading. Perhaps now I can finally work on those goals that everyone’s been wanting me to work through. We’ll see.

I am still wanting to climb out of this thing that I’m in…I’m sure it’ll be obvious when that happens. Until then, I’ll just take His grace every moment that I need it, and see what I can through the deep struggles and tears.

Girls B-Ball Tournament

So I’ve never really been all that into sports. I never really hated watching them, but I’ve just never been
too into them…especially middle school sports (which is like, a whole new realm of sports:).

Over a month ago I was asked to take pictures at one of our middle school girls’ basketball games. Then my smooth Athletic Director friend, Tony, got me to do concessions at a few of the games. It was during these times that I was reminded how much I loved teenagers…which lead me right up to the girls’ b-ball tournament today. Their first game was at 8am and then they didn’t play again until 3pm….it was a long day, and full of losses. But I was the only teacher that came, beyond their coach and 2 administrators. I only really knew one of the girls on the team beyond "Hello" so I felt like it was funny that I was beginning to really love these girls. Then today I got to hang out with them a little bit…and they really liked having me there! (well some of them did:) I had the opportunity to take some teachable moments with a couple of them, and they really cliqued with me…which was really surprising to me.

I could never teach middle school (God bless MS teachers), but I realized today that I can still invest in their lives. It is tough being 12, after all:)

A Moment to Ramble

How do you even jump back into blogging when you haven’t done it in so long? Wow. It has certainly been a stretch these past couple of months. Just when I think I’m about to start to really de-stress, something else comes along. Eh, that’s life.

I really miss writing, although I have been writing some-just not here for everyone to see. I kind of felt the need to not write for everyone to see for a little bit and gain some of my own perspective on some life stuff. You know, the stuff that only God can really help me with anyway.

So here I am, rambling on about how I haven’t written for awhile. Give me some time, I don’t have anything profound to share at the moment…or even really funny. But I will tell you about the last week or so….

I did get to spend my Thanksgiving break with my brother, Dave, and his family, in Chicago. Stephanie’s parents were there too, and that certainly added to the enjoyment. Anthony and Angie Sorbo…one was a church planter and Bible school builder in Indonesia for 50 years and the other was a church planter’s wife for about 30 years, I guess. Angie was also the Pennsylvania/Delaware District Missionettes Coordinator, and when I was a little girl, she was one of my heroes. That’s an entirely different story, but nonetheless, I got to hang out with some heroes. Good times. 🙂

Ryder is getting bigger and funnier, Ross is getting better at soccer and Robert is actually getting smarter…who’s 12 going on 16. What’s up with teenagers anyway? Today’s newest update is that Ross has a new email address, so we’ve already emailed several times this evening, and I’ve even introduced him to chatting online (did I mention he’ll be 8 in February?).

Mom gave us a HUGE scare on Thursday when my dad had to call 911 to rush her to the hospital because she wasn’t conscious. It’s a long story, but PRAISE GOD, she got out of the hospital yesterday and she seems to be doing much better. Her heart rate is a bit abnormal, so please pray for her complete healing. She’s been working hard to get healthy…

Funny story about her heartbeat though…So she was telling me that when the nurse put her in her new room (from ICU), she had noted that she could see Target from the window. My mom’s heartbeat immediately sped up when she realized that and the nurse said, "Well, I can see where you’d rather be today!" My mom’s response was, "Yeah, the worst part about me being in the hospital is that I’m missing all my good sales!" Well, folks, that’s my mother for ya! I’ll be praying that God gives her even better sales than she would’ve had before. He would honor that kind of stewardship, right? :0)

In talking with her today, she inspired me in a healthy way. I’ve not been doing so well with all of my health goals…well, with any of them. I get so discouraged and that really stinks. I can actually sit there and read The Word and reject encouragement about my issues. Now, that really stinks! So I’ve been praying through this…crying through this…and coming up and down over this. Then I talk with my mother today, while I was in the grocery store, and I feel inspired! So I dragged myself back to the produce section, which I originally sped through, and bought some great stuff to make vegetable soup. Well, it’s a start…again. I wish I was as patient with my own failure as God is with me…then again, I’ll never quite reach God’s potential. Still, it’s something to shoot for.

Lately I’ve had some tough walls to push through, and thankfully, I’ve pushed through many of them. They have to do with several areas of my life, not just one or two, but somehow they all intertwine into ME. I’ve seen sides of me that I don’t like and sides of me that I’m shocked by. Moments of bravery and confidence have come out of nowhere and insecurities attack when least expected. Let’s just call my life, Cedar Point, and hopefully that makes some sense. Through every moment of sick desperation and ugly depression I want holy moments to arise. I want missional moments to bring life to dead moments and I want to seize opportunities of hope. There are few things more certain than hope, as it comes to life from the grave! Deep hope and trust arise from deep places of gravity…but only if we allow them to. This is key. Staying in the deep places of gravity too long will lesson our senses to the true hope of the Cross. We become numb to the Cross and it’s purpose in the world…in our lives. It distorts our desire for community with others and fabricates something else…something that was never intended for us.

Jesus. He is the focus. Who He is…this is what draws us from the depth of our graves to the depth of the presence of the Holy Spirit. Wait in His presence. Wait.

A Quote I Liked Today

"The sooner we give up the illusion that a church must be perfect in order to love it, the sooner we quit pretending and start admitting we’re all imperfect and need grace. This is the beginning of real community." – Rick Warren

*I have too much to say about many things, but no real time to say anything…But, yes, I’m still alive;)

My Deal with a 5-year-old Pt 2

Quick update and Allison’s dream to be a flower girl…

Two of my most amazing friends, Brad and Leah (who happen to be getting married in January) had already planned on asking Allison to be their flower girl! So when they read the post below, of course they knew it was going to make her day! Yesterday was the big day for them to ask and with wide eyes…she said, "Yeah!"

They talked with her about it and they all agreed that they would still pray for me, even though Allie was going to have her dream fulfilled. My intercessory prayer team is growing!! 😉

**As a side note, I hear that Allison said if Miss Katie was still alive when she (Allison) got married, that she wants her to be a bridesmaid. 🙂

A Small Taste

I am literally craving an opportunity to really write, but I need to go to bed soon. If only I didn’t have to sleep:)

This past weekend I had an awesome opportunity to go to the Ancient Future Community Conference at Willow Creek in Chicago. There’s so much that God is doing in my heart right now, as far as the church and community goes…I feel as if I’m about to bust at the seams. As the saying now goes, "my cognitive desk space is full". What’s so great though, is that my heart is also full and that definitely helps a little with the processing. And as my prayer life grows, that will really help:) Small groups and community have been around for quite some time and this whole new era of the "emergent church" is nothing new. Looking at what it was meant to be has been so rich in developing my understanding of how my life is meant to be lived out.

I’d love to go through and blog about some of the different things I learned about-especially the things that impacted my life the most. There were certain things that I felt a strong tug about and some that didn’t really do much for me. An excitement was built in me, about what I see God doing in our church-under the surface. He helped me to see some of the feet that will be put to the vision that he’d given to me for discipleship at CotK, and I’m simply geeked about it!

I can’t really say that the American church as we know it is 100% God’s plan for what the church should look like, but that will not scare me away from it. I’m pumped to be apart of the changes that are already taking place and the ones that will take place, simply because of my own obedience to Him. God is always faithful to accomplish what He’s started out to do, and I am happy to join him in whatever that may look like.

That’s a small taste of what God’s doing in my heart, as it regards to ministry.

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Memoirs of a Redhead

because redheads have more fun

Journey