OCD tendencies and a lazy day

Just a warning:  My trigger finger has been going through withdrawals with my lack of picture taking this week.  So today in my laziness, I made up for it.  :)

I've been super busy the past couple of days and have been working on that dreaded "to do" list that has gotten way longer than it ever should be on top of doing my weekly cleaning.  Sometimes I get so motivated by crossing off that to do list that I don't stop until it's done and I wear myself out (not healthy!).  On top of that, I thought it necessary to do my BIG shopping run ugh.  I'm telling ya...sometimes I think it is a sickness...OCD!  Too bad it is short lived!

But it has left me energy-less and I did not want to get out of bed today much less do P90X yoga at 5:30 this morning!  It just wasn't a day for Tony Horton to mess with me...If I had to hear upward or downward dog one more time I think I might throw something at him!!!  But I survived it but have been somewhat lazy today (except taking care of kiddos and using my trigger finger of course).

This morning we had strawberries for snack and we found this jewel....

They all ate them up so fast and had mouthfuls to prove it!

Lucy and Axton giving Landon a hug....Landon sandwich!!!

Sweet pics of my Lucy

Her new favorite thing is to sing Happy Birthday to herself (her bday is in May).  I am trying to get it on video but haven't gotten a good one yet.  I'll work on that!  Also at Walmart last night she was waving at everybody and saying, "Hey everybody!  Hey everybody!"  It was cute and several people would wave back at her when they realized what she was saying ha!  Oh and she said "No ma'am" for the first time yesterday without being prompted...I was soooo proud!

This is one of my favorite pics...it totally shows her little personality.  I could just eat her up!

Tickle fest with big brother.... :)

Brayden is on a serious high!  He starts t-ball this week and I think he has lost sleep he has been so excited.  He slept with his baseball and glove last night.  He has carried it around with him all day and tosses the ball over and over and over.  Just look at the pictures....he TOO may have a little OCD!

And a few outtakes that make me laugh...

Lucy's fav toy this week has been this cheap 2 X 2 book that she found upstairs.  For the past 48 hours, she has slept with it, taken it in the car/grocery stores with her and freaks out if she can't find it.  At home, she will put it in her little purple Diva purse and carries it all over the house.  Yep you guessed it...OCD.  She comes by it honestly!

This is one excited little boy!!!  I love to see him get so excited about something that he loves!  He is counting down the hours and minutes until his first baseball meeting tonight.

Oh I ordered the girls matching outfits for Easter and here is a sneak peek....so cute! 

Brayden was wearing his hood today because it was a little chilly and I had to laugh cause he looked like the youngest brother off of E.T. (Elliot) haha!

I just kept waiting on him to go airborne and ride over the trees here....

I always fix Karis' hair before she goes to school and sometimes she comes home with some crazy hair-dos!  Here is todays....bea-u-ti-ful!  

It started sprinkling this afternoon and Karis pulled her hood out of her jacket.  Looking Grandma-ish haha!

Looking forward to a good weekend and the weather back up in the 70's!  Woohoo! And hoping tomorrow brings some more energy cause Jay and I are both pooped!  It may be an early bedtime tonight for this ma and pa!

A hubby post!

This is kinda long but wanted to share it anyway.  My hubby was asked to write a blog for a church planting network and of course it was great!  Now if I could just get him to write on my blog...hint hint hubs! :)  So proud of my man!

Course Correction

As a Director of Missions in a local Baptist Association of churches perhaps I have a different perspective on Church Planting.  To start, let me share with you that I am overwhelmingly in favor of Church Planting.  We are a financial supporter of Church Planting.  Our association has partnered with multiple churches to plant seven new churches over the past seven years, and we are currently partnering with three church plants.  The lostness of our area is staggering!  A recent in-depth study performed by iicm.net indicates that Mississippi is between 60-70% lost.  This is a higher percentage than most would imagine but the overwhelming reality is that Evangelical Christian’s are quickly losing ground.  In light of these facts there are several thing I would like to mention.

Cooperation Minded

As Southern Baptists we believe in cooperation.  We always have.  In a sense, this is how our local associations were formed.  We identified that we could do more together than we could separate.  In pooling our financial resources, our different giftings and expertise we become much more efficient in spreading the Gospel and planting churches.

Today, it is very important that we maintain this spirit of cooperation.  There should be no Lone Ranger churches within the Kingdom of God.  We are all the Bride of Christ and must seek to work together to herald His coming.  The enemy is an expert at creating division where there should be unity.  We must pray for unity as in Acts 2, lock arms with our brothers and sisters in Christ and advance the Gospel! 

Also, the vast majority of churches across the SBC are 100 members or less.  It is easy to understand why our smaller churches have limited financial resources and personnel.  This however does not mean they are any less valuable.  Bigger does not always mean better!  Less people leads to limited resources, however, when these resources are pooled together by cooperating churches we now have an overabundance of resources.  It should make no difference the size or age of the congregation in the spirit of cooperation.  We all have something valuable we can bring to the table through the Lord’s Grace.  The problem often comes when we care who gets the credit for the success.

Finally, this is why we believe strongly in local associations and the cooperative program.  We can do more together than we can separate.  True, there are some extremely large churches that can fund their own programs but this is the exception and not the rule.  Again, the vast majority of our SBC churches are 100 members and fewer.  There is a danger here as well.  We must constantly seek the Lord and His direction.  As Local Associations, State Conventions and the overall SBC we must be good stewards of these resources our churches have entrusted us with and use them on Kingdom Growth ministries.  We fail and create dissension when these resources are used to cater to ourselves and neglect the lost.  We must also be laser-focused on the Great Commission.  If the Lord Jesus and the Great Commission are our focus then our financial budgets must reflect as much.  We can no longer waste resources supporting ministries that play no role in the Great Commission of our Lord.

The Principle of Having Kingdom Vision

Next, it is vital to have vision.  Most people immediately think of the passage in Proverbs 29:18 ….. “where there is no vision the people perish.”  Sadly, many have no vision for their churches.  One of the roles an association can help with is to encourage pastors and their congregations to have a Kingdom Vision.  Where will your church be next year?  Where is the Lord leading you to be in 5 years or 10?  It is easy to slip off into a humanistic business management principle which we must avoid but we must have vision!

A captain at the helm of a ship always has a destination as to where he is going.  He uses his navigational tools, maps, and compass to organize his crew accordingly.  However, if the boat’s captain has no final destination or purpose for sailing then the boat will drift off course.  It will be easily pushed into complacency by the wind and waves.  Today, our denominational leaders, pastors, staff and lay leaders must pay close attention to drifting.  We must focus on advancing the Gospel and the Kingdom of God.  We cannot get caught up in good things that lead us off course.

Also, vision isn’t always clear.  In Genesis 12 the Lord told Abraham to “go to a place that I will show you.“  In this case Abraham’s vision wasn’t focused on a destination but a person.  However, Abraham did make preparations, organized his family for the journey and started walking.  His vision was on the Lord!  Sometimes our vision is not as clear as we would like.  What we must do in this case is to focus on what the Lord has already commanded in Matthew 28:19-20.  We have already been commanded to “Go and Make Disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and teach them to obey all the Lord has commanded us.”

So how does all of this tie in with church planting?  Today, we must lead our pastors, congregations, local associations, and state conventions to advance the Lord’s Kingdom.  In light of our significant shortfall of churches in Mississippi we must seek to partner to plant more churches.  With a bulk of resources we will be able to plant a number of churches that will reach the communities around us.  This means we should not spend the bulk of our resources on items other than what fulfills the Great Commission.  By design, church plants reach the lost significantly more than plateaued or dying churches.  If they do not reach the lost, the church will die within the first two years.  We must stop spending the bulk of our resources in areas that do not promote Great Commission Growth.  We must trim the dead branches and make way for new growth in order to advance the Lord’s Kingdom through church planting.  Our existing churches have an exciting role to play in sponsoring church plants, training church plant pastors and even sending families to help start a new work.  Ultimately, church planting isn’t as much about starting a new church as it is about spreading the Gospel of Jesus.  We cannot be held up by bureaucracy, trivial preferences, or apathy.  The Lord is coming, and we must advance His Kingdom as the bridegroom awaits her coming King!

“…….Even so, Come Quickly Lord Jesus….”Rev. 22:20

Workouts, swimsuits, Spring, mud, and donuts

I know it...these couldn't all be more random but it is what it is for today.  As I looked back over the pictures from today I just laughed!  That's how our days are sometimes, just totally random.

I dusted off my P90X and I am officially in week 2.  In Tony's words exactly, "I hate it, but I love it!"  It is super hard and I am sore in muscles I didn't know I had, however I love the feeling I have after I have worked out.  I do have more energy and am more conscious of the food I eat because I don't want to "waste" that hard workout.  As bad as the sore muscles hurt, I love them too because it reminds me I am getting in better shape.  This is my second time to do P90X so I hope I have the abs they promised when I finish it haha!

Lolli bought the girls new swimsuits for this summer and Lucy found hers this morning and wanted to put on her "simsuit" as she called it.  When I put it on her this morning, she looked at it and tried to pull the top down to cover her belly and said, "belly!"  She didn't like that it didn't cover her belly!  I just hope she stays feeling like that!

The boys brought me lots of these lovelies today....

And we have blooms that are just beautiful! Hello Spring!

Ever since Lucy got back from Lolli's house this weekend, she has said, "Lolli's house" a million times.  All of them would live with Lolli if I would let them!  Lucy is finally old enough to know the difference and that when you get to go to grandma's house, you get to do things you don't get to do at home!!! :)  I think she was calling Lolli here...probably asking to come to her house haha!

It was wet out this morning but it was pretty later on so I let the big boys go outside to play and they "accidentally" continually ran through some mud puddles.  Here is the evidence....

And Axton was our Park Ranger today haha....

We lived on the edge and had donuts for snack...they thought it was the greatest thing ever.  Those also were sent home by Lolli....no wonder they love going to Lolli's house!

Trey and Brayden dragged me to this indention in the concrete and told me that they HAD to show me something.  I asked them what happened and they said, "Cow-otes (not coyotes) and wolves did this...mexican ones!"  I would like to know where they got their information....or maybe not. Ha!

Karis came home from school and had this beauty in her backpack and we were pretty proud of it!

Brayden snuck these work goggles from daddy's work station and had just had donuts and then put a very blue piece of bubble gum in his mouth....ewwwww!  After his teeth turned blue and brown we came in to scrub them!  Typical of a 4 year old boy!

We were all thrilled when this HOT man came home....

We all love daddy!