Going Home

I am trying to line up everything and pack because I am going to Arlington tomorrow to stay for 3 weeks. I am going earlier than planned to be with my sweet in-law family during this tough time. I don't even really know why I put "in-law." I adore them all like they are my own. I've been wanting to be there all week and I am really wanting to give some hugs....but I am waiting on my sweet husband to get back from youth camp tomorrow. Please pray for our family. Especially Josh and Taylor. Pray for a continuing peace that passes all understanding during a time that does not make sense. Pray that Satan would have no part in this grieving time. Thank you for your prayers.

Prayer Request

Hello, most of you that read my blog already know my dear friend Taylor. But in case you don't please pray for her and her husband Josh and baby Nathan. She is in labor with her sweet baby boy right now. You can read her blog to find out how to pray for her more specifically. It is www.tstapes.blogspot.com.

God won't give you more than you can bear????

This is a statement that a lot of well-meaning Christians (including myself) have said. However, this is not a scriptural truth. My pastor gave a sermon over this statement yesterday. He is gifted and definitely used by God to speak the very words of God and to speak truth in a way that anyone, no matter what life situation they might be in, can absorb it into their life.

This statement is taken from a verse in 1 Cor. 10:13 and has been misinterpreted. The scripture discusses that TEMPTATION is never unbearable....not LIFE. Life will be unbearable. That is exactly why we need God. This statement has been told to me before, and I have been guilty of becoming a little prideful from it. I have thought, "I guess I am pretty strong if I can handle this much!" That also causes me to think that I have endured a situation because of my own strength. How untrue that is. When I realize the truth of this statement, it humbles me and reminds me of how small and weak I am.

"God won't give you more than you can bear." Hmmm....that also insinuates that bad things that happen are an act of God...that God is the one who "zaps" tough situations on people. Again, how untrue that is. That is out of God's character. Because of the first sinful act in the garden of eden, it turned this glorious world into a fallen world where consequently....bad things happen. On earth, the kingdom is not in full, it is only in the hearts of men. Therefore, when we are going through hardships, it is not an act of God, but rather because of an unperfect world that is separated from God.

The great news though, is that God does have a plan to send his grace. In 2 Cor. 11, Paul talks of the many trials that he faced on his journeys. He went through countless trials of physical beatings and faced danger that threatened his life. In chapter 12 he discusses how he wants to boast of the things he has seen and heard from God. Here is the best part in 2 Cor. 12:7-8

So to keep me from becoming proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me and keep me from becoming proud. Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. Each time he said, "My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness."

The interesting thing about this verse is that God did not take the thorn away. Whatever it was that was tormenting Paul's life could not be taken away by God....especially if he wasn't the one who put it there. That's not to say that God doesn't have the power to make things right if he so chooses. But it's not always in his plan to send relief.....it IS always in his plan to send GRACE if we chose to accept it. "My grace is all you need."

It's important to remember though, that we need him and his grace even when life IS bearable. It's easy to rely on yourself again when you are cruising down the road through life. These are the times you need him as well because right around the bend a "wreck" of your life is ready to strike. If you are in a car wreck, you can't jump out of the car and go find God especially if it's bad enough to trap you in or disable a part of your body. He needs to already be there in relationship with you cruising down the road with you before and after the wreck in order to make surviving this crisis possible. But...if God has not been with you before the "wreck" in your life occurred, it's not too late. It's not a lost cause because remember, "His power works best in weakness." I praise God that whether life is bearable or not, His grace is all we need.

things

We just had VBS at our church and it was really fun. We had about 100 kids come. We had it at night time (which is different...but i really liked it). On Friday night, we had our family night. We all gathered in the sanctuary and had the music program. Then everyone went outside and we had a carnival type thing. They grilled like 400 hamburgers and there were kiddy pools and a huge inflatable water slide, face painting, and they even had this "train ride." This guy had a tractor with all these little "cars" pulled behind it that were made out of those old push cars that little toddlers use. Anyway, it was alot of fun.

so I've been having a pretty restful summer. its been nice and much needed. but the activities are about to pick up. Monday Jeff is going to youth camp with the church. I'll miss him. While he is at camp I will be taking on some projects at home. One of those projects is to clean out and organize our built in cabinet in our dining room. It has collected the "I don't know where to put this" junk. I'm also going to be meeting with my team and my new principal. Once Jeff gets back on Friday, his family will be coming in town to help Jenni and Tim move some stuff into their apartment. Then on Monday (the 30th) I go to Arlington to stay with my mom. It's all chaos from then on out. July is full of wedding stuff, children's camp, plane flights, a birthday party for C-man somewhere in there. Anyway, it will be fun. I am excited.

Colin is SOOOO close to walking. I'm ready for him to walk, because he gets heavy to carry around. I was hoping he would be walking by Jenni's wedding....but if not...oh well. The cutest new thing that he is doing is that when he wants to picked up he says, "bup." (He is trying to say up) He also has this new giggle/squeal thing that he does that is pretty cute. So that is all the random stuff going on that I felt the need to share.

remote control airplanes

Jeff and Colin and I went to the city park today where Jeff decided to try out the remote control airplane that he loves so much. It attracted 2 little preschool age boys who thought it was the coolest thing. It baffled me to see them trying to launch it. They would just throw it not realizing that Jeff had a controller that made it fly in the first place. Their faces looked confused when it would go crashing down. Jeff had to explain to them to hold it and not launch it until the controller made the propellers start.

It made me think about being alive with Christ. Growing up I've had a hard time realizing the truth that we are saved by grace...not saved by "following rules." In the back of my mind I always thought, "If I could just be a good girl...then God will love me and save me." It wasn't until later that I realized that he loves and wants to save me because I CAN'T be a "good enough girl" by my own strength.

Therefore, "he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. It is ONLY by God's grace that you have been saved. For he raised us from the dead together with Christ" -Ephesians 2:5

That airplane cannot function unless it is paired with that remote control. Without it, it cannot be free to gracefully soar through the sky...and if it does, its not long before its own strength has failed and it is crashing into the ground. Much like that airplane, we cannot be free to live an abundant life unless we are paired together with Christ. Our own strength will only get us so far. The union that we continue to keep with our father will fly us to places that we never knew we could go and cause us to function the way we were created to. Airplanes were created to fly...not to sit on the ground or to crash. We were created to live and to do that together with Christ...not to just try to follow rules all the time. I'm not saying "don't follow rules." But I've had it backwards my whole life. I thought, "If I follow the rules, God will save me." But now I know that "Since God has saved me, now I can and will (together with Christ) follow his law." I am thankful for a God that loves unconditionally and saves me by grace.

Something

Something you wish your mother or father had warned you about:
unpleasable people

Something that's holding you back from achieving your dreams:
i gave up on my dreams...i'm trying to find out God's plans now.

Something you fear more than anything:
not being approved of

Something you wish people would understand:
that being a Christian is not just believing God exists, but being intimate with the existing God

Something that keeps you going everyday:
my relationship with a God that loves unconditionally

Something you refuse to pay money for:
i use to say cable...but now I have it just because it came with the house.

Something that makes you laugh every time it happens:
Jeff's humor

Something that makes the problems in your life not seem so bad:
seeing how people/children live in 3rd world countries

Something you listen to when you're in a really good mood:
my son laugh

Something you do when you're trying to calm down:
cry

Something you do when you wake up at three AM:
go potty or check on the little man

Something you love doing on cold rainy days:
stay inside...i hate cold

Something that irritates you more than anything:
gossip....it's unChristlike and hard for me to not join in

Something you had to give up but didn't want to:
our well paying jobs

Something that really stands out about you:
i don't know....ask someone who is not me :)

Something that you say a lot that others have picked up on:
"that's funny to me" (I say that because I have an odd sense of humor and realize that some things are not funny to other people.)

Something that truly disgusts you:
rats

Body: No more (and no less!) than 2 words can be used... Have fun and try not to use the same answers as the person before you.............


..1. Where is your cell phone? ................ don't know



..2. Your significant other?..................is sleeping



..3. Your hair? ....................................... very short



..4. Your mother? .................................... miss her



5. Your father?...................................... is quiet



..6. Your favorite thing?.......................... chips salsa?



..7. Your dream last night?....................... don't remember



..8. Your favorite drink? ............................. dr pepper



..9. Your dream/goal?................................ He'll reveal



..10. The room you're in?........................... living room



..11. Your ex?................................................. doesn't exist



..12. Your fear?............................................. no approval



..13. Where do you want to be in 6 years?........ pleasing God



..14. Where were you last night?.............. taking walk



..15. What you're not?................................. without faith



..16. Muffins?............................................ blue berry



..17. One of your wish list items?........... new SUV



..18. Where you grew up?......................... Arlington Texas



..19. The last thing you did?...................... went potty


..20. What are you wearing?..................... shorts Tshirt



..21. Your TV?............................................ is off



..22. Your pets?.......................................... are swimming



..23. Your computer? ................................ is on



..24. Your life?............................................. has changed


..25. Your mood?................................... very peaceful



..26. Missing someone?............................. yes yes



..27. Your car?................................................ too small



..28. Something you're not wearing?................ my rings



..29. Favorite Store?................................... flea markets



..30. Your summer?.................................... is here!



..31. Like someone?..................................yes ma'am



..32. Your favorite color?............................. is green



..33. Last time you laughed....................... last night



..34. Last time you cried?.......................... during church



..35. Who do you love? ................................Colin Jeff

Hallelujah!

I'm out for summer break! What a relief. I have to share the one story that brought tears to my eyes. I don't even really know why because it seems like a silly little story. Anyway, I have a little girl that is an ESL student (limited English). She comprehends SOOO much but cannot verbalize all the knowledge that she has very well. Anyway, she usually is very shy and doesn't speak to me much unless she has to, so I really didn't think she gave much thought to me. Well on the last day of school, I walked in the door by the cafeteria to go sign in at the office. She was in the cafeteria eating breakfast and she came busting out the door to show me her new haircut. She was so excited about it and said, "I cut hair! I cut hair!" I thought that was kind of weird because she has had like 6 haircuts this year and always hated them. Anyway, at the end of the day her dad came to get her and I told him how excited she was about her haircut. He said when he took her she told the lady to cut it like Mrs. Stapleton's. Ok, I know, not a big deal. It just meant alot to me that she thought more of me than I thought she did.

I'm very excited about our new principal. I actually already know her because she goes to my church. She came to introduce herself yesterday and it was so refreshing. She kept talking about her family so much. She told us that she would not be a good principal unless "everything was right at home" meaning she needed to spend time with her family too. I guess that was her way of saying that she was going to have a life outside of school. She said that we would be seeing alot of her family and she wants to see alot of our families as well. I've always felt "guilty" for wanting to be with my family or for staying home with Colin when he is sick or whatever. Sometimes I feel guilty that I don't "live and breath" teaching all the time. So that was encouraging to hear her say all that. It was like she was giving us permission to have a life! haha.

So, I'm going to relax for a while. I'm going to go to Arlington next weekend and Chaz's birthday party. The boy is going to be 3! I'm excited to see Mary and Daniel. Then I'm going to come home and relax some more. I think I will catch up on some scrapbooking. I always love to do that. It's not as fun though unless I do it with my scrapbook sister, Taylor. I may have to come back to Arlington another time and show up at her house with all my supplies. :)

Colin's new happenings

So Colin has really come out of his shell and all of a sudden is doing all of these new things. He pulls up on everything he can get his hands on. We had to lower his mattress in his crib...it's kind of hard to get him to go to sleep now, because he now has the option of standing in bed. He now has a broader vocabulary. He says, "Mama, Dada, up, and uh-oh." He crawls everywhere and his new favorite thing to do is to crawl under the coffee table.

We also decided it was hot enough to bust out the swim shorts and pool. He had so much fun. He didn't like it at first because the water was kind of cold, but once he got used to it he had lots of fun.

splish splash

his big blue eyes

he all of a sudden realized that there was a world outside of the pool. He kept trying to crawl out and eat the grass and leaves. hehe.

So, there is only 1/2 a day left with students then a day and a 1/2 of teacher work days. I am SOOOO ready for the break. It has been a rough year. But I am also excited about next school year. It will be so nice to not have all of this new stuff in my life all at once. That was the main reason why this past school year has been so rough. I had a new job with a new grade level, a new town, new baby, new house... It just did not bring out the best in me. I am ready to try again next school year. I LOVE my team and we have found a new principal for our school for next year that I am very excited about. But until then, I am going to relax and have fun this summer! Woo-hoo!