Happy Birthday Daniel!!

Happy Birthday Andrew!!

On this particular day, we decided to go to Caribou to get drinks (I’m sure mommy didn’t have any influence on that decision because I’m not addicted to Caribou Coffee or anything).

We get to the drive-thru and there are a couple people in line ahead of us.  And like any other trip to Caribou, I ask each of the 4 boys what they would like to drink.  We order our drinks (all 5 of them) and I dig out my money.  Once the gentleman in front of me pulls away, I proceed to the window.

The worker pops her head out of the window and asks if I would like to buy a bag of coffee.  I look at her a bit puzzled…they never ask that when you get to the window.  She proceeds to explain…

“That gentleman that was ahead of you just paid for all your drinks, so you don’t have a total.  So would you like to buy a bag of our coffee?”

SHOCKED!  I decided that since I have an obsession with like Caribou’s Coffee, that I would go ahead and purchase a bag of coffee…because, well, that coffee was a lot less than it would have been to buy 5 drinks.

What a great thing Random Acts of Kindness are!  Have you had someone do something nice for you?  Have you done a random act of kindness to someone else?

My wonderful husband ok’d me to get a family membership to the YMCA!  I’m so happy!  The boys are excited too!

Anyway, I just had to share!

Friday was our first meeting of the New Year at The River Church.  The title of the meeting was “Have a Soup-er New Year”.  It was a Soup dinner…there were lots and lots of yummy soups and breads and desserts!  We talked about Friendship and did a devotional called A Recipe for Friendship.  Then we spent some time doing a few “get to know you” type of mixer games.

One of the first things we had the women do as they entered was write something unique about themselves on a slip of paper along with their name and put it into a basket (folded of course).  We used these as a transitional type of thing.  One of the leaders read a couple of the slips of paper (one at a time) and everyone would just throw out names trying to guess who it was!  It’s funny the things you get to know about other people…and who knew one of my friends from church had the same talent as I do…zyxwv…

We also went around the room and told our names, a little about ourselves (how many kids, how long you’ve been attending the church, the city you live in, etc.), along with a “Truth or Lie”.  We had to come up with a statement that everyone would guess would either be a truth or lie.  I now know those women who really can’t lie.

However, I think the best game, by far, was another get to know you type of game we did.  We all got into a circle, the first person would take a small stuffed animal and throw it to someone while saying their name.  Then that person would throw the animal to another person saying their name.  As that animal went through a couple people, the first person would grab the next animal and throw it to the same person.  One rule about the game is that you ALWAYS throw it to the same person and you ALWAYS receive it from the same person.  Just imagine a circle about 25 women large and 6 stuffed animals flying through the air and people yelling each other’s names.  It had us all laughing…mine (and a few others) stomach hurt from laughing so hard!

We are also starting a Secret Sister program in the church.  We are hoping to get all the women in our church involved in this.  Each member fills out a form, then they will be matched up with another member that you will pray for, send encouraging notes to (using a designated return address of one member who has graciously agreed to helping), and gifts.  We will be revealing at our Women’s Retreat (May 7-8), or that weekend for those who are unable to attend.

Next month, we will be doing a Service Project.  We are making those No-Sew fleece blankets and giving them to one of our local ministries.  So, if you are planning on attending, please remember to bring your 1 1/2 yard or 2 1/2 yard fleece.  If you are making a double layer one, please remember you need 2 pieces of fleece the same size (one solid color and one print that match each other)

I hope and pray that all the Women in our church will be blessed by our Monthly Meetings which are the 2nd Friday of each month with the exception of April (Spring Break) and May (Retreat).

Pete is doing a 31 Day Challenge (you can read about it here) but basically, 31 chapters in Proverbs = 31 days!  There’s a blog set up specifically for the 31 Day Challenge.

I just joined (a few days behind, but I can catch up), are you in?

So…Let’s begin, shall we?

January

I felt God’s direction about Vacation Bible School.  It was the beginning of January that I realized that God had been calling me to be the director of VBS for 2009.  I had helped run it in 2008, but the call to lead was stronger than the year before.  So by the end of January, it was decided that I would be the director of VBS.

February

Daniel and Andrew turned 4 and I celebrated my 35th birthday.  There was that LONG gap of my internet time.  From the moment that we decided to drop the DSL line and get the Cable line…December through February!  WOW, I remember being so upset that it was taking so long and we would get the run around!

March

The stress of VBS was in full force.  My dad struggled with clots one big one that he had been hospitalized for that ran from his groin to his ankle.  I was so happy that he was able to get that taken care of and sent home.  Kevin and I started our online search for a house.  Our intentions were to get a house big enough that my parents could come and stay when a kidney would become available for my dad, since dad’s Kidney doctor was down here by us.

April

I was so excited to be joining in on the A Woman Inspired online conferences!  My dad’s kidneys were getting worse and the doctors were moving forward with getting dad ready for dialysis and his kidney transplant.

May

God began speaking to me about a ministry that my heart had desired to work with.  At the time (May) I didn’t mention the ministry and I really hadn’t mentioned it much since…things just recently came to pass.  I was speaking of the Ladies Ministry at our church.  God had began to open the doors for me to work with that ministry.   I also began writing about the Road to a Kidney and the feelings regarding my dad and a kidney transplant.

June

We were packing up our place and getting ready to move into our new home.  What an exciting time!

July

Michael turned 12.  We had a 4th of July party in our new home!  My dad had to have open heart surgery in July.  It was a triple bypass.  How hard that was to know that my dad going into this surgery would cause his kidneys, that weren’t functioning properly, to completely stop working.  It was extremely hard for me to be there and see all those tubes he had when he came out of surgery.  At that moment, I had realized just how hard it was to watch my dad struggle and be in so much pain.

August

VBS month!  Wow, it was such a whirl-wind and a blur!  I was so happy when the week was over!  The day after VBS, however, I jumped right into working on the Women’s Ministry Retreat.

September

Noah turned 9!  We had the Women’s Retreat and I had so much fun!  I enjoyed every minute of getting all the things together as well as participating.  I started my research on 2010 VBS’s…I was overwhelmed again.  While praying for which program to run the next year, I felt God telling me my time as the director was over.  I was actually very relieved at that, but decided to pray more to be sure it just wasn’t my will.

October

An amazing month.  How I realized that distance doesn’t matter when God is involved and how God was using technology to minister to someone first hand!  My dad’s feet had began to turn purple from lack of circulation.  I had mentioned it to a pastor/friend who had mentioned it to a pastor/friend of his who just happened to be having revival services at his church…streaming online!  So I was able to get online with Larry Silverman’s church (who, by the way are STILL in revival and stream their services online) and hear them pray for my dad while having my cell phone up to the speakers of my computer so my parents (who were on the phone) could hear the prayers for my dad.

November

Unfortunately, my father passed away at the beginning of November.  It was very hard to watch him die.  My heart was split from being happy that he was no longer in pain to being sad that he was no longer with us.  I still struggle with this!   Kevin celebrated his birthday, it wasn’t much of a celebration time (sorry honey!) since it fell between my dad’s viewing and his funeral.

December

Our first Christmas without my dad had it’s moments, but we all had a pretty good time.  We celebrated this Christmas by having my mom spend Christmas Eve/Christmas Day with us.

As an overview, the beginning of 2009 was really great, the ending, too many deaths in the family!

I am looking forward to a new year!  Happy 2010!!

May the Lord Bless you throughout this new year!

May your day be filled with wonderful memories with family and friends.  And may you remember the reason we celebrate this Christmas season.

For unto us a Child is born,
Unto us a Son is given;
And the government will be upon His shoulder.
And His name will be called
Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Isaiah 9:6

God Bless you and your family!

Have a wonderful day!!

If you have the chance, please remember that this is our first holiday without my dad…these next few weeks are going to be hard on not just me, but my whole family.