My heart will sing no other name, Jesus

That song "Running to your Arms" has been in my head ever since we sang it at church on Sunday. We are currently looking for new music minister and the guy they brought in this week did an awesome job leading us before the throne. I was longing for some deep ....intense if you will, time with God...I had missed out on worship two weeks previously due to being sick and the Easter worship was led by a band and wasn't anything you could sing along with....so this week I was in tears as we sang our hearts out. There is something so special about corporate worship. I love singing in the car and humming along during my workouts but singing beside my husband, oldest son and hundreds of other christians is powerful. One thing the visiting music pastor said was " We aren' here singing as if we don't have any problems waiting for us outside the four walls...we are here singing because we know that God is still good despite those problems and that we need to give them to him". Bam, lost it. I hate how many people confuse a relationship with Christ as a life without problems. On the other hand I hate how many christian turns on their christian voice and attitude at church and change the minute they leave. GUILTY AS CHARGED. I will say though that I have found myself being very open and vulnerable with our current family group....they know when I am happy with my husband and when I need my space :)...he is good at letting them know too :). Gotta be real right?


Our pastor delivered a very powerful sermon this weekend, one that I would have thought he would have preached on Easter Sunday. He went deep into the physical side of the Crucifixion,  so deep that at one point my stomach turned and I seriously made a mental note of how quickly I could get to a potty to heave based on which side of the aisle I chose to dart through. It was full of words like bones, fluid, blood, stabbed, flesh, tear, etc. One thing that stood out to me is that he said the word "excruciating" is based on the Latin word excruciat- ‘tormented,’ from the verb excruciare (based on crux, cruc- ‘a cross’). In other words, the torture Jesus endured couldn't be described, there wasn't any word that fit how intense it was, so they came up with the word excruciating, 

Most Sundays we let her dress herself. She comes up with some GREAT outfits!!

Sunday afternoon was spent at the fields, watching Ribbit practice and then cheer on a flag football team. She did well, showing off her "donkey kick" as her newest talent. She also loves to plop down into a split and jump on the count of 5, 6, 7, 8. She was louder and more focused this week as well...although I did notice that she is about 2 seconds behind everyone else....must get it from her momma, I'll be the first to admit that dancing doesn't come naturally or without awkward flailing. 

S U P E R, super that's what we are!!

Little man found two friends during all this and had the best time. Those boys were so sweet to him, even though they were both older. They made sure he got a turn every 3 rotations...made sure he was "allowed" to make touchdowns like they were and gave him a high 5 for anything he did! He is definitely mine and Adam's kid as anytime he would make a touchdown he would yell "Touchdown Auburn!!!" Funny thing is that while we were watching March Madness a few weeks ago, a player made a slam dunk and Baby Boy immediately clapped and yelled "Touchdown Auburn" as well :). 

Look at the hair and smile...the little guy "Jeremiah" behind him was cute as a button too! You can also see the older brother walking in the background, he was super kind to Baby Boy! TOUCHDOWN AUBURN!

They all took turns holding the ball so they could kick goals!

After cheerleading we ran to the other side of the field and watched Daddy coach Goober's flag football team. We moved Goober up to a higher age bracket so he could play with our neighbor whose dad is co-coaching with Adam. That being said, Goober is by far the smallest on his team...so imagine when we got there this week and in Goober's words " we saw we were up against giants". However, Goober stuck with them, the fastest little thing out there, ripping off the quarterbacks flag as he searched for an open player to throw too. He was their secret weapon!! After the game they always award one player with a medal for showing a certain value for that week. This week was courtesy and the other coach was ADAMANT that Goober get it. He said that he was the only player on both teams who would say "good try" or " good job". I also heard him say to a kid who was complaining that the other team won because they were bigger, "well maybe they just wanted it more and so they tried harder"...that a boy!! Adam was reluctant to give his own kid the medal but the other coach did it and Goober was all smiles. To make his day even better the ref from the game came and found me afterwards. He said " are you Goober's mom?". I said yes, knowing that he was totally looking for a darker skinned women :) and he said " he has become my favorite player to watch..he is quick, has a great game and is kind to everyone on the field!!". GO GOOBER!!
 

Receiving his medal from Coach Michael, our neighbor, best friend and brother in Christ.

GREAT JOB BUD!

Its no secret that we have been dealing with awful behavior and character issues with Goober this whole year but over the past month he has really shaped up. His teacher even sent us an email telling us that he has become a new student and she is so impressed with him. We made a pretty big deal out of this and he did too :). We asked him "why the change now, what has happened or what has God revealed to you?. His response?..." I decided that I want to have a peaceful life and that I want to be mayor". Well ok then!!

From the fields we went to church for a Childrens Ministry Team Huddle. The kids got to play and eat pizza while the grownups discussed the vision for our childrens ministry and we got to be encouraged to keep pouring into our kiddos. The whole night was great but the one thing that really stuck with me was this thought about shepherding. Shepherds lead from the front- its not like American cowboys who come up behind the cows and poke and prod them into the arena. Shepherds lead from the front, never needing to push the sheep or constantly whack them...they lead by example. Are we leading from the front or are we doing such a poor job of modeling our faith that we find ourselves constantly poking, nagging, prodding, begging our kids to follow Christ?

Uncle Chris got here that night and since then LIFE has been FUN, LOUD and BUSY!!!