Baseball and Embarrassing Moments!

Last night we went to another baseball game with Grams and Bill (my grandparents). Eric decided he wanted to stay home, so Samuel stayed with him and Judah and I went. We took Katie and Sam along with us. While we were sitting in our seats one of the worker girls came and asked us if we wanted to sit in the "best seats in the house." Basically, is is a couch and loveseat set up in the very front middle. With it comes free food. Sounds good? Not so much for 2 two year old boys. The waitress would go up to THEM and ask them what they wanted. They ended up getting: 3 lemon icees, a bag of popcorn, nachos, ice cream dips, and a bag of M&Ms. That doesn't include the waters, sodas, and sandwiches that Katie, Grams, Bill, and I got.


Judah and "Big Sam" with their balls- and Judah wearing Sam's hat!


Me, Judah, Katie (and Sam's arm behind us)

Also, the boys got to a game in between the 1st and 2nd inning. The did a little obstacle course and then won a baseball. They didn't really know what they were doing, but it was fun to see them on the field and their names ("Judah & Sam") on the big screen!


On your mark, get set...


"Judah & Sam"

Today was an interesting day!
Tonight we had some people from cell over for dinner. Judah missed his nap, so while Samuel was sleeping I decided to take Judah with me to Trader Joe's and Eric stayed home. We went to TJs and got what we needed, then walked across the parking lot to Long's to get some paper plates and plastic forks. And, to visit our friends Jarred and Greg.

Afterwards, we walked back to our car and I couldn't find our bag of groceries from TJs. I thought, "I don't remember putting it in the car...", then realized I grabbed my purse, Judah, and the cart cover out of the cart, but left me bag in there. I seriously considered just going home without it, but my husband being very frugal, would not have liked that. So, I decided to suck up my pride and go inside. I walked quickly to the front desk and said quietly, "ummm, I have to tell you something embarrassing. I think I left my bag of groceries in my cart." The guy and the front desk yelled (loudly!), "Hey Doug! Did you find any groceries in a cart?" And, Doug yelled back, "Oh yeah! It's in the back! And, don't forget to grab a box of frozen cod, I put that away." So, I waited for awhile, but Doug never went back and got it. I was like, "Umm, should I go somewhere to get my bag?" But, then Jim went and got it. Good thing!

So then, we had our dinner and it went good and it was fun. The kids played in the backyard and that was exciting. I want to get it looking pretty for Judah's birthday party.

After dinner I was going to go to the prayer meeting and one of our youth, Shaquaya, was going to go with me. We got in the car, opened up the garage door, and she said to me, "You need to get some bumping music..." and then BOOM!!!! Umm yeah, we hit the car sitting in our driveway. It belonged to Brian, one of the guys in Eric's cell. I felt so, so, so bad! Thankfully, I was going about 1mph, so all it did was rub a little bit of the blue from his license plate onto my car. He wasn't mad and nothing happened to the cars, but it wasn't so good.

At prayer meeting I dumped a guys water on me, too....I guess that was nothing compared to the other things. Goodnight!

Chug Chug Chug

Puff puff puff, ding dong, ding dong.
Somedays I feel like the little engine that could. "I think I can, I think I can..." We have SO much going on. I never thought I was the type of person that just likes to stay home and relax, but now I think I am. At least for a few hours a week. One of the main things that God is teaching me right now is how to have balance. I think we, as humans, have the tendency to be extreme. All or nothing.

Right now I have about 10 solid ladies in my cell group. With another, almost 10, that are on the fringes. 5 girls in the youth cell and adding more every week. My goal is to connect with every single one of these people every week. At least by phone, but preferably in person. Add to that mix Eric meeting with his 20 or so guys and it can get a little overwhelming. Obviously, we LOVE investing in people. We love seeing people come into relationship with God and everything change. We've committed our lives to this. Eric's pool business is just a means to the end, definitely not an end.

So anyway, I'm learning how to balance all of this. How to live my life in order: God first, then me, then my husband, then my kids, then ministry, then everything else. If one thing is off, then everything is off, that's for sure!

One (of the many) things I love about the vision, is that it truly is a family vision. And, everyone loves my kids! They are, seriously, so popular. During bbqs or other church functions, we really don't have to watch them too much because someone is holding their hand or playing with them or carrying them around. This includes the kids and even the single men! Because of the fact that they are always around people both Judah and Samuel are abnormally (in a good way!) social and outgoing.

Judah knows pretty much every single person's name in the church. Including their relationship to their family members and if they've decided to go by a new name (aka Dave to David, Matt to Matthew, this is pretty common around Zion these days! :) Personally, I think this is pretty impressive. And, that's not just me that's everyone else too. haha! But, what is really impressive is that Samuel, at 15 months, knows most peoples' names, too. Just had to add a little about the kids, too!

Still Nursing

Tonight we had two of our youths over- twin 14 year old boys. I was sitting on the couch with Samuel facing me, reading him a book. One of the boys was sitting next to us. I had the book open and asked Samuel, "Where is the truck?" He pointed to the truck. (It was a page of white things.) Then I asked him, "Where is the milk?" He moved the book out of the way and pointed to my chest. Umm, a little embarrassing in front of a 14 year old boy!

The only point is to post a blog :)

The encounter was awesome. It's always amazing to see peoples' lives be completely transformed.

We're doing youth full force now. I love hanging out with the young guys and girls. We have about 12 right now (which isn't bad for 5 weeks) ranging from 10-15. Last night we had a bbq and pool party and about 20 people showed up. So much fun! Next Saturday we're going to have a yard sale to raise money for the youth encounter in September.

We went to lunch today with my dad at one of my favorite places, Morning Thunder. It was SOOOO good! I got the "California Egg," which is bagel with a scrambled egg, swiss cheese, and avocado with potatoes on the side.

Sweet Boys and Encounter

We've been letting the boys swim in their little pool a lot lately. Especially this week because we haven't gone anywhere (potty training). Eric takes the swimming to the next level by adding soap to the water. The boys love it!


Brother Love

We're leaving for the Encounter in just a few minutes. This will be our first time taking a child, so I'm not sure what to expect. Judah hasn't been feeling very well the past couple of days, so Ellie offered to watch him (THANK YOU!!!), so it will just be Samuel going with us. I'm really excited because I know that God is always faithful to meet each person and completely transform their heart. The lessons I teach are Revelation of the Cross and Healing Our Hearts and they are SO powerful. Lots of people know about about the cross, but how many people actually experience what Jesus experienced? Thats exactly what happens during the Revelation of the Cross lesson. In Healing Our Hearts people forgive each and every person that has ever rejected them. God even reveals things that we don't remember because pain can go so deep it surpasses even our memory. It is so powerful!

Speaking of power, that has been my prayer. That, like Paul, my words would not just be persuasive or eloquent, but full of the power of the Holy Spirit. That people would be set free and lives would be changed. Amen! :)