A bucket list beginning

So I started a Bucket List today. Basically its a list of things I want to do before I die. Obviously I don’t know when I will die but for me, this is a good way to put on paper things I have always wanted to do. Im not a goal-oriented person. I plan but not towards something- I just like to get something accomplished/feel productive. Honestly I am afraid to dream outside of the realm of what is practical and “possible.” Even though God has rocked this boat in me many times, I still don’t dare ask for adventure or thrills in life just in case they aren’t mine to have. So for me this is a bold task- a risk.

Here are just a few things on my list …. in no particular order:

* Visit: Italy; Australia; Africa; Seattle; Chicago; Boston

* Skydive

* Try snowboarding

* Complete a marathon without injury (attempt #2)

* Adopt a child

* Be on the show Amazing Race

* Write a book

* Own a motorcycle

* Sing the National Anthem at a professional sports game

* Go sugar free for 30 days

* Complete a mini triathalon

* Go surfing

* Win something on the Ellen show giveaways or be on the show as a guest

* Go backpacking in Ireland

* Go on a safarii

* Be debt free

* Live in a foreign country for a year

* Learn a second language fluently

* Teach my children integrity in character

* Swim with dolphins or whales or sea turtles

<<The items with lines through them mean they have been accomplished already>>

What are some things on your bucket list?

Happy 7th Anniversary Keiki!

Starbucks through the eyes of my children

We grabbed some Starbucks before hitting the grocery store this morning and as a means of entertainment, the kids walked around with my point and shoot (crappy) camera and captured their surroundings. To some of you this is lame but Im kind of thinking my kid (Jaxon) has an eye!  Check out his angles and subject matter. Maybe daddy isn’t the only one passing along some form of creativity to the kiddos!

Help Haiti

Click on the image and help!

The story God is writing

Im reading Donald Miller’s newest book called “A Million Miles In A Thousand Years.” The gist is that as he and a few guys try to write a documentary about his life, he begins to learn the difference between writing a story for a book and writing a story for the screen. In a book you just tell the reader what a character is feeling or thinking, in a movie you have to show it. As the process goes on, Donald Miller starts to apply the principles he is learning about writing a story for a movie, to his life. Like he says in the authors note, “The truth is, if what we choose to do with our lives won’t make a story meaningful, it won’t make a life meaningful either.”

Anyway, I got knee deep into the book today during the kids’ nap time and it has kept me thinking ever since. Could it be true that maybe all God really wants from us is to live inside a body He made and enjoy the story and bond with us through the experience (Page 7)? If so, what story is God writing for my life? I want to be intentional in living that story and when hardships arise, rather than seeing God as unjust and uncaring, see Him as the Masterful Story Teller- because we all know a good story always has some sort of conflict in it. I mean, good stories don’t just happen by accident, they are planned.

Another important aspect of life, and character development in a good story, is transformation. Life itself may be designed to change us. “Maybe the point isn’t the search itself but the transformation the search creates,” as Donald Miller’s friend Marco suggests on page 69. “We were designed to live through something rather than to attain something, and the thing we were meant to live through was designed to change us.”

Reading all of this has prompted me to ponder a lot of things. Knowing that God is a Masterful Writer guides me to better stories, toward being a better character. I can almost hear God saying to me, “Enjoy our place in my story. The beauty of it means you matter, and you can create within it even as I have created you (page 59).”

The next set of chapters talks about “putting something on the page.” I look forward to reading them.

“Not living a better story would be like deciding to die…and it’s not natural to want to die (page 66).”

Going Giftless

Last year Nathan and I began praying about the possibility of going giftless at Christmas. We had been challenged by some blog posts by Shaun Groves about the very topic and for the weeks leading up to last years gift frenzy, we felt uneasy about the holiday but it was too late. After it was all over I felt a deep conviction to change the focus of Christmas from “Santa bringing us gifts” to “us giving Jesus gifts.” This is not to say that anyone else is/was doing it “wrong” we just felt led to do it differently.

So this year the emphasis has been on Christmas being Jesus’ birthday and my sweet boy can completely understand that him/us getting gifts on someone else’s birthday doesn’t really make sense. So as a visual aid to what Christmas is all about my mom gave us this nativity set called “What God Wants For Christmas” and a book by Matthew West called “Give this Christmas Away.” In the nativity set there are 7 boxes and each day you open one up and read a poem about the person and their role in the story. Today we opened up box #1 and it was Gabriel, the angel. But what happened after we opened the box and read the poem is what really touched my heart. Jaxon’s face lit up as he placed Gabriel in the manger scene and he started quoting Luke 2:10-12. Of course I asked him to say it again so I could record it and share with all of you. Isn’t this precious!?!

Thanksgiving

I know its a week late but I still wanted to share the overflow of my grateful heart.

1. Every year we open our home around the holidays to anyone and everyone who needs a place to celebrate. Last year a couple of friends joined us but this year it was just family. As my parents sat across the table from me, I was overwhelmed by the gift they are to us. I thought the possibility of living near them had come and gone but there they were, sharing the meal with us. I can’t stop thanking God for them being here again. I simply love doing life with them.

2. Living on a budget makes expensive holidays a little stressful at times. I was so blessed by the fact that no one in my family complained b/c we couldn’t afford the groceries to make every dish perfect and plentiful. We had enough to fill our bellies. I am thankful God continues to provide just what we need daily.

3. A few days before Thanksgiving my mom, Jaxon and I went to help out at a homeless shelter in the area handing out turkeys and bags of food. I was reminded that I come from a servant hearted family and am thus able to teach my kids the importance of helping others and meeting needs. I am so thankful for the examples of sacrifice and service in my life. I pray my children will be drawn toward such acts as they grow up too.

4. I am so thankful for the role I get to play in the life of my BLG girls. Its a responsibility I take seriously, if you couldn’t tell already, b/c it has impact and power within it. I have been given the opportunity to influence teenage girls at the gut level. I am thankful that God has kept me in Naples long enough to see them grow from 8th graders to almost high school graduates and I pray their spiritual lives have matured along the way. I am so thankful for the love they bring into my life.

5. Another thing I am thankful for this year is that Uganda opened their doors for international adoption. A dream was placed in my heart 14 years ago and this summer when Uganda made that decision, my calling took motion and will bring a new member to our family sooner rather than later.

6. Lastly I am forever grateful for my husband/marriage. Its more than I ever dreamed, perhaps b/c I never dreamed about marriage. I’ve only seen relationships that end in divorce or are dead and isolated from their spouse. It was not appealing for this “once and for all” hearted girl. But God granted me what all women crave. I have the dream- the soul mate. Nathan was born to be my husband and he encourages me to be more like Christ on a daily basis through our relationship. I will never take my love for him and his love for me for granted.

I am blessed.

Photos

So I had a senior pictures photo shoot for a sweet girl named Jennifer in our youth group and here are a few of my favorite shots from that:

Also, I stopped by a friends house to check in on her and their newest addition Sarah Katherine (1 month old) and snapped a few shots while I was there. Here are some favorites from that day:

Family Style

While reading through Dr. Moore’s ADOPTED FOR LIFE book I came upon a section addressing an issue that I have lacked the ability to articulate well my own thoughts about. He gave some great ways to communicate the topic so allow me to paraphrase a few points to you:

There are a lot of issues that people tend to think they have to agree upon to maintain a relationship with another person- especially in the Church. There are, of course, issues essential to the faith and to the mission of the church that the church shouldn’t compromise on at all. However there are many, many other issues in which we don’t have agreement, but we, in the words of Paul, disagree as brothers, not enemies (1 Thess. 3:13-15).

The Church is often referred to as a family and yet it more resembles the dysfunction of the culture than the true heart of a family. For example, what is the #1 reason we no longer take The Lord’s Supper as a literal breaking of bread and drinking from the cup- the same loaf and the same cup? Germs. “The common cup is considered gross to many Christians b/c they don’t like the idea of drinking after a stranger. That is just the point, though. You are not drinking after strangers. You are drinking after your own flesh and blood, your family.”

If we can’t distinguish between siblings and strangers in our own fellowship, how can we expect our communities to resonate with that part of  the Gospel message?

The idea of treating of our fellow Christ followers as family makes sense to me. If you know my story at all then you know I have a lot of diversity within my half of the clan. Truth be told, we don’t agree very often. But with that said, we are still madly in love with each other. Somehow we have managed to “agree to disagree” all for the sake of being family. After losing a close family member tragically (my sister died at age 12) I have said that it wasn’t worth losing any more family because of a choice I made not to love.

The same should be true of my family at FBCN and your family at your church. The same should be true for that “stranger” standing next to you during worship. They are your siblings. All of us are part of God’s clan and He loves us despite ourselves. I think we can resemble Christ best when we extend that same sense of belonging to each other.

Do you agree?

Halloween

Every year on Halloween our church hosts an alternative called Hallelujah Night. Its like a carnival with games, candy, rides, food and entertainment. This year they didn’t do it b/c Halloween landed on a SAT night which is also the night of our contemporary service. So in trying to figure out what I was going to do with the kids I decided we would find a way to get some trick or treating in. Its always been one of my favorite childhood memories so I wanted the kids to have their own too. Jaxon decided he wanted to be Woody from Toy Story this year and Nana provided all the makings for Jovie to be Minnie Mouse during her trip to Orlando. So we got them all decked out (we = my parents and I, Nathan was working) and headed over to our annual Halloween Party at Aunt Besty’s house. There we got 2 awesome goody bags and ate beef stew with Italian Cheese Bread Biscuits & washed it down with Blood Orange Italian Soda. Yum! We got our annual group picture before the kids took off in every direction playing hide & seek or entering into a whole new world with their imaginations. Around 6:30pm I decided it was time to hit the streets. Unlike most communities, Naples isn’t all that conducive for trick or treating. Most neighborhoods are behind gates and guards so the “place to be” was a neighborhood called Victoria Park (FYI its also where you go for Christmas lights). My clan loaded up and went into what felt like instant chaos. Thousands of people were parked around this neighborhood for miles and just walked their way in. I just drove right into the mess and parked on the first lawn I could find. We entered into the masses and Jaxon could not pick his jaw up off the ground. He was so in awe of all the costumes, the decorations, the amount of people etc. So we practiced what to say and set out for his first trick or treating adventure. At every stop his sweet little voice would recite, “Trick or Treat! Hi! Im Woody!” Of course he melted many hearts when he thanked them for every morsel of candy and turned to me with a gleam in his eye. We wandered for about an hour until his little candy catcher was filled to the brim and then headed back home. He had the time of his life. So did I, watching him maintain his manners and awe throughout the evening. His gentle spirit is such a gift in times like those. Jovie enjoyed the view from her stroller- there was no way I was going to let her walk around that crowd, it was so packed and crazy. We got home and shared our stories & candy with Daddy before hitting the hay. It was such a great time and I can feel the joy of knowing my kids are on the right path when I see the distinct difference in other children’s attitudes and behaviors. I love being a mom. My kids are already making me so proud.