VBS is officially DONE!!!

Phew!! It was an awesome time and I was truly blessed for having been a part of it, but I AM glad that it's behind us now! We had about 50 kids total, which wasn't bad considering that it's been a couple years since we have had Vacation Bible School at our church.
We had some amazing volunteers. It was really exciting to see so many of our workers utilizing their God given talents to help further God's kingdom! We had some very crafty, creative ladies who helped out a great deal in getting the church decorated beautifully. We also had some very artistic ladies working in arts and crafts and they did a fabulous job with the children there. The people working games were very creative, fun people who got the kids all excited and came up with some very ingenious ideas. Story time was done by a woman in our church who has a passion for children and a desire to see them come to know Christ. She is very gifted in her speaking abilities and helped lead several of our children to Christ! Praise God! Our senior pastor was in charge of music and did a fantastic job. He is very gifted musically and even has a music degree. The week ran so smoothly, I don't know how it could have been any better. We had no major issues to deal with.
We had a few parents of children who are not actively attending church anywhere inquire about our Sunday School and church times. We will follow up with all of the new prospects in hopes of getting them plugged in to our church. I have actually grown somewhat attached to some of these kids this week and I will miss seeing them everyday. Overall, directing VBS was such a blessing for me. It was a lot of hard work, but it was worth every bit of it. I was so happy to hear about the children who made decisions to accept Christ. Please pray that these children will continue to grow in their faith and understanding of Jesus Christ. Pray for us adults that God will use us as a tool to reach them for His glory.

Staying Faithful...

Well two days of Vacation Bible School has come and gone and with lots of success! I am really happy to say that things have gone very smoothly and with much prayer and hard work, they will continue to run smoothly throughout the course of the week.
It's amazing how Satan knows to show up in full force just before something really big for the cause of Christ is about to take place. We have been under some of Satan's attacks over the past few weeks in our ministry but the Lord has been faithful to us through it all. One of the devil's greatest tools is discouragement and he knows how to use that tool very well. I know that there is a reason why we are dealing with the issues that we are dealing with right now because I know that God is in control of it all and that he only has our best interest at heart.
We have an amazing senior pastor at our church who loves the Lord with all his heart. He truly has been a blessing to our church and to us personally. He also serves as a great friend and mentor to Steve. I have a new found respect and appreciation for him as a pastor and as a friend in the midst of these heartaches and frustarations that have hit our church and our youth ministry. He gave us a great piece of advice in talking with him yesterday. He said that in every negative situation, always look for something positive that you can take away from it. After talking with him, I have really made that my focus and God has given me such a peace. I was reminded of the bible story of Joseph. Joseph's brothers sold him into slavery in Egypt, his master's wife falsely accused him of trying to rape her, and, as a result, Joseph was thrown into prison. Even while in prison, Joseph kept doing his best, and he always rose to the top in every environment he found himself. He rose to the top in Potiphar's (his master) household; he rose to the top in prison, and the jailor gave him special responsibilities. Finally, God began to change his conditions. Eventually, God put him in charge of all of Egypt in preparation for the famine he had prophesied. He became a great man of God and maybe wouldn't have had that opportunity had all of those negative things not happened to him. The bible tells us that God works ALL things out for the good of those who love him...not just the good things but ALL things, good AND bad. Joseph is the perfect example of this. We are trying to stay focused on this truth from God's word and we are trusting in and clinging to Him to meet ALL of our needs in ministry and we know that He is faithful to do just that. Please continue to pray for us. We are so blessed to be in this ministry and to have this opportunity to work with the youth in our church. We love them all and pray for them everyday. God has truly blessed us richly!

Vacation Bible School

Our Vacation Bible School (VBS) program is coming up at church. It runs from June 11-15th (next week). I am actually directing VBS this year for the first time. I have been involved with VBS in the past as a teacher but I've never actually directed the entire program. It has proven to be quite a job! I never realized how much little, tiny detail work goes into a job like that. Overall, I have really enjoyed doing it despite the occasional stressers that go along with the package. We are now trying to tie up all of the loose ends and get ready for our VBS planning day on Saturday and our VBS meeting this Sunday (the day before VBS begins). This years theme is Game Day Central. We will be focusing on sports game days (i.e. football, socccer, basketball, baseball) and game day heroes. Our goal is to tie all of that in with being a christian and our spiritual walks with Christ. Please pray for us as we finish the preparations and get ready for the big event. Pray for the lives of the children who will be attending VBS, that God would grab a hold of their hearts and work mightily in their young lives.

In a Nutshell

Well, the past couple of months have been so overwhelmingly busy for us! I can't believe that I haven't posted a new blog in over two months! Well, for starters, in early April, Steve's sister, brother in law and neice came down from MI for a week's visit. They spent Easter with us. We had an incredible time with them and were so sad to see them leave. We went to Animal Kingdom with them and to the beach a couple of times. They were nice enough to take Greyson with them to Gatorland and he had such an amazing time! We really enjoyed being able to relax and spend some time with them.



In early May, Cael had to have surgery for his hypospadias. The surgery was very successful and he is looking and functioning very normally. He was very sore for awhile and had to wear two diapers for a week (one for #1 and one for #2). We had to cut a whole in the outer diaper and run a tube into it EVERY time we changed him. Changing his diaper was tedious work and almost impossible for one person to do. My poor little guy would scream everytime he was getting changed because he was so sore. He goes back next week for a follow up appointment but he seems to be doing very well.

a few days after surgery


The highlight of the month of May for us was our cruise!! We went on the Royal Caribbean Mariner of the Seas out of Port Canaveral. We visited three islands, Cocoa Cay (Bahamas), St. Thomas and St. Maartan. We have been to St. Thomas and St. Maartan in a previous cruise but still had a fabulous time. It was so nice to just be able to get away for a week and relax.

cruise picture



Well, that's our last two months in a nutshell. I will strive to be more consistent with my postings to let everyone know the latest goings on in our lives! :)