MT Planters

Shame

2011-05-18T09:56:00.000-07:00

God has taken me on a journey to learn a little about shame in these last few months. The first step was at a youth conference we had at our church at the beginning of April. The speaker asked the students what was the source of their biggest shame. The things that came to my mind were things I had no control over - therefore why should I feel shame? God then spent the next week showing me the things I should actually be ashamed of - sins in my life that had a stronghold and needed dealing with. Isn't that sneaky of the devil to have us being ashamed of things we have no control over while glossing over things we should be ashamed of, like our own sin. I thought that was the end of the journey.

The next step came at a women's conference this past weekend. The speaker again addressed shame. I realized that part of the shame over that things I could not control was not shame over the things themselves, but over that pain they have caused me. I have been ashamed of my pain (pain for the purposes of these next examples may be equated with tears) Why? I came up with a couple of answers: I don't want to draw attention to my self, I am afraid people will misunderstand and judge me, what if they think I'm being selfish, and finally if I am always displaying my pain to everyone will people get tired of me? I'm not saying they are good reasons, but they are my reasons. And the nugget of truth that followed was this: The world ignores pain - tries to deaden and hide it. I do no service to the Gospel, to the power of Jesus as Comforter and Prince of Peace when I hide and ignore my pain. It's a testimony/witness/gospel issue.

Now, for my family and friends who are now trying to book plane tickets so you can fly out and give me a hug, I'm fine. This is not new pain - it has to do with not living where we want to live and our family not being as big as we'd like. Stuff that we've been dealing with for a couple of years now. I guess I'm surprised by the pain sometimes because I think I should be over it? But if the situation still exists, I guess the pain does, too. But it's not always at the front of my mind. I am even happy and in love and learning and growing and ministering. I guess that's part of the testimony, too. Being a Christian doesn't shield me from pain. But I do have a relationship with the One Who gathers all my tears in a jar, Who wrote the story of my life, Who can redeem my pain, Who has already redeemed my life, Who holds me in the palm of His hand. . .

Life Update

2010-10-27T11:21:00.000-07:00

It's been quite a while since I posted anything so, for those of you who are still checking this blog, I decided to just give an update on where we are in life. Michael had interviewed for a job about two months ago and finally, seven weeks after interviewing, got his "thanks for applying" letter in the mail. He was pretty bummed, but the very next day Pastor Paul told him about a position at Peacemakers that was open. Peacemakers is a Christian organization that trains and promotes Christian conflict resolution. They have books and seminars for individual and family conflict resolution and they train mediators to help churches with conflict resolution. The position that Michael is applying for is Coordinator of Global Outreach. This position needs someone with theological training, experience in working with/in other cultures, and speaking another language won't hurt anything. He would also have a fair amount of secretarial type duties and need to be able to train people and mission teams for working cross-culturally. Please pray for him as he applies and waits and for Peacemakers that they will find the best person for this position (we hope it's Michael).

Our house has been on the market since June. We have only had a few people come see the house, but the realtor says he keeps getting inquiries about it. We will be having another open house on November 7th.

Our social worker for our adoption process has told us that they have about 15 adoptive families right now and not many birth families.

So we continue to wait on the Lord in many areas of our lives. We know that He is working in us to prepare us for what He has ahead. He has been gracious to even give us a glimpse of our own growth. He has also blessed us as new small group leaders with a great new group which we hope will continue on after the initial introduction phase. He continues to challenge and grow (and bless) Christina as she has also become the small group leader for the Freshman girls in the youth group. He has blessed us in so many ways and through so many people. . . Our hearts are full and we wait expectantly for what He has in the future and ask for His wisdom as opportunities are presented for service in the present.

Formula

2010-04-25T13:38:00.000-07:00

I've been concerned and trying to decide what kind of formula to use once we get a baby. I started doing some research. The only formulas that are milk-based and made with milk from cows that have NOT been given growth formula are organic formulas. Thus began the cost/benefit analysis. I could get 2 cans of generic formula at Costco for about $20 while organic formula costs about $30 per can. "They" say that there is no research to show that the growth hormone given to the cows transfers in the milk or meat or affects humans in any way, but I just don't buy it. And I didn't want to give it to my baby (whenever he or she comes.) So, every time I thought about it, my brow would furrow and my stomach would clench - I didn't know what to do and I was sharing my concerns with lots of people. One friend said she had an friend who sells formula and would sell it to us by the case, which would be a little cheaper, but still. I was worried and I shouldn't have been and I was worrying instead of praying.

So, I'm in Wal-Mart yesterday and I glance toward the baby section as I walk by and what do you think God draws my attention to? Generic Organic Formula! $15 a can. I couldn't believe it and I was literally choked-up and misty-eyed in the middle of Wal-Mart! It's also a generic that our IGA in Columbus sells, so they may be able to order it for me and get me an even better deal by the case. My first thoughts were that God really is going to send us a baby and that He really is going to take care of us. Then scripture started popping into my head: "my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory", "so don't worry about those things for God knows that you need them", etc. I've been pretty happy ever since. How gracious of God to remind me to come to Him with all my worries, and to remind me (not for the first time) that He has a good plan for us and will take care of us. Hope you are encouraged and reminded of His faithfulness, also.

My New Subi

2010-03-17T10:46:00.000-07:00

Warning: I'm about to make a short story long. Since I spun out on the interstate in our X-terra last winter, Michael has been wanting to get me a new vehicle. Subaru's are very popular up here because of their All Wheel Drive, good gas mileage and suitability for outdoor activities, so that's what we've been looking at. By looking I mean sort of dreaming of them as we drive by car lots. On Saturday we saw one at the Chevy dealership in Columbus as we were on our way out of town. Michael said he would check it out on the Internet while we were in town.

He spent some time talking and praying with a friend in Billings on Saturday and as Troy was headed home he left us with a tid-bit from a missionary he new. The missionary had said that we pray for things that are too small; we give God the credit when it's something that we could work to make happen on our own. He encouraged his audience to make a prayer list of things ONLY God could do. Troy shared that they had tried this one year and were amazed at what God did.

Michael had looked the Subi up on the Internet - it was great deal for a Subi, but still out of our range. While we drove home he asked if I wanted to go check it out and just see what happens. I said sure. Then we talked about praying for things only God could do and decided that a straight-up trade for our X-terra was a God sized task. The dealer made us an offer of the X-terra plus $1000 and we told him we'd pray about it over the weekend (we really can't afford even that, even though that would still be a great deal). He said that he doesn't see many X-terras so he would do a little more research and see what he could find out.

On Monday he left us a message saying he had good news. Michael called me at work and I said he could tell the dealer whatever he was comfortable with (yes, no, I have to talk to my wife) but that a straight-up trade was really the only way. He offered us a straight-up trade! The vehicles are the same year. Ours has less miles, theirs has better gas mileage. Ours needs new tires and a new windshield, their has seat warmers! Everything else is equal - 6 disk CD changer, power windows and doors, etc.

We make the trade tomorrow. Yeah, God!!

I was encouraged and reminded of God's faithfulness. Michael was too, but he was wishing that if God were going to answer a big prayer, He'd answer the one about a job. We discussed that a little bit, too, and decided maybe we weren't praying a big enough prayer concerning his job! Scary stuff, but I'm brave and I can't wait to see what God does this year.

Approved!!!!

2010-03-10T18:14:00.000-08:00

We are officially approved to be adoptive parents!!!!! Our photo albums have been shipped and hopefully we will finish our "Letter to Expectant Parents" tomorrow night. I'm excited to have all this done but I'm a little apprehensive about the waiting - I think it might be harder than I'm expecting.

Job Update

2010-02-27T13:17:00.000-08:00

Working on Sundays was more than Michael was comfortable with - even once every third Sunday. God just didn't give him a peace about it, so he turned down the job. He struggled with it for a couple of days, being really bummed. But God kept working on him and he is determined to trust God and follow Him and make his attitude follow, even if it's hard.

The lady he's been driving bus for is going to be driving her route in the afternoons starting the middle of March. This means less hours at the job that pays more per hour. We're waiting to see how God will provide, because we know He will. We're hoping it's a new job for Michael, but we'll take whatever the Lord gives.

One of the things He's giving is gas money from the church. That will be a big help.

I am currently trying not to become anxious as I try to finish our adoption photo album and as we write our "letter to expectant parents" and try to finish up the nursery. I'm just ready for our part to be done. I want to be done.

Thanks for your prayers in these areas. We love you guys.

Plugging Along

2010-02-20T09:30:00.000-08:00

I haven't posted in a while because it feels like we're just plugging along. We're working on our photo album and the social worker is working on her paperwork; we both have a little way to go before we're finished and they can start "showing" us.

Michael has received a job offer (yea!) that would require him to work every 3rd Sunday (boo!) He is praying about it with all the church leadership to figure out how it would affect the church. This job would have benefits and vacation, opportunity for advancement and it would be more interesting. It doesn't start off paying much more than he's making now, but it's one job instead of two, plus the above mentioned benefits. He told the lady that he'd call her by Monday.

Church is good. Our small group is getting to know each other and they have already been a big encouragement to us.

We're pretty much good. Thanks for all your prayers and I will give you a job update soon.

She Changed Her Mind

2010-01-23T10:17:00.000-08:00

The birth-mother, that is. We found out on Wednesday. I have been thinking about what I would write since then, but now my mind is totally blank. I've heard several times recently that we only ask God "why?" when bad things happen, but when this first happened and we thought it was good, I did ask why. The easy answer to come to is the He loves us. The answer is the same when bad things happen, it's just not as easy to come to. I had a hard time remembering that God is love when Michael resigned from Columbus Baptist, but God used a song from a CD Michael was listening to to remind me of that from the very beginning this time. I cried a lot on Wednesday but since then I've been OK. I kind of feel like I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop emotionally - can I really be this OK this fast?

Um, a few more details - apparently Amy is planning on also trying to get her boys back and parenting all her children. Becky (our social worker) seemed like she was being very intentional in letting us know this was the end with Amy. There were a couple of things that we didn't have to do as far as our adoption process goes because Amy came to us - now we have to go back and do those things (make a photo album of us and write a generic letter to expectant parents) so that Catholic Social Services will have everything they need to start showing us to expectant parents. Becky has told us since she did our home study that they were really in need of adoptive parents. Apparently there is only one other couple in the adoptive pool that is childless and a lot of the time girls want to place their babies with childless couples. She had told us repeatedly not to worry, that we will be snatched up quickly.

I've tried to be gracious when people ask questions like "what if Amy changes her mind?" I guess I don't really want to talk about it and, like I said, Becky didn't really leave that open as a possibility. But even more than that, God has given me eyes to see (and realise and remember and keep in the front of my mind) that Amy changing her mind again is not where my hope of children lies - it lies with God alone. Our faith is in Him and our eyes are on Him.

Michael talked with Pastor Paul on Wednesday night. Paul told him that several of the Armour-Bearer families were going through really hard times and he believed that they were all attacks from Satan, not to destroy our faith (because He's not strong enough to do that) but to make us ineffective to minister. That was a perspective that I hadn't come to on my own. After I got the phone call on Wednesday, I remembered what Brian said in small group on Tuesday. He was talking about the man born blind (in John 9?) and said that he's asked himself what would he be willing to give up so that God could get glory for one moment in time. I wouldn't have chosen this but I'm asking God the help me live in and through this in such a way that He gets glory.

I want to end by thanking our friends, family and church family for all their prayers - we can feel them. Really.

NICE

2010-01-20T13:41:00.000-08:00

I've been inspired by my brother-in-law's bearing of his soul on his blog to share something that God is doing in my heart. When we lived in Helena, right before we moved to Columbus, I was becoming frustrated with my job because it felt like every other week I was being taken aside by my boss to have a conversation about my attitude. There were times that I could hear the irritation in my own voice when talking with customers or co-workers, but I was working really hard and the more it she talked to me about it, that harder time I had figuring out what particular thing she was talking about. I sort of let out a sigh of relief when we moved and just put it behind me. Probably not the best thing for my spiritual development.

Almost a year into working at the pharmacy in Columbus, my boss pulled me aside to tell me what a wonderful job he thought I was doing and how much he appreciated my attitude. I can't say that I didn't think "Ha, that shows them." And I went on my merry way. Nearly 8 months later, I get the other talk, the one about being rude to my co-workers and the customers. I cried and I went into work early on my day off to ask my co-workers' forgiveness. And again I started working really hard. He gave me six weeks and had to have another talk. I was doing great with my co-workers, but still not so much with the customers. Mind you, were not talking about every customer - just the annoying ones, right? He said he'd been keeping his eye on me and that I'm really great most of the time, but the times that I'm not is really bad - either rudeness or condescension. I cried again and took a hard look.

The problem can't be my bosses - it has to be me. But why is my trying hard not good enough? I had a realization (with the help of the Holy Spirit) about the extremes of rudeness and condescension: when I try to act nice instead of rude, it comes out as condescending. The reason my trying hard isn't good enough is because I'm trying to ACT nice. Nice is a good secular word but I've decided to use it in reference to 6 out of the 9 fruits of the Spirit: love, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self-control. What I need is the work of the Holy Spirit in my heart to change me to BE nice instead of me trying (and failing) to act nice.

I'll echo my brother-in-law by saying that I'm not looking for people to tell me that "they're" wrong and I'm right and "they" need to stop being mean to me. I can hear my family now telling me what a great person I am (ever heard the saying "love is blind"?) I do welcome prayers on my behalf and thoughts: about what God is teaching you, good passages of Scripture for this situation, etc. . . If you want to tell me that you still love me even though I'm a retched sinner, that's OK, too :) Right back at'cha.

Armour-Bearers

2010-01-13T15:43:00.000-08:00

This is an update on Michael and ministry. Our senior pastor, Paul, has been working with a group of guys at Emmanuel who feel called to the ministry. He gathered them together as a group and walked them through some of the basics including spiritual gifts and areas of ministry. They are called armour-bearers in reference to the men in the Old Testament who served the king by bearing his armour. Some of the main jobs these men will have will involve lightening the pastors' loads and encouraging and defending them when needed. After Paul finished the basics with these men and after we left Columbus Baptist, Paul asked Michael to join the group. Emmanuel is now in the process of restructuring the pastoral staff to include these 10 men as unpaid staff members. Paul is putting them to work in the areas of their calling and working them through the process of licensing and ordination as needed. I love that our church is taking on the job of raising up leaders and preparing them for the ministry, instead of "the call" being something mysterious and preparing for it being left solely to seminaries. Emmanuel is beginning the process of introducing each armour-bearer to the congregations. We are having an armour-bearer and wives retreat at the end of the month. And to put feet to the assertion that they are all staff-members (though unpaid and working other full-time jobs) monthly staff meetings have been moved to the evening so these men can attend and these men and their wives are being included in the staff retreat at the end of the summer. I am blessed by the lengths to which God has lead and the leaders of Emmanuel have followed in preparing, encouraging and using these men and their wives in ministry. Currently Michael and I will continue leading music at the Laurel campus, training to lead small groups and working with the other Laurel campus staff members to encourage our Laurel pastor and reach the community. Please pray for us as we continue to heal from previous ministry hurts and as we wade back into public ministry.

The Lost Wallet

2010-01-06T14:01:00.000-08:00

So, I lost my wallet 5 days before we were supposed to fly to Texas for Christmas. After searching our vehicles, our house, my workplace, and having my boss check his house after attending a Christmas party there, I got to work replacing things - first of all my driver's license. I was allowed on the planes with a paper temporary copy o fmy driver's license and now have new cards coming from the bank and credit card companies. I also have a new wallet. The searching of my house for my wallet included looking in every cabinet, drawer and even the fridge and freezers because, you never know. When I walked into work this past Monday my dirty, pink wallet was sitting on the counter! My boss had searched his house thoroughly because his son thinks it is a game to take things from his Mom's purse and for her to chase him down for them. At some point during the Christmas party he apparently took my wallet (and hand sanitizer), poked a hole in the top of one of his Christmas presents and hid them in there! They waited to open this particular present until this past weekend so the "giver" could watch him open it. . . and my wallet and my hand sanitizer (hee,hee). We got a lot of laughs and there was no harm done. My mother-in-law is just hoping that he doesn't grow up to be a career criminal :)

Brrrrrrrrrr!

2009-12-09T11:09:00.000-08:00

Is it worse for the high to be -5 or for the low to be -25? After weeks of having "cold" fronts be shorter and warmer than predicted, winter came with a vengeance. Our highs have been below freezing for a week now and will stay that way for several more days. Our lows, of course, have been below zero for much of that time - but yesterday and last night were the coldest for this cold front! Thank goodness for heat, big fluffy (that's what I call my winter coat), and front wheel drive.

Think Pink

2009-12-05T09:56:00.000-08:00

Before I get to the sweet, funny story I'll give you as much of an update as I have. I have only spoken with Amy once, briefly on the phone, since the ultrasound. She was doing a little traveling. We are trying to find a day when we can have her over for dinner so she and Michael can meet. Our home study has been moved back to January because of scheduling conflicts with our social worker's surgery. No worries though, as long as we are approved before our little Lairdlette is born we'll be just fine. Now on to the story.

Before we knew about Amy and our baby girl, Michael kept saying he wanted a boy (I don't know too many expectant fathers who don't). We had picked out nice unisex paint and fabric to decorate the nursery - green and brown, like mint chocolate chip ice cream :) So, Michael's mom came up and painted the nursery. While she was busy making one wall brown and three walls green, Michael decided that we needed pink - and in a big way! First he suggested that we paint one wall pink and when I wrinkled my nose he suggested the ceiling! I was adamantly instructed that now that we knew we were having a girl this room needed pink. I finally convinced him that pink stripes would do the job. Then on to recovering the crib bumper that was given to us - he doesn't care how I do it as long as there's pink. He did a warp speed jump from being scared of having a girl to becoming an interior decorator who's favorite color is pink :) I love it and I love him and think he's so cute and sweet. (He adores it when I describe him with those adjectives.)

No One Can Weave a Better Story than God

2009-11-14T11:32:00.000-08:00

About this time last year Michael and I decided that we would start pursuing adoption. After the New Year we put out a couple of feelers and requested information from several different adoption agencies. Catholic Social Services of Montana was an easy pick for us - they responded so quickly and with so much information and excitement. We started filling out the application forms they sent us and got them turned back in at the beginning of March. A couple of weeks later we received an invitation to attend their adoption workshop at the end of April. Some other things in our lives were pretty turbulent at that time, but God gave us a peace about pursuing this. We were even more excited and sure when we left the workshop. We gave ourselves until July to fill out all of our paperwork. Then, at the end of May, Michael resigned his pastoral position. This was a really hard time and made it especially hard for Michael to do the soul-searching and self-evaluation that was required for filling out all of the adoption paperwork. During this time God had to constantly remind me against striving - working hard, becoming anxious, nagging Michael to finish his stuff - none of those things were going to make a difference in our adoption because the whole thing was in His hands. Finishing sooner, finishing later - it wasn't going to make a difference because it would all happen in His timing - no matter what. After missing several other deadlines we set for ourselves, it was actually going to happen by Michael's birthday, Friday, November 6th. I usually have Wednesdays off from work, but that week I had jury duty on Tuesday so that was my day off. That meant that I was "randomly" at home on Tuesday afternoon when Barb called. (Barb is a neighbor who lives several miles north of us. We had gotten to know one of her daughters, Leah and Leah's husband Danny when they visited the church in Columbus. They only visited for a little while but we kept in touch and hung out every once in a while. We actually met Barb when she visited with them. We have hunted on their ranch a couple of times and Michael has gone up to help Danny and Barb's husband Al with ranch things a couple of times.) Barb told me that this phone call would be weird and then told me that another daughter (Amy) was pregnant and wanted us to adopt her baby! (Remember, this is 3 days before we mailed off the last of our application paperwork!) I didn't even know what to say! I gave her the number for Catholic Social Services and told her how wonderful they were. Michael and I must have held our breaths for days wondering if this would really be real. I had a rough day at work on Monday but when I got home Michael told me I needed to listen to our voice messages. Amy had left a message inviting me to come to her ultrasound appointment on Wednesday! I couldn't even believe it! It is one of the coolest things I have ever seen. I could see her (yes, she's a girl) heart beating (143 beats per minuet) and her spine and ribs, her hands and feet in constant motion. . . She was 20 weeks and 4 days, the technician said, and 13 oz. Her due date is 3/27/10. Amy and I went out to lunch afterward to get to know each other. She had told me on the phone that she hoped we liked music because she thinks the baby does. Music? Us? There are so many other details that I can't remember all at once and would just sound like babbling anyway. I thank you from a distance for all your excitement and prayers on our behalf. Here are some specific things you can be praying for: for Amy - it seems that she is far from the Lord and not interested in coming closer, for safety and health for Amy and our first little Lairdlette, for God's hand and will in all of this. Also, we still have to have our homestudy and be approved, but out social worker is so wonderful and keeps telling us that it won't be a big deal. Nothing can be officially official until 72 hours after she is born and Amy signs the papers. We know that nothing is too big for God and we believe that this baby will be our first, but we are also aware of our weakness as humans and that God's ways are not ours and what we consider to be a perfect ending may not be His plan for us. We are focused right now on getting approved, preparing for Baby and ministering to Amy. We appreciate your prayers, love and support. Stay tuned for more updates.

Random Thoughts

2009-10-17T12:11:00.000-07:00

It actually feels like early Fall today instead of Winter. Had a great time at a Women's Worship Night last night and I'm taking a break from running errands right now. Michael's been out hunting since yesterday morning - ducks, geese and 1 pheasant that I know of so far. I've been kind of emotional this weekend for unknown reasons; I hope that passes soon because it's exhausting! Been doing some shopping for Michael's birthday (keeping my eye out for Christmas ideas, too). I'm enjoying choir rehearsals for the Living Christmas Tree (it's been so long!) and can't wait to see Michael's family in Texas for Christmas. We're trying to finish up our adoption paperwork and getting ready to start work on a nursery. Please pray for us for patience (I know, we're not supposed to pray for that) as we wait for God to show us what he has next for us. We know we're doing what we should be doing right now but also know that it is not our end destination. That's all I've got for now. Love you all.

Gratitude

2009-10-07T15:52:00.001-07:00

It's not just a feeling. It can be cultivated even in tough circumstances; it can be a product of a conscious effort of the mind and heart. I have seen this demonstrated so much in Michael these past few weeks. He likes driving the bus and working in the chemical building at the fireworks plant, but the days he has to work in other building he does kind of mindless, unchallenging assembly line work which makes him think things like "what am I doing here, I have a Master's degree." He is very careful to repent of thoughts like these on the spot and remind himself that a month ago he didn't have a job. It our times of prayer he has never failed to thank God for the work He has provided; and his thanks is with a genuinely thankful and humble heart. The leader of a Bible study I am in told us a few weeks ago about how she intentionally thanks her husband several times a week for going to work to provide for their family; she tells him what a blessing that is to her. I've tried to start doing the same thing - especially as he is currently working at jobs that would not be his top pick. I'm hoping that it is an encouragement to him like his gratitude is an encouragement to me.

Weather Wiplash Again

2009-09-30T12:37:00.000-07:00

So, we've been hotter than Atlanta for over a week now, temps reaching 89 last week. We cooled off a little over the weekend and into Monday in the mid-70s. Back up t0 80-something on Tuesday. And today? High of 48 and raining a constant drizzle! I heard a rumor that the high on Monday will be 26, but I'll have to see it to believe it. I'll keep you posted. Hope you all are enjoying the Fall weather wherever you are. Love you.

WORK

2009-08-29T10:51:00.001-07:00

Yeah, Michael has at least one job, maybe two. He will start his own bus route on Tuesday and hopefully the pyrotechnics plant in town will work around his schedule and he will be able to work in between driving the bus. This avoids the dreaded drive back and forth to Billings to work (nothing really would have paid enough to make it worth it with the gas and all.) Michael is looking forward to helping with the income and having some of the pressure off so we can focus on what God wants next. Thanks, Lord. And thanks for all your prayers.

Church

2009-08-26T08:59:00.000-07:00

We've been invited and are excited to stay at the church where we've been helping out with music this summer. We are looking forward to getting involved. I've also started praying that God will plant a church in our hearts - maybe it's this one, maybe it's one that isn't even started yet, but I'm praying that God will start preparing us for where He will have us minister next.

Psalms Revelation

2009-08-15T10:01:00.000-07:00

I've had issues with the book of Psalms in the past. Weird, I know. I obviously love the happy, praising ones but have had a hard time wrapping myself around all the "death and destruction to my enemies" ones. It doesn't seem very New Testament "love your enemies" to me. As I was reading the other day, though, I received a new perspective. The Israelites were God's chosen people. David was God's chosen leader, a man after God's own heart. Perhaps he identified himself so totally with this position that he considered any affront to himself and attack on God's purposes and therefore was seeking the destruction of God's enemies as he asked God for the destruction of his own enemies. Are you following me?

So then, how might that apply to my life. I'm sure there are many applications, but the first one I came up with concerns a job for Michael. Michael is a man of God. He is known in our community as a pastor (currently without church). So I am praying for God to provide him a job where he can continue to minister in this community but also to provide in such a way that the community can see that God is taking care of us - that he does not let His people go un-provided-for. Pretty much a "bless us for the sake of Your Name" deal. It's very biblical - read Psalms. I have a new joy in reading them myself now that I have this new perspective.

Let me know what you think.

Love you.

God is SO good!

2009-08-06T16:41:00.001-07:00

As Michael continues to look for a job, I was looking forward to the day when I would be able to thank and praise God on this blog for His faithfulness in providing a job for Michael. Then I realized that God is good even when Michael doesn't have a job. God is faithful and is providing and is loving and is good. These are who He is and these things are true about Him despite our circumstances. I am still looking forward to being able to share the news of a job with you all, but I didn't want to fail to praise God for WHO He is even while we wait.

Hoping you are learning more about God and loving Him more every day,
Christina

Flashback

2009-07-25T20:19:00.000-07:00

I will begin by inviting my family (especially Daddy and Anita) to correct and/or fill in any details of this story.

So, we were in the truck, getting ready to leave the house today when Michael remembered that he needed something from inside. He jumped out of the driver's seat, closed the door and as he was running up the front steps, I realized that the truck was moving forward! - toward the garage!

I flash back to a time from my childhood when Anita and I had gone somewhere with Daddy. It was some store on some highway that had a sloped driveway. He left the truck on so we wouldn't get hot and he was close enough that we could seen him talking to a man from where we sat. As a children, I as a scaredy-cat and Anita was a dare-devil. So she leans over me in the middle and bumps the truck into reverse and we start rolling backwards toward the traffic. We are all hysterical and sobbing and don't know that you have to pull the gear shift toward you just a little to make it work. We push and push up and up. I mostly remember thinking that she shouldn't touch it, then being afraid, then I have a picture of her red, crying face when we couldn't fix it. I don't remember how Daddy saved us, but he did.

Thankfully, I know a little more about vehicles now than I did then. I jammed the truck into park about the time Michael made it back to the driver's side door. Whew!

Here's to childhood memories.
(I wonder if I will become disillusioned when people start to correct my memory of this story.)

Babies

2009-07-22T14:45:00.000-07:00

Just scrolling through my "friends" on facebook, it seems like everyone I know has kids. Everyone except our friends who until recently didn't want children and our other friends who can't have children of their own but are fostering a teenager and hoping to adopt him. It's not so bad with people who were married when I lived in the same place as them, but randomly seeing facebook pictures of people who I still think of as single standing with their spouse and any number of children is hard.

Update

2009-07-09T16:56:00.001-07:00

Well, we just spent 3 1/2 fun days with my parents. They DROVE from Atlanta to bring us my cradle so we will have it when the adoption thing finally happens. We are still working on paperwork and we have our appointment to be evaluated by a psychologist on July 29th. Michael continues to look for a job and is trying to keep himself busy studying the Word, working on the yard and getting involved with the music and youth ministries of Emmanuel Baptist Church. We are encouraging each other and looking for God to lead the way during this time. Thank you all for your prayers.

Happy Birthday to Me!

2009-07-01T08:13:00.000-07:00

Today is my birthday and it is in the middle of my birthday week. Michael and I started celebrating birthday weeks a year or two ago. This birthday week he happens to be a counselor at youth camp, so he left me a present to open every day he is gone. On Monday I got one pink garden glove :) Can you guess what I got on Tuesday? Today I opened Alton Brown DVDs. I tell people that he is like the science geek of food; Michael actually saw publicity that called him Bill Nye the Science Guy meets the Food Network. I like his show Good Eats. Anyway, Michael's presents are coming with cryptic messages that so far sound like I have to put Alton Brown himself into some sort of kitchen machinery. We'll see, the boxes get bigger as the week goes on.

In other news, my friend Maureen had a small gathering of friends over for my birthday last night. Also my friend Sasha is spending the night on Friday while her husbands enjoys his annual 4th of July guys weekend. So, I'm keeping busy while Michael is gone and getting ready for my parents to get here on Sunday! Hopefully we'll be meeting both of them in South Dakota to see Mt. Rushmore together. We're all excited and Michael will be our bored tour guide (he's been there many times)

Please keep praying for Michael as he searches for a job and as we wait for God to reveal his leading. Also as we continue with our adoption paperwork.

We love you.

A Dilema

2009-06-17T10:40:00.000-07:00

So, my problem now is how to talk to the people from church. I don't want to be too happy, like what you did is no big deal or I'm relieved to finally be gone. But I don't want to be too sad or depressed sounding, like you've totally destroyed us. I guess I've just been being normal except that it feels very awkward and I wonder if they feel it too.

Is it just me?

2009-06-11T17:33:00.000-07:00

I feel bad about not keeping up with my blogging very well. Just ask my Aunt Chrissy - I'm pretty hard on myself. I am starting to not feel so bad about this anymore,though, because it seems that the only other person in my family that has posted a blog in months is my brother-in-law, Phillip. I'm just asking, because if my computer is somehow at fault and only allows me to see Phillip's blog and no one else's even though they are faithfully posting, I need to know so I can fix it. Help me out, fam :)

an update for anyone who happens to read this blog but is not someone I email

2009-06-11T17:30:00.001-07:00

This is just a copy of some emails that I have sent recently updating family and friends on a really rough situation in our lives. I figure I'd record it here, too, just for posterity's sake.

5/20/09
I cannot remember if you were all included in the first e-mail I sent out concerning our church several months. Those of you who received the e-mail, your prayers and encouragement were needed and appreciated. The same and other issues have continued popping up their heads every time we seem to be making headway. At this point, I don’t even know if the people who are upset really know what they are upset about. For the second time in a couple of months, an individual has asked for Michael’s resignation. Michael, along with his mentor and our mother church, has decided to have the church take a “vote of confidence.” His main concern is for the health of the church. If they would be able to work through their issues and become strong and a light in the community better with out us, then we know that God will lead us somewhere else. The church will be voting on Sunday, May 24th, after our worship service. Michael and I will not stay for the vote. God has given us a peace no matter the vote, but please pray for the church. They were at the point of closing the doors 5 years ago, became a mission church of a healthy growing church in another city, and it now seems like they might fall apart again. There are many hurting families and individuals in our town who need to see the love of Jesus in action – I would hate for fighting in our church or the closing of its doors to negatively impact God’s work in our community. Thank you in advance for your prayers for us and our church.

6/6/09
I was talking to my Mom the other night telling her how much I was praying for the church but that I kept praying for myself, too, because I didn't want to be one of those people who could only point her finger at others and never see the log in my own eye. Well, God loves us so much that He will show us the logs in our own eyes. One of my friends who is also a member at Columbus told me about the church service they had had on our first Sunday gone. At the end of the service the two families that had been causing so much conflict publicly repented and reconciled! This is what we have been praying for! She told me the story with so much joy and excitement about what God might be starting and she thought it was important to tell me because she new that we had said that if it took us leaving for God to be able to move in the church then that is what we wanted. She left with a smile on her face and I stewed the rest of the day. I spent about 12 hours mad at God. I was angry. I mourned over what God was rejoicing over (repentance and reconciliation) and was rejoicing over what makes God mourn (I felt a little better after spewing my anger and bitterness in Michael's face). After I exploded I basically cried off an on for about two hours. As I numbly went about paying bills I came across a little book that I had "randomly" been carrying around in my purse for weeks, "The Sovereignty of God" by Kay Arthur. God used the truths in that book to calm my heart. I can now say that my spirit is submitted, even though I still don't understand. This is still a daily struggle. God showed me my own self-centeredness; I either prayed a prayer I didn't mean or I didn't think He would answer it or I only wanted Him to answer it on my terms. How messed up is that? I was more concerned about Michael's ministry being justified by the church floundering and suffering without him than I was about God actually working and being glorified in His church. It looks like our church is on the road to recovery, but it's not our church anymore. We are still trying to figure out where God wants us to be and what He wants us to be doing. We are taking it day by day and trusting God to show us what He has for us, but it's kind of scary and there are a lot of unanswered questions about our future. Thanks for your prayers. Oppinions and emotions expressed in this e-mail are those of Christina and should not be assumed to be those of Michael :)

6/11/09
Well, everyone, I wanted to give you all another fquick update. It's not a huge thing, pretty small really, but a big step, too. Sunday morning I woke up and almost the first thing I thought of was to pray for Columbus Baptist - and I was able to do it with a smile on my face. So, maybe I should have said "the first thing the Lord brought to my mind was. . ." We seem to be on a fairly OK path of Michael looking for "regular" work while we seek the Lord to see what He has for us next. Things are pretty even mostly, but I have to admit it was hard to hear about how well VBS has been going this week, it's hard when people come up and say they miss us, it was hard when I got a letter yesterday from a woman (who probably didn't vote "for" Michael) saying she missed my friendship and didn't want things to turn out this way and was praying for us. God uses Michael in ways he will never know (except that he'll get this email, too) to calm me and put my mind, if not totally back where it should be, then at least to take it off of where it shouldn't be. A specific prayer request that I have is that I would know how to respond to this woman. I miss her, too, but at the same time things in our friendship never really got below just surface stuff. I don't want to go ahead of God in this.

Harley Eugene Carrell

2009-05-16T12:14:00.000-07:00

Harley Eugene Carrell passed away Wednesday, May 13, 2009 in Corpus Christi, Texas at the age of 82.

Mr. Carrell was born in Woodville, Oklahoma on August 20, 1926. His parents were Ben E. and Louisa (Wingo) Carrell. He was preceded in death by his parents and six siblings. Harley was married to Ruby Louise Bounds and was a loving and devoted husband for 63 years. Together they raised three children: Earl (Robye) Carrell of Portland, Wanda (Mike) Laird of Cypress, and Lynda (Curtis) Haveman also of Portland. He was blessed with seven grandchildren: Samantha (Jim) Purcell, Michael (Christina) Laird, J (Amanda) Carrell, Nicole (Matt) Johnson, Audra (Brad) Butler, Kellie (Jason) McAden, and Curt (Meghan) Haveman and blessed with five great-grandchildren.

Mr. Carrell Served in the United States Navy during World war II and received and honorable discharge in 1946. Mr. Carrell and his family moved to Portland in 1962 and he was a faithful member of First Baptist Church. He served as a deacon, Sunday school teacher, a regular greeter, and on various committees. Mr. Carrell took every opportunity to be helpful to his neighbors and shared Jesus with whomever he met.

Mr. Carrell was employed by Reynolds Metals Company and retired in 1984. He enjoyed family gatherings, fishing, gardening, mission trips, serving snow cones in Vacation Bilbe School, cooking chicken and dumplings, and making his famous peanut brittle.

Mr. Carrell will be missed by many loved ones and friends. However, they are assured to see him again in heaven.

Prayers for Michael's Family

2009-05-13T13:56:00.000-07:00

Please pray with us for Michael's mom, Wanda, and her family. Her father (Michael's Paw Paw) has between hours and weeks to live. They are starting to make funeral arrangements and all the children are sitting down with their Mom tonight to make sure she understands the situation and is prepared. Thanks for your love and prayers.

Adoption Workshop

2009-05-02T10:00:00.000-07:00

or what I like to call adoption orientation. It was last weekend and it was great! The Lord really confirmed for us that this is the direction He is leading. They were very upfront about worst case scenerios (the girl changing her mind, how long it might take, etc.) All of the social workers are so loving and committed to the children, birthmothers and adoptive couples. We have a mountain of paperwork to do - we are hoping to have it done by July. Then we will have our homestudy and hopefully be in the adoptive parent pool by August. They told us the average wait is over 1 year but it could be "2 days, 2 weeks, 2 months, or 2 years." You could tell that they don't want us to get our hopes up about this being a quick process. One the other hand, they placed 20 babies last year and currently only have 12 couples in the adoptive parent pool, so we'll see! Thanks so much for all your prayers.

And as a little side note - I passed my pharmacy technician exam on Wednesday! Yeah! That's one thing off my plate (and a little bit more money in the bank :))

Adoption Update

2009-04-08T08:41:00.000-07:00

April 23rd and 24th we will be attending an adoption workshop. I'm not sure what all it will involve, but I'll let you know after we get back. This is the next step in our process. After that will be the home study. Michael's mom is coming up at the beginning of May to help us get the house ready. I'm sure there will be some more smaller steps along the way, but as far as the big stuff goes, after the home study we wait. Thanks for your prayers as we follow God's leading in this journey. We love you.

Family

2009-03-18T11:44:00.000-07:00

I realized on this family vacation that good family are like good friends - it doesn't matter what length of time or what distance separate us, when we do finally get back together we just pick up where we left off. I was very blessed by time spent with family - the love, good feelings, encouragement, smiles, laughter and just time together were very nourishing to me.

I love and miss you all more than ever!

NEWS

2009-03-10T20:04:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it's been a month since I've updated! Sorry, guys. Michael and I are on vacation with his family right now (more about that on another post). The news I wanted to share happened before vacation. Michael and I sent in our completed adoption application! They have already sent out stuff to all of our references. Once they get responses back from that we will have to go to a workshop and be certified as foster parents then we will have to have a home study. After that we pay the big bucks and wait, but all of that is in God's hands. We are already waiting and praying for our baby(s) and the birth mother (we don't know who she is yet, but God does) - and waititng and praying :) Thanks for joining us in the waiting and praying. Love you guys!

Encouragement in the midst of struggle

2009-02-04T14:10:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to share with you today two very encouraging words of Scripture and the difficult passages they come in the midst of.

"The joy of the Lord is your strength."

This verse actually comes from Nememiah (not Psalms, like I thought.)
The people have returned from exile and the wall around the city has been completed. Ezra has gathered the people together and read to them the whole law. The people are mourning over their sin and weeping. This is when Nehemiah tells them, "Do not sorrow, for the joy of the Lord is your strength" Ch 8 verse 10 - In the midst of realizing their sin and disobedience the people are reminded that it is joy in their Lord that will provide them the strength to be obedient.

"This is the day the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it."

I discovered the context of this verse when I decided it was high time I knew the "address" for this verse I was trying to get in the habit of repeating to myself every morning. It is from the Psalms - 118:24 This is one of the Psalms historians say was repeated during the Passover meal - it was probably used during the Last Supper when Jesus presided over the Passover meal with His disciples. This verse is preceded by two others vs. 22-23 "The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. This was the Lord's doing; it is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it." Check out the rest of the Psalm and consider how amazing it is for our Lord to speak these words to His disciples fully knowing what they meant and declare rejoicing and gladness in the face of His impending crucifixion! Apparently the joy of the Lord was His strength also.

So rejoice in the Lord despite your circumstances today and rest in the strength that joy provides.

We're getting a roommate!

2009-01-14T10:18:00.000-08:00

No, it's not inside pet, he's a real person. And it's all our parents fault! How could that be? We were both raised by parents who believed it was their job to minister to others with what God had given them - even their house. As elementary school girls, my sisters and I were blessed by the single women who lived in our extra bedroom. What a great influence and source of fun they were. As high school- and college-aged kids, Michael and his sister Kellie were able to experience sharing their home with both men and women who needed a place to live. We now have the opportunity to share in that legacy. A young couple in our church are engaged and planning to live in this area, but Tyler now lives about 2 hours away. He's been looking for housing and a job but hasn't found either yet. Well, now he has found one, I guess. He'll be moving in this weekend until they get married this summer. This will let him go ahead and move here and also save up money for when they get married. We are excited to have him here and we are excited for their upcoming marriage.

Updates

2008-12-17T11:26:00.000-08:00

OK, I do realize that 4 posts in one day is a bit excessive, but I thought it would be better to break them up a bit than to have one everlasting post. So now for some more current updates:

this weekend through Monday highs did not make it out of the negatives! When I drove to work on Monday at 9 am the temperature was -15! It's a little warmer today (like +15) but is supposed to go back down by the weekend
I was sick this weekend and did nothing for two days while it snowed and the temperature fell. The fever is gone, but I still have a monster cold
The church is in the process of purchasing a trailer to place on our property to add more Sunday School room and a place for the youth to call their own
While I was sick on Saturday and the temperature was plummeting, Michael went hunting. He stayed warm and brought home ducks, but he also slammed Haddie's tail in the truck door and now it's broken. We'll have to wait and see if she is ever able to wag it again :(
And last but not least - Michael performed his first baptism! One of the kids in AWANA got saved and Michael did the baptism service at AWANA so all the kids could see.

Keep reading "previous" posts to see what else we've been up to this Fall.

I did it!

2008-12-17T11:20:00.000-08:00

I got my deer! Her name was Jane (Doe, get it?) After we got back from vacation Michael and I went out one Saturday morning around 7 am and she was hanging in the garage by 10:30 am. That includes draging her back to the truck for about a mile.
For those of you unfamilliar with hunting photography, usually the gun is placed in the antlers of the dead animal while the hunter proudly holds up the head. We forgot the camera when we went hunting and Jane has no antlers, so. . . Anyway, if you're ever hungry for a Jane burger or some Jane steaks, come on over

Bishop Family Reunion

2008-12-17T11:07:00.000-08:00

Here are some fun pictures from our family vacation at the cabin in North Carolina.

Sisters! (picture taken by the mother because Rosie (of Rosie's Cafe) did not seem like one of those friendly southern ladies who would be happy to take a picture for you !) :)

The Uncle Michael Home Gym!

Uncle Michael started a fun game with one neice and it turned into an all out balloon-sword battle!

More pictures to follow (sometime)

Our October Snow

2008-12-17T10:46:00.000-08:00

What's that you say? It's December? Well, let's pretend that I've kept up with my blog a little better than I actually have and enjoy the pictures of snow. This was the earliest snow that I have seen. It was warm before the snow and after so even though it snowed over 2 feet much of it melted before it started sticking and it was all gone several days later. The pictures I've included are funny to me and show how unexpected this snow was.

The time change is killing me!

2008-11-12T10:45:00.000-08:00

Here's what I think the deal is. I flew to the east coast on the Saturday of the time change - early morning flight and a time difference. Then I spent a week there on vacation - not a regular schedule and the time difference plus the days are longer down south. Now I'm back in Montana and recovering from the time difference and the early morning flight - but I wasn't prepared for the time change. Down south on vacation the sun was up and shining by 7 (I know this because the nieces were up by then) and it did seem to be getting dark earlier, but that's to be expected. Here at home, the sun is barely cracking the horizon by 7 and it is pitch-black dark by the time I get off work at 5:30! And the days are just going to get shorter and shorter for another 5 weeks or so. I hope I get used to it soon!

Back from Vacation

2008-11-12T10:38:00.000-08:00

Thankfully, we don't need a vacation to recover from our vacation. We're getting some extra sleep to recover from the time change and the time difference and the early flight back, but other than that, we came back relaxed and ready to get back to business. What's the business we have to get back to?

hunting - we have to stock the freezer for next year, send up a prayer if you will, we've got 2 weeks left
church - music and AWANA and sermon and planning for Christmas and planning for next year
pharmacy work - back to work, remembering what I knew before I left and learning more stuff

Also, pray for Phillip as he really was sick on vacation and the doctors are treating him for pneumonian (I actually spelled that right the first time!). Apparently, Aunt Christina also passed on the great car-sickness gene to her beautiful nieces and Anita and Phillip and to suffer through that on the way home. We love you all, and miss those we didn't get to see terribly!

Vacation

2008-11-03T15:54:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm currently with almost everyone who reads this blog, but because my brother-in-law is making comments about how often I blog, I'm using his computer to for this post. We're in the "mountains" of North Carolina. I'm surrounded by family I haven't seen forever. My sisters and nieces that I haven't seen in two years, uncle I haven't seen since Michael and I got married and second cousins - well, I didn't know their husbands names or how many kids they had.

We're having a great time hiking around and exploring the lake and making sure my nieces and nephews remember who I am after so long. I should be blogging more later this week. Tomorrow Michael will join us. Love you, babe.

Grilling

2008-10-15T14:21:00.000-07:00

This may not seem like the time of year for this blog title, but let me tell you a story. Last Thursday, when the snow storm was approaching, we decided to have friends over for dinner on Friday. When I asked Michael what he wanted to do for dinner - he said he would grill! When I questioned him, he said all he had to do was "step outside the garage door, what's the big deal?"

If you think that's funny, keep listening! I went to work Friday morning and told this "funny" story to my co-workers and their response was a collective blank stare. They thought that there must be more to the story, because what's the big deal about grilling in the snow?

Here's to figuring out how to do everything in the snow :)

SNOW!?!

2008-10-11T15:40:00.000-07:00

Yes. It's Saturday late afternoon and the snow started a little less than 48 hours ago. And it's supposed to continue for another 36 hours! This is the earliest snow that I've seen since I've lived up here. There are probably 8-10 inches at our house. In town, probably 6-8. And some of our friends that live on the top of a mountain are having to wade through thigh-high drifts (that's about 2 feet of snow!) Visibility isn't too great, so everything kind of looks like a greyscale picture. I love to watch it snow!

Hope my weather report helps you cool off :)

By the way, if you need some encouragement or are always up for some good Bible reading, read Colossians and focus on all the places that tell us what we've gained in Christ, as individuals and as the church. It's a sweet, sweet time.

Back from Beth

2008-09-23T15:09:00.000-07:00

It was such a blessing to be able to attend Beth Moore's Living Proof Live event in Billings this past weekend. Besides all the spiritual stuff I learned, I also learned that she always teaches new material for a new event - she doesn't have a "talk" that gets recycled at every Living Proof Live event. This weekend we got to hear Beth teach on a passage she has never taught on before - it was great. Isaiah 32:1-8 and she made us memorize verse 8: "A noble man makes noble plans and by noble deeds he stands." (and yes, I did actually memorize it and type it from memory) We had seven ladies from our church attend plus 3 others that we brought along with us. I'm praying for God to continue to apply His Word to our lives and to work miracles in us through it.

Michael gave a sort of "State of the Church" address on Sunday. He discounted it as a real sermon, but some people said it was the best one he's ever preached. He shared with the church the vision God has given him for our church - basically glorifying God through evangelism and discipleship. He even gave us some sanctified numbers to reach for. We're not trying to become a mega-church, but our growth does need to have some way to be evaluated. Ready for the numbers? His God-given goal for salvations is 12 in 2009 and 16 in 2010! He said if there were two camps, one of which said "How are we supposed to do that?" and the other of which said "That's all?", he would be in both camps :) He added that he loves kids and wants them to come to know the Lord, but he is burdened for the majority of these salvations to be of unchurched adults from our community! And he's already taken steps personally to adjust his schedule so that he has more time and opportunity to be evangelistic in his life. Intentionally hunting with unbelievers and playing soccer on Sunday nights with unbelievers are two of them.

We ask for your prayers that God would be glorified in our church and in the community. And also that we would be able to withstand Satan's attacks (he is always busy against those who are following the Lord.) Thanks for all your love and support. We love you.

Back in the swing of things

2008-09-14T13:44:00.000-07:00

Well, the weather has turned to more cool days than warm ones faster than I thought it would, but I do love seeing snow on the mountains. Michael took Haddie out hunting the other day and is ready for water fowl and big game seasons to open.

Last Saturday we had a block party to kick off AWANA. It was cold and rainy, so attendance wasn't as great as we would have liked, but everyone who came had lots of fun. Our first night of AWANA was good, as well. I am working with Sparkies (K-2) this year with their new material and am excited to spend more time with the kids I had in my Vacation Bible School class.

Beth Moore is in Billings and I'm excited to be taking 8 other ladies from our church this weekend. We are also starting to plan a craft-workshop-outreach-thing to see if it will give us the opportunity to reach some women from Columbus for Christ. Michael is planning a "Bless the Hunt" event for the opening of big game season. He is teaching "Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life" as a men's leadership development Sunday School while my Ladies Sunday School is working it way through "A Woman After God's Own Heart."

I'm looking forward to all that God has in store for us this Fall and hope that you will pray with us as we seek His direction for our family and in our church. We love you.

Fall Has Come

2008-08-28T17:49:00.000-07:00

Well, not really, but it's thinking about it. I see the cycle beginning. While Michael's parents were here, we had a 48 hour cool shot in the midst of days that reached the high 90s and maybe the 100s. Yesterday it was cool and cloudy and gray all day. This morning the temp in our house was 57! It's mid-80s now at 7pm, but windy and the wind is blowing around a few leaves already. I know the weather won't change permanently yet, but the hint of Fall is enough to make this Florida girl wonder if she's had enough warmth yet. Apparently the Farmer's Almanac, as well as some real-live farmers we know, think that Winter will come early this year and will be very cold and snowy. I don't really know how I feel about that. I actually have been disappointed with the lack of snow since I've move up here. On the other hand, and early, long, cold, hard Winter is not completely appealing, for some reason. I'm going to at least start praying that my flights out of Billings and back in from the family reunion will run smoothly. That's about all for now. Have a Happy Labor Day Weekend and try not to hate me too much for complaining about cooler weather as you sweat in the humid heat down south.
Love you all,
Christina

I didn't realize how long it had been. . .

2008-08-27T16:57:00.003-07:00

until I saw that the date of my last post was August 4th! Sorry :(

Michael's parents and Grams came up for a week visit. We had a lot of fun. Grams was so fun. She kept saying "I wouln't take for that!" Meaning she wouldn't trade (the animal, dinner, view of the mountains, etc) for anything. She had a lot of fun and so did we.

Well, I've got to run to Praise Team practice, so I'll try to catch you up a little more later.

Prayer

2008-08-04T16:44:00.000-07:00

God's been teaching me about prayer and pushing me toward prayer. Not just prayer for other people, although that is part of it. But the heart of prayer that seeks His will in every moment. For instance: I came down to church earlier that I needed to to prepare for Praise Team Practice and I asked God what He would have me do with that extra time. So, here I am writing to you about prayer.

In Sunday School we have started reading Elizabeth George's book "A Woman After God's Own Heart." In the first chapter she talks about "acknowledging God" in all situations - taking just a second in the midst of whatever the situation to check in with God and see what He would have me do. Even before we started this book God had started His work in me concerning prayer. I have been finding out that God is showing me things when I'm teaching other people that I hadn't considered or realised until they came out of my mouth. I confessed to everyone at the Women's Tea that I've been planning before I pray!

What a difference it has made to ask God how I should spend my time, who I should ask to help with certain things, even what words to use to share what He is doing in my life. I am beginning to enjoy one of the blessings Elizabeth talks about in her chapter on prayer - a deeper relationship with God. Watch out - here comes another instance of God teaching me as I type! It's kind of like human relationships - the people I feel closest to are the ones who I share the most of my life with, the ones who are intimately acquainted with even the most mundane decisions of my life. Somehow things aren't so mundane when God is involved in every decision and I can see Him working in even the smallest things.

A Little Bit About Me. . .

2008-08-04T16:27:00.000-07:00

Name: Christina Marie Laird
I am: a pastor’s wife
I want: to be a prayer warrior
I have: more than I need and more than I deserve
I wish: ice cream were fat, sugar, and calorie free
I hate: cleaning my house, but I love it when it is clean. Speaking of which. . .
I miss: my family
I hear: the hum of the computer. If I were at home, I would hear the chimes my Mom gave me for my birthday along with birds and crickets
I wonder: about people
I am not: so good with Internet/computer technology
I always: try to avoid answering “always” and “never” questions. What if only one time it weren’t true?
I sing: along with praise CD’s in the car. Sometimes I get frustrated that the roof is too short for me to raise my hands, but since I’m driving that’s probably better anyway
I laugh: a lot with Michael
I cry: at sad TV commercials
I make: quilts
I write: prayer charts, so I don’t forget to pray for people
I regret: my rebellions
I need: more of Jesus
I am surrounded by: beauty! I try to make sure I don’t take my surroundings for granted.
I should: exercise more
I must: spend time with Jesus
I understand: that God’s ways are not my ways
I adore: my Lord
I listen: not as much as I should
I hope: in God. Not a wishing kind of hope, the knowing and waiting kind of hope
I dream: of being a mother
I celebrate: Michael!
I love: Michael!
I give: Michael! No, wait that doesn’t make any sense!
I tag: Aunt Kathy, Aunt Chrissy and. . .who else reads this blog?
(all you have to do is copy and paste this into your own blog, erase my answers, put in your own then post it) Check out my sister’s (Anita) answers on her blog. The link is to the left.

Hair, Cats and the Great Outdoors

2008-07-13T16:10:00.000-07:00

So, here is the long awaited picture of my new hair. It actually looks different every day because I'm still trying to figure it out but, you get the idea

We also have some new members of our household. Meet Smith and Wesson. They are kittens right now so they have to be inside the house and get to know us and the area and grow up a bit before they can roam free. So how did I end up with cats, you ask? I hate them less than I hate mice :) They will be our rodent control in a few months. We haven't had any in the house, but they are in the garage, eww!

We celebrated my birthday on July 4th since I had the day off. We hiked a trail following a river called East Rosebud. Even though it is July, there is still snow in the mountains that is still melting off, this is called spring run-off. The picture to the left is not East Rosebud, it is spring run-off that is running across the trail! I realized another reason why I love Michael so much on this hike. My instinct was "this was as far as we can go and now it's time to turn back." My husband says "We can cross this!" So we did. Balancing on logs (I was thankful for my Montessori balance beam training) and hopping from stone to dry spot, we made it across! I love
the outdoors and spend much more time there than I ever thought I would. Michael takes me there and helps me go farther in the wilderness that I thought I could go. Thanks, Babe.
His adventurous spirit allowed us to see this! Isn't that amazing? The river isn't usually that big and rough, but all the extra water from the spring run-off dumping into the existing rivers has them running very high right now.

I hope you like all the pictures. I'll try to put more up more often now that I've figured out how.

Love you guys!

Locks of Love Strikes Again

2008-06-28T10:56:00.000-07:00

You guessed it - I cut all my hair off again. As soon as I figure out how to fix it, I'll get some pictures up for you.

Our trip to Texas was fast but good. We got to see a lot of Michael's family in the short time we were there and we had a lot of fun.

When we got back Michael left with the youth to go on their mission trip, but he had to come home early. One of our church members lost her mother and Michael was called on to preach his first funeral. Thanks to the help of Pastor Roger and a lot of prayers, the family was really blessed by the service.

The church is now working on constructing our float for the Columbus Freedom Celebration Parade. The theme of the parade is thanking our troops, so we're pretty excited about that. On that same day, our youth will be joining in the community garage sale to raise money for their mission trip and other activities.

Michael has been getting into taking care of the yard. He set up the sprinkler system on it's automatic schedule and today we are weeding the flower beds and trying to plan what to do with the rest of the yard.

Perhaps this is the time to share my thoughts on being "green." I don't necessarily buy into "the whole world is coming to an end and it's all our fault." At the same time, we are called to be good stewards of the natural resources God has blessed us with (as well as the resources of money, time and talents.) That being said, I'm really more in touch with being green now that we live outside the city limits. My water comes from my ground and everything that goes down a sink or toilet ends up in my septic system or out in my drain field. So I guess that getting in touch with actual nature has gotten me in touch with my "green" self. We drive our own garbage to the dump, so I started separating out all my cardboard because they have a bin for it. There is no recycling for plastic here in Columbus but I've started saving all my milk jugs and driving them into Billings along with my plastic bags. (I wouldn't have so many of those if I could remember to bring my reuseable bags with me to the store, but I'm still working on that:)) Also, I'm making the move to chemical free cleaners. I've got to say that they are at least as good as the old standards, and in one case, much better. I hate Windex. I always have. Even their streak free stuff streaks and it makes me crazy! But I always thought that if the name brand stuff didn't work, what hope was there for generic stuff to work? Clorox has a new line of "green" products and their window cleaner doesn't streak!! I love it. Now, so as not to sound to high and mighty, I will share this very large inconsistency. Although I have become concerned about what I put down my drain because it ends up in my ground - we are trying to decide where to kill off the weeds in our yard and gravel driveway with poison that we will pray directly onto the ground. Oh well. I like the "green" stuff anyway and feel good about using it in my house.

That's probably more than you ever wanted to know about my thoughts on going "green." Anyway, I hope you all have a safe and happy Fourth of July. Remember to thank God for our freedoms and to thank our servicemen and women.

Bobcat, VBS and coming posts

2008-06-10T17:10:00.000-07:00

Here's a quick one for those regular blog readers.

VBS was great. I had a lot of fun with the little kids and 2 or more kids from other classes came to know the Lord!

Sunday night we had some friends over to watch a soccer game and Michael called me downstairs to look at a bobcat that was looking in our window!! Michael went outside and whistled at it and it turned around and looked at Michael so he could take a couple of pictures. It was cool! I'll try to get him to post the pictures.

Coming posts that I've been thinking about but need a little time to think about in order to write: "Yada Yada" and being more green. Hope you're looking forward to them.

Well, we're off to Texas at 6am tomorrow to see Michael's family, especially his grandparents who aren't doing so well. Pray for safe travel and that we won't have plane troubles so we can make it back for church on Sunday.

Love you all,
Christina

Green

2008-05-20T16:58:00.001-07:00

Well, it's been at least two weeks since I've been on here. We had a great time with my parents. It was so good just to BE around them, it had been awhile. God was also very gracious in the areas of weather and wildlife. We had beautiful, clear mild days to begin with. We were able to take Mom and Dad to the top of the hill and let them see two of our favorite mountain ranges, the Beartooth/Absarokas and the Crazies. Then when we went to Yellowstone National Park it was 30 degrees and snowed for most of 24 hours. It looked like a Christmas card and we saw almost every animal there was to see: elk, bison, bald eagle, grizzly bear, black bear, coyotes. . .I'm pretty sure there were more, but those are the really impressive ones.

Now they've been gone for more than a week and the countryside is really starting to green up. The snow we saw in the mountains was rain down where we live and the grass had already perked up before they left. We've had a little more rain since they left and now the trees are looking green, too. This past weekend through today the highs have been in the 80's and 90's, but tomorrow the high is in the 50's I think! Can you even believe it? 50 in the middle of May?

Last Friday Michael held his first outdoorsmen event. The guys had a lot of fun and most of the guys from the church came, but they were disappointed that only 3 men from the community were there. But, now they heard the gospel and now there are three more men to talk up the events for next time.

We are gearing up for VBS. This is the last week of school, next week is prep-week and then we're going to Outrigger Island the first week of June. I'm nervous and trying to get prepared to teach the kindergarten class - I've never taught a VBS class before let alone one so young, but I'll have a great helper in the Bridger, one of our youth. The youth are the helpers in all the classes so they can get prepared to teach the material for their mission trip two weeks later.

I think that's all to catch you up on. I love you all and I am now heading off to read your blogs and catch up on your lives for the past two weeks :)

I love Montana

2008-04-26T15:00:00.000-07:00

I wanted to start off by saying that and here are some reasons why:
1. We have four seasons (not just summer and Christmas)
2. The pace of life is slower (even slower now that we live in the country). Maybe it's not slower, just more relaxed. Or maybe it's just me, maybe I've learned to relax. OK, enough soul-searching
3. I get to see snow-covered mountains on my way into town every day.
4. and other various reasons that I'm sure will come to me as soon as I'm done blogging.

All of that was to let you all know that I like our life and the work God has given us to do.

But, I miss my family. My parents are coming for a visit and will arrive next weekend and I can hardly wait! A whole ten days; it will be so wonderful.

On the other hand, I've been looking at my brother-in-law's blog (Phillip) and I am now officially in withdrawals from my nieces and nephews. It's been 1 1/2 years since I've seen any of them from either side of my family. I love to watch the kids at church and see the funny things they say and do and after we're here for a little while longer I'll be able to start seeing them grow up and I'm sad that I'm not getting to do that with my own family. I also can't hug my sisters when they have a bad day or just hang out with them.

Don't get too worried about me though, I have these (we'll call it homesick even though I don't miss the South at all) "homesick" episodes periodically. I can blog about it now because my Mom can't be too worried about hearing that I miss them since she's coming to see me :) I'm sure none of this "kid-missing" has anything to do with me not having any kids yet either, right?

Anyway, lets just turn this into an encouragement to love on your family whenever you may get the chance to see them. And if you see them a little more than you might like, try to think about what it would be like not to see them at all (be serious!)

I love you guys and miss you.

Spring - A Weather Rollercoaster

2008-04-11T11:25:00.000-07:00

This time of year is what earns Montana the saying "If you don't like the weather, just wait 5 minutes, it will change." Two Mondays ago, it snowed 5 inches! It was not even freezing outside so it was almost melting off as fast as it was coming down, but it came down all day long. This provided much needed moisture. This past Wednesday night it rained for probably 2-3 hours! Again, much needed moisture, but in a very different form :) I've also now heard that it is supposed to get up to 70 degrees by Sunday! The clouds and wind toady are keeping me skeptical of this weather report, but we'll see. I'm planning on breaking out my flip-flops and capri pants for church if it does get that warm. As I wait for some of this moisture to start having its affect and turn things green around here, I'm wishing you all a beautiful and happy Spring.

Visiting In-Laws and Sunday School Lessons

2008-03-30T16:04:00.000-07:00

As I write my second post in about a week, I'm really hoping that my loving aunts are giving as much flack to their own blogging-challenged daughters as they are to me :)

Well, I've got a busy week ahead. Micheal's parents are coming up at the end of the week. They are bringing Wanda's old car so they have something to drive when they come to visit and they will be here when Michael is presented with his preaching license. We are excited to be able to spend some time with them.

Also this week I'm going to be working to finish two Sunday School lessons in one so that for the rest of the year I will be teaching/outlining our Bible reading before it happens instead of afterward. I had thought of this a couple of times but not done anything about it, so God had one of my Sunday School ladies suggest it :) Isn't God good!

I now feel compelled to share with you a very interesting thing God has brought me to ponder through His word. In our Bible reading this week we started reading through Judges. Chapter 11 introduces us to Jephthah. Jephthah made a very unwise and rash promise to God and ended up sacrificing his own daughter in fulfillment of this promise (something that was expressly forbidden by God.) Reading this passage frustrates me because I wonder how someone could be so stupid. Two points: 1. It is amazing the things that don't seem wrong to us when we are far from the Lord. (or are mindlessly submerged in a culture that is far from the Lord) 2. I need to be careful not to commit myself to things without seeking the Lord's wisdom/leading in a matter first. I have several opportunities that have opened up for me this week. One is to enter the pharmacy tech training at the pharmacy where I work. This would usually be a two year degree but instead of paying for school I could get paid to work while I receive this training. The other opportunity is to be on the leadership team for the state women's ministries. How exciting! But I really want to know that either or both of these opportunities are what the Lord has for me now before I agree to either one.

Thanks for your prayers in this matter and your unending interest in our lives :)
We love you.

Gee, I Really Wish You Would Blog More

2008-03-24T07:37:00.000-07:00

So, an unnamed aunt (who is not actually a blood relative) called me just to say "You need to blog more!" :) She's right. I'm working on working out my schedule. You see, I now work Monday through Wednesday. I'm still trying to figure out how I worked a full-time job and kept my house clean. Maybe it wasn't all that clean or maybe my house now is a lot bigger. Anyway, I haven't figured out a good schedule yet, but I'm trying. So, enough of excuses, on to the updates.

I am really liking my job at the pharmacy. As I alluded to before, three days a week is feeling like full-time to me. I have a great time while I'm at work, but when the end of Wednesday comes, I'm glad I don't have to come back again until Monday :) We are still keeping ourselves busy with working on the house. From the sound of it you'd think we live in a fixer-upper, but we don't. We're just busy making it our own.

I hope everyone had a very blessed Easter Sunday. We started ours off with an outdoor Sunrise Service. When the service was over, the temperature was 15 degrees!! My fingers and toes were the only things that got cold, though. It was a really great service in conjunction with two other churches in town. Afterwards, we had breakfast at the church and then continued with Sunday School and our regular Worship Service. Michael did his first Lord's Supper service yesterday and it was really great.

Although the temperatures from yesterday morning might look otherwise, we have actually been pretty warm here since the middle of February. Since the warm-up started so early, we thought it would get cold again before the warm weather stuck around, but it's not looking like it. We have our days here and there, but mostly the temperatures have been getting up to between 45 and 60 for the last six weeks (that's quite toasty for this time of year up here)! Michael's hoping the cold weather will peak it's head out again when my parents come to visit in April :) I was ready for the cold to stick around a little longer, but now that it's been on the way out for so long, I'm starting to get Spring fever :)

All in all, things are going quite well. We are looking forward to the presentation of Michael's preaching license, which will happen on April 6th. That Sunday Michael will also give a 100 days report of all that has happened since we got here and cast a vision for the next 100 days. Michael's parents will be joining us for that occasion, as well, so we should have a very fun and exciting day.

From the Pastor's Pen, March

2008-03-06T10:09:00.000-08:00

Last month in our daily Bible reading schedule we read through the book of Leviticus. While it is not an easy one to stay with (lots of laws and sacrifices and stuff) there is an important picture that we should consider.

This picture comes from Leviticus 16 and the Day of Atonement. The priest was to take two goats for the sin offering; the first goat was sacrificed in the normal way and its blood sprinkled on the altar. With the second goat the priest was to lay both of his hands on its head and confess all of the sin of Israel, "and put them on the goat's head" (v. 21). Then he would drive the goat out into the wilderness and let it go, where it would "carry off on itself all their sins" (v. 22). This is where we get the term "scapegoat."

This is a great picture of what Christ has done for those who believe in Him.. "the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all" (Is. 52:6b). Christ bore our sins on the cross. To "bear" sin means to be responsible for it, or to take the penalty for it. So Christ endured the consequences of our sin for us. The second part of the picture is this: "As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us" (Ps. 103:12). Like the "scapegoat," Jesus carried our sins far, far away from us and God remembers them no more.

This is just one of many beautiful pictures the Lord has given us in the Old Testament. I hope that you will consider this as you think about Easter!

Pastor Michael

From the Pastor's Pen, February

2008-02-20T13:03:00.000-08:00

I'm going to start puting Michael's article from the church newsletter on the blog. Here goes:

"Hi there everyone! I hope that you took the opportunity to love and honor your spouse this month . . . and I'm not talking about Valentine's Day! Sure, Valentine's Day is the time when we buy flowers and chocolates and do special things for that special someone, and it is a good thing to celebrate. But God desires that we render love and honor to our spouse everyday, not just once a year. Ehpesians 5:33 says, "let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband." God wants this to characterize our lives, that we consistently cherish our spouses and thereby stand out form the rest of the world. So, I hope you enjoyed Valentine's Day and did something special for your spouse, and then remembered to love and honor them the next day as well.
Pastor Michael."

Also, an update. I accepted a part-time position at the pharmacy here in Columbus. Next week we'll figure out a training schedule.

Thank You, Lord, for your continuous provision for us in the material as well as the spiritual things.

Happy Valentine's Day

2008-02-14T10:26:00.000-08:00

My valentine is slowly recovering from the flu. He's actually doing pretty well, now. Last week at this time he had a temperature of 102!

I had a job interview yesterday. I haven't heard anything back yet, but I also haven't gotten a clear word from God yet on wether to take it or not, either. The prospect of starting a job with my house in its current condition put a little fear into me, though. So, I'm going to give another big push to try to make the house visitor ready.

Michael's choice for a Valentine's Day treat is Tres Leches, so I have to go home and cook. My choice? Take-out pizza :) I know, romantic, right? Now he has the job of coming up with a fun valentine activity. Fun, in this case, means cheap or free and he can't wear himself out and have a relapse of the flu. Here's hoping you have some Valentine's plans to look forward to.

Directions

2008-02-07T11:26:00.000-08:00

Hello, all. I thought I'd try to give everyone a smile, if not a laugh, by showing you the directions we were given to the Super Bowl party we attended. I'll add explanatory comments in parenthasis.

East on Highway 10 to top of East Hill (there is no sign for "East Hill")
Turn left on Columbus-Molt Rd.
Follow road signs to stay on Columbus-Molt Rd. for 8 or 9 miles to Teeters Hill (this hill does have a sign)
You're Half Way!!!
Now we are going to count cattle guards
(Cattle guards are a series of metal rods stretching across the road with gaps in between making it hard for free range cattle to walk over them and escape)
There are 6 (cattle gurads) to count.
Oil Well Rd. is a half mile past the 6th cattle guard
Turn right on Oil Well Rd
Two cattle guards to go!!
After the 2nd, go 1/4 mile and turn right at 212 - OK Ranch
The blue house is it!
Make sure you have the following:
coat
spare tire
water and food supply
half tank of gas
compass
flashlight

Hope to see you for the game!!!!

P.S. Cell will only work on Teeters Hill.

!!!!!GO TO THE RESTROOM BEFORE YOU LEAVE TOWN!!!!!

What is cold?

2008-01-24T09:02:00.000-08:00

We finally got some winter weather here in Montana! We got about 8 inches of snow over Saturday and Sunday. Both of our Moms wanted to know if we cancelled church. The Huttons, whose usually 30 minute drive into church took them 1 1/2 hours on Sunday would have been very disappointed if we weren't there for church! Our attendance was down a bit, but cold and snow don't stop us up here!

Monday the snow clouds cleared out, so thing got pretty cold. When we left Columbus at about 2:30 pm it was a balmy -4. We went to the state evangelism conference in Bozeman. That night in Bozeman the temperature dropped to -25! The coldest it ever got in Helena was around -15, so this is my new coldest temp :) You may not believe me and may roll your eyes, but not having humidity makes the cold much less cold, just like it makes hot much less hot.

Michael and I are full of ideas of things for the church to do to reach out to the community and get involved in the community, but we are having to hold ourselves back a bit. We don't want to overload the church and we want to make sure ALL the families are getting involved, not just the usuals. We are excited about what God is already doing and we are looking forward to having our first new membership class sometime soon.

We love you and are thankful for your love, support and prayers.

"It's been a long time" along with "The back-up singer" and "High-tech shepherds"

2008-01-02T10:07:00.000-08:00

Well, folks, I'm sorry to have been so out of touch lately. Don't take it personally - we are actually out of touch in every way. Due to the quitting of a satellite TV employee which delayed our receiving service and the fact that we live 6 miles outside of a rural town and therefore don't receive a signal we can pick-up with bunny-ears, we haven't even watched the news since the beginning of December! We are also too far out of town for DSL, so we are using the library computers until we have the Internet hooked up at the church.

We are moved into our new house, though. Praise the Lord! We still have painting to do and because of that we still have picture-less walls. I'm going to be working on putting out some of the "pretties" that will make our house feel more like a home. Please pray for us and we discuss a land line with the previous owners and the telephone company. There is a "situation" and/but as this is a small town we don't want to start off on the wrong foot. Michael will be talking with the telephone company today to see what info we can find out and we will be meeting with the previous owner tomorrow.

Now on to the promised funny stories from our Christmas season at our new church.

"The back-up singer"
The church has been very excited that Michael has musical talent and they were happy to welcome me onto the praise team, as well. Michael sang a special one of the Sunday mornings before Christmas. I was his back-up singer. Seriously - it wasn't even a duet because I didn't sing half the time! So, after the service we were talking to people as they left and one family came up to us and told me (the back-up singer) what a wonderful voice I had. I don't say this to pat myself on the back, I just still can't get over it! Michael sang such a beautiful song, while he accompanied himself on the guitar, and I got the compliments! I said that I was just the back-up singer and they proceeded to tell Michael that he had a pretty good voice, too. Thank goodness my husband is humble, otherwise we might have had problems (and I wouldn't be sharing this story with you) :) We've been having lots of laughs.

"High-tech shepherds"
I've seen Christmas shows on TV where, in the children's Christmas play, all the kids come wearing their bathrobes with bath towels on their heads. I've never seen anything like that in person. Perhaps that's because I've never lived anywhere where children regularly have bathrobes - I guess it's cold enough here that that's a regular thing. I must admit that I've been using mine more and more. Anyway, at least half of the kids in our church's Chrismas play were wearing their own bathrobes for the performance. That's just some fun background info. On to the shepherds. There were several groups of shepherds divided by age and therefore ability. Some groups had lines to memorize and the 4-6-year-olds sang a song. They came up to the front of the stage while everyone else took their places around the manger, admiring the baby Jesus. Most of them stayed at the front singing the words to "Away in a Manger" while they were accompanied by the piano. But there were two who were no dummies. They put two and two together (that they were singing and that the praise team uses microphones on Sunday mornings when they sing) and started trying out the microphones that were lying to the side of the stage. They kept picking up one after the other, over and over again, in hopes that they would find one that was on and become the star of the evening. I thought that was pretty good for two 4-year-olds. I think at least one of my nieces might have been in that crew :)

The new year is here now. Michael challenged the church to commit to reading the Bible through this year (thanks Pastor Paul for the idea). The Women's Sunday School class has decided to be brave and try to accomplish this even with all their kids and their work so we will be studying on Sundays what we have been reading the past week. Please pray for us as we get settled into the church and learn all the things we don't know yet (like exactly what people have to do to become members). Please also pray that God will send to me the job He has picked out for me already and that we will have the patience and financial planning to wait!

We love you all, hope you were blessed as you celebrated Christ's birth, and pray that God will draw you closer to Himself in the new year.

My Daddy

2007-12-17T18:47:00.000-08:00

Michael and I love being and aunt and uncle. Our neices and nephews are great and they have never been confused about the relationship between us. This is not the case with the small children at our new church. One mom suggested that it might be because we don't have any children of our own, yet. I met Michael the other day at a shop one of the church members owns. Her grandson saw me give Michael a "hello" kiss and told his grandmother that he thought Pastor Michael had a girlfriend :) If you think that's good, you'll really love the next story. The little girls in two different families are convinced that Michael is my Daddy!!! One of them started by asking what my Daddy's name was. It was a question which I thought was a little weird but answered anyway. Then the mom told me what she thought her daughter was thinking. I've gotten some fun laughs out of this. The other little girl told me I could sleep in the downstairs bedroom and my Daddy could sleep on the couch :) I just love it.

I see that many other people have been publishing "it's been a while" posts, so I'm throwing in my hat with everyone else. Everything from our appartment has been packed in boxes since last Friday. It has all been unloaded into some storage facility or another since last Monday and we are currently between houses. I can't wait for Thursday - we close on our house on December 20th, Merry Christmas! We have enjoyed staying with various church members over the past week and are thankful for their generosity and the chance to get to know these families.

God really is blessing us here in Columbus. Our church is very warm and friendly and has a very sweet spirit. Here are some blogs you can look forward to once we get settled in our house and have an internet connection: "The back-up singer" and "High-tech shepherds."

Merry Christmas everyone and I hope to be in touch before the new year.

Freedom

2007-11-12T08:22:00.000-08:00

My friend Joy had her status on facebook set as "Joy is so blessed to be living in the freedom of grace." Since then I've been thinking about freedom. I shared with her that:

"in Bible study we have been working through the first chapter of Ephesians. We talked about redemption (v7). I explained that this imagery has to do with Christ purchasing us for the purpose of setting us free. We are now free to reject sin, among other things! We couldn't do that before! Amen!"

Since sharing that with her, I've been striving to apply the truth that I am free to reject sin to specific areas of my life. Well, mostly one specific area - food! I generally try to eat healthy things like fruits, vegetables and whole grains. The problem is that in doing this I don't cut out the unhealthy things. Not only that, but the purpose of food is to nourish our bodies, not satisfy a craving. So, instead of trying to convince myself that I don't really need whatever it is I'm feeling like eating or trying to convince myself that "I really shouldn't" I've started reminding myself that I'm free NOT to do it. It's a good perspective shifter and redirects my thoughts to "things above, not earthly things."

In what area of your life has Satan been able to convince you that you can't help the way you feel or you are powerless to change the way you have been? Remember that Satan is the Father of Lies and that YOU ARE FREE! As some of us enjoy the freedom of a day off work, as we remember the national freedoms we have because of the sacrifices others were willing to make, I pray we will remember the sacrifice that Jesus made and the spiritual freedom that we now possess to reject sin. Today I pray that you will experience the blessedness of living in the freedom of grace.

Various Updates, because I've been a blogging slacker :)

2007-11-07T21:16:00.000-08:00

OK, what do I need to update you on?

Helena High Men's Varsity Soccer (Michael is an assistant coach) won the State Championship in a crosstown battle that wasn't settled until two overtimes and a PK shoot-out!! What a game! Michael was really excited because he coached most of the Seniors on the JV team during his first year when they were Sophomores. This was a good note to go out on as there is not soccer in class C schools like Columbus High School.

I was in a car accident! It was sort of a head-on collision! I'm doing fine, I feel better every day. I mostly just had bruises and pulled a muscle in my neck and shoulder. And, as my cousin Kelly was happy to hear, I have not had a single headache since the accident. I'm driving a rental and we are waiting to hear from the other guy's insurance about our car (the accident was his fault).

Now about a house. We (including Michael's parents) though we had one, but it fell through due to building restrictions in the subdivision. We have our eye on another one that looks good on the Internet :) We'll be able to take a look at it when we are down in Columbus on the 17th and 18th for Michael to preach his first sermon as the new pastor! I've started packing this week while Michael and Haddie are away hunting.

Michael and Haddie are away hunting. One of our friend's church plants started this men's' retreat last year. He took every thing he would need to hunt any thing from deer, to waterfowl, to upland birds, pheasants and turkey! Please pray for him this coming week as he finishes preparing his Thanksgiving sermon and maybe starts working on a Christmas series.

I was just about to say that I had covered every detail of our lives, but . . .
Michael's birthday was on Tuesday (the 6th). He got a lot of great phone calls from family and friends (and NAMB!?!) He's 33 if you were wondering :)

If you have a moment, please keep my family in your prayers: My brother-in-law and sister are also moving to accept a ministry position at a different church. They have found a place to live, now my sister just has to pack the house with an 1 1/2 year old and a 3 1/2 year old running around! Also keep my parents in you prayers as this is, by extension, a stressful time for them also, besides all their own stuff.

Thanks for your prayers. We love you.

Columbus, Here we come!

2007-10-25T04:32:00.000-07:00

If you couldn't tell from the title, Michael was officially called to be the pastor of Columbus Baptist Church on Sunday. He accepted, of course, so now we're looking to move. He will be preaching starting November 18th and we will move as soon as we find a place to live. The current pastor has agreed to stick around until December so that there is a bit of overlap. He plans to take Michael to the home of every church member! I just think that's so great. Now, about a place to live. There's not much to rent but Michael's parents are wanting to see if they can help us buy something. Wanda is up this week for the state soccer tournament, so she's going to head over that way and see what she can see.

This has all been kind of overwhelming in a way. Paul Jones, who headed up the search committee, has been a friend of Michael's family for a long time. Wanda told us some of the really nice things that he had to say about us concerning our interview process. He's really excited to ordain Michael and even more so because Michael's dad was on his ordination committee and signed his ordination certificate! And then Michael's dad, what can I say? I was blessed to grow up in a family, including much extended family, that thought (thinks) I'm great. It's amazing to me that someone from another family would think I am as great as my own family thinks I am, but he does - maybe more, if that's possible! And Mike and Wanda are happy to tell us how proud they are of us and pass along every good thing they ever hear about us - what an encouragement! On the other hand, my family adores Michael. They just thing he's the best thing since sliced bread, and I'd have to agree :) They just love, love love on us. We can't even count the ways our families have been a blessing to us, supporting us in everything we have done. How blessed we are to have godly legacies and mounds of encouragement coming from everyone we could possibly call family!

Columbus

2007-10-17T19:20:00.001-07:00

So, some of you have been interested to find out some more about this town we may be moving to (pardon the bad English.) It is about 30 min. from the biggest city in the state, Billings and about 3 hours from Helena. I think the population of Columbus is around 2,000. No, I didn't forget a zero! There were 81 people in the worship on Sunday. At some points outside of town you can see 4 different mountain ranges at one time - I love the Beartooth mountains! OK, that's all I can think of for now. Let me know if you have any other questions and I'll answer them for everyone.

Yikes! . . . and other exciting news

2007-10-14T20:30:00.000-07:00

Well, we went back to Columbus this weekend! Michael preached Sunday morning, we enjoyed a pot-luck lunch with the church and opened ourselves up to a Q & A time. The church has a very sweet spirit and we had a good time.

So, why the "yikes!"? Well, the ladies of the church have already more than hinted at the desire for a women's ministry, including Bible study, retreats, and ladies' night out. While this is exciting and right up my alley, it would also be time for me to put my money where my mouth is, so to speak. I have professed a heart for women's ministry and have a degree in women's studies but I have not to this point had an opportunity to put my "heart" and degree into practice. It's a little scary! :)

So, what's the other exciting news? Well, first, I want to thank you for all of your prayers, especially those we specially requested against the spirit of fear. I was talking to Michael the other night and shared with him that I really thought we were going to have a continuing struggle against the spirit of fear that attacked us before our first visit to Columbus. But since we realized what it was that attacked us and started praying (and you all joined us) we have had peace - some nerves here and there, but no paralyzing fear. That's a really exciting praise.

The other exciting news is . . . we got a call on our way home: next Sunday, the committee will unanimously recommend that the church call us to come as the pastor and wife! Since we've been so successful in praying together for freedom from fear, we would now like to ask you to join us in praying for a place to live. The move will probably be too quick to buy a house and there is only one rental house available in Columbus, but they don't allow pets. It seems too big for us but it's definitely not too big for God! Amen?

We covet your continued prayers as we approach this exciting time in our lives. Thank you all for your love and prayers.

We're going back again!

2007-09-26T06:58:00.000-07:00

So, we made it through the 8 hours of interview. Whew! We were exhausted and it literally was 8 hours, but time did not drag by and there was a very sweet spirit. Before we could get home, we got a call. One of their committee members had had to leave unexpectedly and wasn't there at all and another one was only able to be there for a small portion of our time there. The missing committee members is their main concern. So, they have asked us to come back. This time they will have an open house for us on Saturday night for people to come meet us. They want Michael to preach on Sunday morning. Then there will be a pot-luck after church followed by a question/answer period with the whole church. Then the committee will get together again and if the people who weren't there this weekend like us as much and those who were there this weekend, they are expecting to recommend to the congregation that they call us!!!

We are very excited and nervous. We ask, among other things, that you would pray against a spirit of fear. At different times during the weekend, Michael and I were both seized with a spirit of fear: "you guys can't do this," "what are you thinking," "you have no idea what you are doing," etc. We realize that this is an attack from Satan. We know that God will always enable us to do what He has called us to do and we have peace about the process that we are in the midst of right now. So, please pray with us against ungodly fear in our lives as we seek and follow the Lord. Thanks, we love you.

Interview!!

2007-09-23T06:30:00.000-07:00

OK, here goes. . . Michael is interviewing with Columbus Baptist Church in Columbus, MT! We are driving down after church today (in the midst of a winter storm warning, no less). They are starting the interview process tonight and it will continue through the morning and afternoon on Monday. We are excited and nervous (he didn't sleep much last night). We appreciate your prayers for us and for the church, that we would all be following the leading of the Holy Spirit; He will bring the right pastor to the right church. We love you and will keep you updated.

It's Fall!

2007-09-17T17:31:00.000-07:00

When I was a kid growing up in Florida, I always thought that the seasons should start changing when school started. I was disappointed every year as September became even hotter than August! Now the fact that July here in Montana was mostly triple digits makes it kind of hard to get hotter, but still. This is the time for what I call "whiplash weather." We're going from highs in the 80's to highs in the 60's and back in one week. And just because the highs are in the 80's doesn't mean the lows won't be in the 30's. That's right folks, 50 degree temperature swings in one day! Ahhh, Fall. It's cooling off in September, just like it should :) On the other hand, I think Spring should start in March (like it did in Florida when I was a kid) but here it doesn't usually start until May or June. Oh, well. You win some, you loose some.

Joy

2007-09-09T11:56:00.000-07:00

I heard a sermon today on Hebrews 12:1-2. Joy is now my theme. I know, it's not the usual "Joy Passage" but it works for me. God is doing something and whether it's preparing me for something big or just the regular work of making me more like Christ, the fact that He's doing a work in me should bring joy, even if it's painful. I'm thankful that I feel like I'm becoming more aware. Aware of my moods and feelings, what might be behind them and whether or not they're worth paying any attention to. I hope it continues. Thanks for your prayers.

First Flush

2007-09-06T22:19:00.000-07:00

Well, Haddie finally started putting all of the training and hard work into use today...and made me very proud in the process. We went out this morning for a couple of hours and she ended up flushing two coveys of sharptail grouse and a rooster pheasant. The first covey I think was an accident, she was pretty sure on the second covey, and she actually trailed the pheasant for 25 yards before it flushed about 2 feet in front of her.

I managed to down two of the sharptails (pheasant isn't in season yet) but we only found one of them. Still have a little work to do on retrieving them once they're shot, but today was a great step. Here's a pic of our pup with her first bird.

Pouring out my heart

2007-09-04T19:13:00.000-07:00

Psalm 143:10-11
Teach me to do Your will,
For You are my God:
Let Your good Spirit lead me on level ground.
For the sake of Your name, O Lord revive me.
In Your righteousness bring my soul out of trouble.

When I started this blog, I really wanted it to be a way to keep our family and friends up to date with what God is doind in our lives. We have included updates on the church plant, opportunities that God might be leading us toward and a good amount of fun fluff (see the previous post). Now I'm goign to share with you a spiritual struggle I'm in the midst of.

I had my two-year review last week at work. Although I maintained good ratings in most categories and increased to a "superior" in job knowledge, I received a "marginal" score for performance. This included attitude and accuracy.

I can feel it when I get stressed at work. It's busy and there are things I have to get done and customers need help and co-workers have questions. . . It's hard for me to switch back and forth between them all. What I didn't know was that I have a Dr. Jeykel/Mr. Hyde personality (that's a quote). Apparently I'm "happy Christina" 90% of the time and the other 10% I'm scary! This news was kind of devastating, because I didn't know that I was making my co-workers feel like that and because it's such a terrible witness!

I have had at least one offage every month for the last year. I spent some time thinking about this, pondering why they thought that was so much worse that I was feeling that it was. One day off out of twenty work days is 95%. That's an A! My worst month I was off 4 times!! OUCH! But, still only an 80%. I just hadn't gotten it into my head that I'm not being graded like I was in school. There is not scale - it's pass/fail and it takes 100% to pass. Besides this perception problem I had, I thought I was checking all my work. I truly am supprized when I get an email saying I neglected to perfom or follow through on some duty.

So I had to come up with a PIP (personal improvement plan) I was able to come up with some practical things as well as some ways my supervisors might be able to help. I also included a spiritual section to my plan because that's not separate
from every other part of my life. My supervisors thought that was good because they know how important my faith is to me. So, I expected things to be/get better immediately.

Instead they got worse! The first thing I saw at my station when I came in today was a list of things I had neglected to do/done wrong at work on Saturday. I had to go to the bathroom and dab at my eyes! Today was the fourth, off-the-charts-busy day in a row! My checks didn't match in the middle of the day! Usually this happens because I type in the number wrong when I'm adding them up, or I made some other small, easily fixable mistake when processing the transaction. Not so toady! I spent the rest of the afternoon looking for it, while the two girls who came in early stayed just as late as the rest of us trying to get everything taken care of. And now, while I have tomorrow off, someone else has to go back through every piece of work I did trying to find my mistake!!

I'm crushed! I don't know what else to do to fix whatever it is that has made these last couple of months so bad at work. The grace, patience, love and servanthood that my supervisors have shown/are showing is a daily conviction to me (especially considering my current attitude issues). But, I feel like God is doing something. I don't know what. I can't figure out what I'm supposed to do or learn. I don't know how this is going to glorify God or how it will prepare me for what God has in store next, but I'm confident that it will. And it feels like it's something BIG!

I'd like to thank my brother-in-law, Phillip, for his great reminder of these things. Also, I really covet your prayers while I continue through this time striving to keep my eyes on Jesus and seeking my strenth and joy in Him. Please also pray for what God has in store for me/us and that His Spirit would complete this work of preparation in me.

I love you all and thank you for your love and prayers.

A Study in Opposites

2007-09-02T17:42:00.000-07:00

I have come across two great joke lists - one for where I live now and one for where I grew up. Notice some of the opposites:

Jeff Foxworthy's comments on Montana

If "vacation" to you means going shopping for the weekend in Great Falls, Billings or Bozeman (while the kids swim at the Comfort Inn),You might live in Montana.

If parking your car for the night involves an extension cord, You might live in Montana.

If you consider it a sport to gather your food by drilling through 8 inches of ice and sitting there all day hoping that the food will swim by, You might live in Montana.

If you're proud that your state makes the national news primarily because it houses the coldest spot in the nation, You might live in Montana.

If your local Dairy Queen is closed from November through March, You might live in Montana.

If someone in a store offers you assistance, and they don't work there, You might live in Montana.

If you have worn shorts and a parka at the same time, You might live in Montana.

If your town has an equal number of bars and churches, You might live in Montana.

If you know how to correctly pronounce Butte, You might live in Montana.

If you measure distance in hours, You might live in Montana.

If your family vehicle is a crew cab pickup, You might live in Montana.

If you know several people who have hit deer more than once, You might live in Montana.

If you often switch from "heat" to "A/C"in the same day and back again, You might live in Montana.

If you can drive 65 mph through 2 feet of snow during a raging blizzard, without flinching, You might live in Montana.

If you see people wearing hunting clothes at social events,You might live in Montana.

If the largest traffic jam in your town centers around a high school basketball game,You might live in Montana.

If there are more people at work on Christmas Eve Day than on Deer gun Opener, You might live in Montana.

If you design your kid's Halloween costume to fit over a snowsuit, You might live in Montana.

If driving is better in the winter because the potholes are filled with snow, You might live in Montana.

If you know all 4 seasons: almost winter, winter, still winter and road construction, You might live in Montana.

If you can identify a southern or eastern accent, You might live in Montana.

If you consider Red Lodge exotic,You might live in Montana.

If the sunbelt to you means Miles City, You might live in Montana.

If a brat is something you eat, You might live in Montana.

If you find 0 degrees a little chilly, You might live in Montana.

You know you're from Florida when.....

"Down South" means Key West.

"Panhandling" means going to Pensacola.

Flip-flops are everyday wear.

Shoes are for business meetings and church.

No, wait, flip flops are good for church too.

Socks are only for bowling.

Orange juice from concentrate makes you vomit.

Tap water makes you vomit.

Sweet tea can be served at any meal.

An alligator once walked through your neighborhood.

You smirk when a game show's "Grand Prize" is a trip to Florida.

You measure distance in minutes.

You have a drawer full of bathing suits, and one sweatshirt.

You get annoyed at the tourists who feed seagulls.

A mountain is any hill 100 feet above sea level.

A good parking place has nothing to do with distance from the store,but everything to do with shade.

Your winter coat is made of denim.

You can tell the difference between fire ant bites and mosquito bites.

You know the four seasons really are: almost summer, summer, not summer but really hot, and Christmas.

It's not "pop." It's "soda" or "coke."

Anything under 70 is chilly.

You've attended a hurricane party.

You go to a theme park for an afternoon, and know when to get on the best rides.

You understand the futility of exterminating cockroaches.

You can pronounce Okeechobee, Kissimmee, Withlacoochee , Okahumpka and Loxahatchee.

You've driven through Yeehaw Junction.

You were 8 before you realized they made houses without pools.

You were 12 when you first met someone who couldn't swim.

You've worn shorts and used the A/C on Christmas.

You could swim before you could read.

You know that no other grocery store can compare to Publix.

You've gotten out of school early on Halloween to trick or treat before it got dark.

You know that anything under a Category 3 just isn't worth waking up for.

You dread the lovebug seasons.

You are on a first name basis with the Hurricane list. They aren't Hurricane Charley, Hurricane Frances...but Charley, Frances, Ivan and Jeanne.

You think a six-foot alligator is actually pretty average.

You were twelve before you ever saw snow or you still haven't.

When the northerners complain that 80 is 'so hot', you just stand there and smile.

You refer to the seasons as "Tourist Season", "Fire Season" "Hurricane Season" and "Mosquito Season".

Perhaps these illustrate why my life is so full of extremes :) Hope you enjoyed!

For the love of Fall...

2007-08-29T12:21:00.000-07:00

Have I ever mentioned that I love this time of year? There are so many positives; the weather is cooling off, high school soccer starts, hunting seasons start up, and winter is just around the corner! I actually like all of the seasons, with summer being the least favorite. The beginning of summer is nice, but I'm not a big fan of 95º-plus temps and the associated fire season & smoke here in MT.

Speaking of smoke, we have had about 10 days of beautiful, clear, cool weather. Daytime temps have been in the 70's and low 80's, nights cool off to the upper 40's, and no smoke to speak of. There are still many fires around the state, but the cooler weather has helped slow them down quite a bit.

Our first soccer matches are this weekend. We play Missoula Big Sky on Friday and Missoula Hellgate on Saturday. Our varsity team is looking really good...we already had a strong team, and now we have a new transfer student from Seattle who will be 1st Team, All-State this year easily(maybe the best HS player in the state)as well as a new foreign exchange student from Mexico who will be a very strong defender for us. We are very excited! My head coach has been coaching HS soccer for 10-12 years now and he said that this is the strongest, deepest team that he has ever had, and he has won 2 state titles! It is also a special year for me as most of the 12 seniors this year were on my JV team the first year that I started coaching. My JV team is looking good as well. We need a little work on offense, but the defense and midfield look very solid.

Bird hunting season opens Saturday! Its time for Haddie to start earning her keep :) I think that she is very ready for it and she will do great. I need to work with her on live birds some, but her retrieving work is solid. I bought her a vest to protect her chest and belly from thorns and things and now she barrels through obstructions like it was nothing. We might get out Saturday morning but it will probably be Monday morning before we get some serious hunting time in.

Please continue to pray for us. The church in Columbus is checking our references this week and we are looking at an interview in the very near future. We are also praying about a church planting staff position in Belgrade. Both places are awesome and we would enjoy the work in either, but we really want to discern God's will and make the right choice. Also, please pray for us as we minister here. God has opened several opportunities to share with people and we would like to be able to follow up with them. I have had a chance to share the Gospel with several people at Lowe's and with our new assistant coach while we were at camp last week. Please pray that the Holy Spirit would continue to work in their lives and bring them to the place of repentance and faith.

Ashes, ashes it all falls down

2007-08-13T16:34:00.000-07:00

We woke up to a layer of ash on everything this morning! Since we have the windows in the house open, this includes everything near a window in our house. I was told today that this extreme smokieness was not from the fire to our north (the closest one) but from one over the mountains - I guess the weather patterns changed. Anyway, it's really weird and I thought I'd share. Hope you had an ash-free day :)

Netty Pot

2007-08-12T19:06:00.000-07:00

I do not often watch Oprah, but sometimes I have a day off or get off early and I take a peak. The last two times I've watched, Dr. Oz has been on. So, they demonstrated and sang the praised of the netty pot. With all the smoke and my aforementioned boogerie nose and Michael's bad sinuses, I decided to try it. I love it. It looks like a tiny teapot. You fill it up with warm salt water, pour it in one nostril with your head tipped to the side and let it come out the other side. When the water first starts going through all your sinuses, it sort of feels like accidentally inhaling salt water. Imagine that! But after the initial sensation, you don't really notice it anymore. I tried it and liked it. I thought it would be good for Michael, too, but I didn't think I'd actually be able to convince him. But I did! And it's really work for him with his tiny nostrils. Now I do it once or twice a day - whenever I feel a little stuffy. It softens everything up and washes it right out. Of course you're going to have to blow your nose a couple of times when you're done, but I'd rather have a bit of a runny nose than a stuffy nose any day. Let me know what you think :)

Weather Updates and more.

2007-08-12T17:53:00.000-07:00

Well, I was going to write yesterday and tell you that it had cleared up and we had been able to see the mountains for the past two days, but . . . no more. It seemed fine this morning but now the sky is all smoky white. It has cooled down a bit though - upper 80's to low 90's for the highs and getting down to the mid 50's for lows at night.

Soccer starts tomorrow! They might have to rearrange the practice schedule because they might not be able to practice outside because of the smoke. It's funny, the tell us the air quality is bad so we should stay inside (just like they do other places) but if we don't have air conditioning, why be inside instead of outside? Where was I? Oh, yes, soccer. Michael's really excited about this season, so we'll see how things go.

He's also excited about hunting season! We're having a lot of fun working with Haddie on her retrieving for this season. Maybe he'll even get me some shooting practice and I'll be able to get a deer this year!

I'm hoping to be able to watch some of his games this year around my work schedule. When it cools off a little bit more I guess I'll be getting started on some quilting.

Please continue to pray for us as we are seeking God about where He would have us serve. Michael has been approached by another pastor who is looking for a church planter to be on staff at his church. This is in an area of Montana that actually has some Hispanics, which is exciting! We're clueless. Both opportunities would require a lot of learning on the job but would also come with a mentor and a variety of opportunities for ministry.

Anyway, that's about it for now. We love you guys and love being able to read about what's going on in your lives just like you do ours. Thanks for your love and prayers.

Montana is on Fire

2007-07-22T13:38:00.000-07:00

It is an eerie feeling to live in a fairly narrow valley, to be surrounded by mountains, and yet not be able to see them. They are becoming harder and harder to see as smoke from the many fires around our state gathers in the valley. There is an enormous one west of us in the Bob Marshall Wilderness that is too big and too hot for firefighters to even approach yet. There are a couple of them north of us in Wolf Creek, I think. And there are some to the south, as well. I believe most of these were started by lightning. There are many thunderstorms in Montana during the summer but a lot of the time the humidity is so low that the rain is evaporated before it gets to the ground. The lightning, however, does make it to the ground where everything is as dry as tinder and the wind is usually whipping down a mountain range and across a valley. These are dangerous conditions indeed and there are many fires in other parts of our state, as well. Please pray for the safety and wisdom of our firefighters, for rain, and for the safety of people and property.

Pathetic

2007-07-21T16:10:00.000-07:00

Have I mentioned that it's HOT up here? Have I mentioned that no one has air conditioning? I thought I had. Well, Michael is suffering more intensely than I am, as can be demonstrated by the following anticdote. I came home from work the other day and said "Hello!" I follow the weak reply to the bathroom where I found my husband languishing in a bathtub full of cold water!! He rolled his head out from behind the shower curtain to greet me :) It was so, so sad :) Here's hoping you're finding ways to beat the heat wherever you are.

Happy Fourth of July!

2007-07-04T23:17:00.000-07:00

Hope everyone had a happy and safe Fourth of July. We went to Manhattan, MT and played a couple of games of softball with our friends William and Teresa and the mission team that was working with them this week. After the softball we all ate hamburgers, hotdogs, potato salad, etc... until we were stuffed. Then Christina and I took advantage of being near Bozeman and went and did a little shopping. Christina had a couple of gift cards from her birthday and I went to the new Sportsmen's Warehouse that just opened... happily (from my wife's perspective, anyways :) ) we were able to get out of there with just a couple of new bumpers (retrieving dummies) for Haddie.

We came home about 4:00 PM and rested for an hour, then we went to a barbeque with some friends in East Helena. When we pulled into their driveway, we noticed that the neighbors had a pair of sawhorses out with a board securely fastened to them. On the board were fastened several (about 10) firework launching tubes of various sizes. Thinking it a little strange, we asked our friends about it and found out that it was perfectly legal to shoot fireworks off in the city of E. Helena...and what a show it was!! I don't know exactly how much money people spent on fireworks there, but it was the most that I have ever seen. It seemed like everyone in E. Helena had spent thousands of dollars on fireworks. We sat there for over an hour watching as fireworks went off all over the town, including the actual city firework show. And when we left, there was no signs of it slowing down. It was truly amazing.

If any of you ever wonder where we'll be for the Fourth of July, East Helena is the place!

HEAT

2007-06-29T20:18:00.000-07:00

Before you say anything, I know you've got humidity that we don't have (ours was 18% yesterday.) But you also have air conditioning in your home which we don't have. Most people up here don't. Yesterday the high was 99 degrees; today was supposed to be a few degrees cooler.

At about 9:15pm (you can still see the very top of the sun over the horizon) I came home from walking the dog. I grabbed my water glass off of the entertainment center where I had set it last night. I went to the fridge and started pouring water from our filter jug and the glass cracked! You know how glass does when it goes from too hot to too cold too fast!?! It was a pretty thin glass, a thicker one hadn't cracked earlier, but I was still so shocked!

That's all, I just thought I'd share another amazing adventure in Montana, the land of extremes :)

Praying for a hurting family...

2007-06-28T14:55:00.000-07:00

Landon Meece went to be with the Lord yesterday. Please remember to continue praying for the family. Although we celebrate that she is in the presence of her Redeemer, there will still be dificulty and some grief for the family. Please pray for their comfort and that the Lord would continue to be glorified through this, even though we don't understand it.

I could have told you, but I'd have had to kill you...

2007-06-21T10:54:00.000-07:00

For several months we have been praying about a move. Right after our April vacation the pastor of my home church (Emmanuel Baptist) in Billings, Pastor Paul, one of my closest friends and mentors, called me and asked me to pray about submitting my resume for consideration to become the new pastor of the church in Columbus, MT. After praying for a couple of weeks, we did. Columbus Baptist Church is basically a restart and it has been under the direct supervision of Emmanuel Baptist for the past 6 years or so. They are running about 100 in worship now and have really become active in reaching their community. Their current pastor is moving to be closer to his daughter and grandchildren because the dad is scheduled for his third tour of duty in Iraq/Afganistan. Last week Paul helped them form a pastor search committee...their first ever committee! Normally when they have business, they call a potluck fellowship and people just volunteer to do whatever needs to be done. Pastor Paul told me that they have a very sweet spirit and have really become missions oriented...which, in my opinion, is a direct influence from Paul and Emmanuel.

This really would be an ideal situation. We are still praying about it, but we are excited about the possibility. The chance to have Paul teach me how to pastor, to have the direct support of a growing, healthy church like Emmanuel, and to do it in a church that is healthy, growing and is missions/community oriented seems like a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Please pray with us about this...however perfect it may seem, it will be completely wrong if it is not God's will. Pray for us for God's wisdom and understanding, that we will be able to discern God's will. Pastor Paul would like to have the new pastor in place by the end of the summer, so it is coming up fairly quickly.

Thank you everyone for all of your prayers!

On to a more immediate need, thanks to everyone who is praying for Landon Meese. As of yesterday the situation had not changed...she is breathing, for the most part, on her own, but is still unconscious and shows no brain activity on the EEG. The doctors do not know the extent of injury and things still look bad.
Pray for the family, that they would have continued peace and strength as this painful situation continues.

General Updates and a Perfect Flan

2007-06-19T06:54:00.000-07:00

Now that there is no more substitute teaching to be done, Michael is the newest employee at our Lowe's store. He says the work is pretty easy, he just has to get used to their system. Let's pray that they actually work around his mission team/block party schedule as well as they said they would.

Michael's parents came for a visit. I feel like they mostly sat around and waited for us to have time in our schedules to hang out - but they said they had a lot of fun. We really enjoyed having them here:) They are such a blessing!

We are well into the summer season of mission teams. Our first sports camp was last week. We have huge team this week that is putting on Backyard Bible Clubs as well as a team who is leading a Crown Financial workshop. We have other teams coming this summer for more sports camps and service projects. I'm having a hard time keeping them all straight. Pray that God would use them to minister to the community and draw people to Himself and also that God would use the mission trip to do a work in each team member's life.

Much thanks to my friend Maday who gave me her flan recipe. The first attempt was OK, but after I have adjusted for my oven, my husband is now more in love with me than ever! :)

That about covers all our news. Please continue to keep Landon Meese and her family in your prayers. We are praying for a miracle and for God's glory.

Please Pray!

2007-06-18T07:56:00.000-07:00

Please take a moment to pray for Landon Meese. She is the thirteen-year-old daughter of Ed and Karen Meese, who are part of our church planting team in Livingston, MT. She was diagnosed with bacterial meningitis this weekend and airlifted to the Hospital in Great Falls, MT. She is in critical condition and is not expected to live much longer. Please pray that God would heal her body...but above all pray that He would be glorified through this painful situation.

Death of an Appliance

2007-06-04T20:46:00.000-07:00

It's finally happened! The washer and dryer that was a hand-me-down from my seminary roommate have finally died!! The timer on the dryer hasn't worked in quite a while, but we worked around that. But yesterday I went downstairs to change the loads and was met with a smoky room and the smell of burning electronics! Don't worry, there was no actual fire! So, we're looking at buying a new set - hoping the last warehouse set of last year's model will sell so we could get the floor model at a discount. We'll see. It's kind of nice to be in a place where I've finally realized that it's all up to God, so I don't really have to stress over anything :) Here's hoping you are all in that place, too.

Strawberry Pies and other memories

2007-05-22T17:59:00.000-07:00

I made a strawberry pie the other day - it's a great sign of Spring. And it always reminds me of my Grandpa Rowland. He used to make them in batches of 5, or some huge number like that. Then he would send them home with us - and Mom would let us eat pie for breakfast :) So I ate pie for breakfast! And I made myself a cup of tea and sweetened it with Splenda. And I thought about how my Grandpa would have liked Spelnda. He was diabetic and would make part of his batch of pie with Equal - but I think Splenda is better and I think he would have liked it :) The pies reminding me of him made me think of the things that remind me of my other grandparents.

Sometimes when I look at my hands I think my pinkies look like my Grandmommy Bishop's pinkies. And when I'm having nose issues because I can't seem to get it clean enough, or to stop whistling when I try to go to sleep I remember when my Grandmommy was in the hospital and my Mom was taking care of her and she would talk about helping her make sure she felt that her nose was clean. She was very particular about it and it bothered her but the nurses didn't have time to help her, so Mom made sure Grandmommy felt like her nose was clean. Yes, I know that a snotty nose and a pinkie are weird things to remind me of my Grandmother - but we don't get to pick these things.

There are all of these sweet, little, old ladies that come into the bank. They look so delicate and speak so softly - they remind me of my Grandma Rowland. She was so nice to everyone. In her living room hung her paddle - it had a pillow on the "busineess end" :) Her cabinets were always full of Little Debbie's. I liked that, even though I didn't always like the kinds she picked :)

Finally, my Grandaddy Bishop. I don't really remember anything about him. But I do remember his funeral. It's really not as sad as it sounds. The Methodist church was packed! I remember being impressed that so many people knew and loved my Grandaddy - I still am. Really the only part of the funeral that I remember was when the minister told the congregation that Jack didn't want us to be mourning but that this was a celebration because he was in heaven. Every other funeral I have been to has been compared to that first one. I have never dreaded funerals or been scared because even in his death my Grandaddy taught me that as God's children, death isn't something to fear but a celebration of a home going.

I look forward to being reunited with all of my grandparents and am so thankful for the memories I have and the legacy they left.

Crocs and Socks

2007-05-13T18:25:00.000-07:00

I know, even the name is frightening! I was so excited about crocs after I finally tried on a pair of my friend's. I waited until Christmas and my wonderful mother-in-law, Wanda gave me a pair. During the winter I would wear them with socks and jeans (which I really don't think is that bad). Then I wore them au natural when we walked the dog one day recently and I ended up with blisters all over the top of my feet!! I was so disappointed because I really wanted them to be my dog-walking shoes - a little support, won't give me blisters on my heals like almost everything else does, lite, airy, etc. Now all my hopes are dashed! - sort of. I will not wear crocs with socks and shorts out, but I've resigned myself to this huge fashion disaster for walking the dog :) Lucky for me, my husband is no fashionista (or should I say fashionisto?) and doesn't mind walking with me and my crocs and socks.

Attack of the Lawnmower!

2007-05-02T06:08:00.000-07:00

For any of you guys out there who are looking for an excuse not to mow the lawn, I've got one for you. Michael was mowing the lawn yesterday on his day off. The lawnmower shot out a rock which became embedded in Michael's shin bone as well as shattering into about thirty pieces all in his skin and muscle. He went to Urgent Care "just to make sure the wound was cleaned out all the way" and the doctor ended up having to yank pieces of rock out of his bone and even shave the bone!! They gave him IV antibiotics and sent him to the pharmacy for an antibiotic "horse pill" and for pain meds. His leg didn't start hurting until about 9pm, but by then he said it felt like they had shaved off some of his bone. :( The doctor told him he needs to wear his shinguards when he mows the lawn from now on - COOL! Seriously though, please pray for his recovery. He was planning on going turkey hunting with a couple of guys this weekend and, conveniently for my husband, hunting is a great ministry opportunity here in Montana. :) The doctor said it would be fine; I guess we'll just have to see how well he's getting around. Whatever you do, remember how dangerous it is to mow the lawn! :)

Spring is Here

2007-04-30T20:01:00.000-07:00

So, I know the last time I posted I talked about how green everything was becoming and the possibility that Spring might be here. Now there is solid evidence of Spring (even though the calendar officially says we are well on our way toward summer.) So what are these solid proofs? 1. The Farmers' Market! There weren't many vendors there yet but it opened last weekend adn the weather was georgous. 2. No nylons!! I work at a bank and from October through April we have to wear nylons with everything - skirts, capri pants, regular pants. No ankles seems to be the rule. But from May through September it is foot freedom :) Open-toed shoes and forget about the nylons! So tonight I painted my toe-nails a beautiful bubblegum pink for their debut tomorrow. Never mind that it's supposed to go back down into the 60s the second half of this week :(

Picture test...

2007-04-29T19:57:00.000-07:00

Hey, Saturday morning I went to the mountains east of town to pattern my shotgun for turkey season and also to take the puppy on a hike. I was driving up Avalanche Gulch when I saw these mountain goats on the side of the hill. I was able to get fairly close, within about 50 yards, and got some decent pics. I wanted to try adding some pics to the blog so I figured I would start with these.

Who Knew?

2007-04-25T21:47:00.000-07:00

So, while we were on vacation in North Carolina I just kept thinking about how green everything was! Green trees, green grass, green everywhere and all I could remember from home was brown. When we got back to Montana it was just as brown as I remembered :( Then, then night we got back, it started to rain. It rained all night and most of the morning. Then, in the late morning the rain turned to snow! We got a whopping .57 inches of precipitation!! But the next day - everything was green!!! Who knew 1/2 inch of rain could turn your whole world green? And now everywhere seems green. We're supposed to get up to 82 on Saturday and we had more rain today. I think Spring might have come. YEAH :)

We're back

2007-04-17T18:34:00.000-07:00

We're back from our NC vacation and we had a wonderful time visiting all of our friends. Our travel experience was also very smooth - good weather for driving and flying. It was good to have down time to just hang out with our friends, catch up and see what God is doing in their lives. We bounced around from house to house sleeping on a different bed every night and squeezing in as many friends as possible. It was great! I was reminded again how much I love being round people who know my history. There's just something about not having explain yourself or wonder what the other person is thinking - you've known eachother long enough to understand. It's a blessing.

It was also a different kind of blessing to be reminded how lax I have been in praying for my friends. I know a lot of history for them, but I was missing out on a lot of recent happenings and opportunities to lift them up to the Father. I've decided to go back to a practice I was doing a while back - filling up a small photo album with pictures of people to pray for. When I traveled I used to take one with me but I think I will go back to my photo album as a remender to be more diligent in my prayers for my friends and family. So if there are any friends out there who we haven't seen and there are things that we could be praying about for you, we'd love to know.

Happy Easter!

2007-04-10T10:32:00.000-07:00

"For I passed on to you the most important points of what I received: Christ died for our sins in keeping with the Scriptures, he was buried, he was raised on the third day in keeping with the Scriptures - and is still risen! (1 Corinthians 15:3-4, ISV) What a simple, yet complete statement of the Gospel and the reason for which we celebrate Easter! It is my hope and prayer that we will continue to celebrate the resurrection every day of our lives, not just once a year in the spring.

This week is Spring Break for all of the Helena schools as well as the school in MT City, so I am not substitute teaching this week. The school in Clancy, MT is having school today (Tuesday) but I didn't get a call from them this morning. We are actually preparing to go on vacation - or "vaca" as my wife now calls it - later this week. We are going to North Carolina for 5 days to visit friends from seminary. More about that later.

I called both MSU-Billings and UGF (Univ. of Great Falls) this morning and am waiting to hear back from the education departments. I was on UGF's web site and saw something interesting. They offer a Master of Arts in Teaching degree that is completely online classes. The site says that it is for people who have a "teachable" undergraduate degree and desire to change careers to teaching. It is 42 hours of credits, but all of the classes are offered through the web so I could do all the work here at home while I am still working. It sounds very interesting but I am waiting on more info. Please keep praying that we would see where God is leading and that we would have the faith to follow.

Since turkey hunting fell through, I went fishing yesterday instead. I drove to Melrose, MT (about 100 miles...not very far by MT standards) and fished the Big Hole River. Whe I arrived, it was raining/snowing, the wind was blowing about 10-15 mph and it was about 38-40º. Yesterday was really my only day to go so I decided to stay and tuff it out. The weather stayed about the same for about 1 1/2 hours, then it was like God opened the shades of a small window in the sky and let the sun shine through. For the rest of the afternoon there was sunshine, 55º, and a slight breeze while in the mountains all around the valley it continued raining/snowing. It was pretty amazing. All of that by itself made the trip worth it...the fact that I caught four trout (2 browns, 2 rainbows) was just icing on the cake. What a great day!

Bummer...

2007-04-07T09:28:00.000-07:00

Well, I went to my interview At Carroll with the dean of the education department last Tuesday. Things didn't quite come out as I hoped. After comparing my transcripts and their requirements, she told me that I would have to take 77 credit hours to be able to get my certificate...wow! That would be like getting another degree. That kinda frustrated me a little bit. But I talked to some friends and they suggested that I contact a couple of other schools, University of Great Falls and Montana State-Billings, and see what they had to say. They told me that those schools would probably accept more of my previous credits and might knock the number of hours necessary down to a manageable number. So keep praying, I am going to try to contact them this coming week.

Other frustrating news...I planned on going turkey hunting on Monday with a friend and his son but none of the places we called worked out. Some of the landowners have really restricted access for hunting turkeys and some don't allow it at all. There is some public land near, but we're not sure we want to drive all the way over there (200 miles) to see if there are turkeys. We have one other possibility and my friend is working on that, but it doesn't look good for this weekend. I did hear that the Big Hole River is fishing really well right now so don't feel too bad for me... :)