Iron Men

 

Today was our the first Iron Men meeting for our teen boys. 

 In Iron Men, the teen boys come and learn the Biblical definition of a man, what God expects out of each man and how to become that man by following God's Word.  Pastor Mason woke up with the flu this morning so Pastor Chep filled in for him.  Pastor Chep started with a lesson about God and used electricity as an example.  Electricity has boundaries and circuits it has to follow just as a man of God has boundaries and a certain path to follow.  If the boundaries and circuits are not followed in electricity, things will not work or an electrical fire can occur which causes damage and destruction.

  In parallel, when we don't follow God's boundaries and paths the same thing happens, sin causes damage and destruction to our lives.

 

 

 

Pastor Chep then taught the boys basics in electrical work.  They changed out the old light fixtures in the bathrooms and also several light switches and plugs that needed replaced.  The boys loved working on the electrical and gaining new skills.  Several of our boys do not have fathers and said they are so glad that they are being taught things like this that they don't have the chance to learn at home.  Of course I couldn't send them home without feeding them something so after all their hard work I made them a special chocolate marshmallow cake with mint icing. 

 

In the coming months the boys will continue to learn Biblical lessons on becoming a man of God and also learning plumbing, wilderness survival skills, woodworking, mechanics and much more!  We are praying that through this we will see the teens really get a hunger for God and His Word and see them standing out as a man that wants to follow God instead of the world.

 

Waiting for the One

 

 

Another Friday Teen Night and Pastor Mason

doing an amazing job with the teens........

 

Another night of food and fun, laughter and of course

 the subject always comes up......

 

 

Pastor Mason, I can't believe you have never been on a date............

 

 

..........And have never kissed a girl. 

 

 

Don't you want a girlfriend?

 

 

Pastor Mason's answer is the same every time. 

Of course I want a girlfriend, of course I want to get married but I'm waiting.....

 

 

What are you waiting for Pastor Mason?

 

 

It's not what am I waiting for, but it's who am I waiting on.

I'm waiting on God.  You see God has the perfect one for me, the one who will complete me in every way.  The one who will be my helpmeet in life, in the ministry and in every other way.  The one I will love and who will love me without conditions.  I have been praying for her for many, many years

and I know, when it's time, God will bring her into my life. 

 

 

Pastor Mason......you're never going to find her if you don't go looking.

 

 

If I go looking I will never find her for you see she is not mine to find and take. She is God's and He must give her to me.

 

 

 

He and He alone knows the one I'm waiting for

and if I go looking then I am not waiting for the one from God.

 But Pastor Mason how will you know when God gives you the one?

 

Because I am trusting God and waiting on God, 

He will tell me when He brings me the one. 

 

But until God does..........I will keep waiting for the one.



A Different Kind of Devotion

 

We had a wonderful group of ladies for this months Ladies G.A.B. Night!  This month I had my devotion ready a month in advance but as the month moved on God changed my thoughts on what to bring the ladies so I wrote another devotion and then last week I wrote another devotion and then yesterday I felt God did not want me to give any of the devotions I had written.  I prayed and prayed and asked God what he wanted me to do and He showed me something totally different than I usually do.  One thing I have been running into on the internet and even talking to people is that there is coming a belief that if you think something but as long as you don't follow through and act on that thought, it is not a sin.  I presented this thought to the ladies and asked what they thought about it and told them they needed Bible verses to back up and show what they believed and why.  It turned into a fantastic discussion with many, many Bible verses and stories being used to show that our thoughts can be and are sinful even without acting on those thoughts, and that we need to bring every thought under the captivity of Christ and into obedience to him.  The ladies loved digging deep into their Bibles and being challenged to show out of scripture what they believe. 

This may be a different kind of devotion I use in the future!

 

Of course we had so much fun and laughter as we ate and talked.  Of course Little Miss got passed around and she loved every bit of attention!

 

For our craft we worked on some new decorations for Valentines Day. 

Our main goal was to get a couple of wreaths and wall hangings done. 

We did not get the wreaths finished so it will be a project for later.

 

 

For the wall hangings, we cut foam board into the sizes we wanted and covered them with a red fabric.  Nothing with too much design or too girly of colors as these will be hung on the sides of the sanctuary. 

 

I still need to finish putting raffia on the boards so we can hang them but they turned out really cute for being such an easy and simple craft!

 

I just Love our Ladies G.A.B. Nights!

Photo Day 2015

Church today was simply amazing and one reason was that the spirit was so sweet.  The last year has been rough and we have had gossiping and discontentment among some of our people.  Over the last six months we have lost six families and although it is always hard to lose families, along with these families all the gossip and discontentment left too.  Thus leaving behind a sweet spirit with a body of believers who love the Lord and love each other too!  We have also had new visitors every week for the last couple of weeks along with returning visitors from the weeks before.  Of course the preaching has been convicting, encouraging and thought provoking too! 

 

After the morning services we had planned to have an afternoon of food, fun and photos.  It was wonderful to spend time with our church family.

 

 

First we had a table spread with all kinds of fruit to snack on while everyone waited for their time with the photographer. 

 

 

Everyone brought in old family photos of themselves and we

had so much fun looking at the pictures and trying to figure out which

 church member was in each photo.

 

 

Everyone guessed who they thought it was and the one who guessed the most right, will get a prize after tonight's services.

 

 

We are so blessed to have a couple of ladies in our church who take professional style photos and they did an amazing job!  It took several hours but they were able to get smiles out of everyone!

 

 

I am so excited that they used a green screen and will be able

 to fit each picture with it's own background.  I know the pictures are

going to look gorgeous!  It was a wonderful day in God's house and although I am extremely tired I am looking forward to services tonight! There is no better place to be than in God's house with a church family you love!



Our First Titus Girl Meeting

We had such a blast at the first Titus Girls meeting!  We started with a devotion on the Bibles definition of a woman and how the world has distorted this.  We went through the Titus woman and some of the things they would be learning this year in Titus girls.  We really had a great discussion.

 

 

 

For lunch we made Cheesy garlic pull apart bread, and Italian tortellini

and also Italian chocolate cake for dessert. The girls loved cooking and learned a few new things and of course we cleaned the kitchen

as we cooked, and it was totally clean when we finished. 

 

For our sewing project we learned how to sew buttons on. 

This is a simple task but so useful to know!  A couple of the girls had never sewed a button on before and it was so delightful to watch their faces light up as they finished the project and shouted, "I did it!".

 

 

Since we were using buttons I decided to show the girls

how to make button bracelets.  They loved it rummaging through my collection of buttons and finding the prettiest ones and they

loved turning those buttons into a bracelet! 

 

After three hours of learning and crafting the girls did not want to go!  They are already looking forward to next months meeting and as they were leaving said they hoped they had as much fun next month as they did today!

 

 

After the Titus Girls I had a couple of hours of office work to do

and then Chand and Saraina brought Little Man over for us to watch for a few hours.  As I sat and played blocks with him I was taken back to 20 years ago when his daddy was this age because Little Man is the mirror image

of his daddy!  Sitting and playing with this wonderful little one was

 a great way to end a great day!

 



Titus Girls

God has been working on my heart for the past couple of years about starting a Bible Study and teaching time for girls.  To teach them

what the Bible says about becoming a young woman after God's heart and a time of teaching the girls basic cooking, cleaning, and sewing skills along with manners and modesty.  Sadly, it seems that the of girls today are not being raised knowing the basic skills needed to run a household and to love and take care of their husbands and children.  I remember my mother diligently teaching me manners and courtesy to others but it seems today that many girls are loud, rude, and disrespectful.  The girls of today need someone to take time to love them and show them what a true woman of God looks like, both on the inside and the outside.  As I have been praying about this, one of my friends started a group like this in her church and God spoke

 to my heart again, telling me He wanted me to do this.

 

I chose to name our group Titus Girls after the verses in Titus 2:3-5

 

The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things;   That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children,  To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.

 

We will meet once a month and each month I plan on asking a lady in the church to host our little group meeting where the Titus Woman will share her testimony and a devotion.  We will then help the girls cook a meal, do a craft or sewing project, learn tips on cleaning and work on our manners.

 

I plan on using the Christian Lady's Handbook as we study and find out -

 

"Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies." 

 

I received this book several years ago and although it is a small book,

 it really hits some good points.  It tells how there has been a decline in the last several generations of manners and politeness in Christians and non Christians alike and the reasons why.  It then teaches many manners that a Christian Woman should be exhibiting in her life.  I am praying that through this the women will grow closer to our girls and start to influence the girls more and that the girls will find godly role models and learn valuable skills that will help them as they grow into the godly women.

 

Our first Titus Girls meeting is on Saturday

and I am so excited as we start this time with the girls! 



O Taste and See

 

I was able to finish the banner for church today! 

My sweet husband helped me hang it up and said how he thought it turned out so well.  I think it could have been much better but not bad

for only having a couple of days to make it!

 

Today as we were cleaning I heard my husband singing "Wiggle Worm" today as he was cleaning the younger kids Sunday School room.  He loves to sing as we clean the church and I think it's so funny that he sings songs

that fit the age group of the classroom he's cleaning.

 

One thing I am always scrubbing on is the church drinking fountain.  Last year I spent several hours scrubbing all the hard water off of it but when someone took over the cleaning the church I didn't think of the fountain again. 

When we started cleaning the church again a few months ago I noticed that the hard water had returned.  I have scrubbed and scrubbed

but the hard water just has not wanted to come off!

 

 

When I was at the Dollar Tree this week I saw they had LA Totally Awesome for Rust, Lime and Calcuim.  I love LA Totally Aweome!  For a cheap dollar store cleaner this stuff is amazing!  When my brothers cat walked

 through the used car oil that was sitting in his garage and then came in the house (Unbeknownest to him!) and walked all over the white carpet

and white couch, he was so upset!  He tried everything to get it out but nothing worked until he used the regular LA Totally Awesome cleaner

and all the oil prints came right out of the carpet!  I sprayed this on the fountain and scrubbed it with a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser and all the hard water came off within a few minutes!  Going to keep a bottle of this

in the cleaning closet at all times from now on.! 

 

My husband and I went shopping today as I needed a few things

 for my secret sister gift tomorrow and while we were out I saw a package of mushrooms.  Since I pinned a recipe on Pinterest for Glazed Garlic Mushrooms I decided to buy them and make them tonight. 

They were good but just not as buttery and garlicy as I was thinking they were going to be.  Not sure if it's one I'll make again.

 

I can not believe it's Sunday again tomorrow!  Looking forward to another great day of worshipping God with our church family!

 

 

A Little Frustrated

 

My husband has asked me to make church banners many times before but when he asked me to make this one I had a different idea of how I wanted to do it.  I spent all day struggling with every aspect of this banner today.  It just did not seem like anything I did was working.  I was feeling so frustrated so I went outside and walked around in the snow and prayed.  Praying for God to help me and show me how to get this banner done by tomorrow without having to start all over.   Although it was cold out my frustrations quickly left and I felt much calmer after praying and when I went back to task a little later I knew I had to start over as my idea just was not working out.

 

 

Knowing I had to trace and cut all the letters out again I took a break and made some cornbread for Teen Night.  I found a Sweet Cornbread recipe on Pinterest and tried it.  It was okay but too cakey and not cornbreadish enough for my taste.  (See the little corner I tried!)  It was a hit with the teens and that's all that matters though. 

 

Earlier this morning I started a huge pot of Ham hocks and beans. 

Even though most of the teens had seconds I still have a lot left! 

Looks like leftovers for dinner tomorrow!

 

During Teen Night my sweet, sweet Daughter-in-Love sat and recut all the letters for the banner for me.  I just love her to death as she sat down and got right to cutting and didn't stop until she was done.  God has blessed me with such a wonderful, helpful woman!  Tomorrow I will arrange the letters and iron them on the banner.  Looking forward to getting it done and put up!

 

Caesar and Mark Anthony entertained Keith during Teen Night as he crawled all over them much to their annoyance!  They are so patient with him!

 

Again I was able to accomplish my goals for the day but I feeling so tired!

Time for a good nights sleep!

A New Year and New Goals

We rang the New Year in my favorite way last night, spending it with our church family.  We sang, gave praises,shared testimonies, played Bible Jeopardy and of course ate!  At midnight we prayed in the New Year and asking God to help us to grow as individuals and a church body.

 

 

A little before ten, Little Man crawled up behind me and hugged me

 as he fell asleep.  You can't get much better than that!

 

I did well in my goals last year.  I handed out a tract 364 days last year because I forgot one day!  I learned so much about me and others as I daily went out to find someone to hand a tract to and try to share the gospel with.  (I'll share more in another post.)  I looked at my goals from last year and after praying about it, I changed a few things and kept other things.  I am excited for my new goals and started out today with accomplishing all my daily goals!

 

This year I am keeping my Bible schedule the same, studying and praying three times a day as Daniel did, also memorizing a verse a day. 

I had such a sweet fellowship with God this morning!  I am working on loving my husband better and giving him sweet reminders of my love daily, whether it is a small gift, a text message or a love note.   I started a no sugar, no chips. no pop, fast food, or other junk food diet.  I actually started this three weeks ago and have already lost 13 pounds!  Along with my diet I plan on reaching all my goals for my Fitbit everyday this year.  I also have a few other goals like working at the church daily, picking up or deep cleaning her or there, working on the church and parsonage lawn more

and also getting back into blogging a few times a week!

 

 

 I also am going to work on all the unfinished crafts I have in my closet.  A lady in our church bought this specialized yarn for me a couple of years ago and asked me to crochet her a couple of necklaces out of it.  I started working on it today and should finish the first one tomorrow.

 

My husband told me last week he wanted a banner made representing the theme God has given him for our church this year.  He wanted to pick out the fabric but didn't get a chance to go to the store until yesterday to get it.  So today we spent many hours cutting out letters for the banner.

 

My husband is so sweet and sat and cut letters out

as he watched the Bowl games today. 

 

 

Tomorrow I will work on getting the letters on the banner and getting the banner edged.  Can you guess what verse we will be using on the banner?

 

Since I can no longer eat junk food or fast food I am going to try

to do better with dinner.  I am also a Pinterest addict so instead of just spending time pinning all these wonderful recipes,

one of my goals is to actually start making some!

 

 

Tonight I made Garlic Brown Sugar Chicken. Soooooo Yummy!

 

Like I said I really excited about my goals this year and looking forward to what 2015 brings to our church and family!