Our 20th Anniversary!

When I began this Blog, I didn't intend it to be a journal of my life.  My daughter had told me that is what a Blog is supposed to be, basically, a "log" of things happening.  I enjoy reading other people's Blogs of all the interesting things they are doing around the world.  It just doesn't seem that my life is all that interesting compared to those living in the jungle, so I planned to write stories and just try out blogging to see how it went.  Well, lately, our lives and my Blog have been full of events, birthdays and other happenings.  I guess my Blog will change along with our life.  I will create original stories one day, then stories of my life another.  I am excited to be able to share what I am learning and what God teaches me in my life.  Well...I don't really have a story today, but I do have a special event.  It is my husband and my 20th Anniversary!  We have been married for 20 years...I can't believe it!  I just realized, which makes me feel a tad old...that I have been married for half my life!

Now that I am older and wiser, I guess I will pass along a little of what I have learned through the years.  To you who are not yet married, pray for your future spouse.  Don't just plead with God to give you a "good man" - pray for the attributes you want in a husband.  Pray for that man and the family he grows up with.  My husband and I pray for our two girls' future husbands.  We have prayed for their husbands from the time they were born - actually, before they were born!  This is such an important thing in life.  You want God to match you with who He has for you.  God knows exactly who you are and who you need in your life because He knows what your journey holds.  

I thank God for Dennis.  He is exactly what I need in my life.  We love to head to the beach together in the summer months to just sit and enjoy the water, boats and a cold Coke while reading a book or listening to our iPods.  He is kind, loving, handsome and makes me a better person.  That is what you want in a mate.  Someone who loves you as you are, but encourages you to be a better you.  Someone who enjoys spending time with you even if you are just sitting on the beach reading different books together.  Dennis is quite different than me...I tend to look at the negative things in life - he always sees the positive.  I am just a bit impatient when driving (my kids have exaggerated before and have called it road rage).  Dennis slams on the brakes, smiles at the other driver who almost sent us into the ditch and keeps singing the song on the radio!  I sometimes tend to complain about people or events that happen in my daily life. Dennis just nods and never has anything negative to say.  He has taught me how to be more like Christ.  Love others even when it is tough, don't talk down on anyone and always put God first, family second and life will be blessed.  Now, I didn't say you would have a perfect life or be rich, but God can bless you even through difficult times.  He can bless you with peace, joy and a knowledge that you are doing what God wants you to do.

Pray that God will lead you and your husband in what God has planned for your life.  The world tells us to get a career, stay with it and retire with a good income.  God says, "follow me".  I am not saying that if you have a career or retire from the same position after 40 years, that you were not following God.  I am just encouraging you to ask!  Pray first about what God has for your life.  Sometimes, we plan our lives and don't even bother to ask God what He has planned for us.  If we leave God out of the plan, we will miss many of His blessings.  God has lead Dennis and I many places and a few times we have had to move to a new city.  The amazing thing is this:  we would both know what our next step was and have a peace about it before moving ahead. God told Dennis and I both when we were to be done living in one city and when to begin to pack for the next.  We have lived on faith at times, packing before God shows us where we were going!  

I remember one such time in our lives...it happened during church camp up in northern Michigan.  Dennis was praying for the service in a back room with another Pastor while I was sitting out in the service alone.  I was enjoying worship time, but as I sang, I felt a stirring in my soul.  I can't explain it really, but I knew we would be done as Pastor and wife at our church soon.  I was singing a song but feeling nervous about leaving a wonderful church family who had become our family in the six years we were there.  I was questioning God on  how we could leave and begin again in a new place with two young girls.  As I sat down, a man directly in front of me had a t shirt on with a saying on the back.  I read his shirt, "Celebrate new beginnings".  I knew God was speaking to me and I knew that shirt had just answered my question.  No one had spoken to me, no big lightning bolts, but God had spoken through the silence and I knew we would be moving.  As Dennis came out of the building, I was waiting for him.  It was a beautiful sunny day and I remember the Chapel behind Dennis and his slow gait across the grass. We looked at each other and I knew - he knew.  I just said, "we're done here, aren't we?"  He hugged me and said, "yes".  He had been praying in the back room and felt God speak to him about us leaving our home to begin someplace else - he was trying to figure out how he would tell me when the service was over!  

This seems to be our life!! God has lead us to five different cities with our two girls.  Some people did not understand how we could pick up and move so easily to new cities while our girls were still in school.  What they didn't know was that it was not easy, but very difficult to leave a comfortable place to go into the unknown, but we also had a peace that we were doing what God wanted and an excitement to see what God had planned for us next.  What our girls learned, other than how to be a "new kid" at school, is how to follow God.  Though it was heartbreaking to watch my two little girls say goodbye to friends, I have a full heart knowing my girls know how to listen first to what God has planned for them before they step out on their own.  If they listen to God first, they will not miss the blessings God has for their life...even in the tough times.

I have learned that my husband is my best friend.  I can talk to him about anything - even when I am complaining!  One thing I love most about being married to Dennis is dreaming with him about our future.  After that day at camp, when we felt our life was changing, we began to pray and seek out what was next.  We felt that God wanted us to begin a new church and we had even gotten direction from our church district of where we could begin this new adventure.  Dennis and I went out for dinner on a "dream date" as we call it.  We threw out ideas of what we could do, how to begin a new church, what we wanted a new church to look like, what we would want presented to those who never went to a church and how we would take this next step together.

We have taken many new steps in the world together and I have loved sharing this adventure called life with Dennis.  We plan to continue to seek God in our next steps. God has shown us how much He can change our lives even while staying in one city!  Dennis has begun writing a book that should be done this summer and I have begun a new adventure speaking out for women who are at risk of being forced into a life of sexual exploitation around the world.  I can tell you...both of us never knew we would be doing these two things in our lifetime! God has so many surprises and adventures for us...and for you...if you just ask Him first what His plan is for your life.

Happy Anniversary Dennis! I love you and I am so glad we can continue to dream together...and see what the next adventure is around the corner...hopefully it includes the beach! See you tonight on our "dream date".

Her 15th Birthday

It's her 15th birthday today! How can this be? My little toddler dragging around her two, yes two, blankets wherever she goes to hanging out at the mall with her friends.  Soon she will be driving - she has already been asking to practice in an empty lot, which we have been able to put off till now.  But, we all know she will learn to drive, learn to fly...learn to be who God has created her to be.

That is the one thing I pray she will hold onto as tightly as she held onto those two blankets when she was a toddler.  That God has created her to be something amazing.  It says in Psalm 139:13, "For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb".  Yes, she was created when she was still inside of me.  God knit her together to be who she is supposed to be.  God created her for a certain purpose.  We see glimpses of it, but I am excited as the years pass to see how it will all be put together for God's purpose.  I see a happy teen, a fun girl who likes to laugh with her friends.  I see someone who is intelligent and witty.  One thing I love about Morgan is that she can talk to anyone - she can sit with a toddler and play with a bear, or sit with an elderly person and ask about their day.  She sat with a Pastor who was visiting from Africa and before we knew it, they were teasing each other about her dislike of plane rides.  She has such an easy spirit about her and she can get along with almost anyone around.

I know that God is already using Morgan's life to touch those around her. God created Morgan with a plan, and that plan  includes a time in her life as a 15 year old teen.  God doesn't wait to use us when we graduate, or when we get a career...or when we finally "reach our dream".  God is so much greater than we can see or understand.  He is using a young teenage girl to be a friend, to cheer up her mom with a hug when she has a bad day, to hang out with her dad on the tennis courts and be a sister to be silly with.  God has used her in school with not only her classmates, but to effect the lives of her teachers and those around her. She is a kind and faithful friend who creates laughter almost anyplace she goes.  God is not waiting for her to grow up in order to show her the "reason" she was created...she was created for now.  For her 15th Birthday - to go have dinner and share a DQ ice cream cake with her family.  

I am so glad God created Morgan.  I am glad that I am able to be a part of this plan for her life.  She will be 16 before we know it and driving her friends to the mall, but for now...Happy 15th Birthday Morgan!  I know God's purpose for your life has already begun and I am excited to see what's next.  Thanks for letting us be a part of it all.

Last Day of High School

It's her last day of high school.  I can't believe how fast the time has flown by.  When my daughters were young and I was chasing them around, I remember the older women in our church would say with a sad, far-away look in their eyes, "I know it is hard, but enjoy them now because it goes by fast and then they are gone".  Back then, I didn't think it would ever arrive.  Who knew that the tiara and flowing princess dress would turn into a flat, square cap and matching gown?  

Watching my little 3 year old who sang her words and talked to anyone who walked by turn into a young lady who speaks with respect and smiles at those around.  My 6 year old teetering on a skateboard and roller blades has turned into a 16 year old driving an old red mustang with broken windshield wipers. My 10 year old girl who thought she knew everything changes and knows she is just learning what she will need to know.  My 12 year old who wanted to try everything new is now beginning to step out to do just that.  My 15 year old who wanted to learn to drive a car so bad is now going to drive that car down to a University in Indiana very soon.

My daughter is sad to end one chapter in her life, but she has read enough books to know there is another chapter beginning as she turns the page.  This chapter has taught her how to have wisdom in tough situations, how to depend on God when there seems to be no one else to depend on, how to be a leader when you don't plan to lead and how to enjoy life in the midst of crazy, busy days!

I am so proud of my daughter as she steps out of her high school for the last time.  She has shown me that within the halls of life, she has chosen to look to God as her teacher.  Today, she will walk out the doors of this red and white world and open the door to an amazing world of color!  God, as her teacher, will be by her side as she walks down the sidewalk and into another life.  She will not have to begin the next chapter alone.  She is praying, as I and her dad are, for God to lead her in her next steps.  I know that God will show her what that is!

Congratulations Mackenzie! We love you and are very Proud of you...

My Big Brother

To be honest with you, I have a terrible memory.  I may have already told you that in one of my previous blogs, but I don't remember if I did or not!  Sometimes I feel bad that I can't remember things from my past.  I have some friends who speak about their childhood and high school years as if it was yesterday - believe me, it wasn't.  I only have small snapshots of my past. I am not sure why my brain works like that.  I had a happy and safe childhood, I just don't seem to have it on a film running through my brain...just small glimpses into the past.

Some of the things I remember are things I did with  my brother...like having a water gun battle in the basement, then getting in trouble together. The next thing I remember is wiping the dripping water off the walls with towels, towels and more towels!  We cheered for each other as we took turns water skiing up north at our grandparents' cottage...we tried skiing together on two ropes a few times, but he kept spraying me with his slalom ski as he went back and forth, so I think I was the one to stop that "fun" idea.  We found a turtle while canoeing and took it back to Grandpa's garage to paint our names on the top before paddling back into the lily pads to send him home.

One time, we set up a huge neighborhood production of "Star Wars" in our back yard with the neighbor kids.  We built a large space ship out of a box and acted out what we thought was the movie.  I was so excited to be Princess Leia and my friend, who was a boy, was Luke Skywalker. My excitement faded when the older kids, including my brother, said we HAD to kiss to make the play complete. So that is when I got my first, very fastest kiss - YUCK!

My brother used to play little league baseball, so I would tag along with my parents to watch all his games.  I thought it was great since I would be able to get candy and a "graveyard" from the concession stand to keep me entertained during the game.  Many of you may not know this delicious drink I speak of, but back in the day, they only had a few choices of fountain pop.  We would get them ALL in one cup together - Coke, Sprite, Orange, and Root Beer! We thought we were the coolest. 

It's funny the things you remember about the past. The small snapshots I remember are also filled with emotions.  If I had to figure out an emotion that I felt when I was with my brother it is: safe.  I knew my brother would take care of me.  I was excited to follow him wherever he went when I was little or have him drive me places when we became teens.   I always felt safe by his side because he was my big brother.

As we grow older, and my brother has another birthday, I look back and thank God for giving me a brother to grow up with.  My oldest daughter is going away to college this fall, but you know what I realized?  She will be living in the same town as my big brother.  As I say goodbye to my little girl, I look back and see myself as a little girl again...I see my brother by my side and I know she will be fine.  My brother and his amazing wife will provide a safe place for her when she needs it.  They will be there when I am too far away to give her a hug.  You see...when you can't remember the memories of the past, you are always able to create new ones!  My daughter will now have new memories of spending a few weekend nights around my brother's bonfire, sharing a Coke or a "graveyard" and a few silly stories of kids playing "Star Wars" and having water gun battles in a basement. 

Happy Birthday Big Brother! Thanks for growing up by my side...take care of my little girl for me.

God, where's my map?

So, Have you ever thought you had things all figured out? Have you finally found the perfect job or the "just right" outfit and you felt as if all in the world is just as it should be?  Did you feel as if you have finally arrived at the destination that was planned for you? Not many of us have gotten to this point in our lives, but let me tell you a secret...if you get there, it will change...It is funny how life changes. Sometimes, it changes throughout a few years, and other times it changes in a moment.


God seems to use these changes in life to mold us into who we need to be.   One of my favorite books is "Hinds Feet on High Places".  The main character in the book is seeking out the place where she can live in peace and harmony with God.  She climbs a mountain, then...she realizes the trail she is on has switched it's course and she is heading toward the valley down below.  She is so confused as to why God would lead her on a path heading the "wrong way".  Later, through all of the twists and turns in her journey, she realizes that the very roadblocks that she thought was detrimental to her final destination...was actually the real journey that God had planned for her.  This journey of pain, sorrow, hardships, joy, happiness and accomplishments was exactly the road she had to take in order for her to become who she was ultimately created to be.  Without these life events, she would never become who she was meant to be...she would never reach her final destination if she did not follow the right path to get there.


Lately, I felt as if I was the character in this book.  I thought I had things all figured out! I knew the path I was on. I could see the place ahead that I knew God had finally brought me to. Then, all of a sudden, I looked up and the road took another turn!  What happened to the road I saw coming up next?  What happened to the future I knew God was showing me?  I was so confused as to how this could happen when I was sure I knew exactly what was on the map!  I had prayed, searched, and finally found my place - so I thought.  I was real comfortable with where I was headed, then all of a sudden...I lost the map!


Sometimes in life, our map is taken from us.  God is waiting for us to rely on Him for our next step, our next adventure.  How do we learn to have faith if we already see the finish line?  How do we trust God when we already know what is ahead?  That is where God and I differ.  You see, I think it would save us a lot of time and whining (okay, the whining is all me) if God would just hand me the map of my life and I could see where this next road is going.  I like to know where I am going.  I don't like to take a trip without having some kind of plan as to what we will be doing or where we will be going.  I don't even like taking a walk unless I have some kind of destination! (preferably an ice cream establishment)  I question God at times as to why He doesn't just let me know ahead of time which way I will be turning...at least I could turn on a blinker or some sort of warning for those who have to travel with me - like my husband and kids!  The problem is, if I have a map, I will no longer be looking at God.  I will be looking down at all the turns that are coming, stressing if I will make it through the roadblocks and construction coming in my life.  I know I would be taking more classes on how to maneuver through mountainous roads than I would about the Bible - which is supposed to be our real road map for life.  God gave us the Bible so we can hear His voice when we can't hear His voice.  The Bible has so many stories of people who had roadblocks in their life.  It shows how they survived, how they trusted God and changed other people's lives by looking to God instead of a map.


One story in the Bible that I love is about a man named Daniel.  He continued to pray to God even when a law was passed that you could not pray to anyone except the king.  So, he was set up by a few jealous co-workers and he was arrested.  His punishment was to be thrown into a den of hungry lions and be eaten alive.  I am sure at this moment, as they were walking toward the growling lions, that Daniel wondered why God did not warn him about this. Well, if I was Daniel, I would be asking where this turn was located on the map.  Why end a perfectly good journey with a dead end?  It just doesn't seem like good timing to be eaten alive by lions...but, is there ever a good time for that?


If you read the story, you will find out that Daniel was not eaten that night.  He lounged the whole night with drooling wide- eyed cats, but they never ate him.  They didn't even lay a paw on him.  When the king's posse came the next morning, they found Daniel sitting with the lions perfectly uneaten.  I'll bet the king who had sent him to the lions did not see this on the map!  The king made a new law when he saw how amazing Daniel's God was - how He had protected Daniel from the lions of death.  The new law stated that everyone would now be free to worship Daniel's God!  This dead end on Daniel's map changed a nation!


In the New Living Translation, Proverbs 20:24 is translated as,  "The Lord directs our steps, so why try to understand everything along the way?"  This is something I need to remember...if I ask God to be the map maker of my life, then I need to let Him direct my steps even if I don't understand where I am going or why I am heading there.  

If you plan your life out, draw your own map and start heading down the path...you will be missing out on what God has for you.  You will miss out on becoming who God created you to be.  You may arrive at the destination you were seeking when creating your personal map, but you will not arrive in peace.  You will always be missing something along the way...something that you just can't figure out.  You may even take a few pit stops to try to fill your life with something you think will patch the pot hole that is there.  I want you to know, even if you arrive at the "right" destination in your life, you will not arrive as the right person unless you take the road God has for you.  The reason God has twists, turns, mountains and valleys mapped out in your journey is for you to transform into the perfect you.  He wants you to be the best you can be...the most amazing person that He envisioned you to be when you were created.  We all have a map.  God has the steps for us to take, we just have to allow Him to direct us as we travel.


So, forget your map and GPS, look to God instead.  Trust His plan for your life and enjoy the travels! He has many adventures planned and you may be surprised at who you will become as you continue your journey following God's map - even if you can't see it! 




Pack your bags...your going on a Road Trip!