To Blog or to Jog?

That is the question? Well for now I have decided to blog. I shall jog later. I promised a dear, faithful, fellow blogger that I would update my blog. Honestly I didnt realize that people really checked it. I was flattered. My blog is in desparate need of updating.. CIY was the bomb, however there has been life after CIY!

I started my new job in August. I Love it. I am so happy. I have been given the opportunity to work in this enviroment as an Administrative Assistant to get a feel for things, and decide for myself, if and when I would like to go in to production for myself. We'll I have decided it is time. I have gained so much confidence and learned so much in the past few months. I am so grateful. I love to help people and being able to help people with there finances is so rewarding. Through my times coordinating Dave Ramseys Financial Peace and now working so closley with the people I am now, I have realized this is what I need to be doing. I have never had a job that I love going to. I do now. I just want to read everything and apply what I learn to benefit my clients. It allows me to comnnect with people on both a professional and personal level. I feel so fulfulled. The greatest thing about this business is people. I love people. Truly I do. I am amazed at the people I am able to connect with. God definatly gave me the gift of gab! I have met some really great people and plan on meeting many more. Along with re-connecting with people that I have lost touch with along this road of life. I feel so lucky to be finally doing what I love.

Besides my work, I am trying to keep up with my ever changing family..... a College student ...a freshman in High School and a very busy 2nd grader and a husband anticipating a fast approaching Duck Season! Craziness that I wouldnt trade for the world! I love them all so much. They have all been very supportive of me and my job.

Latley I have been thinking about my friends. I have been thinking about how blessed I am with the many friends that I have. As I step back and really observe my friendships... I am in awe. I really am. I have so many friends. They are all so special to me. I have so many close friends. When I was younger I thought that everyone had a "best " friend, you know the kind of friend you can tell anything!! As I have grown and matured I have realized that all my friends are my "best" friends!! I have every kind of friend. A friend I can talk with my kids about, friends I can share my most intimate thoughts with, friends that I can cry with, friends that I can laugh with until my gut hurts, friends that show me my creative side, friends that encourage me and seem to know when I need it...sometimes b4 I realize it... and friends that really love me. But as I think of all these friendships, I realize that there is a common demoninater with them all... They all know Jesus and we all call Him friend. I love my friends so much and I am so thankful for them, each and every one of them. One of my dearest friends made me realize all of this lately. She came to me one day with welled up eyes and asked if we could talk. Long story short, she thanked me for my friendship. She felt that she had failed me as a friend yet I was still there for her. I was moved. I did'nt realize that I really am a good friend. She is too. She realizes that now. I felt so proud ... like God was proud ...of me.. and I didnt even realize I was doing something to be proud of... I just did it... because I am that way....now... God has changed me so much.. I am so happy to be a child of God and a Friend. Another dear friend just sent me an email on how important "girlfiends" are. How true. God is good.. all the time .

CIY

Im tired, my legs hurt, I'm sick of junk food, I almost lost my voice, and it is so hard to sleep on a bus.......... BUT............................. I AM SO IN LOVE WITH GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOW what a week ! every year it just gets better! So awesome to see these teens give their lives to God. I know it is hard for them to spend a week in such an awesome place and then come back into the world and live their changed life.. but they will do it. We had 5 kids make a decision to follow God. Please keep them in your prayers. Some of them are going against what they have been brought up to know and others.. well this is all totally new for them altogether. Others have decided to rededicate their life to him.. realizing this week that they have fallen away.

It is hard to describe the experience when you see the hearts of these kids open up to God and make a decision to follow Him. Some made them publically and some just showed up in my room and asked me to pray with them and made decisions right there. God is using me in ways I never would have dreamed.And I am loving it. If I can help these kids in any way at all.. I will.

It was so neat to see my own teenagers raise their hands to God in worship and thank him for what he is doing in our lives.

I'm glad to be home, back in my own bed sleeping a full 7-8 hrs ..... but I wouldnt trade this past week for anything and I'd do it again in a heartbeat! God is good... all the time . Thanks to everyone at MPCC that make this event possible for these kids.

Have a blessed day :)

The Power of Prayer

Thanks to all for praying for Alyssa. ( heart surgery ) . The latest update is that she is doing great. In fact better that great. The surgery went well, shorter than expected, she recovered so well in the ICU that she only spent one day there. In recovery, after she woke up, she was rolling over and doing somersalts! She is doing so well that they dont expect her to have to stay the 2 weeks in the hospital, she may get to come home today or tomarrow..... isnt this awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!! I talked to her daddy last night and I could feel the joy in his voice right through the phone line! Thank you so much for all your prayers. God is good.. all the time.. ! I will post more as I hear from them.

Update on heart surgery baby

Please keep this baby and Family in your prayers.. her surgery has been postponed . She was prep'd for surgery and they felt that she was too congested( from a previous cold/ ear infection.) The Dr.s felt it was too risky.. she could get pnemonia and be in the ICU for a month... so now the waiting game ...again. This is emotionally exhausting for this family. Pray for them to have strength, and patience through this. They are rescheduled for July 22. I will keep you updated.
Thank you for your prayers

Prayer request

A dear friend of mine needs our prayers. Her 11 month old baby girl ( one of her twin children) is undergoing open heart surgery Friday July 8th at Childrens Hospital in St. Louis. Please keep this family in your prayers. This is a very scary time for them. She will be in the hospital for at least two weeks after the surgery. This young Mom will also being staying in the hopital with her.. while missing her other three young children, as children are not allowed in this unit to visit. She will be able to see her other children from time to time as her husband is able to bring them St. Louis. This baby will be spending her 1st birthday in the hospital. Hopefully, recovering to full. This will be a difficult time for everyone. Dad will be Mom and Dad to the other children while Mom will be spending 2 weeks in a hospital while her little girl recovers. Please ask God to watch over this family during this time. Your prayers are appreciated.

Change

Change...

I love change... I always have. I love to change the furniture around, I love the season changes, I love the changes I see everyday in my kids, I love new things.. change is good, I think! at least for me. There are some changes I am not real good with though. But I am learning. I know that through all the changes in my life I learn something new ... always. Even when the changes include your children growing up and making adult decisions. It is all good.

Right now I am going through a change. A career change of sorts. A good one. I have been "out there" now for 2 years trying to decide what I want to be when I grow up!!! Being a Financial Consultant is something I Loved. I loved it when I was doing it... so I have always known I would be back.. I just wasnt sure where I would find my place in this arena. I knew it wasnt where I was at the time. God has helped me to see that. It is so amazing to me how things work out when you give them to God. God has been truly blessing me these past two years with many changes in my life and career. I have learned so much. When I left my job in Financial consulting... I thought.." is this a change for the good??" It definatly turned out to be . I have been blessed enormously. I have had time to really concentrate on God and what He really wants for me. During this time I have really connected with my kids and hubby, grown spiritually, started blogging!, started jogging, learned Pilates ,worked with some amazing people made new friends( I love meeting new people) on new jobs.. Friends that have had a huge positive influence on me . Friends that I cant imagine not having in my life. Friends I may not have made, had I not made the chages I did. For that I am so thankful. I have also had the opportunity to be involved with the youth that I love so much and been able to explore a new branch of the financial world through coordinating Dave Ramseys "Finacail Peace University " FPU (fah..poo.. as some people refer to it..hahah pammy!) where I have also made some great friends and been able to help so many people.

Now I am making another change.. I have been approached by an former business colleege and have been given the opportnity to get back into the business of Financial Consulting. I am very excited about this change. I know this person is an ethical person and cares about his clients.. I also know his clients respect him. This is how I want to do business.

So I start easing into this change in Mid August. The season of changes... Jenna's 18 th bday . She will be starting college, Keith will be starting High School ( Freshman) Becca will be starting trouble.... Just kidding.. she is eager to be starting 2nd grade! Lots of changes.. they are inevitable. I love Changes. Life is good. God is good...all the time !

Have a blessed day !

I came back!

Boy am I glad I am not at camp this week!!!!!!!wheww! what a hot one. My son Keith, however is at camp. I hope he hasnt melted yet. It is niners week. I hope that it has as much of an impact on him as I have heard it will. He is a great kid....just a teenage boy! His heart is always in the right place, he unfortunalty dosent always listen to it. I miss him terrible aleady and it is only Tuesday.

Our week at camp was fantastic! I shared an awesome week with some of our 7th and 8th graders from MPCC and met some really great kids from the area. I had the great privlege of meeting working and worshiping with several kids( college age ) from Saint Louis Christian College. I also made a great connection with the camp Nurse, Sara. Sara joined the SLCC team every evening to lead in Worship.. She has such a heart for worship, she was amazing.

The weather for our week of camp was perfect... no rain... cool evenings.. hot afternoons.

I would wake up in the mornings and go to my lawn chair located outside my cabin where there would be waiting for me, a hot cup of coffee in the cup holder of my lawn chair.Compliments of LT. Dan! There I would do my devotional b4 the kids got up and review my lesson. beautiful relaxing mornings.. I miss them.

I reconnected with a lot of old friends and I made lots of new friends that week. I love meeting new people. especially kids. Logan Peters (MPCC), Joey (from SLCC ) and I all lead the same team (family ) for the week. We had such a great team. Not one of them were from MPCC so it was fun getting to know all new kids. Logan could connect with the kids on a different level than I could, which really worked out great for us.. he was able to help the kids communicate to everyone in our group. We became really close by the end of the week. Joey was great. He does an awesome Napolin Dynomite impersonation!

Some of the kids and I have kept in touch, thet has been very rewarding for me.

Next Month I am off to CIY.... I am pumped about that! CIY is the bomb! It is the best vacation I have ever had! This year is a big treat for me. I get to be there with both of my "big kids" (as I call them) This is Keiths 1st year and Jennas last year. (thankfully its not my last year!!) We are going to have such an awesome time. I cant wait. It is so neat to go to this conference and not only watch the kids grow and change but to feel the change and growth within yourself. I am so thnakful that I became a Christian right along side of my teenagers! they are so fun to grow with and I have learned so much from them and all the kids I have been around int he past 5 years. It is so rearding to me. I see why youth Ministers have so much fun!

At home we have started the garden harvesting!!! Beans, Broccoli, Brusell sprouts , Zucchini and onions... WOW not to mention earlier.. the asparagus. I love it! last night we picked enough beans to fill the 5 gallon bucket and Becca picked enough onions to... well plenty! I will start canning beans on Wed so I dont starve thru the winter haha.

Fam fest has been great ! Kudos to Kim and Lindi what a great idea .. sharing vacation bible school as a family .. it has been fun.. even Rob joined in the fun . That makes Becca happy.. she is very proud to show off her daddy!

Well enough blogging for now.. I am enjoying this and I love to hear from all of you. It is a very cool way to stay connected.

God Bless

Tina

The water is great

Well, I am jumping in! My friend Deby has talked me into this blogging thingy! She tells me the water is great. So here I am. Hopefully this will be theraputic, yet not too addicting !

It is Wenesday and we leave for camp on Sunday.... nothing is packed and my lesson has only been looked at a few times.... I have been prayng that God will enlighten me soon, since I am somewhat creating my own lesssons on Praying. This is an area where I could use some dicipline so I am very exited about teaching on it. I sure that was already God's plan!
I am looking forward to spending time with the Jr high Kids. They are alot of fun. It will be good to be away from the everyday work stuff and just concentrate on God. I really need this week.

2 Weddings to go to on Sat b4 we leave for Camp on Sunday and hopefully I can squeeze in some time to go fishing with my hubby b4 I leave for a week. WE love to go fishing. He always takes me to the most beautiful places...It is so relaxing.

Thanks to God for blessing us with such a beautiful weekend for all Jenna's Graduation festivities! Friday eve was beautiful for Graduation and Sunday was gorgeous for celebrating in our back yard with friends and family. It was so nice to see and visit with so many people.

Well, Deby, your right, the water is just fine. Thanks !

I could get used to this!!!

Have a blessed day everyone!