What been Going on Lately?

Ok so I haven't been blogging to much lately but we have been busy.  So what have I been up to lately?  We had our final gathering with the Pure in Heart Study (a mother/daughter bible study on purity) Here are some of the girls at our ending ceremony: This is me and KJ as I am presenting her with her new True Love Waits Ring:

For Spring Break we took a road trip to Ohio and New York and then back home. While in Ohio we celebrated my Grandma's 68th Birthday:

And I got to see and visit with some fabulous people:

My Friend Barb and I, Some of my former youth Girls (boy do they grow up fast!) Me with Niki & Tiffany, Me With Sophie Rose

Me & Brigette   KJ with her Best Buddy and Cousin Quention

We took a few days and headed to New York to see Scarlett The Hubby's oldest Daughter and her new Baby M

The Hubby with Baby M (Can you see how excited he is to be a Grandpa) Baby M, Me with Baby M!  He was so sweet and such a Beautiful baby.  The new momma is doing well and has really taken to motherhood, we are so proud.  After pulling sweet baby M from my arms we headed back to Ohio and stopped at Niagara Falls, NY MR C and I have been there before actually just before we moved to Kansas with our Youth Group back in Ohio.  Anyway it is still Beautiful no matter what the season.  My only disapointment was that we weren't able to get up real close to the falls like we were when we went in the Summer.  Here are some pictures of our time there!

The End! 

Have a Beautiful Day!

Christina

Weathering the Storms of life

“The life of a Christian is this: we are either entering into a storm, going through a storm, or coming out of one. Our lives consist of one storm after another. Life is an extended storm interrupted by brief episodes of peace.”

 If we look at our lives, if we are truthful, we will most likely agree with that statement.

Why do we experience storms in our life?  Satan wants to attack us, bring us down, and deceive us. And boy has he been doing that to me this week!  But we have a choice of how we will weather these storms we face in our life. Will we be overtaken and defeated? or will we turn to God and allow Him to bring us peace in the storm? 

Sunday was a bad day for me!  Really bad!  You know one of those days that you think, nothing else can go wrong or be dumped on ya then it does.  And all you want to do is run and hide!  Yep that was my day.  But God was and still is so faithful.  Someone said something to me that really hurt my feelings and boy was satan quick to continue to throw that in my face.  But God, showed me through his word that he heard my cries, and gave me truths to block out those lies.  (I'll share it in a bit)

You see I was hearing all day that I wasn't to do the Lesson for Middle School Girls Group that I had planned. I was instead to talk to them about the woman at the well in the book of John chapter 4  I kept saying no God please don't,  I have this other lesson ready I am not prepared! :)  Funny how we I so easily forget that God dosen't always call the prepared instead he prepares the called. 
So reluctently I obeyed.  I only had about an hour to read through the story in John 4 and decide what to teach on.  I read it in the NIV and it was good but nothing was really standing out to me, so I decided to read the Message version and that's when I heard God speaking to me through his word. I have read this story in the bible many times and loved it!  I feel like I can relate the the Samaritan Woman in many aspects in life (now I haven't had 5 husbands or anything) but I have felt that despair that I was alone in life that she must have felt.  But When she meets Jesus at the well and he speakes to her inspite of what was socially acceptable. You see God dosen't expect us to be perfect.  Because He knows our true hearts. 
It's who you are and the way you live that count before God. Your worship must engage your spirit in the pursuit of truth. That's the kind of people the Father is out looking for: those who are simply and honestly themselves before him in their worship. God is sheer being itself—Spirit. Those who worship him must do it out of their very being, their spirits, their true selves, in adoration. John 4:23-24  It's not about who or what others think of us it's about who we are when we are before God. When I read this I felt like God had written it just for me just for this day specifically.  And I cried, because I knew He (God) had heard my cries, and I felt like He said to me I know your heart!  WOW!

I went to Girls Group and shared this lesson with them, and I believe that it wasn't only for me that day.  I shared with the girls and we had an amzing prayer time.(I believe God is really working in thier lives as well)  I am excited to see how God will continue to use me and hopefully next time I will be a little more prepared for the storm. 

Have a Beautiful Day!

Christina

P.S. The picture above was taken today, in the field across from my house, just another reminder that God is with us!

99 Things to Do before you Die...

Saw this on another blog and thought it would be fun to do as well!  I'll try to explain some of the one's I have done and include pictures if I can! I have bolded and marked a line through the one's I have done!  (What have you done?) 

1. Started your own blog  (I have three actually)

I've Got My Crown (Youth Girls Blog)

Women's Ministry Blog

My Personal Blog (the one your Reading!)

2. Slept under the stars  (Many a times growing up camping)

3. Played in a band

4. Visited Hawaii

5. Watched a meteor shower

6. Given more than you can afford to charity

7. Been to Disneyland

8. Climbed a mountain       Stone Mountain in Atlanta GA

9. Held a praying mantis

10. Sang a solo

11. Bungee jumped

12. Visited Paris

13. Watched a thunder and lightning storm

14. Taught yourself an art from scratch  (Modge Podge, Most Crafts I do I learn myself)

15. Adopted a child

16. Had food poisoning

 

17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty

18. Grown your own vegetables

19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France

20. Slept on an overnight train

21. Had a pillow fight

22. Hitch hiked

23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill

Who hasn't?

24. Built a snow fort

25. Held a lamb

26. Gone skinny dipping

27. Run a Marathon

28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice

29. Seen a total eclipse

30. Watched a sunrise or sunset

31. Hit a home run

32. Been on a cruise

33. Seen Niagara Falls in person   Awesome Last Trip with the youth at Stonebridge

34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors

35. Seen an Amish community

36. Taught yourself a new language

37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied

38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person

39. Gone rock climbing     Climbed a Rock Wall

40. Seen Michelangelo’s David

41. Sung karaoke   It was bad! :)

42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt

43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant   Just Recently Glenn a homeless man I met in Wichita

44. Visited Africa

45. Walked on a beach by moonlight  North Carolina Outerbanks

 

46. Been transported in an ambulance  Twice in the same day!

47. Had your portrait painted

48. Gone deep sea fishing

49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person

50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris

51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling

52. Kissed in the rain

53. Played in the mud

54. Gone to a drive-in theater

55. Been in a movie

56. Visited the Great Wall of China

57. Started a business

58. Taken a martial arts class

59. Visited Russia

60. Served at a soup kitchen   In Chicago, Atlanta, Niagra Falls and Community Thanksgiving Dinner in Findlay

 

61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies  I think I have eaten more than I sold

62. Gone whale watching

63. Got flowers for no reason   From My momma when I was having a bad day!

64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma

65. Gone sky diving

66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp

67. Bounced a check

68. Flown in a helicopter

69. Saved a favorite childhood toy

70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial   DCLA 2006

71. Eaten caviar

72. Pieced a quilt

73. Stood in Times Square  June 2009

74. Toured the Everglades

75. Been fired from a job

76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London

77. Broken a bone      Left arm and right foot

78. Been a passenger on a motorcycle    It's been a long time!

79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person

80. Published a book

81. Visited the Vatican

82. Bought a brand new car

83. Walked in Jerusalem

84. Had your picture in the newspaper  For Track in High School

85. Kissed a stranger at midnight on New Year’s Eve

86. Visited the White House   DCLA 2006

87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating

88. had chickenpox

89. Saved someone’s life

90. Sat on a jury

91. Met someone famous  Tammy Trent, Saw Pauly Shore at a Cracker Barrell

92. Joined a book club

93. Got a tattoo

94. Had a baby   Had two actually!

95. Seen the Alamo in person  Actually I was disapointed

96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake

97. Been involved in a law suit  Yes and it was no fun!

 

98. Owned a cell phone    Yep for 11 years

99. Been stung by a bee  Yes and it hurt

 

 

I hope to mark more of these off before I go!

 

Have a Beautiful Day!

Christina