more church visit, a lake and a birthday!

So much has happened since I last wrote to you. I will start with our visit to the Presbyterian FI church. Did you know that they don't use grape juice for Communion?!? ok I know, go ahead, laugh at me but that was an experience for me! I'll take grape juice from now on, thank you very much! :) Either way, praise Jesus for what he did for us! We owe our lives to Him. Jesus, I love you! I was thankful also not to hear another sermon on Romans, lol, nothing against Romans but that was starting to get a little, ummmm, shall we say thought provoking? now, I don't consider myself superstituos or anything (I believe in a WAY bigger GOD!) but if I heard a 4th sermon in a row on a passage from Romans I was about to go home and disect the chapter and try to figure out what God was trying to tell me! :) fast forward to this weekend, it has been a BUSY one but a funfilled one! Kirsten turned 11 on Saturday, wow, my baby girl is 11 already, that just doesn't seem possible, where, oh, where does the time go?? We took the kiddos to a pumkin patch, ok, I confess, that was for me! Don't get me wrong, they enjoy picking out the pumkins but I'm the one that wants the pics in a sea of orange! :) They get to pick them out but once we are home, I confiscate them all for decoration! :) Kirsten chose Red Lobster for her bday dinner and I surprised her by asking her bff to join us! :) Then Glenn took the girls for a shake and Kirsten got to spend her bday $ on art stuffs at Hobby Lobby while me, the boys and my bff came home to watch the Rangers lose! So glad they won the last two nights though! GO RANGERS! :) Then Sunday we went out to Church at the Lake with my sister's church in Texarkana. That was such a restful day, Roseanne and I with Kirsten, Cayden and Keegan took a walk along the lake. Kirsten collected shells and bird feathers, we saw a lake urchin, sank in the wet sand (once I stepped and sank at least 6 inches! that was a weird feeling), saved a little fish that was out of water, and enjoyed taking our shoes off and walking in the water! :) Then I got baptized in the lake, that was a first for me. I have been baptized before but not in a lake. Kirsten got baptized too. Then we finished the weekend off with a trip to the zoo yesterday. Honey took a vacation day and we just enjoyed a family outing. I love times when we can just relax and enjoy being a family.

thoughts on last week's sermon

Hello all, it has been 2 weeks since I posted, oops. We did visit another family-integrated church last week, one right here in Longview. The message was based on Romans 1, what is it with Romans? we have now heard threee messages in a row at three different churches on Romans! Romans 13, Romans 11 and the end of Romans 1. What struck me about the sermon we heard Sunday was the pastor spoke about the mentioned sins(covetousness for one) and how these things are not to be present in the lives of believers. The closest I've heard to a hellfire and brimstone message in a very long time! Some times I think the church needs more of those! Now I'm not saying we need them every Sunday but i am saying even Christians need to hear that there is a Biblical standard that we are supposed to live by. We have God-given mandates and expectations that we are supposed to uphold and strive to live by (perfecting holiness!) I thought about all this when the pastor said at the end of his message that he wanted to make it known that he didn't see any of these things he preached on as problems in their church and I had the thought that maybe those things aren't issues in the church because he has the courage to take a stand from the pulpit against them! If more Christians knew where their pastors stood on the hard/difficult subjects and knew that they would be held accountable for them, then maybe more Christians would feel the need for change and for living more Godly lifestyles. This leads my mind to thinking about other areas as well, our men, our husbanda, what if they were encouraged to be the spritual leaders of their homes by their pastor and friends and wives. What if they saw respect in the eyes of their wives and children? What if wives were taught the Biblical mandates for submission and in turn taught their children to respect daddy? What if men really loved and cherished their wives as Christ does the church? What if we really grabbed ahold of these concepts and ran with them to truly have GOD as the center and foundation of our families?! What if our children understood that obedince was expected and disrespect would NOT be tolerated? These are just some things to get your brain moving, some of the things I am thinking about. We are heaed this morning to visit another family-integrated church and will try to post an update before next Sunday! Today's church is a presbyterian church. :) I have never been to one before. We are driving all the way to Nacogdoches (an hour and a half) today. Almost there so I will tell you more later! :)

the next FI church

This weekend we found ourselves in FW and decided to visit another FI church in Desoto this morning, Covenant Community Church. We wanted to visit a smaller church than last weekend. This one meets in an office building that houses a bank too. When we pulled up, Kirsten said, "I didn't know a church could be in a bank!" The kids were so excited to have their Aunt Roseanne join us too, as was I! :) We walked in with our zoo and immediately felt welcome. The first thing I noticed was that they had an area baby gated for the mamas and young ones. Then we turned the corner to find a seat and we were greeted with a roomful of couches! Very homey, I loved the atmosphere right away! One of the couples moved off a couch so we had one to sit on. I must aside here: I learned something about one need that a church should always meet, The scriptures says not to forsake the assembling of the saints and I always thought that we went to church for learning first and then for fellowship but today I wonder if I had that backwards. I must confess that I was feeling pretty broken this morning when we arrived and I didn't hear much of the sermon but enjoyed so immensely the fellowship that I left there glad I went and full of the feeling that God was with us and did indeed still care about us, I left there with renewed hope. That is how we should leave church, changed! I love that service included old and new testament readings. I loved how the pastor gathered the children around him to discuss catechism with them and pray with them before the sermon. After the sermon we all ate frito pies and just visited with one another, I think we were spoke to by every person there, I have never visited a church and been able to say that. Our children felt so at home and Kirsten even exchanged email addys with the pastor's daughter! :) Kirsten was begging to go back next Sunday! That would be an awfully long drive though. :) I love love love the idea of having lunch every sunday, I love walking into a place where we do not feel out of place because the size of our family. Cayden got in front of one of the moms when we first arrived and of course our first reaction was "I'm so sorry" and she responds "you don't need to ever apologize for children here", it was so refreshing to hear. I even gained a Facebook friend today! :) I also love that homeschooling in FI churches seems to be the norm. I loved how at this church everyone truly seemed like family, they were all laid back and accepting, really just made us feel so welcome. I do not know what next Sunday will bring but I know that we were blessed to be in His presence today with His children and truly enjoyed this Lord's day.