Numero Uno
Before writing my last post I should have discussed my struggles last week with my husband, but I did not. RC - I am very sorry. Everyone else - Practice more patience than I did before sharing personal struggles on very public spaces.
Lesson learned.
Numero Dos
I'm impressing you with my Spanish, aren't I? Let me impress you some more: I can actually recite the Pledge of Allegiance in Spanish as well. Learned how in 3rd grade and have never forgotten. Doesn't really come in handy seeing as how it is the AMERICAN Pledge of Allegiance in SPANISH, though, next time you see me ask me to recite it for you and I totally will. And, no, this wasn't number two.
Numero Dos (for real this time)
I wasn't 100% clear in my last post, and, after having it brought to my attention, I feel I need to be. The truth is that God has called us to leave, what we call for sake of conversational clarity, the 'institutional church', not Altus Christian Fellowship. After several years of seeking God in this, we are finally walking the path of no administration, salaries, top-down hierachies, clergy/laity, and buisiness-like churches.
We love all of God's people no matter how they feel about these things. God has just released us from having to love Him within them. And it is amazingly freeing.
Bridget
*I just spell checked and numero kept being highlighted so I googled it and found out that without a little ' above the u it is actually Italian. So I can speak Spanish AND Italian!
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Friday, March 27, 2009
This post might get long. Or it might not. Who knows? We'll see.
Last week was spring break and last weekend was Hub's and my 11th anniversary.
The kids and I spent the first part of spring break in Chicken Town with Nana. Nice change of scenery. Then we doled the kids out to the grandparents and Hubs and I spent the weekend at Quartz Mountain Resort. It was beautiful and relaxing and we enjoyed every minute of it.
And I came home planning on posting the beautiful pictures we took on top of Twin Peaks.
Obviously, that hasn't happened.
Partly due to pms and partly due to finally hitting the wall that I was running toward.
The first part of '09 has brought major change to our family. RC started working part time at the radio station. God has opened the door for another part time job for RC that he is really enjoying, we got our tax return, and we have family that continues to selflessly help us. But this extended season of financial hardship has been trying. When RC took the job at the radio station we thought '09 would bring a very different type of change financially. Our level of trusting God concerning our finances is deepening, though it's not a pleasant process. And our mindset materially is also changing. We can honestly say, "Thank You, God, for these changes in us."
The other major change concerns our involvement in Altus Christian Fellowship. God has called us to follow Him apart from ACF. What makes this change so hard is that some friends don't understand and there are some friends that we only saw at ACF. The relationships that are severing are painful, and the relationships that are being lost are sad.
Our decision to disconnect from ACF is based solely on what we believe God is telling us to do and what we believe Scripture says about being the Church. It has nothing to do with people or a person or any 'incident'. We still love all our Brothers and Sisters in Christ at ACF. And we still believe that God is doing great things there.
However, making the extra effort to connect with our friends from ACF is hard right now because we aren't yet sure how those relationships are going to go. If we will still be received or if we won't. It is very stressful. And the unfortunate part is that most of it is a battle in our minds. It is hard not to determine beforehand how we think people are going to respond. It is also hard to open ourselves up to the possibility of being misunderstood, disagreed with, or even rejected.
The one thing I kept hearing in my spirit when we finally received the confirming word that it was time to go in a different direction was "Are you going to please God or man?" Right now pleasing God is costing us, but in the long run pleasing man would cost us so much more.
So, about that wall.
Since the beginning of '09 I have gained 6 lbs. Unfortunately, that's how I tend to handle stress. And while we were in our routine it was easy to ignore. But the welcomed changes of stepping out of our routine that came with spring break ended up bringing me unknowingly close to my wall. And this week I crashed into it.
It was no doubt made more obvious by the fact that I was also dealing with pms, but I believe that to be completely God's plan. Had I not crashed this hard I would have continued to just manage. And that is not God's best for us. Stress is inevitable. Change is too. And following God successfully through it doesn't mean that we are completely unfazed by it and go along all nonchalant and happy. Jesus sweat blood before He went to the cross. Following God successfully means we have a deep knowing in our spirits that we will be victorious despite our present circumstances because Jesus has already won the battle.
And we don't have to fall back into old and destructive habits because we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:37-38)
So, instead of going to food for comfort or release during this season of stress, I will once again start going to Jesus. And one of the best ways to focus on Jesus is to plaster our minds with Scripture, so during the month of April the kids and I will be memorizing Psalm 112. It is 10 verses long. Verse 7 says: They do not fear bad news; they confidently trust the Lord to care for them. Another translation says: they do not fear bad news for it is settled in their minds that Jehovah will take care of them.
Things are hard right now but through these trials it is becoming more and more settled in my mind that Jehovah will take care of us. And that confidence is priceless because OUR GOD IS ALWAYS FAITHFUL!
Bridget
The kids and I spent the first part of spring break in Chicken Town with Nana. Nice change of scenery. Then we doled the kids out to the grandparents and Hubs and I spent the weekend at Quartz Mountain Resort. It was beautiful and relaxing and we enjoyed every minute of it.
And I came home planning on posting the beautiful pictures we took on top of Twin Peaks.
Obviously, that hasn't happened.
Partly due to pms and partly due to finally hitting the wall that I was running toward.
The first part of '09 has brought major change to our family. RC started working part time at the radio station. God has opened the door for another part time job for RC that he is really enjoying, we got our tax return, and we have family that continues to selflessly help us. But this extended season of financial hardship has been trying. When RC took the job at the radio station we thought '09 would bring a very different type of change financially. Our level of trusting God concerning our finances is deepening, though it's not a pleasant process. And our mindset materially is also changing. We can honestly say, "Thank You, God, for these changes in us."
The other major change concerns our involvement in Altus Christian Fellowship. God has called us to follow Him apart from ACF. What makes this change so hard is that some friends don't understand and there are some friends that we only saw at ACF. The relationships that are severing are painful, and the relationships that are being lost are sad.
Our decision to disconnect from ACF is based solely on what we believe God is telling us to do and what we believe Scripture says about being the Church. It has nothing to do with people or a person or any 'incident'. We still love all our Brothers and Sisters in Christ at ACF. And we still believe that God is doing great things there.
However, making the extra effort to connect with our friends from ACF is hard right now because we aren't yet sure how those relationships are going to go. If we will still be received or if we won't. It is very stressful. And the unfortunate part is that most of it is a battle in our minds. It is hard not to determine beforehand how we think people are going to respond. It is also hard to open ourselves up to the possibility of being misunderstood, disagreed with, or even rejected.
The one thing I kept hearing in my spirit when we finally received the confirming word that it was time to go in a different direction was "Are you going to please God or man?" Right now pleasing God is costing us, but in the long run pleasing man would cost us so much more.
So, about that wall.
Since the beginning of '09 I have gained 6 lbs. Unfortunately, that's how I tend to handle stress. And while we were in our routine it was easy to ignore. But the welcomed changes of stepping out of our routine that came with spring break ended up bringing me unknowingly close to my wall. And this week I crashed into it.
It was no doubt made more obvious by the fact that I was also dealing with pms, but I believe that to be completely God's plan. Had I not crashed this hard I would have continued to just manage. And that is not God's best for us. Stress is inevitable. Change is too. And following God successfully through it doesn't mean that we are completely unfazed by it and go along all nonchalant and happy. Jesus sweat blood before He went to the cross. Following God successfully means we have a deep knowing in our spirits that we will be victorious despite our present circumstances because Jesus has already won the battle.
And we don't have to fall back into old and destructive habits because we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:37-38)
So, instead of going to food for comfort or release during this season of stress, I will once again start going to Jesus. And one of the best ways to focus on Jesus is to plaster our minds with Scripture, so during the month of April the kids and I will be memorizing Psalm 112. It is 10 verses long. Verse 7 says: They do not fear bad news; they confidently trust the Lord to care for them. Another translation says: they do not fear bad news for it is settled in their minds that Jehovah will take care of them.
Things are hard right now but through these trials it is becoming more and more settled in my mind that Jehovah will take care of us. And that confidence is priceless because OUR GOD IS ALWAYS FAITHFUL!
Bridget
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Let's Continue to Grow
I caught an episode of 18 Kids and Counting yesterday and something stuck out to me that I've been thinking about today. Here's what I got:
Mr. and Mrs. Dugger (dad and mom to 18 biological kids) were traveling from their home in Arkansas to New York City to appear on The View. They took two older daughters and the new baby with them while the rest of the crew stayed home with Grandma. The at home crew got to get the t.v.s out of the closet and set them up with the rabbit ears to watch mom and dad on The View. (Honestly, I become more attached to the idea of life without t.v. everyday. It's just so hard to say goodbye)
As the kids are gathered around the t.v. a commercial comes on that has women dressed immodestly. One of the sisters (around 10 yrs old) immediately raises her hand to the t.v. and covers the screen. When asked why she did this, she says she does it because it is wrong to dress like that and to help her brothers not look. You can tell that all she understands is that it is not good for her brothers to look at girls dressed like that or for girls to dress like that. Right now, she obeys without complete understanding.
I'm so very glad she does. But some day, hopefully, she will fully understand why it is important to dress modestly and to help her brothers (biologically and in Christ) not be tempted to lust or dishonor one of God's creatures. If she never grows into that fuller understanding she will miss out on knowing God more.
But there are also times when we do things because it is what we were taught and we never move into that place of greater understanding, and in that we end up doing things unnecessary or incorrect. I'm thinking of the story of the new bride cooking her first roast. As she cuts off the ends of the roast before putting it in the pan her husband asks her why she does that. She replies, "Because that's how my mother does it."
Curious, now as to why her mother does it, she calls mom and asks. Mom's reply is, "Because that's how my mother did it."
Now, they are both curious so they call Grandma and ask her. Grandma responds, "Because my pan was never big enough for the whole roast."
Mom and daughter had continued cutting the ends of the roast off and missing out on perfectly good meat simply because they did it the way it had been done before them without ever moving into that fuller understanding of why it was done that way.
This was me for many years when it came to my relationship with Christ. I did what I was told to do in some cases and what it appeared most everyone was doing in others. But I can gladly say that I'm trying to continue growing into the fuller understanding God desires for us. He doesn't want us to drink milk our whole lives. He wants us to feast on His meat too.
Some of the things I was taught or copied are good things that I'm understanding more and more. And some of the things are unnecessary and need to be released. I'm letting go.
Let's continue to grow.
Bridget
You have been Christians a long time now, and you ought to be teaching others. Instead, you need someone to teach you again the basic things a beginner must learn about the Scriptures. You are like babies who drink only milk and cannot eat solid food. And a person who is living on milk isn't very far along in the Christian life and doesn't know much about doing what is right. Solid food is for those who are mature, and who have trained themselves to recognize the difference between right and wrong and then do what is right. So let us stop going over the basics of Christianity again and again. Let us go on instead and become mature in our understanding. Hebrews 5:12 - 6:1
Mr. and Mrs. Dugger (dad and mom to 18 biological kids) were traveling from their home in Arkansas to New York City to appear on The View. They took two older daughters and the new baby with them while the rest of the crew stayed home with Grandma. The at home crew got to get the t.v.s out of the closet and set them up with the rabbit ears to watch mom and dad on The View. (Honestly, I become more attached to the idea of life without t.v. everyday. It's just so hard to say goodbye)
As the kids are gathered around the t.v. a commercial comes on that has women dressed immodestly. One of the sisters (around 10 yrs old) immediately raises her hand to the t.v. and covers the screen. When asked why she did this, she says she does it because it is wrong to dress like that and to help her brothers not look. You can tell that all she understands is that it is not good for her brothers to look at girls dressed like that or for girls to dress like that. Right now, she obeys without complete understanding.
I'm so very glad she does. But some day, hopefully, she will fully understand why it is important to dress modestly and to help her brothers (biologically and in Christ) not be tempted to lust or dishonor one of God's creatures. If she never grows into that fuller understanding she will miss out on knowing God more.
But there are also times when we do things because it is what we were taught and we never move into that place of greater understanding, and in that we end up doing things unnecessary or incorrect. I'm thinking of the story of the new bride cooking her first roast. As she cuts off the ends of the roast before putting it in the pan her husband asks her why she does that. She replies, "Because that's how my mother does it."
Curious, now as to why her mother does it, she calls mom and asks. Mom's reply is, "Because that's how my mother did it."
Now, they are both curious so they call Grandma and ask her. Grandma responds, "Because my pan was never big enough for the whole roast."
Mom and daughter had continued cutting the ends of the roast off and missing out on perfectly good meat simply because they did it the way it had been done before them without ever moving into that fuller understanding of why it was done that way.
This was me for many years when it came to my relationship with Christ. I did what I was told to do in some cases and what it appeared most everyone was doing in others. But I can gladly say that I'm trying to continue growing into the fuller understanding God desires for us. He doesn't want us to drink milk our whole lives. He wants us to feast on His meat too.
Some of the things I was taught or copied are good things that I'm understanding more and more. And some of the things are unnecessary and need to be released. I'm letting go.
Let's continue to grow.
Bridget
You have been Christians a long time now, and you ought to be teaching others. Instead, you need someone to teach you again the basic things a beginner must learn about the Scriptures. You are like babies who drink only milk and cannot eat solid food. And a person who is living on milk isn't very far along in the Christian life and doesn't know much about doing what is right. Solid food is for those who are mature, and who have trained themselves to recognize the difference between right and wrong and then do what is right. So let us stop going over the basics of Christianity again and again. Let us go on instead and become mature in our understanding. Hebrews 5:12 - 6:1
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Saturday, March 14, 2009
What Are The Odds?
Seriously!? The other day, Bridge and I are kicking back, enjoying a nice afternoon/evening over at a friends house, having a bottle of water (each). All of sudden, and I do mean suddenly, I look at my bottle and notice that the packaging date was my birthday! Cool! Then, for grins and giggles, I look over at my wife's bottle. HOLY DEJA VU! The date on her bottle was her birthday, too! WHAT ARE THE ODDS?!!! Don't believe me? The proof is in the pudding - or photo:
Friday, March 13, 2009
Randomness
I can't think of anything to post about that might actually be longer than a couple of sentences and that might actually be interesting so I've decided to just post all the short uninteresting things floating around in my brain right now.
And for some reason, I don't understand, I feel like putting them in list form. So...in no particular order...here is my randomness.
1. We haven't had sun for three days now. I'm starting to wither.
2. Our good friends are leaving for a week long vaca on Saturday so we've had lunch with them everyday this week since Tuesday. It's been wonderful! Today is our last one for a whole week. Sad.
3. Our other good friends are about to go through the separation caused by deployment for five months. Dad leaves on Tuesday and Mom and three boys will be hanging here till May, then going to stay with family for a couple months, then back. I've never personally been this close to anyone who is dealing with deployment. I know God is going to use this time to draw them both closer to him. God is Good.
4. At present, my living room is painted blue and my dining/kitchen is painted green. I'm hoping to change that and paint my dining/kitchen a beautiful white this weekend. I love the blue and it's time for the green to go. For those keeping count, this will make the fourth time I've painted my dining/kitchen in the 1.5 yrs we've lived here. I know...it's a sickness.
5. Next week is Spring Break! Woo-Hoo! I wasn't sure if we were going to have a spring break this year. Since we home school we don't do schoolwork on Fridays. It's quite nice and has made it much easier for me to stay on schedule. This past week I sat down and made sure we were doing ok on all subjects and were on track to finish on time. We are and can take a nice week long spring break! The kids and I are off to Chicken Town on Monday to spend some time with Nana and just hang out. It will be great!
6. RC's dad is really sick. He's having an MRI done this morning because he's been having some severe back pain. Please pray.
7. My left eye lid has been twitching all week. Oh. My. Word. I am annoyed now.
8. I wrote words to a song for the very first time ever Wednesday night. Still making adjustments but RC likes them and has already come up with a melody. It's very cool.
9. Seeing as how its 9:25 at the moment I really should end this post, wash my face, brush my teeth, and GET DRESSED. I was not going to post this point, but I decided that if this bit of info about my day makes you think less of me then there is really nothing I can do about that. I'm done with pretending to be better than I really am. On most Fridays this is real me. Take it or leave it.
But know, that I love you. Always.
=)
Bridget
*I also almost didn't post no. 9 because I really prefer even numbers to odd ones and couldn't think of anything to make a no. 10 so I was going to end at 8. But hubs prefers odd to even so we'll say I did it for him.
*Also, I just finished proof reading and now it's actually 9:34.
And for some reason, I don't understand, I feel like putting them in list form. So...in no particular order...here is my randomness.
1. We haven't had sun for three days now. I'm starting to wither.
2. Our good friends are leaving for a week long vaca on Saturday so we've had lunch with them everyday this week since Tuesday. It's been wonderful! Today is our last one for a whole week. Sad.
3. Our other good friends are about to go through the separation caused by deployment for five months. Dad leaves on Tuesday and Mom and three boys will be hanging here till May, then going to stay with family for a couple months, then back. I've never personally been this close to anyone who is dealing with deployment. I know God is going to use this time to draw them both closer to him. God is Good.
4. At present, my living room is painted blue and my dining/kitchen is painted green. I'm hoping to change that and paint my dining/kitchen a beautiful white this weekend. I love the blue and it's time for the green to go. For those keeping count, this will make the fourth time I've painted my dining/kitchen in the 1.5 yrs we've lived here. I know...it's a sickness.
5. Next week is Spring Break! Woo-Hoo! I wasn't sure if we were going to have a spring break this year. Since we home school we don't do schoolwork on Fridays. It's quite nice and has made it much easier for me to stay on schedule. This past week I sat down and made sure we were doing ok on all subjects and were on track to finish on time. We are and can take a nice week long spring break! The kids and I are off to Chicken Town on Monday to spend some time with Nana and just hang out. It will be great!
6. RC's dad is really sick. He's having an MRI done this morning because he's been having some severe back pain. Please pray.
7. My left eye lid has been twitching all week. Oh. My. Word. I am annoyed now.
8. I wrote words to a song for the very first time ever Wednesday night. Still making adjustments but RC likes them and has already come up with a melody. It's very cool.
9. Seeing as how its 9:25 at the moment I really should end this post, wash my face, brush my teeth, and GET DRESSED. I was not going to post this point, but I decided that if this bit of info about my day makes you think less of me then there is really nothing I can do about that. I'm done with pretending to be better than I really am. On most Fridays this is real me. Take it or leave it.
But know, that I love you. Always.
=)
Bridget
*I also almost didn't post no. 9 because I really prefer even numbers to odd ones and couldn't think of anything to make a no. 10 so I was going to end at 8. But hubs prefers odd to even so we'll say I did it for him.
*Also, I just finished proof reading and now it's actually 9:34.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Linky Interwebby Awesomeness
This title is not original unfortunately. BooMama uses it for regular posts that contain links to stuff she has found on the internet (known as the interweb to her). Since this post is about two web sites I really think you need to visit I stole her title.
Forgive me, BooMama.
You see, I have this friend Marianne. I think I've mentioned her before. Anywho, she has this amazing seven year old son named Micah. A few months back Micah's school was planning their 100th day of school celebration. Each child was encouraged to choose something that they could collect 100 of, display them somehow, and bring them to school for the celebration.
Micah had an idea. His first idea was to help 100 people. After discussing this with his mom they decided it would be better to focus on helping 1 person to start. So Micah asked for $1.00 donations from anyone willing through his sister's caringbridge site and email. The response was amazing! They stopped counting after 600 letters and some of those letters contained more than $1.00.
They used $100 of the money for 'the man in the van' and then sought God about what to do with the rest. It is still ongoing.
They have named this "The Micah Project" and use the money to help anyone that God leads them too. Right now they are collecting Lowe's and Home Depot gift cards for a family in town who's house burned. They are collecting these till St. Patrick's Day so there is still time for you to participate.
Check out the website and give if you feel led. Let's encourage our children to make a difference!
Jesus replied, "What is impossible with men is possible with God." Luke 18:27
And then...
You see, I have this friend Marianne. I think I've mentioned her before. =)
Marianne is quite the little artist. She has started offering her creations for sale on a brand new website. I can personally vouch for the professionallism and beauty of this art because I received one as a birthday gift from her and it is AMAZING!!! I would totally put a picture of it on here if I could just find my camera. Ugh.
Anywho...check out her stuff. You can buy something she has already made or place an order for something personalized. Mine is personalized. It says: The Babiones Est. 1998
Did I tell you how AMAZING it is?
Ok, peoples, link away!!!
Bridget
Forgive me, BooMama.
You see, I have this friend Marianne. I think I've mentioned her before. Anywho, she has this amazing seven year old son named Micah. A few months back Micah's school was planning their 100th day of school celebration. Each child was encouraged to choose something that they could collect 100 of, display them somehow, and bring them to school for the celebration.
Micah had an idea. His first idea was to help 100 people. After discussing this with his mom they decided it would be better to focus on helping 1 person to start. So Micah asked for $1.00 donations from anyone willing through his sister's caringbridge site and email. The response was amazing! They stopped counting after 600 letters and some of those letters contained more than $1.00.
They used $100 of the money for 'the man in the van' and then sought God about what to do with the rest. It is still ongoing.
They have named this "The Micah Project" and use the money to help anyone that God leads them too. Right now they are collecting Lowe's and Home Depot gift cards for a family in town who's house burned. They are collecting these till St. Patrick's Day so there is still time for you to participate.
Check out the website and give if you feel led. Let's encourage our children to make a difference!
Jesus replied, "What is impossible with men is possible with God." Luke 18:27
And then...
You see, I have this friend Marianne. I think I've mentioned her before. =)
Marianne is quite the little artist. She has started offering her creations for sale on a brand new website. I can personally vouch for the professionallism and beauty of this art because I received one as a birthday gift from her and it is AMAZING!!! I would totally put a picture of it on here if I could just find my camera. Ugh.
Anywho...check out her stuff. You can buy something she has already made or place an order for something personalized. Mine is personalized. It says: The Babiones Est. 1998
Did I tell you how AMAZING it is?
Ok, peoples, link away!!!
Bridget
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