I know I already blogged once tonight...but this is worth it!

For Caleb's birthday we went to a place called Incredible Pizza. It's like a Chuck E. Cheese on steroids with putt putt (which is what he wanted to do) go karts and games. He had quite a runny nose through the whole party and as I was looking through the pics tonight I found this one...






That's right, while I was snapping pics of Caleb opening presents I caught the mother of all blackmail pics! The snot bubble! It is too hilarious for words...ok so now read my blog below about my weekend...it's important too! ;)

Sickness always comes at the most inappropriate times.....

Last weekend Paul and I went to Midland to teach at a D-Now and spend some time with our friends Chad and Jodee. When we got back things were back to normal for a few days until Paul left for Houston for a man trip/working weekend.
The day he left I wasn't feeling bad, but not 100%...you know, not great, but not bad enough to not do anything...I took some medicine and started feeling better so I helped my friend paint her house that she was moving into this weekend. I helped for two days and by the end of the second day, I was not doing well. I went home put the kids to bed and fell asleep on the couch and then proceeded to wake up every hour. With each passing hour I was feeling worse and worse.
By Saturday morning I was feeling horrible. Paul was not due home until about 5:30; so I knew I just had to make it through the day, but I was feeling really bad. I managed to make it to the couch so I could at least be in the middle of the house and I could at the VERY least keep half an eye on my kids. The kids were awake so I gathered them together at the couch and gave them the "mommy is really sick so you have to be really good" speech. For the most part they were excellent! Of course since I was down and out for the better part of the day they had M&M's for breakfast, with candy for a snack, then they had Pop Tarts and Laffy Taffy for lunch. Towards the afternoon I started to feel a little better and I decided that the kids should eat something more healthy so I told Jacob to bring me some apples and a knife...(I know I get mother of the year asking my six year old to bring me a knife...whatever!) So he does exactly that, he brings me a knife and I cut the kids some apple slices and then Jacob puts the knife in the sink and I lay back down. Everytime the kids wanted something to drink Jacob would bring the milk jug to me and the cups and I would lean over the couch pour them milk and then Jacob would put the milk back in the fridge.
Needless to stay my house looked like it had been run by the kids all day...oh yeah...it was! The kids totally took over and thankfully no one was hurt, they didn't fight, Jacob was a HUGE help to me, there were M&M's everywhere, Laffy Taffy wrappers, toys littered every inch of the house, Caleb changed clothes, like, 100 times, so of course, his discards were everywhere!
Paul finally made it home and he started putting things back in order and he fixed the kids a "real" dinner of...wait for it...frozen pizza. Well it's better than M&M's and Laffy Taffy, at least there was bread, cheese, meat, that's 3 of the main food groups...oh and don't forget tomato sauce...that's a vegetable...or a fruit...whatever.
Don't worry, everything is getting back to normal as I am sitting upright to type this blog...that's improvement people! So I imagine that I will spend the better part of this week recovering...my house.

Apparently I need to learn to sign out... ;)

My DEAR friend Jodee logged in as me and wrote the wonderful blog about herself below this one...The truth is I DID go see her and teach at a DNow and I DO want to be like her on so many levels...but alas, I never shall aspire to her heights. So I'll stay down here with the lowly's. Love you Jodee!

Jodee Melton

I got the honor to hang out with one of my dear friends Jodee Melton this weekend. We flew to Midland to do a Dnow and while we were there I got to see Jodee and spend some time with her. I had a great time hanging out with her. She is one person that I really want to be like in so many ways. She truly is incredible. I am amazed by her.
One day I hope to be like her!

God is a verb.

I AM a verb, I AM that I AM. I will be who I will be. I AM a verb! I AM alive, dynamic, ever active, and moving. I AM a being verb. And as My very essence is a verb, I am more attuned to verbs than nouns. Verbs such as, confessing, repenting, living, loving, responding, growing, reaping, changing, sowing, running,dancing, singing, and on and on. Humans, on the other hand, have a knack for taking a verb that is alive and full of grace and turning it into a dead noun or principle that reeks of rules: something growing and alive dies. Nouns exist because there is a created universe and physical reality, but if the universe is only a mass of nouns, it is dead. Unless "I AM" there are no verbs, and verbs are what makes the universe alive.

For something to move from death to life you must introduce something living and moving into the mix. To move from something that is only a noun to something dynamic and unpredictable, to something living and present tense, is to move from law to grace. (Here are) a few examples...

(Take these) two words: responsibility and expectation. Before these words became nouns, they were first My words, nouns with movement and experience buried inside of them; the ability to respond and expectancy. My words are alive and dynamic-full of life and possibility; yours are dead, full of law and fear and judgement. That is why you won't find the word responsibility in the scriptures.

Religion must use law to empower itself and control the people who they need in order to survive. I give you an ability to respond and your response is to be free to love and serve in every situation, and therefore each moment is different and unique and wonderful. Because I AM your ability to respond, I have to be present in you. If I simply gave you a responsibility, I would not have to be with you at all. It would now be a task to perform, an obligation to be met, something to fail.

Let's use the example of friendship and how removing the element of life from a noun can drastically alter a relationship. If you and I are friends, there is an expectancy that exists within our relationship. ... That expectancy has no concrete definition; it is alive and dynamic and everything that emerges from our being together is a unique gift shared by no one else. But what happens if I change "expectancy" to "expectation" - spoken or unspoken? Suddenly law has entered into our relationship. You are know expected to perform in a way that meets my expectations. Our living friendship rapidly deteriorates into a dead thing of rules and requirements. It is no longer about you and me, but about what friends are supposed to do, or the responsibilities of a good friend.

Responsibilities and expectations are the basis of guilt and shame and judgement, and they provide the essential framework that promotes performance as the basis for identity and value. What I have is a constant and living expectancy in our relationship, and I give you an ability to respond to any situation and circumstance in which you find yourself.

Another excerpt from "The Shack" by William P. Young

I've been tagged!

So...I have been tagged by Cari for a Book Meme. (Am I the only retard in the blogging world who doesn't really even know what the word "meme" means?) I don't either Cari! Nevertheless...

Here are the rules:
1. Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages).
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people.


If Jesus were meeting all the criteria of messiahship, He was supposed to be proclaiming freedom for the prisoners (see Luke 4:18). John knew a prisoner who could use a little freedom. John's ministry had lasted only about a year.

From: Jesus the One and Only by Beth Moore.

I tag...Jodee, Whitney and Michelle

The first step is admitting you have a problem...

Don't worry, I do not have a drug or drinking problem...

I have a Guitar Hero III problem! I really like playing Guitar Hero...ALOT...alotalotalotalotalot...alot.

It is so fun! The best part is that I can beat Paul! We don't even own the game, we just shamelessly borrow it from some youth in our youth group...so I can play. The funny thing is that the youth know it's me who likes to play, so they let me borrow their game. We have had the game for almost a week and I have to give it back on Wednesday...I'm really sad about that. I just keep playing it as if to try and get tired of the game so I'm ok when it leaves.

Just to give you a since of how much I like this game...I played for almost 90 minutes today...WHAT?!?!?! I should be taking care of my children, or doing laundry or picking up the playroom or something...yeah right! I want to play Guitar Hero! So Paul borrowed some guns to go bird hunting (that's an entirely different story) and they belonged to the same people we borrowed the game from. He told me he was going to load everything up...including the game:( I was really sad...I asked him if he could call the people and ask them if they HAD to have their guns back tonight or if they could wait until wednesday when the youth came over for small group.

Paul just looked at me as if to say...You are really pitiful.

Well the first step is admitting you have a problem....right?

"The Shack" by William P. Young

Our pastor was given this book and he read it and was so impressed with it he bought one for everyone on staff to read...THIS IS THE MOST THOUGHT PROVOKING, FREE-INGBOOK I HAVE EVER READ!

Did I say that loud enough? This is a fictional story about a man's journey through a tragedy and what happens when he literally lets go of everyting he "knows" and meets God face to face.

This book LITERALLY turned what I think about God up on its head. Everything I have ever been told about God...completely up in the air and I am truly seeking who God is and I'm only catching the pieces that are true. I recommend this book to anyone.

Here is one of the best parts (for me)....

....we could talk about the nature of freedom itself. Does freedom mean that you are allowed to do whatever you want to do? Or we could talk about all the limiting influences in your life that actively work against your freedom. Your family genetic heritage, your specific DNA, your metabolic uniqueness, the quantam stuff that is going on at a subatomic level where only I(God) am the always-present observer. Or the intrusion of your soul's sickness that inhibits and binds you, or the social influences around you, or the habits that have created synaptic bonds and pathways in your brain. And then there's the advertising, propaganda, and paradigms. Inside that confluence of multifaceted inhibitors, what is freedom, really?
...Only I(God) can set you free, but freedom can never be forced...and freedom is a process that happens INSIDE a relationship with Him(Jesus)...
...Consider our friend here. Most birds were created to fly. Being grounded for them is a limitation WITHIN their ability to fly, not the other way around. You(humans) on the other hand, were created to be loved. So for you to live as if you are unloved is a limitation, not the other way around....Living unloved is like clipping a bird's wings and removing its ability to fly....Pain has a way of clipping our wings and keeping us from being able to fly. And left unresolved for very long, you can almost forget that you were ever created to fly in the first place.
...I(God) am not like you(humans), I am God, I am who I am. And unlike you, my wings can't be clipped...and that leaves you(humans) "smack dab in the middle of My love.....We(Father, Son and Holy Spirit) also chose to embrace all the limitations that (becoming a human) entailed. Even though we have always been present in this created universe, we now became flesh and blood. It would be like this bird, whose nature is to fly, choosing only to walk and remain grounded. He doesn't stop being a bird, but it does alter his experience of life significantly.

I know this is getting long...bear with me....
There is one more part of this book that falls right after the previous part that really rocked my world.....

This is God speaking...

...The problem is that many folks to to grasp some sense of who I am by taking the very best version of themselves, projecting that to the nth degree, factoring in all the goodness they can perceive, which often isn't much, and then call that God. And while it may seem like a noble effort, the truth is that it falls pitifully short of who I really am. I'm not merely the best version of you that you can think of. I am far more than that, above and beyond all that you can ask or think.


OK...so go get this book...It is totally worth it....be ready though, it will rock everything you believe about God!