On the GO!

The story of our lives!! It's been a long time since we posted anything, but that is because we have been on the run and fellowshipping with good friends from all over the place. Jenna finished her last day of work on June 29th. It was a lot sadder than expected. The Lord has continued to provide for us and suppy all of our needs. We spent some really great time with friends since the beginning of the month. We left on July 3rd for our annual trip to ETOWAH, TN. This year we even got T-Shirts that claim there is no better place to be than in Etowah! For those of you who have missed out on this awesome place in our great land, it is located in between Chattnooga and Knoxville. We spent time with some of our best friends Shaun and Laura King and there two cuties, Nathan and Jackson. We also got to see Laura' s new shop. The Lord has allowed her to live out her dream of opening a bakery. Two years ago I was able to go to TN and help her with the opening. Since then she has bought a bigger shop and her business has grown to bigger than she could every imagine.

Lil' Somethin Sweet Cakes (Laura's shop)

After TN, we headed up for a very long, I mean, VERY LONG, car ride to MD, we spent a few days there so that we could go to a friends wedding in Richmond, VA. When Jenna was in college, her house burned down. The Buss family allowed me to stay with them, and quickly became a second family to me. Their oldest son David was married to Sarah. We had such a good time. It really gave us a change to meet up with some of our friends from Angier, NC. (After we left NOBTS, Brent did an internship in Raleigh NC at a hospital as a Chaplain) We moved to Angier so that we could be near people we knew so the experience would not be so overwhelming. We lived 3 miles from the Buss family. It was an awesome 8 months for us. Here are few pics from the wedding.

Finally, after our long ride home again... we washed clothes, cleaned the house and one our best friends from seminary, Pete Lukoff came for the week to visit. He and Wrigley fell in love all over again!! While Pete was here, our good friends Malcolm and Dana Philips came to stay for a few days. They have been living in Brazil for the last few months. They are planning to move back again at the end of the summer. It was so great to spend time with them!! Although this has been a very busy time, it sure does make us appreciate the days when we were back in NOBTS!! While Pete and the Philips were here we played a lot of cards and had a lot of late night talks. Again, bringing us back to the good ole' days! Brent and I are planning a trip to New Orleans in August for a mission trip, and as and time gets closer, we get more excited. Brent is looking forward to fishing and spending time with people that we have not seen in a long time! NOBTS, the glory days! Although, when we were there, we could not wait to get out, but now that we are here, we miss being in school again with good friends all around us!

He is Good!

I am starting by claiming what we all already know! God is good all of the time!! I official will be laid off as of Monday morning. It was supposed to be Friday, June 29th, but because our kids are not being turned over to the new agency until Sunday, I have to be on call all weekend!! I am just praying that the Lord will help us with this smooth transition! We are trusting the Lord to provide a new job opportunity for me and soon. I will get paid until August 1st, so I am excited about the month of July to clean my house, finish projects that I have not gotten done and whatever else comes up for me to do before starting a new job! Please continue to pray for me, us, during this time of transition. Again, we know He is good! He always takes care of us. As Brent always says, we never went hungry a day during seminary when we were at our poorest point in life. He provides! The Lord is good all of the time, and all of the time the Lord is good.

A Simple Statement - yet Profound Truth

Finishing up VBS tomorrow . . . and as many of you are probably experiencing or will experience this summer - "Run - run ... run the race...set - set ... set the pace" or my personal favorite "go boy...go girl...all around the world - Let's talk about Jesus...let's talk about all the things He has done..." - you have the songs stuck in your head and find yourself wanting to dance. Ah, yes the theme this year has been "Game Day" - Hebrews 12:1 - with Christ as the ultimate focus.

Is it me, or are the dance moves - harder this year? Probably me - I seem to only begin to figure them out the last day and then still - yeah, look pretty awkard doing so - oh well - has been a blast. I am working with the special needs class again, this year - man, what a special time indeed. Friends ranging in age to various "disabilities" {from down syndrome - autism - as well as a variety of learning disablities} - I say this with hestiation - because the more I am with these special friends - I realize how we are "disabled" more ... with pride, insecurities, masks that we wear and struggle with. Not to say - these precious ones do not struggle either, but they teach us how to love - a love that is so unconditional and out of the box - and have a keen sense of God's love/presence in their lives. We have a had a blast signing, playing some heated games of duck-duck goose, on the playground - making arts/crafts - to some hilarious skits in costume - I will never take simple skits for granted again, they love these!

During one of the songs this week in the rally service, Nick {probably 7 or 8}, grabbed my hand and pulled me toward his mouth and whispered sweetly and gently "God made me". Random comment and timing to say the least. I was so taken back from this simple statement - yet profound truth. The irony in this, is that I shared with Jenna Sunday evening that I was not looking forward to VBS - when she asked me if I was excited. Rather, I felt sort of burdened with the commiment - yet knew I needed to be there and could NOT trust feelings - "do/obey anyway what you are supposed to and the feelings will follow" as I have heard time and time again. As I walked Wrigley later that night after Nick shared - I thought about how busy life seems to be sometimes - in between coaching seasons, work projects/deadlines - activities with people, on and on....desiring to be about ministry in these and while these are well in and of themselves - I was not made for these - I was made by God for God. For His pleasure - for His glory - to KNOW Him. Yet - I thought about the hours I waste watching TV - mainly sports or "projects"... now, in these items that ran through my mind I mentioned - God is certainly in and works through them - yet, I thought I am not enjoying Him as I should - the one "who made me"...Nick seem to understand this and walk in this. Amazing how, I didn't want to even be somewhere...yet went - found myself not focusing on ME {as I do so often}, and in the midst of loud music - wild dance movements - I couldn't keep up with...God drew near and spoke softly...yes, spoke to me through Nick..."I made you...for ME...know ME...love ME...obey ME".

VBS - for me was summed up in this moment. A simple statement - yet profound truth. Refreshed focus...Continuing to run the race - setting my eyes on Him {who created me and is the author/source of my faith}. "Go boy - go-go-go...let's talk about Jesus..."

Bad News - by Jenna

This has been a really really tough week. I have waited as long as I could to post, but I am beginning to realize that I need all of the prayer I can get at this point. This past March I started working full time for a Christian Foster Care Agency as their Director of Intake. The job has been hard, the hours long, the work overwhelming, but... I have loved doing it! It was definatly something I saw myself doing until we started a family. I loved working for the agency because of what they stood for and how each week at our staff meeting we always started with prayer and a devotion. I would pray with my foster parents and really watch the Lord work through the good and hard times in these families lives. I have know that are agency and really the state of GA has been struggling with foster care. The state of GA is having to cut the amount of money we pay our foster parents as well as cut the amount that we bring in to run our agency. Because of this, our agency is no longer able to stay open. As of July 1, we are told that we will be sold to another agency. So this is the tough part. A new agency has not offical bought our agency yet. Also, we have been told that the new agency will not have an obligation to hire us as current staff members. I know in my mind that the Lord is good and in control, but emotionally I am such a mess. We are trusting the Lord that He will take care of us. I know He will. I am tempted to say but... I am sad, hurt, nervous, anxious.. but again He gave me this job! He will provide!! Please pray for us as we are going through this time. We look forward to sharing the miracle the Lord performs in our lives! Pray that I will stay calm and sleep at night! My current boss did a bible study with us recently from Beth Moore and challenged us to put up our "sheilds in time of worry and stress." Your shield is your hand. We say these five things to repesent each finger saying:
God is who He says He is
God will do what He says He will do
I am who God says I am
I can do all things through Christ who give me strength
God's word is alive and active in me!!!

I am claiming this right now and trusting the Lord in all things!

Graduation

I got these pictures from my sister of her graduation weekend. This was my first post but I only had a picture of Wrigley to show for it, so I thought I would add this one just to show my family. The picture has my Brent, ME, Mom, Kara, Dad and my Aunt. My uncle was so kind to take the picture, right after she graduated from grad school with her masters in Special Education. It's been a long road and we are all proud of her and glad she is DONE!!!!!!

Does "one" really make a difference?

This weekend, we had the opportunity to be in the presence of "heroes" - there is much talk in our society about heroes...in the news with troops fighting, in sports, media/movies - Spiderman/Peter Parker - the battle within - will he do the right thing/choices, etc. There is even TV show, entitled - "Heroes". Everyone longs for a hero. The underlining theme - in hero stories is love...a sense of protection or going after something/someone of value. We certainly interacted with heroes, in a true sense, this past weekend - foster care parents. Jenna's company, The Bair Foundation, hosted their annual Foster Care Parents appreciation lunch. Did I say "lunch", or FEAST - rather, come on...In the Cheesecake Factory - hello - leftovers for a week! Not to mention some killer cheesecake.
Among the gift certificates, pins, picture frames, etc. - gifts/expressions of love and appreciation that seem so minimal in comparison to what these folks do - day in and day out - the Lord was present. The theme...the "Starfish Story"{read this story sometime if you have not - very powerful applications/truths at play} ...making the difference one life at a time. I had opportunity to share with the group concerning "heroes"..."Christ the ultimate hero - yet while we were sinners...enemies of the Cross - the Father loved us. Christ was compelled by the Father's love. We see "heroes of faith - Hebrews 11" ... with the focus passage being Luke 15 - an insight into the Father's heart of the value of one...what was lost is now found. In the truest sense, of every believer has experienced "foster care" and been adopted into Christ lineage - the Father's family...a royal priesthood. All of us wounded, hurt, insecure "starfish" longing for the healing water of Life. Had a great time - it is ironic with this theme of "lost and found" - making a difference...I lost Jenna's only pair of eye glasses in the restaurant. Yikes - what was lost is still lost. And now, out $120 for the "new pair" - another loss. So, remaining postive here ... Now, "He/She who has ears to hear and eyes to see {now this excludes Jenna - because her glasses will not be in until next week!} please DO SO" - if you are ever in the Atlanta area...and happen to eat at the Cheesecake Factory {please go to the one in Buckhead though --- we had some parents go to the wrong location} - please ask for a missing pair of eye glasses - because - they have told us...nope, haven't seen them...oh, those in the white bag with the two glue sticks - ummmm, nope - haven't seen them. If you find them, we will "rejoice" collectively together and declare - "it is found!".

Too Fast!

Life has been going at full speed for us. The past week Brent and I have been working hard on a foster parent lunch for my work. I have to work the rest of this month 6 days a week!! It's going to be and has been a very crazy time. I am having a lot of trouble at work and have a long road ahead of me right now. It is such a reminder that I have zero control over my world and life! I have no idea what tomorrow brings. Even with work, it appears like a really bad situation, but for the first time, I feel like I can sort of see a glimps of what God is doing in our lives!! No matter what is thrown at us, He is always in control!! It really gives me comfort to know that because for real... I can't keep up some days!! We continue to pray and desire so much to start a family. Again, in His perfect time.

Speaking of that, does it feel like we spend our lives dusting, washing clothes, washing dishes only to find out that the next day we have to do it again!! Then there's dinner. Enough said. I used to love to clean and cook. Right now, I do good to find matching socks and to remember that we need to eat dinner!! GOD IS GOOD ALL OF THE TIME!!! If I didn't say that, I would go crazy!

Our title

Brent really wanted me to explain the whole reason for the title of this site! I had to laugh because although it is obvious, that I am from Maryland (and MA) and Brent is from Texas, neither of us would always say he is full of Southern Charm! More like Southern Chatter! Regardless, we are the north meets south. One of the first times Brent came to MD to meet my family, we went to DC on the Metro (the subway system). I told Brent the main rule was to not to talk with people while on the train. The first thing he does is start talking to whoever will listen! He is pretty funny that way! So here we are!!! North meets South!!

If Not For Grace

So I started my first full time job since grad school. I was sure the hardest part of this job would be the fact that I would have to get up early, stay late and work each day all day long! I was used to making my own appointments and when I needed a break, I could take one. Although this is hard, the hardest has been working with kids with the past that they have. Hearing the stories of kids and the situations they come from . This week has been the toughest. A girl from our church is in need of a foster home! No because she has done anything wrong, but because of the situations in her life and the choices of other people! At the same time, I am in this training class about training new foster parents. We learned today, in the state of GA, if you eat 4 Hall's cough drops and then were stopped by a police, you could get a DUI. Or parents who loose their jobs and then their home and have to move into a shelter and have their kids taken away because their bills are not paid!! I keep thinking, that God has a plan. A perfect plan. Although, I try to worry, stress, cry and figure out a plan to "fix" these kids, I remember He IS PERFECT!! Just the reminder that anyone one of us could quickly end up in a situation that we could have a tramua in our life, if it not for Grace!! I of course would like to believe I am above any of this, but again, am quickly reminded that in a matter of seconds I could love everything in my life. We recently saw a man in GA who served 20 years (or so) in prision for a crime he did not committ. But again, God is perfect and as long as I continue to serve Him daily, He is always in control of my life! I know this is heavy for a second post, but it has me pretty down and overwhelmed today for sure!

First Post and totally exhausted

This is our very first blog. Jen Jordan came up with the neat idea to stay in touch with several new friends this way. We love it. One thing is always consistent for Brent and I, we are always really really busy. This week is nothing new. Jenna is in another work training/work adventure. We are trying to recoup from a long trip to MD to see Kara, my sister graduate from school. Driving the 12 hours in our car with Wrigley, our 47 1/2 lb puppy reminds us that we need to work harder so we can pay off debt and buy a van. We love getting to spend time in MD. This trip was fast and packed. We both just love to travel more than anything. Brent had to miss one of his baseball games. He coaches along with two other men from our church. They won the game. We are both so proud of the boys. The boys are grades 3-5th grade. We have more games this weekend, and we both can't wait. It is exciting to see them grow on and off the field. We get so excited to watch the boys. We really pray and look forward to the day when possibly the Lord will bless us with children too.

So our random blog has begun. As days and weeks go on, we hope to be able to post some more interesting thoughts.