Clap or No-clap; Foyer-rama

Got these cartoons in an email today. Made me LAUGH!

Church can sometimes turn into this, can't it?

May Moments

Pepperdine was great this year! We left the kids with my parents for the first time, and Scott came out to join me. It was very relaxing and good "couple time." And, it is always a blessing to sing in Smothers-- we had a wonderful team.

It has always been a ZOE tradition to warm up/rehearse in the stairway in the back of Smothers. We must have gathered there for at least the past 10 years. We sing, share, and pray- these have been such special times together.

Luke is playing soccer for his second season, and he is really starting to figure it out! He got his first goal this past Saturday! It is nice because he is on a team with the kids of all our dear friends-- so we have just as much fun on the sidelines socializing each Saturday as the boys do playing!

Lots happening at Otter Creek lately, too. I am on a committee that is relaunching our ladies' ministry-- O.C.W.F.M. (Otter Creek Women's Fellowship Ministry). On Saturday, we held our kick-off brunch. It was a grand success! We had over 100 women there-- which was great considering it was such a busy weekend with several graduations, games, and other church retreats.

We had table hosts who decorated their tables as creatively as they wished. I came up with a "Paris Bistro" theme and my table turned out really cute!

The absolute BEST part of the morning--- the "male entertainment!" All of our elders came out on stage in black pants, white shirts, and towels on the arms--- our waiters! They sang two songs to us-- in 4-part harmony-- of course. One song to the tune of "We're Marching to Zion"-- new lyrics- "We're serving the Ladies, Beautiful, Beautiful , Ladies!" It was SO precious! Everyone just loved it!

Another fun moment: my friend Laura and I got to be the music entertainment while the women were talking eating. We had a keyboard set up and we sang The Robe by Wes King which fit our "Come As You Are" theme. We also did "He's Always Been Faithful" by Sara Groves. Laura has a beautiful voice and I love harmonizing with her. My piano playing was a tad rusty, but I did fine until I realized I had my pages in the wrong order! I rarely have the privilege of sitting down at the piano to play for myself anymore. Every time I start to play, Caroline and Luke come to "help!"

Next week Luke will wrap up his year in Miss Anna's class. She has been such a blessing! It has been so neat to watch Luke continue to learn academically and to develop socially. He had a best friend this year-- Hunter. He also developed an interest in all things "boy" like Spiderman, Batman, Power Rangers, etc. It is so fun to watch him interact with his friends.

We had a "Muffins for Mom" party for Mother's Day. It was priceless. The kids gave us flowers and sang to us. I think it really hit me how fast these moments go by and how very much I want to treasure each second.

Just when I think Caroline CANNOT get any cuter-- she does! She is really starting to talk! She and Luke continue to build their relationship and have so much fun together. She will begin school in the fall-- which makes me sad to think about her growing up so fast-- but, also excited to think about two days a week with no kids! What can I get myself into then?!

We are headed to Disney at the end of the month. I am really looking forward to taking them back and to see how much differently they will experience it this time around. The new Toy Story 2 ride is supposed to open while we are there and they are so excited. Buzz, Woody, and Jesse are pretty big around here!

So, life goes on-- We are just having SO much fun as a family! I feel so blessed to have such wonderful friends and to see our children growing up together and developing relationships of their own. I feel so blessed to be at Otter Creek and to have found such a great community of believers.

Life is good. God is great!

No Pleasure-- No Gain

Has it really been so long? Haven't had any deep thoughts or ponderings lately, I guess.

Life continues to carry on at its frantic pace. Luke and Caroline are more precious than ever. Sometimes the little moments I share with them are so frighteningly fragile and emotionally powerful I just can't stand it. I just want to capture their little expressions and the way they tilt their heads and how they direct their gazes-- I never want to forget.... it all goes by too quickly.

So much has happened in our immediate circle lately, and it brings this home to me so clearly. Life can turn on a dime, never to be the same again. And, for someone who doesn't particularly enjoy change, this scares me to death. I love my life just as it is-- right here, right now. It frightens me to think about how I might respond to sudden tragedy or loss. Would my faith sustain me, or abandon me....? Or, would I willfully abandon it?

So, the "what ifs" and "why me" surely lie around the corner for me at some point-- it is inescapable on this side of heaven. The true question is, do I believe that He is in control and has a bigger vision for me than the one I am limited to seeing. It is easy to believe when everything in my line of sight at present is full of joy and peace....

It occurred to me that we often discuss how we learn so much during the hard times. We analyze the lessons we must have needed to learn through the pain-- "He works in all things for good", etc. So-- if I am willing to accept that God wants to teach me through the discipline of suffering, why do I never consider what He might be trying to teach me in the midst of the joy? If every good and perfect gift is from His hand, then perhaps there are just as many powerful lessons and truths to be learned when things are good and life is good and my sanity is good, too.

It is odd that I never appreciated the depth of this perspective before. It is almost as if we don't need or call upon God until the rug is pulled out from under us and we have nowhere else to turn-- yet, maybe we need Him even more desperately when we are content and happy in this world-- because isn't that when we stray the farthest from Him? Not sure... but I am pondering....

Headed to Pepperdine tomorrow. Looking forward to being reunited with the extended ZOE crew-- to leisurely nights gazing at the ocean, incredible food, and "star" sightings.... what a fun week.

This year's lectureship theme is based on the Sermon on the Mount-- see one of the key verses they list below which I just now located on the Pepperdine website. It seems eerily relevant to everything mentioned above!! God loves to weave His wisdom together for me sometimes in majorly obvious ways.... guess it is the only way I can comprehend! :)

Everyone then...who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on rock. Matthew 7:24-25

The Return of the Prodigal

I was blessed to experience my first Tulsa Workshop last weekend. ZOE was invited to lead some of the worship times. On Sunday, we visited Memorial Drive Church of Christ and also led during the two morning services. Their worship leader, Shane Coffman, was a wonderful host to us all weekend.

Terry Rush is the minister, and he has been at Memorial for over 30 years from what I understand. We were invitied to tour his office-- a shrine to the St. Louis Cardinals! It was very impressive. He goes to camp with them every spring and has become a huge influence upon the team.

His sermon was entitled, "The Return of the Prodigal Son." I must confess, I wasn't anticipating hearing anything I hadn't already heard before--- I was wrong.

He came at the story from such a wonderful new perspective. He talked about how most of us feel we are only worthy of living in the "barn", but that the Father invites us to stay in the mansion. In fact, his main point from the parable was, "We must party!" His son is the fatted calf who was killed so that we could get back home-- and not have to stay in the barn.

He explained that the early church felt a sense of "awe" and that we should, too. That church should be the party place where we celebrate what He has done for us. Whether we are the older brother who can't accept the celebration or if we are the younger son who can't understand why He would offer us a celebration-- God still wants us to share in the party.

I told Terry that I wanted to bring him back to Nashville with me.... You can just tell that he has a heart of gold. It is obvious that he is dearly loved.

Luke's Spring Program

Come Shop this Weekend!

Our Otter Creek Kids' Consignment Spring/Summer sale has arrived! My life is crazy and I am at the church every day this week from dawn till way past dusk!

We have a new fundraising focus this time now that our playground is open. All our proceeds will now go to the "Raise the Roof" campaign to build a new school on our Franklin Road property.

We have more consignors and volunteers than we have ever had. I continue to be amazed at how God has blessed this sale and had allowed me to keep my sanity in the process! :) There are just a million details and nuances that have to be addressed and that have to be stayed on top of to make it work. Since I am the only one who can run the technical (computer) side of things, most of that falls on me... But, I have the BEST team on the sale committee with me. When I say I could NOT do it without them, it is no exaggeration. Thanks, DeeAnna, Janet, Jennifer, Kathryn, Melanie, and Melissa!

We also have the BEST volunteers anywhere! Thanks to the hard work and sacrifice of our workers, our sale looks as good on Saturday as it does when we first set it up. They are constantly straightening the floor, counting cards-- and do such and amazing job at check-out, etc. etc. I am so humbled by how they step up every sale and give of their time and energy.

So-- keep us in your prayers! Pray for tons of shoppers and people with happy attitudes-- me most importantly! Tell your family and friends and come shop if you are near us!

Spiderman Bash!

I had such fun designing his invite. We used real Spiderman comics between the cardstock to create a fun, unique background border. I put Luke's eyes behind the mask for another special effect.

Bo and Luke blowing out the candles and making a wish together. Sweet!
Caroline was a grump for the later half of the party and wouldn't let anyone hold her but me! Jana (Scott's mom) finally took her and got her to sleep! Thanks, Jana! :)

There were almost 20 kids at the party! They were SO well-behaved.
Luke's birthday table with all his presents.
Bo and Luke, the birthday boys.
The Spiderman bounce house was a big hit!
During the midst of my sickness, I was worrying myself to death that I wouldn't be well enough in time to pull off Luke's first "big boy" birthday party. Luke wanted a Spiderman birthday theme, so I had designed the cutest invitation and had rented a huge Spiderman bounce house for the party.

One of my good friends Cayce has a son, Bo, who is 8 days younger than Luke. They are in the same class at Otter Creek and are big buddies. He wanted a Spiderman party too, so we decided to do a joint birthday party for them since the invite list would be basically the same anyway. She was also gracious enough to move the entire party back one week just to make sure we were all well. That was SO generous and thoughtful of her! It was such a blessing hosting with her-- lessened the work load and lowered the costs-and the boys loved it! Maybe next year, we can do a "Dukes of Hazzard" theme! I told Cayce that she has to be "Daisy"!! :)

I took my last antibiotic on Thursday and was up at the gym on Friday night for three hours decorating, but, praise the LORD-- the party went off without a hitch, and the kids had a great time!

Happy 4th birthday, Luke, my sweet boy!

Did I mention Caroline turns 2 next week?!?!