Summer is....

Summer. Just the word brings excitement weather you are 3 or 93. Summer brings memories of back yard BBQ's with friends, watermelon, fresh tomatoes bought at a local fruit stand, small town snocone stands, and lots of fun with family and friends. There is something about summer that when it begins you feel as though it will be here forever.....and when it is over brings a realization that nothing is forever.

Here are a few things of what summer was for us...

Summer is loosing teeth

and gaining new sons and daughters.

It is never being so busy that you can't have time for the people that matter most.

It is playing dress up with Daddy's glasses and hat.

It is rides on the church bus for ice cream with Papa.

It is trips to the nail salon for girl time.

Summer is making time to get away and make memories that will last a lifetime.

Summer is overcoming fears that bound us for so long and realizing that thing that we feared all our life was nothing scary at all!
(Brailey used to be frightened of people in a costume)

Summer is lots of time spent at the pool and playing basketball. With sunburnt cheeks.

Summer is taking time to get away from it all and gathering with people you love for cook outs.

So tonight I am just looking through the pages of my life and all I can say is thankful. So thankful God allowed me to be Rylan and Brailey's mommy. So thankful to be given the gift to bring them up in the things of God. So thankful to be their mommy. Tomorrow Brailey starts 1st grade. I am overwhelmed in emotion. One part of me so thankful for the little girl that she has become and the other part sad that the baby she was is now over. Saying goodbye to the care free days of summer and going back into homework, field trips, and full schedules. I wouldn't have it any other way.....

So now the house is silent the night before with backpacks ready, lunchboxes full, and a little girl ready to face anything the world will bring her way.....

It's Wednesday night...Got to cook for the family, feed the kids, clean the kids from feeding the kids and then it is off to make the kitchen look like something that didn't get hit by a Texas tornado. In the midst of cleaning the kitchen, wiping little faces and hands what was on their faces and in the kitchen somehow got all over my outfit. So it is off to change clothes only to realize that the jeans are still in the washer, because I stopped laundry to cook dinner. So now it is a wet washcloth and quick "spot" clean instead. Load the kids in the car and drive with the air on high pointed at my pants so the spots will dry before I walk into church.

Pull into church spots still on pants. So I flip the mirror on my visor down to see if maybe I can fix my hair because I don't remember looking in the mirror since I brushed my teeth this morning....or did I even brush my teeth this morning....In contemplating my teeth I realize part of my sons dinner got on my shoulder when I lifted him out of his high chair....GREAT! Now I have spotty wet pants and spaghetti all over my shirt...and teeth that well....Let's just all pretend they got brushed ok!

Go into church frazled from the day. Walk in to find a handful of teens (ok not a handful there was two) hanging out in the lobby. As I walk in I am thinking "Lord really how am I supposed to be cool and relevant to these kids when I can't even keep any part of me clean!"

Bryan would preach his heart out to 2 teenagers in a room with 50 chairs. Bryan had decided to put the 50 chairs out in the room to stir up their faith. To me though it just made our two seem even smaller in the sea of chairs. I would try to connect with them but neither one of the two liked me to much. I felt like I spoke Spanish and they spoke a language that the world didn't know or even knew existed. We would turn out the lights in our then youth room and I would look at the 50 chairs and ask myself "Lord I know you have me here for a reason but why? These kids don't even like me! I am not cool enough. I am not smart enough."

The Lord spoke to me in those moments and said this in my heart: "I am not calling you to be cool enough and I am not calling you to be smart enough....I am calling you to mother a generation."

Something happened in my heart that night....I determined that anyone the Lord sent us I would be their mom.

What is a mother?
A mother is one who brings forth life. They are protectors and the responders to the children's cries in the night. Comforter of any and all injuries. She reminds them why they are great. She cleans, cooks, drives, directs, nurtures, protects and listens.


Ever since that moment I am mom. I am mom to any and all kids. Not to take the place of their natural mom, but to rather mother them in the spiritual. I love them, comfort them, believe in them, stand by them, stick up for them and most of all never give up on them.

All of this is leading me to this last Tuesday. Our interns and staff surprised us with an amazing gift and a wonderful card. The card was each intern's little one liner of what we meant to them. Tonight....The night before conference....I am being mom....my counters are lined with baked goods for my student babies...I am up praying for them thinking about them...reading their card at the kitchen counter and crying.....and remembering back to wet spotted jeans and spaghetti stained shirts.....

My heart full of gratitude that I didn't quit when it looked like we were not making progress. Hundreds have come to our student ministry since then....There has been a lot of hard times, but there has been a lot of happy times to....Moments that will forever be written on my heart.....

Some only have children born out of their womb...I thankfully get the honor and the privilege of birthing hundreds out of my heart....I am thankful to be...mom.

Personal inventory......

I love that song by Michael W. Smith "I'm coming back to the heart of worship". What I like the most about that song is when he sings...

You're looking into my heart......looking into my heart.......

Wow think about it for a minute.....Jesus......Looking into your heart....

If we all got real for a minute and really meditated on that line & took time to think about what is in our heart. What is in there when no one is around no one is looking what are those things that are deep within us?

Around this time of the year I always think about goals I had coming into that year. Was I successful after those or not? Did I make the best use of my year or is there room to do better in the next year....if yes then how....

Every good business takes inventory of their merchandise so they know what they have. Shouldn't we do the same thing in our life?

Questions to think about

God: Am I......

Actively choosing God and His ways at every decision, word, moment, thought and step each day?

Consistent in my quiet time?

Daily spending time with God in prayer and Bible reading?

Husband: Am I.......

Praying for him DAILY?

Being a help meet to him?

Preparing for my husband daily?

Spending time with him?

Positively responding to him?

Noticing, regarding, honoring, preferring, esteeming, praising, admiring and loving him?

Bending or bucking with submission?

Being predictably happy?

Giving away to others what I haven't given first away at home?

Children: Am I.....

Spending quality time with them?

Praying with them daily?

Teaching them to follow God by my words and actions?

Home: Am I managing my home effectively. ....

with finances and budgeting?

with housecleaning?

(Managing it instead of it managing me?)

with planning meals and shopping wisely?

by taking care of needs at home?

Others: Am I......

Loving others correctly?

Serving others?

Preferring others?

Self: Am I......

Growing in my walk with God?

Eating properly and exercising?

Making sure I am healthy and give myself rest when needed so I can be what my family needs?

You see I don't think that I am perfect. I wish I could say I could put a big check mark by all of these questions as though I have done them all. But you know what I am just like you a normal person with real issues and real life comes along the way and distracts us. That is why it is so important that we look inward to our self and see what we can do better. Being a good mom and wife is a process not an overnight thing. It is a daily journey with lots of mistakes along the way!

Happy Mother's Day!

So I started to think of things about being a mother here are a few I know will make you smile....

You know you are a mom when you are potty training and there is pee in the middle of your floor and it no longer disgusts you.

You know you are a mom when you use the restroom with the door open.

You know you are a mom when your kids have runny noses you are out of Kleenex so you get it with your finger and wipe it on your pants.

You know you are a mom when you ask your son what is in his mouth then he proudly shows you the candy he just found in the grass at the park.

You know you are a mom when you forget one ingredient at the store so you load the kids in the car drive to wal-mart get into the store then stare at your children because you have no clue why you are here.

You know you are a mom when you haven't had a date with your hubby in three months because every time you make plans to go out you decide to just take the kids to Chuck E Cheese instead.

You know you are a mom when you realize that all smart moms give rewards for getting through the grocery store with good behavior.

You know you are a mom when your daughter has more clothes than you and you are proud of it.

You know you are a mom when you look at your children and realize that they are growing up and begin to cry.

You know you are a mom when you are at your child's school program and you weep the whole time they sing "Wheels on the bus".

You know you are a mom when you realize that having a baby was the craziest, most life changing, incredible thing you have ever done!


Happy Mother's Day Chiks hope yours was amazing!!

Did some one say work out???

I know what you are thinking!!! Crystal why do you start off a blog with a picture like this? Today we are starting not a diet but a live it!! I hate the word diet it just sounds bad.....but a live it that sounds fun.....right?

So I know that in now way do I resemble this girl in the above picture. I remember the days though....You know before you had two kids. That I could go somewhere in my bathing suite and not want to just stay in my clothes. I mean really why can't I get into the pool in a pair of capris and a t-shirt?? There is something having children can do on the body that is well.....how do you say.....Just makes it not look like this girl. Especially after you have nursed two babies! Because mine don't look anything like this girls! LOL Are you thinking "Why am I reading this?"

So my hubby is wanting to loose weight and so I am being a supportive wife and doing it with him! Not only are me and hubby doing it, but my father in law and CD. We are all doing work outs too!! I don't want to loose weight I just want to loose the stuff that flaps a little more than it used to like:
*My arms in church when I clap.

*My stomach how it bounces when we hit bumps in the car.

*Not have to "suck in" to put on jeans in the morning.

*To walk out in my bathing suit and not be so embarrassed.....Can I HAVE A WITNESS??

So I am excited.....I really am. I am looking forward to being a more healthy me.