Monday, August 18, 2014

Weekend review: adorable

Nothing has the power to melt my heart quite as quickly as watching my husband play with small children. That being said, my heart was a continual pile of mush throughout this past weekend. 
Laughs and giggles were had by all. 




What did I tell you? Pile. of. mush. 

Friday, August 15, 2014

Thoughts on lesson planning

I don't know how your brain works. Sometimes I wish I did, just to get a bit of perspective. But here is some insight into mine.

My brain operates in short, quick spurts of pure genius (ok, maybe not genius...) followed by literally mind numbing blankness. Seriously. I'll have a great idea and everything will come together and make sense. The trick is writing it down before the emptiness overtakes it. If I don't get it all out on paper before the wall comes shooting up, it's just gone and I am back to staring at a blank page.

I'm currently working on a lesson for our middle schoolers for Sunday. I have a curriculum to work with and spark ideas from (thank goodness!), but I've been reading it over and thinking about it for three days. I was just struggling to tie it all together and make a solid message out of it. Finally, yesterday morning, my epiphany came. It actually hit me while I was in the shower. I find I do quite a bit of quality thinking in the shower. Anyway, I kept rehearsing it over and over in my head until I got to the office so I could write it all down. Now, I have a mostly planned lesson. I'm still working on a conclusion, I'll just have to wait for the next spark of genius. ((As far as the genius goes, I'm totally kidding...I don't know how well sarcasm is read over the internet...))

But you know what really does the thinking and planning process a lot of good? Solid prayer. I believe that God has great things for these kids, and that it is His Word that will impact their hearts and minds. So, I'll put a whole bunch of prayer into this lesson and into those kiddos. Because you know, they deserve it. They deserve the best that I can give them, and I'll trust that God has the perfect words for them to hear.


And hey, to you pastors (like my husband) who put in all the effort to write and prepare sermons every week, cuddos to you! I applaud you and I am inspired by your hard work and dedication to bring forth God's Word. Thank you for all that you do!

And if you are reading this and have some wisdom to share as far as that prep work goes, please share. I'd love to hear some of your insight!

Saturday, August 9, 2014

A full house and heart

They left for home today. My house will no longer be full to the brim, busting at the seems. It is back to being just us, a small family of two. For goodness sakes, we are even missing our dog. Now don't think I'm discontent with my little family, because I am perfectly content. I truly enjoy us. But it was nice having some more bodies around for a bit, especially ones that we love so dearly.

You see, our wonderful families have been in town for the past two weeks. It began with a visit from Adam's family. We enjoyed a long weekend chatting, eating, and "sight-seeing" around Watertown with his parents, grandparents, and brother.

Then, once they left, we had only a day to wait until more family arrived. My parents and brother came in to stay for the week, and what a great week we had! We were able to spend a few days on the western side of South Dakota. That meant getting to visit Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse and Devil's Tower,  and driving through the Badlands and the Needles Highway. Now we were really only there for a day and a half, so we truly accomplished quite a bit. Oh, and we got to stop by and see some of the craziness in Sturgis with the Sturgis Bike Rally. Seriously, I've never seen so many motorcycles in my entire life. But it was wonderful! I'm so happy they decided to take their vacation to come see us.
I loved being able to share a bit of our lives here in South Dakota with them! We got to introduce them to our church family and show them just how much we love our jobs.

Adam and I are truly blessed. While we miss our families every day, we know that we are where we are supposed to be. And that, my friends, is wonderful to know. I may miss my family a little bit more now, but I know they are only a phone call or two flights away. And knowing that they are happy to see us flourishing and enjoying ourselves within God's calling is just pure bliss.

Now my house is quiet, and recovering from a constant flow of feet. It's just us again.

I miss them, but it won't be long until we are all together again.