I'm blogging from Richmond, Virginia today. Mike and I came down to run in a race. He ran the half marathon and I ran my first 8k. I really enjoyed it and it was easier than I expected! I'm already looking forward to my next race.
The best part of the day, though, was the time spent with family and friends. This race has become somewhat of a tradition for us and several others that we ministered with in Virginia a few years ago. It's fun being together and cheering each other on. We all waited together to watch my cousin Dave finish his first marathon. Then we spent the rest of the day visiting and just being together.
It was an extra bonus to wake up today to a sunny 70 degree day! Mike and I went for a nice walk today to stretch our sore muscles and we were reminded what a beautiful state Virginia is! It's been a great weekend.

Amen to Modesty!

This morning was our third session of our Esther Women's Bible study at Cedar Creek. It's a Beth Moore DVD study. This morning's session was about the meanness of Haman in the Esther story, and Beth camped on meanness in general and really laid it all out to us as women. One thing she stressed had me shouting Amen! She said, "Mean girls dress provocatively around other girls' men!" And then she said, "Keep your breasts to yourself!!!"
All I can say is, "Preach it Sister!" That needs to be said in every church in America, in my opinion. But who's going to say it? Whose responsibility is it to say it? I dare say, it's not the preacher's.
First of all, mothers should be teaching their daughters how to dress appropriately and in good taste, glorifying God with their appearance. But that's not going to happen if the mothers themselves are falling out of their shirts! The world has lowered its standards through the years, no doubt about it. But God has never, and will never, lower His!
So how are women who dress immodestly supposed to know what's appropriate? Other godly women are supposed to tell them! Is it awkward? Yes! But so is standing around visiting at church in mixed company with a christian woman sporting a slot machine on her chest big enough to drop a silver dollar in!
Our men have it rough as it is, with society and the media and technology making it difficult for them to stay pure. Why should they have to come to church and worry about lust because some woman is wearing something two sizes too small or six inches too short?! Boy, satan is having a heyday with this one! We need to get a clue. And if you already have a clue, love a sister enough to tell her to put some clothes on. Your husband will thank you.

Amen.

Ladies' Day @ The Creek

I haven't blogged in a while and my friend Kim scolded me (again) so here I am, and way overdue.
Saturday was a blast. It was our second annual Ladies' Day @ The Creek. It's an all day event that has taken the place of an overnight retreat. We had a friend of mine up from Nashville, TN to help lead worship and do a concert. Check her out at www.tonjarose.com.
The day was all about finding and using the gifts God has given us, and doing it with passion. Ironically, several women served in different ways that day for the first time, stepping up and using their talents willingly. It was great. Liz, a young, new christian, helped with worship. She has a great voice. Connie was the emcee for the day and did a fantastic job setting the tone for the day and closing the day with a beautiful, heartfelt prayer. Melisa taught a workshop for the first time, and blew me away. She was totally prepared and delivered some awesome thought-provoking material. Cherie taught a craft workshop , using her creative gifts. Two women handled the lunch (for 60 women!) and it got rave reviews.
This is what it's all about! It was so cool to see so many serving in so many different areas; the body of Christ working together to bring Him glory. I love the church!

Grandma's House!

Do you have a favorite place? I do. It's my Grandma's house. That's where I'm blogging from tonight. My kids asked me why I love it here so much. I guess it's because it's the only place that remains the same from my childhood. I have lots of good memories here. And of course my
sweet Grandma is here. She's going to be 90 this fall. She is still going strong. I don't like to think of life without her, so I will just continue to relish my visits to her little house, chatting with her over coffee and hearing about all her memories and stories of days gone by.
We go back home tomorrow. Life will resume it's busyness. But I will have had
my "fix" of Grandma's house and some precious time with Grandma, so I'll be good to go!

Can't Wait to Celebrate!

Only five days until we celebrate being women at Cedar Creek! Saturday is our Mother/Daughter Celebration and it's going to be great! Our resident actresses have written a cool program that's a take-off of the popular "Extreme Home Makeover" show. It's going to be called "Extreme Makeover-God's Edition". I've heard some of it already, and it's going to show us how to deal with sin patterns in our life by using the Word of God. It will go right along with our decorations, which are centered around the theme of "The Secret Garden". Just as forgotten, dormant gardens can be brought back to life and made beautiful again, so can our lives be transformed and made beautiful if we will let God work in us, pulling out the weeds of sin and bad attitudes and planting the fruit of the Spirit in us.
To really make the point visually, there's going to be an actual GARDEN in the room, big enough for the women to walk through, with live flowers and the whole bit. I can't wait to see it all come together!
I pray that this Saturday won't just be a nice women's event that makes us all feel happy, but that it will have spiritual impact on all of us. I pray that the Holy Spirit will be at work, changing us and prompting us to be more like Jesus. That will be the real sign of the success of this event. May God use this celebration and those involved in making it happen to stir the hearts of those attending so that they will want to be more like Him.
Now that will be cause for celebration!

What a weekend!

This was a weekend to remember. It started Friday with a moving Good Friday service at Cedar Creek. The room was packed with people singing and praising God for what He did at Calvary. Mike shared about what Jesus went through because He loves us so much. The evening ended with a powerful video called "It's Friday, but Sunday's comin'!"
Then Sunday came! Today, that is. Cedar Creek had a great time celebrating the resurrection of Jesus. It was one of those services that you wanted to last and last; the kind that makes me long for heaven.
I'm so glad I serve a living Savior. He is so many wonderful things, but the best thing is that He's alive. We didn't sing this particular song today, but the words are fresh in my mind:

We serve a risen Savior, He's in the world today.
I KNOW that He is living, whatever men might say.
I see His hand of mercy, I hear His voice of cheer.
And just the time I need Him, He's always near.

Praise God, He lives!!!

Home Again

I'm thankful. Thankful to be at a place of contentment in life so that coming home from vacation is not a drudgery, but a joy. There have been times in my life when I didn't want to get back home and into the swing of things. That's a depressing feeling and I am thankful to not be feeling that way. I love life. I love my life. I love being back home with my family in our own house. I love being back with my church family. It was so sweet to worship at Cedar Creek this morning, and be among my brothers and sisters who love me and help me grow. The worship team was really on today and the preacher was "in the zone", preaching a great sermon reminding us of what Christ did for us at Calvary. I love it when he gets fired up like he did today. I think he's awesome. But then I'm kinda partial.
God is good. I am blessed. Sometimes I feel guilty because I see so many others who are unhappy. But then I remember that joy is a choice that we make. The Apostle Paul had joy. He wrote about it in Philippians. While he was in prison. Hmm.
What would the world be like if we all had joy no matter our circumstances? What would the church be like? Attractive, I would suppose.

"...the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace..."(Galatians 5:22)
"Rejoice in the Lord always; I will say it again, Rejoice."(Philippians 4:4)

Our Last Day

I've been hearing about "Puckett's Grocery" for years now. Tonja has talked about this place where she sings on occasion, and that also has the best food around. It's in Franklin, TN and today I experienced it. I had an awesome burger on a wheat hoagie bun, and some scrumptious onion rings. Mike had some incredible pulled pork. We had a great time, although nobody famous came in. Tonja used to work there and has waited on some celebrities, including Brad and Kimberly Williams-Paisley!
After Puckett's, we went through the Opryland Hotel. It's absolutely beautiful and HUGE! Then we walked to Opry Mills, a huge mall that had a big Gibson guitar store. Luke especially loved that.
It was a long day and we walked a lot, so we enjoyed coming home and chilling out and watching American Idol.
Enjoy the pictures of our fun day with the Roses!

Songwriters and Cupcakes!

Here's the two highlights from our vacation yesterday: first, I went with Tonja to her writing appointment in downtown Nashville. She writes for Identical Entertainment. There were two guys there to write with her, and both of them have already had success in songwriting. Very nice gentlemen. Anyway, I got to listen in while they began writing a song called "Think I Met An Angel". Very cool experience.
On the way home, we stopped by "Gigi's Cupcakes", and brought some home for dessert. Oh my word. These weren't just cupcakes. They were colossal, gourmet treats from heaven! And with a cup of fresh coffee....mmmmmmm. 'Twas a good day.

God, Friends and Music!

Wow, I enjoyed today! It started with some good coffee and leisure time with Tonja, then we got ready and went to worship at Franklin Christian Church. Then we went to some friends of Ward and Tonja's for a cookout and some other people came to hang out too. Rob Harris, the music minister at FCC was there and he is also a songwriter here in Nashville. A group called "Fletcher" was there, which is three brothers who are phenomenal musicians. Check them out at www.fletchermusic.net. They all sat around playing and singing, mostly original stuff. It was very cool. God was so generous when He gave us music!
Tomorrow Lindsey, Tonja & I are going to a local tea room for lunch, then Tonja is taking me to one of her writing appointments. Maybe l'll witness the writing of a future country hit! Whether or not that happens, I'm just grateful for the opportunity to hang out with such creative and talented people for a few minutes!
Oh! One other cool thing...the gal whose house we were at today is the niece of Linda Hunt, the academy award-winning actress! Linda Hunt's sister was there too, and she resembled the actress. It's such a small world.
It was a very enjoyable day, and I've had a lot of coffee...I hope I can sleep tonight!

Vacation!

We're heading to Nashville, Tennessee in the morning and I am excited! We'll be visiting some friends that we knew when we lived in Virginia, Ward and Tonja Rose. They moved to Nashville a few years ago so Tonja could pursue her dream of becoming a recording artist. She works/writes for a publishing company, and she's is going to take me with her to one of her writing appointments with Mark Naramore, a guy who has already had some of his songs recorded! I am looking forward to seeing them collaborate.
We're going to see some sights around Nashville, hit some good eating joints, and we're looking forward to worshipping with Ward and Tonja at Franklin Christian Church on Sunday.
Then Wednesday, it's north to Clinton, Iowa to spend a few days with Mike's family. They're supposed to be getting 5 inches of snow tomorrow! Hope it's melted by Wednesday...
I hope to blog all about our trip when we return! Or maybe I'll check in while we're there!

A Visitor from Virginia

My family is enjoying a weekend with a friend visiting from Virginia, where we used to live. David Willis, the preacher at Olivet Christian Church in Newport News, Virginia, is one of Mike's good friends, and he came up to speak at Cedar Creek's men's retreat this weekend. Tomorrow he is preaching at Cedar Creek and I am looking forward to hearing him. He's a great speaker!
I've enjoyed him being here because he has a great sense of humor and he makes Mike laugh. I love to hear Mike laugh! It makes me smile and it's good for his health.

This week was the start of the new women's Bible studies at Cedar Creek. There are close to 50 women meeting weekly to study the Word of God and I am excited! Good things are going to happen this year as women of all ages seek to know and love God more, and seek His purpose for their lives. To God be the glory!

Movie Night

We just got back from seeing the new movie "Mall Cop" starring Kevin James. Loved it! It had a little of everything; action, comedy, romance..but no trash. How refreshing! I think Kevin James is hilarious.

My daughter is at Lake James Christian Assembly this weekend for the Sr.High Retreat. I pray she's having a great time. Kids are so fortunate these days to have so many awesome opportunities to grow and learn spiritually. When I was growing up, I had Youth Group once a week. My youth leader was a volunteer member of our church. There were about 8 or 10 of us. On a good night. We didn't go on mission trips. We didn't have big conventions. We didn't have a winter retreat. But we had area-wide youth rallies about every six months. And sometimes my youth group got to go. Otherwise, it was just youth group at 6:00 before Sunday night church. No snacks. No videos. No small groups. Just a lesson from the Bible, some time praying to God, and a few minutes to just hang out with each other. And I loved it. My kids don't know how good they have it. I wonder what Youth Group will be like for their kids? And if they will appreciate it?

A Fresh Market Blessing

Last night was the kick-off event of our women's ministry at Cedar Creek. Almost 70 women from ages 17-82 came to the "Fresh Market", where they could "shop" for a new Bible study and/or ministry to get involved in, hear a dynamic guest speaker, sample some great "market appetizers", and just connect with other women. We had some great giveaways, and one winner emailed me to tell me this great story:

--------original message-------------
Sent: January 14, 2009

Okay, this is VERY exciting! This is a long email, but well worth reading!

Mom and I went to a ladies thing at church tonight. It's the beginning of the new year for the ladies ministry at church. Everything is new and fresh and it was all very exciting. The food was very very nice, the room was decorated just beautifully, the speaker was hilarious and yet she had a wonderful message about serving God through serving others. And the information about the ladies ministry was explained clearly and precisely, and we all had a great fun time!

They had some beautiful door prize type give-aways. I wanted to win something SOOOOO badly, because of course, I never win anything. (Isn't that what we all say?) Well, naturally I didn't win the healthy fruit basket (which I wanted the most)! Of course, I didn't win the meat market prize, nor the seafood market prize. Did I win the prize I wanted the least?? No, thank goodness! It was the bakery prize!

When we first got there they had a shopping cart full of groceries. Everyone was to guess the price of the groceries. They were from Scotts and there were no coupons or specials used to buy the items. It was all purchased at regular price. Everybody was checking out the cart, so I gave it a try. I added everything up in my head, rounding up to the nearest dollar since Scotts is a little more expensive than where I shop. So I guessed $131 and I added 48 cents on the end....because that is how old I am.....and it made perfect sense to me! I then wrote down my name on a scrap of paper along with my guess of $131.48.

Well, the prize at the end of the evenings program was the winner for the shopping cart guess. You didn't win the items inside the cart, they went to the church food pantry. The prize was not told until the very end for some reason. The minister's wife was announcing it and she said the person who was the winner guessed it to the exact penny! Well, I immediately knew that wouldn't be me. So I gave up hope and started looking around for the happy winner. She then said the amount of the shopping cart bill came up to....yep....$131.48!!!

CAN YOU BELIEVE IT??? That was MY exact amount!

And as soon as she said that, she didn't even say the winners name out loud yet, I raised my hands in the air and was saying - YES! YES! Because I KNEW that was what I had written down. Everybody turned around and was smiling and happy for me (or maybe they were laughing at me)! And then she said MY NAME! It really really was me! I actually won! I received a $25 gift card to Jamison's Meat shop. When she told me the prize, I surprizingly realized this was all orchestrated by God.

I know God's hand was in this because we just ran out of meat in our deep freezer. I just used the last of it yesterday. Since we are on a tight budget and have just a single income, we probably wouldn't have bought meat (you know, REAL meat, other than tuna or ground turkey) for another several weeks, maybe next month, or who knows when? Not that we are deeply in need or anything, we just don't splurge on alot of meat that often.

So many many people came up to me afterward and congratulated me! They asked me how I guessed that, and I told them it was a "God thing" because there is no way anybody could guess that exactly to the penny. Although I did tell them all that I "threw" my age in there, just for fun. A few of them told me I didn't even look 48, that they never would have guessed it. That made me feel great on top of how special I already felt!

Nobody can convince me this isn't a God Moment in my life! God cares for us so much, He cares for the tiniest details in each and every one of our lives. How in the world could anyone ever guess the amount of groceries in that shopping cart, to the very penny, if not for God's Divine Intervention?? How in the world would it ever happen that the very day after I used up the last of our meat, I win a gift certificate to a specialty meat shop? We have purchased meat there in the past and love that place. That is definitely God working in my life!

And another thing, mom told me that morning that she was not going to go to the program after all. Joel had to work both jobs so I didn't have a car. The other lady at church who was going to give me a ride ended up not being able to go either. So I resigned myself that I would not be attending. Mom called me at 3:00 in the afternoon and said she had been thinking about it all day and felt compelled to attend the program that night. She advised me that she would definitely be going. I explained to her I still needed a ride and so she picked me up and took me. God wanted us to be there. God has plans for us at Cedar Creek Church of Christ.

God is Awesome, Majestic, and He loves each and every one of us deeply! He has provided for me and Joel and our precious little family countless times when we've needed it. And most of the time, whether it be the $350 we needed to pay an unexpected bill or $25 to put some more meat in our freezer, He provides in the most unexpected ways.

From everlasting, to everlasting, HE IS GOD!!! I sure hope this blesses your day as much as it has mine!

Love you all!
Kimberly

God is awesome! I hope we all can recognize His work in our lives and give Him credit instead of chalking things up to mere circumstance. Thanks for the reminder, Kimberly. To God be the glory!!!

New Year-Happy!

2009. Fresh. New. Year. What is it about the beginning of a year that makes you want to try harder, do better, be better. Today is just the day after yesterday. Yesterday was no big deal. Except that we all used it to eat large amounts of really bad food that we swear we're not going to eat anymore. Starting today. Why today? Because it's the first day of the first month of a brand new year! We humans are so silly. Why wouldn't yesterday be just as good a day to start being better people than today? It's that resolution thing. It happens every January 1. Or sometimes it happens on Mondays. Usually we're talking about the dieting here. I never quite understood the Monday thing. You're already sooo far behind on Monday because you went so ridiculously overboard all weekend knowing that Monday was the big "start" day. Silly.


But I do get motivated come January 1. It really does have that "starting fresh" feeling. My son has decided to read through the chronological Bible this year and read his first reading this morning. I love that. I just hope he has more stick-to-it-ness than we adults do.

This year I want to be used by God in ways that stretch me and make a difference in others' lives. I want to be more of a servant, and I want my leadership to teach servanthood to others. I want to be a friend to those I usually overlook. I want to recognize potential in others and encourage them to grow and serve. I want to see women get excited about their walk with God and passionate about serving Him. I want to have influence for the glory of God.


Also, I want to lose about 20 pounds.


New Year. Happy!