Friday, October 25, 2013

Renewal Week at CLG

Every October, Church of the Living God invites Dr. Leon Van Rooyen to minister for the week...well, really Sunday-Wednesday. I look forward to his visits SO much! Dr Leon is such a wonderful, anointed preacher and evangelist. He's also quite funny! He's a huge Starbucks fan...but he joked not to worry, they've redeemed it...it's St. Arbucks now ;) The kids really enjoy his accent as well...he's from South Africa originally. We try to go to as many sessions as we can each year...there are morning and evening sessions each day. This year I actually made it to all of them! Woohoo! ;) Dad and Rachel went to most of them too.

This year's theme was Restoring Passion. In previous years, the morning sessions would have a different theme than the evenings. This year they all related. Sunday morning during the service was Restoration of Spiritual Passion...basically an overview of the week and touching on stirring up passion within, especially through the Word of God and prayer.

Sunday night was passion for the Word of God. That one was particularly convicting for me. The past couple of years I had been doing really well with keeping up with my daily reading of the Bible. I've been using the One Year Bibles. BTW, I love those! There are different translations...the general setup is each day you have Old Testament reading, New Testament, Psalms, and Proverbs. The really cool thing is that they do all the thinking for you. You just turn to the date, and the reading are there set up for you already. Last year I read the Chronological One Year Bible. That was SO interesting. All the books/events are put in chronological order...e.g. when reading about David, you not only read the historical events, but also the psalm that he wrote at the time, etc. Or in the stories of the kings, it will also have the prophets of that time. The only downside is that you don't get NT every day. It was so enlightening to read it in the order that the scholars feel is the most accurate timeline.

Anyways, this year...not so much! Here I was making fun of David for being behind in his reading last year...and this year it's October and I'm still in March! so yeah...not so great. Anyways, his preaching lit a fire under my butt...I've been catching up daily. Think I'm in May now...lol...I'll get there. But really, submersing oneself in the Word is essential for daily living. I feel so much better now that I'm back in the habit! One of the ways I've been motivating myself is not letting myself get on the computer if I haven't read my Bible.

The morning sessions focused on the book of Nehemiah as an example of passionate living for God's will...also a good example of godly leadership. The morning sessions were more teaching style...while the evenings were more worship/preaching/prayer. Oh and the worship! I do love it so! 

Monday night (after the Doctor Who Renaissance Faire! :P) was all about passion for the church, the house of God. Not the physical building, but the body of Christ. Although, it's very important to be involved in a local church...loyalty was a big point. One of the things Dr. Leon said stood out..."We don't have the right to amputate ourselves from the body." While we are called to a personal relationship with Jesus...there is also the corporate experience that is very biblical.

Tuesday night was all about the passionate pursuit for the will of God in our lives. He talked about how there is no standing still in the kingdom. We are either going forward, growing, or going back, stagnant. It was a very powerful night of prayer and worship! I went up for prayer...so good!

So glad I was able to get a pic with Dr. Leon the last night!

The final night was on passion for the harvest. I was glad the kids came that night. Red One can't wait to go on missions...I think she has a heart for it. Some points from the message: the empowerment of our lives (Holy Spirit) is for the harvest...the Holy Spirit is a soul winning spirit. Also need to be aware of the price to pay...it will cost us to win the lost. We should be bold, not ashamed...not lukewarm...but bold is not the same as aggressive. We should be sensitive in our approach, but never ashamed. God entrusts the message of the gospel to man...we are called to spread the message of reconciliation. "When you go to heaven, you should bring someone with you!" The altar call that night was for those who felt a call to international missions...Red One went up and Dr Leon prayed for her. She was somewhat awed later...she said to me "Mommy, he knew exactly what to say. His prayers for the people next to me were all different and he said the exact right thing for me!" I was so thrilled that she went up...that takes a lot of courage. 

We all enjoyed Dr. Leon's visit immensely and were much encouraged! Looking forward to next year! :)

Speaking of church, my other church (remember, I'm bi-church ;) got new doors...it looks so nice!

It kinda looks like the steeple was repainted or something, but not sure. Love the doors though!

Monday, October 21, 2013

Cross Country Challenge and Fiery Fall Foliage

The school system has a town wide cross country challenge for all the elementary schools every year. The girls were thrilled to take part again this year. Just kidding! Hahaha, they hate running...but I'm a mean mama and make them participate anyways. They go to running club on Fridays after school...Red One is just so happy that now that she's at the 6th grade academy she doesn't have to go anymore! lol

They do like the race better than the running club though. ;) Although, they were bemoaning the fact that they had to run a whole mile! oh no....poor babies! I always like to remind them of how I ran 20 miles when I was 6...they always get mad! hahaha...I always say, if I had to go through that torture, then it's only fair they do...and I'm a lot nicer, only a mile! So Saturday morning we made smoothies for breakfast then headed to the high school Buddy was super excited to go to the race...until we got there and he understood that he wasn't racing. Oh my, was he upset! He curled up on the ground and tried to crawl under the van to hide and cry. Poor Buddy! It was equal part hilarious and heartbreaking. Rachel took him to run around the track while we were waiting for the girls' races. At first he didn't want anything to do with it...but then he got happy. 


Red Two's race was first...the 4-5 grade girls. And they were off!

Whatcha walking for girlie? Move those legs! hahaha
That's more like it!

She wound up getting 36th place...out of about 125...so pretty good! Kim's kids were there running too...her oldest finished right after Red 2! The boys 4-5 grade was next...Sarah's son was racing. He's really fast! All those years of soccer paid off ;) He placed 4th!


Then it was Red Three's turn! She's on the smaller side...a lot of those 2nd graders and pretty much all of the 3rd graders were towering over her! She actually got a little nervous before hand. We made sure she had all her asthma meds taken...she still didn't feel great during the race she said, but she finished! I was so proud of her. She was a little sad...she was 57th (I think...)...but that's above average! And I was so happy she never gave up!

Run Baby Run!

Silly kids! 
This was right after 3's race...she was 100% done here!
But still managed to make a silly face ;)
And here's Red One, ecstatic she didn't have to run :P

We decided the perfect way to celebrate a big race was Sonic! mmmmm...Vanilla Coke, tater tots, limeade and more! Yes, I do see the irony ;)

After church on Sunday, we thought it was the perfect day to walk down to the reservoir. Papa and Rachel hadn't been to see it before. I made sure to bring my camera...I've been wanting to get pics of all the beautiful fall leaves!

Not much better than caramel apple lollipops! 
The reservoir really is just beautiful!
Buddy got pretty tuckered out!
Fishies!

I must admit...one of the things I do love about Connecticut is the fall! Growing up in Texas, I loved the warm weather...but not too many changing leaves in autumn. I just love the fiery trees up here! But they can keep the winter! UGH!!! lol

This is a candy corn tulle wreath I made last year. It's super easy!

Of course, it's from Pinterest...but it's just little strips of tulle tied around a foam wreath. Easy Peasy!