About Me

My photo
Hey I'm Jamie. Christian. Wife. Foodie. New home owner. Mommy of a 4 year old little boy, who fills my life with wonderful chaos.

The Hubby

The Hubby
Mark

The Wildman

The Wildman
E

Sunday, June 24, 2012

Childlike Faith

I had a moment at church today where a small boy from my sunday school class came and asked me a question. He asked, "Jesus is God's Son, right?" I said "Yes" Then he asked "Well, I am God's son too. Because aren't we all one big family of Christians? Which would make me Jesus brother?"

Thinking to myself, how I could answer this question so a first grader could understand. I finally said, "Yes but Jesus is His one true Son and we as christians are adopted into His family." "So YES, we are God's children but not really Jesus' brothers and sisters." He shook his head like he understood and walked away content with my answer.

This shocked me in so many ways...
1. This little boy actually asked a question I had never thought about.
2. I felt honored that someone would actually come to me with a question about the Lord. I don't view myself as a very mature Christian because I have sinned a lot and know I am no where near where I should be. But to have someone think to ask ME and not my husband (the youth minister) or even the preacher who is very easy to talk to and knows all the children at the church. I was actually HONORED to answer his question.
3. The fact that a little boy understood enough to ask a question like this, Yes it was not a difficult question but he understood how we are actually members of one large family in Christ. It made me think of the verse

Matthew 18:3 "Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven."

Childlike Faith, What simplicity! He accepted everything I said he accepts that he is a child of God with ease. I need this type of faith, like a little child that doesn't have to understand ALL the minute details and worry about things I can't change. This little boy made me realize that I should not worry and accept everything the Lord has told me and tried to tell me over the past couple years. I need to understand and accept that he has forgiven me for my past sins and that I can move on. It's that simple!! I am not meant to forget because how would I learn from my mistakes if I don't remember them. It makes it ok that I can't forget about what I have done. It's simple, He forgave me for them and now I need to use them to further my walk with him and lead others to realize how SIMPLE it is. So I want to let everyone know how thankful I am for my Lord Savior and his forgiveness. He is Amazing!

Friday, June 22, 2012

WHOOO!

Wow. What a week! I was the head teacher this week for preschool VBS. It was some serious stuff. I had an average of 14 preschoolers every day this week thursday we had 16. When I say preschool I mean 3-5 yr olds. :) That is a huge age difference but it was fun. I realized it can be difficult to get and maintain their attention especially for a couple of them. I am exhausted, I came home yesterday and took a 3 hour nap and it was glorious. I also had my own baby boy in my class and that made it difficult because he didn't really want me to teach the other kids because I am "HIS MAMA". I do believe that kids are walking germs because I haven't been sick in over a year and today, I can't even breathe out of my nose and Im sneezing like crazy!
 
BEWARE MAY BE TMI!  Today was also a first for me because one of my preschoolers had "an accident". One little one came out of the bath room and said, "I had a bad poop and I left a mark on the toilet". I was thinking oh it was a streak I can just flush it and it will go down. I opened the door and it was like..... On dumb and dumberer when Bob Sagget opened the door to the bathroom and Loyd had put melted chocolate all over the walls and toilet and windows. Except there was actual poop EVERYWHERE!!!! I don't know how a little person like that could get it all over the place like she did but OMGSH! I ran out of the room trying to find gloves and clorox and anything else.

Anyway, I have also come to realize that house hunting is not for the faint. :) It takes time and commitment and some serious driving. We found the perfect house but we are having to JUMP literally JUMP through hoops to get it and it just doesn't feel like the Lord wants us at this place. I feel like He would make it happen and we wouldn't be struggling and trying to get loans that aren't working out.  BUT, I feel like He is looking at us saying "HEY, I already gave you a house,  I offered you a house and why are you trying to find another one". When I say he has already offered us one it is because we had a friend offer us a house for free and we just pay utilities. It is her mother's home and her mother is in a assisted living facility. We just wanted OUR house. One that we will OWN!! But the Lord will provide and He will provide what we NEED and maybe not what we exactly want.

It is just taking me a while to understand and accept this fact. I want what I want, I want God to give me what I want not what I need, I guess it is because I feel like I NEED what I want. It is just hard to wrap my brain around and not be so selfish. I realize I am a selfish person and need to just accept what God gives me and be content and happy with it, because everything is a blessing from Him.

Keep us and the kids in your prayers next week as we host youth camp for the last time and as we try to find our home and get adjusted to moving away from our family and friends for a wonderful ministry.

And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:19

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Just so you know.

I just wanted to let yall know we are super busy this week with VBS and putting our first contract on a house :) It is so exciting and I have had very little time to post anything. I do know I have found my calling as a teacher and believe that the Lord is trying to show me that, that is what he wants me to do. I love every minute of it but I don't see how teachers do it ALL DAY. I have these preschoolers from 8-12 and I'm exhausted. God Bless the teachers. :) Anyway I will post later with all of the fun things we have been doing.

Thursday, June 14, 2012

Thrifty Thursday

Hey I wanted to share what I did yesterday. It was super easy and you can do it with pretty much ANYTHING! I got the idea from pinterest except they were doing it with a mirror. I'm sure it would be beautiful but I honestly have no place to put a mirror right now. SO.... Here's my time out chair. :) E is 2 1/2 and so we have a time out chair. It was an old ratty brown chair that someone donated to the village (a LONG time ago). It also had some "pictures" drawn on it that really were not good to have on a toddlers chair. (You know what I mean) Anyway, so I told Mark I wanted to spray paint E's chair. He just laughed and said alright whatever you want.

Here is the "before".


First, I figured out where I wanted my letters and spray-painted it white. I knew I was going to paint over most of the white so I didn't have to make it perfect. 
After it dried (Make sure it is completely dry, you don't want to pull of any paint), I put my stickers on it. I didn't want it to be straight because I feel like crooked letters made it look more childish and I probably couldn't get it completely straight if I tried. I used stickers from the scrap booking that I had sitting around. 

Finally, you get to paint it WHATEVER color you want. I just used spray paint.  Leave your stickers on and just paint over them. Then, when it dries CAREFULLY peel your stickers off. 
TA-DA!!!  How stinking easy was that! I'm sure you can use this for classroom signs and just about anything. Your letters always look amazing! :) 

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Here it is.. What I'm Loving Wednesday.


I'm loving.....
   sidewalk chalk. I just got some for E and he has been outside with it for almost 2 hours. I was able to clean the whole house and still know exactly where he was.
I'm loving.....
 The next two weeks of my life. VBS then Youth camp.
I'm loving.....
 Pinterest. I have so many things I can now do for our new home. (whenever we get one)
I'm loving....
 My awesome husband for spending a whole day making an airplane cockpit for my preschoolers.
I'm loving....
 My youth girls. It's our last night tonight doing our 7 week Wild About You bible study. I feel like everyone has opened up and learned so much.
I'm loving....
 Beth Moore bible studies. Just started on the new one today :)

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

VBS

HOORAY! It's that time of year again. VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL! We get to do the Aviation Wonders this year. It's the first time in a couple of years that our little church plant is doing the same as all the other baptist churches. We usually get to use the year before's vbs.

The exciting thing is I am teaching the preschoolers. LOVE IT! I get to really see if this is what I'm called to do before I really start back to school. I have always loved Elementary Education but being in charge of over 25 small children just scares me. I've always been afraid that I would get so exhausted as a teacher that I wouldn't want to come home and help my own children. But I feel like that is what I would really enjoy. Since I am teaching our youth girls I have come to realize that teaching is fun for me. I am comfortable with these girls and feel like I can handle them. Yes, there are only 15 of them but they are teenage girls. I love being with them and when I move I will definitely miss them so much.

Anyway, this week will really show me which grade level I need to go into. I used to always teach the preschool and kindergarten VBS but I haven't since I had Eason. So hopefully the Lord will show me what he wants me to do. I am leaving it up to him and I will be trying to listen to him and I am making sure that each day I will be spending time with my wonderful Maker. Hopefully, I can keep it up. I'm never good at keeping up with this but I know this is one thing I need to do.

Also, keep us in your prayers as we still try to find a home. Because we have to be out of our place on July 2!!!! And we still have no place to go :)

Monday, June 11, 2012

I'm Frustrated.

I am questioning God. I know I shouldn't but I don't understand him. Which I guess is alright. I don't know why he would let me go to one semester of school and then want us to move to a place where I can't continue. I know we are supposed to go. I love the kids that we will have at the village and I already love the environment and adults we will be helping. I feel comfortable and at peace with that. I just don't know what to do with school. I love nursing but I would have to wait till Aug. 2013 to start completely over my semester I took wouldn't even count, because the schools down there don't take transfers not just one school but ALL 3 of the schools within a reasonable driving distance. AAAHHHH!!! It's so frustrating... I can finish my Elementary Ed. degree easy. I just don't know what I'm supposed to do. I have been on my knees almost the whole morning. Keep praying for me as I struggle with decisions about our future. Never knew it would be this hard.

Friday, June 8, 2012

GRILLING OUT TONIGHT and I'm so excited! Veggie burgers, corn on the cob, and grilled zucchini. YAY! Then we will watch We Bought a Zoo. I hope this movie is as good as everyone else says. Friday Family Night

Recipes from last night

Last night we had a HUGE, healthy dinner :) Here's my recipes:

Chicken Stir-fry:
I cut up chicken tenderloins into small pieces and marinated it for a couple hours in teriyaki sauce.
Then you whip out your skillet and cook it until most of the teriyaki sauce is soaked up and the chicken is finished. Then I put it aside in a separate pan. I had some frozen asparagus stir-fry. ( you can get it at walmart for $1.50) I just threw that in the skillet and cooked it until it was really tender, I still had some teriyaki sauce left in the pan so the veggies got to soak that up :).
Then I took a bag of the Uncle Ben's Whole grain brown rice that cooks in 90 secs. and put it in the microwave, When it was finished I just mixed all of it together in a big pan. EASY! It was also only about 4 Points Plus per cup. YAY weight watchers!

Dessert was delicious. I used a recipe I found on pinterest for miniature peach cobbler. I substituted the butter for I can't believe it's not butter light and I put fresh blueberries in it instead of peaches. You put them in a muffin pan so you have a controlled portion. It was great and Hubby loved it after his long day of work :)

Here's the link to the cobbler recipe! Try it out!



Moving...

Since I last posted a lot has changed. I finished my first semester of nursing school with a 3.75. YAY I am very proud. BUT.... Now We are moving. I am having to put school off for another year, I am trying to transfer to another college but right now we are not 100% sure where we are moving.

Mark got a promotion and is now a campus director for TWO campuses. We are so excited but nervous because we now have to purchase our first house. We found one in Louisville, MS, about 4 hours south of where we are now which needs a little bit of work but is VERY cheap. We are excited to be able to fix it up and make is OURS. Hopefully, they will accept our offer and we will be moving the middle of July, just in time for our 2 year anniversary.

Also, I loved nursing school but the stress of everything made me very sick. I was physically and mentally sick of everything that I was having to do. I loved learning and being back in school and getting to go to the hospital for clinicals but I am thinking maybe I should just finish my education degree. I don't know if I could handle the kind of stress I had in clinicals my whole life. I do love working with the children and I think the hours would be great but I'm not sure if that is what I'm supposed to do. I was in education for a two years so I just have my last 2 years to go. I just don't know what to do?? It would be easier for me to go to school for education because it is mainly online and I can start back in Aug. and will have a set schedule unlike nursing where I didnt know if I was going to have class until the day before. SO STRESSFUL.

Anyway, I can't wait to find out about this house. I have already picked out my paint and carpet and new tile. It's exciting!