Chains...

This weekend I am a Chaperone/Small Group Leader for our Youth's Girls Retreat. The theme for the weekend is Chained. It will both be focused on breaking our chains to this world and then in turn being chained to Christ.

 Now I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that what has happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel. ¹³ As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ. ¹⁴ And because of my chains, most of the brothers and sisters have become confident in the Lord and dare all the more to proclaim the gospel without fear. Phillippians 1:12-14

Paul spoke in Phillippians about how he was chained to Christ and because of this he was able to bring others to Christ. What difference could we make if we truly broke our chains to this world and to sin and fully let ourselves be chained to Christ... We could experience true freedom for ourselves but just imagine what effect we would have on others.

My sweet husband is helping one of our friends lead worship for the retreat this weekend and the theme song per say is "Holding Nothing Back." This song proclaims very empowering lyrics about us not letting anything keep up from being fully a child of God and living fully for him. Let these words speak to you today...

I am chosen, I am free
I am Living for eternity
Free now forever

You picked me up, turned me around
You set my feet on solid ground
Yours now forever

And nothing’s gonna hold me back
Nothing’s gonna hold me back
Nothing’s gonna hold me back

My chains fell off
My heart was free
I’m alive to live for you
I’m alive to live for you
Amazing Love, how can it be?
You give everything for me
You give everything for me

You washed my sin and shame away
The slate is clean: a brand new day,
Free now forever

Now boldly I approach your throne
To claim this crown through christ my own
Yours now forever

And nothing’s gonna hold me back
Nothing’s gonna hold me back
Nothing’s gonna hold me back

My chains fell off
My heart was free
I’m alive to live for you
I’m alive to live for you
Amazing Love, how can it be?
You give everything for me
You give everything for me

I’m free to live
Free to give
Free to be
I’m free to love you

Play Dates

Okay so all of my friends with children (which is a lot) always talk about their kids play dates. Boo! The fun you miss when you don't have kids! So anyway- my friends Amanda and Rachel and I got the four of our babies/furbabies together for a play date last night and here is the result....

Jacks met his best friend Fletch. Fletch is a miniature schanuzer that is I think like 4 months old! He is our friend Adam and Amanda's "furbaby" and has so much energy and is so lively! They were instant friends. We walked in the house and they started running around and they didn't stop until I left!

Jacks and Fletch also got to hang out with two of their favorite friends... Caroline and Amelia! They would play around Amelia and she would smile and giggle but if they got too close to Caroline she went into her assertive mode and was sure to tell them "NO!"

I was able to get lots of love from 2 of my favorite little girls which made my day! Amelia is getting so comfortable with Mommy and Daddy's friends and Caroline was just as fun and spunky as ever!

Thanks for the play date Amanda and Fletch and Rachel, Caroline, and Amelia. Jacks slept like a baby and can't wait to do it again!

Today!!!

Mind you, as I write this post a few words may come to your mind...
Pathetic...
Cheesy...

I'm not really sure I care. You see Chris and I have spent the night away from eachother on two different occassions since we got married. I was the first to leave...
A few weeks ago I left from Wednesday to Saturday to go on a girl's trip! Boy was it fun! But... I must admit that it is easier to leave than to be the one left.
Chris left early Monday morning (before I woke up) and was gone two nights. He comes back today! YAY!!!! It is not nearly as fun being the one left behind. So I came up with a list of why I don't like him being gone and then a few things that were nice about him being gone. The second list was much harder to come up with!

Why I Don't Like Chris being gone...
1- I hear EVERY noise in the house. SCARY
2- It is really dark when I take Jacks out to go potty. SCARY
3- I have to come home everyday at lunch. Commute from work-home=25 minutes
4- I really love my husband!
5- He takes care of me... really he does!
6-  You can talk to someone a lot more when you live together. The phone=not as fun.

What was nice about him being gone...
1- I didn't cook 1 meal
2- Don't tell him but I didn't make up the bed until today because he's coming back today
3- He doesn't let Jacks sleep in the bed and I let Jacks sleep in the bed last night!

So yes I may be pathetic and cheesy but I'm ready for my hubbs to come home!

Borrowed words...

Certain people around me lately have spoken some things I really needed to hear lately and I thought I would share...

1- Really focusing on being single-minded. We all tend to be so double-minded focusing on God but also focusing on the world and what people think. We're called to be single-minded in our focus, our thoughts, our devotion.

2- Ministry for God is not time spent with God. 9 words. It is amazing how 9 words can make a huge impact on my life. I love ministry for God. I love time spent at our church. I love serving God in different capacities. And God loves that. It is his heart for us to serve him and do his ministry. But, he wants us. He wants us to sit at his feet and listen, seek Him, worship Him. I do both- but what do I spend more time doing? I'm ashamed to admit that I probably spend more time doing ministry for Him then just sitting and spending time apart with and for Him. A few weeks ago I was incredibly blessed to have a few days to really sit in a place where I could admire His beautiful creation and spend time repenting, time in prayer, time worshipping, time reading, and time allowing Him to speak to me. What a gift that was. It made me realize how much more that needs to be a part of my everyday existence.
Not just read my Bible, read a Devotional, Worship, Pray.
Sit.
Quiet.
Solitude.
Listening.

Quiet sometimes scares me....
But those few days showed me that the quiet times with God can be the most beautiful and Spirit filled times that we have.

Jackson "Jacks" Whatley

Let me introduce you to the latest love of my life! Who knew you could be so in love with such a little furball? He truly lights up each day! He has been such a joy and blessing that I cannot possibly express! Our little furball bundle of joy was born on October 1st! How precious... he was born right before we got married! He is currently 17 weeks as of today and is 5.6 lbs!

I have literally been crazy momma this week because he got sick twice! Apparently Havanese have very sensitive tummies and can get themselves in a wad over them! No worries, he's all better now and super ready for a weekend at home with his parents! Mom and Dad are proud parents of their super pup! I must brag and say he's NEVER had a #2 accident in the house! YAY :)

That's all for today! For now, enjoy these pics of his precious face!!

So Sorry!!!

I know I know, I am officially a bad blogger! I started this series that I was super excited about in December and I only finished half of it. I can completely blame it on how the busyness of the Christmas season got the best of me but its still lazy blogging! Anyway, the final two things our church helped sponsor that I was going to tell you about were....
1- Compassion International
2- Building wells in Zambia.

First, Compassion International is an incredible organization. So many of us see these children in these countries that are so distant from us and we don't know what we can do to help. At that time, the calling on yours or my life may not be to travel overseas on a mission trip, or to adopt a child from one of these countries. So then what can you do to specifically help a child and build that relationship. You can sponsor a child through Compassion International. You can pick your child, boy/girl, and whatever country you want! You then pay monthly to provide this child with all his needs. Such a small sum of money can provide a child so much. You can build a relationship with this child and write them letters and many people one day have the chance to meet the Compassion child they sponsor. This is truly one thing you can do that makes a HUGE difference in the life of that child.

Second, I am going to totally do a blog post at some point that includes pictures and all kinds of things from Zambia so I'm not going to talk about it in detail right now because I couldn't do it justice. I will tell you though that our church challenged our congregation to build 10 wells during 2011 starting with raising money through our Christmas offering. Well go Saint James because they already have the money to dig 13!!! Fresh water for so many people in Zambia is going to make a huge difference!!

Enjoy this info today... tomorrow my laziness shall subside and I will tell you about Chris and my new addition to the family... Jacks!

ATL

I don't know about you but for some reason homeless people have always interested me. My thoughts about the homeless were completely different until I read a book called The Noticer. My friend Amanda gave it to me to read and I would encourage all of you to read it. The link takes you to the author, Andy Andrews, page and you can purchase the book from there and read more about him. That book changed my outlook on the homeless and for the first time I was actually interested in how people are helping the homeless. I know that sounds selfish that it actualy took me 24 years to even care, but God can change our hearts and he changed mine.

That leads me to talk about a little organization called Church on the Street.

There are over 12,000 homeless men, women and children in Atlanta. Now hear this- over 2000 are known as long-term or chronically homeless. Church on the Street isn't a homeless shelter that these people have to try to get into at night. They go out into the streets where these homeless people wander and live and build relationships with them. That is what Jesus called us to do- build relationships. The first part of what Church on the Street does is their outreach ministries. Before they even attempt to help these homeless get into shelters and get their life turned around, they begin by just trying to talk to them and minister to them. I'm stealing a quote from their website...

 The type of service that is needed by this group is not only basic sustenance, but also, and primarily, due to their engrained isolation, hopelessness and skepticism, consistent relationships with persons who care for their well-being unconditionally, are willing to be with them, and will speak honestly to them.

We don't know much about homeless people. We understand they need food, clothing, shelter, etc. Unfortunately, when it gets past that we are somewhat confused and don't let our mind go there. They are often in dangerous places. They are often what make places dangerous in our minds. They are not always easy to approach and friendly. They have been very isolated and don't have the social skills you or I might have. But, what Jesus taught us through his actions was to go out to the LEAST and the LOST. I'm pretty sure the homeless population fit that description.

The second part of what Church on the Street does is education. We all need to be educated about the homeless. I'm sitting here writing this blog and I know SO LITTLE. What I realize now though is that I do want to learn. I want to figure out what I can do to help to get them out of these situations. In addition to teaching people about the homeless population, they teach people how to reach out to the homeless population. Go check out their website and learn more and figure out how you can help!