Women's Retreat

So this weekend I got to get away from the big city and go on a Women's retreat with my church! It was especially fun because 2 of my friends from Bible Study were there and we all invited our mommies to come with us!!

{Me, My mom Letha, Kelli, Kelli's mom Carla, Jestine and Jestine's mom Michelle!!}

Here are some more tidbits from the trip.....

We arrived at Pine Cove to this beautiful view!

This is our cabin...top floor, and we had to climb those stairs every time we needed 1 little thing :] Yikes!!!!

The cute sign on our door

I got to sing praises to the King with some great friends!!

Kelli's mom braved the Zip Line!!

We played Minute to Win it...I had to dip my nose in Vaseline then stick a cotton ball to my nose and shake the cotton balls off in another bowl...I won by the way!!!

This was my small group!!

We also had "bonfires" at night!  We played a funny game involving Ninja sounds, among others!!

The weekend was amazing!  The theme was Transforming Your Journey.  We had speakers and we learned a lot!  My take away was different from others, but I came home knowing that God needs to be a bigger priority in my life.  Him first before my to do lists, before my family, before my agenda.  If you are the praying type, and I hope you are, pray that I would be persistent in this life change.  My journey was transformed, and I can't wait till next year!!

1st Day of School

So today was Joey's 1st day of Mother's Day Out, and it went really well!  It's at our church, so she is familiar with the building and I think that helps.

It all started with our parent homework :)  We had to make a place mat for Joey using the apple cut out and green paper above...anything else was up to us!  I added these pictures and this morning I let Joey put Dora stickers in the bottom right hand corner {that's right, I'm anal and wouldn't let my child put the stickers over her sister's face like she wanted to :)  "You can only put them here" I told her while pointing to the open spot!}.  This was laminated today and they use it when they eat :)

This morning Joey would not let me do her hair in any cute way so we just went down stairs and ate some waffles before we left the house. 

After dropping Sam off at Miss Holli's house, we headed to McFBC...when we pulled up I got out to get Joey and here she is saying "We at church Mommy?  I go school now!".

Here we are walking up to school.  She wouldn't stop to let me take a picture because she was too ready to get inside, so this is the best we got!  

Each kiddo has a box outside their class where they can put their stuff.  I asked Joey where her name was and she actually found it!  Fluke?? We will see on Thursday if it was!  We put her rest mat, naked baby, and her blanket in the bin and headed to the door.

I was happy that there were no tears today {unlike meet the teacher night}....Joey gave me a kiss, walked right in and looked back at me saying "Bye Mommy, I play with my friends now".  I was glad she was happy when I left...it made it a lot easier!

So I went to work and 5 hours later turned right back around to come get Joey from school.  When I got there she was waiting at the door because a few other mommies were picking up their little ones at the same time.  I talked to her teacher who said Joey had a great day!  We got a report for the day and it said that she went potty 3 times on the big potty, ate all of her snack and most of her lunch and slept a little over an hour during rest time!  Joey even told me she had fun, and I decided to start a new tradition each year....here's her 1st annual 1st Day of School interview :) {keep in mind, she's 2, so we didn't get tons of information out of her during the interview :]}

We ended the day at Baskin Robins!  Yummo :)

Here's to an awesome year!

Coming On The Clouds With Fire.....*Updated*

So as mentioned before, we are doing a study which starts this week in church on Revelation.  I am super stoked!  The imagery and truth in this book of the Bible is intriguing and powerful!  In Rev 1:7 it reads:

"Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him. So shall it be! Amen."

Today I was catching up on some of my favorite blogs, and I came across some amazing pictures.......They reminded me of a song that I actually had to plug my ears and sing just so I could remember the words.  Bret walked in and caught me during this process, kinda embarrassing, but I digress.  The song is called Hosanna.  It always brings me to my feet when played at church.  When I have the privilege of singing this song for our congregation, my nerves melt away, and I loose myself in the lyrics.  The are amazing.  The first line of the song reminds me of this picture painted in Revelation 1:7...it goes like this I see the King of Glory coming on the clouds with fire. The whole earth shakes, the whole earth shakes.......Which leads me to the amazing photos found today.....If this isn't as close to Jesus coming on the clouds with fire without him actually coming on the clouds with fire, I don't know what is!  Feast your eyes on these beauties and enjoy!

(Found on The Pioneer Woman's Blog)

(Found on The Pioneer Woman's Blog)

(Found on The Pioneer Woman's Blog)

(Found on The Pioneer Woman's Blog)

Amazing right???  The rest of the song is just as good as the 1st few lines, so I've put the video of the song below andwritten the words out for you below....Please read these lyrics, and enjoy, it is truly one of my favorite songs!

I see the King of Glory, coming on the clouds with fire

The whole earth shakes, the whole earth shakes.

I see His love and mercy washing over all our sin.

The people sing, the people sing

Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest

Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest

I see a generation rising up to take their place

With selfless faith, with selfless faith.

I see a near revival, stirring as we pray and seek

We're on our knees, we're on our knees

Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest

Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest

Heal my heart and make it clean

Open up my eyes to the things unseen

Show me how to love like you have loved me

Break my heart for what breaks yours

Everything I am for your Kingdom's cause

As I walk from earth into eternity

Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest

Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest

Man, those last few verses are another blog in and of themselves with what's going on in Haiti, and all over our world.  We are so blesses to live in a place where devastation isn't lurking at our doorstep at all times!

The End is Coming......

We are about to start a series at church called "The Apocalypse". It's a study on the entire book of Revelation and I am so completely stoked I can't even contain it! Jan has been planing the music/drama/video clips and such for this series along with help from many others. Here's Jan's most recent entry
from her blog (hope you don't mind me using this Jan :) that got me even more excited about this upcoming series...It's thought provoking and gives great insight on what we can expect over the 10 week series.....

We (McKinney Fellowship) are getting ready to begin a series called The Apocalypse which is a study of the entire book of Revelation. So, I am waist deep in planning services for that series. What a book to foster creative ideas for services!! I am loving it. (If you are a McFBC'r, just a heads up... You won't want to miss any of the 10 weeks! You never know what you're gonna get.)

Today I am working on the service for Revelation 4 & 5, which is the description of the Throne room in heaven and the worship that goes on there. What a scene that is. The colors, the sounds, the creatures, the worship. AMAZING! Here is an excerpt.


Rev. 4:2-8
2At once I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne.3 And he who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian, and around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald.4 Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones were twenty-four elders, clothed in white garments, with golden crowns on their heads.5 From the throne came flashes of lightning, and rumblings and peals of thunder, and before the throne were burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God,6 and before the throne there was as it were a sea of glass, like crystal. And around the throne, on each side of the throne, are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind:7 the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with the face of a man, and the fourth living creature like an eagle in flight.8 And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!


If you have never read the rest of those 2 chapters, I encourage you to do so. I really never tire of reading them over and over. It gives me such hope for what is to come.

As I was reading and looking for music written from the verses in these chapters it occurred to me afresh that this is not a scene that was made up by John or something that will take place in the future. It is happening right now. 24/7/365 All the time these creatures with wings and eyes all over themselves and the elders with their crowns and the thunder and lightening and sea of glass making all of this envelop those in it... it is happening right now, as you are reading this and will continue to repeat itself after you finish. Over and over and over and over into infinity.

The are songs that we sing in church on occasion that are written from the words found here. Agnus Dei, Revelation Song, Holy Holy Holy, and several more. All of these songs always seem to "just work" when we sing them. People engage, they worship. Why is that? What is it about these songs that enable people to worship more fully than with some other songs? Want my theory? (Sorry if you said "no", it's my blog - you're going to get it anyway.) I believe they work because we are joining with heaven in worship of the Holy God that is already going on, has always gone on and will always go on . For just a moment in time, it is on earth as it is in heaven. What a thought that is. I almost can't wrap my mind around it.

I so long for the day I can be in that place forever. Worshipping with every ounce of all I am . So for now, I settle for getting as close to that as I can as often as I can for as long as I can. How about you? When is the last time you entered in to the throne room and spent so time casting your crowns down and worshipping your maker? Join me - won't you? Click here, close you eyes and just worship!

I mean are you kidding me, I am so excited I kinda want to pee a little....that's right folks, I said pee a little! Check out this video teaser of the series and let me know if you want any info on it, it's gonna rock!!!