Favorite quotes/texts this week

Scene 1: Max and I sitting on a park bench enjoying an official "date." Max is thoroughly enjoying a chocolate milk and a glazed doughnut covered in chocolate icing and sprinkles. I am drinking a breakfast smoothie while drooling over Max's chocolate icing doughnut. We are playing our official "3 Questions" date game:


Me to Max: "You know, Max, I think you are really good at being a leader at school and doing your school work the first time Ms. Sandy asks. What do you think you're good at?"


Max (as his lips are covered with chocolate icing and a milk mustache): "Fishin and goin on dates." :).....What're you good at, mommy?

After some dialogue, I tell Max it is his turn to think of a question for us to answer:

Max (With a huge chocolate grin): What's your fav-o-ite thsing bout me? :)

MELT my heart!! :)

~~~~~
Scene 2: Jack stumbling into my bedroom at 6am with bedhead, half opened eyes, and a scratchy voice:

Jack: Mommy, is today da day Pasta Gawand (Pastor Garland) is gonna be my papa? :)

(Today was grandparents day at school and he has been looking forward to Pastor Garland coming to be his adopted papa!...Thank you, Pastor Garland!)

~~~~
Scene 3: Chris, the kids, and I at the mall, rushing to the car to head over to Hallandale for small groups. After 15 minutes of standing in the parking lot searching for our car keys to no avail, Chris concluded that he must have thrown the keys in the garbage with the scraps from the chik-fil-a kid's meals the boys just enjoyed. As we returned to the food court to debate which trash can can we used, I realized we were going to be late to small groups. I immediately started texting for back-up.

Me--to my friend and small group member: Hi girl. can u please get things started for me tonight? think i'm goin to be late.

p.s. we lost r keys in a trash can (don't know which one) in the food court at the mall. :). will be there asap.

Friend: Sure. on my way there now. traffic is terrible tho.

p.s. you guys r a bit dysfunctional outside of church, huh? :)

ME (As I watch Chris digging through trash can number 2 with only one glove on): Yes. Yes, we are definitely dysfunctional. :)

p.s. WARNING: dont shake Chris' hand tonight. :)


Note: After digging through 3 trash cans ( in the food court at the mall!....I just gag remembering some of the things he had to dig through!), Chris decided to check the last store we were in...Yep, they were sitting on the counter by the register. :)
~~~~

Pondering

I often consider what my dad would say to me if I could talk to him now that he has seen Jesus face to face. Here's what I think he would say tonight:

• HE IS WORTH IT! HE IS WORTH ALL YOU GOT. KEEP ON, Binker (dad's nickname for me).

• You are not expecting big enough. He is so much more than I can attempt to explain in earthly words....Trust me, Holly, you need to dream bigger about what He will do through you and through the Church in your generation.

• I know it is hard work, but Change The World. We (the generations of Christ followers before you) are cheering you guys on. This is YOUR time. Change the world. Bring them to Jesus.

• By the way, we were worshipping around The Throne with you guys today, and that song your worship pastor sang...sick. Just sick. Tell him he's almost good enough to sing up here with us :).

• Tell people who walk away from the Church that they are walking away from God's plan A for your world. There is no Plan B. And if they still choose to walk away, wipe the dust off your feet and move on...don't carry that rejection with you. They're rejecting God's plan, not yours. He is strong enough to carry that burden...YOU are not.

• Remember to serve others...Always. "Jesus came to serve not to be served" (Matt. 20:28). Remember that. Keep serving others.

• KNOW and LOVE HIM. More and more everyday, know and love Him.

• Pray for more hunger, more passion, more fire, more boldness, more faith. You guys have a job (your generation of Christ-Followers) to do and you need to be equipped to do it. Stay on your knees.

• I love you.

And as he walks away, I picture my dad turning back and saying, "Trust me, HE. IS. WORTH. IT. ...See you soon, Bink."

At FRC this weekend....

604 people were rescued from eternity in Hell.

604 people laid their sins at the feet of Jesus and walked away with Him in their lives.

604 people now have a mansion being prepared for them in Heaven.

604 people would tell you that IT MATTERS....IT MATTERS that you look beyond your busy schedule and see the lost and hurting people around you. IT MATTERS that you seize every opportunity to bring those lost friends, family, neighbors, and coworkers to Jesus....IT MATTERS that you push beyond how you feel and just do what you were called to do....IT MATTERS that Christ-followers take their God-given job seriously...We have a world to reach....And this weekend at FRC, 604 people would tell you that IT MATTERS.


You can click here to watch Pastor Troy's "Eternity Matters" teaching from Sunday.

Vacation "B" Role

We arrived home from our Denver/Nebraska trip Thursday night. Chris hit the door running, but I have been taking it slow with the kids and easing our way back into normal life (I know...it is a privilege that I am extremely grateful for!). Our trip was a blast!! BUT, I did accumulate enough humiliating/crazy stories in one week to keep this blog rolling for the next 6 months. The only problem is, you would never believe me if I told you them all at once. So for the sake of my credibility, I will spread them amongst other more serious and profound posts (because I am sooo good at those kinds of posts!!).

Seriously, I found myself saying over and over, "Jesus, PLEASE, this cannot be happening...I have plenty of funny/humiliating stories to keep my friends laughing for awhile...Please don't make me go through this....OK...Jesus, I guess we are gonna go through this. Give me the strength to just laugh and not blow. Amen."

One of the worst times was the first flight home (Yes, there were 2). Here is how our morning started:

4:27(AM)--Wake up in hotel. Dress. Dress kids while Chris checks out.

5:20--Grab a bagel for each kid from the continental breakfast . Load kids and luggage into car.

5:22--Remind Chris that we need to stop on the way to the airport to spray off the it's been on the farm for a week, hunting and 4 wheeling and now is completely mud plastered stroller before we take it into the airport because it would be oh-so humiliating to be carrying 7 bags of luggage, 3 kids, 2 car seats, and a double stroller that is dropping clumps of mud as we parade our way through the airport.

5:32--Realize that not only is the windchill below zero outside and washing a stroller right now is going to really stink (I would use a stronger word there, but I am watching my slang :), but also most manual car washes are: A. not located near an airport. and B. not open at 5:45 am. Begin to second guess the stroller idea and and start worrying about the time. FYI: Our flight leaves at 7am.

5:35--Glance down at my left hand and see NOTHING. Realize I left my wedding rings back in the hotel room. Calmly ask Chris to whip the car around, fly back to the hotel room, and retrieve my wedding rings.

5:46--Retrieve wedding rings, ditch stroller cleaning, head to airport...FAST.

6:01--Arrive at airport. Park car. Begin hauling 7 bags, 3 kids, 2 car seats, and a mud plastered stroller in the frigid outdoors to the ticketing line. Give kids the, "We are in a HUGE hurry and you HAVE to obey mommy and daddy the FIRST time, otherwise we will be left outside in this freezing cold all day" lecture. (Something like that).

6:15--Begin feeling a little relief about our time predicament as we are searching for Air Tran's ticketing counter because their are no lines anywhere.....That is until we spot one line which is a mile long....Which, of course, is Air Tran's.

6:20--Race to the back of the mile long line. Chris and I drop both the luggage and the kids with a huge sigh.

6:20:30--Matter-of-factly instructed by a non-Air Tran ticketing dude that we cannot set our luggage down while we wait in line. Supposedly, the Air Tran line is too long and our luggage is overlapping into his line which has NO Customers (Whose ever heard of Great Lakes Airlines anyways?).

6:20:45--Give Chris the remember you're a Christ-follower look as he CALMLY picks up our luggage and together we begin playing tetris with 7 bags, 3 kids, 2 car seats, and a mud-plastered stroller.

6:25--Realize the ticketing line is not moving. Briefly informed by fellow Air Tran travelers that the computers are down. They are having to hand write everything.

6:45--Finally check-in and begin the race with 3 kids, 2 bags, and a stroller to security. Realize that 3 miles on a treadmill a few times a week is not enough training for this (Did I mention the DIA is huge?)

6:50 Arrive at security. Chris takes the kids; I grab the bag with the baby bottles and formula and head straight to the lady with white hair who begins to give me the, "Do you really need 3 baby bottles, 2 water bottles, and a can of formula for only one child?" spiel. I, in turn, give her the, "This is only the first of 2 flights, we have 3 preschoolers (I always throw that one in for some reason!), we will not be home until 12 hrs from now, and wouldn't you want to be prepared so your baby doesn't have to drink the for-hand washing-only water in the airplane lavatories?" spiel.
Remind myself that like Chris, I too, am a Christ-follower. Whoops.

6:55---Chris and the kids clear security. He immediately throws (literally) the kids onto the stroller, gathers their shoes in his arms, and instructs me to meet him at the gate as soon as I am finished with the white-haired lady. He plans to beg them to hold the plane for me.

6:57--White-haired lady does the official infrared inspection on the baby bottles, empties my water bottles, and curtly hands me back the empty water bottles..."Um, thanks." Begin my race to gate A48.

6:58--Chris and I both have an "Oh, please don't let anyone have seen that" moment in the same place as we separately race to Gate A48. The Place? The Moving walkway..
WARNING: If you are in a hurry to the point of frantic...DO. NOT. Attempt. A. Moving. Walkway.

Chris' moment: Runs full speed with all 3 kids and the stroller down the moving walkway....he abruptly hits a bump and Jack tumbles out of the stroller onto the walkway. Chris scoops Jack in his arms and begins whispering in his ear "Don't cry, don't cry. Be Tough. Don't cry."
Chris continues heading full speed to Gate A48 with Max and Annie now in the double stroller and Jack in his arms desperately trying not to cry.

Me: A minute or so behind Chris, spot the moving walkway and head straight for it as I am frantically searching to make sure I am headed correctly toward Gate A48. After at least 15 FRUSTRATING steps on the walkway (and beginning to think, "Surely I am more coordinated than this?"), I realize that I am on a walkway headed in the opposite direction! UGHH!!! I had just enough time as I turned around to catch a glimpse of about 5 people...laughing :).

7:03--Finally arrive at Gate A48 just as the attendant at the boarding ramp is telling Chris he can get on with the kids, but she will not wait for me. The captain is ready to take off.

7:05--Forsake our mud-plastered double stroller with the attendant, expecting never to see it again and run down the boarding ramp to the plane.

7:06 Chris and I arrive at the plane door with all 3 kids just as they are shutting the door...They graciously (sort-of) allow us on, but instruct us to quickly find a seat...Oh, and they mention that since the computers were down it is open seating and there are no 2 seats left together.

7:11--After we have thoroughly ticked off all the passengers and attendants because: 1.We were late and 2. 8 people had to switch seats so our kids wouldn't be left unattended, we calmly settle in for a 2 1/2 hr flight with 3 preschoolers.

7:12--Jack begins a 30 minute crying marathon over his tumble and resulting "4 boo boos".

What a morning...Sometimes, Chris and I bite off a little more than we can chew. The problem is, we never realize it is too much until we are neck deep and the only way out is to KEEP ON PUSHIN' through the chaos! I am so glad we are a team at this...I would still be in the DIA family bathroom crying if we weren't in this together!

P.S.

9:45am--Arrive at ATL airport. Mud-plastered double stroller waiting for us as we exit the plane. :)

9:55--Eat at Moe's in the ATL Airport (It's 11:55 EST) and laugh until we cry over the past 6hrs!

Nebraska Part II

Jesus, Thank you for the time to relax and to just be together. We are blessed.

Nebraska Part I

"My heart is filled with joy by JUST BEING with family."

(The boys holding a baby field mice..."Oh the experiences on Papa Gene's farm!")

(Chris really enjoys JUST BEING at mom's kitchen table!)

(Annie had to wear a hair bow every day with grandma...one of the house rules:)

Quote of the day

Me to Jack: "Jack, Mommy is really sad that you through a temper tantrum at school today when Ms. Betsy told you to lay down on your mat for nap time. You are going to get a spanking when we get home."

Jack: "I didn't throw a tempur....How you say it? tempur tanter?...I didn't throw a tempur tanter, mommy. I threw my mat and my pillow."

I am happy to report that not only did I laugh (on the inside, of course) but this happened 2 weeks ago and we have not had a repeated mat and pillow throwing episode...yet :)