Yesterday was my marathon, Today's is my husband's

Two days ago, I was ready to kill my pastor husband. He was preparing for the Marine Corp Marathon (today), and had all sorts of things planned the day before his marathon. First, I videotaped his message. Then I put it onto DVD with powerpoint slides interspliced. I do enjoy that kind of work, but it required me to work on it from 6pm until 4am (at someone else's house)!

Then, Saturday morning, I had to clean house. At 10am, we went to the school so we could setup church stuff. I went back home afterwards to finish cleaning the house. At 2pm, we had a teen Bible study. It turned out that 6 boys came. At 4pm, we had a membership class. Lovely ladies (the family members of some of the teens that came)! I put out chips and soda, and broccoli and carrots with dip, and popcorn. It was all gone by 7pm. Having 9 boys in the house was a bit crazy (their 6 plus our 3).

Plus, an old friend came over to fix our front porch (the railing was messed up). My husband talked with him at 7pm (poor guy, his wife left him). THEN, my in-laws came over - they were sleeping over so they could go with my husband to the marathon the next day. We ate spaghetti, late. It's a good thing we had daylight savings time change. We got an extra hour of sleep!

I fussed a lot, but once the people were in the house, I really appreciated what God gave us. He gave us a wonderful home in which we could show hospitality. It is a TRUE blessing, one I should never begrudge. I am glad my husband forces me to use this house for the LORD. Even if he decides to do it all in ONE day, lol!

I prepared my children's church lesson, last night, but I got up early this morning. I couldn't help it. So, I feel much more prepared than normal. Right now, my husband is in DC, and has just run 5 minutes of his marathon, lol! I am praying he doesn't die, lol! This is his first marathon. He trained all year. He's aiming for under 4 hrs. There are 30,000 runners, this year!! Whew, I can't even imagine it. I hope my father-in-law gets some good video coverage.

At least I'm done my marathon....well maybe not. I still have to pick up halloween costumes, candy, and food supplies for my son's school halloween party. Tomorrow, the moonbounce will be dropped off in our driveway, and we'll hand out candy, informational cards of our church (oh, I still have to make those), and let the trick or treaters jump in the moonbounce for free. Last year, we had about 250 kids (no advertising, our neighborhood is ideal because it has a sidewalk, and it's a one mile circle). And maybe, Good Morning America is coming to our house to interview my husband about that same issue that was in the Washington Post. That's not a definite, so we'll see. *Big Sigh* I'll get a breather Tuesday and Wednesday, only to gear up for my family coming to visit on Thursday. They are staying the weekend. I'm looking forward to that and plus, it will be the first time they visit our church plant! They are so used to traditional church, I wonder if they'll like our church, lol??

We're in the Washington Post!....Maybe....

The Washington Post called my husband a couple of weeks ago. They are doing an article on alternatives to health insurance. We are a part of a healthcare newsletter (the same one that helped us get our then 4yo's medical bills taken care of). I think that health newsletter gave them our name because our medical bills got taken care of so well. Last week, they called again and sent someone to take a picture of our whole family! That was pretty cool! I was so nervous about the picture, I cleaned the whole house. And then, we didn't even get our picture taken inside, lol! The photographer took it outside, where the light was better.

So, Tuesday, of this week, it *might* be in the health section. I'll see! For all I know, they could've ditched the whole article! :o)

Pastor Appreciation Sunday - a surprise?

Not really, lol! First, one core team member called me to tell me to delete the email from my husband's mailbox, rofl! I deleted it without looking. But, I was reading the newspaper and discovered the pastor appreciation luncheon invite!

My husband didn't know about it at all. It was very low-key. We just ate lunch after the service. At least I didn't have to be paraded in front of everyone. I don't like that. They didn't even make me go first! It's funny how different church plants are from established churches.

BUT, I must admit, we received more thanks and more monetary gifts than the first time our former church had a pastor appreciation. Of course, then, my husband was *just* the youth pastor. So, he didn't get any acknowledgement. The following years, they gradually gave more and more. The final year, the appreciation was the most, but was definitely a sugar-coated bitter pill. I'm glad those days are over. All the thanks I need are seeing more and more people trust in Jesus and get baptized. I've also been so blessed to gain new friendships with ladies that are just so sweet and we click! If we're willing to give up that whole list of stuff mentioned in Mark 10:29, He promises 100-fold in this age and the age to come. I've definitely seen that promise come true!

We helped a Hurricane Katrina victim, inadvertantly

We put together a whole bunch of backpacks for our local elementary school (!). My oldest son came home and told us that he had a new boy in his classroom. This boy's family had just left Mississippi, where their house had been destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. They were staying with family, in one house. Anyway, we found out that the schools gave out the backpacks to these kids. How sweet to see the end result of the work we did!

How many times must I do 40 Days?

I guess until it clicks, lol! Actually, this is probably my 3rd time at reading "Purpose Driven Life" and second time that I'm doing it with a Bible study group. Every time, though, I'm always amazed at how clearly it spells the truths of the Bible. And yeah, I *should* have learned it all already, but I haven't. It's kind of like the Beattitudes that Jesus preached. So simple, but not so easy to get down pat!

What I appreciate the most about the 40 Days campaign is that it truly helps new believers to grow! What might've taken them much longer to digest, is done in 6 weeks. We are already seeing growth in the new believers that are attending the services. What's even more funny to me is that, most of the small group Bible studies are hosted by the new believers, not the core team!! I think only 2 out of the 10 are hosted by core team members. That's awesome!

We've had attendance of 50's the past 2 weeks. Our first day of the campaign we had 75. That was sweet.

Remember the Week we Skipped Church?

Well, the first week of our 40 Days of Purpose Campaign, we had 16 visitors!! And only 2 of those 16 were NOT from the neighborhood that we did our prayer walk in, the week we skipped church. Kind of cool, huh? Why am I so surprised at how God works?