Launch

Three months ago I launched my firstborn into her college dorm and out of my house. Everyone says how fast life goes but this experience was just shocking. You know your job is to raise a responsible adult that makes good decisions but you don’t like it when it happens. I purposed in my heart to make it fun and exciting and not to be an emotional wreck making her feel guilty for leaving home. We really did have a great time setting up her dorm and I was genuinely excited for her.

What I have learned is the experience of Bonnie being at college has opened up a whole new world for our family. She is a college cheerleader and we have been so proud of her hard work and dedication. Her schedule has been grueling but she is making it work. It has been an amazing experience sitting on the sidelines of your child’s life and watching them live their dream. Bonnie has cheered her entire life and always dreamed of being a college cheerleader. She didn’t think it would happen for her but she never gave up. Instead of loosing Bonnie we have met the most precious young ladies who we already love dearly.

This past week Bonnie came home to stay for a few nights over Thanksgiving break. My heart was full and my peace of mind was at an all time high. I know she will never be as dependent on us again and knows how to live on her own. But there is something indescribable about having all your babies under the same roof, safely tucked in their beds. Our family was whole and I just wanted time to stop and us exist all together with no hectic busy schedule in the way. We resumed staying up late talking and playing some weird text game the kids love. It was simple and magical all at the same time.

I cherished our few days all together more than I can say. I took as many pictures as the kids could tolerate. As I hurried to finish Bonnie’s laundry and helped her pack her car to go back to her dorm, I started feeling myself getting emotional and wanting to cry. I just wanted to keep my girl home forever. I didn’t want to watch her drive away from us back to her new life. I hugged her and let her go and forced myself to contain my emotions.


The reality is I can fight my kids growing up and focus on my loss of them in my daily life or I can embrace every season and not ruin the current state of things. I choose to be grateful that I was blessed with so many wonderful babies and so many special times. I choose to release them when the time comes and not to hold them back for my own comfort. I choose to be thankful that God picked me to be their mom but I am sure counting down until Christmas break comes and my firstborn returns home to us again!

My 18th Mother's Day 2017

Last Thursday was the last regular school day for the senior class of 2017 at Beaches Chapel School, which includes my firstborn, Bonnie!  I haven’t been feeling sentimental or emotional up until this day.  I burst into tears despite my best effort to stay under control and cried on and off all day.  Why am I crying?  I pondered that all day long.  I know this class is very near and dear to my heart but geez!  I could not stop the water works.  I have spent a lot of time with these students.  I see such talent and leadership in this class.  I boo-hooed when I posted the group picture that I took of them and cried when I told my mom about how much I will miss them.  Yes, it’s my first child to graduate from BCS, the place I graduated from 30 years ago.  I get all that but the emotions were ridiculous and inconvenient for sure.

I finally got through the day and got in bed for the night.  Dan was watching a show on TV and I was scrolling through Facebook on my phone.  I read an article a friend posted titled, “What a Mother Really Wants on Mother’s Day” and I thought it would be funny like, “for my kids to leave me alone and clean the house” kind of stuff.  NOPE!  I was wrong.  This article slayed me.  The main point was all mothers want a redo, a chance to go back and be a better mother.  I sat in bed with tears dripping off my chin in the dark.  The article put the finger on why I am weepy.  Although Bonnie has turned out better than I ever could have hoped and has been such a blessing to mother, I know I could have been there more for her.  I know I put too much work on her with me being pregnant and nursing for a solid decade.  I wish I would have slowed down, laughed more, worried less and enjoyed raising her more than I did.  I was too tired, too stressed, too overwhelmed much of her life.   The article ended with saying that all mother’s need GRACE.  Amen to that!

The next day, I was recounting this article to my dear friend Tina and again burst into tears telling her about it.  She had a young adult friend in her office that blessed me so much, more than she realizes.  She quietly started speaking into my life and saying that God never called parents to be perfect.  He told us to lead our children to God.  She praised me at how successful I have been because my kids know the Lord and that He is all they really need in life.  He is the answer to all their questions and the one who will never leave them or forsake them.  I have thought about that for days and have settled my heart on this truth.  I haven’t been perfect but I introduced all my babies to the perfect One that will heal all of lives hurts.  I have faithfully kept them in church and showed them where our hope lies. So to all you mommy’s out there, beating yourself up, feeling like a failure, give yourself grace, lead your kids to the God and the perfect one will fill in all of our parenting gaps!  Thank you Lord!

Father's Day 2016

The dog woke me up licking my feet.  It’s one of the most irritating things to me.  I had so many years of babies waking me up and now we have a dog that has taken on the task.  It did afford me the time as I wrestled to go back to sleep to think about Father’s Day.  I thought about my Daddy and how much I miss him but how loved I was.  I thought about Dan and what an incredible father he is to our five kids.  When you marry someone, you take so many chances.  They may be nice to you and you may get a long great while you are dating but you never know what will happen when you merge two lives together, not to mention adding five kids in the mix!

Dan and I always had the best time.  I am still not sure why we get a long the way we do.  We are not opposite personalities. We are both babies of the families full of opinions.  One of the things I have always appreciated is our sense of humor.  We are both sarcastic and we laugh a lot.   With the hectic life we created, you either laugh or cry. One of the things I have always loved about Dan is he doesn't worry. I am sure he does to some extent but he never obsesses about problems, or fixates on them like I do. He doesn’t freak out in the night and stay up trying to figure things out.  He doesn’t panic on how we are going to raise these kids and move importantly, how we are going to feed them!  He truly takes one day at time like the Bible instructs us to.

People marvel at how we keep up with all of our kid’s activities.  I chose wisely in picking my kid’s father!  Dan grew up in a house with two hard working parents and so that is what Dan knows to do.  He also grew up in a house where his parents were true partners, not segregated in their typical roles.  His mom worked and his dad did most of the cooking.  It just worked best that way.

Dan has been the hardest working father I have ever known.  He is passionately committed to helping his kids reach their goals.  He puts them first everyday.  He has laid aside the things he wants and loves to do in order to accommodate his kids and their activities. When I met Dan, he played golf almost everyday and was really good.  He used to play golf every Friday with my Dad while he was in college.  Now he will go years without playing and never complains.   

He sold a nice car he loved dearly in order to cover the kid’s expenses for the things they are involved in. Our vacations surround our kid’s sports.  He buys them the gear they need and rarely buys nice brands for himself anymore.  The biggest shock of all is he is now a faithful grocery shopper at Walmart because the prices are so cheap and we buy so much food. He fixes everything, builds things and is never afraid to tackle any challenge.

I am so glad I took a chance marrying a guy still in college.  I remember hoping he would be a hard worker when he graduated college but I had no idea how hard he would work.  This life is much bigger and wild than we would have ever dreamed. It is filled with individual, unique, spirited, strong, opinionated children who have known the sacrificial love of a Daddy who would do whatever it takes to provide and protect them.  

He is not easy on them.  He makes them work hard.  He doesn’t allow them to be disrespectful.  He makes them keep their commitments and expects them to do well in school.  He is always there for them and they know above all else that he will do anything for them.

One of the most important things I believe that Dan has taught them is how to love their mother.  I heard a sermon recently about Deborah in the Bible who was a Judge.  She was a leader but was also a wife. Sometimes people act like you can’t do both.  There are still so many men in the world that resist women leaders.  They may not say it because it’s not politically correct anymore but they make it clear they would rather work with men and have the women just make their coffee.  They have the attitude like they are forced to tolerate the women leaders in their life.  

Dan has fostered an environment in our home where he celebrates my leadership, believes in me, listens to me and cheers me on. When I was asked to be the Chairman of Board and was nervous about it, Dan is the one despite our ridiculous schedule encouraged me to do it.  Dan is the one who pushed me to take a new leadership role last year knowing it would be time consuming and difficult for our whole family.  Dan is the one that on a crazy busy weekend of multiple kid activities thought I should officiate a wedding and was willing to help me manage all the kids to make it possible. 

My prayer is that my girls will never marry a man that doesn’t believe in their leadership and who supports the call of God on their life.   My prayer for my boys is that they will love their wives like they have watched their Dad do and never limit them or diminish their gifts and talents.  

Dan has taught them love and devotion in marriage and in our society that is probably the best gift of all for my children.  Oh and he has also shown them how important it is to hone your coffee making skills.  He has made me coffee almost everyday for 21 years even though he doesn’t drink it.  Now that is true love!  I am so thankful that Dan is the father of our five incredible kids.  When I found out I was pregnant for the fifth time, someone told me that God trusted Dan and I enough to allow us to raise and train up five kids.  I can see now that Dan was truly the man for the job and I am forever grateful!  Happy Father’s Day Dan!

 

Mother's Day 2016

The sad reality is that I never blog anymore.  I truly love it. It’s like therapy to unleash my inner thoughts and feelings with no one rolling their eyes, judging me or telling me to calm down. When I am stressed and exhausted, I have no energy to blog.  My brain can’t produce any intelligent thoughts by the end of the day. That’s basically been my daily feelings for the past year. Well, today is my day.  I have the mother’s day right to be in my bed, to not be productive and to lounge around doing whatever I want.  The kids are restricted from complaining and asking me to do anything and it’s pretty fantastic. Well, except Eddie who thought it would be a good idea for me to get him a prize for all the cleaning he did.  He is quite aggravated with this restriction on his mom slave.  

Bless Dan’s heart.  He always puts way too much effort into mother’s day despite the fact that I tell him EVERY year, that I don’t want gifts and I don’t want to go out. I want to sleep and have the kids clean the house only.  I nice thoughtful note from the kids thanking me for my hard labor would be a bonus.  He can’t help himself.  He always blows it out of the park to bless me with awesome gifts that I love and that I totally don’t need.  I think I disappoint him with my lack of social fun.  I always want to stay at home and not have to work hard to look presentable. It’s getting more and more difficult as the years tick by.  I have skin cancer scars, age spots, freckles to hide every day and gray hair that I have resorted to plucking.  I know nothing about hair dye and I am scared to try based on the freaky deaky fake red hair that I have seen. So tonight it’s the real deal, the real me with no disguise. Sorry family you have to suffer through…it’s mother’s day weekend!

People give me a lot of credit when my kids do something great or thoughtful or generally behave themselves. I honestly don’t feel like we can take any credit. Dan and I didn’t set out with parenting goals or skills. Day by day we are stumbling through this parenting thing and sometimes we are just awful. We say hateful things, inappropriate things, immature things, selfish things….I truly am thankful there are good things in all my kids. It’s only because of a gracious God who covers us and helps us despite our shortcomings.  Speaking of shortcomings…one cool thing that I didn’t plan or anticipate was the fact that because of the areas I lack, my kids have actually taken up the slack.  The fact that I forget about dinner many days and that 7 people need to eat has caused Maggie and Bonnie to be pro-active.  So many times, over the last year since I went to work full-time, my girls have meat frying in the pan when I come in from one of my kid drop-offs.  They are so much better at cooking and being creative in the kitchen than I have ever been. That was quite a surprise parent win.  I could pretend that I did it on purpose but we all know that’s not true. Accidental positive result from sucking.

Last night, my heart was flooded with shock, love and joy.  My house was a hot mess when I got home from a long day.  I had a busy week and was out almost every night.  Dishes everywhere, laundry and shoes scattered everywhere and I was totally wiped out.  I tried to will myself to get busy and to bust a move like I would normally do but my legs hurt so I opted to sit down for 30 minutes.  While I was at YQL, Bubba, Annie and Eddie went above and beyond and cleaned like I didn’t know they had the capacity to do. I am not sure they should have rocked it so much because now I know what they are capable of!  It was like a miracle when I opened the door, exhausted and ready for bed.  I stood stunned staring at a mother’s day sign made by 15 year old son…..what?  I didn’t cry but I should have. I am a little now writing about it. Moments like this make me so happy and confident that they are going to grow up to be just fine.  

The one thing I have tried to do right is to show my kids love, dedication, hard work, to love God and how to pray.  I truly believe that if my kids know God and depend on Him than the skies the limit for their futures.  God fills in the gaps that parents leave.  God makes up for our deficiencies and gives us His power to accomplish things we could never do on our own. God is the difference maker towards a life of success. Today while I am reflecting on my 17 Mother’s Day, I give a shout out to Dan for being the best unconventional Dad, by grocery shopping, making breakfast and lunches and being our kid’s biggest fan. I give an even BIGGER shout out to God for helping me get this far in my Motherhood journey.  Next year, I will launch my first baby into legal adulthood and I feel confident that they will all totally soar out of the coop with God propelling them wherever they go and that makes it the best mother’s day ever!

Thankful

I miss blogging. I can’t believe I used to blog almost every day! I am tired today but want to take this opportunity to express my thankfulness during this season while I am sitting around being unproductive!  Come on people…I can’t turn off this crazy brain OK?

My heart is full today mainly because I survived this past week that had more things crammed in than is humanly possible.  In my prayer time a week ago, I felt like God told me this would be a week of celebration and zeal! I so wanted to believe but I had my doubts.  I was honestly just praying to God that I wouldn’t loose my marbles at least the ones I have left. 

It was BCS Homecoming and we were planning events that had never been done in the history of BCS! God used the Taylor family in a tremendous way! They had a fantastic idea to do a powderpuff game with the high school girls playing football and the high school boys cheering!  I was pumped and ready to do it!! It is always a scary thing to launch out and do something new!  People are always skeptical of new things and sit on the fence before they get onboard.  It irritates me very much!  It was frustrating to get the students to commit and I had my moments that I may gingersnap on them for being slackers!   

The Taylors were very patient and longsuffering and the event pulled together better than anyone could imagine!  The students finally got onboard and it was a tremendous success and something that will be an annual tradition at BCS!  My Bonnie posted pictures and said it was an event she will never forget!  The Jacksonville Jaguar drumline played and now we must figure out how to start a BCS Drumline!   The week ended with a magical Great Gatsby Homecoming Dance of epic proportions!  It was beyond anything BCS has ever done, so elegant and classy! The students were blessed beyond measure thanks to the hard work of the Taylor family!

My heart is also so overwhelmed because of the dear friends and co-workers that God has blessed me! Tina, Cara and Carrie love me no matter how psycho I act!  They talk me off the ledge.  They tell me to hush when necessary, bring me food and coffee and bail me out almost daily!  Carrie has taken on a bazillion jobs that she never imagined because she saw the need.  She is really doing a very minimum of what we hired her to do but passionately jumps in wherever she can help!  Beyond being an over the top, committed to a fault co-worker she is a kind and caring best friend who loves my kids maybe as much as I do!  She cares for them and loves them as much as her own kids.  

My mom had to be hospitalized over night and Carrie immediately took charge of Maggie’s trip to Daytona for Dance. She picked her up at 5 AM and got her organized and where she needed to be with no questions asked!  I made sure mom was OK, dashed down to Daytona and got to be wowed by the NancyDance Company performances!  She kept Maggie overnight for me and safely delivered her home!  I will never forget the love and kindness she showed me and my family.  What a gift of God she is to me in everyway! 

The reason I had to come home was I had committed to share the message in church because my Pastor was on vacation.  I recently went through a hard, personal struggle that was filled with self-doubt and a level of insecurity I have never experienced in my life.  I know without a doubt the church community that I stayed committed to is the reason I came through to the other side.  I have never been so consistently tormented night and day in everyway possible.  It was like a bad dream that seems unreal when I think about it with demonic attack after attack, problem after relentless problem, complaint after ridiculous complaint.  I have learned enough in my spiritual walk to reach out for prayer.  I asked those that love me to be praying over me and my family. The intercessors at church prayed without ceasing for me. Pastor Howard and the Elders at the church rallied around me, prayed and supported me like I never experienced.  The results were a sermon that was birthed in pain but I pray to Jesus that it will help other’s persevere in adversity.  That is the point of it all.  

We are in a terrible spiritual battle that is unseen to stop us from doing God’s will.  We forget.  I forgot and internalize why God was letting me suffer.  Why would he allow these relentless attacks and ridiculousness when I was doing what He asked me to do?  It was to mature me.  It was to grow me and it was to produce gold in my life.  Did I respond in the right ways?  Heck No.  I cried, I cussed, I had lots of pity parties but I did pray more than ever and I didn’t quit.   I learned how to stand firm and allow God to fight my battles, to vindicate me and to defend me and guess what He did!  I remember the day the Elders prayed over me.  The dark cloud lifted and my heart was again at peace and my joy returned.

I am overwhelmed with thankfulness for my spiritual family.  Not many people in today’s society have a network of faith-filled people who will stand with them in prayer!  I am blessed so much more than I deserve and want to thank God for the love He has given me, the friends that He has blessed me with, for my Pastor who supports me and my family who allows me to be in ministry. I know the battle wages on and I pray that I will remember how to stand strong!

Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Ephesians 6:13

For the Love

I had a mother of a dear friend visit recently.  After I mentioned how crazy my life is, she said that I looked like I had everything under control in my life according to Facebook.  I have thought about that a couple times and felt the need to shed some truth on my Wog life. Truth:  Everyday I fail at something.  I forget to do something, hallucinate that I did, and neglect to sign something vital for my kids.   I do believe that God has given me the ability to shake it off (thanks Taylor for stealing that phrase forever), to move on and to LET IT GO! (Thanks Disney for officially making me a cliché abuser!)  I honestly don’t have time to wallow in my failures but must move on because somebody needs me to drive them somewhere!

Last week a friend brought me the book by Jen Hatmaker, For the Love!  It has been such a tremendous blessing already and I am only on chapter 5.  I have heard myself laugh out loud…yes I mean LOL more than I have heard in a long, long time! My laughing has shocked my ears, which makes me sad.  I have obviously been under too much stress!  Jen's book feels like my inside voice released!!  We do have the five-kid thing in common which puts us in a rare, exclusive, insane group…(no we are not all like Ruth Graham or Joel Osteen’s mother!)  Each chapter I have read had a profound effect on me and has resonated within me long after I put the book down. I just know we would be BFF's if we weren't so dang busy!

Some highlights for me so far….When Jen was asked about how she balanced, work, family and community…I just LOVED her answer…balance is like a unicorn she said! “We’ve heard about it, everyone talks about it and makes airbrushed T-shirts celebrating it, it seems super rad but we haven’t actually seen one.  I’m beginning to think it isn’t a thing”.  Preach Sister!!  (I almost lost it yesterday when I saw a young girl rockin a unicorn shirt) I stopped years ago seeking balance…maybe after I personally birthed the 4^th or 5^th Wog!  I almost choke when I hear a mother complain about not ever having “ME TIME.”  I can’t even remember what that is like.  I think it’s awesome when moms manage this but I think staying focused on thankfulness is my secret to a happy life so far.

In Chapter 2, Jen talks about the joys of turning 40.  “Old Lady Hands!”  Oh my heavens have I thought the same thing…what in the world!!  You look down and its shock and awe in a bad way!   I could see really vain ladies googling hand transplants for sure after really processing Jen’s assessment.  I got a lot of good laughter medicine from that chapter!!

In Chapter 3, Jen gets all deep and surprised me but I may have clapped and given her a standing ovation during her description of “Calling”.  I hear people all the time talk about their “Calling” and sometimes it feels like a prison more than serving God, like they are restrained in their calling box.  I was “called” into the ministry when I was 19, got ordained and have served God in a thousand random ways through the last 20 something years.  Calling to me has been hard work, doing crap jobs and serving people most of the time when it is completely inconvenient and a sacrifice to my family and my time off!  I loved that she validated my feelings about what ministry really is.

Chapter 4 was an honest girlfriend chat about how almost NO ONE (except Jessica Alba) needs to wear yoga pants with no shirt covering their behind!  I know Yoga is all the rage but I think Jen is right on this one!  Chapter 5 is my favorite so far!  RUN YOUR RACE!!  I just bet Jen was a cheerleader!  I felt pumped up after reading this chapter.  She basically says quit trying to do all things and figure out what you are good at and freaking DO IT!  The thing that moved me the most personally was how she finally realized her humor is a gift from God that she doesn’t have to stifle herself  anymore.  I have always tried to restrain myself and the funny thoughts I have.  I know some of you faithful friends are like THANK GOD AND KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK! Don’t worry or add me to your prayer list over this….I have plenty of real things you should focus on!  It just made me feel OK that sometimes I am pretty darn hilarious…at least to myself but less often to my kids the older they get!  I will continue to curb the inside voice and pray that Jesus will keep his holy filter over my mouth but I just felt like Jen gave me a nice hug and a pat on the back saying, crack that joke honey and I will laugh with you!

I see future For the Love blogs coming forth as I am moved through the rest of the book but wanted to encourage everyone to read this book even if you have found balance and you are a happy wife and homemaker who bakes, cleans and crafts, I feel certain there will be something profound for you!  I will be expecting a thank you note from Jen and a personal signed book thanking me for this free advertising I just gave her through my blog LOL!   I pray that God will keep blessing her and using her to release the psychotic pressure we crazy women put on ourselves in a million ways. I pray that she will keep reminding us to be each others cheerleaders more often than judging and offer more encouragement and love than every before!  Now to chapter 6!  Thanks Jen!!!  

Summer 2015

I was asked fall of 2014 to serve on a Principal Search Committee for Beaches Chapel School.  I was very honored.  I guess when you sacrifice to have five kids at a school, they think you will work hard to find a good principal.  It was a long journey filled with lots of processing, and tons of prayers.  What I didn’t know was through the process, a new school structure would be established and that I would be asked to take a new leadership role at BCS. 

I prayerfully considered this new role.  I resisted in my flesh at first and listed all the reasons why it was not a good idea.  I had recently said out of my mouth that I was never more fulfilled working at the church and serving on the pastoral staff with people I have known for 20 plus years. I felt like for the first time in a long time, I was in my place.  I should have known God was up to something if I was getting comfortable.  I knew it was to be when my dear prayer warrior friend gave me a word through tears that I was called to be a Bridge.  It haunted me.  I called Dan because I knew he would totally back me up and say NO WAY! He has always tried to protect me from overcommitting myself. His response made me queasy, “Who better than you?  No one has more love or the history at BCS.”  In my life, I have always been thrust into situations that required me to build or fix something.  

I don’t understand sometimes why I can’t just stay put.  What I do know is that I ALWAYS want to be smack in the middle of God’s will.  I never want fear or my own ideas of what is right for me or how comfortable I am to stop me from a new opportunity for God to use me in some new way.  The thing that I could not settle in my heart is my great love for BCS.  If I could have a part of preserving the history, the spirit and the heart of the school, than how could I say no?  I had 5 babies that also love BCS.  I had a feeling it would be hard work but I definitely underestimated that for sure.

We unanimously picked a new Principal and I would move forward in helping with the transition, much like a personal guide.  Looking back over the last 9 weeks, I could have never imagined what we have walked through.  We have had more surprises, departures, and conflicts than I could ever have fathomed. 

The most bizarre thing about our new principal is that I immediately connected with her in the brain.  It was like we were cut out of the same mold in the strangest of ways like how we stored our kids old school work and projects under our beds in Tupperware or how we are irritated by having to eat or sleep. I sometimes feel like I am reading her mind.  So much of my life I have felt like a misfit and have been told to calm down that I am too hyper, too bossy, too unrealistic, too ambitious, too something.  To meet another person who thinks like me about situations has been a surprise blessing I never expected.  It’s been a relief like I was wired this way and it’s OK. It sure cut a bunch of time that typically occurs when working with a new person.  It was immediately off and running, a short cut to getting things accomplished at a rapid pace.  

What I have experienced the summer of 2015….No wasted time, no fancy conversations, down to business, strong decisions, problem solving, progress, growth, little food, little sleep, lots of communications at all hours, LOTS of prayers, and miraculous answers. We have jumped fences, painted things and almost climbed ladders in high heels.  We have limped home and we have cried together, but somehow we bonded, God showed up and we started school. Our bodies took a beating but we have laughed over and over until we cried and have marveled so many times that “the lack of reality is astounding."

 

We have been truly blessed with the sweetest, hard working, dedicated, thoughtful, kind, Godly, faith-filled, servant staff members who have fed us, given us Advil, prayed for us, told us to quiet down when needed, gave us solutions, soothed angry people and said I am sorry and thank you a bazillion times. They co-labored all day, nights and weekends to be ready for the first day of school. When we went over the list of what was done the summer of 2015 to present to the elders, it was mind blowing!  It was the result of an all in team!  It was the fulfillment of our theme for the year, ‘Team Up for Success!”

Another personal miracle this summer was how my family rallied.  A sweet co-worker prayed for me one day that my family would lift burdens off of me over the summer.  I am so thankful that God answered that personal prayer too.  My daughters became incredible cooks preparing delicious meals, they did dishes and folded laundry.  They even delivered lunch to me at the office. Dan built furniture for the school and encouraged me everyday that we were doing a great job and it would be worth it when school started.  My mom filled in the gap with my kids and they made fantastic Lego cities at her house!  She delivered multiple meals to my house that were as beautiful as they were tasty!

God has allowed me to be a part of an amazing time at BCS.  We have record enrollment, a brand new gym, a fresh look for a new season!  This is the result of God’s hand working on our behalf.  He somehow decided to use two hyperactive ladies who could funnel their energy into His purposes.   I pray the result will be  lives changed for eternity.  What if I would have said NO?  What if I would have let the tormenting nights of doubt and fear hinder me from taking a leap of faith?  Then God would have used someone else to accomplish His will and I would have missed the most fulfilling and amazing summer of my life.  I have grown as a leader, learned that God truly provides everything you need and that new relationships can be the biggest surprise blessing of all. 

I’m relieved to have the Summer 2015 in the books and pray to never have another one like it again! We know people were rooting for us to fail but we know even more were on their knees praying for us to succeed.  To God be all the glory, honor and praise and Go Lions!