Family Camp

I love our church camp! We spend the weekend at a fabulous campground called "Mennohaven." There is canoes and paddle boats, swimming, a gym and plenty of hiking. This year things didn't go quite as planned with our cookout. We have a hot dog roast during suppertime on Saturday and unfortunately this year it was raining. By the time the cookout was suppose to happen the campfire area was quite muddy. Having to bring 35 adults, and 30 kids (not to mention a wheelchair) into the area was going to prove to be quite a mess. The guys did well though and went and cooked hotdogs for us and we had and "indoor" picnic. The only problem was dessert. What cookout would be complete without s'mores. Since we couldn't head down to the fire and we didn't have access to a grill (or gas stove) for that matter. I improvised and used the microwave. Everyone was very surprised at how yummy they were. The marshmallows puffed, the chocolate slightly melted and the crackers stayed crisp. The only complaint was since they now knew that one could make a good tasting s'more in the microwave it would become too easy now to make them at home :)

Microwave s'mores:

1/2 Hershey chocolate bar

1 Graham Cracker (broke in half)

1 Jumbo marshmallow or 2 regular sized ones

On microwave safe plate, place 1/2 half of the cracker, then the chocolate and then the marshmallows. Microwave approximately 10-15 seconds (just until the marshmallow puffs) Top with the remaining cracker and enjoy a bit of the outdoors inside with the air conditioning!

Turning 40

The fabulous "cupcake" cake and 40 cupcakes my daughter made for the birthday party she hosted for me (did I mention she's 15 and did a FABULOUS job)

YUP I did it hit a great big milestone, I turned 40. Everyone says they had a list of "things to do before I turn 40." Me not so much. I guess I was too busy living and enjoying life to plan what I wanted to do by now. Still as I approached the big day I tried to think of something ANYTHING I wanted to do. Truthfully I couldn't.

I have a wonderful family. A husband that supports what I do (and looks the other way when crafting has taken over the house,) four fabulous kids that mean the world to me. Even the rest of the family is very supportive. I run our children's ministry at church and coordinate the youth group. I get to spend time being creative and sharing that creativity with others either teaching or writing. I have wonderful friends who love me just as I am, pray for me to be all that God wants me to be and know when to kick me in the backside when I need a push :)

I am truly thankful to have lived this life for the past 40 years and can't wait to see where the next 40 take me!

What's in your bag?

I finally got the nerve to tackle the proverbial "in box". Only my in "box" is more like piles and piles and piles all over the table. The table is needed tomorrow so alas I must put off what I have been dreading. So I sorted the junk mail and the bills and the important "papers to file." My business notes and receipts. Went through the magazines. While I was in the cleaning out and sorting mood I figured I better tackle my kid's ministry bag.

My kid's ministry bag holds all of my "important" stuff for our children's ministry. It has my record binder, the version of kids bible we use at church (in case I need to work on lessons at home,) there's curriculum in there, and mail that has to come home from church, a church directory and that's just the "basics." It also tends to collect all of those things that needed to go to church from home or from home to church.

I have the best intentions of cleaning it out when I get to church or home but somehow I tend to get busy and only see what I "need" in the bag (the record binder or the curriculum etc.) and tend to miss the stuff that needed to be cleaned out. It has been getting really heavy and since I was in a sorty/cleany kinda mood figured I better bite the bullet and do it too. (Actually I had to move it to get to one of my "piles" and couldn't believe how heavy it was.) I was amazed at what I found in there.

There was an 7 inch upholstery needle from a craft project, 3 rolls of floral tape (different project,) my missing glue glider pro (I think from the upholstery needle project,) 1 bag of buttons, 1 bag of felt flowers and pipe cleaners. All of that is typical for my bag but there was really a lot of that kinda stuff and those things can add up. The thing that surprised me the most was the rock.

Back in the beginning of May I brought a rock with me to church as part of a testimony/lesson. Now this wasn't just ANY rock, it was a larger than your fist, 5 pound rock. I had totally forgotten it was in there. Here I had been walking around with it for a month and a half not realizing it was the main reason my bag was so heavy.

The Lord used that moment to speak to my heart. How many times have I felt weighted down in my spirit. Could be some bitterness, or unforgiveness, even a character trait I have been wanting to improve on. Instead of cleaning it out right away, I've gotten busy and forgot those things were in there. Oh I've looked into my heart but I've only "grabbed the things I needed." I didn't clear out the junk that was weighing me down.

David knew what it was like to be "weighed down" but not really dealing with it when he was suppose to. The Lord actually had to send someone to David to get him to clean out those "bags" of his heart. It was was after the prophet Nathan confronted David over the whole "Bathsheba incident" that David wrote the words of the 51st Psalm.

"Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me."~Psalms 51:10

It's so easy to get caught up with "life" and forget to deal with those little things or even the not so little ones that fill up our heart and weigh it down. Have you been feeling burdened? Is bitterness, or unforgiveness weighing you down? Is there a character trait about yourself you have been wanting to work on because you know it isn't a good reflection of who God is in you? Take some time today to find out what's in the bag of your heart. Find out what's weighing you down. Then ask the Lord to help you clean it out!

"Restore unto me the joy of my salvation, and renew a right spirit within me" ~Psalm 51:12