One of the things I love about being a minister's wife and a stay-at-home mom is that I get the opportunity to be involved in alot of different ministries. Right now I am spending a good chunk of time each week helping prepare our elementary kids for LTC (Leadership Training for Christ). I, along with two other moms, direct our elementary chorus. But something new for me this year is helping with preparations Bible Quiz. Boy, these kids really have to know the Bible to participate in Bible Quiz. I am writing some of the practice quizzes.

Here is Karenna's bible...each category is marked with a different highlighter.

She has to read each section at least a couple of times to get it all marked correctly. If you don't know - Bible Quiz is like an open Bible test - 5 rounds of pretty hard questions. On the last 4 rounds you get to use your marked Bible. On the first round you have a list of 50 things that happened in the Book of John and you have to mark the chapter that they happened in. Pretty tough! If you think you know the book of John...try the first 12 questions of this sample quiz I just wrote last week.

KNOW THE CHAPTER - EVENTS & TOPICS. Without using your Bibles, indicate in the blank on the left the chapter number in John in which each of the following events is found.
_______1. A Samaritan woman came to draw water.
_______2. A woman was caught in the act of adultery.
_______3. Andrew states to Peter, “We have found the Messiah”
_______4. Jesus calls himself the Bread of Life.
_______5. An argument developed between John’s disciples and a Jew.
_______6. A royal official begged for Jesus to come and heal his son.
_______7. Jesus scattered the coins of the money changers.
_______8. Jesus teaches in the temple courts.
_______9. Andrew brings a boy with five loaves and two fishes to Jesus.
______10. Jesus cures an invalid by the Sheep Gate pool.
______11. A group of Jews try to stone Jesus.
______12. The Pharisees question the parents of a man born blind.

It's really neat to help your child jump into God's Word and learn it indepth. I feel very blessed to be at this stage in my life.

Esther - my new hero

I want my daughter to be like Esther. I want her to exude the quiet confidence and selfless spirit of a woman that "won the favor of everyone who saw her" (Esther 2:15b). As I lay in bed last night thinking about how unique it is to win over everyone who sees you, it dawned on me that Esther was one of those rare people who was able to find a balance between confidence and passivity. She was comfortable in her own skin and it showed.

So today, my prayer is that my precious daughter is comfortable in her own skin. That her confidence will come from the power of the Holy Spirit in her life and that she will be submissive to the will of the Father. I think I need that prayer as well!

The Beginning - Sort of...

My husband and I have been in ministry since before we graduated from college. Our first full-time job was in Connecticut. Beautiful, beautiful Connecticut. New England. A very long ways from our mom and dad and everything we familar. It was one of the best things we ever did. It was hard - really hard. There were extreme days of loneliness. But it was wonderful at the same time...to live someplace completely out of your comfort zone, to rely on your spouse to be your friend and traveling companion, to totally depend upon your own faith to see you thru tough times, to grow...grow...grow your belief in the Almighty God, to do all sorts of things in a church that you have never done before. That experience in so many ways made us into the ministry couple we are today. I don't want to go back right now but I wouldn't trade the experience we had there for anything.

Here is Mark sitting in the gazebo in our town square. Every New England city has a green. Our small town of New Milford, CT had the longest green of any town in New England.

Devotional Thought

It is very easy to get caught up in the pursuit of the almighty dollar. It is very easy to get in a race with the Jones. It is very easy to want the newest, the biggest, the fastest, and on and on. I have to constantly strive to seek what is really important in life and it is none of those things. I love this passage from Psalms that helps me remember that God will prosper His people with the things that are really important. "Blessed are all who fear the LORD, who walk in his ways. You will eat the fruit of your labor; blessings and prosperity will be yours. Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house, your sons will be like love shoots around your table. Thus is the man blessed who fears the LORD. May the LORD bless your from Zion all the days of your life; may you see the prosperity of Jerusalem, and may you live to see your children’s children. Peace be upon Israel." Psalm 128