Florida Pics.... finally.

My Aspiring Photographer (and a bit of my crazy brain)

Eli took these photos of me and Sare this afternoon. Sarah was not in the mood for her picture to be taken, just very tired and worn out. I was giving Eli a few pointers and he really did well after a bit of suggestion.

So, about a week ago I read a message board thread about first day traditions. One lady said she took pictures in the morning (duh) and then printed them while her children were at school and then hung them all over the house when they returned home. Such a cool idea!

I spent all of Monday at church and shot in RAW so I needed to process the images before I could have them printed. I'd like to see the Walgreens people deal with an .NEF file. :) Then again, maybe I wouldn't...

Anyhoo, so my opportunity passed, but then I had the wild hair of doing it at the end of the week. So today, I made a banner with all the pictures from this week (oh, it's so cutie!) and did a big awkward sign on the garage too. The kids were delighted!

I'm going to leave you with this happy guy. One of my students picked an unripe lemon (and got a lecture about being lemon-less in November) and decided it needed a face-lift. I found this little guy on my sink late that night. I love the creativity of students!

A Black Rubber Blessing...

I have been praying for new tires since June.

If you remember, I got in a little fender bender in June. That morning, I had taken our car in to have a patch done on our left front tire. The nice man at the tire store informed me that we had about 5-10 thousand miles left on our tires. (now pause for a moment and consider all the traveling we have done this summer, much of it in our own vehicle) I did not know where the money for new tires - $600 to be exact - was going to come from. We have an emergency account, but Dave Ramsey does not qualify new tires as an emergency. :) I just kept believing that God was going to provide them.

I've taken to noticing the tread on my vehicle when I approach it to get in and go somewhere. Now I can see what the tire man foretold, the front tires are quickly balding. I've felt the car slip in the rain and slowed down and asked Jesus to protect us. Especially when Rob is driving. :) This week I started seriously talking to Rob about the possibility of buying used tires.

This morning, while I was picking up a few things at the grocery store, Rob called me. He was holding a gift certificate for $400 to Discount Tire that had been left in his inbox at work. What a blessing! I've since called Discount and negotiated a price of $470 and the tires will be put on our vehicle Tuesday.

I am reminded, AGAIN, that my God never fails me. I stood in the grocery store, fighting back tears, in awe and humbled that God loves me so much. And Eli, and Sarah, and Rob. But I am undeserving and it's amazing how He can use a little thing like tires to remind us of His awe-abounding grace. I am so grateful, for the tires, but even more importantly, for His continued vested interest in the mundane details of our lives. I am also especially appreciative of the faithful person who listened to God's voice in their heart and made that anonymous gift. What a blessing awaits them.

The irony in the whole matter? (not to God, I'm sure) is that 6 months ago we had a friend that experienced a blow out on the way to a meeting we were both attending. God pressed it on my heart to write him a check to replace the tire. No biggie, just acting in faithfulness. Here it is 6 months later and God has returned the blessing more than 3 fold. I love His economy. Don't you??

Pray about what you need this morning, rather than rushing to a credit card to solve your problems your way. See what God provides...

thursdayLOVE.

(some pictures really do say a thousand words)

THURSDAY!!!

I'm so happy to see you, Thursday! I've been missing you, all summer it seems!

Funny how a day comes to symbolize so much more, isn't it? You know, Sundays = church, Wednesdays = church, Saturdays = rest (unless you are a youth pastor), Monday = beginning of the work day. For me, Thursdays = the day it is all made worthwhile. I should clarify that it's actually Thursdays during the school year. Thursdays are the day that Rob takes off and we set aside to reconnect with each other.

You are probably wondering why, if we are connecting, I am blogging and he is sleeping. Poor guy, he's so wiped out from a giant week (he's already put in 3 fourteen hour days since Sunday). I decided this morning to get the kids off to school and let him rest. But soon and very soon I will wake him up and we will decide what adventure we'll tackle between now and 3:42pm. :) I have several ideas of varying commitment levels. We've talked about seeing "the Time Traveler's Wife" at 11:30. Thought about going through old pictures. Talked about visiting one of the many museums in Houston that we've never seen. I've imagined us investigating the ReStore (Habitat for Humanity). We also have lots of home projects to get started on; painting trim work, repairing grout, reorganizing the kitchen and swapping out our bad fridge.

Honestly, I could care less what we do today. I'm just looking forward to getting his undivided attention for 7-8 hours. I do think I will work on an ongoing list of 'ideas' for our day off, so we can be inspired each week. His organized brain would probably really think that's cool.

Well, I just feel so blessed this morning. The kids are doing really well in school. Sare has had a really good attitude. Eli's only struggle has been staying on task in the am while getting ready. I think I'm going to make him a checklist to help. They both are doing great and we are going to the library tonight as a family for FFN. Then tomorrow Rob will be away (another series of 14 hour days between Friday and Monday - boy that man needs his extra sleep this morning) so we are going to have a special first week of school celebration. I'm going to print the pictures from Monday am and string them across a ribbon. We'll watch a movie and have popcorn and stay up late. It will be special. ;)

Personally, I'm doing really well. I've been delving into my Bible study time and it's so cool how God is speaking to me. I've had another dream, last week, actually, but it was too personal to share on the intraweb. :) Really amazes me that God has been showing up in my subconscious so much, I have been praying that it would continue to happen, if it's not too bold of a request!

So excited about what God is doing in youth group too. Rob spoke about 'reaching your apex' last night. The apex is the highest point (like a mountain) and how we are on a journey in life and with God alone can we reach our apex. Our students really responded, I think 7 of our 18 kids came up for prayer last night, which is HUGE for our group. I was so excited to pray with them!! We have so many jr high kids right now and I look at them and all I see is excitement and potential! I don't think in our 13 years of youth ministry (volunteer and full-time) that I've ever experienced this level of expectation... I know God is gearing up to do something incredible in these students. I'm really praying that they would have faithfulness as they grow into high school, maintaining a high commitment level as they enter into the real world 5 and 6 years from now. So many people today have such a lack of commitment... God requires us to be a faithful people!! And the blessings in store for the faithful, wow.

I guess I've just gone off this morning. Ok, considering it's my blog. :) Ready to go do my morning quiet time. Just wanted to spread a little love on this beautiful Thursday. Blessings, my friends.

I Love These Little People

***warning*** picture heavy post!!

Well, my babies went back to school today. Returning for 3rd grade for Eli and just starting Kindergarten for Sarah. And remember, my tiny little girl just turned 5 last week!! Wow. But we did really good. I didn't get any vibe of being nervous from her, not once in the past few weeks as we've hyped up the whole kindergarten experience. But then this morning, while we were praying as a family in the car on the way to school she popcorned in "and please help me not be anxious" and my heart squeezed hard. She never let on. But she did awesome. No tears, no fuss, just excitement for the day. And brother was so good to her, giving her pointers along the way. None of the 'icky little sister' nonsense you would expect with a 3+ year age gape. Rather, he was ready to pave the way for her, to protect her at any cost... Very cool 3rd grader in my book.

We stopped to take this picture on the way in. Eli looks a little perturbed because he was severely concerned about getting a tardy on his first day back. He is forever my responsible child and I love that about him. So now we'll backtrack a bit and cover the mini-shoot we did at 7:20.

This is my amazing and giant 3rd grader. He was ready to show the ropes this year!! School is old hat now, Mom...I love that these two kids love each other. They certainly have their words from time to time (Sare is a very passionate person and can be vicious when she's agitated, Eli feels deeply and hurts easily, so we definitely have tough moments) but when you scrape off that surface stuff, they love each other fiercely. I have told them oh, so many times that they are all each other have in the way of brothers and sisters and they need to hang on to each other. Friends will come and go, but siblings are forever.
You can see here, that Sare was super ready to get out the door. She didn't even whine once about the dress code or the lack of jewelry. "Jewelry is not encouraged." was the decree from her firm but awesome (and seasoned, thank the Lord) teacher. I think her structured classroom will be exactly the coccoon Sarah will need this first year of public school. That's my initial mommy-instinct anyway.
Eli is forever my fabulous picture taker. He was cooperative, but very aware of the time. "It's 7:31 Mommy, we need to go, we can't be late!"
Had to snap a picture of their fabulous Converse/Airwalk combo. I love that these are cool again and my kids are totally into them. Helps Sarah around that 'tennis shoes only' requirement....
This pose was Eli's idea. He thought the green would make a nice background and told me so. I love how he's developing a strong eye. I'm thinking about starting to teach him some of the beginner camera stuff this year and letting him play on my baby Nikon. With supervision of course.

This girl. Oh, pray for me. With eyes like this, who can say no??


This was such a cool instant inspired idea and I just love how it translated. See my absolute favorite pic from the morning here.
And this picture I nearly missed, didn't really have the shutter speed set for it, but took the shot anyway, it was just too priceless. We were in the middle of these serious shots and all of the sudden she just couldn't contain herself another moment... Love it!!


From here on out it's mostly Sarah, cause I could only follow her into the classroom this one day. And Eli was extremely focused on getting to his classroom and friends and meeting his teacher!
Here's the Sare-bear blowing a kiss goodbye to her daddy, hollering "I love you Daddy, I'll miss you!" All the crossing guards ate it up. She can't do anything without flair, can she? Wonder where she gets that from? (apples don't fall far from trees, right?)
And here she is all ready to start her day, confident and sassy, even in a serious way. She's gonna do fine Mommy.

From there, I slipped out of the classroom, praying as I went through the halls that would house my precious children for 8 hours 5 days a week for the next 9 months. Praying blessing, and safety, and knowledge of the right things. Praying for positive influences and precious witnessing moments for them. Praying for good Christian teachers and praying for the not-there-yet teachers whose lives would be touched by my childrens example (good or bad). Praying that that the investment we've poured into Sarah these past 5 years would be enough of a foundation of faith to anchor her in this sin-ravage world and praying that our influence wouldn't weaken because of our public school choice. Most of all, praying and believing that the God of the Universe would be walking those halls with them, watching them as they work and play. I choked back a few tears, unbelieving that the first 8+ years of my time with them and had already slipped through my fingers, but so incredibly thankful and in awe of the amazing little people they are becoming. I swallowed hard, made it out of the building, and had pulled myself back together before I even made it to the waiting car. Rob and I had a (thankfully) busy day at the office and before I knew it, we were flying home to greet them.

A long and prayer-ful day, they stepped off the bus at 3:45, much later then the appointed time. To be expected on a first day, but hard on a nervous momma's heart. So glad to see this next shot!
My triumphant Kindergartner, ready to tell me all about her day. She did great. She was exhausted, but ready for a good night's sleep and the opportunity to experience it all again tomorrow. And I'm so excited that we captured all those important moments.

New Pages.

Some of these are from scrapbooking group a week ago, one is about a month old, and then a bunch are from a huge creative streak yesterday. It felt so good to just create for a few hours, and it was very productive!! Hoping to find a little more time to scrapbook tonight... ;)

The Most Wonderful Dream

(I had this dream back in August, and I shared it with Bart and Jen that day. I was so reluctant to share it on FB, but I still wanted to write it down. Now, after being filled with the Holy Spirit, it's even more meaningful)

Our good friends Bart and Jennifer were on a boat with us. It was some sort of tourist boat and we were on the lower deck of the boat with windows on the sides, able to see into the water the fish and sea creatures. We were discussing different aspects of our faith with them, testifying about what God has done in our lives. Eventually we got the subject of the Holy Spirit and we were trying to explain His role in us. All of the sudden we could see the Holy Spirit (Rob and I) come alongside the side of the boat in many different manifestations - like different fish in the sea. We could tell that they were the Holy Spirit because they were holographic - we could see through them, but they were dimensional. We started yelling to Bart and Jennifer that we could see Him, and they were squinting and trying to see what we were seeing. At one point I hear the Holy Spirit say to me (in the most beautiful resonating voice) "Are you ready for me to come into you, Anna?" and I said "YES!" and pressed my face to the glass window of the boat. One of the manifestations floated to pane of the same window and slid through the glass of the window my face was pressed against. I felt it enter my body (it felt a lot like an epidural going in, knowing exactly where in my body it reached at each moment) and I felt this wonderful tingling. I looked at Rob and screamed "It really does feel different!" and then began to speak in tongues.. Suddenly we were on the top deck of the boat and a wild man without his shirt with crazy eyes and no shirt was jumping off the back of the boat. I told the concerned steward (with a confidence that I do not know) that it was ok because it was a demon leaving a possessed man. Then I came head to head with another demon posessed man (he was the leader) and told him he had no authority here. Then I woke up.

Rob said I was making all kinds of noises, enough to wake him up. I wanted to write it down right away, it's the coolest dream I've ever had. I've been praying for 13 years now to receive the Holy Spirit. I'm thinking it's around the corner, don't you? I will not give up!! It felt so real...

Sarah is 5.

That was even hard to type! My baby, our last, turned five this morning at 7:42. She met me in the driveway as I pulled in (had to make a quick walmart run this am) and says "I'm 5 now Mommy!" Very cool.

We've had a wonderful morning worshipping at the Thoreson household. Late last week Rob and I had discussed the idea of 'home church' because we've been apart from our kids basically for the past two weeks and we really miss them! The hope was that we could sleep in a bit and then do church at our own pace. But Eli was in our room at 6:30, so that didn't really play out. Eli opened us in prayer. Daddy lead us in worship. Sarah picked the bible story. We read a family devotion. And Sarah started the closing prayer but we all chimed in. It was really neat.

Then we let Sare open her presents. She really had two big ones - Eli's old DS w/ a Barbie game and the sterling silver charm bracelet. She was thrilled about both. Grammy Ginny's package was a big hit too. I'll post more pictures here in the near future, I've got some to share from the past few weeks too.

We are hoping for a nice relaxing week of vacation. We have a few fun plans, like Schlitterbahn Galveston with the Tindols and a quick escape to New Braunfels with the Hayes family, but beyond that I really hope to get well rested and enjoy my kids last week home before Kindergarten and 3rd Grade begin! I should be posting more often this week!!

Tonight

was amazing. I'm so excited about the state of the Youth Group right now. I feel like we've busted through a wall and are really starting to go deeper. Just in time too, we are going on a short missions trip this week, and I'm so excited!

A Few Quiet Moments

whew. deep breath. Please note, these few moments of rest have been brought to you by Granny Kay, a grandmother of one of our students. She volunteered to treat the group to pizza this evening so I have nil to do. What a blessing!

We've had another whirlwind week. It was awesome! Rob and I spent the week at General Council in Orlando, Florida. We got so much out of it. The speakers were great (many of them featured in previous years of our life) and the worship was fantastic. I was so glad to have that time to pray and worship and seek God again. The highlight was listening to Rick Warren speak directly to the pastors about pastoring. What an incredible session that was!

I have pictures to share, and from the beach too, but need a bit of time to do some editing. Cocoa Beach was amazing, the whole two hours we spent there. :) Lunch was really good, we ate on a pier overlooking the water and it was totally the 'experience' I was craving. I got some awesome shots of Rob on the beach (fully clothed, don't worry). He also took a few of me and I can't wait to do a little editing. Hopefully tomorrow.

Also, we had lunch with Craig and Tricia on Wednesday and it was wonderful to catch up. When I think about how far we've all come since I met them 13+ years ago it amazes me, God's goodness and His blessing in all of our lives.

I've been thinking a lot lately about the importance of living a consistent life (like Noah) and it's an exciting concept. This morning Herb Hawthorne preached on Contentment which is one of my favorite subjects. Reminded me of a sermon I heard many years ago on our last Sunday before we left CBC and Ozark and that whole hard time period in our life. In fact, contentment is one of my favorite words and it's sad to me when it slips my mind and I get dissettled.

Ok, kids are here. Have to bug you later! ready for an amazing evening with my favorite students!

PS - I meant to say earlier that there is a woman in our church who hasn't walked in 3 years. I visited her and her husband in the hospital about a year ago and every time I've seen them since then she's been in a wheelchair. This morning, during song service, she got up and walked to the front of the sanctuary. It was incredible! This is the God I serve. He can do for you what He did for this woman. He's still in the miracle business.
Pray for one of my students, she has scoliosis, badly, and we are believing for a miracle.

Ah, to be a Boy..

So. I started thinking about a week ago about what I might need to bring to General Council this week. Even did a little shopping with it in mind. Started doing laundry and pulling clothing on Thursday. Officially laid everything out on Saturday night. (keep in mind the insanity that is Sunday at our house). Today I did the last of the laundry, ran the last load of dishes, made sure the kids were all packed, emptied the trash, all the little detail stuff... Rob just now started packing and we are set to leave in 2 hours. Isn't he lucky that all his laundry is clean and folded or hung in his closet??

Sittin on the Dock of the Bay

I really love that song. I know, my age is showing!

These are my promised pictures from our evening of fishing. It was so beautiful.

And the good news, Sare is feeling better, praise God! It's been a rough two days. Now I can focus on getting prepped to leave for Florida. I think Jennifer and I are going to do a little shopping after my haircut this morning (yay!) and I've got the kids packed already. Looking good for the rest of the weekend.

A Full Heart and Mind

It's been a strange week in so many ways. I have a back log of pictures to go through, to tell this week's story, but it hasn't happened yet. It's been a very full week, both physically and emotionally. Our life is so that way, we just move from one adventure to the next with barely a few moments to catch our breath in between.

Yesterday Rob and I tried to shop for Sarah's birthday. I say try, because we really only bought a few things at the dollar store and hunted for the perfect charm bracelet, to no avail. We stopped for lunch and the school called to tell us Sare was sick. We picked up the kids and laid down for naps (Sarah slept in my arms) and then had to decide whether or not to keep our fishing date with Judy and Wendy. Sare seemed a lot better (the wonders of tylenol) so we allowed her to go. Oh, it was beautiful, the wind and the water and the sun setting and the stars popping out.... incredible. And I caught my first fish in probably 17 years or so. That was pretty awesome. But as soon as the sun said goodnight and a thunderstorm started to roll in to the north (what a light show that was!) Sare's fever came back (with force) and we needed to call it a night. Stopped at Walgreens on the way home for some medicine and went home with McDonald's for a very late dinner. Our house got lovingly vandalized by some of our wonderful teenagers and it was a great evening. Sare went to bed easily, but then was up several time in the night with fever and a sore throat. I'm sorry, whenever your child is that lethargic and complaining, that's a little scary. We slept in this morning and managed to get a 2pm dr appointment. I'm hoping it's not strep, but I'm unconvinced thus far.
We are supposed to have a youth swim party tonight (as anothere thunderstorm is building), 1st Communion pictures tomorrow night, a typical Sunday including life group at our house, and in 3 days we leave for General Council. And somewhere in and among all that, Rob needs to mow the lawn! :) It's always an adventure!

So, please pray that Sare makes a dramatic turn for the better. And that I find time to plan and pack for next week's trip. It's all good though. I feel so blessed. Oh, and Rob and I had a fantastic date yesterday, just great conversation. I love that man!!

oh, and I need to say that Eli loved fishing. He caught 2 fish last night and he was very triumphant. I do have pictures, of course, and sometime soon I'll post them. Off to prepare for a doctor's visit!!

Great Wednesday... and it's almost Thursday.

Wow. We had such a good Wednesday night tonight. We wrapped up our summer long Momentum campaign. Tons of games tonight. I need to post pictures, but I haven't even messed with it yet. Just basking in the glow of a good evening. I'm really starting to feel connected to our students and that's such a good feeling. We've got a really strong jr. high group now, and I'm excited about our future as a youth group!

tomorrow is Thursday. And it means something. Praise the Lord! Rob is taking tomorrow because he had a meeting on Monday so we get to spend the day together, sans kids. I can't wait.

k. tired. nighty. (ps - excited to return to FB world tomorrowish)

Long Happy Sunday

Sundays in our house are a little insane generally speaking. Yesterday was no exception. But even in and around the insanity, I love Sundays in the Thoreson household.

I woke up in such a good place. Rob and I prayed together before we even set foot out of bed and it just charged me up. I often pray as I wake up or in the shower, and we always pray before he leaves for church on Sunday morning. We pray in the car on the way to work every morning too, but yesterday it was so cool to have that be our very first activity of the day. It really set the tone. I could tell that God was going to do something in service. Sunday School was well attended (praise God!) and it seemed like our students were 'catching' a lot yesterday morning. And then during big church, the spirit of God moved and it was awesome! I could barely stay in my seat, eventually I just had to go up to the altar simply to give God the honor that was due Him. Matt introduced a new song a few weeks ago from a church called Antioch Community up in Waco. This song is so anointed. It's available here for free download.

I am so excited for what God is doing in our church, and in my personal life. Rob and I have been taking a little break from Facebook for the past 5 or so days just to give us a bit more opportunity to press in and I can tell the difference. I personally have been really giving God my all lately and just asking Him to speak into my life and change some personal habits in me. I feel like I've been hitting a lot of resistance in that, but Pastor spoke about how when you press in, satan knows it and tries harder to derail you. That was just enough information for me! He also spoke the very verse that I've been memorizing all week, Romans 8:38. Amazing, because he only shared 2 scriptures with us yesterday, never even got to preach!

At the end of service we had a time of prayer and I just love that! It's so cool to get the opportunity to pray with people, even if all I do is stand and agree with Pastor and Linda. I've gotten to assist more with that in this church than ever before and I consider it such an blessing.

Then last night we had a concert and a missions auction. I always love a church social event. I guess that's just the pastor's kid in me. :) I love seeing all the ages of the church get together and love on one another. We have so many special people in our church, it's just a blessing to spend time with them. I love how having been here a bit longer now, I know the people better and know their ins and outs and their stories. To quote my favorite character in one of my favorite books "I'm especially fond of them!" which is an answer to a prayer my heart has been praying for the past few months. I want so badly to see people the way God sees them. To see their hearts, rather than guess about their motives and assume the worst. I have a very long way to go, but I am asking God for His help in this matter.

There is one little couple; he sings in the choir and she was in her pew, just beaming with pride. They've probably been married 40 years I'm guessing.... And he caught her eye and winked at her, right in the middle of the song. She melted on the spot. Just adorable! I would have missed that a year ago. :)

The bake auction was really fun. Our church is seriously hard core when it comes to missions and baked goods. :) Unfortunately Wendy's famous sugar cookies went about $80 to rich for my blood, but I did score a drum lesson for Eli. And one of our family's gave us the carrot cake that they bought because they had seen Eli drooling over it. It was very sweet.

Overall, I'm just excited for what God is doing. Excited to be growing closer to Him, and ready to experience an amazing General Council next week. It is a great time to serve the Lord!!