Kitchen Project? check.

I have been working on our kitchen for the past 2 weeks. It's been my goal to finish it before I left for Iowa. On Monday. :) And I've been almost finished with it for about a week now, but waiting for the new knobs to come, there was an address issue with eBay and it took a bit to get them to the right place. Anyway, you can imagine how thrilled I was to find them in my mailbox today! So Rob and I threw them up real fast after church tonight and doesn't it look amazing? I'm so glad I went ahead and painted them, it looks so fresh and clean and warm.

Anyhoo, long night and I'm exhausted and really not feeling well. Something in the potluck didn't agree with me tonight, so I'm turning in relatively early.

2 more days. :)

As Promised.

Scrapbook pages. Finally! I still have one in progress, so that one isn't up yet. These are mostly from last Saturday's exploits. I spent 5 hours 'cropping for the cure'. yeah, it was a real hardship. :)

This page was completely inspired by another page I had seen, but I loved the stamping in the circle. :) It was fun to get out my giant HKS stamps and put them back to use. Love this color combo too, blue and yellow are a staple favorite of mine. :)This page is near and dear to my heart because the pictures are from our summer games and camp. We had such an extraordinary summer this year and the youth group is really becoming family to us, I love it! Plus you've gotta love the hot air balloons. :)
This page has been bouncing around in my head since I bought this chandalier paper a year ago. Sarah is all glitz and glam, we know that, so this seemed like the perfect paper for her. Especially sporting that ginormous ring!!
Had some fun with this lovely stamp, and an unusual color scheme. :) Love this pic of Bart and Jen and Rob and I. They have become such good friends and such a blessing!
This page is ridiculously simple, but so fun. This yummy paper had my heart and I didn't want to complicate it. Seemed just perfect for our sunny FL beach picture.
Still working on pics from my birthday weekend. I think Lori and I took about 300 that weekend, so it may be a while. And we'll be taking plenty more this coming week, I'm sure!! Don't usually do a lot of dark blue, but it's fun with the turquise and worked well with the beach picture. (note the dramatic difference between the above pictured Cocoa Beach and the below Galveston Beach, wowsers)
Probably my favorite picture from the first day of school. This page sat in progress on my fridge for about a month now. :) Totally worth the wait though, she loves it too!
A little reminder to maintain 'gazelle-like' intensity. I try to scrapbook our family values too, so our books are a complete history of our family. And yes, I've scrapped some of the harder things too. I remember one page about the 'house built too small' quite clearly.

I'm very in the mood to scrap. But we have a busy weekend. I do think I will pack a few things for Iowa though, just in case I can find some time with my mom or Lori. Or both, how amazing would that be?

Tonight was precious.

Our dear little girl was crowned Honor Rainbow. She completed all 18 badges to graduate the Rainbow program. Rainbows are a part of the Missionettes Girls Ministry in the Assemblies of God. I always think of it as the A/G girl scouts. :) Sarah's been involved since Hartford and absolutely loves it. Tonight was no exception. She just ate it up! Especially the walk with Daddy (in the white dress with the updo and the glitter and the sparkles) from the back of the church to the platform. We had technical difficulties (boo) and so the walk took longer than anticipated and she LOVED every second of it!! We are so proud. The very best part was when Pastor prayed for our family. We all laid hands on Sare, Pastor knelt down to her level and it was beautiful. Sometimes I am so in awe of the responsibility of parenting, and amazed that we haven't utterly failed at it just yet. :)



Did a few photos before hand, cause I knew we'd be shooting in the cave (the sanctuary, not one ounce of natural light even at high noon, and all woodwork and red carpet = disastrous lighting). So glad I did, it was just fun!And because I can't fly by my favorite son, I took a few pictures of him as well. He was such a good big brother today. I think I owe him a little special time sometime soon.
A full, and happy heart tonight. God has blessed our little family so abundantly and I am so grateful. He is so good.



Tomorrow is Thursday. :) Have a big ole' scrapbook page blog post coming for you in the near future!

Ready for Catchup.

Things are good. Mondays are a big meeting day for me, and I'm always tuckered out by the time Monday night rolls around. Tonight is no exception, cause I got home from church (2 staff meetings and some projects for Rob) and got ready for an engagement shoot. I was super excited to get the camera back in my hands and clicking again.

Tomorrow I'm hoping to edit and clean house. It's deep. I've got a lot to get finished with before I take off for Iowa, one week from today. (the people rejoice) Man, I'm so ready for a break. Can't wait.

Listening to this church's podcasts a ton lately. Really relevant stuff and I'm getting a lot out of it. Also, focusing on scripture memorization and seeking God. I am praying for a deep personal revival and feel like it's just beginning to unfold. I haven't experienced God at this level since college, so that's pretty incredible. I've been weirdly in tune with Pastor the past 3 or so months. This week he spoke on the Potter and the clay. Ironic? He followed it up with a scripture that I had read that morning. Did it again today in staff, with a different scripture. Pretty cool!

Eli and Sarah are doing awesome. School is going well. We meet the teacher for Eli's 3rd grade class tomorrow night and I am looking forward to putting a face with a name. Sare's gearing up for her big night here on Wednesday with her Rainbows crowning. I'm hoping to have time to do a mini photo shoot for her before we have to be at church. Her gown and clips and shoes are waiting...

Kay, tired now. ready to snuggle with Rob and be thankful for the great husband I've got. night.

tonight was awesome.

I'm still basking in the glow of being totally used by God. Talk about 'clay'. Wow. I'm so excited for how youth service went tonight. Our students were totally tracking and God filled in all the gaps in my outline just so. It was a ton of fun. Worship was really phenomenal too! Rob just addes 3 girls to the team and tonight they really got it. Rob and I just nicknamed them the "Rob-ettes", it really added a lot of dynamic to worship.

I could not locate a potters wheel. sadly. But I did drag a 25 lb brick of potters clay to a table in front, lit from above. Had chunks divided and packaged with the verse as an object lesson. Worked with the clay in my hands as I spoke. It was so fun. I may not be able to sleep tonight from the left over buzz. :) So here it is.



More Than Mud

Isaiah 64:8

But now, O LORD,
You are our Father;
We are the clay, and You our potter;
And all we are the work of Your hand.

We can learn some things from this verse:

1.) God is our Creator. (the Potter is a creator)
a. Our Creator, literally.
i. Genesis 2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.
ii. God formed us from the dust of the ground, but you are more than mud! You are clay.

2.) He is your Daddy. God is more than just our biological father, more than only present at conception.
a. Looking out for your best interests.
b. Correcting you when you are wrong.
c. Teaching you the ways of life.
d. Providing for your physical needs.
e. Loving you (far more perfectly than any earthly father could)

3.) He is the Potter.
a. He has a master plan in mind.
b. He’s creating us for an intended purpose.
c. He has the tools, skills, and knowledge necessary to bring about the desired result.

4.) We are the clay.
a. I did some pottery in high school and recall a few interesting things about clay.
i. It’s very temperamental. Requires a specific moisture level in order to be malleable.
2.) Too wet, and it will fold in the process.
3.) Too dry and it will crumble.
4.) Same with you and me.
a. Too much of the world in us, we crack and fall.
b. Too separated from the world and we lose our effectiveness and fold into ourselves, useless to God’s plan for our lives.
ii. Clay is never unsalvageable.
2.) Too wet, give it some air and let it dry.
3.) Too dry, add water.
4.) Needs to be wedged to avoid air bubbles.
5.) Even when you heat the clay in the oven and bake it, harden it, it’s still capable of being ground down into dust and re-wet. Clay again.
6.) Time, moisture, and the Potter’s touch restore clay to the original intention.
7.) You and I are the same. We are never beyond the Master’s use for us.
iii. Clay is malleable.
2.) Outside forces have great impact on a piece of clay. It is easily conformed by circumstance.
3.) Our lives were meant to be shaped by God, but often times run into other damaging circumstances, making us less effective for God’s purposes.
iv. Clay does not get to determine it’s final purpose.
2.) God determines our purpose. We don’t get an opinion about the final product of our life. When we take our purpose into our own hands, it gets messy and falls apart.
v. The process of being shaped is difficult.
2.) Sometimes even painful. Think about the wedging process. Clay has to be wedged to avoid being shattered in the final process.
3.) Worth the effort. It’s the only way clay will ever be anything more than a lump of wet dirt.










5.) Altar Call
a. Outside forces shaping your life other than God?
i. Give yourself back to Him. Visualize placing your clay in His hands.
b. Selfish pride making you too brittle for God to use you?
i. Spend time talking to Him, soaking up His presence, allow yourself to be softened to Him.
c. Taking your purpose into your own hands rather than consulting the creator?
i. Revisit His purposes for your life. Think about His will, rather than yours. His ways are higher than our ways.
ii. Maybe you are just now realizing that you are clay? You are nothing on your own. You need a saving touch to make your life meaningful.


(I expounded a lot from these points, added some illustrations and some humor, but mostly God just filled in all the cracks)

An Extra Hour

I don't know why, for some reason I thought that my meeting this evening would go longer. I pictured myself home at 9, not at 8. The kids are in bed. mostly. Sarah's been up once already. The lights are dim and I am settling in for the remains of an evening at home.

I have many projects to be working on. I need to prepare powerpoint for tomorrow night's sermon. I'm speaking on "More Than Mud", an expository on God being the potter and we being His clay. Still searching for a potters wheel to use as a visual aid. I also need to divy up my sample bags of clay and attach verses to send home with the students as a take-away.

Sarah's Missionette's Crowning ceremony is a week away and the video is due tomorrow, so Rob and I really need to get cracking on that as well.

And of course, my kitchen cabinets are still torn up and waiting to be finished with 1 and 1/2 more coats of ivory paint. But Lori and I are painting together tomorrow (her in Iowa and me in Texas) so I'm not going to worry about that project till the morning. :)

Instead of starting all those projects, (which I need to and will) I just wanted to blog for a few minutes. It has been forever! At least it feels like it. And I'm so excited about all that God is doing in my life, I hate to keep it to myself.

I'm super psyched about tomorrow's message. God has been tugging on my heart for a few weeks now about this passage of scripture - Isaiah 64:8, and particularily wanting me to expound on the idea of clay never being beyond repair. Clay is such a cool analogy becasuse if it's too wet, it caves in on itself; if it's too dry it cracks under pressure. But the proper moisture level and time heal all circumstances with clay. God never gives up on us either! My mom even reminded me today that once clay has been baked in the kiln, even then it can still be ground up and re-wet and it's still clay! Such a cool concept.

Personally my quiet times have been relatively awesome lately. I'm working hard on scripture memory and really seeking God's peace lately. It's pretty incredible to spend these times with Him. I think that's been the coolest thing about both kids being in elementary school now, a bit more of a routine is established and it's helped my personal time. I miss them so much by the end of the day though! :)

We are ramping up for a lot of cool things at church. Finishing up the cookbook and preparing to sell it, that's pretty cool. I'll be glad to have that project finished. I'm hoping that it will be an awesome keepsake for everyone in the church, as well as a really strong fundraiser for the 90th Anniversary celebration.

Getting ready for Sarah's crowning ceremony in a week, very excited about that. I picked up her gown from the dry cleaners today, and booked the appointment with Jen for her updo. I've got most of the pictures picked out for her slide show and have written the autobiography. I'll have to share it on here. Still debating a song. I love Stephen Curtis Chapman's 'Cinderella' but I break up every time I hear it, that song is so Sarah. And picturing her daddy walking her down the aisle in that white dress, my screen is getting blurry... So excited for this moment for her. Planning on lots of pictures, of course.

A little over a week from now is Missions Convention at Trinity. That is always a really exciting time and I am defintely looking forward to getting to know this year's missionaries. Missions Convention is one of my favorite events at Trinity because we get to spend a lot of time with our speakers and really get to know their stories and their fields. It's pretty incredible.

Missions Convention wraps up on Sunday night and I hop on my Iowa-bound plane on Monday morning. I'm so excited for this trip. I will, of course, miss Rob and the kiddos, but I can't wait to see Mom and Dad and many of my Iowa people. I'm hankering for some sweet sweet corn and a Casey's pizza and some Taco John's. Pretzelmaker will be on the list too. I love Iowa food. :) I can't wait to see the rolling hills (hills, imagine that?? (there are no hills in Baytown, not a one) and the beautiful fall colors and rows and rows and rows of cornstalks lined up like little soldiers in fields. I can't wait to hear that midwestern dialect, I'll feel so normal for a change!! Can you tell I've been a little homesick lately? I love Baytown, I love my church and I love all the ministry, and I'm super invested in every single thing we do here. But I miss my Iowa every day. The reality is though, if we ever leave Texas, I'd miss it just as much I think. We have some phenomenal winters down here and I'm pretty sure I'm going to freeze to death all 5 days up North.

Mom and I are talking about seeing Fame. I remember seeing it in the theater in Chicago with her when I was a little girl. Pretty cool, eh? The remake looks awesome. It will be so good to gal-pal with my Mommy.

Ok. Back to responsibility. I've got some slideshows to work on. So good to jot it all down though. I'll be sharing that sermon soon. Pray that I find my potter's wheel.

Happy 32nd Birthday Rob!!

The love of my youth, (and my old age, turns out) turned 32 yesterday.

My little boy, my first born, got glasses.

and cause things always happen in threes, you can just assume they did.

There was a lot to absorb yesterday.

But God is good and all of my hope is in Him. I see all of this as possibility. Rob is 32! That's cool! I'm excited for his future. It has been so cool to watch him grow and change over the years (14 as of Janury, in fact!). I'm so grateful to God to be on this journey of life with my best friend. I have thought for a long time now that people underestimate Rob, that they don't see him like I do; all his strengths and giftings. Part of it is that there is so much of himself that he only shares with me. I'm blessed to witness the inner workings of his heart. He has so much potential and is starting to really tap into it. God is doing a work in his life and it's very cool to witness and pray for and over as it happens. Rob is a very special guy and God's got a big plan for him. I know that because I know where we've started and how far we've come. God has brought us every step of the way and it only increases my confidence in Him.

So, we celebrated 32 years of Rob yesterday. I did a little photo tribute to him on FB because he worked a 13 hour day yesterday, made it hard to love on him. :) Then my friend Jennifer made him an awesome cake, shaped like an old 80's furniture tv (ours only died 4 years ago) with the StarWars scrolling opening scene on the front. We collaborated on the idea and this is what the scrolling info said:


"Episode 32

THE TRUE HOPE...

It is a period of moral and spiritual decay in the planet Earth. The Lord saw fit to establish a new creation; Rob Thoreson. Dedicated to the calling of full-time youth ministry, this young Jedi has taken on many responsibilities and bears the scars of numerous full-on attacks from the enemy. But, fear not, the force is strong with this one, and he will lead many to victory!"

Pretty cool. I was concerned he might think it was dorky, but he LOVES StarWars (his whole life now) and it was a big hit. Jen did a great job and the cake was fantastic. I had a piece for breakfast!

I took a few shots of Eli with his new glasses too. I have to admit that I'm struggling with this a bit. Eli's eyes have always been his strongest feature and I'm just going to miss them being so prominent. But he needs the glasses, his teacher called me on Tuesday to say he wasn't seeing the board when everyone else was. It's definitely a mental adjustment. Even last night, he walked through the youth room a few times and I kept thinking "who's the new kid?" because he looks so different. I know it's for the best for him, but I can't wait for him to get contacts. I miss his giant blue-grey peepers already. He does look super-smart though. Not that he needed it. :)
So, good day. Today Rob and I are just bumming around the house. We planned on painting trim but have lacked motivation thus far. We haven't even taken showers yet today, literally just laying around the living room talking, facebooking, blogging. I think eventually we'll clean up and go out for a birthday lunch. It's nice to slow the pace a little bit though, sometimes we live like rats in a maze.

Sabbath??

Such a long day.

I always think that on Sundays, though. It's just my life. I get about half way through a Sunday, and if it's not busy enough, I sit down and think "I can't go another step further, how will I push through today?". Ironically, if it's too busy, I don't have a chance to sit down and I generally avoid that question altogether.

Not much of a Sabbath.

I struggle with that. My friends up North have been discussing Sabbath while I covet their Sunday evenings without prayer service/lifegroup. That is so bad. I'm sorry, Jesus.

I love life group. I love prayer. I love Sundays. I just don't like how much we try to cram into them. And they are NEVER a restful day. I need to figure out how to be more prepared on Saturday night so that Sunday afternoons aren't quite so hectic. I'd really like to lay down and put my feet up for an hour or two on a Sunday on a regular basis. That would be amazing. I so understand my mother's Sunday afternoon ritual of the paper till she conked out on the couch. My mother is a full-time pastor and has been since I was 6. She always served multiple churches. but generally speaking, she was done by 1 on Sunday afternoons.

Today was good though. Sunday School was crazy, my jr. high kids were super hyper. We had a good class and I think they retained a bit about 'constant conversation and continual meditation with God'.

I walked into the sanctuary to find all the Missions Project pictures I had taken a few weeks back plastered all over the walls of the sanctuary. That was pretty cool. It was a really fun project, but crammed into too short of a time frame, I think I could have done a better job if I'd had a bit more time with each subject. It was still a very cool concept, but humbling. :)

Service was good this morning. Pastor Carl Hayes shared with us, about seeking God with our problems, he spoke out of Luke 18:35-43 and it was very insightful. We enjoyed briefly talking with them after service and are planning another quick trip to New Braunfels late in the fall.

Got home and got everyone fed. Then started trying to figure out what to serve for lifegroup tonight. Sarah and I ran to Target and Kroger to get groceries and propane. Came home and fixed dinner, baked dessert and cleaned up the house, just in time as students started to trickle in.

Had a great life group. Good food, great conversation. We worked out of the Book of Questions and What's the Deal With. Two really helpful 'fire-starter' books for youth. Some of our questions, I was astounded at our students answers. One in particular was "does God care what music I listen to?" These great Christian kids have bought the lie that you can listen to music with terrible lyrics and it won't affect you. We had a really good discussion and hopefully it sank in a bit. (trust me, God cares! garbage in = garbage out).

Kids started to trickle out at 8 and the last one left at 8:40. Kicked my biological children to bed - they were so tired.... and that brings me to now. An exhausted Anna, but thrilled with a productive day of ministry. I hope God thinks so too.


Tomorrow, we are having another youth pastor and his family over for an early supper and swimming. Other than that though, I plan on being pretty low key. I'd really love to scrapbook. a lot. :) We actually have a super short week this week because of Labor Day and Rob's normal day off, and also he gets an additional day for his birthday. So we are taking Thursday and Friday, hoping to get started painting the trimwork in our house.

I really feel like taking some photos too. Maybe tomorrow I'll play a bit. :)

Ridiculously Tired.

and it's not even 10. I'm seriously ready to turn in for the night. I realized though, that's it's been a while since I've updated. We had an insanely busy (good) weekend hosting the incredible Dr. Rob Starner of SAGU. He did an amazing presentation, from memory, of the book of Galations, in full costume. Awesome. I also had the privilege of photographing him in said costume, which you can see on my sister site. My Rob, Dr Starner and I had several wonderful conversations and it just excited us for ministry all the more again. We followed a terrific Sunday up with a really good staff meeting yesterday and a newcomer's fellowship last night. God is doing so many neat things right now, it's very thrilling to be working on His side of things. :)

Kiddos are doing great. A little tired from the adjustment to full-time school, but excelling. Mom is a lot tired from full-time school simply because I'm back to starting my day at 6am and motivating everyone else from then on! Seems like I just run like a chicken with my head cut off till 10 again, but it's a good crazy, I promise.

I finally got going again with the grocery game today. I'd been promising myself I would with school starting back up, but then Linda spoke to me about doing a presentation at church this fall and that really got me in gear to want to get back with the program. Plus it just seems wasteful to not grocery game when I know how!!

Tomorrow, I am spending a much needed 5 hours with Jennifer. I have no idea what we are going to do or where we are going to go, but I'm definitely looking forward to some down time. And then, before you know it, Thursday will be here and all will be right with the world because me and that fantastic hubby will coexist for an entire day with no priorities but each other. I can't wait!


One last thing... We just started a new system in the Thoreson household. It basically revolves around 'Thoreson Currency'. (I made it on Festisite.com/money). We pay Eli and Sarah for completing tasks, such as morning routines with a good attitude, clearing the table, making their beds, doing homework. They can then spend the currency on items they would enjoy, such as 30 minutes of tv, trampoline time, ice cream on the patio. We've been doing it for 2 days now and it's been a huge hit! I really needed something to help me with the morning attitude and motivation - this appears to be just the ticket!! Plus it's really cute, don't you think??