Showing posts with label church. Show all posts
Showing posts with label church. Show all posts

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Life Chain 2009

Our regular church event photographer was out of town this weekend, so I snapped a few shots during the Life Chain this afternoon. Unfortunately I forgot to ask someone to take a picture of me and the kids.

My niece and sister-in-law. The one on the right was adopted as an infant...she was a 26-week-old preemie (1 lb. 3 oz.). Her mother didn't know she was pregnant and after giving birth she tried to have her baby's life support cut off. No one wanted Kate because of the high possibility that she would have permanent physical and mental disabilities. She's a perfectly bright and healthy 8-year-old now.

My brother-in-law, Kaitong, adopted from an orphanage in China when he was 12 or 14 (I can't remember). He has spina bifida and didn't learn to walk until he came to the U.S.

My beautiful sister-in-law and my goofy daughter.

Kirk, who slept most of the time, until all the honking horns rudely awakened him. Still, considering how hot and muggy it was, he was a trooper.

Sunday, September 27, 2009

Prayer Request

I just wanted to post a quick update asking for your prayers. Our family is struggling with some church-related issues and decisions and would love your support as we seek out God's will. I don't want to go into detail because it's rather complicated, but basically we're unsure if we can continue to support the direction our church is going. My husband and I both have year-long commitments though (him as a deacon and me as a Women of the Church leader) so we are torn as to what our next step should be. Please pray for wisdom and guidance, especially for Avery, as he must decide what's best for our family.

Monday, May 25, 2009

Happy Memorial Day!

I am so slow getting moving in the mornings. I used to be one of those annoying "morning persons." You know, the people who could just hop out of bed with a smile on their face raring to go and ready to attack the day? Yeah, that was until I got married and had kids. Now? Not so much. In fact, I've officially switched over to a "night owl." These days I seem to have so much more energy and drive in the evenings than I do during the first part of the day. I do my best work after 8-o-clock. Three years ago that was definitely not the case.

I am determining to do better though. I intended to get to bed early last night and start my day earlier this morning, but Kirk decided to be extra-fussy last night so I stayed up late getting a few things done after he finally fell asleep. Still, I won't let today go to waste. After I put Shiphrah in front of a movie and take a shower, I'm going to tackle the kitchen. After that's done, I'm finally going to find places for all of Shiphrah's hand-me-down clothing that's been sitting in bags and boxes for months. Hopefully I'll be able to get it all put away. I hope I can get more than that done today, but I'll be satisfied with that much. With two little ones, you can't be too ambitious. :)

Avery and I had a long discussion about church and our responsibilities as Christians. We've been very conflicted lately about our church situation. Basically we feel like we've just been going to church to "go to church," if you know what I mean. "Playing church," in other words. We're both involved, he's a deacon and I'm a WOC (Women of the Church) leader, but it's been on such a superficial level. We need to be more committed and more giving of our time and energy. At the same time though, we're struggling with the fact that we're members of a stagnating church. Or maybe I should say stagnant congregation. The pastor is great; he's a neat guy and his sermons are usually very good (sometimes a bit too chummy or cheesy, but that's usually when he tries too hard) but the congregation is made up of mostly people who just "play church" also. So it's easy to fall into that rut. Sunday School is even worse. It's a small church, so we have two classes to choose from: one is a bit too simplistic and the other, well, let's just say it's taught by an elderly gentleman very set in his ways who doesn't tolerate his opinions being challenged (he basically laughed at my father-in-law for stating what he believed). Over the past few years a few people have attempted to start a third class, but that was always met with disapproval from the elder board. So we're torn between staying in our church and trying to affect change or finding another church and abandoning the one we're at. There's also the option of splitting our time between two churches, but the more we considered that the more it seemed like being disloyal and not what God would approve. So what do we do? We're going to be more seriously praying about it and have faith that God will show us His will.

Happy Memorial Day! It doesn't feel like Memorial Day...up until a few days ago I kept thinking it wasn't until next week. It's just too early this year; it's throwing me off. Plus Avery isn't off work, so nothing seems different. But Pastor gave a good Memorial Day sermon yesterday, so that helped set the tone.

Hug a serviceman today and pray for the families of those who have given their lives for our country!