a wife | chatting at the sky

the summer

May 31, 2009

When this week is done, the hectic will begin to slow and we will settle in to the slower rhythm of summer. At least, that is what I tell myself. The busy season of youth ministry is really just beginning. But summer is a sweet time of it with the seniors still around but not in school anymore, mid-week lunches and weekend trips.

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Having three young kids doesn’t allow much flexibility for me to join them on those trips, but I am learning to embrace my role of supporter and background pray-er as he goes away with them. There is always a twinge of left-out sad that doesn’t disappear when we grow up, surprisingly. But for the most part, summers are good times. And I’m looking forward to this one.

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so I married a youth pastor

May 18, 2009

I don’t talk much here about The Man’s job because it’s his job and well, you know. That also means I don’t talk much about our church here because church is The Man’s job. But today, I’m talking about both.

Our church values students. I love that there are over 200 of them going on a 10 day service trip in June along with 50 volunteer staff. There was a line of adults who wanted to go on this trip because of how much they love these teenagers. I love that these students serve on Sunday mornings by volunteering in the nursery, making the coffee in between services or running video cameras in big church.

Youth ministry is our job. But I can’t imagine doing anything else, even if it wasn’t.

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Want to know something I do not love? I do not love that every year, we have to say goodbye to a whole bunch of them. See those students there on that stage? They are some (yes, only some) of our seniors who will be graduating in the next few weeks. Leaving, moving on, growing up. Not only do I not love saying goodbye to them, I think I might hate it.

As our kids get a little older, it’s becoming easier for me to slowly ease back into the lives of these students. This class in particular. I can’t really think about them leaving without tearing up.

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So I don’t really think much about them leaving. Not yet. But that is the thing about youth ministry. They always grow up and move on. And then we get a new freshman class to keep for four more years.That’s the only good part.

What a blessing it is to know them. I can’t imagine being the parent of one of these graduates. I’m having a hard enough time sending the twins to kindergarten.

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I know this is entirely unrelated to this post, but scroll down to enter the I Heart Faces photo contest this week. The theme is “your best face photo ever” and you should all enter because it’s so fun!

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sweet dreams that leave all worries behind

October 1, 2008

I want to move with my man and the children we have made to a faraway land and live off the fruit of trees and honey from the hives we tend with our own hands.

I want to walk barefoot in the grass and make sandcastles and read stories and sing.

I want my high school hair back with the corn silk curls, and I want to wear skirts that touch the ground and weave crowns made of sweet smelling flowers for hours with my girls.

I want to laugh for a week without stopping.

I want money and chocolate to grow on trees.

I want to buy a new toilet instead of cleaning my old one.

I want a maid, a hairdresser and a chef. And a milkshake. And world peace.

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soaked and smiling

September 30, 2008

We made it back from the fall retreat in one piece. I did dive in as the last post suggested and got very wet. As in, it rained half the weekend. But I also had a great time with these students and so enjoyed their company. It took me a few hours to transition from mommy to youth leader. I think by midnight of the first night, the transition was complete. And because I cannot process life without photos, here are a few for your viewing pleasure.
These are the girls in my cabin. Y’all. Could they be any cuter? Seriously, I wasn’t that cute in high school. Were you? I think people are getting cuter over the years. Survival of the Cutest.
We did a lot of walking this weekend. Lots of hills. And mud. I don’t think the students even noticed the walking. And then there was me who was calculating how many days I could skip on the treadmill because of all the exercise I was getting.
There was also lots of silliness which is kind of my favorite. I think this is one reason I like students so much.
In between the silliness, there was serious as well. Each student received a block of wood in which they wrote down a negative word they believed was true about themselves. By the end of the weekend, these blocks were burned in a bonfire. An appropriate thing to do with lies, don’t you think?What fall retreat would be complete without a square dance? Not only were there cowboy hats, overalls, pigtails and freckles, we also had a genuine square dance caller guy. You know, the one who tells you exactly what to do: Go-to-the-middle-and-BOW. Now-face-your partner-do-si-do. Now bow to your CORner, not YOUR girl she’s the OTHER one. It was so awesome. And look who I got to dance with.
In my haste to capture this moment, I cut off his cowboy booted feet. Isn’t he lovely? Don’t you want to place the lives of your children in the capable hands of a youth pastor wearing a camouflage Waffle House shirt? Good times.

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diving in

September 26, 2008

The Man has been in youth ministry for over seven years. During the first few, I was with him for nearly every ski trip, small group and sleepover. When the twins were born, it was time for me to shift my main focus from students to babies. But today, the high school students leave for their annual fall retreat. And guess who gets to go with them?

That’s right! Chatty Emily will be hopping on one of four buses carrying 170 students out of town for the weekend. I’m looking forward to the opportunity to get to know some of them better. I’m excited about leaving the little ones in the capable hands of my parents so I won’t have to worry. But I’m feeling old, y’all. I got an email last night with the minute by minute schedule for the weekend (I love an organized youth ministry). I read it slowly, picturing everything in my head, planning accordingly. It wasn’t until I noticed the amused look on the Man’s face that I realized I had been studying the schedule for…kind of a long time.

It was then that it hit me: motherhood has slowly sucked the spontaneity right out of my personality. I now have the need to plan, to know, to not be surprised. But anyone who works with teenagers, has teenagers or is a teenager knows that no amount of planning can insure a plan. Life simply doesn’t work that way. Especially not in youth ministry.

So I have my bag packed, my phone charged, my camera ready. I’m trying my best to take off my mom-to-three-preschool-students hat and put on my laid-back-friend-to-high-school-students hat. Most importantly, I’m beginning to release my illusion of control and to instead allow Jesus to live through me, love through me and maybe even surprise me.

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what I’ve been doing

August 30, 2008

These are books on The Man’s bedside table. There is always a stack at least this high. I used to remove them everyday and put them back on the shelf. I stopped doing that last year when I began to appreciate what those books say about him. Notice the two different versions of the Bible. He likes to compare things. And the one third from the bottom? That is no book, my friends. That is the 3rd season of The Office. I say all this because The Man has been on my mind even more than usual, as this week we celebrated his birthday. So I’ve been doing that.
Also, we had around 40 high school students over a few nights ago for a leadership interest meeting. Such a cool bunch, they are.
Today, I’ve been working on this. Next week is the much anticipated consignment that I sell things in every year. I pulled some things out of the garage and this is what I end up with. I can’t wait to see what happens when I actually clean out drawers and closets. We have entirely too much stuff.

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back

August 4, 2008

Believe it or not, last week I really was on vacation. I know my post about what I wasn’t doing threw you off because I’m so sneaky like that. I had done most of the babysitting posts before I left town but I did cheat and clean them up a bit while we were gone.
Now that we’re back, I promise I’m not going to write a long post about my great vacation to Hilton Head Island in South Carolina.
Don’t worry, I won’t go on and on about what a blessing was to watch our girls be sweet to their baby brother…
and to have The Man all to ourselves.
I know you don’t want to hear about how the twins are big enough to ride their bikes with us now.
Or what a perfectly pleasant date night The Man and I had at the harbor watching the sunset
while we ate our fancy dinner. I certainly won’t waste any of your time telling you that I think that flower alone cost $12.50.

So now I’ve got laundry. And mail. And coupons that need cutting. So I’m gonna go do that. And I most certainly won’t be dreaming about going on vacation.

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