May I cut in?

The title comes from my sister. She is the clever, wordy one. I just steal bits of her cleverness. 

Goodbye tan! 

It is amazing how drab and oppressive tan can feel. 

We didn't refinish the stairs. This is the original color of our hardwood. You can see a bit of the refinished wood at very bottom of the picture. The stairs aren't in bad shape. Well, the landing was a favorite bathroom of cats, but the steps are okay. 

We plan to add a door to the left on the landing into our laundry room/mud room (that we hope to build in the garage - which is currently behind that wall). 

Anyhow, my husband speaks my love language (I don't really believe in those...).  I have mentioned several times recently that I am itching to paint something. So he went out and bought me SIX gallons to work with! I plan to do a lot of painting when I come home from ESL on Thursday nights. I am usually wide awake and can't sleep. 

Speaking of ESL, I finished the last thing on my list yesterday - and updated database. Postcards are in the mail, flyers have been handed out, registration night is planned and forms are printed. We have people from six churches helping this year. It is going to be fun (and stretching for all of us, but God always provides). 

Reading: A Loving Life by Paul Miller

Thoughts so far: So many good themes. What true biblical love is and the role of lamenting in our lives (and others and the church)... Only about a third in, but I recommend it already! 

Are you working on any projects this weekend? Have any book recommendations? I'm thinking of reading Til We Have Faces again. I know, a fictional book!?! I've been reading a lot of heavy stuff recently and I think my brain needs a break. 

Another year

It's that time of year again. While everyone else in my house took a two hour quiet/nap time I dug into a new ESL book and started some lesson plans for this fall. Can you believe that it is already September?!? I'm teaching the first four weeks of the semester. I'm trying to get a head start on these lesson plans before life happens. 

I'd like to have time to plan some schoolwork for the boys too instead of just making it up off the top of my was each day. In case you didn't notice, I'm a planner. Ha ha  we've been doing lots of puzzles, games, reading, and flash cards when they ask, but it feels disjointed.  I'd like a little more structure two or three days a week. Nothing big. Maybe an hour or two of planned activities that sort of relate... 

We'll see how that goes... I'll blog about it if it goes well or if it completely fails.  But for now, ESL. 

ESL update

God is so much bigger than we can ever comprehend. He is doing big things in our ESL ministry. How do 27 people from 10 churches even want to attend training to help at an ESL program that isn't even held at their church?!?! I am so humbled by the love these other people have for reaching the nations with the gospel. 

It has been such a blessing to work with people across denominations to brainstorm ways to broaden and deepen our impact in the international community. 

Will you pray with us that God will open wide doors for the advancement of His gospel. Pray that schools will be receptive to passing out literature and that we will be able to meet with the right people. Pray for us as we organize our newly trained staff and merge them with older staff. Pray that we seek His glory above our own and that we will truly love the people He brings to us and seek to build relationships with them that lead to sharing the gospel. 

I can't wait to see what the fall (and beyond) holds. Praise Jesus for His amazing provision. He has led us all the way and continues to do so and it is a funny, crazy, sometimes scary ride! I am so thankful for His grace every day. 

Roller Coaster

Guys, you know that feeling before you jump on a sled to ride down a hill or when you ate first in line for the roller coaster, but it hasn't pulled in yet? It is like, if I don't get on, I won't experience any danger. I won't get myself into something I can't handle. Run away! Get out while you can! 

Know that feeling? 

Sometimes it happens before events in life. Should I have another child? Should I take that job? Should I buy a house that needs a lot of work? Should I start an ESL ministry? Should I expand that ESL ministry? 

It comes at the point where you still have time to turn back. Whatever the decision is you know it is going to require a lot of work.  Probably more work then you can handle. But you know what, I'm learning that is probably a good thing. Because in my weakness and tiredness, God pulls through. When He calls you do something He provides what you need when you need it. You might not feel prepared right now, but when that moment comes, He'll be there. 

And today I'm about to step on that roller coaster again, front seat, where I can see everything that is going on. Where I lose control, but where I give over control to a God who controls everything. 

Tonight I present stage 2 of our ESL ministry - partnering with other churches in our area to expand our reach. And if it is approved, it means work, lots of it. Writing new policies, recruiting more staff, paperwork, meetings, and presentations. It means scheduling my time so that every moment counts, no twiddling my thumbs while I flitter away time on Facebook or putting aside a book I want to read so I can work on emails. It means not spending evening doing things I want to do with my family because I am at meetings or ESL.  Self control. It means opening my house up inviting people over (something I am not good at doing).  

But it also means giving God a chance to work through my messes. I know I can't handle this, which just means all the more glory to His name when anything good happens in our ESL ministry. It is a scary place to be. Knowing you can't handle something, but taking it on anyhow. 

So. Tonight at 6:30 the roller coaster car arrives. I take a deep breath. Put one foot in front of the other. Buckle my seatbelt. And that is all I can do. I hold on for the ride. 

To God be the glory. Great things He has done and is doing. Pray for wisdom as we hopefully get approval to move forward to stage two. 

One of my favorite Piper quotes. 

ESL

We stopped by the church office today to work on ESL. It should have taken a few minutes, but everything takes longer than I expect. :) Sure, tally up 32 interview scores and assign them into three classes... Sounds easy right? The hard part is when you find interviews that don't make any sense and that don't have an interviewers name on them... So, there is no way of following up to ask questions and you just have to pray and make the best guess of what class they should be in (example: one student scored a 28 last year, she scored a 49 this year (50 is the highest) and would have rocketed her from beginners to advanced... I talked to her last week and knew there was no way she could handle that class). We ended up being there over two hours. Thankfully, we had no other plans today. 

For that time period the boys were amazingly well behaved. The church secretary let them punch holes and cut paper. There are so balls and traffic cones in the youth room that keep them amused. Then I took them to Chick-fil-A afterwards to celebrate (and because it was two hours past lunch). 

I am glad ESL starts this Thursday and soon all this registration and planning will be behind us. It is exhausting. It is kind of like a wind-up toy, you put all the energy into starting it and once you let it go it goes on its own pretty well. :) I am so thankful that God uses even our weakest efforts to bring Him glory. 

120 Backpacks

So, In case I start to blog once a week or every other week, I am running an English as a Second language school this coming fall and spring. I'll probably be a bit busy. :) To kick off the semester, I am collecting and giving out 120 backpacks to kids at a local elementary school that my church teams up with.  The school has a lot is immigrant families, who hopefully, will want to attend an ESL class. 

I just received the first shipment of backpacks!! So excited. These will go great with the 320 glue sticks we bought on Tuesday.