Going Public With Their Face

Lately, we have had some strange happenings in our household.

Every time I walk past our bathtub, there seems to be a new item floating in about an inch deep of water. These items have ranged from a necklace, Park's shoe, my lipstick, stuffed animals, all the way to Chris' car keys.

I felt pretty confident of who the culprit was, but it wasn't until I caught him in the act that I got the full picture of what was really going down.

A few days ago, I turned the corner of my bedroom just in time to hear Park saying these words, as he dunked six plastic monkeys in our bathtub...

"Today we are having a party because you are going public with your face. I baptize you in Jesus' name! Now, hold your nose while I pray for you. Thank you, God, for these monkeys. Please help them not to drown."

Chris has been baptizing after every service for the last few weeks and apparently these celebrations have made quite the impression on sweet Park.

And I have to say it has made a pretty huge one on us, too.

How amazing it is to see people go public with their faith (or as Park so eloquently put it..."face"), as they venture into the next step of their relationship with Christ!

And just to clarify, Chris has not let a single one drown.

Now if only we could say the same for Park....

Rest in peace little plastic monkey, who accidentally slipped down the drain during baptism festivities. At least it wasn't the car keys, though.

The Home Depot Ministry

The conference was life changing.

There are no other words to describe it. I don't think I have ever experienced such unbelievable teaching and high energy, spirit-filled worship in such a short amount of time. It is one of my absolute favorite things that our church does each year. And now that another one has passed, I feel challenged to live out all those truths that I just soaked in for the last several days.

A big thank you to Lolli and Pops for their ministry to Chris and me, coming to keep Park so that I could be apart of C3. I must admit that there was no twisting of arms involved when I asked them to come.

And Park didn't exactly shed any tears when I told him who would be taking care of him. He told me every day for a week in advance that he wished "my conference would get here already!"

When I called the house on Thursday, Mom told me that they had given Park the afternoon to pick anywhere he wanted to go and they would take him. She and Dad assumed they would spend the afternoon at the zoo, an inflatable bounce house, or breaking the news that Six Flags doesn't open until next month.

But, I have to say it was no surprise to me that his choice, without hesitation, was to race a cart through the aisles of Home Depot for his special outing. There isn't a tool in that place that he can't name, which I must say can be very helpful when I have to ask him which thingamabob I need to use to change the batteries on one of his toys.

Clearly, he is his father's son. Two peas in a pod, I tell you.

And there may or may not have been some rumors that Pops may or may not have ridden a tractor with Park while they were there.

Not that Lolli told on them or anything.

Shout out to Home Depot for allowing my three year old and his doting grandparents to test out all of their equipment, with zero intent to buy a thing.

Free advertising in blog land is your reward and you're welcome for the mass marketing plug I just gave to all 2 of my male readers.

(Let's just not tell them that one of those two is the same man who illegally rode their tractors and the other already shops there regularly, hence the reason his son requested to go there in the first place.)

All that to say, this week is about living out all God has shown me, in the midst of detoxing Park from believing we can go anywhere he chooses at any moment he wishes.

Don't you wish you could be here to see how that works out for me?

I know Lolli and Pops do, considering they are already missing Park after being gone less than 24 hours.

And we are already missing them, too.

Creative Church Conference

Please be in prayer for our church as we host the C3 Conference over the next three days. There will be pastors and leaders from all around the world who are coming together to be inspired, equipped, refreshed, renewed and encouraged.

By God's grace, lives will be changed, churches will be ignited and leaders will rise up. Please partner with us in lifting up our staff, volunteers, speakers, and all those attending this event.

If you live in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, we would love to invite you out for C3 nights for incredible worship and teaching. They are free of charge, open to the public and childcare is provided. All C3 events, including C3 Nights, will be held at Fellowship Church's main campus in Grapevine. The schedule is as follows:

(*Doors open to the public at 6:15 each evening)

C3 Nights:

Wed Night 6:30
Speakers: Christine Caine and Jentezen Franklin

Thurs Night 6:30
Speakers: Our Pastor, Ed Young and Craig Groeschel

Friday Night 6:30
Speaker: Bishop T.D. Jakes

I look forward to seeing you there!

Rough and Tumble Sensitivity

Yes, I am alive.

Still comatose, but joyfully alive.

Lately, with my new "sleeping schedule", I've had a hard time balancing blogging with clean laundry and food for my family. So, I decided they could go hungry for one night in order for me to give y'all a brief update.

Priorities, right?

Well, sandwiches for dinner doesn't really count as starving does it? To be completely honest, I think Park and Chris are secretly relieved that I've been too tired to cook lately. After all, faking edibility probably gets challenging night after night.

However, Chris did not disappoint with his special Valentine's "I Love you" pancakes and Park requested to spend time individually with each of us, making creative presents to surprise the other with.

I ended up with a bouquet of paper flowers and Chris got a love puppet, constructed out of a paper bag, a million cut-out hearts, and a little boy's creativity. Neither of us could have been more thrilled with our gifts. I was especially pleased with the sensitivity our usually "rough and tumble" son showed with such a sweet gesture.

Never mind the fact that in the end, Park used Chris' puppet to eat my paper flowers.

Rough and tumble sensitivity is better than nothing, I tell you.

Park was so impressed with Valentine's this year that he has decided everyday should be "a day of love, Mommy!"

And although I think this idea was inspired because he adored his Spider man placement and mini etch-o-sketch so much, the concept is very valid.

We don't need a special day of the year to show people we love them. We should exude Christ's love to others every single day of our lives.

Now, I wish I could say that I live this out a hundred percent of the time or that I make a habit of putting other people's needs above my own. But the truth is I am selfish. Oftentimes, it takes other people in my life serving me to remind me that I am called to give self sacrificing love to others.

I'm so inspired by all the people I am surrounded with who are actively practicing this type of love. And although my sensitivity may be rough around the edges, I'm thankful that God isn't done with me yet.

Rough and tumble sensitivity is better than nothing, I tell you.

A Little Lot of Shut Eye

If you happen to have wondered where I've been lately, the most likely answer is sleeping.

I cannot keep my eyes open to save my life.

Last week, Chris, Park and I were coming home from an evening with friends at around 7:00 PM. One minute Chris and I were in the middle of a great conversation and then the next thing I remember is him waking me up in our driveway 45 minutes later.

Narcolepsy, I tell you.

And this is really odd for someone who usually has to have her teeth brushed, face, washed, mask on, and pillows fluffed accordingly, just to have a chance at falling asleep within the hour.

Not to mention that every time I lay down with Park to read books, I end up reading the back of my eyelids, instead. And by God's mercy Park has been taking more naps, too, probably because he'd have to crawl over his sleeping mommy to have a chance at escaping his bed.

Clearly I should have tried this strategy sooner.

But all that to say, I'll take sleepiness over queasiness any day of the weak. With the exception of some waves of nausea here and there, I am very blessed in the morning sickness department. (Well, technically early mornings have always made me sick, pregnant or not.)

However, let me warn anyone willing to listen about taking your child to the rodeo during the first trimester of pregnancy.

One whiff of the air upon entering the arena sent this little cowgirl into dry heaves for the remainder of the festivities. It wasn't pretty, but I was able to manage long enough to see the final bull rides.

Even if I had to bury my nose in my shirt to do so.

When purchasing their tickets, the poor people next to us had no idea what kind of show they were actually in store for. Perhaps rodeo attendees should push for a refund clause in the off chance you are seated next to a hurling, shirt sniffing, drama mama.

On the up side, Park didn't seem to mind my misery a bit, even pausing his "YEE HAW!" periodically to slam pat me on the head. And Chris was gracious enough to hide his grins with his hands, although I did faintly hear some snickering between dry heaves.

At least my rodeo debt is paid, unlike Chris who is still having to play the calf, while Park chases him on a stick horse before mercilessly roping him to the ground.

How's that snickering working for you now, hubs?

So, all in all, I'm alive and well, thankful beyond words for my waves of nausea and narcoleptic tendencies. I'm heading into my ninth week of pregnancy and not taking one minute of it for granted.

Even if I have to bury my nose in my shirt every now and then to do so.