More to Come!!

I know I have not blogged in a while but to be honest with you I don't really have anything interesting to say. But have no fear SPLAT Ministries will be ministering in a different area in a few weeks at Stephen's Court and we will report on how things went. Also, I have some great pics from our VBS last month that I will be posting soon so please be patient and don't stop checking in we will be posting more things soon.

My Wednesday!!!

Well, yesterday was the first day of school and all in all it went very smoothly. It really hit home for me yesterday morning how fast my girls are growing up. Seeing them in thier new rooms and McKenzi standing at her locker caused a huge lump in my throat. My girls are really growing up. Lots of responsibilities for McKenzi this year with homework and science projects due every 9 weeks. We have had Madison tested for dyslexia and should be getting the reports back soon but my gut feeling says she has dyslexia. If that really is the case then there is going to have be alot of work put into first of all keeping her self esteem up and then alot of work put into homework each night. I am so blessed by my children and each day they get a little smarter and seeing them yesterday just showed me how precious each day is with them and not only with my 2 girls but with my sweet little boy who is 3 but feels like he was just born yesterday.

Also, yesterday evening Scott Foster had asked me to do a Monologue for a group of people that he was going to be speaking for. Of course, I agreed and showed up at around 6:30pm. The place was First Assembly and the group was called "Most Excellent Way"

This was a group of people who are recovering from drugs and alcohol and are seeking to make a God change in thier life. I have to be honest and say I was a nervous wreck. I did not know what to expect. Scott told me it was just like the people we minister to on the streets of Houston and at Brandon Park but for some reason for me it was different.

When it was my turn to get up and do my Monogologue I could not even remember the first line and I feel like I had stammered over every word trying to remember what came next and felt that I repeated some lines but after it was all said and done I feel that the Lord used it to minister to those in the room and DW said that it was the best I had ever done so I know the Lord used me.

The beginning of alot of internal healing took place last night in my eyes. This was my first time to be at a group such as this and I felt that the Lord really ministered to everyone in that room. Scott Foster did a great job speaking and he had the opportunity to lay hands and pray over every one in that room personally and it was great.

I love being a part of something like that. I love the fact that God is using me to minister to people like that. I pray he will continue to use me. I will be going back to do another Monologue for them in October and DW will be speaking that night.

I was exhausted when I got home and the devil tried to rob my joy of a great day because when I walked out of that building my head was pounding and by the time I got home it had basically turned into a full migraine and by the time I got in bed I don't even remember falling asleep.

First Day of School!!

Well tomorrow starts the beginning of a new school year for me and my 2 girls. Mckenzi will be in the 4th grade and Madison is in the 3rd grade. This year is going to be very hard for Mckenzi. Lots of tests, quizzes, and projects to do this year. Both of my girls are smart and I know that they can achieve anything as long as they seek after God. Mom and Dad are going to have to do a lot more praying for them also.

For me it is a bitter sweet, while I feel I did not have much of a summer I am excited what God is going to do this year for me personally and what he is going to do in the life of each student as well as the life of HCS. I am excited about seeing all the old faces and see how much they have grown over the summer and also to get to know the new faces of the ones God has sent our way this year.

Please pray that I will be more bold, minister more to the kids, find more opportunities to minister to the kids, and to enter a new level of worship with each of these kids. This year I am focusing more on teaching the kids the meaning of authentic worship for each one of them. I pray that each student will discover what thier authentic worship is for them.

God has great things in store for this year and I am excited to be a part of it and to see how it will unfold.

Along with that please pray for me because the path God is choosing to take me down is not for the faint of heart and I want to stay faithful to him so please pray that I will stay faithful in the little things and that when I grow weary that I will look to God to fill me back up so that I can continue again to give out to these kids.

My heart is full of love for these kids and I am excited to get to know them on a personal level. It thrills me to know that even outside of the classroom they love to be around me and they speak to me. I love that.

So, here we go!!

The Dark Night!

I know I am behind everyone else but I took some kids to see the Dark Night last night. These were older kids so it was ok and thier parents agreed to let me take them so I am in the clear. I have never really been a Batman fan nor have I watched all of the 37 Batman movies that have come out over the years but for some reason I really wanted to see this one and I am so glad I did. I was so impressed with Heath Ledger. What an extremely hard part to play but I couldn't think of anyone who has played it better in my opinion. Jack Nicholson did an excellent job but Heath Ledger still by far blew him out of the water.

This movie kept my attention the entire time. But then again the tub of popcorn we bought to eat held alot of my attention also. Man I love movie popcorn. The only thing missing was the M&M's to mix in with the popcorn but after buying the $15 tub of popcorn I couldn't afford the M&M's. But back to the movie. I was impressed with everything about the movie except for the Batman. I am not at all impressed by him. His acting skills were not that great and what was up with the voice when he became batman. It sounded like a possessed Batman.

Maybe it is because I was just so impressed by the joker that I just didn't see much about batman. Or maybe I just have a thing for bad guys. I don't know.

Either way, the movie was excellent and I have now become a Batman or Joker Fan and plan to go see the next one that comes out if there is one.

So, there is my opinion about the Dark Night, better late than never.

This could be my last blog!!!

Well, it is official. My summer is over. I start back to work Monday morning at 8:30am. Once the school year starts I will be so busy with work, church, children, cheerleading, school, and ministry I will probably forget to blog. Not that any of you really care but let me just run down the list of how my day will go once school starts back.

First of all just having to get up at 5:30am every day is a challenge because I love to sleep. Then it's rush, rush, rush to get everybody dressed, fed, lunches made and on duty by 7:15. Now, I only work Monday, Wednesday, and Friday but I a still responsible for getting my kids up and out the door and to school by 8am.

Monday Schedule
7:15 on duty to recieve kids.
8:15 begin teaching my first music class of prek-3 and continue teaching until 3pm
3:30- 6pm Cheer practice with my cheer team.
6pm home to do homework with 2 kids, cook supper, get baths, wash a load of laundry, clean kitchen, brush teeth, get lunches, clothes, backpacks ready for the next day. Spend some time together as a family and then send the kids to bed by 8:30pm and if we are lucky DW and I get to bed by 10pm.

Tuesday
Rise and shine and get kids fed, clothed, and to school by 8am.
8am get my self dressed and Mason dressed.
9:30 Take Mason to Mrs. Natalies (his babysitter) and then head off to AC for PE for elementary ed children. This class is 11:25-12:45. Get to HCS to do some work until staff meeting at 3:30-5pm then off to soccer practice with Mckenzi and Madison. Then home to do our usual night time routine.

Wednesday
Same as Monday schedule but add church to that from 5:30-9pm. Then home for our usual night time routine.

Thursday
Same as Tuesday schedule

Friday
Same as Monday, Wednesday, Friday schedule.

But don't forget to add in there that DW is coaching soccer for HCS and they have games in September and October on the weeknights and my cheerleaders are cheering for all basketball games in December and January.

I also have a musical to put on in November and then Choir competition in February along with another musical in February also.

Also, along with the day class I am taking at AC I am taking an online coarse from AC Composition and Literature.

Then on the 2nd Saturday we have Brandon Park
3rd Saturday we have SPLAT Ministries
4th Saturday we have the homeless we feed in Houston.

Now do I tell you all of this to brag on myself? Not at all because I absolutely love my job at HCS. I do not consider it a job at all, I consider it a ministry. I love what I do and I know that is what I am suppose to be doing.

The AC schooling is not necessarily my decision but I believe that God has put my back against the wall to push me to do it or else I would not be doing it. So, he is giving me the Grace to make it through and with straight A's at that. It is only by the Grace of God that I am able to continue with college.

Then I believe that God has added this new ministry of SPLAT ministries to be able to minister to even more kids.

Do I get tired? Of course, just like each one of you gets tired from time to time. But I would not have it any other way.

I am with my kids everyday, I know what they are learning, I see them in every competition, in every play, I am very much involved in their daily lives and getting paid for it. So it isn't so bad. I love what I do.

Am I dredding going back? Yes, just because the summer went by so fast, but once I get back into the swing of things I will be fine.

So maybe I will blog on the events of my life from time to time but hopefully, they won't be as long as this one.

Last Night of VBS at Brandon Park

Tonight was the last night of VBS. I was elated at the number of kids that were there tonight. All in all we had about 35-40 kids and we handed out about that many backpacks full of school supplies. I so much enjoyed this VBS. It was so nonstressful and so awesome to be able to talk to these kids and for them to call me by name. We definately entered a new level with these kids this week and I am so excited.

The sad thing about these kids is that most of the parets were dropping off kids at the park and the ages ranged from 2-13. Usually the older syblings were in charge of taking care of the babies and the parents just let them go and roam the streets even at that young age.

I felt myself getting very tearful several times tonight because of 2 reasons:
1) That God blessed this ministry this week and allowed so many kids to be a part of this. I know I said it last night but I have to say it again. I am truly in awe that God allowed me to minister to these kids and get to know them on a more personal level.

2) It hurts my heart so much to see some of these kids that want to be loved by someone. I have recieved more hugs from these kids in the last 3 nights than I have any where else. These are kids that most people would label problem kids or kids that are hopeless but in my eyes they are kids that are going to be leaders some day and they need someone to show them how to direct that negative energy into positive energy and how to use that energy to Glorify God.
My heart is very satisfied, but yet very heavy for these kids. I can honestly say that I truly love each and every one of these kids passionately and I can't wait to get to know them even more and see what thier gifts and abilities are so that we can show them how to use them.

I know this is alot to read in one blog, but I promise you I could talk for days about these kids and I would ask that every now and then when you think about it, please pray for the kids in Brandon Park. God is doing something awesome over there and I am honored to be a small part of it.

Starting in September we are going to move over, in addition to Brandon Park, to Stephen Court on Denman. We know of several low income kids in that area that no one is ministering to them so we are hoping we can begin to start building relationships there so please be praying.

I am tired but this is a good tired and I will take this kind of tired any day of the week.

Thanks to those who take interest in this ministry and any time any of you would like to come out and see what we do, or just to help out and visit with these kids then feel free to come out any time.

We are at Brandon Park on the 2nd & 3rd Saturday of this month and then in September we will be at Brandon Park the 2nd Saturday and then at Stephens Court on the 3rd Saturday of every month. Times are 9am-1pm every time.

God Bless!!!!!

Second Day of VBS

Today was the 2nd day of VBS. We were down quite a bit from last night but I think it was due to the weather and the threat of storms coming our way. We still had a great time and it was very smooth and non stressful. We presented the gospel to the kids tonight but I did not feel the need to pray the prayer with them and the reason is this. We discovered last night that these kids have little to no knowledge of the Bible, much less who God is. We presented the gospel from his birth all the way to his resurrection. We talked a little about how to recieve Christ as thier savior and then reassured them that if they have questions to talk to any of the leaders there tonight or tomorrow night. But I felt very strongly that after having only 2 days of Bible stories that these kids were not ready to make that strong of a commitment and I want them to fully understand the decision they are making. But seeds were planted and many relationships were buildt tonight and that is very important in order for these kids to really recieve what we are wanting to share with them.

One of the leaders is doing a great job of taking pictures of everything so I hope that we will be able to share photos soon.

Tomorrow is the last night and we will be handing out school supplies so I expect many kids to show up.

God was very good tonight. It could have stormed all night but it did not and we were able to have a very succesful VBS. God has truly blessed the last 2 nights and I know he will continue to bless tomorrow night. Thank you, Jesus, for blessing this ministry and allowing me the opportunity to be a part of all these kids lives. I truly am in awe of how God chooses to use me.

SPLAT VBS

SPLAT Ministries had it's first ever VBS at Brandon Park tonight. We will continue through Wednesday night and at the end of Wednesday we will hand out backpacks full of school supplies. I was praying that God would send 50 kids buy I was also thinking that even 30 would be awesome. Tonight, we had 49 kids show up. I was elated. God truly answered. I did however discover that an outside VBS is very difficult to do. Simply because these are kids who on a daily basis do not have parental involvent in thier life nor do they have adult discipline in thier life so the least distraction was a problem. We are hoping to rent out the community center that is located right there at the park for the next two nights. Our plan is to have our worship rally inside with music, prayer, and scripture time, and then move outside for crafts, snacks and games. I am praying this will improve the attention of the kids during the worship time.

Tomorrow is the night that we will be presenting the gospel to the kids. There will be adults there to talk with them and to pray with them so if there are any decisions that are made we will know that they are genuine and not decisions made because the person next to them raised thier hand.

I am excited about what God is doing within this ministry and I pray that he continues to grow it into whatever he wants it to become. I pray that this is just the beginning of many seeds planted in the lives of these children and children still to come.