Saturday, May 29, 2010

Planting seeds

May 29, 2010

So my little seedling is almost 21 weeks along! Now she is the size of a large banana! And we know it's a she because of our ultrasound about a week ago. Abigail Louise Johnson is her name!! Kyle felt her move around inside me for the first time this morning...it was exciting also!

But along with my growing belly, soon I will have a growing garden. Mama helped me do all of it and I am so grateful cause I didn't know what I was doing. But I just started with one box and we planted corn, spinach, green beans, peas, onions, lettuce, and potatoes. I feel like we got a lot planted in one box. Now I can do a test run this year and see how everything turns out. I want to do more boxes next year and plant more things but I wanted to get acquainted with how it all works first. My task for next year will be making my own baby food for little Abigail. I want her nutrition to be great and cost little like ours. Besides, I think it'll be fun to cook things and jar it. I want to do tomatoes and make my own tomato sauce and salsa. Oh so much fun! Well, these next couple of months will be busy but I'll try to take pictures and post blogs about it. God is so good and life can be fun!



Have my markers of where things are!






Monday, May 17, 2010

God is Faithful

May 17, 2010



In my last post I talked about the opening at a nearby church for a Worship Pastor. Well, with thought and prayer, right now we are not sensing a calling of the Lord for Kyle to do this. My first tip was just the uneasiness I felt when Kyle told me about it. And as Kyle puts it, "I am not hearing God say to Go do this." So right now that is where we are at and I don't think it's going to change.

But God is so faithful and He's been providing Kyle lots of work and side jobs which really helps us out since we have such a strong desire to pay off our debt to honor Him and want to save for the baby's arrival. Ever since we've been married God has blessed us so much and we want to remain faithful to how we should live and not be strapped to debt because we want to help the poor, needy, and just reach others for Christ with giving. The only way we can do that is to free ourselves up and live disciplined lives even when it's not "convenient". It can be hard in times where self-gratification is everywhere. But we've been able to use the money God's provided since we cut up our credit cards over a year ago. Praise the Lord! So I know God will continue to provide for us when the baby comes and during the winter months.



On another note, I am 19 weeks pregnant and counting! I am noticing more things about being pregnant that aren't too fun. My feet have started hurting by the end of the day when I work and I get really tired. Also, when I exercise to some Turbo Jam workouts or go jogging, my hips hurt! So I am sticking to weights and the Elliptical at Fitness. I enjoy the Elliptical more than I ever have. We will be finding out the baby's gender soon and we are excited...now we'll be able to really plan and know whether to call him/her London or Abigail!

Another new thing is that we re-did the living room. We took out our TV and brought in another couch for more seating. Since our living room isn't very big, I have wanted to do this but taking the TV out is a big deal because we like certain shows and the basement isn't finished. But during the summer there's really no good shows on and I don't want to watch as much TV when the baby comes so I thought this would be a good way to get used to watching less of it during the day ahead of time. When we get the basement finished we'll have our "theatre" area for movies and such which will be nice during the winter but it won't be the main focus of the upstairs. And with having the baby and people probably coming over more, I wanted more space and seating to accommodate others.

Monday, May 3, 2010

God's Plans

May 3, 2010

So I went away this last weekend for a retreat with my high school small group girls. It was a blast and we had such a great time bonding. God really worked in their hearts and in mine. I kept asking Him to show me something I need to work on and He did :) I think He revealed something new that I never really thought of before and it was good to see it. Now I just need to bathe it in prayer and ask for the Holy Spirit to change me and work through me more.

I had a bit of twist when coming home. The Lord seems to like to do crazy things to me! I notice that lots of times God will finally show me something and I feel like it's an "aha" moment and then He's like, "Ok, you're ready for the next thing I'm going to do." It's like He's waiting for me to get something and then once I get it He's moving me on to the next "level". Well, Kyle told me that there is a position open at a church 5 minutes down the road from us. Apparently our worship and lead Pastor's at River Valley have been talking and praying with this Pastor about needing a Worship Pastor and they have been thinking of Kyle. So on the fly we went to check it out and the people were really friendly. The Pastor's message was solid and the music, well obviously it needs help. We met with an Elder and then he took us to the Pastor and we chatted with him in his office for a few minutes. It was an encouraging conversation and basically they are looking for someone part time for the first year but the pay is pretty generous (I think). After the year is up they want to bring that person on full-time and it would basically be an Associate position with the music and the pay would also be enough to fully support a family.

The interesting part is that I had kind of moved on from this pastoring area because I felt like God had lead Kyle away. We are also very involved in River Valley and Kyle does music there for the youth. I am just now developing really close and intimate relationships with girls and women in the church. I love the teaching and everything about it. So I don't know what God wants to do in us or if He wants Kyle to switch gears from business to ministry. There is going to be LOTS of prayer about this and I just want His will to be my will. But I am instantly feeling a little unglued about the situation. I have been praying for a long time for a solid job and especially with the baby coming, who knows, maybe this is what God has been preparing us for. I guess we just need to have an open mind and know that our life's purpose is to serve the Lord and it's not for our own pleasure. I also know that if we're not in the will of God we won't be fulfilled or happy. Please pray for us and our journey with God and that He clearly shows us what He wants!