Believe Conference

This weekend we took 6 middle schoolers to the Believe conference. It was a focus group of our students to see if we want to take our whole middle school group their in 2010. The answer was YES, YES and YES!!
Sara and I. The weird, fun crazy thing about youth is that you get to work with students you've known since they were little. Sara's family is family to us. I use to babysit her in the summers and it's been incredible watching her grow into a young women.

Always cool to travel with your own kids on these events. In this pic I had just missed Kev and Justin doing some crazy clapping together during worship.

They had large sheets of paper hung where students could paint their name, prayer requests or whatever middle schoolers have on their mind to paint.

Hacky-sack. We were terrible. We went from feet to hands. Other groups turned to chucking their hacky-sacks across the arena and then in a few seconds it came flying back at them. With middle schoolers it gets crazy!!!

Eating lunch with our Superheros.

They had huge inflatables- Justin D. and Delaney went nuts of these, I busted out laughing just watching them!

During worship Eric Timm welded, painted and carved some really cool pieces of artwork. It was amazing. Check out his website and some youtube stuff of his at the bottom of his website. All I gotta say is: we gotta get him in our youth wing.

Got to!!

Some of his artwork. The weekend was on the life of Jeremiah and how we're all formed and set apart for God. To speak, to be reminded that He is with us and then to encourage, defend and share with those around us.

Here's the gang!

Leaving there my heart goes out to middle schoolers. Working with high school this year has been great but there is something about 11-14 year-olds that gets in your bones, in our soul and just sits there. Life is such a rollercoaster with them but if you know me, I love a good rollercoaster. I find it's best to strap in, hold on, smile, laugh and scream with everything you've got!

-Michelle

Checking In

Checking in from Planet Wisdom, where we are 25 hours and 50 minutes in to an eventful trip. 28 middle schoolers will do that!
I'm sitting at the hotel while my son is sick upstairs. I'll wait to serve our group lunch, Publix subs- yummy, before heading back home this afternoon.
Add in 6 students stuck in an elevator this morning and the trip has proven to be one of the most exciting yet!
The conference was great last night, "Unlikely Heroes" is the theme and it's good stuff. Our students are getting it, seeing the reality of their lives and actions, or lack there of, and I believe they are being challenged to step it up, accept the challenge to live as an Unlikely Hero.
Well, I need to make sure we're packed to go and instructions for Saturday after conference activities are all set.
More to come... it's been a bust 2009 so far!
~Michelle

Local Mission Update!

So I've been gone from my computer for a little while.
This last weekend was amazing!
It was our student local mission trip.
25 students between the ages of 12 and 18 gathered at our church on Friday night.
Our night started with group games, free time, worship and food!
We brainstormed as smaller groups about ways we could serve the community around us.

Saturday morning we ate breakfast and headed out as 7 smaller groups to bless the people who live in our neighborhoods, Here's what was accomplished:

• 100 Gatorade's were given out to fisherman, families, and people at local parks
• A single lady in poor health had a face lift done on her house she is getting ready to sell. Old bushes dug up, new ones planted, lawn mowed.
• The local nursing home had 8 visitors who handed out flowers and sang Happy Birthday to one of the residents.
• Every staff working at the local hospital on Saturday was given a thank you card.
• The cafeteria at the hospital got all it's tables cleaned and the patrons got full service drink refills and tray clean up.
• All the hospital rooms with people in them were given flowers.
• Sick people with no visitors had a few that day!
• Two local parks got their bathrooms cleaned.
• 2 local homeless people were given a fresh homemade lunch.
• 3 families in our area with several children were given gift certificates to Old Navy in the amounts of $110, $110 and $135.
• Grandparents struggling to raise their grandchildren were blessed with Saturday night dinner!
• A busy family with little children got their lawn mowed and weeded for free!
• School supplies were bought for needy families.
• Fast food resturant patrons at 3 local places got full service table service and the tables all got wiped down!

This is just part of what I could remember.

How cool is all of that! With busy lives and school just around the corner these students could have done lots of other things, instead they gave up their Saturday and with $50 per group and a little brain using they touched the lives of hundreds of people right in their own back yard.

The thought behind this local trip was that we as adults and students will take a week out of our schedule to travel to neighborhoods far from home and serve them. We pounded nails in New Orleans, painted decks in Waveland, fed the homeless in Detroit and loved on the children who raise themselves in the projects of area code 313; but the question was what are we doing right here?

We've gotta take care of our neighborhoods, our community. If we don't care for those around us who will? If we'll spend hundreds on ourselves, hours for our own pleasure what is 1 day? or even 1 week?

After getting sweaty and wet, smelly and bruised I walked away this weekend thinking I should do more. I sit here in front of my computer with my fridge full of food, I search for the best internet deal on t-shirts or fabric, but what about my neighbors? What could I do to help them out?

In October it will be Make a Difference Day. If you don't have anything planned that weekend, or even if you do, I'd encourage you to think about what you could do to make a difference in your community; or if you're gone or have plans that day think about what you could do where you'll be to make a difference, to pay it forward, to think of someone else above yourself.

If you do it, you'll never regret it- I promise.

As for us we're looking at this weekend and thinking of planning another student local mission- we've only touched the tip of the ice berg on this one!

The kids are getting it, they're catching the fire!

Cosmic Bowling

Last night we took the middle schoolers bowling, Cosmic Bowling.
What a blast!
We arrived at 9:30pm and bowled 6 lanes raw by 11:30pm!
It was such a blast! (did I say that already?)
I wear many hats at middle school events and it's not a bad thing, it's actually fun that all my hats can come together. I get to hang with my kids, my best friend and the girls I've come to love from living life with them these last 3 years and I get paid to be there! Who would complain about that?

38 of us showed up, my guess would be about 8 adults and 30 students. The event was open to students who just graduated 6th grade through students who graduated 8th grade. Cosmic bowling means black light and late nights. My bowling fun consisted of me getting one of the lowest scores and my best friend and "boss", you know the old people I hang with who are competitive, bringing in the high scores each and every string.

I was proud of Vaughan for bowling lefty all night . Kev and I even bowled a whole string that way, he did pretty good, I bombed! Our lane also had a bowling challenge and each took a turn bowling frontward, backward, granny style and other crazy ways.

A good group of new kids showed up, both 6th graders and 9th graders, and we really ticked the lady off who worked there, although I did get to have a nice conversation with her and I think she liked us before the night was over.

Back to the ticking her off part:
To begin with when I called to confirm earlier in the day she had no idea we were coming and after calling the owner she said it was "unfortunate" that she would have to be there later than usual. Next, our youth Pastor referred to her as a man, "Just pay the man" he said to a student jokingly; "I'm a women" was her response. Lastly if the first stink bomb didn't make her mad the second one surely did and I kept on bowling while she lectured the kids and threatened "whoever did this!". Of course there was no doubt in my mind who had done it, and no it was not one of my kids- it was... actually I'll keep this info in house, if you work with our youth long enough stink bombs in public places can only come from one student, and he's one of my favorites!

So we're about half way through our summer and have several events done and several more on the horizon. I'm looking forward to each event that comes up and can't figure out how I got so blessed to have my job, my kids and my friends all come together for more fun than I could have imagined. God's cool like that!

We Survived!

19 students, 5 adults, 3 vans, 1200+ miles, hard floors, small showers, dirty clothes, paint highlighted hair, sore backs, sheetrock, yardwork, spur of the moment fixes, demo, rebuild and an overall great time!
We survived our mission trip to Waveland and Bay St. Louis, Mississippi.
3 years later and the devestation in still evident on every street, and not every street is up and running.
What another wonderful giving and serving experience.

A house like this on just about every street. That's a FEMA cottage on the right.

Beach front home.

Vaughan on a pier in the Gulf of Mexico.

One of the dearest things was working along side my boys.

Pray for the Bay.
~Michelle

Trash Pickin' At It's Best

It was pretty cool.
Tonight I picked up 2 trash bags FULL of trash from the side of US 1.
I did it with 3 middle schoolers.
3 other teams of middle schoolers did the same.
We had a blast!
I'm blessed.
~Michelle

Triple Yuk! 2008

Here are some pictures from the Triple Yuk Middle School youth event we held over the weekend.

We had 6 events and 30 students showed up, we split them into 5 teams, added a Lifeguard to each team and began with the not-so messy events and ended with the grand finale events of Pasta-a-la-Kitty and Chuck Wagon.

First event:
that's a student and a Lifeguard! Lifeguards are our adult leaders- who rock by the way!
In this event each team had to dress 6 hot dogs with ketchup and mustard. Of course we're creative about how they get those condiments on the dog!

This happens to be my son getting made up to be a snowman.

The Pasta-a-la-Kitty tub!

Yet another of our fearless Lifeguards!

Lovin 'it!

This is the only picture of me and one of my children. That's me- the short one and my oldest son with the red shorts- the tall one; and one of my sidekicks still with her pudding filled baseball cap on!

To cool down and rinse off we had an awesome 20 foot by 50 foot slip-n-slide. This picture is 2 of our Lifeguards! Again what an incredible group of people we have investing in the lives of these precious, middle schoolers.


The whole gang!
Triple Yuk "oh"8 Baby!

It's Fixed and Tomorrow's Gonna Be Messy

The a/c is fixed!
We're sleeping in cool air tonight!
After 48 hours + with no a/c I realized a few things:

1. The longer one goes without a/c the more the body adjusts to the heat
2. 3 fans and 73 degree temps may seem like they equal cool, they don't
3. 2 cold showers a day help with the 90 degree heat
4. I love a/c- LOVE IT!

Tomorrow is our Triple Yuk Event with the middle schoolers. For a taste I'll give you the game names: Human Hot Dog, World's Worst Hat Head, Something's Fishy, Frosty the Snowman, Pasta A la Kitty, Chuck Wagon and Zit Spit. We have a 20 foot by 50 foot slip-n-slide to rinse cool off in after!

Welcome to middle school youth!

~Michelle

Girlfriends Like These Are Hard to Find

This is a photo of two very important females in my life, on a very important day.

I've had the opportunity to be part of the young girls life in the middle for the past 3 years. She has amazed me, with all life has thrown at her she has handled it with grace, some yelling, and an attitude to inspire me. This photo was taken after her baptism.

The young lady(she'd love that I used the term young, but she doesn't read blogs so she'll never know) on the right and I bonded instantly on a trip to help rebuild New Orleans last summer. She's been more to me than she'll ever know. Some people you just meet and the next day it's as if you've never known life without them, that's her. I've never been much of a girlfriend person- she helped change that, every girl needs a girlfriend like her.

I'm so blessed.

~Michelle

PS I don't think the no blog in May thing is working out- I just can't help it

A Good Night

Had an incredible conversation with one of the girls at youth group last night.

Basically she wants so bad to get into a fight with a certain girl, but she knows it's not the best choice. This girl is raised in a household where fighting and cursing out everyone are what ya do. Under-age drinking and a whole slew of other things are encouraged. Her mom's advice is that if someone makes you made or says something you don't like, tell them off. It's sad, the state of many of these students homes, and to think I only get a small glimpse.

After talking with and praying for, she told me she knew what she had to do. She knew that love was the way to go, accepting this girl and her quirks was far more worth the pain than hauling out and knocking her across the head. She realized that God has probably put this girl in her life for a reason. To love her. To show this girl what it's like to be mean and nasty, yet be loved back. To show her that there is a better way, love is the way.

So when I come home after a Wednesday night and wonder what the heck I'm doing, I'll remember nights like last night. When change in people for the good is not only seen here on earth but the rejoicing in heaven is heard all around.

Good and Bad Tend to Go Hand in Hand

Last night was perhaps one of my worst experiences working with middle schoolers I've had. OK, maybe second to the night during my first year of working with youth, when I broke up fight between 2.5 girls in the library where we were meeting at. Legs, arms, make-up and books were flying everywhere!

Although as with most things in life the bitter is mixed with the sweet.

Last night was also the most rewarding night I've had working with middle schoolers in 3 years. To sum it up my regular 6 girls exploded to 11 - and we had planned an ice cream and pictionary party. If it could have gone wrong it did and I found myself sitting in a room with 11 crazed 6th graders who have no clue how to look beyond themselves. All it takes is one: and I have 3 of that "one". I'd love to list their names but I won't, I will tell you these girls are headed, if no one helps them, to the streets.

That's the toughest part of this volunteer job I have. Seeing these girls for who they can be instead of who they currently are and where they are headed via the choices they are already making. I once read that students will make choices in middle school that they will act on in high school. So after waving my white flag I traveled down the hall to where my BFF (we must use these terms when working with middle schoolers, it's an unwritten code) was hanging out with her 8th graders. It was there that my worst night became my best.

After sharing some pretty raw emotions a dear, dear girl spoke words to me that made me cry. There I found myself bawling as this 8th grade girl, who had been with me for her 6th and 7th grade years, began to speak words of encouragement and then offered to pray for me.This girl was not any girl. She was one of my first girls who sat in a library with me every Wednesday for 2 years. She came along to football games, baked cakes and cookies for me. She drove me nuts with her behavior and disrespect; she was the .5 that I pulled off of the above fight. I sat there tears literally dripping like a faucet as she spoke with grace and maturity. She reminded me that the hard ones need it most. She reminded me that perseverance pays off. She reminded me that love is all we can do, that love is what most of these girls need, that love is all we need. She reminded me that there is hope for the lost.

So, while I'd like to take credit for this young lady's transformation I realized it was God, to be more precise it was Jesus who changed her. See over these past 2 years this 14 year old has gone through more than anyone should go through in a lifetime. Each event along the way we sat down and found comfort in God's Word, in prayer and in laughter and love. It was Christ who set her free from the yuck in her life and she will tell you it is Christ who allows her to get up every day, smile and say, "This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it!" Sure, she's still 14 and has more maturing to do, but looking back I tear up thinking about where she's come from.
God is good.

So when I headed back in to the 6th grade room of horror I had a different bounce in my step, a different perspective. Still a feeling of "why am I here" but a new sense of encouragement and strength.

If you can be a mentor be one, there are so many students out there who just need an adult to love them for who they are and where they are at.
Easy, no, worth it, yes.
~Michelle

Who Do These Girls Think They Are?

Surprise teenage happening #343: While taking a group of 35 middle schoolers on a weekend retreat I jump into the 12-passenger van I'm driving to find this gender make-up:

My son,
his best friend
and...
8 girls!

Somehow, and I know I dwell on this all too much, but somehow I thought my children would remain babies forever!

Prayers needed.
~Michelle

I'm Excited!

I'm excited about an upcoming event we're putting on at our church.

It's and Etiquette Evening for our middle school girls and their moms. We're still in the planning stage, and if anyone read this blog I'd ask for ideas, books and tips.

I'm not sure if it's our area or if the issues we're dealing with are sweeping the nation, but middle schoolers have very little manners. My guess if they've just never been taught. Here's the scene last night in my 30 minutes of small group time with 9 6th graders. We're about 15 minutes through our discussion when one girl gets ups and begins to dance in the open area next to our table and then asks, "Want to see my backhandspring?" Another gets up to go to the bathroom and a third to use the lock on the outside of the bathroom door to lock the girl in. I ask them to sit down, they do, only to have another get up and do the same thing.

Earlier in the night, while our youth pastor was teaching, one of my girls is texting a friend and still another, from another grade level, is sitting talking with her back to the pastor.

Disrespect. Oh it drives us nuts.
The I remember where most of our kids are coming from. Homes where their parents leave for the weekend to be with boyfriends, homes where fighting and yelling and drug-addiction run rampid. Homes where Jesus has never been welcomed, except in many cases by these precious young middle schoolers.

They at the age of 12, 13, and 14 are the spiritual leaders of their home.

God brings them each week, cell phones, backhandsprings and all. He brings them and they ask questions, they begin to make changes in their music, in their dress, in their lifestyles. He brings them and they respond- and who am I to get frustrated and want to walk on when they act like, well middle schoolers?

So back to our Etiquette Evening. I'm so excited!! A group of us will meet at the end of this month to discuss the details and I can't wait! Knowledge is power and these girls need to be educated!

~Michelle

PS one of my girls who came as a 6th grader is not in the 8th grade. She's a short shorts wearer, a low cut you know what hanging out dresser. Last year when I touched on modesty most of the girls asked "what's modesty?" I explained and then began to call them out when they weren't modest. Anyway, last night at youth she wore an undershirt under a low cut shirt and informed me she doesn't wear her shorts anymore because they are too short! I had also been informed by a 3rd party that she was sitting with a group of Christians at lunch!! Oh thank You Jesus! She's hearing your voice. Continue to speak truth into her life and give her the strength to make decisions that line up with Your Word.

Return From Hollygrove

The place where we stayed is in the center of this picture, below the interstate.


Home.
Sweet home.
Early Bird and I returned home from a missions trip to Hollygrove, New Orleans on Saturday night. What a wonderful time we had! Challenging, rewarding, eye-opening, loving, funny, crazy, sad, would be a few adjectives to describe the trip. As I thought about what I'd blog about so many things came to mind that none made it to paper. My brain was on overload.

I could tell you about the people of Hollygrove. The stories. The loss. The recovery. The God sightings.

I could tell you about the water lines on the homes, the mold, the blue roof tarps, the large X's decorating the fronts of the homes showing when the home was inspected, by whom and how many dead bodies were found.

I could tell you about the major difference in levee heights separating the have from the have not's, the closed up businesses, the local Voodoo mart that sells chips, beer and soda.

I could tell you about the love from a group of middle schoolers from Florida that changed the countenance of a cook.

Then there was the effort, the lack of sleep, the prayer and the friendships.

I could tell you how to entertain 16 kids on a 14 hour car ride.

What not to play with highly competitive kids.

I could tell you about a man who didn't quite get why he was being helped, but he smiled and took it anyway.

I saw a school in sad shape, busing kids from all over, doing their best to keep peace.

I could tell you what it was like to shovel through someone's life, throwing it into a wheel barrel and then dumping it on the side of the road.

I could tell you about a young man who struggled to put self-control and patience into practice- but did it!

I saw a group of kids who weren't crazy about doing yardwork, not only do it, but laugh while doing it and work past quitting time.

My eyes were opened to middle school girls. I had a chance to visit, ask questions and call some out on their behavior. A tenderness grew in my heart for these girls. Being a mother of boys I've found it hard to "get" girls. For the most part I didn't care for middle school girls when I was one, so it has been hard for me even as an adult. That's what cool about God- he can take something that makes no sense and change it. He took me to another level in this area on this trip. This past year I prayed for love, simply love for these girls. Now my prayer is to take that love and come along side them and help them love one another and themselves. I began to call them out on their behavior as the year ended and it wasn't taken all too kindly, but this trip showed me that it needs to be done in these girls lives. They need to hear the truth, many times they know it but when it's not pointed out they stay in the lie. The girls on this trip rock! I saw them wanting to know what God says, making an effort to not participate in drama, to step out of it when they got sucked in. It's tough being a middle schooler today but it doesn't mean it's an excuse to give up or fall into the crowd, the world. This group was a little easier to get because by coming on this trip they were showing that they had a desire to be more Christ-like, to grow, to serve. (although there are others with this same desire that didn't attend this trip) Now I pray this fall when I head back to the trenches this glimpse and insight I got will help me, through Christ, serve these girls.

I made a friend on this trip. Someone I'd known and liked but we went to a new level in our friendship, we bonded, we have so many similarities yet are so different. That's what I like about God's people- the diversity and the love. She inspired me to love more, to be honest, to do what we don't want when it's right, to drink more caffeine when the trip home was not even half over.

So I head back to the real world this week, with kids and meals and dishes and laundry and survival. I still look at my own situation and it doesn't make sense, it doesn't add up. I've already wanted to quit and return to Hollygrove, to TCC; but this is my life, as tough and hard as it is right now, it's where I'm at, and I will face it with a smile, a positive attitude and a belief that God's got me covered.

You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. 1 John 4:4



-Michelle
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Holes!

Day One of Spring Break Rocked!

Well what else would I say? We slept in til 9am, well Early Bird was up and drawing in the office at 7am. I made Steve some breakfast and walked it, the dog and a gallon of water down to him at our new business .5 mile away. My dog is not a leash walking dog, so on the way he tripped me like a dozen times and I dripped water all over myself. We finally made it to the property, as we so originally are calling it, Steve took the dog while I unpacked. Our walk home was less eventful and I even tried to jog a little ways. Hey I jogged more today than yesterday!

My grandmother came over for a surprise visit, we chatted about family, missionaries and I just listened to her talk. I am so blessed to have her for a grandmother.

Things began to go quick once I got home, the number of the kids in the house doubled to 4 and lunchtime came quickly; reheated tacos, ham sandwich, ritz, fruit and a Klondike bar satisfied their hunger. We dropped off Steve's lunch before hitting the beach. We were the only ones to go out of the ga-zillion people I invited. It was cold for Floridians but we have made a pledge this week: We will go to the beach every day!

Some say I'm crazy for taking all the boys with me different places, I say, I wouldn't travel without them. Today I had 2 extras and even though the weather was a little chilly by Florida standards and windy to boot, they all said a big yes to the beach. It wasn't very crowded and only a few clouds dotted the sky. I put them to work digging the biggest hole I've ever seen. I took a shovel to the mouth during the excavation process. By the end of our 2 hour stay it was getting cloudier and cooler, so after a quick swim- yes boys are crazy- we came back home where you guessed it, they were all hungry again. I got rid of some beefaroni I had inherited yet no one likes, some more ritz crackers disappeared and few bananas are gone and of yeah a bag of popcorn. By 6pm I had kicked them all out and we'll start again tomorrow.

Tonight I plan to stay up late and clean. Don't laugh I love to clean when every one's sleeping, and yes they sleep through the vacuum.

Check out our castle and hole pictures!

Wired For God

I'm a lifeguard at our churches Wednesday night Middle School Youth Group. We called out Wednesday night group WIRED! Not only are they a wired up bunch of kids but also we truly want them to be wired to God. We're in a series on prayer and after spending and hour as one group we break off into smaller groups. I have a group of 7th grade girls.

Here's part of an e-mail I sent out talking about last night at Wired.

Also small group time keeps getting better.
All the girls participated in the conversation. They ALL prayed! That rocked! Also I brought in my stack of index size cards that have Bible verses written on them. Last week and this week they asked why they never heard from God. I explained some different ways that God speaks but they just weren't getting it- until tonight. As soon as I put the cards out I saw the girls going like crazy digging through them and reading them. Each one had something to say. Like "Oh I need this one!" or "Yep this is for me" I also heard a "Look Ms Michelle, it's what you've been telling me, "be kind and compassionate" " They each took 2-3 cards. I will admit I sat there panicked for a moment because I was watching my beloved verses get snatched away, then I remembered my girls were taking home Bible verses, my girls we taking home Bible verses, I'm not sure anyone heard MY GIRLS ARE TAKING HOME BIBLE VERSES!!.....

I them sat them down and said "See you all just heard from God!"

I just love how God works. I love to see Him begin to work a young girls heart. To open her eyes to His ways and to things in her life that are not pleasing to God. I love the fact that one girl had a "spiritual" question and her peer could answer in a way that lines up with God's Word. I've seen my group of girls do all of the above, I've watched them grow over the past 2 years and it's truly amazing. I continue to lift them up and place them in God's hands, they battle daily in a world that wants nothing more than to snatch them into it's dark pit. I pray that God would capture their hearts, that they would have hearts after the things of God. I'll also continue to feed them lots of junk food at way to late an hour on school nights. I listen when they call to cry over some boy or yell about a friendship gone wrong. For some crazy reason I'll continue to take them places as a group in public and hope we don't get kicked out for laughing too loud or having too much fun!

God rocks and I'm so glad He's given me this opportunity to share in the lives of His children!

The pictures of the kids making banners of God's attributes. We're going to sew them all together into a quilt/wallhanging.

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday - Happy Valentine's Day!

Head over to Wordless Wednesday for more!

6 Beach Bums and a Lifeguard

This afternoon I took my 6 girls from Wednesday night youth group "Wired" to the boardwalk! It was a blast! It was also a story on how we got there- our first choice had been rollerskating only to find the rink isn't open on Wednesdays. next was ice skating only to learn the rink was still under construction and ot openein til Friday! So we hit the Boardwalk and was a God thing!

The girls had a chance to have free time withone another. They broke into 2 groups of 3, the "Mean Girls" group and the "I'm just glad to be here group". Although very different, they all have two things that bring them together, one good, one not-so-good. The first is Jesus, He brings these girls to His house each Wednesday night and then blesses me with the opportunity to hang with them. They think I'm old! I love it, I'm only 32 and they say "Ms Michelle, you're so ... old!!!"- I just love it!! Plus- all my life I hear how I look much younger than I am so it's kinda fun being the "old" one!

The other thing that brings them together is their music. I let them listen to their music this time. My rule: no radio, CD's and MP3's only. If I don't like the song I move on, but for the most part I listen; I like to see what their world is like; interesting it is, but really it's not that much different than when I was a kid, or when any of us were kids. It's about sex, drugs and rock-n-roll. So my new mission, should I choose to accept it, is to help these girls switch over to Christian music. After listening today I'll start with T-Bone. He was our cross-over musician. After seeing T-Bone in The Rock Opera Hero, with Michael Tait and Rebecca St. James, we bought one of his CD's and then it was Toby Mac and KJ52, LA Symphony (not a real symphony Aunt B, I know you were somewhat excited to think I would listen to some good music *hehe*). Anyway, my point, I'm going to give them each a Christian CD and challenge them to listen to it, once a day or week- still not sure of that.

I remember what my mother always said "Garbage in, garbage out"- Oh how I hated it, but how things have changed, I like it now, I totally get it! So that it what I pray will be a factor for Christ in these girls lives, new information getting feed to their minds.

I'm claping little claps to myself because I am so excited to see God work in these girls lives. Jesus Rocks!

Matthew 13:15 For this people's heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.

Lord, may You begin to rub away these girls calloused lives. That they would hear You and see You O' Lord, may they know Your glory! Amen

And one more music I'm really into Ginny Owens (she's not hip hop or rap), check her out!

I think we do the peace sign 'cause we think we gangstas?