Blessings

Saturday morning, the children of the church gathered in the church kitchen

and we made pumpkin bread for some of our homebound members.

We also made Thanksgiving Day cards

It was precious to see the kids 

working together

playing together

helping one another

While the loaves were baking, we helped stuff 2400 bags with

Christmas invitations to our church's

Children's Christmas Party & Parent's Night Out

Our Christmas Musical and Coffee House

and

Our Christmas Eve Worship services.

It was quite a group effort and very fun!

 Once our bread was cool, we wrapped them up and made some very special deliveries

What a blessing it was to spread some joy

for Thanksgiving week!

So grateful for our church family

and a special day to serve the Lord together!

Taquitos

I am always looking for new

healthy, quick, kid approved after school, after football, after Ballet, after Volley Ball

snacks...that the kids can kind of prepare and eat on their own.

When I saw this new recipe for creamy baked chicken taquitos, I had to try them.

{photo courtesy of Pink Parsley where I found the recipe.  You can see it HERE.}

The recipe says it makes 8 to 12

and I wanted extra for freezing and reheating

{with five kids, these sorts of snacks disappear all too quickly}

So I tripled the recipe and baked 25

and can safely say

I have enough filling for 50 more....

except I ran out of the homemade corn tortillas I get at the bakery.

{so that will be tomorrow's project - the filling will refrigerate beautifully}

David was my taste tester.

He loved them.

So did I!

The homemade tortilla sure was tasty

and the fresh chopped chicken, spices, lime and cream cheese, shredded cheddar....

Very yummy !

The kids got home from school and polished them off!  Every single last one!
And asked for more.

A New Adventure

The kids go back to school on Tuesday for another great year at Cypress Christian

and in a short time David will be starting Pre K.  He is soooo excited!

This fall also marks a new adventure for me.

I have been named the new Children's Ministry Director at Spring Cypress Presbyterian Church

I can't tell you how blessed I am to have the privilege to serve my church in this way.

My true passion is nurturing faith in young children

and coming along side and ministering to families!

My responsibilities include 

all ministry activities and programming for children

birth to 6th grade.

Oh be still my heart!

I look back and see God's sovereign and gracious hand in calling me to this post

and confirming it through those in my midst.

I first saw the posted position a year ago before we moved here from Phoenix

as we scoured church websites looking for potential churches to visit

upon our move here last August.

I must have clicked that job description 10 times a week from afar,

so drawn to the ministry description and thinking I would

LOVE to do that.

Then we moved and my heart was focused on

settling us into our new home

supporting my husband in his new endeavors at work as a partner

rooting my children at a new school

and figuring out a new community and frankly, a bit of a new culture.

y'all....God transitioned us beautifully!

We started visiting churches and narrowed the field.

We decided to return to a church we had initially visited months earlier.

There it was again, the ministry post for the job of Chidlren's Ministry Director

in the bulletin.

I admit my heart did a bit of a cartwheel.  

The job was at this church. 

and it was still available!

I began to serve in the children's ministry as I have done in all our churches,

clicking online to read that job description over and over

now planted as members in the midst of the congregation.

The middle of winter I updated my resume. Tucked it away.

And prayed.

And prayed.

And prayed.

Months and months passed.  I can't explain my reluctance to pursue it earlier,

but finally in April, I printed my resume, drafted a letter to the search committee 

prayed some more and submitted it with the total encouragement of

my husband to the overseeing elder.

Over the next few months, I had several interviews.

I received a letter of call in July.

Praise be to God!

Come to find out, the retiring director had her eye on me

all the while God was moving in my heart wooing me to the position.

How gracious was God to call us to this particular church and

hold the position for a whole year 

all the while wooing me to the call and granting me confirmation from those

I was serving alongside.

Outside of my primary ministry to my husband and children,

I believe without a shadow of a doubt I was made for serving in this way!

I have a passion to:

Equip and encourage the body of Christ to minister to and serve our covenant children so that they might know, as the coming generation, the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might, and the wonders that he has done (Ps 78:4)

Minister relationally and redemptively to children and mothers so that marriages and families are strengthened in the church

Partner with and support parents in their biblical role as primary teachers of God’s truth

Provide child centered, Christ exalting educational and fellowship opportunities for the children of the church so that they are nurtured in the fear and love of the Lord

Nurture and instruct the children of the church well so that they would know their importance in the family of God and be led by God to proclaim a personal and public faith in Jesus Christ whereby they would come to enjoy the full privileges and responsibilities of their inheritance in the household of faith through membership.

Reach out to the community with the love and hope of the gospel by providing child/ family centered, Christ focused experiences and events.

Provide godly and compassionate counsel to young children and their parents so that they would come to depend upon God and His Word as sufficient for all of life and godliness

This is the work I will begin September 1st.

Pray for me.  

And pray for my family.

May God be high and lifted up, His name be made great

as together we seek to serve Him in all that He calls us to do.