Person of the year is.....

This morning, Time Magazine unveiled their choice for 2011's Person of the Year - "the Protester.

According to managing editor Richard Stengel, other finalists included Kate Middleton, Admiral William McRaven, and Congressman Paul Ryan.

What do U think? Do U agree with Time's Person of the Year???

Exciting Times..

I am sure many of my posts will have to do with my church (praisecathedral.com), or Christian related topics.  I am a Pastor's Daughter I am a Pastor's Wife and above all I am a christian.  So alot of what I say and think revolves around where I spend my time and thoughts.  The things that occupy that is The Lord, My husband and children, Church/youth and my extended family..  To me it isnt a bad thing.  I love the Lord.  I love My family and I love my Church....

We are doing something interesting at our church this year.  We are having a Christmas Eve service with a $3,000 give a way.  Every person that comes will get a gift.  It will be a cash gift of either 5.00 20.00 50.00 100.00 or 500.00.

I know what some might be thinking because I know what some people are saying.. "you are just paying people to come to church.. "  Well I admit we are using it as an incentive for people to come.  We have a community full of people that need to hear about my Jesus.. If this helps them get into the door so we can share Christ's love so be it..   Some people might say well you are just wanting more people in your church.. TO that I say.. We want to grow the Kingdom of God...  I want to see churches all over the world full... So yes we want more people in church, but not just ours.. We want to build heaven..

People have a tendency of seeing church as a body that wants to take from them not give to them  We have a hurting world that needs to experience the Love of God.  We can not share that love if they arent there to share it to.  So sometimes you have to get creative.

The church (not just ours many) has offered food assistance for years.  We give them food yes because they need it.. But we also gave them food so that they will come and we give them food but also so we can pray for them and share Jesus with them.

We arent doing anything new just in a different way...  

We are doing a lot of different things to get ready for this event... We went out last saturday and put door knockers out and invited the people in our neighborhood to the Christmas eve service.. We have 4 new families there on Sunday because of those door knockers..  (about 20 people) Some arent even waiting till Christmas eve they are coming NOW!  How awesome is that..  They just needed a personal invite!  Thats ok we can do that !

We also are making a video to show clips of what the Lord has done in the lives of some of our members at church..  Short clips going from person to person giving a couple sentences of what the Lord has done in their lives..  That is right SENTENCES less if possible..

I know it is hard to say what the Lord has done in so few words.. and we say people struggle with how to say what the Lord has done in a few sentences.. Holy COW I didnt know how much he was done in some of my church families lives!!  I will post a video of it after Christmas so you all can see it!

I am so excited.  Excited to see such anticipation in what the Lord is doing.  I am excited to be living right here and right now and be apart of such an awesome church that has a heart of reaching people that need the Lord.  I am just excited to be apart of it.....

With this ring....

Our 5 year anniversary is coming up soon.  Eric asked me the other day if I wanted anything special cause he wants to get me something nice for our 5 year.  I said you know I have been thinking about maybe wanting a new wrap for my engagement ring.  He said ok well go look and let me know if there is one you want.. 

I went to the mall yesterday with my friend Shakira.  I looked at a few rings.. The ones I really like were at Kay jewelers.  They have some beautiful rings I could have put my center stone in.  I tried some on... and we got some ideas and info and left..  

We started to walk down to the kids play area.. I told Shakira I am not sure if i can trade my ring.. We talked about it some and she said she understood..  

LASt night the girls and I met Eric and Cheesecake Factory to eat dinner..  So after dinner I showed Eric some of the rings I was looking at.  

When we were walking out of the store He asked me so can you do it?  I said I dont know yet...

I was driving home with the girls and started to really think about it... This is the ring I got married with.. This is the ring Eric gave me.. He really went back and forth on the engagement ring.  He wanted to make sure it was in a band I would like(i was picky about the band) He did a really good job with the engagement  ring so I never need to get a new one..   If I get a new ring that Diamond has to come our of that "ring" he picked..  After we were engaged he said to go look at what kind of wedding band i would want..  So I picked a wrap I liked then and still do.. There really is nothing wrong with it.. Did I mention it is the ring we got married with.... ??  I am kinda emotionally attached...  So I decided in that moment driving over the Howard franklin bridge that even though some of the rings I looked at might be "nicer" or "bigger" That my ring is irreplaceable and invaluable to "me".  

It is the ring I see on our wedding pictures.. (eric's is different because he lost his before we were married a year. but at least i have pictures to remember it)(another subject for another day  haha)

So the point is I love my husband more then I can ever say, and I love the ring he gave me.  It symbolizes a lot.  

No room for Racism in church

I dont even remember the last time I wrote on this blog. I didnt even know I still had a blog.. Facebook has taken in that area for me... I have been thinking for some time that I wanted to become a blogger.. Well today is the day for me to "start" blogging. We will see how long it lasts...

I am not a great writer. I hardly ever pay attention to commas or punctuation.. I am sure my sentence structure could always use work.. I dont use them because I cant or dont know where they go. I just am lazy and to busy to care.. So if you need all that stuff this blog isnt for you.. Or if you like to criticize all that stuff this blog may be for you...

A lot has happened since I last blogged.. Eric and I now have 2 girls.. Abigail (abby) and Madelyn (maddie).. We couldnt be happier with our daughters.. They are the light in our eyes.. More about "catching up" in another blog.

Our church http://www.praisecathedral.com/ is having a big Christmas Eve service. You can read about it more on the Church website..

I had a lady call me today to ask questions about the service.. Then she had questions about our church.. Is this the pink church she asked. I said yes we are pinkish purple (long story but hey you cant confuse us with someone else) She asked if we were Catholic. I said no we are church of God Pentecostal. She said REALLY?! I said yes.. She said i am so excited.. I have to ask another question. "You see I am a black lady and will people look at me like I dont belong?" I said No My church is every open and we have people form many races.. I explained to her we hare a lot of white people but we have alot of Spanish and we are growing in the area of our black members. She told me she didnt care if we were all white she just wanted to make sure we didnt care she was black.. She was excited we will except her even though we dont have the same skin color.

I am excited I could brag on my church however it also breaks my heart that she would even have to ASK if a church would accept her because of the color of her skin.. Jesus died for all people and it is a shame that any church (christian church) would look at her any differently. I am not the color Jesus was when he walked the earth and he accepts me. I am so thankful he doesnt exclude me from salvation because I am white. How can a christian church act on the "Lord's" behalf and make someone feel they dont belong. It will be mutli racial in heaven so the people here on earth should get used to it.

I have had a problem over the course of my almost 31 years (that is right 31). My problem has not been with a drunk or a drug addict or whatever sin someone may have come out of.. My problem has always been with a racist. I literally get sick to my stomach if someone has a racial filled joke or something I consider off. I do not understand how a Christian can be a racist. I question if you can be a racist and be a christian.. at the very least you cant be a good christian and "good" racist at the same time..

The Lord reminded me of something recently when I was very upset about some racist things (not in my church i might add just in general) I think i was starting to have hate in my heart towards them.. The Lord reminded me he died for the racist too and that I had to love them also so that I am not a type of "racist" of people who are unsaved.

We are Youth Directors at our church, and we have so many from so many different races. I am proud of that. A year or so ago someone was asking if we had different races, and I said no not really. Someone else was there to remind me of all the races we did have in our youth.. I stopped and though wow we do.. I didnt realize.. I said you know when I look at them I dont see their different races I just see my kids that why i didnt answer correctly..

I am so thankful for a Lord that loves color blindly. I am so thankful for a church I can invite anyone to and we will love and welcome them to our family!..

So I know my first blog back is a hard subject. Racism can be a fire starter kind of subject.. However that phone call really touched my heart stings.. SO if you read this blog and have something bad to say about a race take it elsewhere.

Smile

Abby has been smiling more and more!! I was finally able to capture a smile on the camera!

She is so CUTE!!

Easter

I dont know why the Pic didnt post but here it is again

Easter

We had a wonderful Easter.. We go to church several times a week all year long. However, this is the one of the few times a year I am able to get eric ro color coordinate with me. This was extra special because we have abigail with us now. I went shopping for her earlier this week to see if I could find an easter Dress. They dont have any newborn easter dresses..
How terrible is that? My mother in law had gotten her this beautiful purple easter looking dress what was a Premie. She has out grown that size. However I was booking on the chance she had not outgrown that dress. So I bought a puple shirt for myself and purple tie for Eric. Easter morning and I put the dress on her and IT FITS!!!.. I was so happy.. It's the little things in life you know....

So here is the picture.. I still havent lost all the baby weight but I am working on it.. I am not allowed to work out till Thursday.. So once that happens hopefully it will be a fast process.