What is up world?  It has been about a week since I have had a chance to post any crazy off the wall ideas or stories that have been going on lately, but it has been very very hectic lately, for instance….

-Between 80 and 90 hours a week of working @ the new building

-No Internet

-We moved across town

-32 truckloads of sod

-5,000 busted pipes

-Vacuums

-The Power Team

-Easter Services

-New Orleans Mission Trip

-A wife

-A kid

-The new building is stinkin’ awesome, I cannot wait to see everything that God is going to do at the new campus.

So in these busy times,  I ask you bear with me and give me some grace when I do not post for a couple days or weeks.  I can see the light at the end of this tunnel, and I am so blessed to be apart of something so great that the Lord has in store for us.

Keep us in your prayers, we have a great team but we cannot do it all on our own we need His Grace.

Outie 5

There is just something so beautiful about a baby sleeping, especially when it is your own child.  Kennedy has just started snuggling with Dada over the past week.  Before this week she was Miss Independence like her mother, but now she is begining to come around and show some love.  I could let here sleep on my chest for hours upon hours, it has always been my favorite thing about being a Daddy and I look forward to many years ahead with my little angel.

God has blessed me so much, I have the greatest wife in the world and the best baby girl a Daddy could ask for.  Rachel is doing a great job as a mom, she has got this thing down pat, three more babies to go….Rachel is thrilled!

Check out this angel.

Sleepy Time.

So I have some emotional expressing to do tonight. As I sit here with my sister watching a movie, I’ve got a few things on my mind. So, I figure what better way for a woman to be able to vent, than on her husband’s blog for the whole world to see. I know for a fact that practically the whole world does read Chuck’s blog for several reasons.

1)      He is HILARIOUS! Enough said.

2)      God has blessed him with the remarkable ability to write. Encourage him on that. A book is in his future!

3)      He has the most wanted, looked at blog I know of and everyone wishes theirs was as cool as his. GOOD LUCK WITH THAT GUYS!! Haha J

Anyway, I just came from the new building. Words cannot express how amazing it looks. Every day, it seems as about a month’s worth of work is done to that crazy property! Really, only God could do something so incredible. If you haven’t seen it in a while you will not BELIEVE! Awesome! My poor sister is here for her spring break, (most college kids go party at the beach, my beautiful sister came here!) and bless her heart, I conned her into scrubbing concrete stairs with me at the new building! Ha. She’s the best. So yea, I got to see Chuck for just a few brief moments, but just knowing that I was at least near him, made a world of difference to me.

However, I do have some things I need to vent about. So here it goes! I would first off, like to give much honor and praise to all of the single mothers, widows, and military wives such as my mom and Chuck’s. HOW DO YOU DO IT? You guys all deserve HUGE pats on the back. Lately I’ve been finding myself wondering if I could ever… And I honestly don’t know how I would or could. God’s good grace is all I know! So for all of you wonderful Superwomen who are doing it alone, many many thanks and be proud of yourself. I mean that.

It’s been tough lately. Some of you know how I feel. Tough not knowing when the boys will get home. Tough talking to only an infant all day. Tough missing your best friend. Tough cooking for just me and Kennedy. Tough being lonely. You guys know. So basically, life’s been a little bit hectic lately. A whole new meaning has been attached to the word FLEXIBLE! If I want to see Chuck, I go to the new building and scrub concrete stairs. That’s how our life is right now. BUT…Here’s where God has really turned some things around for me.

First of all, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. A beautiful, radiant light. That which is of our Jesus who all of this hard work is for. It will all be over soon. We can look at it as a pain in our HIND ENDS, OR we can look at it with the attitude of Christ and see it as an exciting time and an honor to be a part of. This is a once in a lifetime chance for most of us. We can do this!

Secondly, it is my calling to support my husband. As Pastor Warren said not so long ago, our marriage is our ministry. And our ministry sometimes is our marriage. They go hand in hand. I know that God has called me to be a submissive wife, keep the house clean, cook dinner when needed, be hospitable, raise the family, and at the end of the day, freshen up and tack on a huge smile to support my man when he walks through the door like he just did… lol. (AND go on wild goose chases around Sevierville with the insane Jr. High crew which by the way, I DID NOT CHEAT. I thought they said go. But anyway, that’s beside the point!) That is what we as Godly women and wives are called to do. Hard as it may be at times 

Finally, a MUCHAS GRACIAS goes out to Pastor for the sermon he had a couple of weeks ago about the sacrificial steps that Christ took down for us. He came all the way from His royal throne next to God Himself to death on a cross like a criminal. WOW! WHO AM I TO COMPLAIN ABOUT MY HUNK GETTING HOME LATE??!! Are you kidding Rach? GET REAL! There’s millions upon millions around the world who haven’t eaten in days, don’t have spouses, parents, children or even friends, don’t have a place to live, no money, no nothing, and I want my husband to get home at a decent hour. Someone oughta slap me huh!! Lol. No I’m kidding. Family is definitely important. But, there are more positive ways that God is showing me to look at all of this.

Some of you guys are in my shoes. For all of us, here’s what I’m learning. CHIN UP! May our attitudes be like that of Christ.  May we constantly be reminded of the sacrifices Christ made for us. May we always remember to be the backbone of our men. They need us just like we need them.  May we look at it as a privilege to be a part of something so big and exciting. May we be covering our boys with prayer all throughout the day. They need it. And for anyone reading this, us gals need it too!

As always, I’ve written way too much. Hope no one stopped reading in the middle. I’m going to go watch this movie with my fantastic sister and assure Chuck that this is not a divorce letter that I’m writing. Lol. He’s weird. And by the way, please don’t let Howard Walker sell my husband into slavery. I know he is a hard worker and all but I need him!!  Be filled with LOVE, JOY AND PEACE!~~rach

1.  Cars were lined up like the Daytona 500 for our Launch.  It was chaos with 25 cars trying to pull onto Chapman Hwy @ one time, but there were no accidents and everyone is safe.

2.  McDonald’s in Sevier County and Knox County don’t have ball pits anymore.  One woman told us someone was bit by a snake in a Micky D’s ball pit and as a result all ball bits are now outlawed.   

3.  That McDonald’s lady was a liar because Brian H’s team went to Chik-a-fil-a (I know it is spelled wrong but that is how I say it) and his team got a Chik-a-fil-a ball from their ball pit, and some how they got credit for it!  Bogus!

4.  Our team went dumpster diving at the local dump.  They were closed, but the little Jr. High students squeezed between the fences.  They were all very comfortable with it and seemed as if this was not their first dumpster adventure.  We found nothing of use to our list in the dump, but it was fun.

5.  There was a Santa Clause and Mrs. Clause sighting in Sevierville tonight.  They were not on the list, just awesome to see them on the road in a mini-van, in mid-March.

6.  Two Jr. High students running down a hill @ a busy elementary baseball complex, one caught in a thorn bush, the other tripped up by a thorn bush and face planting on the pavement in front of 30 baseball parents, popping up to his feet as if nothing happened then requesting a peanut in the shell and an empty popcorn tub.  No luck, a little blood, and funny as crap!

7.  Rachel tried to jump the gun and leave with her team 5 minutes early, forgetting that her clock in her car is 6 minutes fast.  Of course she tried to play it off, but I wasn’t buying it.

8.  The looks on people faces while watching Jr. High students running ramped all over Sevier County looking and asking for random stuff, especially when they asked for a single white jelly bean.

9.  One team driving 30 minutes from the church out by I-40 to a student’s house because they stated “I have all of this stuff at my house!”  Then finding out they really only had 2 things and had wasted one third of their allotted time.  They still ended up finding almost everything on the list, impressive.

10.  Building relationships with the students outside of regular services during the week and watching the students in their element having a great time with other students and leaders is a great way to spend an evening.  God is good.

Bed time.

Just a fun little video I found a few years back.  Man this is good stuff, classic.  Enjoy.

Please make note of how excited the guy with the Gold Michael Jordan earring is at the beginning, the guy with the theory’s pinkie nail, the woman’s purple sweater and the amateur sketch.  It does not get much better than this for St. Patrick’s Day.

Leprechaun In Alabama

Let me know what you think.

I’m Outie

Vision. 

Vision is a word that before 2.5 years ago, I only associated with eye exams, those crazy cool drunk goggles you get to play with during driver’s education classes and wild dreams or psychic hodge-podge from Ms. Cleo.  “Call me now for ya free readin’!” (Say it with your best Jamaican accent, you know you want to!) 

 For me Vision was never associated with goals, future plans or a task God has designed specifically for you and your life.  I guess the subject of Vision just was not taught that much in my home church while I was growing up, or maybe I was just so pre-occupied with changing words around, crossing out letters and drawing pictures in the bulletin trying to make stupid sentences and fill-in-the-blank stories which in turn caused me to miss those sermons.  Who knows?  Heck, I don’t even remember learning about Vision while I was in Bible College, once again that could most likely be blamed on my short attention span. 

But anyways the point is, over the past two and a half years I have learned the great importance of possessing a Vision for a ministry by being exposed to the overall Vision of the Gathering and our Senior Pastor.  It is so true that Vision flows from the top down.  If the Man of God leading the flock has no vision and is not seeking after the Lord daily it is very difficult for those serving under him to be motivated enough to seek God and seek a Vision for our ministries.  If you have no Vision, there is no reason to be doing whatever ministry it is you are doing.  We should continuously be casting Vision, seeking to improve the current state of our responsibilities.  If there is nothing greater on the horizon tomorrow or next week or six months down the road, then you are just treading water with a frozen turkey tied to your foot or even worse, already drowning.

As important as Vision is in the ministry, it is vital that we do not try and borrow someone else’s vision or create our own man made Vision.  For me, I tried and tried to create my own Vision for KIDZPLAYCE (1^st – 5^th Grader’s @ the Gathering) when I was leading that ministry, but nothing ever came from my own efforts.  When I moved up to work with the Jr. High students I realized that I could not hatch an insta-Vision through my own thoughts and creations.  I quickly realized that I needed to begin to pray that God reveal to me His Vision for this ministry, that the Vision would not be manmade, but God breathed, falling under the Vision God has given to Pastor Gene and the Gathering.

After praying this prayer for a couple months and truly seeking God’s Vision, something awesome took place in the wee hours of November 2^nd the great year of 2008.  On this night God revealed to me His Vision for our Jr. High Ministry @ the Gathering through 7 core scriptures.

From here the Vision of FourTwelve ministries was birthed.

Okay, so I hear there were some statements made about my awesome shorts which accompanied me to last Saturday Nights services.  First of all these shorts are dabombdotcom!  And second of all these shorts are dabombdotcom!

Take a minute and absorb all the spectacularness of the shorts and then I will do a little explaining.

The Shorts

Now, if you know much about me, I like colors, different kinds of colors, my clothes and shoes must always match and I am not much for “flodgin” (word from my middle school days referring to clothes and/or outfits which do not match up correctly. i.e. wearing a Nike shirt with Reebok shoes, brown belt with black shoes or vice-verca, Timberland boots with shorts or thong sandles with socks, basically when your outer garments are not all flowing together, then you be “flodgin”!)

Many times the clothes I wear reflect the mood I am in, t-shirts and jeans equals chill, stone washed/acid washed jeans and fluorescent colors results from watching Saved By the Bell or Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, collar button up shirts usually means that attire is required and I have to, then there are the days for bright checker shorts, yellow shirts and loafers.  This represents a day at the beach or, a desert, which explains why these garments were worn last Saturday Night.

Here is the context surrounding last Saturday Day,in a nutshell,  Face in the dirt, butt in the air, playing with sand and water, decently warm temperatures, no clouds, no sunscreen which results in sunburn.  Sounds like a day at the beach right?  Wrong !  It was day one of sprinkler chasing, but I tried to trick myself into believing it was a day at the beach, in turn causing me to decide to dress as though I was at the beach all day,(loafers, checker shorts and yellow shirt, the whole shebang)!

Last thing, the shorts did not come from anywhere near San Fransisco, they were a Christmas gift from my wonderful sister-in-law which were purchased at a store called Dawhares (don’t ask, I don’t know) up in Kentucky somewhere.  Never heard of the place, but I like their shorts, they also say “Vintage” on the tag so that has to add some points to their greatness!

I am not exactly sure what was spoken against my shorts last week, all I know is that Pastor Gene did not want me going to meet one of his Coon Dog buddies in the middle of the woods wearing bright checker shorts last Saturday night.  I am not sure if Pastor thought his buddy would love the stupendousness of the shorts so much, causing him to beat me up to steal them, or if Pastor was protecting me (a brightly dressed man with crazy hair) from the biggest hillbilly beating in Sevier County history, but I thank you for looking out for me Pastor! 

I cannot believe I just wrote a post about shorts.  I am going to put on my PJ’s and house slippies now.  Hope you enjoy my shorts, they will be seen again in the near future.

Outie 5.

Buenos Noches

I just want to put the bug in everyone’s ear, over the past 5 days I have developed a new love and picked up a new profession.  What is this new lovely profession you may ask? 

Well…it is called irrigation and landscaping!  Basically it is installing PVC pipes, electrical wires, sprinkler heads and valves in the ground, that run through a control panel with a timer to water the grass.

Over the last 5 days, Howard and Big Mac have taught some of the “young” guys on staff how to do this irrigation and landscaping.  It may not sound fun to some of you, but I have been couped up in apartments and dorms over the last six years and have not been able to mow any grass or do anything with lawn care. 

Ask Rachel, we are moving at the end of this month to a home near the new church, and my favorite thing about the house is the fact that it has a nice big yard and I have to mow the grass!  I am so stinking pumped to mow some grass at our new house.  This project at the church is huge and it is just wetting my appetite for the yard work awaiting me at our new home.

We are about 2.8% done with the new church landscaping, 5 truckloads of sod complete and 27 on their way from Middle Tennessee.  Broken pipes aint nothin’ for the T.A.L.L. crew.  We be the Totally.Awesome.Lawn.Lovers and we are on the job!

DO WORK SON!

GET SOME!

I’m Outie Five Thousand

Call me if you need your lawn done, only if it needs to be cut, anything else and I will help you find someone else to do it.

What up!?  Quick post.  I need some help deciding on a Logo for our FourTwelve ministry.  Which is our new name for Jr. High.  Great story, I will post about it this week sometime.  Anyways let me konw what everyone thinks. 

p.s. my epidermus is extremely red due to the ultra violent rays from the sun and it feels really nice.

The Choices

Alright…I bet you all thought the story was over huh!? Actually, Chuck and I thought that the story was over too, however, God was already doing more “home” work and we just didn’t even know it! Little did we know that although He closed one door, He was more than ready to open the next only days later.

So once again, get ready for this…Part III of this fab story J I promise this one won’t be so long.

So apparently, the parents of one of Chuck’s Jr. Highers rent out a couple of houses around Sevierville. Cool enough. They’ve mentioned to him in the past that if one of them were to ever open up, they’d let us know yada yada. That’s so sweet of them to keep us in mind. But, we never really thought much of it. UNTIL, God so graciously and awesomely shut that door on buying a home, which returned us back to square one. With our options basically being, either we rent…or…we rent!! So Chuck decided to ask this family who rents out houses what the dealio was on their rentable abodes. The following information took place within a 48 hour window. I’m actually going to list them bullet style because there are so many cool things to mention it would take a long time to write it all out.

So here goes.

1)      One of their houses was going to possibly be opening up soon

2)      Chuck and I talked to the family about possibly moving in if that were the case, or at least checking the house out

3)      The family is amazing and was so excited about our interest, which henceforth excited us!

4)      We drove by one night to see where it was and what it looked like….sooo cute.

5)      3 bedrooms, 2 FULL baths (would be soo awesome seeing as how we’ve only had one full bath then a toilet room!) huge backyard, huge back porch, HUGE laundry/pantry room, big open kitchen and living room, the works

6)      Oh I forgot to mention our lease here in Seymour was up in February, but our landlord never got back to us with a new one to sign on for another 6 months or year so we weren’t tied down when we definitely should have been

7)      We found out 2 days ago that the family renting that house was definitely moving out

      We went and looked at the house yesterday, LOVED, LOVED, LOVED it

9)      It is…4 min from the new church building, 2 min from Dollywood, 5 min from the outlets and Wally World J (JACKPOT!!)

10)   Chuck and I decided that this is what God definitely had in store for us.

11)   It’s oh so perfect for us

12)   And….we’re moving April 1^st!!

So, there ya go. That’s how things have ended up. After all of the house confusion and praying etc., we very quickly came to the realization that God’s hand was upon us and in the whole situation. We are VERY excited about the move and know that God will bless everything about it because it was His decision. A good one if I do say so myself. I appreciate you guys caring, or maybe not caring, but hopefully you did. If not God’ll judge yall! Just kidding! J Be blessed everyone.

Much love~~Ray