Cartersville Family

I heard that Hannah Montana was making a guest appearance at Oak Leaf Church this Sunday. She came by my house for a quick photo shoot. Isn’t she a cutie?            

Michael did a whole lot of research on church planting. I think he read over 100 books on the subject along with books on marketing, business, strategy formation, staff development and leadership. He found Westridge Church in Hiram, GA and learned that they have a church planters school and internship. We knew this was a God-thing. They even told us about a few cities in the Atlanta area that needed a church plant. Cartersville was one of those cities. We had never heard of it.

We decided to stay in AR until Emma was born. We had a couple months to wait, but finally, in May 2006 we loaded up our 3 week old baby, our 3 year old daughter, Lauren and a moving van of belongings and moved into an apartment in Cartersville, GA.  We loved the small town feel and the local businesses.  We weren’t really happy about staying in Cartersville but a few months into it, we knew God had us here for a reason.

I was thinking today about all the things we as moms give up for our children. I know I get tired of listening to kiddie songs in the car, cartoons on the t.v., chicken fingers and french fries for dinner and having almost no time for myself. Putting our own desires and dreams on hold and having to die to self sometimes.  Sometimes i get caught up in being selfish.  I get stuck in rut of feeling like i deserve more time or that I deserve a break.  I was abruptly reminded that if God felt that way, we would never have a shot at heaven.  Jesus gave up EVERYTHING.  He above all deserves to have what He wants; instead He died to self to save us.

I tell you, i have learned more about God’s character since becoming a mom.  Loving my children and wanting the best for them has often reminded me about God’s love for me.  Even at the end of one of those long days when I had no time to think, I love my children more than anything.  Thank you God for loving me.

So there we were in Arkansas at a big traditional baptist church doing… youth ministry once again. I was pregnant with our 2nd child, we bought a house and I was working at the same church full-time. We had only been in AR for a couple months before we admitted that we had made a huge mistake. We hated it there. Not because the church or the job was awful, but because we were not where God wanted us to be. We began discussing the church planting thing again and we concluded that we just needed to wait and save money. We couldn’t really do this with little kids and no money and living so far from anyone we knew, could we? We just couldn’t put it to rest and Michael was still feeling God leading him to church planting.

I can still remember standing in our kitchen and finally agreeing to make the leap of faith and plant a church. We both had come to this decision on our own and we both had been feeling the pull to Atlanta, GA. Thus began the journey to Cartersville, a place we didn’t even know existed. What freedom we experienced once we decided to obey God. I can’t tell you how great it felt to make the leap. Immediately, God blessed us with a peace. We suddenly couldn’t wait to get on with whatever He wanted us to do.

I have been asked a lot recently about the Oak Leaf story. I guess others want to know how it came to be and what the journey has been like. I say “journey” because it has been long and it isn’t over yet. If I could sum it up in a few words it would be “a leaf of faith”. Planting a church has been one of the hardest thing I have ever done, but definitely one of the most rewarding and inspiring.

I will start with a little background info. Michael did youth ministry and he did it very well. He could probably do it blindfolded better than anyone. Anyway, he had been doing it for close to 12 years and then something changed. God began to speak to him about bigger plans. During the same time, God was stretching me and challenging me to get out of my comfort zone. I was resisting it with everything I could. I liked living in my hometown and being near my family. I liked youth ministry. The idea of staring a church from nothing scared me. How can you do church with no building, or offices or money or people? Somehow, though, He led me back to Jeremiah 29:11, which says that God “knows the plans He has for me”.

In 2004 we knew that God wanted us to plant a church somewhere but at that time we weren’t ready or willing to make the “leap” so we ended up in Arkansas….

Yesterday I took the girls to the Ringling Brothers & Barnum and Baily circus. They both had a lot of fun. We got the tickets from one of my friends in my small group. We went with some other families so the kids all had a blast. Lauren and Emma both liked the man and women being shot out of the cannon the best.

I knew ahead of time that the toys, candy, refreshments and drinks were going to cost a lot so I told the girls that they could only get one thing. They picked cotton candy (of course!). $12 dollars later we had a small bag of the fluffy stuff and a cheap hat used for decoration. I guess a long as parents are going to be suckered into paying $20 for a light-up toy or $10 for a drink they will continue to charge outrageous prices.

The acts were no different than when I was a kid. Elephants, tigers, horses and dogs doing tricks; Trapeze artist and a high wire act, never ending silly clowns and a few daredevil acts. All in all not a bad show.

One of my favorite memories is my mom and I baking cookies. She taught me how and I have always loved baking. Now that I have little girls we are carrying on the tradition. Lauren and Emma love to watch and they take turns dumping ingredients into the mixing bowl. Emma is harder to handle because she always wants to take a taste. As a kids my favorite part was licking the beaters and so in keeping with tradition, the girls each get to have one after the mixing is done. Of course, now I don’t get one because there are only two.

Don’t you just love taking your kids to the doctor. I had to go twice this past week with my two littlest ones. Both had ear infections and chest congestion. I recently had to switch pediatricians due to insurance changes, and I must say I miss my old place. The new waiting room has nothing for kids to do and then it is worse when you get to the exam room. The only things to keep my kids occupied are the various medical insturments and devices. As you can see here, Emma’s favorite is the disposable otoscope covers. She looks a little bit like a Shrek baby don’t you think.

I must admit that I didn’t used to be a huge veggie tales fan. I thought they were sorta goofy, but now that my kids watch the movies I actually enjoy the stories and the lessons they teach. My daughters like to dance to the songs (big surprise!). The new movie about pirates looks great. I am sure that Michael will be taking Lauren soon. The website for the movie is pretty good. You can watch the trailer and get a lot of free downloads. There are coloring pages, activities, games and more. Check it out.