a celebration

(this is one of a few thoughts i've had lately about being a pastors wife.  i know that i am learning, and i know i will look back in 1 year, 5 years and 20 years and realize how foolish i was at 33.  the Lord is graciously adding layers to my learning, and i am thankful that i can be completely ridiculous and completely loved at the same time.)


we celebrated 10 years of Riverside Church today.


as we sang and laughed and worshipped today, i just kept looking around the room... every face has such an incredible story.  some stories i know intimately;  some i'm just barely acquainted with (i hope that changes with time).  every person there brings so much depth and pain and joy and beauty to our church family.  


those are the stories of our Lord's gracious and passionate love for His children.  


has our church experienced sadness and loss together?  absolutely.


have we weathered conflict together?  certainly.  sometimes well, sometimes poorly.


have we celebrated happy moments, births, marriages and small joys together?  more than it is possible to count.  so many blessings in 10 years!


do we mourn the loss of our family members when they move on?  deeply.  constantly.


but are we solidly aware of the Lord's faithfulness to us? 
how He has never failed to provide Godly men to lead us and teach us?  
how He has kept us in communion with each other for 10 years in order to grow us into the men and women He sees inside us?
how God alone is worthy of the praise and glory for all the good we have seen in these 10 years?


without a doubt.  


i thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.  And i am sure of this, that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.  it is right for me to feel this way about you all, because i hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel.  for God is my witness, how i yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus.  And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.  Phillippians 1:3-11


*if you can read that scripture out loud three times while picturing all those in your church family (or better yet, in a room full of them) and your eyes don't fill with tears... well, i don't know.  i can't even type it without crying.  

pictures i never posted... from august. oops.

(i know i said i was posting about being the sweaty pastor's wife, but in unearthing the blog i discovered these pictures that i wanted to share... more to come later!)

we went to Estes Park, Colorado in August with matt's mom, brother and sister... it was a great trip!
 i took tons of pictures.  and did nothing with them.
so here they are... out of order because i can't get my brain around rearranging them right now.

these are the 'trunki' suitcases we got for the girls... they love them!

riding on trunki made the airport slightly more entertaining for everyone!

i thought the sign behind julia was really appropriate... anyone who knows about her language delays will understand this!

favorite pastime- throwing rocks in the water

we need a creek in our yard, i think.

love

back off, mom.

saved from falling in the river!

playing as the sun sets and the fly fishermen do their thing...

happy

we celebrated all the summer birthdays with cake- somehow caroline managed to sneak the spotlight even though her birthday was in March.

it was actually Uncle Russell's birthday, so we let him help Caroline blow out the candles.

uncle russell mesmerizing caroline with a garter snake... we think.  

everyone wanted to play with the snake... julia is naked because she just finished throwing up all over the garage.  (quite an introduction to the 'significant others' who were meeting us for the first time!  "nice to meet you- here's some vomit.")
anyway- the snake was just the first of the wildlife we encountered.  lots of elk on the fields and golf course, a bear in a tree while i was running, and lots of great birds!

sisters
thank you, grandma ginny!  this was a wonderful memory-making trip... can't believe i don't have any pictures of caroline playing miniature golf!  she LOVED that so much... i see a future bad golfer in the family! : )

on being a pastor's wife...

i feel like an unlikely pastor's wife... i don't live up to the image i've created of the lovely, gracious, patient, radiant woman who perfectly supports her pastor husband.  

in reality, i am scattered.  hurried.  sometimes gracious, but more often self-involved and impatient with others.  definitely not radiant-  most often sweaty (why??  why am i always sweating on sunday mornings?).  that's me- i'm the sweaty pastor's wife.  

ugh.

i just returned from a retreat for ministry wives for our denomination (EPC).  

know what i learned?  

there are others like me. 

 (poor things- i'm not calling you sweaty.  maybe you've found a more effective anti-perspirant?)  

while all the women i met were certainly gracious and lovely, they did not make me feel like they had it all together.  they prayed for the same things i pray for.  they worry about their church, their husbands, their children and their future in the same ways i worry.  they get annoyed- bitter, even;  we all get annoyed.  they focus on the wrong things, and then feel the Lord turning their attention back to Him.  they can't change everything with a wave of their hands or even a special evening of prayer.  

the best thing they have in common with me?  sometimes they all wish their husbands had a nice job in a nice office where they go from 8:00-5:00 every day.  this was particularly freeing for me, as i think this way about once a month.  or i ask if i can move away to a cave where there are no people... 

i'm not the only one who feels this way.  

or, as my husband says, i'm not crazy.

i have some thoughts.  i may blog about them.  you don't have to read them... just a warning.  : )