The MECHANICAL gardens! hehe

So now I can blog all I want since there will be pictures. Blogging with no pictures is so boring!  So I will attempt to get some more up here soon.

Here’s a couple to keep you reading…if indeed you still are!

The MECHANICAL Gardens…

Yup, there’s a story about the Mechanical Gardens.  Bethany and I were trying to decide what to do one day and she thought of going to what is actually the Overland Park Arboretum. But what she asks me is if I want to go to the “mechanical gardens”.” The “mechanical gardens?” I say? I’m like, “where’s that?” She describes it and I figure out where she’s talking about. What she meant was the “botanical” gardens.  HAAAAA! I laughed all afternoon about that one. But we had a great time!

Here she is, one of my favorite people!  How cute is she?  It was so lovely and I love being with Bethany.  She’s just fun!

There are lots of beautiful flowers and trees at the MECHANICAL gardens   I’ll try to post some more later.

Day at the Lake!

Yesterday, we went to Lake Jacomo for Jeff’s birthday.  It was a beautiful fall day.  We went hiking on REAL trail, which in this city is something, because most of the trails are paved But this one had rock and trail and everything!

We also got to see some elk. There is a native animal enclosure at the lake. Apparently there are buffalo too but we didn’t see them. We went hiking instead.

Some more people joined us after hiking and we had some delicious grilled food and homemade chocolate cake!

Here’s everybody enjoying the picnic.  Afterwards we went to the Canoe Club and enjoyed some BLUE GRASS music.  (Laura Lee, that’s my attempt at enjoying country hehe). I actually do like Blue Grass music (Steve Bell, Ricky Skaggs). The group last night were really good musicians but even they threw in some twang

It was nice to be out enjoying nature.

Give Me Oil in My Lamp, Keep Me Burning…

Ok, at least let me tell the story before you all (my sisters and old friends who went to camp with me) start laughing…

Last night in the Prayer Room, I was studying Matthew 25:1-13 for a class I am going to teach in October.  In the process of reading it I decided to look online to see what the lamps in Jesus day looked like so I could get more of a picture of what He was talking about.  If you want to see one, you can click HERE.

So I studied about 2 hours just asking for revelation about the story and asking the Lord for oil in my own life.  I usually leave at midnight when the set ends but last night I decided to stay a few more minutes because I was in the middle of writing.  The midnight set was led by a girl with a really great voice but I’ve never heard her lead before and I don’t even know her name.  The first song she played was the old chorus: Give me Oil for my Lamp, Keep me burning. Give me Oil for my lamp I pray…Give me oil for my lamp keep me burning, keep me burning til the break of day.  I didn’t know whether to laugh (for a number of reasons) or cry because the Lord heard me!

Let me explain…

We used to sing that song as kids, mostly at camp but sometimes in church.  And mostly we thought it was GOOFY.  And some of the other verses of it are. I’ll spare you the details.  But it’s funny what was so goofy to you as a kid can be so powerful and profound and prophetic later on in your life.  The song definitely has sentimental value to me so God knew it would make me smile and second, having read Mt. 25 and researching the lamps online it was so prophetic to me in the moment.

We must have oil when Jesus returns…meaning we must have intimacy and friendship with Him.  It is the only thing that will sustain us.  How amazing that what I thought was a silly song, is deeply profound and Biblical and the cry of my heart in this hour.

So off and on all day, I kept kinda singing it as a prayer and I would wonder how many times I sang that song as a kid thinking it was so silly and funny but that the Lord actually answered me and kept me loving Him and gave me a deep friendship with Him and a longing for Him that only seeing Him face to face will fill…I wonder…

And I think when I teach the children the truth about God and funny things happen or the things that they think are just silly or mundane or boring, how many times the Lord will answer them in their weakness and unknowing.  I hope they will look back and say: Wow, Jesus, you answered me and I didn’t even know I was asking…

How kind is God…

A Humble Apology…

and then a new post…sorry to all who have actually been reading this blog, if indeed there are still readers…I have been slacking on the blog…but things have been busy.

GOT A NEW COMPUTER!  About 3 months ago now…I guess I should’ve posted sooner! But all that to say the Lord provided and someone helped with a discount at the Apple Store so it was a sweet deal!

Ok, on to the new post…

another one bites the dust…

well not quite but close…

the laptop…

ugh…

now i am debating whether to fix all the things that are wrong or bite the bullet and buy a new one…

what to do, what to do…

waiting to see Jesus in action on this one!

I Have the BEST Mom in the whole world!

This post is for my mom, cuz it’s her birthday!

Well, what can I say about her? There are so many good things…She is one of the most generous people I know. And I know quite a few truly generous people. I think she learned (or inherited it) from her dad, he was very generous too.  Not just with money but with time and doing things for people.

When she laughs, she REALLY laughs. Sometimes we laugh so hard with her we cry, literally. It doesn’t necessarily mean it would be funny to the rest of the world but to our family, it’s funny. And if my mom starts laughing really hard, we know it was funny and we ALL catch her laughter. I remember once at the Lake at Thanksgiving, I told a joke and we were laughing hysterically and someone took a picture of it…in the picture, my mom and I both had a our heads thrown back in the exact same way, laughing like crazy. I know it’s one of my dad’s favorite things about her too because he has a special picture of her holding one of my sisters when they were little and she is wearing the funniest outfit and holding the vaccuum but the look on her face was pure joy. (I’m pretty sure she wasn’t laughing about the vaccuuming). I actually vaguely remember the night he took the picture of her. We were all playing in the living room and just having fun.  I think we were dancing to this old polka record that my dad would put on every once in awhile and we would bust out the moves!

She’s really BEAUTIFUL. Actually that’s what her name means: Beautiful Waterfall and it’s exactly what she is!

She’s compassionate and kind. She sees the ones in need and actually does something about it. She’s quiet about it and I’ve never heard her ask for anything in return but she must know the kindness of God because she does it over and over again.

She loves God well and is still searching Him out to know Him more. I’m thankful she took us to church and taught us about Jesus and sang us songs about Him. Oh yeah, she’s a really good singer. She OFTEN, if not every night, when we were little sang us songs before bed. I still remember them.

MOM, I LOVE YOU LOTS AND I MISS YOU TONS! I HOPE YOU HAD A GREAT BIRTHDAY!!!!

Finally HOME!

Some of you have been following the adoption journey of Emma and Aiden…on Wednesday night I had the awesome privilege of being with their family to welcome them HOME! It was so fun to watch their siblings here waiting with excitement to see them get off the plane and welcome them into their family. It’s kind of amazing how Jesus sets people in families and they just “fit”. It seemed more like a reunion, kind of like they had just been on a trip for a little while and returning rather than just meeting them for the first time. It was pretty cool.

Here’s some pictures:

Here’s everyone back together again…

Taylor was the first to grab Aiden up from his mom. It was a sweet moment!

Here’s Tracie with her two youngest girls. Elia was squealing with excitement before they even got off the plane. She obviously knew what was going on though she’s only 2. She KNEW her daddy was coming soon!

Well, that’s all for now. Thanks Loux Family for letting me be part of your journey and your homecoming!

Thanks everyone for praying and sowing into 2 precious ones that Jesus loves!

Yesterday…

It was so nice outside and we had an assignment on the Beauty of God in people for our Photography class so Isabelle and I went out and took some pictures of each other. Here are the results:

Isabelle took these ones of me:

Here are the ones I took of her:

We had fun together! More pictures to come from our Prophetic Photography Class soon!

Our little Prophetic Photography class!

My friend Andrea and I have been teaching a class on Prophetic Photography on Sunday nights! I love it! The kids are learning so much about art and Jesus! I love hearing what they write in their journals about Jesus and their reflections and insights. Some of them are really profound.

Last week’s assignment was on Shadows. They had to read Psalm 91 and Acts 5. This one little boy said, “I read Acts 5 about them putting people in Peter’s shadow so that they would be healed in it and I asked Jesus for the anointing to heal people in MY shadow right then!” I was like yeah, for real, pray for me too! It was cool. These are Carlo’s pictures of shadows:

Here’s a few more of the Shadows assignment: Credits for this one go to Aaron.

Here’s a few from 2 weeks ago. They had to find something they really liked and take 10 different pictures of it. The assignment was called Steady and Focused. They had to write in their journals about what keeps the camera steady and focused and also what keeps their hearts steady and focused.

Credits: Hannah

Credits: Titus

Credits: Isabelle

I am so proud of all of them. They have taken some really great pictures and have put some really great thought into their assignmnents and journalling. I love teaching them about photography and Jesus. Nothing better than that!

All that Jazz…

Joseph, Jeff and I went to the Jazz District on 18th and Vine for most of the day today. First, we toured the American Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. Players like Jackie Robinson and Josh Gibson are featured in there. I love going to the baseball games here in the summer, so it was neat to find out some of the history of it. It was kind of sad, that African Americans weren’t allowed to play in the Major Leagues for so long, it was such an unjust time in history. We all commented on how Jackie Robinson was a forerunner in his time but there were many who paved the way even for him.

We took a break mid-afternoon and went to Crown Center (the Hallmark Headquarters) where we found some Greek gyros and KC BBQ. It was yummy and we had some great conversation about Jesus and life and a million other things. I always appreciate good conversation!

We drove back to the Jazz District and toured the American Jazz Museum after lunch. I took a little detour (by accident) through the “interesting”, err sketchy part of town. But we made it safely back to the AJM. Got to listen to Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, among other Jazz greats. And we wandered the Blue Room. The Blue Room has been in Kansas City a LONG time. They still have jazz there certain nights of the week but it once was “the” place to be. Everybody who was everybody was there, the Negro Baseball stars as well as jazz greats. That’s where they hung out.

It was a great day! It was nice to be out doing something different and fun and with good friends.

Bethany and I took a trip to The Roasterie (I think it is my favorite little coffee house in KC) and drank decaf cappuccinos and played Phase 10. Which I won!

Well, it’s the end of a fun day and I’ve got to say good night!