The stories of our lives...the musicals

The invitation song"In Christ Alone" summing up the entire play!

Sunday, May 15, 2011, is over. I was planning and working toward that day for many months and now it is behind me...a wonderful, precious memory. The musical, "Set Us Free," that has consumed my thoughts and time for the last several months was last night. What a blessing it was to see all of the hours culminate into a worship experience like none other. I think God always speaks to me more than anyone else through the process of preparing and presenting the plays. My husband, John, always says that watching the musical is like watching our lives acted out for everyone to see and I think, although it is never really my intent, he's right. One of the main characters in the play was the demon of insecurity (played by my daughter Bethany who, by the way, is such a wonderful actress). I am attacked by insecurity on a daily basis...I worry about saying things that I wish I hadn't said, second guessing everything I say, rethinking everything I say, worrying about how I look, worrying about what others are going to think about me, my family, my decisions. The list is long of what insecurity does to me...I guess that was why it was such a big part in the play. It plays a big, unwelcomed part in my life. Another big part of our lives was played out in the song "What it Means to Be Loved". Although the song was written about a family with a little girl with some special needs, it was very similar to our lives with Halton who was born with Spina Bifida. I remember very clearly being called back to the doctor after our first ultrasound and him asking that question, "What do you want to do". There was no question in our minds as to whether we would go ahead and have the baby. We felt blessed to have been entrusted to raise a child with special needs. If any of you know Halton, you know what we mean when we say that ever since the day we got to bring him home, he's been out to prove the doctors wrong. At the time, we had no idea what the future would hold, but God has blessed us far beyond any expectation on our part with being allowed to be his parents. The song expressed all of that so well, I just had to use it in the play....I'll probably write more about the stories behind the writing of the musical, but for now...I need to finish the insurmountable pile of laundry that has been growing and waiting for me for the past week...Have a blessed day!

About Life4Him-skits, scripts and stories: Random thoughts...

About Life4Him-skits, scripts and stories: Random thoughts...: "We are now in the last few days before the musical and, believe it or not, I actually do feel at peace about it all. I think that maybe a fe..."

Random thoughts...

We are now in the last few days before the musical and, believe it or not, I actually do feel at peace about it all. I think that maybe a few of you really are praying for me and I am so thankful. I love days like today. It started off with going to get Hunter's passport for our mission trip to Canada, so I already feel very accomplished. We still have school work to accomplish, children's choir and youth choir and LIFE tonight, costumes to finish, microphone and  props assignments to finish, the program with all of the names for "Set Us Free," as well as all of the other things that I'm behind on and I think we have some out of town company coming this afternoon.  Now that I made my list, I don't feel quite so accomplished, but at least it started off well.

The mission trip to Canada seems like such a long way away, but yet I know it will be here before we know it. This will be Hunter's first time to go with the rest of us because you have to be in High School to go. I'm so excited for the people we will be seeing to get the chance to get to know another one of my children. Now, they will have met all of my family except my youngest two kids. John, me, Loressa, Halton, Bethany and Hunter will get to experience this all together. What a blessing to have my children serve alongside me in ministry. Being together in ministry is one of the many things that I love about my family. The musical is one of those ministries that we all do together. I guess that is one of the reasons they are so important to me. We work together, discuss it together, pray over it together, stress over it together and enjoy it together I really hope you will come if at all possible. Three of my children, Bethany, Hunter and Mackenna are all demons in the play....You won't want to miss that.

What did I get myself into?

The musical is one week away which actually computes to 8 hours of practice time away.  I don't have any idea how it can all work out, but I'm trying to hold out hope that it will.  I guess I'll let you know. If you live in the Dallas area, I hope you will plan on attending. It will be at 6:00 on Sunday, May 15th at The First Baptist Church of The Colony. The odd thing about writing the musicals and working so hard on them is the wondering if it is all worth it. My family sacrifices a lot for me to write them. My family, the youth and parents that are involved sacrifice a lot to practice and make them worth watching. I guess it is around this time (a week before the presentation) that I start to wonder, "What did I get myself into?" I'm sure there are students asking themselves that same question....So...What DID I get myself into?... I got myself into a position where all of my inadequacies at putting it all together show (a humbling experience). I got myself in a position to be around so many awesome youth (again, a humbling experience). I get to see my writing come to life in a way that most people never get to see. (again, humbling).  I get to help create memories for the students and children that they will hopefully tell their own children about someday (spoken in a parent's voice-"When I was your age, I played the part of a demon in a play.") I get to obsess over whether or not I wrote what I was supposed to write. (you guessed it-humbling) And I get to deal with my own personal demon-the fear of man. What I really want the answer to the question to be is that I got myself into a place where God could use me, but I seem to keep getting in the way (very humbling)...If you have the chance, please pray for me this week. Pray as God leads you. Thanks so much......
 Lord, I pray that You will use the musical "Set Us Free" in my life and in other's lives. I pray that there will be joy and peace in my heart about it and that You will remove all of my fear. I pray that it will all be "worth it" to You and to Your kingdom. Amen.

Destiny "Face"

Happy Birthday, Destiny!

Destiny sandwich

So, my baby girl is officially 10. She is adorable, precious and a constant source of love and encouragement. Destiny's age is a perfect reminder of how long we have been at our church. John was called to be the youth minister here immediately after I had her. She was a tiny, 6 pound, three week old baby when we first came here. I can't believe I was that crazy to make a road trip with my six other young children and my tiny, Destiny Faith after a very difficult pregnancy and birth. What was I thinking? It was definitely the beginning of a crazy life, that's for sure.  Mackenna was just three and she couldn't say Destiny Faith. She called her "Destiny Face". Now, 10 years later, there are still a few people at the church who call her Destiny Face because of that first weekend when we came.

Destiny is such a wonderful "baby" of the family. She helps to keep me young at heart even though I'm so much older than all of her friend's moms. Of course, she helps to keep all of her siblings young at heart, too. I love that about our children. They have all allowed themselves to still enjoy some of the pleasures of childhood even after many others may have grown "too old" for those simple pleasures. I think that it's important to be able to keep some of childhood alive in your heart. It's a trait that will help them all to be better parents someday and, of course, I enjoy it, too.

I am so thankful that God has entrusted me with these precious children. I try not to take that blessing for granted. Today, I'm especially thankful for my precious, wonderful Destiny Faith. Thank you Lord for knowing how badly I needed her and for allowing me to be the recipient of her constant and unconditional love.

About Life4Him-skits, scripts and stories: The last day of single digits

About Life4Him-skits, scripts and stories: The last day of single digits: "Today is quite possibly going to be a bit of a hard day for me. I'm not a big fan of my children growing up and today is the last day for my..."

The last day of single digits

Today is quite possibly going to be a bit of a hard day for me. I'm not a big fan of my children growing up and today is the last day for my baby, Destiny, to be nine years old. Tomorrow she will be having her tenth birthday and I am just not ready for all of my children to be in the double digits, I know I probably have written about this before, but I miss my babies being babies. I miss the slow pace of parenting young children and I miss the position that I held in their lives when they were younger and they thought I knew everything.  I miss the days when no one had a job or college classes and we all got to spend the days together in the same room enjoying life together. I guess I like that my children are all responsible young people and they all work and pay their own way to all the things that they want to do, but I hate that, in order for them to be so responsible, I've had to give up my time with them. I wish I could make time slow down so that I could really remember every moment because so much of it is starting to blur together....I hate wasting the precious time that I have left with them and I'm starting to feel like that is what is always happening around here. Time is wasted on TV and on computers and on iphones and ipods. We are all very good at wasting time and, in some ways, I think that it is Satan's way of robbing from me, so that I always feel like I have missed out on potential precious moments.....With all of that said, we are all going to try to make today and tomorrow very social days for Destiny, the birthday girl. Right now, we (those of us still at home) are going to play some games and do a few special activities with Destiny. Then, tonight, we are going to all go see a movie together and try to get home so that we can have our midnight celebration for her birthday. Destiny has always been such a wonderful little girl. She is always ready to make me feel loved and appreciated and I can't even begin to think of what my life would have been like without her. I think I'll have to write another note later about my precious Destiny, but for now I have to go. A precious moment is happening and I don't want to miss any more of it...