Our Scary Tuesday

At 7:45 Tuesday morning I was awaken by a horrible beeping sound.  Andrew was at a men's prayer breakfast and Albany was still asleep.  It took me a minute or so to realize it wasn't the alarm clock I was dreaming about, but instead our fire alarm/carbon monoxide detector.  I stumbled into the hall sure that the battery was almost dead, but as I was pushing the silence button, I noticed that the low battery light wasn't lit nor was the alarm stopping as I hit the button.  However, the carbon monoxide light was flashing.  I called Andrew, but the cell phone rang in the house.  So I called my pastor, but he'd already left the breakfast.  So I called our youth minister, who happened to be standing with Andrew.  He immediately headed home and I scooped up Albany and we waited on the front porch in our jammies for Andrew to get home. 

Not wanting to poison our cats, Andrew ran in and opened the windows and the doors.  He changed out the battery and the alarm stopped.  Not feeling super relaxed, we called the fire department, which is when we learned the first mistake we had made—opening the windows and doors.  They told us if the alarm ever went off again to immediately evacuate and call them.  They couldn't pick up a reading, but told us to be on the safe side to call our gas company.  ONG came out immediately!  Our heater and detector by our bedrooms are on almost opposite sides of the house.  They couldn't get a reading down by our bedrooms, but when he got out by our heating unit, the sensor immediately began picking up a reading.  Sure enough, the top of our heater was corroded and leaking carbon monoxide!  Our landlord had a new heater put in yesterday so we're nice and toasty and thanking God that the alarm worked right and that the leak was caught in enough time that we are all okay!

If you have natural gas, I just want to encourage you to get a carbon monoxide detector.  You can get one at Wal-mart or Target for $20-$30.  If it saves your life it's totally worth it!!!  Andrew's parents gave us ours for Christmas a couple of years ago and I can honestly say it is the best gift they ever gave us! 

Thankful to be alive (and nice & warm)!

~Jaimie

This coming Sunday my church is ordaining me.  It's not only a huge deal for me, but also for my church as I am the first person in the church's 10 year history to be ordained.  All Christians are called to be ministers, ordaining is just the church's way of acknowledging God's call  of vocational ministry on my life and setting me apart for service.  I don't get any nifty super powers or anything, but it is an affirmation to me that my church stands by me and has sensed my call as well.  I thought this would be a great opportunity to share my testimony of surrendering to the ministry.  This is a post that I made a couple of years ago that I've updated and posted again...

my surrender

When I was young, my favorite Bible story was 1 Samuel 3 and I would ask my Momma to read it to me all the time.  It’s the story of when Samuel was laying in bed and three times he hears the Lord call his name.  Not knowing that it is the Lord, he runs to Eli each time and says, “Here I am.”  Each time Eli lets him know that it wasn’t him.  On the third time Eli instructs Samuel to go lie down and when the Lord calls him a fourth time, Samuel replies, “Speak, for your servant hears.”  God then reveals His plans for Israel and for the house of Eli.  My mom never understood my fascination with this story and honestly, neither did I.  Also when I was younger I would line all my stuffed animals and cabbage patch dolls up on my bed and I would “preach” to them.  I always used this story.

Now fast forward to my freshman year of college.  The summer before I began college I was talking with my Momma’s secretary while we were stapling papers.  I think we were talking about VBS and she made the comment that I should be a children’s minister. I laughed at the comment and never really thought about it again.  I had been a Christian for just a few months and was just starting out at Louisiana Tech.  I was majoring in Psychology and had my eyes set on the wonderful salary I would be receiving after I opened my private practice.  I enjoyed the Psychology classes very little and had begun to wonder if this is what I wanted to do.  During my quiet times I became convicted that I had never asked God what His plans were for me.  So I began honestly praying about it and asked Him to speak to me. 

In the spring I attended a revival service on campus one night and the speaker was talking about surrendering.  The speaker was not talking specifically about ministry, but he was talking about surrendering to God’s awesome gift of salvation and surrendering to a deeper relationship with God.  It all became crystal clear to me and I knew God was speaking to me.  I had always enjoyed teaching Sunday school, VBS, volunteering in children’s church and even directing preschool choir.  Nothing had ever brought me as much joy or fulfillment as serving Him.  I wanted to talk to my Momma about it first, I guess to make sure that God really wanted me to surrender to ministry. But during the invitation I really felt like I could not stay in my seat.  I began asking God for confirmation and let Him know that I didn’t want to surrender if it was not right! Towards the end of the invitation, the speaker made a comment that perhaps God wanted someone to just surrender and that whatever it was, we needed to be obedient.  He hadn’t finished his statement before I was down the aisle.  A few weeks later, I made my call public at my church and over and over again my call has been confirmed for me.

It wasn’t until a couple of years ago that 1 Samuel 3 made so much more sense to me.  When I heard God call my name, I would go running, but always to the wrong thing.  I ran to Louisiana Tech.  I ran to Psychology.  I ran to different activities.  But when I finally said yes to God, He revealed His plans for me.  He wanted me to surrender to full time ministry.  Over the past eight years he has defined my call and provided me many opportunities to serve in children’s ministry. He has provided for me time and time again.  He has given me the opportunity to serve Him in ways that I would have never imagined!  One of the coolest things about serving in children’s ministry is having the privilege to lead a child to Christ.  It is so awesome to watch them grow in their faith and to watch them serve others.   

One of the biggest moments of my life... After Andrew and I were married and moved here, a church received my resume and called me.  Their Senior Pastor had just had a heart attack and the Associate had asked me if I would be interested in helping in the children's area as he took on more responsibilities.  It was such an enormous step, but God has used the last 5 years to teach me so much.  There are some Sundays that when I am finished teaching I just know that this is what I was made to do.  Not that it is because I'm a great teacher, but it's that God is using me where I am at.

Like I told the Leadership Council during my ordination questioning- of all the things I've done in my life and some of the whoppers of mistakes I know I've made, surrendering to the ministry is one thing that I've never regretted or never had a doubt that it was what I was supposed to do.  I am so thankful for the opportunities that my church has given me, for the parents that entrust their children to us each week, and for the ministers that I work with.  I'm also so very thankful for my parents, my mom for showing me how to live the Bible out, how to lead, and to be obedient even when it's tough.  And for my dad who has taught me what faithfulness is, and to stick things out even when they are unpleasant or not what we want to do.  Also, I am so thankful for my Andrew (that makes 2 things I've never regretted!), because it would be incredibly hard to do what I do with out the tremendous support that he gives me.  He's never questioned my call.  He never questioned me when I was serving voluntarily or made me feel like I should be spending my time in another way.  He's not only my biggest behind the scenes supporter, but he enjoys the activities and he loves children.  God has blessed us incredibly!  And I am so thankful for the lessons I've learned and the opportunities I've been given.  I look forward to what God has in store for me, my family, and my church.

How can something so small produce so much snot???  Good grief!  Poor Albany has had a nasty cold the past couple of days.  When she finally gets well I think we're going to have hose down the entire house!   We've been slimed!    She's acting like she feels better today, which is great!  Unfortunately she felt good enough to climb into her arm chair backwards and try to stand up in it.  The entire thing tipped over where she went head to head with a wooden snowman.  The snowman won.  Albany has a big ol' red knot on her forehead (which sadly everytime I look at her, I think "Albany, the red forehead-ed baby, had a very shiny bump...")  I know, I'm warped.  She's fine now, laying on the floor watching some wonderpets.

Albany is a big time Wonder Pets fan!  She will stop whatever she is doing when she hears the intro music and will rush into the room.  It's really a cute show and out of all the shows I've watched with her, I think it's the most enjoyable.  However, there are a few things I find quite odd...  Like, I find it amazing that they only get calls from animals in distress, just as soon as the kids leave the school.  And, wouldn't they be a little more effective if they'd save the singing until after they saved the animal.  Could you imagine a fireman showing up to rescue you from a burning building, yet saying "Hang on, I've got to sing a song about this first"?  Silliness, I tell ya!  Albany really does love it though!  So much so that she doesn't really care what language it is in.  She's gotten really good at turning her DVD player over to either French or Spanish.  Yet she will still watch the whole thing.  And her laughing every time Ming Ming exclaims "This is sewious!" cracks me up.

As for Christmas...  I am just about finished Christmas shopping!!!  Yippee!  Just a couple of odds and ends and I am through!  Man, I love this time of year...  Well, I guess i better get off here.  Have a super evening!

Thank you guys so much for all the prayers.  It's been really tough, I think partly because it was just so sudden.  While we were with family, we headed to Dallas and had Thanksgiving together, since no one would be able to come back in.  It was so good to visit with everyone.  Two cousins were missing, but when your family is as big as ours, it's so good we could get as many together as we did.  I love my family.  I just wish I could see them more often. Here is a slideshow...

How am I doing?  Gosh, I hate that question!  I banned Andrew from asking me that last week.    Actually, he has been fantastic.  He has been a tremendous support, yet not made me feel guilty about wanting to be sad.  He kept Albany entertained while we were in Southern Oklahoma, so I could stay at the graveside service and visit.  And best of all he hasn't offered any cliche advice or philosophy that I know people say because they want to make you feel better.  He's my hero! 

So, how am I doing?  I've been craving some time alone and am very happy to be home.  Part of me is totally dreading Thanksgiving.  Growing up, it was the holiday we always spent with my Granny & Grandpa.  It just makes it that much more tough.  But part of me is looking forward to the cooking.  It's a great distraction.  I'm trying a couple of new recipes, so that will be fun. 

Well, I guess I better try to get some stuff done.  Have a super day!