Ramblings of a 1st Grader

Joshua: "Moma is it legal to have boyfriends and girlfriends in 1st grade?"
Me: "No son, it's not legal."
Joshua: "Well some people are breaking the law. Jack has 10 girlfriends and Paul likes Terri."
Me: "Really, Jack has 10 girlfriends! Do you have a girlfriend?"
Joshua: "No, but Kathy likes me! But I'm trying to break Paul and Terri up. I don't want Terri to go to Kid Jail!"
Me: "Do you like Terri?"
Joshua: "Don't make me hurt you Moma. Paul likes to twist Terri's arm and I don't want her to go to the hospital or Paul to go to Kid Jail."

I think Joshua will be a great police officer one day!

**Names have been changed to protect the innocent from "Kid Jail."**

Boo Mama

I got to meet one of my favorite bloggers at Going Beyond this Weekend. We talked about this post of hers, which still just warms my heart.
She was as sweet and genuine in person as her blog is! Sophie, I hope that your GPS did not fail you and you were able to get back home safely. These Metro Atlanta roads can be tricky!!

Going Beyond

This weekend I went to a women's conference called Going Beyond with Priscilla Shirer. It was such a fun event and very inspiring. Priscilla taught about living the "Interrupted Life". I'll post more about that later, once I've had some time to process it all. For now, let me just tell you about my Saturday afternoon, just after the conference ended and how God had me immediately practice what He'd taught us!

On my way home, I realized that I had developed a rash on my chin and upper neck. It had really started to itch. When I got home, my husband reminded me that our daughter had the same looking rash the week before and ended up with strep throat. My son and husband had also had strep throat the week before, but I had somehow escaped it! Really I did not want to spend the rest of my Saturday sitting in a doctor's office, but that's exactly what I did. No strep throat, but some steroids would be needed for the rash. I still have no idea what caused all this craziness, but it cracked me up that God would allow me the opportunity to so quickly experience an interruption.

Passion

Sometimes when we hear words like those in my last post they resonate with us. "The dark is getting darker. We must raise our level of passion to impact the world for Christ." In my case I couldn't stop repeating them, replaying them over and over in my head. I keep asking myself where is my passion meter? Is it low and I'm just apathetic and in a pit or is it high and I'm consciously looking for ways to see God at work and where He can use me? Truthfully I probably land somewhere in between those two levels on most days. Then last week God did something that just encouraged my heart--pumped it up really!

We were at a party for our Puerto Rican mission team. At the end, we watched a video of our pictures set to some great worship music. It was awesome to share all the stories and faces with our families. My daughter was sitting next to me and I kept whispering little details to her and my son was almost asleep in my lap. When everything was over my son sat up and said, "Mommy can you put that music on my ipod?" I almost cried because I thought he wasn't paying attention. But he had been moved by songs like "Hosanna, Mighty to Save and How He Loves." My son is 6 and you bet we will be putting that music on his little Mp3 player (Shh...he doesn't know it's not an ipod yet.) Because as his parent I want to raise his level of passion for the things of God. Later my daughter came over and asked me if there was a family mission trip that we could go on together. My heart was sailing people!! And we will definitely be looking into that as she becomes a tweenager....yikes. God was so sweet to us that night and I was totally reminded that the things my husband and I are passionate about overflow to our kids.

Live DVD Recording

Sunday night I went with my friend Tracie to see Travis Cottrell, Cindy Morgan, Shaun Groves and let's not forget Beth Moore! Travis was recording a live Worship DVD/CD at First Baptist Church of Woodstock. Tracie and I both love christian music, so this was a blast for us. It was a great night and I left with a quote that has been marinating in my brain since then.

"The dark is getting darker. We must raise our level of passion to impact the world for Christ."
Travis Cottrell

Still marinating....

Happy New Year!

Yes I realize this is a little late...but what else would I title a post that follows our Christmas picture?

The holidays were great. We had Christmas at home with just the four of us and it was sweet. We visited my in-laws in Louisiana for about a week afterwards and had a blast catching up with the parents, siblings and cousins.

Favorite Christmas gift-Wii Fit from my husband (I asked for it!) We are a competitve bunch and let's just say it's provided hours of entertainment thus far. This week I discovered the balance game section and to put it mildly...we're a little out of balance. If we could just stop laughing, we might be able to dodge the shoes, cross the tight rope and walk in the bubble just a little longer. But then again, it wouldn't be nearly as much fun.

Speaking of Games-my sister in-law brought this fabulous card game, Phase 10, for us to play while we were in Louisiana. She and I played with the daughters, age 7-10, and it was a blast. The game went on for hours the first time and then we all got the hang of it and the gloves were off! Seems the competitive bug runs on both sides of the family.

My mother and her two sisters came to visit last weekend, so I got a set for us to play. There were five generations of women playing cards around our kitchen table for several hours. It was a sweet memory for me and hopefully for my daughter. One of my favorite things to do growing up was to sit around my grandmother's kitchen table and listen to her tell stories.

Hopefully this is the start of a new tradition for us...taking time to make memories.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from the Turners! May you and your family have a joyful Christmas Day and a blessed New Year!