Has it really been almost 5 months since I posted last?  Man oh man...can't imagine why!  So hang on to your britches and let's catch up.  
On April 30th we celebrated our oldest son turning 12!  I officially have a pre-teen!  Yikes! Eli is still a sports lover.  However, for now, he is narrowing it down to loving basketball the most!  This started our string of birthdays as the kids b-days are about every 2-3 weeks starting with his. Yes, the kids birthdays are in April, May, June, July and August.  

A week after Eli's birthday we gave birth to our newbie, Samuel.  Wait, did I say "we"????  Let me re-phrase!  I gave birth and it was not a fun experience!  Showed up at 6 a.m. to be induced, doc broke my water and left to go do his office visits (30 minutes away), hoping to come back during his lunch hour to deliver. Nurse goes ahead and administers the petocin; and  I, because I am a wimp, went ahead and got my epidural.  I was enjoying having my parents and most of my kids there with Derrick and me, and we were just chatting away, even though I thought it was odd that my epidural was very minimal.  Still had all feeling in my legs, which according to the past three, this was NOT the case!  As the pain began increasing, I kept pushing the "administer yourself" button until I realized it completely shut off.  Pain became unbearable, petocin was kicking in full force and I was not a happy camper!  Asked my parents and kids to exit, nurse called anesthesiologist to come back, he was "too busy", and I went from 4 cm dilated to 10 in about  5 minutes.  The nurses quickly call my doctor to come back and meanwhile, the nurse shuts down my epidural machine realizing it's doing no good, yanks out my catheter, and proceeds to hold my baby inside of me, as I'm screaming bloody murder, for the next 25 minutes.  I begged for them to get another doc to deliver him and they proceeded to tell me that there was no one else in house that could deliver.  Are you kidding me???? Needless to say, I have now experienced a natural child birth...just wish I wasn't jacked up on petocin for the whole thing and wish he could have come out when he was ready!  Also found out that the labor and delivery department at the hospital I gave birth in is shutting down!  Go figure! Despite all of this, I have a precious new son that is beautiful and I am very blessed!

Ciera turned 4, 2 weeks after Samuel was born.  She is a mess!  She loves to sing and she pretty much runs the household...or tries to anyway!  

Carmen turned 9, 3 weeks after Ciera's b-day.  She is 9 going on 16.  I think God knew what he was doing giving me only 2 girls!  I think girls are born with the drama side!  She also loves to sing and play with her friends.

Jesse James had his b-day a couple of weeks after hers.  He turned 7.  He got an electric guitar for his birthday and plans to be a professional skate boarder/guitarist/drummer!  :/  He loves life and is still...living up to his name.

Isaiah ends the string of b-days and he turned 11 this year!  He is still our reptile kid!  He now owns 2 snakes and a tarantula.  Never would have thought I would have creatures like this in my home, but he loves them!  He volunteers every Saturday morning at 8 a.m. at a reptile store in town and his passion in this shines through!  However, I have told him no more until he is on his own!  :)

So we made it through the summer with all the kids being well as can be until 2 days before school starts.  Now, for the last 2 weeks, we have had 5 out of six get the tummy bug, one get a bad cold and then one brake his collar bone just after he got over the bug.  

I have started helping out at the church office since our administrator just moved to Germany, so I am wearing one new hat for now.  Things are going well at church and we are embarking on a brand new adventure at East Coast Church!  Excited about what the Lord has in store!  

Well, thank you for allowing me the time to catch up on documenting my crazy life!  I have to say, I can't imagine doing life without my faithful Savior seeing me through!  

My husband told me on January 17th of this year that God had told him this was going to be a year of faith.  I had no idea the impact of what those words really meant.  I've always lived my life by faith so I just thought, "ok!"  The year started off great in every aspect of our lives.  The kids were doing well in school, and they finished up the year with a bang.  We got to go celebrate my parents 50th anniversary with them in June and had the opportunity to take the kids to my grandmother's farm  to see where I spent a lot of my summers and Christmas' growing up.  The church was doing great!  It was growing, new classes had begun, we had baptized over 30 just in the first few months, small groups were active...all was well.

The past few months have been somewhat of a whirlwind.  Derrick and I have experienced some of the hardest days in ministry which trickled to every area of our lives.  The heartache of losing friends.  The heartache of our kids losing their friends.  The struggle to understand what in the world was going on.  As a Christ follower, I have experienced spiritual warfare on a daily basis, but the reality of Ephesians 6:12 had never felt so extreme. 

"For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places."

I honestly felt as though we were on the front line of a battlefield and I never even knew what the war was about or how it started.  

You always hear not to pray for patience because you know that you will be tested in order for that virtue to be grown in your life.  I can definitely say these past few months have been a testing of my faith.  Thankfully, I know who my Redeemer is and I know who has the victory!  Through it all, I still have faith that my Savior is in control and that 
"In all things God works for the good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose!"  Rom. 8:28
His never failing love never ceases to amaze me and His promise to see us through any hardship has definitely, once again, been proven true.
I thank HIm for the testing of my faith because I can continue to stand firm in His great love and power.

When your faith seems so small, remember that Jesus says that all it has to be is the size of a mustard seed.  "I tell you the truth,if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain 'move from here to there' and it will move.  Nothing will be impossible for you!"  Matthew 17:20  If that doesn't get your blood pumping, I don't know what will!  As children of God, we can move mountains!!!!  What mountain is standing in your way today?  

"Submit to God and be at peace with HIm; in this way prosperity will come to you." Job 22:21

I have learned through this trial that when you don't understand your circumstances, just continue submitting your life to Christ and regardless of what is going on around you, just make sure that you are at peace with Him!  I promise that good things will come!

As the turbulence subsides, and we continue seeking the will of our Father, I can tell you God has graciously brought sunshine at the end of the storm for our family.  I placed the picture above because the dot within the circle is about the size of a mustard seed.  That dot resembles the testing of my faith, which will now grow into another one of God's amazing blessings of life.  This was a very unexpected blessing, but I know that God had this special plan for us.  We are thankful and grateful and will continue on serving and doing the will of our Father...one more Shirley at a time!  :)  

Though it be a year of testing and growing of our faith,

"As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord!" 

 

Oh my goodness!  It is the end of April and it is my first blog of the year!!!!!  What's up with that?  It has been a great and challenging year so far.  I am daily, still after two years, growing in my role as a lead pastor's wife.  I am learning to juggle family, speaking, worship, women's ministry and counseling.  At times, I'm not going to lie, it is very overwhelming.  Overwhelming in the sense of feeling a heart felt burden, not just for my 5 children and husband, but for the church family that God has given Derrick and me the privilege to lead.  My heart rejoices with those that are discovering this amazing God that we serve and truly experience a life change.  It rejoices in the marriages that have survived adultery and are stronger than ever.  It rejoices with the addict that has learned to daily surrender their life to Christ and is reaping the benefits of God's faithfulness.  It rejoices that we have baptized over 20 people this year so far and that we had over 450 at our Easter services.  However, with every celebration there seems to be a heart ache.  My heart breaks for the many that have discovered they have cancer.  It breaks for the struggling marriages and the addict that slips back into old habits.  As the church grows, my heart is burdened for those who don't know what to do with all the new faces and slip out the back door.  As demanding as it all seems, I wouldn't change it for the world!  I love the calling that God has on my life.  I love my church family and I am honored that God allows me the privilege to serve Him in this way!  

On a personal note, I had my first experience at a cancer center to get checked.  Going  through the fear of the unknown was not a fun experience.  It was dealing with the lymph node under my arm that I have posted about before. All things have turned out good with that, praise the Lord!  The only sad thing was that my doctor tested all my hormones because I thought something had to be wrong seeing that I was about 25 pounds over my normal weight and have NEVER dealt with that before.  He reported that all were totally normal and gave me the speech, "Every decade you add on to your life changes your metabolism..."  Not what I wanted to hear, but totally grateful for a good report!


The kids are enjoying being in school.  I love seeing their personalities unfold and the many friends that they have.  We are fixing to kick it into high gear again, however, as basketball and football are starting back up.  Derrick will be coaching Eli and Jesse's basketball teams and Isaiah and Carmen are still in gymnastics.  It's also the month where we begin our 5 consecutive months of birthday's with the kids....ouch! It's crazy how big they are all getting.  Eli is almost as tall as me and Ciera, my youngest, will be 3 next month.  I can't believe my budget is almost done with diapers!!!!!  It's been 11 years!  Crazy!  This is always the time I develop baby fever though, so if any of my friends love me enough, please have another baby so I can snuggle with yours and not have to have another myself! :)
Well, hopefully I've caught up a little on my blogging, and as always...I'll try to input more often!

After I gave my testimony to the women at my church, I realized that I told about the major God moments in my life, but thought a few fun facts about me would have been nice too.  So here goes:

1.  I am NOT a name brand kinda girl!  If I have name brand clothes on, they were probably yours that you took to Goodwill!  I love Goodwill!

2.  I do my laundry totally "wrong".  Of course my mom taught me to wash with like colors and when to use warm or cold water.  I do my loads according to importance of being folded.  I wash all the undies, socks and pjs together and wash them if I have to leave the house b/c it's ok for them to wrinkle.  Our nice clothes I do when I can get them out of the dryer immediately to avoid having to iron...one of my least favorite things to do!  I also wash everything in cold.  Heard the other day that I'm saving $.25/load by doing this!  :)

3.  I am a clean freak.  I love organizing!!!  Have to bring order to the chaos!  Derrick gets on to me all the time because I clean up after the kids all the time instead of making them do it.  I just know how I like it done and that I can get it done that way.  So the other day I taught them all how to do their individual jobs (the way I like it).  A few weeks in and they are still loving cleaning day...go figure!

4.  Another one of my least favorite things to do is COOKING!!!!  I so need help in this area!  I literally dread every day deciding what's for dinner and with 5 kids none of them like the same things.  Then if I try something new that takes me forever, it never tastes worth the time and effort I put into it.  I would so love a lifetime meal-plan...one that preferably shows up at my door at about 5 p.m. everyday!

5.  I handle all the money in our household.  I budget and pay all the bills.  I'm one of those that pays right away...don't like any late payments!  I knew once I had kids that I wanted to be a stay at home mom, so I have always prioritized what we need and don't need.  For instance, I do my own mani & pedicures; we don't have all the latest technical stuff; we have never had a car payment b/c we have never bought a brand new car; I shop at Walmart, Target and Goodwill;  I try to highight my own hair, but as you've seen lately it's not going so well.  These are just a few of my budget savers.  I have tried coupons, but I usually forget them or if I remember to take them, I forget I have them.  Gotta work on that!

6.  I love the beach!  Always have and I'm assuming I always will.  (Even though my tanning days are catching up with me through a few wrinkles.)

7.  I have written a book on my journey though infertility and will save up to self-publish it.  Just want to give to those going through the same, not to sell.

8.  Derrick and I began dating 20 years ago.  Wow!  And I still love him...even more!  :)

9.  I will be 40 next year.  Oh my gosh!  I can't believe those words just came out of my mouth!

10.  I'm trying to get back to the weight I was before i had all my babies...15 lbs to go!

11.  I love strawberry flavored twizzlers!

12.  My parents and my in-laws are four of my very best friends. 

13.  I enjoy aerobics, rollerblading and swimming.

14.  I have never mown the lawn...don't even know how.  (Pitiful I know!)

15.  I love rings.  Used to wear one on every finger in high school.

16.  I am a reality t.v. show and a facebook junky. However I do not play all the games on FB...just the connect part.

17.  I am shy even though I force myself to overcome.

18.  We get a couple of $5 hot & ready pizzas from Little Ceasars on Friday nights.

19.  I do not like to read.  Never have.  Shh!  Don't tell my kids!

20.  I am completely bored now!  :)

Well, just a few fun facts.  I'd love to know some about you too!

My birthday is tomorrow and I'm sitting here quietly (I know, it's a rare moment among my household!) wondering if the past 38 years mattered?  Who am I? 

I began as a daughter.  A long awaited for daughter.  My parents had prayed for 8 years to have another child, and after two miscarriages, my mom finally had me.  I know I have brought many smiles to their faces and many tears to their  eyes, but I hope that the smiles outweigh the tears!

I then became a child of my precious Savior.  As I think back, it's funny because I know He waited for me a long time too as I shifted through my own way of realizing He was all I needed!  Since I was "born" into His family, I, again, have brought smiles to His face and tears to His eyes, but my daily prayer is to place a big smile on my Heavenly Father's face.  I know I let Him down time and time again, but I'm hoping that the smiles outweigh the tears!

23 years later I became a wife.  Perfect in all my ways!!!! :)  What's up?  Derrick waited for me too!  He turned 30 the day after we were married.  Doesn't the Bible say something about good things come to those who wait????  I'm learning something new about myself through my own blogging!  :)  Anyway, I can definitely say that I try very hard to be a good wife; however, I know I fall short many times!  Thankfully, Derrick and I have a wonderful, healthy marriage and again...I hope the smiles outweigh the tears!

30 years after I was born I became a Mama.  I love this title!  I prayed so long and hard to hear little voices calling me "Mama!"  I do have my days where I have to remind myself of this!  You know one of those days that if you hear "Mama" called one more time you would like to escape to one of those Calgon commercials!  People ask me how I do it with five little ones....I wouldn't have it any other way!  They are my most precious little blessings and I thank my faithful Jesus for them each and every day!  I do pray for patience at times, but I hope that as I rock them to sleep or kiss their bo-bo's or cheer them on that their smiles will outweigh their tears!

I am also a sister, a sis-in-law, a grand-daughter, a niece, an aunt, a cousin, a pastor's wife and a friend.  I thank each of you for allowing me a place in your life whether you had a choice in the matter or not.  I have mentioned before that my life's prayer has been for God to use my life in a MIGHTY way.  I also have another life's prayer...that in some way my life has brought a smile to your face!  If it has been over the last 38 years or if our paths have just crossed, I hope I have a part in making your smiles far outweigh your tears!!!!