RW '08

So this post is a little late in coming. Randy & I went home to Oklahoma a few weekends ago to help with Revolution Weekend at Marietta FBC. I grew up in MFBC and Randy went there when he moved to Marietta and we were dating. Our friends, Shane & Amy, are the youth ministers and graciously allow us to come back and help each year. This year's theme was Guy Talk - Girl Talk and there were 5 topics specific to guys and 5 specific to girls. For the past 2-3 years, we've been on the behind the scenes crew - helping Shane & Amy visit homes, organize the derby car race, and generally just help anywhere needed. This year, though, Randy & I both were leaders in homes. I had 9th grade girls and Randy had 11th & 12th grade boys.

The weekend was great. It started out a little rough for me - I was fighting a sore throat, but God stepped in and gave me just enough voice to get through each session. Although all the topics were great and the girls really needed to learn about them, I struggled with the first few sessions. It just didn't seem that the girls were getting anything. They weren't really talkative during the lessons and I was struggling to convey what I was feeling in my heart about the different topics. Thankfully, I had a wonderful co-leader, April Dooley, and she kept enouraging me that I was doing better than I thought. I was really having to depend fully on God to get through each lesson. You know, we always say, "God, speak through us. Let the words they hear be your words not ours." This is one time I can attest that they really were. I hardly had a voice for most of the weekend, and yet when it was all said and done, I think some of the girls really did hear God speak. It wasn't anything I said - they just really were listening to God and he was moving through the weekend. It's very humbling to know that it was nothing I did that made an impact. It was all God and he deserves all the praise. In saying all that, there weren't any "life-changing" decisions - that I know of. But God was moving and I pray that the girls respond and not just go away not making a change.

It was also really special to have the girls I did. One of them, Madison, I babysat from the time she was 4 until she turned 8. We had so much fun during those summers - finger painting, play-dough, Barbies, Frogger, more crafts than you could imagine, and lots and lots of fun. I got to kind of reconnect with her and it was amazing to see the young lady God is growing her to be. And she remembered all the stuff we used to do! That was so cool. Makes me glad I didn't just let her watch TV all day while her mom was gone. Lol!

The pictures above are kind of a brief overview of our Revolution Weekend '08 and end with some misc pics of me & Bella (I couldn't resist!). Enjoy and let me know what's going on in your lives. I'd really like to know who is keeping up with us through our blog. God Bless!