Alone Time, Attitude, Conference and Root Canal

Alone Time

Rob, Leeann and Titus went up to visit Rob's family last Wednesday night and they stayed up there for 3 whole days! Did you catch who wasn't there? Me! That's right, I spend 3 whole days childless. It was good, but it was also hard... that's a long time to be without my babies! I nearly lost it when I put Titus into his car seat as I sent them on their way. We all survived, and Rob actually did really well with the kids. I secretly think it's really good because it makes Rob more confident in his abilities with the kids (Titus especially!). He does wonderfully with them, sometimes he just needs a little bit of encouragement :0)

We had originally taken those days off and planned a family trip up to WA., but then I got a flyer in the mail for a Children's Ministry Conference in Eugene. The speaker was Craig Jutila who's the Children's Pastor at Saddleback, and I simply couldn't pass up the opportunity to hear him speak, especially since it was less than an hours drive from here. We thought about rearranging our days off, but than decided that maybe it would be best if Rob went ahead and took the kids up with him. It worked out well. In fact, I'd say it was a God thing!

Conference

Wow! The conference was amazing! Julie (a friend of mine who also works with kids at our church) went with me to the conference. I don't feel like I would do justice even beginning to try to explain the many things he talked about. I appreciate his ministry and the ministry of his church. They do a lot to train other leaders to be effective in ministry, regardless of their size or location. Their goal isn't to grow their church, but to win kids to Christ and grow them spiritually... wherever it is that might be! They do that by training leaders from other churches to do ministry effectively wherever their at. It's exciting!

Attitude

Titus has an attitude lately. It's getting on my nerves. My sweet, laid-back even tempered little boy is undoubtedly getting an opinion of his own! Any time I put him in his pack-n-play he screams. If I walk into a room, he screams. If I put him in his exersaucer, he screams. This isn't a cute scream either. It's obnoxious. I know that he just wants to explore his world, but man, my nerves are shot! :0)

Root Canal

I went into get a cavity filled yesterday and came out with a root canal. Apparently it was worse than they thought it was. I was a little worn out yesterday, and my teeth are hurting this morning, but it hasn't been too bad so far. Do you want to hear a great story?

I knew coming into this appointment that I was going to have to pay some money out-of-pocket. We are doing just fine financially, it's just the unexpected expenses that stress us out a little. You know, like dentist appointments and root canals and stuff! Well, last week we received a gift that covered all but $16 of my dentist appointment. God is good! But oh wait, it gets better!

Sunday Rob and I received a check. We were quite overwhelmed with the amount of money that unexpectedly came through our hands. We talked Sunday night about why God would do that, and what he wanted us to do with it. Well, we didn't have to think long, because Monday morning came around and I needed an emergency root canal. And apparently after a root canal you need to get your tooth crowned. Total cost? $2 more than the check we had just received! Crazy huh? I think God has really been working in my heart to trust him. He's the provider of all things and he cares about me. He cares about you too, do you trust him even when things seem impossible? The bottom line is without that check, if I had gone in yesterday morning and found out that I needed a root canal (and the money attached to it) I would have cried. I would have cried really, really hard. But instead, I laughed. I laughed because God was showing me in such a tangible way, that he indeed is in control and that he cares!