17 She sets about her work vigorously;
       her arms are strong for her tasks.

 27 She watches over the affairs of her household
       and does not eat the bread of idleness.

Proverbs 31:17&27

The pastor read the entire passage of Proverb's 31:10-31 at my best friend Ann's mother, Judy's funeral on Thursday morning.  I've read this passage and heard it countless times.  I've been thinking about this passage a lot since I came home from the services.  It's the kind of Bible passage that inspires me.  And the kind of passage that condemns and overwhelms me! 

My girls are away with my in-laws and Corey is busy working.  I have a long list of projects that need accomplishing.  I feel like I should be like this woman of Proverbs 31...diligent, determined, not idle, taking pride in my work and finding joy in keeping my home for my family.  But the sad truth is...I am BORED out of mind with the work of my home!    Does anyone else experience this?  I realize that I let a lot of things slide around here, because I simply do not like to do them.  (I know, who does?!?)  Or because I am defeated with the fact that when I clean, I only to enjoy the fruits of my labor for like a minute before my family lives in it and it's untidy again. 

Does anyone else struggle with these things?  This woman of Proverbs 31 is so motivated...I struggle to be motivated.  Tell me dear friends, how do you stay motivated?  How do you strive to be like this woman of Proverbs 31...taking joy in the work the Lord has for you to do as the keeper of your home?  I need encouragement and inspiration!   

Ronnie & Erin ~ July 19, 2008

The wedding was lovely!!  Ronnie & Erin were beautiful and happy!!  I love that pic they took later in front of the truck with their helmets on....it's just "them", you know!  And there is that cute shot of the four of them as a family.

Anyway...here are the rest of the highlights of the day:

The girls in their dresses and greeting at the guestbook and handing out programs!

My nieces, Flower Girl, Mackenzie & new baby Addisyn - who looks like she's pondering all this wedding hoop-la while she grabbed a nap!

Erin walking down the isles and them taking their vows...all of which occured in the same church both Corey and I did, as well as my/our parents....makes a special moment even more special is you ask me!

A few family snapshots!  I'm anxious to see the photographer's version of the family one.  Only too bad, baby Addi was missing due to overall crankiness from the heat at that moment!  Did I mention it was VERY hot and humid at the church with no AC!

Their wedding party

Of course, a firefighter wedding is not complete without riding away in the truck with the sirens blaring!

The Bridal Party table & cutting the cake

Their first dances & my parents looking equally as cute while dancing!

As I said, these are just the highlights of the day.  I was so happy for the two of them!  My baby brother is married and I officially have an awesome sister-in-law!  As I wrote in their wedding card, I am looking forward to all the family fun in the years to come! 

Well, I think we have officially recovered from our Kidz G.I.G. week.  Now that I am not so tired, I can say it really was such a great week!  This year our church, North Way, did their own curriculum and focused on the virtue of Self-Control!  Just what a busy and tired mom needed as they talked about controlling our actions, taming our tongues, making wise choices and minding our tempers.  Needless to say, the week has given me many tools to use with the girls!  I never did hear the final count for kids, but I am guessing their was nearly 500 kids, plus 200 jr/sr high student and adult leaders.  A total of 50 first time commitments to Jesus were made and the kids raised hundred of dollars to contribute to Alex's Lemonade Stand, a charity for cancer research.  Lonna and Eden had great time and it was fun to see them Thursday evening at the Celebration event up on the big stage with their pals singing their praise songs they learned for the week.  We really have such an amazing and gifted team working in our Family Matter Ministry department...they put together an incredible event not just for the kids, but for the family.  It truly made me fall in love with our church all over again.  We are blessed and God is good!!

Now it time for us to focus our energies on the next big event...

...Ronnie (my brother) & Erin's Wedding next Saturday!  I am so excited!  Things are coming together well on all fronts.  I am making their wedding programs, and using this graphic above that was created by my pal Karen (thanks Karen!) designed just for them.  I made their invitations too, and we used this graphic at the top of them as well.  Something fun since they are both fire-fighters!  We'll also be busy baking cookies this week for the Reception.  And today I was happy to crank out dresses for the girls to wear to the wedding:

I fell in love with this material and thought the black, white and red suited the whole casual fire-fighter theme of their wedding!  After all the trying on for pinning etc., I could not get them to model them tonight (getting cranky! )....but you will see how much cuter they look on, in all the wedding day photos.  Right now they are more excited about the matching tote bags/purses to put their "stuff" in for the day!    Anyway, they will be greeting the guests at the Guest Book and handing out the programs.  I am reading scripture during the service...my brother asked me himself, and I was very touched by that.  Corey is handeling DJ duties.  Plus, we'll be my Mom's right hand people as she and Dad host the rehearsal "dinner", a cook-out/campfire at their house. 

So there is much to do and be excited about this week...I might not post until the flip side of it all.  In the meantime, Please pray for our entire crew as we help Ronnie and Erin's special day come together!      

We kick-off another busy week tonight!  It's time for our church's rendition of VBS and it's called KIDZ G.I.G.!  Tonight we have the Kick-off Family Picnic and then we'll be at the church 9am-12pm each morning through Thursday.  Thursday evening we conclude with the Finale Family Celebration.  Lonna will be in the Elementary division and Eden in the Preschool division.  And I am a PAC Leader in the Preschool Division.  I'll be overseeing ten 3-to-5-year-olds with the aid of two teens from the Youth Ministry.  What's nice, is I just get to oversee theses kiddos, love on them, show them Jesus' love.  Our AWESOME Family Matter's team from the church does the rest!  (While I love camp at Jumonville, it's always nice to not be in charge of the details this time around!).  And after our training event last week, and recalling my experience at this last year, I have no doubts it's going to be a very big, fun and successful event! 

God will be doing awesome things at North Way this week!  Please pray for us and all that God has in store for my children to learn about Him this week!