Celebration Time!

Just had to share some great news with you all! Drum roll please...

I passed my Math Final! Woo Hoo! I got a "B" for my grade! I am so happy! It is the best Christmas Present so far!

Another reason to celebrate...all of my kids will be home for Christmas! I am so excited to see them all together. Jason Lee and Aubs will be driving all night to get here but they should arrive in the wee hours of Christmas morn. I am really looking forward to worshipping with them together in church on Sunday morning.

There is a scripture that says something like, "Her children will rise up and call her blessed." I cannot even begin to describe how it pleases a mother's heart to see all of her kids serving Jesus and it is icing on the cake when you get to see them all worshipping together! I am indeed blessed.

There are so many reasons to celebrate this season. The birth of our Savior, passing grades, and being reunited with our kids. God is so good.

Rejoicing,

Shanin

Woah Baby!

I remember when I was about to have a baby for the first time. I washed all of her clothing, set up her nursery, made sure that I had plenty of diapers, bottles and preregistered at the hospital. On December the 20th, the event happened! Oh how excited we were for our baby girl. The hospital was ready and clean...

How different my experience was than from the birth of Jesus. Mary was young, married to Joseph although the consummation hadn't happened yet. I am sure she was scared and unsure of what the future would hold. She was given a few directions from the angel that visited. Then the census was taking place and she had to ride on a donkey all of the way to Bethlehem! Not in a luxury car...I am sure that the ride alone was enough to start the onset of labor. Then there was the news of not a vacancy in town. That would be the straw that would break this mama's back! I would have cried!!! Joseph found at least a barn or stable with some clean straw. I cannot even imagine how Joseph felt. He must have felt so awful not being able to provide a nice place for his wife that was having the baby. A stinky old stable. Far from the clean or sterile hospital I had with the cool gift baskets. No flowers to be delivered from the florists.

Announcements made? I had mine ready to send out to everyone! My husband called the local radio station to tell them how excited he was! He had just had the most beautiful baby girl born! They laughed and congratulated him on the air. The announcement for Mary's baby was somewhat different than mine. It had been announced by Solomon hundreds of years before and then there were the angel visitations. Yeah, that's normal :) Then finally the angels that appeared singing to the shepherds. The shepherds were the lower classed people, not exactly the socialite page in the paper.

Visitors? Oh, there were visitors. The shepherds showed up, great more animals... however they came to worship this child. I wonder how that made Mary and Joseph feel? I am sure there were a million things going through their heads that day. This precious little boy in her arms...the son of God. The Savior of the world. The Hope for all generations. I am not for sure if Mary even had an inkling of what was to behold for their little family's future but it would break her heart. He came to save the world in exchange for His life and a mother's heart.

Take a moment to think about the birth of Christ this season. It wasn't just a cute center piece for your fireplace mantle. It was a life changing event for Mary and Joseph and the whole world, including you and I.

Have a Very Merry Christmas,

Shanin

Created for a Purpose

Have you ever stopped to think why or for what purpose were you created? I have. When I lead worship or just sit in the quiet and play the piano and sing, I know why I was created. I was created for worship!

I remember one night when my kids were little. I was a tired mama and my husband was at the mill sacrificing and providing a living for his family. I had spent my day cleaning and raising my brood. The evening came and I was conversing with God. Well, actually probably more whining than anything :) and I told God, "I don't get it! You gave me a voice and a desire to sing and I have no place to use it."

I will never forget His response."Shanin, when you sing songs about Me to your babies, you are doing what I want for you to do!" From that moment on I cherished everytime I sang to my kids and with my kids. I realized that, that was my ministry at that time in my life. I loved it when they would sing at the top of their lungs in the car, I loved it when I would say a word and they could sing a song with that word in it! What a change in my heart and vision! In one instant I realized that it didn't matter how big my ministry was but that I was simply to do it well! I raised worshippers for the King! Wow what an honor!

Now I get to lead my grandchildren in worship. I remember dancing with Hannah when she was seven months old to "Fields of Grace." I am truly blessed. For I was created for a purpose and so are you! You have a purpose and ministry on this earth. It might not seem big to you but it is HUGE to God.

Singing with Purpose!

Shanin

Thankful

I am so blessed by this wonderful family that I have been given. The love of my life and I were blessed with three awesome kids by birth and then we were blessed with three more by marraige of our daughter and sons. Later in life we were blessed a fourth time by adding another daughter and three instant grandkids in addition to our two grandgirls! Above and beyond our full quiver we had a few extras, along the way, added to our brood. Occassionly we get to hear from one of them here and there, which always blesses us.

Today I am thankful because I found out that one of my "football" boys is coming home for Thanksgiving. God has given me a special love for this young man. He is a good friend to my youngest son. I love it when Jason and I get to see him. What fun it will be to have the "boys" watching football together and enjoying a feast in celebration of Thanksgiving! It makes my heart, well...just happy!

Thank You Lord for blessing us with such a great family!

Shanin

Ahhhh November!

I am so excited! We had our harvest party this weekend and it was a huge success! Now that October is over I get to look forward to November and December! My two favorite holidays are fastly approaching.

Today I am sitting at my computer, sipping a chai tea and listening to Christmas music. I know, it is a tad early but I started a month or so ago. I only listen to instrumentals as of now because it is a little too soon for the whole carol! LOL I love the holidays. I love giving to others. I love making crafts, I love cooking or baking. It brings back such strong memories of good times with my husband and kids when they were little. How fast time flies by. Now I get to make new memories with my adult children and young grandchildren.

So in the honor of Thanksgiving I have so much to be thankful for! My family, my church family and friends, my job. I am thankful for beautiful music and a hot cup of tea. I am thankful for great memories of days gone by and for the opportunities of future memory making. I am so very thankful for my relationship with Jesus Christ, my Savior and God.

I challenge each and everyone of you to take a few moments to reflect and to be thankful. We are so very blessed.

Thanking Him Today,

Shanin

Have a Little Faith!

This week hasn't been the best of my weeks. I started the week off with the news of there being a possibility of not getting something I have been promised for quite a while. A little disillusionment happening there. I started to get upset, actually I did get upset for a bit and then one of my friends at work reminded me to have faith. LOL We were in different rooms but close enough to hear each other. This is actually how the conversation went : Hey, Shanin, don't get upset yet, you have to have a little faith. My reply was silence but a little smile inside to myself. Then I heard the same voice from the other room say, "You have faith, dontcha?" I smiled again (this time on the outside but a small smile still) and replied, "Yes" (very weak yes but still thinking to myself that I had faith that this one woman would screw me over again). Then I heard one more sentence after a pause, "I know you have faith." This time it brought tears (good thing that I was alone in my own cubicle!) God is so good to remind us to have faith and hope. I then made a decision to trust God whatever or however the promise manifested or didn't manifest. However it turns out I will trust God to work it out for my benefit.

Then later in the same week I witnessed some injustice. Injustice is something that aggravates me. I have witnessed injustice in this very avenue many times now and this week it was getting really old. God encouraged me again with someone different this time. She looked up at me and said, "Have faith!" I smiled and said something positive (dripping with sarcasm) like, "It would take a miracle!" She smiled again and said, "Miracles happen everyday! You just have to look for them. Have faith!" A message of hope and expectation!

God is so good to me that he sends messages of hope to me when I need them the most! This week the messages of hope and faith came from totally unexpectant messengers! This even made it even greater! God knew that I needed the encouragement and He knew how to deliver it in the perfect package! The words that were used were perfect for me because it was just confirmation to what God has been speaking to me in the past two weeks!

So today I am going to pass on that message of hope and expectation! Have a little faith. It is contagiouos and Jesus said that if we only had faith the size of a mustard seed He can do awesome things! So here is my grain of mustard seed and I am willing to share it with you if you need a little jumpstart of your own! God is working! We might not be able to see it at the moment but He has a plan! So hang in there with me! Have a little faith because something is getting ready to happen! In the meantime if something encouraging has happened your way please share with us!

Here's to Hope in Him!

Shanin

I Am So Thankful!

Today I am so thankful for a church family that loves to hang out together. We are getting ready for our church family campout. We will laugh, play games, visit and eat together! I am looking forward to some of the entertainment by James and Jason aka the Sadler Brothers ;)around the campfire. I even look forward to the shout outs of "Hello the Camp!" from our friends the Churbas. I love hearing the kids playing together and going on adventures, making memories. And never shall I forget the round of "Ride, ride, ride that pony!"

I am looking forward to our annual gathering and just getting away from it all! We will have service up on the mountain and back at church. We wouldn't want to leave anyone out.

Just wanted to share how awesome it is to attend The Bridge. Not just inside the church walls but outside of the "walls" too!

Shanin

I Am Blessed!

I was reading a blog from another friend and she said something that really spoke to me. Today I am going to share that with you:
"You want to know the title that I yearn for the most? The title that drives my parenting? The title I want more than any other is "The Mom Whose Kids Love and Serve God"

I love this because it was my goal in life too. God gave me this great priviledge of raising three of the greatest kids in the world. There were some days that it took everything that I had to succeed but I wouldn't trade even one of those days for anything. You see I might not have always been the best mom but I loved/love my kids so very much and I so desired for them to have their own relationship with Jesus.

There is a scripture in Proverbs 31 that says, "Her children rise up and call her blessed; Her husband also and he praises her." Let me tell you...the word of God is true! Do your best, ask God for help! Be faithful in raising your children to live godly lives it pays off in the biggest ways! Does this mean you will never have bad days? Nope. There were days that I felt like a failure but I serve a God that buys back our mistakes! He is the greatest parent and He will direct you!

Today all of my kids are grown and married. There is nothing that blesses my heart more than when I am leading worship and I look out and see my adult children worshiping God. They have truly risen up and blessed me many times! I have a wonderful husband that was right there with me raising the kids too. He taught my sons how to treat their mom and their future wives. He set the standard for my daughter in what a husband and father looks like. Again, I am truly blessed!

So today I wanted to take time and say thanks to Julie for reminding me of the gifts and successes that I have today. Hang in there, you will succeed in your goal! I want to thank Jesus for so blessing me with my husband and kids! Thank You Lord for giving me the opportunity and for helping me to succeed in raising Your servants.God is so good.

For Future Generations Serving Christ,

Shanin

Restored Beauty

Last weekend we had the privilege to serve our youth group on their retreat! We drove three vehicles for roughly about twelve hours to stay on the beach for three nights! It was great. I got to cook and clean as part of a team with my husband! It truly was an honor to see our youth and youth leadership in action! They made a declaration to take a "Stand" for the Lord.

One day while I was walking on the beach I looked down and saw a beautiful piece of a sea shell. It was broken but still so pretty. I talked to the Lord about how people don't get excited over the broken shells but they still behold a beauty. I started to think about how a person could use a pretty but broken shell and I thought of many ways! Then I stopped and thought about how we are broken. Some of us are more broken than others. Some of us look pretty good on the outside but when you turn us over you can see where the seagulls of this world has gutted us. But if a person can look beyond the brokeness you can see the beauty inside. Sometimes you have to look a little deeper than with others but the beauty still resides. When we let the Father polish us, or sand off the broken edges we can be used for beautiful purposes!

Aren't you glad that Jesus sees the beauty in us? I sure am! I am glad that He looks beyond our brokeness and sees a purpose for each and everyone of us! We need to remember this when we look at people. We need to look a little deeper, beyond the brokeness and see the gold nuggets deep inside. Some takes a little more mining than others but the gold is there! We just need to let the Refiner refine us!

Back to our youth, I am so proud of them. They are going through some transitions right now and in the next few months, but they all have decided to take a stand. Because of their stand they have renamed their youth group, "The Standers." I love it! You know how easy it is to make promises when away from your surroundings but when you return you tend to slide back into your old place? Well, since being back I have already seen some standers taking a stand in their natural environment! I have already seen some opposition and peer pressure too but they stood their ground! Again I am so proud to be their pastor and friend. They have led by example! SO I am challenging the rest of you to take a stand in your surroundings. Even if you feel like a broken shell on the beach surrounded by sand, take a stand! Don't worry, the Father will pick you up and use you! He has a purpose for each of us! He sees our beauty. You are not alone. We can stand together.

Standing For Him With Them,

Shanin

Expectations

Abbie is my youngest grandaughter. She is four years old. Her enthusiam is awesome! Well, last night my daughter took Abbie and here sister, Hannah, out to ride their scooters. Abbie takes off and gets a ways a way and comes back to her mom with her lips pulled up away from her teeth and says, Mom, do I have any bugs in my teeth?" Amber laughed and told her no. Abbie then responded, "Well, it could happen! That could happen when you go really fast!" LOL I had to laugh.

Shouldn't we expect things to happen? I think that sometimes we get dragged down with the weights of the world so very much, that we stop expecting things to happen. It can be safer that way but look at what we miss out on! We could miss something as great as getting bugs in your teeth from going so fast! I think that we need to expect great things to happen! God wants to bless us and somedays we miss the great little blessings because we stop looking for them. I want to get excited over the little things again! I have been so busy between school and work that I have missed out on some awesome things! But I am looking with expectation again and watch out! Because I am going to get to see some pretty amazing things I am quite sure! Do you want to join me?

Lord renew my mind and restore my "vision" so I can see EVERYTHING that You have in store for me. From the big things to the little things or visa versa. I am expecting You to do great things in my life and the lives of others! In Your Powerful Name, JESUS! amen!

Expecting Great things!

Shanin