chosen recap: day two

Hi ladies, I am still soaking in all that I learned from the Chosen women's conference, and I wanted to share a little bit more of some wisdom I am trying to soak in from these wise ladies that poured into me 2 weeks ago. The second day started out with these two crazy ladies doing a little comedy act, and Brittany on the right had a pillow in her backside. hilarious.

Helen Lee was our first speaker of the day and she encouraged us to live out the dreams that the Lord has for us. Helen is the author of the book The Missional Mom, and just being real I haven't finished this book yet, but I am in the middle of reading it. All I can say about this book is: wow, what an encouragement to moms that have all of these hopes and dreams of "going big time", and then they have kids which seem to make us put our dreams on hold. I would highly recommend this book to any mom, especially new moms! :)

In my notes I wrote down that the Lord wants us to focus on His dreams He has for us and not so much our own dreams. How many can relate to that? Just going throughout my day I do things that I want to do, not so much focusing on what the Lord wants me to do.

Helen shared this verse with us:

"This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways. Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build the house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored,” says the Lord."

Haggai 1:7-8

She left us with a challenge of living out the Lord's dreams for us and encouraged us that "If I'm alive, my mission is not over!" I knew they Lord was speaking to me about what my mission is and living it out for Him!

After the morning session, there were breakouts all over the church, and I attended the breakout with the fabulous Jessi Connolly! She encouraged us to speak life in every area of our lives. In our home, in ministry, through social media, and on our blogs. She encouraged us to ask the Lord throughout the day, "who is louder, me or Him?" That hit me hard, because sometime I go throughout my day and I am not letting the Lord speak louder than me. That is where this encouragement is so good, I am reminded that the Lord is bigger than me, I need to let Him lead me throughout my day! I am trying to apply "speaking life" to my life daily. Thank you Jessi for all your encouragement!

Jessi left us speaking life over us with the scripture Isaiah 61:1

"The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me,

because the LORD has anointed me

to proclaim good news to the poor.

He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,

to proclaim freedom for the captives

and release from darkness for the prisoners."

After the breakout, our missional moms leaders group had the awesome opportunity to take Helen Lee to lunch. We had the best time, and so encouraging to share what the Lord is doing in our lives. I love each and every one of these ladies! If you want to know more about the missional moms community please visit this link! You can also follow updates on twitter! @missionalmoms

It was so beautiful to eat lunch looking on the beach and enjoy this beautiful January day with 70 degree temps! This is myself with Helen Lee. She is such a sweet women of God and was fun to introduce her to shrimp and grits! :) southern hospitality right there!

The last session of the day Lisa Bevere spoke again and she talked to us about being dangerous and awake! She talked about her most recent book Lioness Arising and how to wake up and change the world!

Lisa shared this verse with us:

Numbers 23:24

"The people rise like a lioness; they rouse themselves like a lion that does not rest till he devours his prey and drinks the blood of his victims."

Last but not least, the after party! This picture was taken by one of my friends before it all got started. There was dancing, a photo booth, a candy bar, marshmallow roasting stations to make smores outside, and did I mention dancing?!?!

It really was such a blast! You heard it here first, I'm inviting you to Chosen 2013, January 24-25, mark your calendars, take of work, you are not going to want to miss it! :)

What a hot mess we were at the end of it all. I don't think I left the church until 11:15pm, and there was still people dancing! Can't wait until Chosen 2013! :)

"For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession."

Deuteronomy 7:6

I am Chosen! recap: day 1

Wow! Where do I begin? This past weekend was amazing. I attended the women's conference at Seacoast Church, and I am already way too excited about next year! I am still soaking in all that God has done in my life this weekend. I really just wanted to share some scripture and pictures from this weekend. SO here we go!

As you walk up to the church there was a red carpet leading straight to this huge mirror with flowers and beautiful decor around it. There was a vision for this from the women's minister and what a blessing this was for so many women. The women were escorted by a few men of the church on the red carpet. It was just a great start to the conference of showing all the women that THEY ARE CHOSEN! See that beautiful chosen logo painted on the window? yep, my sweet friend April did that on the windows all over the church. SO beautiful!

This verse kept coming up throughout the conference and the breakout I went to on day two, and I wanted to share it just to remind all of you ladies reading here that the Lord is with you and has anointed each one of us. What more could we ask for?!?! We are so blessed to be chosen by Him!

"The Spirit of the Lord is on me,

because he has anointed me

to proclaim good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners

and recovery of sight for the blind,

to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."

Luke 4:17-18

I am a part of the missional moms community, so I made this sign for our info booth. I also made one for the sisterhood booth! They looked beautiful on the tables!

Here a a couple of the seating environments in the breezeway at the church- one in which was a bed swing hanging in the hallway. Everything was so beautiful!

The first night of the conference our awesome Pastor, Greg Surratt spoke along with Lisa Bevere. If you have never heard her speak, she is phenomenal! Lisa encouraged us to be virtuous & capable. Now those are two things that I am now striving to be through the Lord to serve others. I love this verse she shared with us:

"The Lord announces victory, and throngs of women shout the happy news."

Psalm 68:11

I was blessed to be apart of the Chosen boutique and sell some of my items that I am now listing in my etsy shop. {I'm putting the headbands in there soon, I promise!} This was the only picture I took of the headbands and hairbows, but I also had some monogrammed items for sale too.

Some of the other women who sold in the Chosen boutique were

Jessi from Naptime diaries, April from Worship Artist Ministries, Tiffany from the Sassy Shop, Stacie with her Sabbath in a Jar scrub, Jessica & her adoption fund beauties, and Hillary from noonday. It was such a blessing to be able to hangout with these ladies all weekend while we sold our crafty beauties! Each one of these ladies are dear friends of mine, and I support them, you should too! :)

In case you haven't seen me, I got 8 inches cut off my hair on Thursday morning before the Chosen conference. I absolutely love it! If you are in Charleston and need a beautician, Ashley is your girl! Message her on fb and she will get you in! Tell her that I sent you! :)

It was kind of perfect timing for a haircut. When I got to the church and walked up on the red carpet and looked in that mirror, I was reminded that He has chose me, no matter if my hair is short, long, messy, or just perfect. That humbled me just to see myself with a new fancy do, that He loves me no matter what!

Lisa Bevere also shared this verse with us at the conference:

"So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don’t get tied up again in slavery to the law."

Galatians 5:1

That is some powerful stuff! We are free in Him. Praise the Lord! To Him be all the Glory!

bigger and bigger

{my belly that is!}

Can you believe my belly is just getting bigger and bigger! I feel like this week it's getting out of control... I mean, looking at last weeks picture and this weeks picture, my belly has to be growing twice as much! I guess having an estimated 4 pound baby in my belly is what's making it so big! Can you believe that MC is already 4 pounds??? I am just too excited to squeeze those sweet cheeks of hers when she gets here! :)

Today I am 31 weeks and 5 days.... that is just 8 more weeks and 2 days to go!!!!

At my shower last week my mom got me the curtains to go in maggie claire's room! We hung them up on Saturday, and I just love them! I got a double curtain rod to hang the black out curtains behind the floral ones, so the baby can sleep well during the day! They have white ones at walmart and target that I need to get! :)

I still don't have all the furniture in mc's room yet, therefore, I will be doing some rearranging because of the couch that we put in her room & I want to change the placement of the lamp.

Anyways... we have been super busy this week, and I feel like Mike and I haven't really even seen eachother that much! On Monday night we usually have small group, but this week there was a women's event at the church with an amazing woman of God who came to speak from Sydney, Australia. The girls in our small group decided to go to that while the boys went paddleboarding. I got to hear Christine Caine speak this weekend at church and on Monday just to the ladies, and she brought the Word! She has been known for started shelters all over the world for young women who have been trapped in slavery to human trafficking.

She challenged me to stay fully committed to our church and continue to do ministry with youth with an attitude of never serving enough. I feel like no matter what there is always more to be done in this world to help others, for me I feel like helping teens is where I am called, and to have a selfless attitude while doing it! She was such an inspiration to everyone who heard her this weekend, and I am so glad I was able to go to the women's event!

On Tuesday we went with the student ministry leaders to the riverdogs baseball game! I didn't take any pictures, but it was so fun! We got to sit in a VIP box that had air conditioning or you could watch the game from outside too! It was awesome! On Wednesday, I was so tired I couldn't even make it to church. I had a sore throat and cough all day, and today it hasn't gotten any better. Plus being around 20 two year olds all day doesn't help either!

I am so excited tomorrow is Friday! I have my 32 week OB appointment and I am excited to escape from work with Mike for a few hours! On Saturday, I am going to 2 baby showers and I am just too excited! One is for my friend Courtney, who is in our preggo mama group, and the other is for my friend Jessica who was in our parenting class this semester! I love both of those girls and can't wait to celebrate with them for their babies!!!

you've been a bad friend to me!

Today, I attended the Beth Moore simulcast event that was at our church, and I just love me some Beth Moore! I have been reading her new book So Long Insecurity {you've been a bad friend to me} and it is a really good book! I was trying to read the entire book by the event today, but since I've been doing the Bible in 90 days{more like 110 days, I'm in the book of Luke} that I was suppose to finish today, I haven't been able to read any extra books on the side!

Yesterday I was laying out while reading So Long Insecurity, and it seems like such an oxymoron trying to get a tan {and feel secure while doing it} I was glued to this book for an hour thinking, why am I obsessed with getting as much sun as I possibly can, while no "tan look" is going to get me anywhere closer to Heaven!

I thought the conference was really good! Beth went through Ephesians 4:1-5:2, and gave us an acronym spelling SECURE during her powerful message today and I thought that I would share it with you!

a secure woman is..

Saved from herself

Entitled to trust

Clothed with intention

Upended by grace

Rebounded by love

Exceptional in life

I really loved that last one, thinking that I need to be the one that people say that I'm an exception in life, not feeling insecure about things! One of my favorite quotes that Beth said today was "Insecurity is not a weakness, it's an unbelief" I recommend her book So Long Insecurity to any woman in the world, no matter your age! There were young teenagers there today at our location, and a few ladies that were over the age of 80! God is so awesome speaking to women of all ages today!

I sat with my sis in law Bethany, my mom , and my church/blogger friend Heather! {you should check out her blog, she ALWAYS has giveaways, like at least one a week!} I realized afterwards that so many of my friends were there and I didn't even know it!

on another note, I'm 16 weeks today! I'm posting my 14, 15, & 16 weeks belly shots in a few days! I started to post the 14 & 15 pictures last night, but my computer decided to not be connected to the internet anymore... lol, so I'll just finish that draft later on! :)

I hope everyone has a great rest of the weekend!

my life as a minister's wife

Most of you know that of course, I am married to a youth minister, which I think is the most amazing thing EVER. I never thought that I would have married a youth minister, even though I have always wanted to marry a pastor and be a pastor's wife! When Mike and I met, I knew that we would get married and he would be in ministry, even though he didn't say that when I first met him. After a while, he finally changed his major to Youth Ministry at CSU, and I just knew that I would LOVE to be a youth pastor's wife.

Now, I am in love with pastor's wives, and any wife of a ministry leader. I just think that people don't give enough credit to PW. Lately, I have been reading Holly Furtick's blog and it is so encouraging. She is one woman of God who is a great example of being a PW who really fulfills the role. Then I was realizing that just about all of my friends are wives of men in ministry. I have so many friends around me who live just about the same life as I do being at church all the time, and loving it. Sometimes, it seems to get a little tiring, but we are all there to pick each other up. One of my best friends Christina Harris, is also a wife of a middle school pastor, now I realize why we are such good friends, we relate with each other. Plus, I just think she is awesome and I look up to her so much with her role as a PW. Some other amazing pastor's wives that I know and absolutely ADORE are Sarah Chalk, Jenny Miles, Many Santos, Sarah Bolin, Sara Smith, Cyndy Morris and Selina May. I see a little bit of myself in all of them. Also, I didn't even name the PW's that are related to me that I just love: Debbie Surratt, Sherry Surratt, Dee McGarity, Jenny Surratt, Lisa Surratt, Jenna Surratt, Jenny Mayer, Jess Ray, and Bethany Singleton. Anita McCart and Allison (soon to be Rankin) are also PW or soon to be that I hang out with and love.

So, as you can imagine, I am always at church. Last year when Mike and I were first engaged, I decided to use my time wisely while being at church all the time and volunteer in the nursery. I absolutely loved it, and a few months later I was asked to come on staff as a part time nursery worker on the weekends. This meant that I would work 2 or 3 of the services out of 5 of them on the weekend, and occasionally a first wednesday. I have been doing this for about 10 months and of course, I love it. There are 6 nursery rooms at Seacoast church LPR on the "0-24 months" hallway, and you will normally find me in one of them on the weekend, loving all those kids whether they are babies, crawlers, or walkers. :)

My favorite part of being at church for every service is this:
Whichever service I am not working in the nursery (which is normally the 9:30), I am upstairs in "the attic" where the middle school service is held. I get to see my husband speak, and act crazy with all the students that come to Nitro. I love it, and I have realized lately that my most important role there is Mike's wife. I am there to support, encourage, and help him do whatever is needed. Lately he has given me the duty of doing a part of the service on stage called "Tell Me Something Good". It's pretty fun, and most imporantly I feel that I have helped Mike with his job as a middle school minister!

In two weeks, I will be going on a youth trip with my husband for the first time as the "youth pastor's wife". (What a way to spend our first Valentines Day as a married couple huh?) I am very excited because I just love hanging out with the students just as much as he does! We will be traveling to Lake Junaluska in North Carolina for Lift, the ski/snowboard/tubing winter retreat. Mike told me that we are taking over 220 people total with all the campuses. I'm looking forward to joining my husband in ministry and seeing what God has planned for this trip!

This is me and my minister husband whom I will always love!
:)