Distracted.

I've done it again.

I'm totally useless.

Some people talk about being anxious or nervous while going through the adoption process.  Worrying and wondering about the whats, the whens, the hows.  Dissecting the timing of everything, hanging onto every word that you case worker says and trying to read something into what they said.  That they most likely really didn't say.  "I'll talk to you soon" doesn't necessarily mean "I'll call you tomorrow with a referral" regardless of what our adoption crazed minds made us think they were saying.

I feel like I'm a little more even-keeled when it comes to that stuff.  At least publicly.  No need to let everyone in on my crazies.

Here's my problem.  Why have I stayed up til 1 AM yet again?  Stalking blogs.  Facebook.  Websites.  Anything where I can find bits and pieces of information to help me have a better grasp on China adoptions...what other families are going through, the timing of the process of their adoptions, etc.

And even catching a few "Airport Party" videos as well.  Like the one I just watched for a local family bringing home their 2nd son from Ethiopia.

Bawled.

Like a baby.

And reality check...my two favorite little boys need their Mommy to be awake during the day...

Focus.  This journey has just begun.

Going to bed.

Moving on.

Last week when I posted a picture of our kids sitting on potties in Lowe's, I told you I would give you further explanation.

And here it is.  Further explanation.

But first, the background info.  Which, if you know much about us, you probably already know.  We became members of Highview Baptist Church when we moved to Louisville in 2005 and became involved with the Spencer County Campus of Highview during it's launching days in early 2006, eventually moving to Spencer County in 2007 to be able to be closer to the church we were serving at.

Long story short, we fell in love with Spencer County and the people here and made a conscious decision that this would be our mission field during our [indefinite] time in Kentucky.  A series of events earlier this year lead to the launch of Redemption Hill Baptist Church here in Spencer County and we have been given the opportunity to be part of something that God is blessing in a big way!

We struggled for a while about what to do, where to go, but ultimately God made it very clear that He wanted us to continue to serve in Spencer County.  And with this new church plant.  Below is the story of how RHBC came to be, from our Facebook page...

Our story goes perhaps something like your parents’ or grandparents’ wedding story. If not your parents or grandparents, at some point you have probably known a married couple ...who grew up in the same town, went to the same schools, were a part of the same community for years and years, but each never thought twice about the other until one day when all the right pieces fell into place. And the rest, as they say…was history.

Similarly, in the mid-1980’s the church planting department at the Kentucky Baptist Convention began to take notice of an area just southeast of the Louisville Metro area called Spencer County. In particular, what caught their eye was the rapid growth but a corresponding lack of churches. The KBC decided it was time to act. So they purchased a 15-acre plot of land on Taylorsville Lake Road and planted a Baptist church called Green Hills Baptist Church. When this church came on hard times, in 2001, the KBC approached Parkland Baptist Church in Louisville about taking this church on as a mission. It was then that Green Hills Baptist Church began to be known as Parkland Hills Baptist mission.

A few years later, in 2006, the Lord began doing a similar work in the life of a sister church in Louisville called Highview Baptist Church. Through the visionary leadership of pastor Kevin Ezell, Highview was committed to launching a series of multi-site campuses across the Louisville Metro area and beyond. One of the areas for which God provided a ready and eager core group for a campus was Spencer County. So on Easter Sunday of 2006, the Spencer County Campus of Highview Baptist Church was launched and began meeting in the gymnasium of the Spencer County Elementary School. After a year of progress and growth, the Lord allowed for them to move to the Spencer County Middle School where they would make their home for the next 5 years to do outreach and discipleship ministries.

 Throughout this time, the Parkland Hills Baptist mission and the Spencer County Campus of Highview Baptist Church were doing ministry in the same community, preaching the same message, under the leadership of sister churches from the same denomination, with the same goal in mind—reaching Spencer County with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. One of these ministries had a phenomenal location, a great piece of land, and a highly utilizable building, yet they needed a pastor and an influx of young life. The other ministry had a pastor and staff already in place, vibrant children and student ministries, and a host of young families who were charged, trained, and ready for community outreach, yet they did not have a permanent location or a building in which to meet.

 In God’s good providence, much like a romantic comedy (or a good country song) the paths of these two ministries crossed at just the right time. The leadership of Highview Baptist and Parkland Baptist began to investigate the possibility of a “joint-venture” between these two churches, already so heavily invested in Spencer County, to continue pursuing ministry there in a more effective way—together. Both churches agreed that the most effective and timely decision for the further advancement of the Gospel in Spencer County would be a cooperative effort in which these two churches would combine their resources and plant a new autonomous Baptist church in Spencer County. So on June 3, 2012, the pastors of Highview Baptist and Parkland Baptist met and signed a covenant together, which officially launched our church, Redemption Hill Baptist Church.

And since June 3, we have been working almost daily to get this building ready to move into by the end of the summer.  Or before.  The building has good bones, but needed a lot of TLC...like paint and new floors.  Knocked out a few walls, did a little rearranging.

And bought new potties. 

One of our freshly painted, freshly floored Children's Ministry rooms!

I think I can speak for both Kenny and I when I say that we are extremely excited about what God has in store for Spencer County and RHBC!  We've already seen the people of Spencer County moving...folks turning to Christ who have spent years pushing Him away, families joining together for Worship and God providing opportunities for us to reach out and serve our community!

Our official launch date is August 5th, but we are moving into the building next week and starting services on July 29th.  A practice run, if you will. 

Please join me in praying for our leadership and staff as decisions are made and we move forward.  Pray for the unity of our congregation as we work tirelessly yet another week to get everything finished and moved in.  Pray that the Lord brings unchurched families into our midst and gives us opportunity to share Christ with each of them.  Pray that the Lord continues to give us opportunities to reach out to our community, to serve Spencer County.

Tomorrow morning will be the last time we unload our trailers into the middle school. 

It will be bitter sweet, as this has become almost a way of life for us...for 6+ years we have set up and torn down "church" every Sunday and Wednesday.  To say that we are excited to be leaving that part of our adventure behind us is an understatement!  Not having to take home the baby wipes each week during the winter because they will freeze if I leave them in the trailer.  Not having to make sure that each toy, table and chair folds up because it has to go inside a crate at the end of the day.  Not having to worry about what room our preschoolers will be in while they wax the floors each summer. 

All little things, but all things that make us thankful to have four permanent walls and roof!

Keep us in your prayers and I'll update after our launch in August.  

Procrastinating favorites.

I really should be working on writing my autobiography.

No, I'm not writing a book.  Although it feels like it.  It's for our adoption agency and there are four...yes, I said four...pages of questions to answer.  And that doesn't include all the discussion questions to make sure I really know what I'm getting myself into.

Yes, I do.  And yes, I'm doing it anyway.

But since I'm not even sure I know four pages of stuff about myself and my mind can't seem to stay focused on how my parents showed affection to each other during my childhood...and I'm not sure I WANT to stay focused on my parent's affections toward each other...here I sit.  NOT writing my autobiography.

Instead my mind keeps wandering to random things that I really like.  So, since I'm procrastinating, I'll tell you about them.

Going to the store alone.  It's the little things, really.  I'm particularly anal about making sure I'm getting the best deal and using all my coupons to the max.  Which is why I came home last night with 4 pounds of peanut butter.  All this can be done much more efficiently when I'm not having to explain why we can't have Nutty Buddy bars for breakfast.  Or that we don't need any more pop tarts because our cupboards already overflow with their processed goodness [insert sarcasm].  And yes, you can push the cart, but please try to avoid ramming my poor ankles or the little old lady that isn't going fast enough for you.  I get to push when it's just me.

Loud country music.  Unfortunately, I can no longer listen to country music with the boys in the car.  Charlie listens to E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G and is the most literal kid I know (post later on that).  Except when I'm actually wanting him to listen, but that's typical kid, right?  I have no intentions of explaining the facts of life to him because he's listening too closely to Brad Paisley songs.  "I don't know why we need to check each other for ticks.  Ask your daddy."  So when I go to the store by myself, I crank up the country music and don't worry about explaining why it's better to save a horse by riding a cowboy.

Riding with the window down.  Now before my husband flips out, let me clarify.  Riding with the window down when I have a hat on.  Because one of the things I absolutely hate is having my hair in my face.  Which will obviously happen if the window is down and I'm sans hat.  But give me a hat and the sunshine and roll 'em all down!

Speaking of my hat...if I could get away with it, I'd wear it everyday.  The one I'm currently sporting is actually Katie's old crimson Alabama baseball cap.  I really don't like fixing my hair.  I don't know why.  Between drying and flat ironing, it's just 15 minutes of my day I could use to do something far more entertaining.  And a hat remedies that.  That is, if I'm going somewhere that doesn't dictate something more formal than a girl in a hat.  Which honestly, isn't that many places.  Sad.

Amazon.  Not the river or the rainforest, but the website.  I don't do a ton of actual shopping on Amazon, except at Christmas when I take full advantage of the things they ship free to avoid the road rage that will surely dampen my cheery mood.  But I do use the site to comparison shop A LOT.  If there's one thing I hate, it's not getting a good deal on something.  And since Amazon is like a virtual Walmart on steroids and you can literally find anything, it's the perfect place to start.

Fonts.  I know what you are thinking...what's a dork.  And I know, I agree.  But there is just something relaxing to me about playing with different fonts, shapes and sizes when I'm having to create a handout or I'm updated the blog header.  I also feel the same way about editing pictures.  Taking them is not that bad, but I love messing around with them once they are actually out of my camera.  Most of them I never do anything with.  The really good ones end as my background on my computer.

I should probably get back to my autobiography...anyone else notice that I just sat here and wrote about all the stupid things that no one really wants to know about me instead of things like describing the family rules and responsibilities I had while I was growing up, all the jobs I've ever had or which sibling I get along best with?

Ahem, cough, cough...don't tell our social worker.

Potty models.

In case you've been wondering what we've been up to this week, I'll let you take a guess...

If you guessed shopping for new church potties, you were right on!!  This wasn't the only thing we shopped for, but I'm fairly certain we came 'o so close to being kicked out of Lowe's due to our volume level alone.  Which is what happens when you take four kids to a home improvement store.

And if you are wondering why we were shopping for new facilities for the church, I'll have to fill you in on that in another post.  Soon.  Very soon.  It's breaking news really.  But requires it's own post.

One you might want to find a good potty to get comfortable on just to read...

Fourth.

Hope you had a Happy Fourth.  Other than it literally being 104 degrees outside, ours was great.

The last several years we have celebrated with a church wide cookout and last night we had our largest crowd ever with almost 200 folks joining us for food, fun and fireworks.  Oh and glow sticks.  Imperative for entertainment purposes after dark.

Enjoy the pics.

Enjoying the pre-fireworks show.  Which consisted of a couple of guys trying to light puny fireworks.  I'll give them this...they had the kids totally under control and wouldn't let them cross the invisible "line".

He ain't right.

 

Happy 4th of July, baby!  Our pastor's youngest...and for the record, the tiny child I picked up when I threw out my back.  Yes.  I'm serious.

Raise your hand if you had a live band at your 4th party?  Didn't think so.  And even if you did...I bet they didn't perform on two hay wagons.  Welcome to Spencer County.

Turning into a little man...

 

Beyond hot.

Does anyone else’s playroom look like this as a result of 100 plus degree days??  Can you find the children in that mess?

I almost can’t bear to send them outside with these temps unless we are gonna be submerged in water.

And don’t judge me for outlets without covers.  No one in my house sticks things in outlets, so they’ve all just gradually disappeared.

Yeah, yeah.  I’ll put them all back for little sis.  Promise.

Farfelle.

Since we've established food is big deal around here, let me share what we had for dinner tonight.  Kenny sent me the recipe earlier today and while I'm not usually so spontaneous with my meal planning (read as:  I made a list, meals are planned, I've already been to the store, don't divert from that plan all week kinda girl), I ran right out to Kroger and got the ingredients I didn't already have because it sounded so good!  Gasp...such a rebel.

But it did meet all my criteria.  Cheap:  check!  Easy:  check!  Can I get the ingredients without having to go to 47 specialty food shops?  Check!

Without further ado, Farfalle with Sausage, Tomatoes and Cream.  And in case you don't follow proper pasta names, that's bow ties!

And because I can't follow a recipe to save my life, here's what I did different...

I used already ground hot italian sausage and a little less crushed red pepper.  Mainly because we tend to light little Sam on fire if I cook the way the rest of us like it.  We can always add the heat...but you can't take it away. 

I also don't usually cook with actual onions and garlic.  I love the flavors, but if I bite into an onion or especially a clove of garlic, it's just all over for me.  I'm done with the meal.  It's that bad.  So I substituted dried onion flakes and garlic powder.  Same taste.  None of the work.  (I'll admit, that also plays into my onion and garlic adversion.) 

I used dried basil.  Mainly because that's what I had.  And secondly, if I had added little visible green leaves...Sam would have sat there for an hour picking them out before he ate.  Less of a headache for us all if he can't see them. 

And I just used plain 'ol Kroger brand shredded Italian cheese.  We aren't fancy enough around here for Pecorino Romano.  Regular old romano works just fine.

No.  That's not how I served it.  You get it straight outta of the pan it was cooked in around here.  Why would I dirty another dish??  Photo credit.

The boys (Kenny included) as suckers for anything with sausage in it.  And who doesn't want to eat something called farfelle!  It definitely has a different flavor than anything else I've ever cooked, but it will absolutely be a keeper!

Monkeycakes!

Who said pancakes have to be boring?  Not this Mommy!

Hiring myself out for monkey-making pancake parties. 

You've got to admit...that's a pretty good looking monkey!!  And my two pancake-loving-monkey-obsessed boys totally agreed!