This was just too good:

"Osteen is a Gospel preacher like Col. Sanders is an army officer."
-The Internet Monk

http://www.internetmonk.com/archive/reactions-to-the-60-minutes-joel-osteen-piece

Our hectic, busy life!

Gracie is 7 1/2 months old
and crawling and now pulling herself up.

My goofy girls!

UPDATE:

Well, I have not written a blog in a very long time. The reason: TOO BUSY AND TOO STRESSED TO THINK ABOUT IT. Anyhow, I have decided I want to do one today.

There has been a lot going on in my busy life. I am trying to juggle being a student teaching, working without getting paid, being a full-time mommy and full-time maid (cleaning the house after two little ones is a pain.), and trying to find time for church and find time for my husband and building up our marriage. It has been a difficult road.

First student teaching: Student teaching has been a non-stop stressful journey. The atmosphere at the school itself is negative, complaining, and very critical. It seems to me that I can never do anything right and that I can't make any mistakes in this process of teaching the students. However, that's how it was at the beginning of this teaching process. I believe, or hope, that it will change soon. I am quickly learning my strengths and weaknesses along with the teaching I am working with. We really get along, but just like human being, when you have been around someone everyday for 8 hours a day, you tend to get on each other's nerves. It is human nature to want to be in control all the time, which is, I think, hard for a teacher who is wonderful, but wants to be in control of her classroom the whole time, not allowing me to take over like I am suppose to be. I am trying my hardest not to get frustrated at the situations that we are both facing at the school. I even have a little verse in my desk to remind me not to complain or argue about things because God is in control. So, I know that in the "real world" people can be cruel and very negative in every situation. I just have to tell myself that this is only a little bit longer and I know I will be stronger when I come out of the whole thing. I am sure I will be frustrated still and it won't end until I am completely done with the experience. But I know that this is something I have to endure in order to become stronger as a teacher.

My girls: I can't believe that my girls are growing up so fast and I am hardly home to enjoy it! Hannah is growing up so fast, but not potty trainging yet. That little stinker! Sometimes it seems like she will go, but then she regresses and doesn't want to go at all. Some days are beter than others, but isn't that the same with all children? She is not really liking the fact that Gracie is now mobile. She gets jealous of the fact that Grace likes to eat and terrorize Hannah and her toys. But at the same time, she is really protective over her little sister. She wants to help,but sometimes it's not helping her and instead it's hurting her. So, that's a challenge for us as parents to try to encourage Hannah to be nice to her sister and not hit all of the time. But we love to see them grow and play together. oh yeah, GRACIE IS ALREADY PULLING HERSELF UP. She just started crawling! NO, I'M NOT READY FOR IT YET!

The rest of my life is pretty much trying to juggle everything else around. Clint and I are having a hard time trying to spend time together. But we are now in a small group with our church that is for young married couples. We are the only ones with kids right now and so they are all very helpful and willing to watch the girls. So, today, (I am so excited), we are going on a date, which we haven't had a really date in a really long time. It will be so nice for us to just relax and not have to worry about stopping and starting a conversation :)

Well, that's all for now. I now get to have yummy Hawaiian strong coffee! So excited!

Memories of Rich Mullins

Here are a couple of bloggers memories of Rich Mullins, who died 10 years ago this week.

Brant Hansen remembers this from an encounter with Rich.

Jason Boyett remembers Rich's influence on his burgeoning faith.

I'll organize my own thoughts and post something later.

Alrightokayuhuhamen.

Onward Christian/American soldiers!

Shaun Groves has a great post about how the events of September 11, 2001 affected his thinking and his theology. Read it here.

An excerpt: "Politicians spoke of Saddam Husein and Bin Laden as if they were subhuman. My church sang 'God Bless America' with more gusto than 'Amazing Grace' and my pastor preached on why God wanted us to war with our enemies.
Our mourning the loss of friends fueled our love of country above most if not all. We vowed to bomb terrorists nations into the stone age and our president declared war by walking into a cabinet meeting and announcing, 'Let’s kick some ass.' And all God’s people said 'Amen.' ”

The words of people like Shaun and Andrew Osenga and Derek Webb have really helped me move beyond the tradtional "Christian=patriotic white middle class Republican" mindset and arrive at Scripture. I was slowly getting through it on my own, but they've helped a lot. (It also helps that I was a white middle class Canadian before I was white middle class American.)
Jesus didn't show up and say "Let's kick some Roman ass!" When some "terrorists" ran the planes into New York my first thought was not "Let's kick some ass" but, "It's about time." The US had been playing the big bully for a long time and it was pretty much inevitable that someone would bring the fight here. While many of the good little Christians were foaming at the mouth and singing patriotic songs, I wondered who was concerned for the people on the other side of the "war." How were/are their souls less valuable than any American's?
Yes, I think it is noble to defend the defenseless, but the "war on terror" has gone beyond that now. And how can you fight an ideology or belief? Is this a new twist on the Crusades? "Wipe out the terrorists!" "Onward Christian/American soldiers!"

"You have heard that it was said, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR and hate your enemy.' "But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous."
Matthew 5:43-45

Student Teaching

I am in a 4th grade class student teaching and it is a lot different then I ever imagined. First of I am trying to keep organized and up to speed with correcting papers and trying to help my cooperating teaching keep organized. It is very hard to keep motivated. We are consistently going, going, going with either paper work, collecting papers, having parents sign papers, dealing with problem students.....nothing like I would have ever imagined.

I have been doing this for 2 weeks, but although it seems difficult, I am excited to be teaching the students and getting experience actually up front interacting with the students. I haven't been actually teaching yet, but just interacting with the students by observing and helping them out, getting them used to the first couple of weeks of 4th grade.

Please be praying for the well-being of my cooperating teacher, the students and myself. We are all feeling stressed and overwhelmed by the first couple weeks of school and getting into a normal routine. I am suppose to be in the classroom for 540 hours, which is about the whole semester. I am looking forward to teaching and being able to have my own classroom. I am trying not to take over the class too right now. For instance, when she is dealing with some student problems, I will take over and have them do something simple while she is out of the classroom.

One of the problems we are facing this year, is a couple of the students are hard to handle. They need extra time and effort to deal with them in the regular classroom. one of the students is suppose to have an aide, but for some reason, doesn't this year, which is causing difficulty and problems. Another student is ADHD and that definitely causes problems within the classroom.

So, will you please be praying for a extra extra patience with the students and the school this year.

Thanks,
(Bethany)