Please Stand By....

Yep. Thats how I feel. We are waiting to find out whether Jon is going to have a job still. They are doing cut backs in the military again (yes, you heard right). So instead of putting in a packet to re-enlist, Jon put in a packet to see if he is getting cut instead. :/ Frustrating. We are "standing by" to find out still.

We are past the halfway point for Jon's current deployment. I have a tentative date, but can't really share details. Suffice it to say that he will probably be home before the new sanctuary opens up (which we don't exactly have a date for that either...). But the happiness about him coming home is bittersweet. I found out today, actually I heard about a month ago that this might happen, that they will only be home for a few months after this deployment before they have to turn back around and do another deployment. :( So because of this, I'm not sure we are going to get to take our planned vacation to Disney World when he gets back. I'm not sure he will get the normal vacation time, or vacation at all for that matter. So......

Happiness...please stand by...

Re-enlistment...please stand by...

Vacation to Disney....please stand by...




Please stand by...we will be returning to our normal programming shortly....

Rest and Sickness

It's been sooooo nice this week to just rest! The only thing I had planned this week was work, which I ended up not going to because Tay is sick. :( It has really been wonderful to just rest and get restored after all the craziness thats been going on. So speaking of resting, this has become my new favorite song. :) Have a listen and enjoy!

As for Tay, we saw the doctor today and we were thinking it was probably a UTI (again). So we ran the urine culture and are awaiting the results. BUT, she looked in her throat and it actually looks like it could be strep (could be both!). So while we wait on both cultures to come back, she has been started on antibiotics anyways. So now we just have to wait for those to kick in and hopefully by Sunday she will be 100% again. I'm looking forward to a nice relaxing 3 day weekend with nothing to do but relax! Thinking maybe we will hit up the beach if the kids are feeling good. Have a great weekend everyone!

<3 to all!

Burned Out...

It's been a while since I've posted, and for very good reasons. The past few weeks have been crazy. I know I say that a lot, but I mean its been so super busy, that I haven't really had time for anything extra. I love being busy, but when its so incredibly busy with important stuff, I get stressed. So I've been VERY stressed out for a long time now. Stressed, overwhelmed, exhausted....done. Those are some of the words I am choosing to describe the past few weeks. There were plenty of happy times in all the stress, but that doesn't mean those were stress-free times. So lets see if I can recall everything thats been happening....

Both kids had birthday parties to attend the same weekend. Thats what started off our super busy week ahead. I spent last week helping my best friends get ready for their yardsale. And of course it wasn't just ANY yardsale, this was THE yardsale to end all yardsales! This yardsale was to help fund their adoption (or at least one of the payments). On Tuesday night, the kids and I, along with another dear friend and her kids, went to Katie's to help make all the signs and a huge banner for Saturday (yardsale day). That was a long, but fun night.

Amara's actual birthday was on Wed, May 18. My baby turned 7yrs old! I am so blessed to have had 7 wonderful years with that beautiful child. I love her and I wish Jon could've been here to celebrate with us. Emotionally, Wed was a hard day. Jon has missed a lot of the girls' birthdays. Not that its his fault, or that I blame him. It just makes me very sad that he has to miss out on such special occasions. 

Thursday and Friday were back to back appointments and things to do. Thursday I went to the dentist for my regular cleaning. I hate the dentist. I always come out feeling like they cleaned my teeth with steel wool. (yes, I just put THAT image in your brain. and now you're probably saying, thanks Mya, now MY teeth hurt! lol) Thursday was also our day of prayer and fasting for missions at LBC. So being stressed out, along with fasting and crazy amounts of things to be done, didn't turn into a good combination. Amara had a Dr appt after lunch and then we were meeting for a potluck dinner to break the fast and pray as a group for missions and our missions teams, etc. Well, I didn't make it through the fast portion, but we gathered and had a wonderful time of fellowship and prayer together. Friday Tay had a Dr appt (and no, I couldn't put them both on the same day, I tried, but ended up having to drive out to Ft. Eustis 2 days in a row).

Friday night....it was time to setup for the yardsale. We all got together and the plan was to "stage" the yardsale and put stuff away, or in the back yard and pull it out in the morning. Yea....that didn't happen. After we got the attic cleared of clothes, and some of the stuff out of the house, we realized we would just have to start setting up for the yardsale now and hope nothing got stolen during the night. Yardsales are stressful anyways, but when you have enough stuff for like 20 yardsales, its just that much more stress piled on. We put up some clothes racks and as soon as we decided we should go in to sleep a few hours before the early morning of 4am, they fell down. I don't do well in the dark. So once it got dark outside, I kinda got useless. I wanted to help set up still, so I kept trying to do things, but basically just stressed myself out and really didn't get a whole lot done. : / I kinda felt like sleep was useless too. the 4hrs of sleep I should have gotten was broken by me waking up every 30 min. So by 4am when I got up to start getting ready for all the volunteers to arrive at 5am, I was more exhausted than when I went to sleep. 

Saturday came quick. There were so many people there to help with the yardsale! I was overwhelmed by how many people came out and helped Steve and Katie make it happen. Early on, Katie had asked me to just take charge of the clothing side of the yardsale (yes I said "side" because half their yard was clothes!). So I was giving orders and directions all around. But even though I was totally stressed out, None of the volunteers were. Which made me less stressed. They were all smiles and helpfulness on Saturday even though it was tiring and hot. And I am so grateful for all their help. There was a steady flow of people all day long. It was awesome! By the end of the day, when we finished tearing everything down and putting it all away, we were DONE! I was so tired that I could barely walk! We left at 8pm and I took the kids home, bathed them, fed them and put them to bed. By the time I got to eat, it was 10pm! They were able to raise $4,202 from the yardsale. AMAZING! Which put them almost at the total amount they needed for their next adoption payment. I am so happy that the girls and I got to help them reach their goal. It will definitely be something we always remember. :)

Sunday.....man was I tired! My legs were sore, my back hurt, but I went to church to lead worship anyways. Sunday was our churches military appreciation day. We usually just try to recognize our military members and their families in some way. This time, Steve had picked a special song to play in Genesis. It wasn't anything patriotic, or specific to military. It was just a beautiful song about resting in God's arms. Its called "Arms of My Savior" by Lincoln Brewster. I knew before-hand that Steve would say a few words about the military and the song, but didn't know exactly what he was going to say. Well, we always hear that actions speak louder than words. And its very true. I love my friends and family, and they can tell me they love me all they want. But sometimes I still don't feel like I'm that loved. But if you do something to SHOW me love, then I definitely know it. Well this song was Steve's way of showing love. I haven't told him this yet, so if you're reading this, Thanks you Steve. :) He talked about being in a military family and what it was like as a kid, but that he didn't see what his mom went through until he had friends in the military and saw how hard it was for them when the spouse is away. I've said it many times, being the wife/spouse of a military member means being a single parent about half (maybe more) the time. When they are away, you are on your own. Well Steve made me cry. It means a lot to me to hear that someone gets it. That they see my pain, my struggles, my hard times. Many times, it's all just overwhelming. And thats how I've felt for over a month now. Just overwhelmed. With everything. With life, the kids, cleaning, cooking, bills, etc, etc, etc. (And no, I'm not saying that Katie doesn't get it, or that my other friends don't get it either. I'm just saying it was nice to actually "hear" it.)

Monday night was Amara's Rapunzel birthday party. I spent all day stressing out because I had so much to get done and no time to do it. But, I got it done in time and the party went off without a hitch. I fit 18 people (kids and adults) in my tiny apartment and it wasn't that bad, except that it was so hot! Sorry everyone, my A/C sucks. haha! Amara had a great time and so did everyone else. Thanks to everyone who came and made her birthday so special!

Much Love,
Mya

picture by Lindsay Collette Photography

picture by Lindsay Collette Photography

picture by Lindsay Collette Photography

 

Appointments and Awards

Wow, where to start....

I've known for weeks that today was going to be an absolutely crazy day. It's not that I had like a million little things to do, but I did have several big things happening one right on top of the other. Work, pick up Amara from school, go to Tay's appt, go to Williamsburg for Amara's appt, then run back to Hampton for the awards ceremony. These weren't "normal" appointments either. No, these were major, lets find out what we're going to do about this issue, kind of appointments.

So Tay's was for urology. Most people know that she's got urology issues. Not the biggest deal. She had a procedure last year to fix her urinary reflux problem. Well that didn't work. So she still has reflux and today's appointment was to find out what we were going to do about it. Options: 1. keep her on antibiotics for 1yr and then reassess whether her reflux has "resolved itself" 2. take her off antibiotics and "see how she does" and again...reassess in 1yr on whether her reflux has "resolved itself" 3. do another delfux and see how it turns out. Not exactly the options I want, but Jon and I have a lot to think about.

Amara's appointment was a whole different beast. As of right now, I'm not ready to share details with the whole world. I need to talk to Jon and we have decisions to make and a LOT of things to think about. But, I did like the doctor she saw (which is a good thing) and I feel like he is truly trying to do whats in her best interest. So I will be talking with Jon, Amara's PCM, and some of my best friends while we work through some of this. I will fill everyone in later when we've reached some decisions and I've had time to wrap my head around everything and form opinions and thoughts completely.

Tonight was also our Awanas Award Ceremony. If you don't know what Awanas is then you're missing out! I love Awanas and I love my Sparkies! I am so proud of all the kids and how hard they've worked this year. Tay finished her second Cubbies book and got her award, Amara finished her second Sparks book and got her awards. They both were so happy! And I am a proud mama, they have worked hard memorizing bible verses and I can't wait until next year!

For now, that's all. Love ya'll and keep checking back for more updates!

A glimpse into my mind...

To say that this past month has been difficult is kind of an understatement. Technically, this is Jon's 4th deployment. Each deployment is different for us, but this one has been particularly difficult on both of us. And we're almost at 4months in (deployments are usually 6-9 months). Before they left, we "heard" that it would be on the longer side, not the shorter side. Theres not one particular thing that stands out in my mind about this past month being so "bad", but it was definitely bad/hard. Some days I want to scream, other days I want to cry. Everything seems to take so much more effort when he's not here. Simple doctor's appointments (which we have tons of) become long ordeals, grocery trips by myself are non-existent, and forget going to a movie. Any time I need to go to a meeting, or want a girls night out, or anything that I can't take kids to, I have to find and pay for a babysitter. And it gets VERY expensive, VERY fast. I'm burned out....I'm exhausted all the time, which isn't new because I don't sleep anyways....I'm emotionally drained....my brain is fried, I can't even remember things from a few hours ago....I'm just DONE. We're almost at the end of the school year, which I'm thrilled about, along with the end of regular work at church, Awanas (I love it, just ready to be done), and pretty soon Genesis (sad!).

I'm sorry if this sounds like whining. It's really not what I'm trying to do. The reason I go into all of this is so that you guys can all get a glimpse of whats going on inside my head. I try very hard to watch what I say to people and how I react to people. Thats not to say that I'm not honest with everyone or that I'm trying to be fake. I can have a very harsh personality, and if I don't watch the way I say things (because my brain doesn't always communicate what it's trying to say to my mouth) a lot of times it comes across wrong, mean, demeaning, ugly, whatever it is its just not right! So if I snap at you or seem distant or like I've got an attitude, I'm very sorry. Even with everything going on in our lives, theres no excuse for bad behavior (thats what I tell my kids and thats what I expect of myself too). But I want everyone to have some insight.

As ready as I am for the summer, there's aspects of it that I'm dreading. Like trying to get lesson plans together for homeschooling and all the other stuff that goes along with it, VBS (though I love it, I don't love preparing for it), the possibility of traveling to Colorado and Ohio to visit family and friends (which I want/ need to do, but I'm not sure we can afford). But I'm also ready for the Beach, Busch Gardens, Water Country and just relaxing and hanging out with friends.


<3 to all!
Mya

Best Weekend Ever!

Best weekend ever! Have you seen the t-shirt? Great way to describe Easter weekend. 

What a wonderful weekend it was! Not just what we did, but it was also a 3 day weekend, which of course is awesome! On Friday I had a ton of kids at the house, my back was hurting and so we just hung out at the house and played. I did resurrection bread with the girls (which they loved). So much fun to make and a great tool to help them understand the tomb. :)

Acts of Love was on Saturday. My back was feeling a lot better by Saturday, which I was SO thankful for. Unfortunately when I woke up Saturday morning, I couldn't turn my head left due to a massive knot in my neck. UGH! So of course all day Saturday I was hurting and kept hearing "I'm not an ambi-turner. I can't turn left!" everywhere I went. And if you don't know what thats from, its from Zoolander. Funny movie, go watch it! Anyways, back on track. Acts of Love was amazing! This is a program that our church does every year where we hand out boxes of food to people in need. The boxes will feed a family of 4 for 1 week. We usually buy this boxes, but this year, our middle school and high school students actually put the boxes together. We gave out all 1600 boxes that we had. There were so many people volunteering to help and pouring out love on these people. It was fantastic! The girls were so good for me on Saturday too. They were back in childcare ALL DAY and didn't fuss or complain once! So afterwards I took them to Rita's for a special treat. :) Then we all went to bed early because we had to get up super early for Easter services the next day.

EPIC practicing (more pics soon!)

So Easter came early for us this year (not the physical date, but the time). We were up and at church at 6:30am on Sunday. Although the girls were tired, they did great and didn't cry at me and give me a hard time. I was so thankful that they behaved and were happy all day. On Easter we debuted our EPIC choir. :D Now, I'm not usually one to say I love choirs, but I definitely liked our choir and they added so much to our services. Thank you everyone who participated! Services went really well. 

By 3rd service (or 2nd service depending on how you look at it), well the 11:00 service, we were all exhausted, physically and mentally, and for me emotionally. My neck had loosened up some so I could turn my head a little bit, which I was grateful for. But everything from the past month just caught up with me. The first two services went great, no problems at all. But for me, the last service, I was under attack. I had some headphone issues and it distracted me and then add in all my emotional stuff and being tired, and I couldn't concentrate on what I needed to. Which actually wasn't playing or the music, but on God. By the time we got off stage, I was a mess. I love my friends who are so supportive of me and encouraging. They did their best to lift my spirits and love on me. And in the end, it was all just a reminder to me that nothing I do on that stage matters all that much. Do I want to play the right notes and not mess up? Of course! But in the end, God is the one who is working in the service, not me. And nothing I do, playing well, playing badly, messing up, whatever, can stop what God is doing. It's not about me, its about God. So I ended Sunday by going home and taking a long nap, then the girls and I washed the car and played outside. I'd say it was a GREAT weekend.

Friends: I love you all!

<3 Mya

PS: videos of the choir to come soon. I have to get them uploaded and will try to have them up later today/tomorrow.

Joy in Pain

So for those that have been wondering, no, I didn't do something to my back and pull a muscle or something stupid like that (because we all know that I'm perfectly capable of doing stupid things and getting very hurt). I have a misalignment in my back along with scoliosis which flares up sometimes for no reason and can last for days or even weeks. So yea, pain, yes, debilitating, not yet.

Because of this, I haven't been able to do what I REALLY needed to do around the house. Like dishes, cleaning, mopping, or do the things that I wanted and still also needed to do, like practice music for Sunday's Easter service (which I am slightly freakin out about because this is the first Easter I have ever played!) or play with the kids. But sometimes you just have to work through the pain. : / So I cleaned the house today, practiced for an hour, and still need to do the dishes (boo!) but will do them tonight. I have been very stressed out because of the amount of stuff going on the past few weeks. Sooo much stuff, its just crazy. After this weekend, I think it will slow down a little bit (a very little bit).

Whats on the schedule for this weekend? Tomorrow I get to babysit 4 kids all day (don't get me wrong, I love kids and these are great kids, but with my back hurting, I kinda wish I wasn't), then tomorrow night I can hopefully go and relax with friends at Steve and Katie's for some fun and hang time. :D Saturday we have Acts of Love at LBC. This is a great event that we've done before where we give away boxes of food to families/individuals in need. The only catch is that they have to come here some NFL players speak (sooo hard, right?!). I usually volunteer back with the kids, but this year I will be helping hand out the boxes (yeah!) (and please pray for my back, I don't wanna kill myself). I'm really excited to help with this and just get to bless some people. Sunday, of course, is Easter. Because its Easter, we are running extra services, so that means we gotta be at church extra early. So I'm hoping that the kids get up and are cooperative so that we can get to church on time (6:45am) with minimal fighting. We will be playing basically 3 services, so hopefully my back and shoulder can take it. Please be praying for me this weekend.

But regardless of how I am feeling physically, I am SO excited about this weekend! It's going to be awesome! It's going to be a great weekend of celebrating our Risen King! The girls have been talking about Easter (and not just candies and bunnies- side note: we don't do the Easter bunny, Tooth Fairy, or Santa Clause) for weeks now. Amara understands the significance of it, and Tay is getting there. :) Heres hoping that everyone has a wonderful Easter weekend and that you get the opportunity to celebrate the true reason for Easter, Jesus Christ, the risen Savior.

<3 to all!

EPIC...

I spent Friday afternoon/evening and most of Saturday catering a wedding. No, I don't do it myself, I work for a guy who owns a catering business (and we are hitting catering season). It was nice to get out and away from the kids for awhile, even if I was working. My friend's husband was kind enough to watch my kiddos while I went and worked so that I wouldn't have to pay for a sitter. Thankfully the kids behaved and didn't give him too hard of a time. So I was on my feet for 2 days and by Saturday night, I was tired!

Sunday of course was busy as usual, but I love Sundays. :) I am so blessed to be able to lead worship in Genesis every week. I love it and its so much fun! We also had our last EPIC choir practice for Easter Sunday (yes, thats the name I've given our "Mock Rock Choir" is EPIC because thats what they are!). It was fantastic! The band with the choir was an amazing sound. I never thought that I'd like the sound of a choir with a rock type band, but somehow, it totally works for us and that makes me excited! ((picture removed for Katie's sake.))

I also got to help my dear friend Kari out on Sunday. She choreographed a dance for our student choir to the song "Shine" by Pillar. I helped her with some ideas and stuff and then helped her show the kids the dance. She did an awesome job and it was great seeing her step up and lead these kids. (video at the bottom)

So...of course a great end to another crazy busy weekend. I am SO excited for this week. It's a busy week of course, but it ends with EASTER! Easter is like the biggest holiday for us. Easter (or better, what happened on Easter) is the reason we as christians have hope. Easter is when Jesus defeated death and rose from the grave. Because of that we can truly say that we serve a LIVING God. A God that STILL answers prayers and can hear us.

Preparing our Hearts

As many of you know, our church is building a new sanctuary. A giant, massive place that we will be able to fit everyone in, instead of having two services. This week they had the Early Commitment dinners for the new building campaign (to help raise the money to pay for the building). I was able to go on Monday night to this and sit and enjoy a great dinner, adult conversation, and hear about whats going to be happening and tour the new sanctuary (which I actually have already done). So what was so special about this night that I'm writing about it? Well I'll tell you, but first I have to give you some background.

Ever since they started the new building, I've been kind of having a mini (and sometimes not so mini) freak out about the whole thing. Whats to freak out about right? Well I'm getting ready to be very honest here, so here goes. I was freaking out about the band and where my place would be in all this. Sounds pretty shallow I know. Trust me. But really it was some of the same things that others were having a hard time with. Like, what kind of music would we do when we go into the new building, would Genesis (our contemporary service) still be around and if so, in what aspect, would there be a choir and orchestra, would they even still need the Genesis band? So when I started flipping out, thats when I started praying. And let me tell you, God has been doing a LOT of work on my heart and preparing me for this transition. First thing I got hit with was it doesn't matter what kind of music we're doing, as long as I'm doing what God has called me to and doing it with a joyful, worshipful spirit. This took some time for me to really accept and embrace. I was scared! I'd never played with a choir or orchestra (well not bass anyways) and I didn't think I'd like it or enjoy it. I was contemplating quitting the band or going to a new church even! WOAH, right?! So yea, I'm past that now. I'm okay with whatever happens. We can play whatever music, with a choir and orchestra, or whatever! I know that I will still be here playing bass in whatever capacity is needed because this is where God has called me.

So the big question I keep getting asked by people is, "What happens to Genesis?" and "What happens to the band?". Well, I don't have all the answers people. But I will say that Genesis will be done. What's the point of having a giant worship center and still running an overflow service when its not needed? Because thats what Genesis was always meant as. An overflow service that we started out of necessity. As far as the band goes, I don't know. I don't know what will happen to the band, but I do know that all the band members will still be there and still be playing in whatever capacity we are needed.

Okay, so now that I've given that background, I can tell you the really exciting part! The exciting thing that happened on Monday night, is that after all the freaking out I've done over the new sanctuary, I got to actually encourage and help calm the nerves of this great couple on Monday night! Some of you are thinking, whats so special about that? Well, despite what MANY people think, one of my spiritual gifts (and this always surprises me too) is encouragement. Yea I know, I'm the super negative, depressing and brutally honest person, but yea, apparently I'm a great encourager. lol. So this older couple, that has been faithful in coming to Genesis, and LOVES it asked me what would happen to Genesis and the band once the new sanctuary is open. So I told them exactly what I just told you above. I got to share with them my personal struggles with all this and how God has softened my heart, shown me how prideful and shallow I've been, and change me. I got to tell them that I'm okay with the change. No, it's not going to be the same as Genesis, and it probably will never be like that again, BUT it'll be BETTER! I got to tell them that I'm actually excited to move into the new sanctuary and that yes, it will be hard the first month or so, but it will be amazing. We will all be in there as a family! This all being said, God used me in such an awesome way Monday night. Nothing I said or did was of my own accord, it was ALL God.

It really is amazing how God prepares you for things and uses our inabilities and weaknesses to help others. I am blown away constantly with how He chooses to use me. And this is just one example, there are so many more. And this experience I hope blessed that couple, but more than that, me being able to help them and talk to them was really a HUGE blessing to ME! So if you go to Genesis and have been thinking about or worried about whats going to happen, all I can say is pray. Pray that God softens your heart. This transition is bigger than me or you and only God can change your heart to a heart of worship and acceptance of what is going to happen.

Breathe...

This weekend was great! Saturday was a day of total relaxation. I let the house go, didn't clean up, just spent time with the kids watching movies and enjoying the last day of "vacation". Those that know us well, know that we don't do that, basically ever! So it was really good to just relax. I feel like it was a day of filling up. Kind of like how camels drink tons of water before going on a long desert journey so that they are filled up and can go without for a long time. That was this weekend for us. As I look ahead at the coming weeks, I see a very busy schedule, as usual, but a good busy. This weekend I got to sit and read my bible a lot, spend time resting, enjoying my kids and basically just breathing in God's restoring spirit and filling up for the coming weeks.

Sunday was a great day of worship (as usual) with the amazing people at LBC. :) I love getting to go and lead worship, it blesses me so much more than you could know. When you're doing what God has called you to do, its not work, its joy! So after spending the morning worshiping I got to play singer and join the Mock Rock Choir as they practiced for Easter. WOW! I am blown away by the passion these folks have. Because I'm usually on stage leading, I rarely get to sit and listen to everyone worshiping or spend time myself just sitting, singing and worshiping. So getting to do that with the Mock Choir was a lot of fun. To see that many people step up for that kind of commitment is amazing (especially considering its a holiday). You could tell that they wanted to be there. When we were done, I was just smiling and my heart was so filled! I am so excited for Easter and for everyone to hear it. Sunday ended with another night of worship at the evening service. Sometimes Youth Challenge is there, and when they are, wow. You can see how broken they are and that brokenness comes out in their worship. I love our night service folks. Sometimes it feels like a chore to come back at night, but it is ALWAYS worth it.

With that being said...I leave you with this video. I love this song and how it speaks to my heart.

And one other. This is an old one, its just a fun song and I love the chorus, its so simple (and totally not my usual style of music, lol). "Breathe deep, breathe deep the breath of God, Breathe deep, breathe deep the breath of God."