I found one....

Good Morning!

So many months ago I told all of you that after a LONG search for a lesson book for youth I gave up and decided to make my own lessons for our small groups.

As of Jan 2009, I have quickly learned, I can either spend 3 hours a week creating a lesson or doing other things; things like staring into the abyss, counting ants- skipping rocks (if only I had a lake in my backyard).

Anyways, last week I set out to find resource materials AGAIN..... I prayed, prayed, prayed and YAY --- VICTORY! I found the best book. It will last us almost all year, it has examples, movie clips and games. It's pretty much laid out the way I was doing  mine except someone else is doing the writing.

Thank you Lord for this gift! It is an answered prayer.

I am so happy! My prayers have been answered and now that I have free time I think I will build a house of cards today!

Yeah right, I am going to clean house, run errands, mail something, grocery shop, stop by the church and make some copies, put a booklet together, make a deposit, fold laundry, grab a gift card for Jo-Jo's 13th Birthday (can you believe 13).... maybe once I have completed my to-do list I will THEN maybe build a house of cards :) I dont know, it is a beautiful day..... I may just rush through all my errands and then do one of my favorite things in the world...

-> Sit outside with a cup of coffee and a book.

Have a wonderfully blessed day!

-missa

YAY....UGH!

Hello my 3 faithful readers :)

Just wanted to let you know that we are getting some rest- YAY!! All day yesterday and now today we are at home <- thats the good news.

Drum roll please..........

the bad news is, about 4am on tuesday Scott woke up vomiting voilenty and remained vomiting all day yesterday... He was running a high fever by 9am so, I called and made an appt with the Dr. He has some sort of stomache bug so, she gave him a shot to stop the vomiting, she said he was dehydrated so I loaded him up with meds and liquids and yesterday he slept all day long... which is good!

Today he woke up with a low grade fever but his stomache is not AS bad as yesterday. 

I stayed home yesterday to take care of him since he was not able to get out of bed except to throw-up... and today I am home feeling nauseaus. Nothing like what he was feeling that is for sure so,

with that.......... we are home resting: Day #2! YAY but we are ill UGH!

Have a wonderful day and thank you for your prayers for Scott!

-missa

craigslist + me = happy

So yesterday was my first time to ever post an item for sale on Craigslist and oh my, I feel I have opened a door in my life to freedom........ freedom from excess stuff! 

I got so excited about the call I got for the first item=that I pulled all of our excess stuff out, took pictures of it and posted it too! I am even going to post some furniture items we have been wanting to sell... 

I was waiting to do a garage sale but, it looks like this is going to be such a better idea and easier too. Not to mention it will keep me from having to waste a very rare Saturday morning at home on dealing with a garage sale :)

Lovin' craigslist so far!!!!!

I have a feeling craigslist and I are going to have a long fruitful relationship, maybe craigslist is going to make me a millionaire :)

I can see it now, here comes that boat I have always dreamed of... or my 2 week vacation to backpack through Europe with my honey..... no, no, no, why would I do those things when I can do the responsible thing, the adult things..... you know, the logical and pay some bills!!! yay!

Have a wonderful day!

-missa

Welcome Normalcy

Yay!

Its Monday Feb 23rd and things are gonna get back to normal. I'm excited to be eating at home again and to start my work outs again too!

have a great day

-missa

Hello Love

Music...

Oh how I love music.

You see, some people have a trigger of a sense of smell. They can smell something and it will take them back in time to a place of being at a loved ones house or in a garden or in another city........ My trigger is music.... I can hear music, especially worship music, and be taken to a place that is so amazing, a place so peaceful and soooo sweet! A place where it is just me and the Lord- he shows me things and renews his precious promises in my life. A place of refreshing. 

Last night Nichole, Jeff, Scott and myself drove to Dallas to go to the Chris Tomlin concert. Nichole is a HUGE fan of Chris' music! We had such an amazing time. 

During the concert, Chris sang one of my favorite songs of all time...... God of this city!

This song is an amazing song of vision and hope and each time I hear it I love it but, something about hearing it right then just spoke to my heart. I just closed my eyes and sang to the Lord. Something about that song, at that place, in that moment in my life lined up and I begin to just feel a renewed and increased vision for AAB (and XYC). Dont get me wrong I have NEVER wanted to give up on aab or anything like that but, It was as if the Lord was unfolding such a bigger picture before me and showing me some of the pieces of how it is going to come together. I have always had a BIG vision for AAB but it was as if the Lord was saying, "why stop there" - "I am so much bigger and my vision is so much greater". 

I dont know how to describe it outside of what I just said! It was sooooo beautiful!

Chris also said something that just rang in my heart and is still ringing loudly.... in the context of talking about vision for the less fortunate he said, "There is no end to the sentence- there is no period". Wow, I begin to think about the day I had on Friday and I thought about it this way;

I was exhausted... yes! I struggle with balance in my timing .... yes! I felt like I was losing my mind...... yes!

But, this vision and this ministry are my babies.... it is who i am created to be, what I am created to do and busyness is the season I am in right now so just like a mother who serves the needs of her children without complaining, sometimes without sleep and even without her sanity -> she does it because that is the calling on her life, her family is her passion. She sees potential in her children, she sees promise and she trusts the Lord for provision from day-to-day. She wakes up and faces the day for what it is, she trusts the Lord with every minute of it. For enough grace when she is discouraged and enough grace when she is tired. She does not bargain with God to remove the calling off of her life, instead she makes a choice to glorify God with all that she is entrusted with.... the lives of those she loves!

So, there I stood surrounded by a ton of strangers realizing.... I can not fully control my purpose and I think up to know I've sort of had it in the back of my head that someday I would call the shots, that someday we would have finished serving in this capacity. That someday life would belong to me and I could call all the shots. I think I may have lost sight of the fact that I am marked.... I have been set apart with a calling and a purpose of the Lord THROUGH my life. I would want nothing more for my life anyway... apart from the ministries he's entrusted me with I would not be happy so...............

In short, I am losing control of losing control :0

Before the concert was over Chris also asked if there were any Pastors in the house raise your hand--- Scott did and then he just said "Thank you for all you do- all the sacrifice- all the unseen, thank you". People around Scott were just shaking his hand and saying thank you and it was just a sweet, sweet moment of release.

So, even though we did not get home until 2am, the purpose of my being there was accomplished.......... I am excited for what is to come.

-Have a great purpose-filled day!

-missa

One does ponder.

All of you, my faithful readers, are all so intelligent I thought I would ask you to ponder something with me.

If a person learns a lesson, have they truly learned the lesson if they have to continually learn the same lesson?

hmmmmm, something I am personally trying to figure out. Lets say, I have a friend (for her own protection and so that she can remain anonymous) we will call her Telissa.

-Dont be fooled people its NOT me-

Anyways, Telissa continually over commits herself.... she loves to help people and she loves to do things for the Lord but, has trouble finding balance so, last time she ran herself into the ground she was sick for 2 weeks, the Lord told her to slow down and she didnt so in bed she laid for 2 weeks recovering. 

Yesterday; same girl, same situation.

Telissa (her birthday is may 9th by the way- wow so is mine) anyways, back to the story....... 

Telissa laid herself down at 2pm and found herself not able to get back up...... I, hum-hum, She was exhausted! Her body could take no more, everything was aching and stiff, her head hurt, her stomache was upset. Telissa ended up having to call the girl she had plans with and ask for mercy to be released from the trip and forgiveness for letting her down, all so she could stay home and recover..... 

Poooor Telissa!

So, Telissa.... hung up the phone, put on her PJ's and went to bed, she slept off-and-on all day even unto this morning!

So, I ask you.... has she learned a lesson? Was this just a reminder? Or, will Telissa (her favorite drink at Starbucks is white mocha by the way) <-she would kill me for telling you all of those things in quotations..... :0

My point is, will Telissa learn this time? Or will she continually crash and burn.....

Im betting on her having her VICTORY... 

So............ I just realized as I write this, It all comes down to obedience! Wow. Im gonna call her after I finish this and tell Telissa- It is all about consulting the Lord on things, hearing from him a yes or a no, then it all comes down to OBEDIENCE after that! Obedience will not require Telissa to burn out, God is such a gracious God... He will give so much grace..... so much! 

To you, your friends, your family and even Telissa.

Have a great day everyone and dont forget to rest from time to time! Dont be a Telissa!

-Melissa

Late nights- and a masterpiece!

If you read yesterdays blog you know that we have been up very early the last few days - well, I failed to mention we have been staying up late as well!

Wednesday night after cleaning up from Fat Wednesday we realized a set of our keys were gone so we hung around the church to look- then came home and looked some more through all of the stuff we toted back and forth for the event.... and NO KEYS. So away we go, late to bed again.

Something about losing your keys makes a person feel so vulnerable (or I do at least). These keys had our cars, house, church and office keys on it. So the search was on through Thursday. I even dug through the church's main trash bin out back for the bag of trash from the event and opened it and went through it. SSSSOOOOO GROOOOSSSS! No keys!!

Funny thing happened while I was dumpster diving - a guy from one of the other companies walked up to throw something away and I caught him by suprise, he gave me a weird look, so I said "I think my keys got thrown away", the guy looks at me with the most pathetic look and said "good luck with that" and walked away shaking his head repeatedly, no....... 

Needless to say, that was a hopeful inspiration :(

Long story short--- after  a day of turning over every object in the church and recruiting someone to dumpster dive with me, not to mention, I also recruited 4 other women to search the church for a second time......we found the keys on Thursday evening in the bag we had placed them in  ---- only---- they were not in the pocket we thought. They were in the super secretive stealth McGiver pocket on the bag.... what a co-ink-ee-dink, we never noticed that pocket before today!   :) 

If anyone is in need of a hiding place for any family heirlooms or precious jewels, I have the perfect spot. he he!

I obviously did a victory dance after finding the keys... I was a little worried someone might break into my house and clean......

On Thursday after our victorious key battle we had a meeting that lasted pretty late into the night but when we got home (which is the reason for this entry) Scott had some birthday cards to open and I gotta tell you, what he found TRULY made his day.

After you are married to a person for a while you can read your mates emotions by their reactions and the looks on their face. So, judging by Scott's smile I could tell this was a doozie.

I was watching him look at it in detail both with sentiment and enjoyment and then he said, "this made my day" and turned what he was looking at around to show me. What a beautiful masterpiece!

Here is what he was lovingly gazing at:

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Our niece, Emery, drew him a picture for his birthday! He received it in the mail- how cute is that? Anyone who knows Scott knows..... nothing melts his heart like the kids in our family. I don't know about YOUR family but, OUR nieces and nephews are prodigies & geniuses.

Honestly, our nephews and nieces mean the world to us both and he is such a proud uncle.

So emery......... Scott has a message for  you:

Have a wonderfully blessed day everyone!

-missa

Suprise showers of silly string for Scott

Good morning everyone,

Its 5:30 am and its the 2nd day in a row that I have been up at 5am. Yesterday I woke up to make fajitas for XYC and this morning I am up so I can go unlock the church for Pantry Day. I love pantry day!

So our youth church has an event we hold bi-monthly called "Fat Wednesday".

Fat Wednesday is a night that we just focus on fun and building Godly friendships. We have a meal together, just hang out and play games. It is soooo important to help youth form Godly friendships- it is key to their success in having a desire to come to church and it helps in serving God too. Like faith does wonders in a life :)

The youth decided they wanted to use this Fat Wednesday to throw Scott a suprise B-day party, it was such a special night. One of the youth even made him a home-ade b-day cake, white with chocolate icing, his favorite. We ate fajitas, rice, cake and cheesecake- all of his favorite things. And when he arrived we shot him with silly string. We had a great time and I have to say this was a very memorable b-day!

Have a wonderfully blessed day everyone!

-missa

Ode to Scott

Today is my sweethearts B-day so I thought I would talk about some of my favorite things about him:

He has the cutest dimples when he smiles

He has a heart of gold

He has a truly wonderful character

He loves God more than anything

He is true to his word

He is so much fun to be around

He always puts others first

Anyone who knows him- loves him.

Most of all my favorite thing about him is that he is MINE!!!

HAPPY B-DAY Sweetheart!

-missa

school, work and my business

Things I miss about being in school.

Having holidays like Presidents Day off!

and thats it.................

Things I miss about working a "normal" job.

Social interaction

Having holidays like Presidents Day off!

If I owned my own company I would give my employees:

holidays like presidents day off.

luv ya

-missa

Hello there!

So I'm gonna back track on my blog:

Last Thursday we planned a surprise b-day party at the church for one of the precious ladies named Linda- she is an amazing testimony to the power of God. We had cake and sandwiches and celebrated with her the precious life she brings to so many:

Scott and I have a tradition in our home:

When one of us has a b-day. We do not just celebrate on the day of... We have Birthday Weeks! 

So, we started Scott's b-day week last thursday. Which we kicked off with a dinner. He then took half a day off on Friday so that we could hang out. We had a late lunch and went to a movie. Which was great to be together but not a good experience. It seems as though we ALWAYS end ups sitting in front of the group of youth who talk the entire movie, the kid who cries or someone who coughs all over us EACH TIME we go to a theatre. This trip was no different, we sat in front of the over-zealous grandmother who was sick with 2 sick kids with her so we politely took a trip to the bathroom and moved over about 20 seats only to find ourselves behind the screaming baby.... I hate going to the movies :) But Scott loves it and he was happy so thats all that matters :)

Saturday we ended up going fishing and got rained out- not before we had some good catches though :) We also went for a drive in The Lost Pines area and found a few areas we would love to move to, in fact we found 3 homes we are gonna buy :) ha! .....................................

Sunday we had service and then went to the Domain to have California Pizza and walk around after church. We ended the day with a stop by our niece and nephews house to drop off their Valentines day gift (one day late). They are sooooo cute! And then it was home to relax... My sweetheart took a well deserved nap and then we played wii-golf and went to bed.....

Today I woke him up with waffles for his actual "Birthday Eve"....

I love birthdays.... I love to do all kinds of little nice things for Scott all week.

-have a great day!

Better blogs coming soon!

-missa

Mike made me cry at Starbucks today

Good morning all....

Have you ever had one of those days where you need to be on the RECEIVING end of encouragement. Today I started off having one of those days after a phone call I was feeling a bit bummed.
I decided that I would stop by target and walk around a bit before I go to work and then on my way out stop and get a coffee.
Well, I walked through the handbag isle (I love bags) and then made my way over to the valentines stuff, I figured surely picking some valentines out for family and friends would cheer me up.... Nope! Nothing was working so, I tried to collect my thoughts and make my way over to the coffee bar so, I could "just get my coffee and go". I got to the counter and placed my order and Denise said to me "Mike got it" I said "what".. she said "Mike got it- dont even bother to argue it or question it- Its what he does".

A kind gesture goes along way, I know this but, dont find myself on the receiving end as often as on the giving end (I dont mean that negatively but, I love to do random acts of kindness for others so to be on the receiving end is odd but nice).
Needless to say after a crappy morning that was all it took to move me to tears.... and no, they were not the cute tears you see on the women in the movies... this was a lip-quivering, nose running kinda cry. Even after I left I sat in the car and cried for a few minutes and just told the Lord how much I love him and trust him.

I was totally moved at the fact that the Lord knew I needed a reminder of his love today and he chose Mike to be that for me today in the middle of Starbucks through a $4 coffee...

It also reminded me of the fact that little acts of kindness may be a small thing to me but, they can mean the world to others sometimes....
With that I would like to encourage you all to do a random act of kindness for some one today... You never know what another persons story is and how badly they may need to feel cared for.

Have a wonderfully blessed day as I will do as I sip this great coffee and think about Gods love for me :)
-missa

Amazing Weekend

When I get a chance to log in and type up all the AMAZING things the Lord did this weekend I will but, for now enjoy these pics from the Higher Standards Conference 09' -"The Core"

-missa

Weekend

We survived the weekend!

hehehehe!

-missa

4 things

On wednesday night I brought the Word in youth and it was really good, i learned so much and the Lord did some amazing things in all of our lives through HIS Word! The message was titled "Just do it!- THE RIGHT THING".

Each day we are faced with opportunities to do the wrong thing but, also the opportunities to do the right thing.... long sermon short, we have got to just make a decision to align OUR will with HIS will and just do the right thing.

Would you know it, on thursday I went to the grocery store and had a "put your money where  your mouth was moment" It involved a 50 year old man and 2 teenage girls..... you can probably imagine just in hearing that that it required guts for me to do but, I will give details of that later!

Update on my valentines day box:

God has already done a MIRACLE through my box.... it will end up being a blessing to many, many, many in need and .......... I will also tell you about that later.

My main reason for this post is to inform you that I will not post again until Monday.

I have conference prep today and I am also working on editing a video for AAB.

Please keep the following in prayer today and tomorrow through Sunday:

Conference starts at 10am tomorrow. Parents will be with us for specific session but the youth will stay with us all day. We will have intensives, lunch and outreach and then the purity ceremony. It is going to be amazing. I have volunteers cooking the lunch so that is a HUGE blessing to me :)

Then on Sunday evening Scott and I are hosting the annual AAB Volunteer Appreciation Dinner at 6pm. I am cooking for this one and we are looking at having a pretty big group of folks attend. During the dinner Scott and I will appreciate the volunteers. Have a time of reflection over what the Lord has done at AAB in 08-current (reason for the video) and then end the night with a projection of vision for 09'. 

I am currently working on all of the details for the dinner as well (new stuff, dates, big events, corporate volunteers etc. etc.. 

So, thank you for your prayers- they mean so much to the Two Taylors!

Have a happy- happy weekend!

2 dreams came true yesterday!

YAY! Dreams do come true! Here is the picture of my valentines box! Isn't it beautiful! ha! It the middle of my busy week of conference planning- I am thankfully finding time for fun. Or should I say,  I am making Fun a priority as well. I will give you the tally on how many valentines I get. 

Also yesterday, I vandalized a car with one of our youth :) Not really, I have been driving past this chalk car for a year and always wanted to write on it but, the timing never seemed right (the guy leaves chalk on top so anyone who would like to can write on it). 

Well yesterday while Leighann and I were passing by I decided it was the right time.... (he had just washed the car). I left the car running, opened the door (without explaining to my passenger) and said "Lets go write on this car" and got out to a frantic voice saying" Um-Missa, um" I said "Lets go Lets go" as I made sure to make her think this was a criminal act. I got a piece of chalk out and begin to write while my passengers draw was dropped and then I explained and she laughed and said " this is the coolest car" and drew a pic too.

It was fun and goofy. I love hanging out with our youth, we get such meaningful conversations in but we also can have good clean fun with them.

Having Leighann volunteer in the office yesterday got me all caught up and ready for the conference.... God is so Good!

-missa

Decisions to celebrate this Valentines, season of love

Today while driving to work I heard a DJ discuss how he and his child made a valentine box for his desk at school so that when other kids bring cards they can drop it in this box.... and it was as if a lightbulb went off in my head....I love cards, I love boxes and I love valentines.........

"I want a valentines box"! 

I am happy to announce that, I too, will be celebrating this season of love with a freshly, custom decorated valentine box by yours truly.

I am going to put the box on my desk at work and then thursday before valentines I am going to move it to my porch so anyone that may find themselves inspired to can drop me a "BEE mine" or a "you've stolen my heart" card.  These are the location and dates for the availability of the box...

I am so excited to decorate it! And see all the cards, lollipops and candy hearts my beautiful valentines shoebox will attract... I am so inspired!

What will I put on it? Streamers for sure, stickers..... ohhhhhh and glitters galore. Maybe some candy hearts and some frilly lace... definitely a teddy bear on top.

I will post a pic once I have it decorated :)

There is no age restriction on having fun - I cant wait to read all the cards that the neighbors, friends and old class mates bring me :) Do you think they will drive from Borger TX.

We'll see! YAY!!!! I love holidays.

-missa

Yummy to my soul

Have you ever had a drink of water on a HOT summer day and then said "aaaahhhhhh - that hit the spot"! 

I had one of those moments today as I heard this....... I just drank it in...

Have a sip:

It's by Misty Edwards she is one of my many favorites: the song is called "take my heart" I can not find it anywhere to buy yet so, I'm hoping a new CD is in the works :) that would be GREAT!


Blessings!
-missa

Jesus, my undergarments and friends

The Lord gives me such amazing opportunities to share what he shows and what he does in my life and on Friday night (to follow up on a previous blog cliffhanger) I spoke about something I would like to share with you.

The topic was on friendships and each of the 4 pastors wives shared something. The topic I was lead to share on was; SUPPORT!

Naturally when I think of support I think undergarments! Doesn't everyone?

And everyone knows that a good friend will be supportive and if you are a good friend, you will BE supportive.

What is more supportive and closer to you than your undergarments. NOTHING.

So to illustrate my point I brought with me 3 of my own; 2 sports bras and my spanx:

->sports bra #1 ; I like to sleep in, not so tight and restrictive

->sports bra #2 ; I use for jogging (ladies you know why)

->spanx;  I use this when I am in need of a miracle!  Again, girls you know why.

I was nervous about taking my chonies/underwear to the church and having them on display but, this is what I felt I was suppose to do since it was all done in good taste :) As I was speaking I was pulling these items out of my bag and I was excited to see everyone laughing and no one running out in offense. The point I was wanting everyone to come away with is that different friends provide different levels of support. One friend I will call to just talk, one friend I'll call and invite out to have fun and laugh, another I will call when I need someone to believe with me for a miracle.

You need to BE this type of friend and HAVE this type of friends because as we women go through seasons we also go through different levels of needs in our support system. The cool thing is, just like we don't have one undergarment, we don't have to have just one friend!

On a playful note:

This is why undergarments are like a good friend:

• The right one makes you feel good about yourself.
  
• They will cover you in the areas of yourself your not comfortable with.
  
• They support you in areas you are weak in.
  
• They hold you together.
  
• They are not visible to everyone else but, you are confident in the fact that they are there.
  
• They are available in all shapes in sizes..

On a serious note:

I shared from Col 3:12-17

• Focus- we have got to always keep Christ the center of all friendship
  
• Celebrate each others victories- don't be selfish or jealous
  
• Godly council- leave the *opinions* to Dr. Phil and Oprah, we need to speak the truth of God to eachother.
  
• Encouragement & Appreciation- praise each other, speak encouragement, do a kind deed for a friend
  
• Allow for seasons- you never know what God is going to do in your life or some one elses life so NEVER NEVER write someone off. 

Then I shared Prov 20:18 and we all ended up sharing this scripture: Prov 27:9-10 - you think the Lord was trying to tell us something?

We exchanged mugs and a prayer at the end of the service and it was with the intention of praying for your "sister-friend" each time you have your morning coffee or tea.

Thank you to all of you who are my friends! I love you and treasure you in my life!

-missa