My Boys

I can hardly believe that in two weeks Titus will be 3 and Jordan is currently 5-1/2. I can hardly wrap my mind around this. In so many ways you both seem like babies to me and in other ways, I see how much you are growing, and I am just blown away. You both amaze me in ways that only children can do. You are full-fledged brothers - sworn enemies one minute and best friends the next. What a special relationship this is. I never had brothers. I have two sisters. I have always said that if I had a girl, I would want to have two so they could know what it is like to have a sister, because the relationship is so special. But, as I watch the two of you, I see how unique this relationship is also. You are already taking up for each other when you think there is something to fight for. I can only imagine what this will look like when you are older. It's funny, too, how Titus always wants to do whatever Jordan is doing. If Jordan is playing soccer, Titus wants to play. If Jordan is doing schoolwork at the table, Titus wants to do it, too. If Jordan is getting a spanking, Titus asks, "How bout my fanking?"

Titus has been telling me, "Mommy, you de bes Mommy in the whole word." This of course melts me in a million pieces. And both of you ask me all the time about getting married. (Titus only does this because Jordan does.) So, after considering this subject over and over, they have both made the decision that they are not getting married, that they want to stay with us forever. Titus' version of this is, "Us not get maweed nevo evo!" (My sister Tami just loves when I do Titus impersonations!)

So, this is why I started this blog. To talk about my kids and our family life, to keep long-distance family up to date on the goings on with them. I feel like the most blessed Mom in the world to have these boys in my life. I also feel blessed to be able to see everything that they do. I am so glad I am called to be a stay-at-home Mom.

Jordan's First Goal

Well, it finally happened! Yesterday was a perfect day! The weather was absolutely beautiful, church was great yesterday morning, lunch with a wonderful group of friends, and then a soccer game with our 5 year old Jordan. We have been waiting on this for two seasons now. Yesterday at Jordan's afternoon soccer game, he finally made his first goal! We went crazy with excitement! Jordan was jumping up and down screaming "Yes! Yes! Yes!" The sideline went nuts! Our friends Ty & Kelly were there, along with my sister Danyelle and her kids, Caleb and Alyssa, who Jordan just adores! I was so proud of him...we have been practicing and practicing....talking and talking about it. So, finally he got it! His very first goal! This is what I love about being a Mom...sharing in all of his experiences, all of his firsts! Way to go, Jordan!

Purpose

Our church is going through the study by Rick Warren, "40 Days of Purpose". Simply stated, this has been an incredible study. I have just soaked up the book that we are all reading along with it, "The Purpose Driven Life." Rick has a way of putting things very simply, to the point, and easily applicable. I have thoroughly enjoyed it and it is one that I will read over and over again.

Along with this study, every Sunday throughout the 40 Days, we have been given a sermon which corresponds with the week we are on. I have to say, even though I am biased and I am married to this guy, our Pastor, Tim, has done a great job of becoming God's vessel and bringing it every week! I would pretty much like to hear him above anyone else! Yesterday was the last sermon on the actual purposes....Evangelism. I was touched to the core about this subject...which so happens to be the heartbeat of God. One of the most powerful points in the sermon was this: 'The purposes produce evangelism.' Acts 2:42-47 outlines the 5 purposes for us--worship, fellowship, discipleship, ministry, and evangelism. As a result of the first 4 being present and abundant in our lives, the 5th and most important one, evangelism, is the outcropping. It was't something that was scheduled, executed, and done with. It just naturally happened...these believers in Acts just oozed with evangelism...because everything else in their lives was in order.

So, what is my purpose? My purpose should be God's purpose: worship, fellowship, discipleship, ministry, and evangelism. May I never forget this. May I be continually reminded of what my life is to truly be about.

God Says Hello

Last night the boys and I went to run some errands. We have a full Saturday planned today--a birthday party, a baby shower, and a soccer game. Life is in full swing! So, we went out to get everything we needed for this very busy day. As we were walking into the last store on the list, it started to rain. All bundled up in his little rain coat and huddling under the umbrella, Jordan shouts, "God is saying HELLO!" This was immediately followed with, "You know, Mom, if God wants it to stop raining He just says, 'STOP!' " This was a great moment for me. I thought it was just the cutest thing in the world to hear Jordan talk about God like this. And, then, to know that he is soaking it all in. Sunday school lessons, reading his bible at night, worship tunes playing in the car--at 5 years old he has a concept of the power of God. My prayer as a mother of two boys is that they will find God in their lives, accept Him as their Savior, and learn to live a life closely in tune with Him. I am sure my parents prayed the same prayers. I thank God for the generations of believers in our family who left this legacy.

Freedom

I'd like to introduce a new song I just learned---I Lay Me Down. We sang it Sunday at church and it was great! It starts out slow and builds and builds until it just explodes at the end.

I lay me down, Oh, I lay me down.
A pleasing sacrifice to you.
And freedom is now the song of my heart.
Oh, freedom is now the song of my heart.

Freedom in Christ is an amazing thing. It is something that doesn't just come to you the day you become a believer. What I mean by that is this--obviously it is available, but we usually do not tap into the fullness of the freedom, the fullness of Christ, until later in the walk. It is there for the taking, but we must seek it out. Once we find it and experience it, there is nothing in the world like it. I have been in church all of my life, I have been a believer for 10 years, but I have just recently come face to face with the freedom that is promised mine as a child of God. I will never let it go. I will fight to keep opening new doors of freedom, to keep the experience alive, to feel the authenticity of knowing where my place is in Him. My relationship with Him has been deepened and my views have a new perspective.

I am so blessed to have come to this point in my Christian walk. Sunday morning worship is the highlight of my week. I have seen people experience this and have longed for it myself---now I know how amazing and precious it truly is! The best thing about this place I have found---I don't have to wait until Sunday, I can have any time I want in the privacy of my own home.

Thank you God for leading me to this place. Thank you for breaking down the walls of religion. Thank you for showing me the reality of your love and grace. Thank you for this life. I love it.

Jordan and Titus

My kids crack me up! As I am sure everyone's kids crack them up....mine just make me laugh so much! (Or as my 2-1/2 year old says, "sho mush!")

Jordan is just like his Daddy...he could talk his way out of a paper sack. He is already honing in on this skill. He tries to talk us out of discipline and tries to talk us into things he wants. We will have to work extra hard to focus this skill to be used for good and not evil. Jordan is also very smart...he will definitely be going to college on an academic scholarship! He amazes me with the way he picks up concepts so easily...he will be one of those kids who does not have to study very hard. He is my cuddle bug...and he loves spending time with me. I love that! When Jordan was just learning how to talk, he would wake up and find me and say,"I wan hode you." Now that he is 5 he wakes up and finds me and says, "I want you to hold me." Precious!!

Titus is the aggressive one. He doesn't mind telling you what he thinks. He doesn't mind showing you what he thinks. He doesn't mind acting on what he thinks. He is certainly my little strong willed child. When he is angry, you know it. When he is grumpy, you know it. When he is sad, you know it. When he is silly, you know it. When he is happy, you know it. He is just the kind of person who says, "this is who I am...take it or leave it." He says the most hilarious things, as most two year olds do. When he really likes something he says, "I like it bewy sho mush!" (TRANSLATION: I like it very so much!)

He and his brother fight like crazy. But, they are finally starting to play together a little more peacefully. Tim and I monitor this pretty closely. We try to let them work it out, but they haven't quite grasped that concept. I love my boys..they teach me so much about myself.

Thanks for letting me go on and on about them. How could I have a blog that doesn't have something to say about my kiddos? They are my pride!

9 years

So, Tim and I celebrated our 9th anniversary last week. We sat at the table over a plate of Chicken Fettucini Alfredo, (I brought it back...it used to be one of Tim's favorite dishes...I made it so much that we both got sick of it!), and reminisced about the events of these 9 glorious (what else am I supposed to say?!) years. We started out at 22 and 20 in a tiny little seminary apartment with next to nothing. I remember feeling like I was living in a little dream world. Most people would wonder how that life could make anyone happy, but we were. It was a carefree time....just school and the little jobs we held to stay afloat back then. There were no real responsibilities or pressures....just the bliss that those first few months of marriage bring. Of course, along with the bliss came the tumultuous arguments that only those first few months can also bring. (Tim and I have always been the couple who gets along beautifully with a good balance of disagreements.)

And I digress...I am writing about what these first 9 years have brought us. We moved a lot in our first year. Tim held his first pastorate position in our first year. We moved out to that small East Texas town and learned a lot to say the least. After Tim's first pastorate ended, we moved back to seminary housing, then quickly moved to a small town in Arkansas where Tim stepped into youth ministry for the second time. Through all of these moves, Tim continued seminary until he finished....a lot of commuting. It was nothing for us to go several days without seeing each other....I guess we just knew that finishing school was important and we were both determined to see it through.

The beginning of our third year promised a new era in our history. We found out we were pregnant and were both graduating with our bachelor degrees. That summer we moved to Austin where Jordan was born a few months later. We were only there for a few months before moving back to Arkansas to the same church where Tim would now Pastor. This move would prove life-changing for us.

This is when we met our dear friends, Kyle and Erika Sears. After only a year of friendship and serving on staff side-by-side, the 4 of us knew what we were destined to do together. The burning passion inside these men, shared by their wives, could not be contained in a traditional church setting. God had given us a "dream"--and had created us to follow where that path lead. So, we blindly followed and made our last big move to Frisco, Texas in the summer of 2002.

After being here only a month, we found out we were pregnant with our second son, Titus. During my pregnancy Tim and I worked loooooooong hours. We were weary with fatigue, disappointed that the move had not been as easy as we had hoped, but still determined to follow God's leading. Maybe He was testing us to see how bad we wanted it. We knew there was no going back. We were consumed with "the dream"-the idea that a church could be created where people were real, flexible, and passionate and we could experience that on Sunday in corporate worship and individually throughout our days and weeks. We bought a house and moved in a couple of months before Titus was born.

We began having preview (practice) services for GM that summer along with Home Bible Studies. A year later we held our first public service; 9 months later we officially launched. Here we are now, still chasing "the dream"...enjoying the fruits already and learning all along the way as we go. There is nothing on this earth I would rather be doing. I love where we are. I love what we are doing. I love how much I have learned and how far I have come as a child of God. I love that I am still learning and experiencing new things in Christ.

To the next 9 years, I say, "LET'S GO!!"

I wonder what Genesis Metro will look like by then. I can only pray that God will bless us in ways that I cannot even imagine. And by that I mean that GM will be used to transform people's lives beyond what I can comprehend.

I wonder whay my kids will look like by then. They will be 14 and 12.....that seems CRAZY to me!!!!!

Funny, I don't really wonder what Tim and I will look like. I am pretty sure it will be much like we look today. A little older and wiser perhaps; still happy, content, trying to make our marriage better--still disagreeing on the little things where our personalities differ. I am so glad (WARNING: cliche moment coming) we were paired for this journey together. I cannot imagine my life any other way.

the introduction

Well...here I am. I have entered the blogging community. Some of my friends have blogs and they have been asking me why I have not jumped on this bandwagon. So, here I am today having climbed aboard this cyber world where my words go out into the wild blue yonder for the whole world to view if they so choose. Strange! As I sit here to try and figure out what in the world I will write about I keep telling myself that no one will care about the day-to-day affairs of my life. But, as I have been told, blogging is more for yourself than for anyone else. It is a way to get my thoughts out there--sort of a cathardic measure. So, to the lights of my life--my husband and two boys--you will now be kissing your privacy goodbye! The goings-on of the Bourne household will now be shared with the masses...