New Year New Word

 

Each year I ask God to give me just one word to focus on throughout the year. Some years I am extremely successful on prioritizing that task God has given me and other years...I fall short. However, it is still a great practice and something that I want to continue to do! 

As I was praying about this year, 2025, God kept bringing this theme to mind - Opportunity. I believe that each day we have a variety of opportunities - some are positive and some are not so much. We have the opportunity to get up and make healthy eating and exercise choices, we have the opportunity to show love to someone hurting, we have the opportunity to share the Gospel, we have the opportunity for furthering our career, the opportunity to serve in our church or even just attend church. These are positive opportunities that sometimes we take and well...other times we let them pass them by. 

I have come to realize that while some opportunities I have embraced - furthering my career through a principal endorsement, serving in our church, taking a step of faith and taking on a new type of caseload this year - I have also allowed some opportunities to pass me by this past year. I have had the opportunity to share Jesus and not done it. I have had the opportunity to make healthy life choices - and have not. I have the opportunity to create and develop relationships and have not. I have had the opportunity to grow in my faith and walk with Jesus and have not. The reasons - well too many to list but it comes down to 2 biggies - apathy and comfort. I am comfortable with things the way they are. I don't want to exert the energy to take the opportunity. The status quo is easier than the stepping out and embracing the opportunity! 

So in 2025, I am looking for the opportunities that God brings my way! The opportunity at age 50 to change some health habits (that is hard by the way), the opportunity to share Jesus, the opportunity to be willing to bear another's burden and walk along with them in the ugly and the hard, the opportunity to put healthy boundaries in place when it comes to toxicity in relationships, the opportunity to sometimes say no when my body and soul needs rest, the opportunity to be devoted to daily intensive prayer (already began the past two days in tears before Jesus), the opportunity to faithfully go where he is calling me EVEN if that means leaving the comfort of where I am. The opportunity to be bold in my faith.

Friends, I pray that you will embrace the opportunities God brings your way! I Thessalonians 5:24 says "He who calls you is faithful ; he will do it" If he has placed an opportunity in front of you - he will be faithful to work every detail out! Here is to 2025 and NEW OPPORTUNITIES!! 

Prayer Mapping

 

This past summer the Pastor from the mission team that came to serve with us introduced us to a new concept called "Prayer Mapping". While our church is familiar and even consistent to an extent in prayer walking this was a new concept to us that was completely transformational in how I personally am going to approach praying for my community and neighbors. 

In prayer mapping, while you most definitely pray while out walking in the neighborhood you take it a step further and make notes of what you observe. For example, you see a house with a trampoline so you would note that there is a connection to kids in that home, or you notice a wheelchair ramp so you make note that maybe there are elderly that need assistance in that home. The idea is that you then think of ways that you or your church can serve those people. 

On September 29th our church decided to do a serve Sunday and rather than stay in the four walls - we went out prayer mapping throughout the community of Olathe, Co. We divided up into 4 teams and each team had specific areas they were mapping. The task was this: pray, try to start conversations with those you encounter, map what you notice AND find at least 3 homes that you as a team can go back and offer to serve. The information and feedback we got was amazing! All four teams had specific thoughts on how they could serve the areas they covered. I am excited to see how God uses this means of being a church that went beyond the walls to reach our community! 

Here I go again...

 I think I shall officially call myself "the periodical blogger"! Ha! It seems as though I set good intentions of keeping up a blog and then...well life happens! Anyway - my husband recently started a new blog and I thought oh yeah! Once upon a time I had a blog maybe I should dust away the digital cobwebs and try again. 

First off - here is a mini life update: Joel and I are still in Delta Co where I teach Special Education at Garnet Mesa Elementary. Joel is pastor at Harvest Community Church in Olathe Co and also works for Delta County as Accessibility Coordinator (basically he makes sure all things digital are accessible). We are loving where God has us and continually seeking to serve him in co-vocational status. 

Hannah, our oldest, is in San Jose California working as a Special Education paraprofessional and loves it! She is close to finishing her Associates Degree and will move right into working on her Bachelors - she is looking into staying in the Educational field but will also have a Business Degree should she decide to go elsewhere. 

Malachi, his wife Jinny, and sweet Delilah-Mae live here in Delta as well. Malachi is a special education paraprofessional and works at Garnet Mesa Elementary as well. Delilah-Mae is thriving and doing amazing! She is a true miracle and we are so blessed to have her here! She will celebrate her 2nd birthday in just a few short weeks! Jinny does an amazing job staying home and managing all of Delilah's appointments, therapies, and care. We are continually amazed at her ability to juggle it all. 

Kestra just started at Garnet Mesa Elementary this year teaching Kindergarten after two years at another school in the District. She and her fiance' Wyatt are looking forward to hopefully a 2025 wedding. She loves her kinders! 

Tyler just recently moved home after being in Louisiana for a year. He loved the adventure but said he missed the Colorado mountains and family! He is currently looking for a full-time job but was able to pick up a short seasonal position building fence in the high country and he loved it!! 

Picture July 2023 which is the last time we were all together at one time! 

My hope is to begin to journal what God is teaching me,  how He is moving in the lives of our family, and just be a light in the darkness. Look for more soon! 

12 Week Year - Goals

 

A few years back, my husband Joel worked for a company that utilized the concept of a 12 week year. While I haven't yet read the book that this is derived from, I have been intrigued by the idea of it and decided that 2023 would be the year I would try this out. Basically the idea is that you break the year into 12 week sections and set goals for each 12 weeks block. I really liked the idea of taking larger calendar year goals and breaking them down into smaller chunks to focus on for these 12 week intervals. So that is what I did this year. 

My first 12 week year began yesterday. A week ago, Joel and I sat down and wrote out our goals for the first 12 week year - while some of them are individual goals, others are things we want to accomplish as a couple. Notice I have used the word goals as opposed to resolutions. I am never great at resolutions - I honestly fail at them. However, as a SPED teacher I am all about setting goals for my students that are SMART - Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Reasonable, and Time Bound. That is the framework that I used for setting my first set of 12 week goals. Another thing I have learned in SPED is to have action steps or objectives to help reach those goals; so I have done that as well. I also have learned that accountability in meeting our goals is so crucial! So - I am sharing my goals here, writing them out and making them known. At the end of my 12 week year, I hope to write a post with the progress but in the meantime - feel free to reach out to me and ask me how I am doing! 

Spiritual Goals: 

* Quiet time 5 days a week
    - Set time each morning
    - Record Prayers/Answers to Prayers
    - Journal Daily

* Read 2 books of the Bible 
   - Daily
   - Record lessons and revelations

Physical Goal: 

*Lose 24 pounds
   - Exercise 5 days a week
   - Drink 8 glasses of water daily
   - Limit Soft Drinks to 1 per day

Relationship Goals: 

*Invest in 2 meaningful friendships
   - Reach out to them
   - Share openly with them
   - Once a month schedule 1 on 1 time with them

*Invest in Connection Group Members
   - Have them over for dinner
   - Weekly texts of encouragement

*Foster independence with my adult children
  - Ask "My Wonder is..." style questions 
  - Release them to make mistakes

Financial Goals: (made with my husband)

*Meet living expenses within our financial means
  - eliminate unnecessary expenses

* $1000 paid off of credit card

* $1100 paid in tithe

Home Projects (made with my husband)

* Clean up all the trash/excess wood on our property

* Laminate flooring in Tyler's room

* Back Patio cleared and set up for use in the spring/summer 

There are my first 12 week year goals! The 12 week year is from Jan 1 - March 25. I am excited to really FOCUS on these goals and areas of my life! 

2023 Word of the Year

 For about 12 years now, I have adopted the practice of asking the Lord to give me a word of the year to dial into and provide direction for the year. In the past I have had words like joy, embrace, anticipation, perseverance, and missional. 

As I prayed about my word for this year - two actually kept coming to mind. I was really wrestling with which one to go with and then I realized that the two actually tie together and when you have one; you can also have the other. So - my word for 2023 is FOCUS which will then allow me to dial in and attend to PURPOSE. I want to be so focused on the Lord this year that there is no doubt in my mind what purpose He has for me in all areas of my life! 

Proverbs 4:25 states this, "Let your eyes look straight ahead; fix your gaze directly ahead of you." This is where I want to be. I tend to get so side tracked, so distracted by things that really have nothing to do with God's purpose or plan for my life! I need to FOCUS on the plan HE has for me and not stray from that. 

As Joel and I have been talking about our words for the year, the direction of ministry as well as our family this year we both came to realize that over the last year we have slowly lost sight of our purpose and calling. God called us 8 years ago to come to Delta and plant HIS Church. At first, it was easy to stay focused and dialed in because that was honestly all we had to hold on to. However, as we became more settled here and we began living our daily life...keeping our hand to the plow became harder. The past year we hit some serious potholes in the road...if you know anything about potholes you know that they can cause damage to your vehicle and also get you off the road quick! I can tell you that is what has happened for me. I had lost sight of the purpose, I had allowed the enemy to sidetrack me, and allowed fear, anxiety, doubt cloud my way. 

So this year - it is all about FOCUSING on Him so that I can remain steadfast in the PURPOSE that He has called me to! 

The story of Delilah-Mae

 Since out beautiful granddaughter Delilah-Mae is 2 months old today, I thought today would be a great day to update the blog and share her story.  Delilah is the daughter of our son Malachi and his wife Jinny. When we were told that they were expecting our first grandchild we were all SO excited! Being a grandparent is a whole new journey but definitely a journey I was looking forward to! In July we learned that they were expecting a girl and the entire family was thrilled! 

During a routine ultrasound, Jinny's doctor first noticed that it appeared one kidney did not look like it was developing correctly. This resulted in a referral to have an additional more in-depth ultrasound at the Maternal Fetal Center in Grand Junction. Fast forward through a lot of follow up scans and appointments - it was discovered that Delilah only had one functioning kidney as well as a heart defect. While the news was definitely not expected, it was a lot to take in, Jinny and Malachi embraced it well. Due to her challenges it was determined that Delilah needed to be born at Denver Children's Hospital so that they could provide the needed care immediately.  On October 24, 2022 Delilah-Mae arrived and blessed our world! 

Within a week of birth it was determined that Delilah-Mae had tetralogy fallout with pulmonary atresia as a result of 22q deletion or DiGeorge Syndrome. Both her kidney issue and heart issue are common with DiGeorge. Without going into all the medical terminology what this means is that Delilah will undergo surgery on her heart when she is about 5 or 6 months old, she will only have one functioning kidney for life, and she may encounter other developmental and learning delays along the way. This will be a learning curve and an incredible journey for our entire family. 

Having been around special needs children for all of our marriage, having a niece with special needs, as well as having our Tyler in our life and now being a Special Education Teacher - it is SO apparent that God has paved the way for such a time as this! Before Delilah was even a speck of our imagination - God was molding, preparing, and teaching us so that we could be the family she would need and for that I am so incredibly thankful! 

Delilah is currently still at Denver Children's Hospital - tentatively surgery is scheduled for March or April but obviously things change. There is a chance she will come home before surgery but again - it is an ever changing pendulum and so we never know. What we DO know is that God has a plan and a purpose for her life, that she is fearfully and wonderfully made, and as her Gigi and Papa Joel and I are ready to walk the journey with her and her parents as God allows! 
 

Resurrecting the Blog - Been awhile

 Lately I have found myself longing to record the journey of our family once again. It has taken a bit to recall the passwords and format for this blog but I did it! I honestly considered starting fresh but decided I really like this blog, the history in it, the story recorded! 

So - to briefly update you all on our family since my last post in 2018....

Hannah - is living in California and doing great! She is a paraprofessional for special needs students at a Charter School and LOVES her job! She recently moved into a new apartment and is adulting well! 

Malachi - Is MARRIED and A DAD! He married his beautiful bride Jinny on April 24, 2021. On October 24, 2022 they welcomed Delilah-Mae Ranae Arrington. I will blog about her story in a separate post but Joel and I are over the moon to be Gigi and Papa! Malachi is also a special education paraprofessional and is amazing in this position!!! 

Kestra - Graduated in May 2022 from Colorado Mountain College and is in her first year as a Kindergarten Teacher at Hotchkiss K-8 here in Delta County! She is loving her job and doing amazing at it! She is also helping us with the Childrens' Program at our church. 

Tyler - Graduated in May 2020 from Vision Charter Academy. He is working at Walmart and doing AMAZING! He has recently got his drivers license and his own car! 

Joel - Is still pastoring Church Without Walls and subbing in our local schools. He continues to overcome CVID and is doing well! 

Ronnie - I am on my 5th year of teaching Special Education at Garnet Mesa Elementary and absolutely love my job even on the hardest of days! When I am not teaching school I am leading Bible Studies and serving my family! 

That is the really short version of where we are all at! Look for more posts SOON