Conformed or Transformed?

A friend asked me the origin of the term "Easter" this week. I looked it up on Christiananswers.net (http://www.christiananswers.net/q-eden/edn-t020.html) and here's what I found: Where did “Easter” get its name? Where did the concept of an Easter egg and bunny originate? The name “Easter” has its roots in ancient polytheistic religions (paganism). On this, all scholars agree. This name is never used in the original Scriptures, nor is it ever associated biblically with the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. For these reasons, we prefer to use the term “Resurrection Sunday” rather than “Easter” when referring to the annual Christian remembrance of Christ's resurrection. Ancient origin Most reference books say that the name “Easter” derived from the Eastre, the Teutonic goddess of Spring. Although this relationship exists, in reality, the origin of the name and the goddess are far more ancient - going all the way back to the Tower of Babel. The origin begins not ...

My friend, Mark Wilson and his wife put this list together. With Valentine's Day approaching, it's a great time to spend some extra time on our marriages. Great list, Mark! You can visit more of Mark's thoughts HERE . A - Accept your partner as he/she is - no strings attached. B - Be attentive, thoughtful and considerate. C - Commit yourself and your marriage to God. D - Date each other regularly and often. E - Endure the difficult times with a good spirit. F - Forgive any grievances you may have against each other. G - Give affection generously. H - Have fun together. Make wonderful memories! I - Involve your partner totally in your life. Don't shut him/her out. J - Journey through life together, looking forward to what's around the bend. K - Keep the lines of communication open. Always be honest. L - Listen, really listen to your partner. M - Make love often. N - Never gripe about your mate to others. O - Openly praise your mate. P - Pray together. The couple t...

Olivia is in the elementary choir at school and yesterday they went to the Pavillions, a nursing home. She was in the news last night and since I can't get the video to post here, you can watch it HERE. Olivia loves to sing and she blesses us with her gift. Thanks for sharing your gift with these people Olivia. You did a fantastic job and brought smiles to many faces! I love you, girly!

He is risen! He is risen indeed!!! Today we celebrate our risen Lord! We started out our worship service this morning with the song "My Redeemer Lives". What a great way to start! We also sang "He Lives" and "Because He Lives".....see the theme? Then we ended with "Worthy is the Lamb/Crown Him with Many Crowns" set. Music is powerful and I know that the songs touched me today. We focus so much on the fact that Jesus died this time of year and on Sunday we always celebrate the fact that He has risen, but the thing that hit me today was the fact that we should be living our lives daily in light of the risen Lord. How does the risen Lord change who we are on a daily basis? Does it make a hill of beans difference to us? Why is it that we only celebrate once a year? Celebration. What would that look like if we celebrated the resurrection every day? When we celebrate a birthday or a birth of a new baby, we tell those around us. You Grandparents and som...

It's amazing how time gets away from me. It has been a busy, crazy, hard couple of weeks, but our family is very much looking forward to leaving in just a few short hours for Cancun, Mexico. We will be gone for a week!!! Instead of doing Christmas presents with Brian's family, we save our money for 3 years and take a trip someplace. It's always a great time! We covet your prayers as we try to focus on relaxing, rejuvenation and just some good family time together. We really need it these days. Looking forward to returning home with a fresh perspective and passion to move forward! See ya when we get back!

I love you so much, Brian! We have grown so much these past 18 years we have known each other. You are a great Husband and Father. You care so much for your family. Thank you for your love for me. I look forward to many more years with you!

Yesterday we held church at the park. There are some advantages to being a small church. We had service and then a picnic. We had a really good time. Again, five of the people from H.O.M.E. came and got involved in some healthy fun. It was great to have them. We had fun with water balloons, treasure hunts, volleyball, and races. Here are a few pictures of the day: The young children doing a treasure hunt. My daughter, Olivia and Rebecca with their water balloons. They are going to go find someone that "wants" to get wet. The great ski race! One funny story of the day.....I was doing the games and at the end of all the water balloon games, I let everyone just take balloons and "do what they wanted with them." I asked Pastor Roger if i could use his phone (he he he) He gave me his phone. Then I said ok kids...."hit the Pastor". Yep...you got it....they went after Pastor Roger, but then they realized if the game was to hit the Pastor....that meant the...

We went "home" this last weekend to visit family and our old church. It was great to see all our friends again (notice I didn't say OLD friends...for those of you reading this who would slap me for that! ha ha). They have gotten rid of the pew benches and put some really comfortable chairs and changed the stage setting. It looks really great! It's amazing to just "pick up where you left off" in some ways. I am so thankful for the real relationships there. But there was a small distraction just before Easter. The service started normally, and they took the offering early in the service. When they went to put the money in the safe......uh.....it was GONE! Being April Fools Day, the teller thought it was a joke. Come to find out, an intruder not only stole that heavy safe, but also one of the pastor's laptop computer and the church's digital camera. What'll be interesting is when that intruder finally gets that heavy safe open, they are go...

Happy Birthday to my sweet girly, Olivia! It's been so much fun watching you grow these past 7 years. I love you so much!!!

Here is a great song and graphics by Diamond Rio, In God We Still Trust. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6argLLFvJ0

Happy Valentine's Day!!! For God so lo V ed the world, That He g A ve His on L y Begott E n So N T hat whosoever Believeth I n Him Should N ot perish, But have E verlasting life." John 3:16