Conformed or Transformed?

Last weekend Brian and I celebrated our 16th wedding anniversary. It has been a difficult year in some ways for our marriage, so we thought it would be good to really focus on our marriage during our anniversary and how we can grow even more. Can you believe it? There was a Love and Respect Conference near Chicago on the exact weekend of our anniversary. So, last weekend, we went. Amazing! Love and Respect is based on Ephesians 5:33 that says "However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband." How have we missed this verse in scripture. How many of us have heard the first part about husbands loving their wives, but the second part has been lost. It's not about the husband lording over the wife, but a mutual love and respect. Women long to be loved and men long to be respected....and go figure...that's how GOD created it to be. Most would say that we should love unconditionally. I probably wouldn...

Last week was an amazing week with Vacation Bible School. It was a long week and took an extra 40+ hours out of my week, but worth it. I trust that God is going to grow the seeds we have planted at VBS. This week I have been working diligently on the youth group plans. We are doing Alien Youth and I have been writing all the lessons for the next 6 weeks. I am very excited about it all. We are going to have a ton of fun and learn what it means to be a Christian in this world, but not of it. I have to save the details, so it will be a surprise for the youth, but I WILL be sharing as it unfolds. Looking forward to the last weekend of "freedom". School starts on Tuesday with Andrew in high school and Olivia in 3rd grade. We were going to go away for the weekend, but think we will just relax at home and maybe spend some time out on the boat and have a few friends over for a cookout.

We spent a great week at Family Camp. It was so much fun seeing friends who we don't get to visit with often. I had 5 kids with me, so I didn't get to visit as much as I wanted to, but we did get to share a potluck on Sunday with our Midland friends and then the Schloemann's generously make a pancake breakfast for the Midland group (the sausage balls are the best!) We had numerous campfires with smores and cherry pies and whatever else kind of pie the kids could come up with.....smore pie, pizza pie, and grilled cheese. One friend made snowcones for all the kids in the area and I made a bit of homemade icecream. Let's not forget the endless trips to the beach. My niece, Cassandra, for the first time jumped off the blob (a tall platform that you jump off on to a big inflatable, which sends the person at the other end of the blog flying up into the air and into the water) Andrew had his friend, Brad, stay with us for the week, and they had fun pulling pranks on peopl...

MICHIGAN'S ADVENTURE!!! Bumper Cars....Mom vs. Dad and Olivia! Frog Hopper....this ride goes up and as it comes back down bounces up and down. The kids scream with excitement. It's so fun to watch! We went to a petting zoo that had this big jumping pillow: And what is camping without a little water time and a campfire? by the way...this stuff really makes a campfire fun! It sizzles when it burns (and supposedly helps with mosquitos).

When we were camping last week, one of our day trip excursions was for Olivia and I to go horseback riding. It is the first time Olivia has been on a horse and the first time in a loooonnnggg time since I have been on one. We took an hour long trail ride with a guide and another mother and daughter. We had such a good time. We each had our own horse. I was a little worried that Olivia wouldn't like the trotting part, but she did well with it all...and I must say, she had the cutest curls bouncing up and down when we did trot. These are great memories for her and I!

Wow, summer has been a blast, but is flying by. We have kept very busy. I attended an open house this weekend and was reminded of how long it's been since I've posted. School was still in session on my last post. So, what's been happening??? NEW ARRIVAL: We have a new baby in the house. Her name is Callie. She was 4 weeks old when we got her. She is now 2 months old and is so playful and fun. Yes, a kitten! The kids both love her to death. She plays a lot and loves people. If she finds herself alone in a room, she cries. It is sooo cute. Welcome to the family, Callie! TUESDAYS: Olivia has been attending "Tuesdays at the Township". Every Tuesday she attends a different event. The first one was about what it's like to be a kid in El Salvador. She learned a little Spanish and wants to do more. She's excited about it. This week she learned kid safety. People from the local TaeKwonDo came and taught a few moves and talked a lot about how to...

About 10 weeks ago, we started a new youth program and children's program on Wednesday nights. Every week we have seen growth. It has been so fun to watch. We decided that we would do 6-8 weeks and then have a family night, where we play games and give the updates as to where we have been and where we are going. I hoped that it would generate outreach and excitement for what we are doing. Last night was our first Family Fun Night and WOW! Was I surprised! We made about 20 hotdogs, thinking that should be about enough. As we brought the hotdogs in, we looked around and realized that we needed to quick get on the ball and get some more hotdogs and buns, as people were pouring through the doors. When we did the count, 47 people were present....over DOUBLE what we were expecting. We only had around 40 on Sunday morning. What's exciting about all this, is that only about 1/3 of the people were regular attenders. Most of them were people who either don't attend or don...

Tonight was my LAST night of class. Not just for a semester, but for good. I have finished the ordination courses and just need to turn in my last set of supervised ministry papers and my ordination interview papers and I am completely done. I now can read a book because I want to read it and not because someone tells me what to read. It feels good to be done! Since I know that some of you will ask, my ordination should be on September 20, 2008 in Fremont, Michigan. If you want more details to attend, please email me and I would be glad to get them to you. Thank you to all of you who have supported me, encouraged me, prodded me, ect. in this journey. It has been incredible and I look forward to what God has in store for the next phase in this adventure.

I promised I would share what changes have been taking place for the Ziegler family. It has been one of the most interesting and yet challenging months of my life. Here's what's been happening in our world. 1. I took a position at Woodside Wesleyan as the Assistant Pastor. I am very excited about the future and dreams for the church. The people have been very loving and have embraced us with open arms. Woodside is in Lake Ann, Michigan, which is a suburb of Traverse City. It has a population around 300. I am excited to be a part of this new community. The nice thing is....we didn't have to move to take this position....it is actually closer to our house than our old church. This church will mean "doing church" differently, as it is in the country and a small church around 60 people. We have some incredible dreams and I look forward to partnering with them to make them happen. Funny thing is.....it fits with where God has called me to be from the very beginning o...