Hold the Baby

Little Emory is here and well loved.  His amazing mom brought him to church and let us hold him the entire time.   I don't know if I would have been that willing to let people hold him the entire time.

Normally Monique and I sit with my sister-in-law and family.  But they were away which meant that my other "family" sat with us.   Everyone wanted to hold Emory - well everyone but Matthew.

Matthew and I took food over Saturday and, as excited as he was, he didn't get near Emory.

Mo had to convince Matt to even stand behind us.

On Sunday, Rachel was the first Bier to hold him. But don't worry, Evan is still the favorite- sight unseen.

baby whisperer?

Melissa wanted in on the action.

She always holds a baby.

But Juliet stole Emory from her- twice.

Emory loved Juliet

Even Kayla held Emory.

A little nervous!

Sadly Kristine and family missed Baby Emory. But there will be other days.

As I told Monique, I am not a baby person.  Besides Maggie, Amelia, and William, he is probably the baby I have held the most.  But it's different when it's your family.   And that is my point, we are all family- some of us by blood; some of us by friendship.  But our lives are interwoven together.  And this is good. 

Kingdom Partnership

"When the world sees diverse churches working humbly and joyfully together, many people are led to give glory to the Father in heaven."  - Bruno & Dirks

A year ago, I didn't even know that a local church had an ESL ministry. Yet here we are preparing to share with my church a plan to partner together in this ministry. God is amazing and works in unexpected ways.

Sunday, my friend, Faith, and I share at my church a plan for the churches to work together to share the gospel and help the practical needs of non-native English speakers in our community. We are combining two things that I am passionate about- working with immigrants/internationals and crossing denominational barriers. It is a bit overwhelming when I stop and think about it and know Faith thinks the same way.

But here is the cool thing- we don't have to be able to join churches together. We don't have to find helpers in this ministry. We don't have to be able to make the ESL ministry a success. All of this can only be accomplished by God. There is a quote in Churches Partnering Together that I love.

"Ministries should have goals that can be accomplished, but still, if it can be done without God, let a local club do it."  -  Bruno and Dirks

We are about kingdom business being lead by God. And He will enable and guide us and open doors for us. I can rest in that.

What is also exciting is that even without formally partnering together, 6 people from my church are already involved in the ministry in one way or another- whether it is assisting, childcare, or snacks. (I wrote this earlier this week- the count is up to 8 thanks to two of my favorite people helping out at the last minute.) I am specifically praying God raises up new teachers out of my church (or really any church.)

This winter, I needed a co-teacher and got my mother, something I wouldn't have anticipated. Seeing how unexpectedly God answered that need, how will he meet our needs in even more wild and unexpected ways?

"O" is for.....

Saturday was the newest letter in our letter parties- O.   Sickness had obstructed us organizing earlier.

So Saturday, my house was overflowing with people.  And a good time was had by all. I didn't get a lot of pictures but here is what I got.

oreo cheesecake

olive appetizers and ooops, it's spaghetti

organic salad

orange was the theme for clothing

kids with orange, overalls, and old-fashioned

origami bookmarks made by an "other" who came

Practice makes comfortable

I don't necessarily believe the saying practice makes perfect.   Really how often are we perfect?

But I do believe that practice makes us comfortable.  And that is true with teaching ESL this year.  I am not a teacher and, 8 months ago, I did not know how to lesson plan and the idea of filling a class with material for 2 hours overwhelmed me.

7 months of teaching and I have come far.  I realized that last night.  Granted I couldn't find the scissors, half of my word pictures had gone missing, I forgot to cut word slips for games in advance, and we got into the classroom late. Some days, I wonder at me.   But despite the chaos (mostly in my head), I was able to pull together the plan and teach a decent lesson.

With practice, I have learned flexibility and can modify my lesson if it isn't working.
With practice, I have learned to recognize if students are understanding what I am teaching.
With practice, I have learned to minimize my words and slow down how fast I talk (well slow down somewhat.)
With practice, I have learned how to lesson plan more effectively.

I still have a long way to go.  I need to continue to slow down my class pace and my speech.  I need to work on having my students speak more.  I need to work on introducing on new words.  And there are so many other things to work on.

But practice does make me more comfortable and I am hopeful I will continue to grown and be more comfortable as I teach.  But I am loving teaching and being with the people who come to my class - truly loving it - and can't wait to see where I am in teaching skills a year from now.

Meet my new favorite person

Tuesday was an amazing day.  Okay, it is probably the best day of the month and maybe year. Why?

Because I got to meet my newest "nephew."  Meet Emory- he's my new favorite.  

So cute

So perfect

With Aunt Ginger

First selfie

Emory, I have waited a long time for you to arrive. And, now that you are here, you are even better than I imagined.  I pray that you follow the footsteps of your parents and grow into a mighty man of God.

Weariness (or can't be bothered to come up with a title)

This week I have been weary and tired. Partly I think this is due to migraines and headaches making me physically tired and nauseous.  But I am also mentally weary as well.  In these moments, Scripture speaks to the heart, doesn't it?

Let us not become weary in doing good, 

for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. 

Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people,

 especially to those who belong to the family of believers.

Galatians 6:9-10

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, 

let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. 

And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,  

fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. 

For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, 

and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 

Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, 

so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

Hebrews 12:1-3

 I read these versus and ponder them.  I am in a race and working for the glory of Jesus.  In my weariness, I want to turn to Jesus and rest in Him.  March 1st is the beginning of Lent and I am going to do a Lenten Scripture reading plan.  During these next weeks, I hope to fall in love anew with Jesus and the wonder of who He is and His death for all of this.  In this meditation, I hope to be renewed to run the race with increased vigor.  

Fun filled weekend

This weekend, with their parents and their older sister away, I had Matthew and Juliet all weekend. We crammed alot into 3 days.   The best part is that we spent time with some of our favorite adults (Holly and Daric!) and favorite kids (Amelia, Susie, and Kayla!)

Saturday, we watched the Batman Lego movie with Amelia (Maggie was sick.) Amelia and I got some cuddling in during the movie too.

Then pizza while watching Phineas and Ferb.  

I am not a Papa John's fan but jalapenos make most pizza better

Sunday, we walked the dogs with Holly and got some games in - Mexican Train dominoes and Monopoly.  I am not a Monopoly fan and did not play.  But Mexican Train dominoes is one of my new favorite games. 

And of course just the three of us played games, mostly Timeline, dominoes, and Rummikub.  I am so happy Matt has learned Rummikub, and his strategy is growing.  (Dad would be happy if he had seen how Matt rearranged the board to play one or two tiles.)

Because who doesn't love some competition, especially Biers, we tracked the winners of all games played. Winner got to pick where we ate a treat Monday.

 

But first we picked up Kayla and Susie.  Kayla took charge and made pancakes for lunch and supervised her helpers (Juliet and Susie.) And Juliet made eggs.

Then we went to the park to burn off energy.

Some of us just read.....

And then Tutti Frutti (Juliet's winner's choice) and Starbucks for me.

Susie managed to sneak by my notice when getting her ice cream and got a "Susie" portion of ice cream.  Of course, she ate it all.

To finish off the weekend, puppy time with the Kestlers and then Mexican Train dominoes with Dad and Uncle Dwight.  How special is that- games with Dad and Uncle Dwight.

One day in the not distant future, Juliet will be in college and Matthew will no longer be a kid.   Today, I am thankful for being able to enjoy these days of games, pizza, friendships, and family.  And we are family, all of us- some by blood, some by friendship, all in Christ.  I think of mom and dad and their years of friendship with Aunt Betty and Uncle Dwight.   30 years from now, I hope that these kids still think of me as an aunt and my friendships with their parents are as solid as my parents with their friends.