Caysen's Dedication Letter

Dear Caysen,

Tonight we are dedicating you at church. A night we weren't sure we would ever have the honor to experience. 

Honestly, your Dad and I debated about whether this timing was wise or not. You are in a very fragile state - not tolerating your feeds well, and with your heart in a "band - aided" state that if you were to get sick, we would likely be back in the hospital after just discharging 16 days earlier. Those germs, those people with all their new germs, make everything so risky. But? We don't know what the future holds or where you will be during the next dedication. 

We decided this was far too important to us. We want to make this statement before our friends and family, we want to commit to raise you in a Godly home, teaching you about Christ and His love for YOU, and most importantly giving you back to Him.

And you sir, he loves you so very much! He has proven His love for you time and time again in your short five months. From assisting the doctors to save you on your third day of life, to countless surgeries, hospital visits, procedures and interventions. You have been through more than most children this age, and you are still here today by His grace.

Caysen, your Dad and I had such big plans for you. We had mapped out the way we were going to do things. But God had different plans. Bigger plans. He has great things in store for you. I have learned not to plan ahead much further than tomorrow, as God always has a different plan. But, it's a BETTER plan. These days I don't want much for you, besides for you to remain with us. I don't care what you do in your future, or what you are or are not capable of. Honestly, I want the best but when it comes down to it, I don't care if you grow up to be a successful businessman or a cook flipping burgers at McDonalds. I want you to have joy and to know Him, and all that He is. As long as you have that, I know you will be wealthy in more ways that you ever could need.

I want you to know on this night that we are dedicating you, how much we have learned from you. (And not just in medical terminology and diagnoses!) You have taught us more in your short time here with us than we have learned in our entire lifetimes. We have grown closer together, we have learned to seek and ask for help, and most importantly how to walk the closest we have ever been with the Lord. We can't thank you enough for strengthening our bond, our committment towards our family and most importantly our faith. We have learned that there are so many highs and lows, that sometimes it's a sickening roller coaster. But you would never appreciate the highs, if it weren't for those stomach dropping lows. Besides, it can be lonely at the top. But when you are low and leaning on Him, you find much more comfort than you realize.

I was thinking about your name the other day. We really didn't decide until the week before you were born if you were going to be a Corbin or a Caysen. When I go back and look up the meaning of your name, I find a variety of answers. "A variation of Casey", "pure" and "vigilant one". The last two particulary stick out in my mind. You are so young, so pure, so innocent and have been through so much. We have spent countless hours in the hospital, awake at night, praying and keeping vigil over you. The more I look back on it now, your name is just perfect and completely fitting for you.

I'll close with your life verse. It was hard to choose, as you have SO MANY verses that I use to think of you. The entire passage from Jesus Calling on your day of birth is one of my FAVORITE ever, one of the best reads that I go back and look on every time something comes up and I need encouragement. But I didn't choose those verses as your life verse. I chose the verse given to me by my friend Malissa, one that is fitting as it is the Psalm of your birth DAY and birth YEAR. I have included the verse after - because fittingly verse 14 discusses the heart. 2014 Is going to be a great year!

I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord. (Psalm 27:13, 14 NIV)

We love you so much Caysen. We are beyond thankful for you and have been so blessed by you in countless ways. You by far are the most difficult, challenging and yet rewarding thing we have ever been given the task of caring for. We love you more than we could ever put into words.

Love you to the moon and back!

Mommy and Daddy

Wherein I discuss my love for Church :)

I know I have written before about how much I love my church, but the love just continues to intensify.

 

I was thinking the other day about different people I have invited to church. Sometimes it's hard to invite people and not seem overly pushy. It's just that I have come to love the place so much, that I can't wait to share what I love with other people. I have people that I have invited and they turned me down, those are the ones that I continue to pray that they find comfort in Him or in some sort of support group. I continue to pray that they will one day take me up on that offer.

 

Then there are the people that I invite, and they come. And more often than not, they love it too! They see what my family loves about it, and often times they make it their new home. Its a great feeling being able to share something that is so important to me with others, and to see them fall in love with it as well.  This not only goes for friends, but for family. It started years ago and the only person I was able to bring with us to church was my mom. She enjoyed it - and over the years we have started adding more family, including my Dad, my mother in law and father in law and my mother in law's parents. Also? My mother in law's sister started going and then her daughter started coming and so going to church is like an exciting family reunion once a week! I love that people can be just as moved as I am by the weekly messages. It's not a traditional church - so much of it is via satellite which would turn almost any person off once you hear that mentioned. But, once you try it? It's pretty awesome. And you can't help but fall in love with the people, the staff, the message.

 

Just recently the Senior Pastor made a visit to our campus. (Our church is one church but multiple locations. We are spread out over various states - 15 different campuses as well as pioneering Church Online.) The senior Pastor is a very busy man, so a campus visit was pretty darn exciting. (Don't worry - we have a campus pastor as well who is AWESOME, but the Senior Pastor coming was a real treat.) Pastor Craig came and spoke to a packed house, the air was electric, everyone was excited and motivated. It was amazing. He talked about growth in the past year, as our campus is only one year old. In that time we went from having two services, to eight. Seeing over 4,000 people a weekend. In one year we have had 1,667 people raise their hands to commit their lives to Christ It's just amazing the work God is doing in our community and through our church. Hearing him speak in person, hearing his emotion behind his voice and his excitement over what is going on in our little slice of the world was just powerful.

 

Husband and I are so proud to be part of the team. We have a list of core values that I am going to list right here.

 

Lifechurch.TV Core Values:

 

1) We are faith-filled, big thinking, bet-the-farm risk takers. We’ll never insult God with small thinking and safe living.

2) We are all about the “capital C” Church! The local church is the hope of the world and we know we can accomplish infinitely more together than apart.

3) We give up things we love for things we love even more. It’s an honor to sacrifice for Christ and His church.

4) We wholeheartedly reject the label mega-church. We are a micro-church with a mega-vision.

5) We will do anything short of sin to reach people who don’t know Christ. To reach people no one is reaching, we’ll have to do things no one is doing.

6) We will lead the way with irrational generosity. We truly believe it is more blessed to give than to receive.

7) We will laugh hard, loud and often. Nothing is more fun than serving God with people you love!

8) We always bring our best. Excellence honors God and inspires people.

9) We are spiritual contributors not spiritual consumers. The church does not exist for us. We are the church and we exist for the world.

10) We will honor Christ and His Church with integrity. If we live with integrity, nothing else matters. If we don't live with integrity, nothing else matters.

 

I want to point out number 7 and 9. I absolutely love those.

 

You know, it took a long time for Husband and I to take the plunge and serve at church. We were regular attenders, making sure not to miss and if we had to? We caught it online. Well, we helped to launch the campus we currently attend and in doing so, we signed up to volunteer. We love volunteering. I don't know why it took us so long, we have met so many great people and there is nothing quite like the feeling of being the church and existing for the world. We have since transitioned from being regular volunteers on the parking and experience prep side of things to being Host Team leads every other week. That may sound like a step down, but it's a step up. It puts us in charge of the entire Host Team of Volunteers for one service - coordinating about 40 volunteers that do everything from assist with parking, greeting, ushering, hospitality (we serve sweet tea, Starbucks coffee and chips and cookies and granola bars at each service) and Experience Prep for those that help reset the auditorium after services. Its a lot of people to keep track of, to email on our week and encourage them, make sure they are still going to be coming, and then before the service we check them all in, print nametags and lead a huddle. The Huddle invovles more encouragement or any news as well as leading the entire group of people in prayer. INTIMIDATING!

 

But? We love it. It gives us an "off week" to have less commitments and it gives us a chance to learn more names and meet more people and feel that much more involved. The networking has been so fun! It has been enjoyable serving, and I'm so glad we do it now. I'm sad it took so long, but thankful we are invovled now. And like number 6 says, it is more blessed to give than recieve. And giving of my time is something I can definitely do, and love to do.

 

So I just thought I would write a little about my love for my church. I love those core values, I love the people, I love serving and I love learning. And there is so much left to learn, that's for sure!

At the Movies: Broken Arrow, The Finished Product!!

So, you wanted to see the finished product, eh? Well, here it is! I forgot to get a close up of the kids area and the Snow Cone station. That's right, kids get a snowcone! Do you have any idea how awesome that is? Plus the snacks are popcorn and candy, and of course you can get your free Starbucks. They added a new evening service for At the Movies, and with it they encouraged attendance by offering Klondike bars. Awesome! Needless to say, they are keeping the extra service.

The Ice Cave that Husband and I pioneered. This is the one we were
responsible for, so in our biased opinion it looks the best. :)

The finished Manny...

This is my sister's tree that she donated! Right up front!

Looking from one end of the lobby to the other!!

This is the host area, were you pick up your drinks and snacks.
For ATM, we have blue Gatorade as Glacier Ade, plus popcorn and candy.

That blur down there? That'd be Camden.

Little acorns were the signs for men and women restrooms.

Looking down the other end of the lobby!

And there you have it! The finished product. Again, all taken with my iPhone
so I apologize for the not so impressive quality. At least not what I am
used to taking anyway. ;)

Stay tuned for South Tulsa pictures!!!

At The Movies: Broken Arrow -- The set up

So, y'all know I LOVE my church, right? 

So when it came time for the At The Movies series - we jumped at the chance to volunteer all week to help put it together. This is right up C's alley, as he loves anything hands on or building anyway. He got to be creative and help with problem solving, so he was really in his element. Thankfully my mom was able to watch little C so we could make this happen. 

We volunteered almost everynight, and it was awesome to see it come together! 

The theme for Lifechurch.tv Broken Arrow Campus was Ice Age. Here are my pictures that I took with my iPhone, so they aren't super amazing but they'll do! 

These pictures are of the wooly mammoth, Manny. Any picture like this will show a progression of him coming together!

These were the "ice caves" in the process of being made. It took a lot of creativity and working with materials we had to figure out how to make them look good. 

These were the icicles that Husband had the task of figuring how to hang on the 8 TV screens we have in the lobby. He really enjoyed being given a task and problem solve on how to get them to hang, but he quickly figured that out in one night, and had them hung all on his own in one hour, so on to the next project it was!

This picture cracks me up, that is the "ice mountain" going up in another corner of the lobby and that would be our worship pastor hanging out on top of it, problem solving on how to get it to look the way he wants, but instead busting a move while up there. :) Get it done Brandon!

This is Manny coming right along! They had to go to 8 different fabric stores to find enough of this wooly mammoth hair to cover this beast!

Pretty awesome huh? Wanna see the finished product?

Stay tuned!!

Don't forget to watch Lifechurch.tv and church online. Last week they did "We Bought a Zoo" and it was amazing, and this weeks is "Moneyball". You can watch Moneyball anytime online for the rest of this week, so check it out! Fantastic message. :)

Lifechurch: At The Movies. Midtown visit!

I had to work last weekend, so we were unable to go to our regular Lifechurch campus because there is no saturday night service at our campus. Since it was At The Movies preview week, we got to go visit midtown campus. Their campus did a "Tangled" theme, and the lobby was all medieval and their LifeKids area was more cartoonish. It was pretty awesome but I must say, it sure looks like a LOT less work than covering up our campuses LARGE lobby area!

Husband and C checking out the dungeon

This is the stable area, and this area will have a live horse in it on Sunday mornings. I must admit, that was pretty exciting to me!!

Walking in to the campus you walked through a castle. It was pretty cool, definitely gave a neat feeling as you walked in.

This is what you walked in to get to the auditorium. Complete with fake flame! 

This is the LifeKids area, had a big Tangled mural.

This is the other side of the lobby had looked like it had some medieval castle like things. I obviously don't know the technical name!

Leaving through the castle.

A couple last shots of inside the lobby!

And a final shot of the worship. Cause it's AWESOME!

You guys, if you can't physically go to a LifeChurch location and want to be involved in At The Movies, you can watch live online. But trust me, if you really want a full experience? Going to see how the lobbies are decorated are AWESOME and totally worth it. We are going to try to visit another campus so we can really check out how everything is all done up. It's pretty exciting around these parts!! 

Dedication Letter

Dear Camden,

 

Today was your dedication. You may wonder what that means. To your Daddy and I it means that we are dedicating ourselves as parents to raise you to be the best we know how. And by doing that we are most importantly proclaiming to teach you to love the Lord with all your heart, soul and might.

 

Camden, you are one year and eight months old. You are a bundle of energy. You are growing, learning and exploring daily. You are a challenge to your Daddy and I. You are just learning to communicate your desires and your wants and it's hard for you when you can't adequately express yourself. Learning rules and limits takes patience and repetition, and you are learning slowly but surely.

 

I'm reminded of the analogy of a marble. It represents you, the child. It sits on a table and as parents we want to apply just enough pressure to appropriately guide you. If we apply too little pressure, nothing happens. If we apply too much, you shoot out from under our grip to never return. As parents we hope to be able to gently guide you to the stunning young man we know God has you destined to be.

 

You are very strong willed. Most people would look at this as a weakness. We choose to view it as a strength. It may be hard for us now to parent you properly, but once we get through to you and teach you how to channel it, I think it will be one of your biggest assets. I pray that God will use this quality to give you drive and determination to reach all the goals He has in mind for you. 

 

Being your parent has taught me so much, and I can't thank God enough for this opportunity. I have learned to see the world from a different viewpoint. To view things simply. To find joy in the small things, like blowing bubbles or seeing a dog, or holding your Mickey Mouse stuffed animal. I smile to myself every time I hear you tell nigh-nigh to everything in your room before falling asleep, and snuggling with your arms under your little body with your rump in the air. I cherish these simple moments more than I thought possible.

 

Your Daddy and I have really found a home at church, and we pray that you feel the same as you continue to grow. We want you to be involved in the kids programs, to make friends and to enjoy going to church and serving at church as much as we do. We pray that God will give us the tools and wisdom to guide you. We are so fortunate that God has chosen us to parent together, and that He entrusted your little soul into our care.

 

Your special verse for this day is Zephaniah 3:17.

 

"The Lord your God is with you,
he is mighty to save.
He will take great delight in you,
he will quiet you with his love,
he will rejoice over you with singing.”

 

I had a tough time picking a verse. But this one kept sticking out at me. The part about God being mighty to save is something I hope you never forget. I want you to know that no matter what you go through or difficulties in your faith, God is always there, delighting in you. It also says that the Lord will rejoice over you with singing. I felt the same way as God did the moment you were born. I was delighted. I was overcome with quiet love, admiration and oh so proud of you. And as your CiCi says, what a glorious picture, imaging the Lord rejoicing singing over us.

 

Camden, your Daddy and I love you so. We are so blessed to call you our son, to be on this parenting journey together, and with such an amazing little boy. We love you!

Mommy

 

*****

 And Happy Mother's Day to all the Mommies out there, and especially my mother, and my mother in law. Hope everyone had a fantastic day!

Easter.

Today is an amazing day. It is the day where our Lord and Savior, who died from our sins, rose again.

They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, "Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! Luke 24:2-6

Years ago, a Friday was the day where the world stood still. Hope was lost. Confusion abounded. But what we do know is that Sunday came. And on that Sunday there was a sunrise like never before. He is risen, INDEED!

He died to save us. The problem is, "until we see ourselves as sinners, we don't see a need for a savior" -Craig Groeschel

And I think that is one of the most important things we can take away. We are not good people. The only person who ever was good and pure? He died for us. He did something that no one ever would have chosen to do, but that something that he did was what EVERYONE needed.

Thank God for his amazing Son and our Savior on this day.

Happy Easter, friends.

If you are looking for a good message, or a hint into why bad things happen to good people? Check out Lifechurch.tv for Online Easter Services.

Announcing: LifeChurch BA!!

Husband and I have been part of a core group of people starting up a new campus of our church here in town. LifeChurch currently has three campuses in town, and it was time to launch a fourth and we agreed to be a part of the core group to assist with the launch. We went to meetings to get fired up and worship together, and events at the church to assist with putting together furniture and set up and learn our roles for serving.

This past weekend was the launch date - and it was SO exciting! We had two services, a 10 and an 1130. Husband and I went to the ten which was so packed it ended up being standing room only. We served in between the 10 and 1130 and were amazed at how quickly that service filled up as well. All in all, our campus saw over 2100 attendees and 43 people committed their lives to Christ. Exciting, huh?

{the auditorium, before the stage is set up and the chairs brought in!}

{blueprints. We got our permits to occupy only a few days before scheduled launch!}

{the next few are some of the wall art that I am SUPER in love with...}

{part of the HUGE kids room that Camden gets to play in..they are almost double in size from what we are used to!}

{The LifeKIDS area, so nice!}

This building actually used to be an old Albertson's. God had plans for us to use it, as it sat vacant waiting on us for about five years and then our church got an amazing deal on it. It just shows God provides for his people!

We were so packed out, that after one week they are already adding another service! This coming weekend there will be a 10, and 1130 and a 1! We are well on our way to having enough services to add a Saturday night, which is my FAVORITE time to go to church! (And it works out the best since I work every third weekend) Bring it on BA, let's do it!

Church at Christmas...

It's decorated up all warm and cozy at Christmas time. These are just cell phone pics, so they aren't great, but the atmosphere inside is awesome. I am loving singing the Christmas hymns and the messages that relate to a Christmas Carol has been exceptional. We are going to Christmas Service this Thursday, should be big time!! ;)

O Holy Night

We have been so busy decking the halls that it is easy to forget the true meaning of the season. In church, we are studying Christmas Carols. I love it. Christmas Carols are some of my favorite songs, and we only hear them for one month of the year. Our pastor has been taking a Christmas Carol, dissecting and explaining it's history and then choosing one line to focus on. I know when I hear these songs from now on, those particular verses and lines will stick out like a sore thumb. This past week was O Holy Night. He explained that the song was originally just a poem that someone decided to put to music, and was one of the first songs EVER to be broadcast over a radio. How cool is that? Then he took the line "the weary world rejoices, for yonder breaks, a new and glorious morn".

That in itself speaks volumes, without explanation. He went into detail about how weary the world was at the time, how far Mary and Joseph travelled on donkey (over 100 miles while 9 months pregnant? No thanks!), and how amazing it was when the morning broke and there was baby Jesus. It reminds me of another popular song in secular music, from Coldplay. They are singing about a girl that escapes to paradise in her dreams, and one of my favorite lines is "She knows the sun must set to rise". One of the pastor's personal comparisons was losing a friend to suicide and how the darkness and weariness can take over but there is always hope, and the sun(Son) will always rise. This spoke volumes to me - maybe because I work with suicidal people every day, or maybe because I lost a close friend in high school to suicide. Either way, there is always hope. And the sun will rise.

And now that verse, that beautiful verse about the weary world?

It will always stand out to me.

Ears, Part 734560

Okay, not really. But it sure seems like that is how many times I have blogged about Camden's poor ears recently.

We went to the ENT last week. With me helping by holding Lil C down and the ENT's med student pinning his head, the ENT used this skinny little sucker tool (yes, that's the technical name) to suck a bunch of the green goo out of his ear. He mentioned that he did have a middle ear infection and he believed it to be a result of having a non-functional tube for those few weeks. He said that the goo did build up in his eustachian tube and became infected, and thus started to drain out of his ear once I dislodged the clot. This means the poor kid had been walking around for a good week with an ear infection, because that's how long it was draining/gooing. At least having the tubes meant that he wasn't really bothered by it. He was a little uncomfortable at times, but no where NEAR how bad it was before tubes. Sleeping was not bothered, so that's a HUGE deal.

I figured the ENT would put us on an antibiotic. Much to my surprise, this was not the case. Instead he gave me a recipe for a vinegar/water/Domeboro solution to boil on the stove and use that to irrigate the ear for five days, twice a day and to use ear drops 3x a day for a week.

Camden has been amazing when letting me put mineral oil in or drops. But squirting three syringes full of a vinegar solution (read: painful burning solution)?? Didn't go over so well. He would CRY and CRY after we were done. No amount of book reading, Mommy cuddling, blankie snuggling, or paci loving would get him to stop crying for a good ten minutes. The very definition of losing ones shit.

Thankfully, our five days of horrid irrigation is over and we are just in the drop part. Unfortunately, our toe still being infected caused us to be put on oral antibiotics anyway. I suppose his ear is destined to heal no matter what. His toe though? Still looking funky. Not sure what is going to happen with that. We will see after our ten days is up.

AND ALSO? My Mom-tuition was right. Camden officially broke his third tooth through on October 6th. If I remember right, his first two were at ten months old, so it was about time. It appears to be the top, front right tooth. I can't tell if the other one will be following behind it soon or not, we shall see!

This also means he has not cut a tooth without having ear issues or being sick of some sort. I have no idea how he will cut teeth when he feels well! I will say, I had no idea he cut his tooth until BAM! there it was. Knock on wood, I hope that's a good thing.

le Sigh.

This week, I felt like church was directed right towards me. We are doing a series called Passing the Test. It was discussing the trials that God gives you and how they are important to make us stronger. Many times it was mentioned that if you aren't being tested, then something isn't right.

The verses that really hit home:
2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds,3 because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.4 Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.5 If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. James 1:2-5

My goodness, the pieces to the puzzle suddenly fit together. Husband and I were given these issues with Camden's health and well being to develop our perseverance. And despite all of the issues related to these medical problems we should be joyful that God chooses us to take this test, to help us grow our wisdom and to learn from this. I am ready to catch our break, but I do view it in a completely different light. We are definitely blessed to be tested!

Here's to healing!

I Heart At the Movies...

So last week kicked off LifeChurch's At the Movies series. This series is always in July, and in this series our amazing pastor takes 4 popular movies and shows clips from the movies and then uses the movie to relate it to something biblical. Past movies have ranged from Signs, to Nacho Libre, Napoleon Dynamite and Walk the Line. For the series, each campus has a big competition to see who can decorate their place up the best. Our theme this year was Toy Story, and volunteers spent countless hours in the past week setting it up. Walking in, it was designed to make it seem like you are the toy in Andy's bedroom. It is super impressive!! They always serve popcorn, sodas and candy, like you are really at the movies! The movie this week was The Blind Side. Here are a few pictures of the campus to help give you a visual...(sorry I forgot to take a picture of the amazing Etch A Sketch!)




This is the outside of the church, it is done in spray paint! So cool! Don't worry, they will paint over it once the series is over. Remember, you can click on any picture to make it bigger, and this is one impressive picture when bigger!





Walking in under Andy's bed. Sorry the pictures are only so-so, that's what you get with a camera phone!




Andy's nightstand




Andy's Dresser...see the Pizza Planet in the background? That is where snacks are served.




A view looking across the lobby...the Pizza Planet area :)




And finally, the alien's in the pinch and grab machine. They actually move!




And finally, a blurry picture of Slink.

Overall, it is such a fun time at church!! :) Can't wait til next week!