Team Building

ok. I have a new favorite thing about summer and it's happening in spite of me...which I love!!

A little back story first:
My hubby, Erik, created this team mentality with the kids - Team Rogers - to connect us as a family. He often calls a huddle, rallies the team, then sets them off with a mission and an "all hands in - one, two, three: Team Rogers!". The kids love it! But - it seems like the team-ness of our team has dwindled a bit during the school year. Yes, we still rally behind each other, but different schools and schedules have unknowingly divided the kids a bit.

So back to my new favorite thing about the summer: team building.

I'm watching my kids come back together in the sweetest way this summer. They are choosing each other, deferring to each other and pulling together in a cool way - like a team again. They are working together, making decisions together and calling for each other when they wake up in morning (ok -that's just Cole, but it's pretty cute, none-the-less). And like I said - this is all happening in spite of me.

Next year my girls will be going to the same school for the first time (kindergarten and second grade) and I love knowing that they spent the summer growing together as a team. I have a sister and I know how things can go as they get older....high school wasn't pretty around our house between the two of us....but I pray that this precious bond they have now can endure through all the many stages ahead.

If nothing else, at least I know we'll have summers to draw us back together so that we can reestablish the team! So what about your team? How can you encourage a little team building around your house?

Better than a Hallelujah

Have you heard Amy Grant's new-ish song called Better than a Hallelujah? I'm not a huge fan of hers and at first the song seemed cheesy to me (which sadly is a defense mechanism of mine) but after hearing it a few times - you know, because KLTY plays the same songs over and over and over - I have grown to love it.

The chorus is my favorite part:

We pour out out miseries
God just hears a melody
Beautiful, the mess we are
The honest cries of breaking hearts
Are better than a Hallelujah

I love the idea of our messiness being beautiful to God when laid bare before him. Vulnerability is beautiful. Brokenness is beautiful. And not because God likes to see us broken but because He can do great things with that which is broken.

And I love the idea too that our desperate cries to Him mean so much more than any "churchy" amen or hallelujah. Automated responses and dutiful replies are like echos bouncing off the walls of a hidden canyon somewhere.

"The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit." Psalm 34:18

"Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge." Psalm 62:8

Anyways - it's a sweet song. Just thinking out loud....Happy weekend to you!

I'm dreaming of.....

Are you a dreamer?

I'm not. I might even been a dream killer. A realist to the core. I don't want to dream too big and wind up disappointed. So, I have settled comfortably into not dreaming at all.

But what if I'm missing out on something more. Something more intended for ME.

A friend prodded me on this - the subject of my lack of dreaming - and she got me thinking. (Good friends are good for that!) She challenged me to let myself dream again, and I have to be honest, it made me a little afraid. Silly - right??

But here's the deal. If I really want more of God - if I'm really pursuing him with all I've got - I need to start letting him enlarge my thinking. Like Pastor Randy always says, "God is bigger and better than we think He is".

And hello - summer memory verse!! I can't even imagine how much God might want to do in and through me. So bring on the dreams, Lord. Fill me with dreams that fit right in to the amazing plan you already have for me. Bigger and better than I could imagine on my own. God sized dreams that only You can full fill!

So, for all you dreamers out there - what do you dream of?

Favorite Things....

Ok - it's JUNE 1st....and it's H - O - T hot outside. Did you see the weather forecast for this week???? 99, 100, 101, 102 - MERCY!!! So much for easing into summer!
But instead of whining and complaining (like I want to do), let's remind each other about all of the fabulous things about summer.

I want to hear from YOU......

What is your favorite thing about summer?

Here's mine:
Favorite time of day - when the sun starts going down till dark
Favorite treat - snow cones, Slurpee's or homemade slushies
Favorite activity - anything in or near water
Favorite thing - no schedules, sun-kissed cheeks, no make-up, having a tan (even my fatty parts look better with a tan!), lazy mornings, hanging with friends by the pool