women's ministry

My mind has been a whirlwind lately of thoughts about Women's Ministry.  So much so that I am wishing I had a degree in Women's Ministry from SEBTS and not just Biblical Counseling!  I'm having to remind myself that God is in control and knows exactly how to reach the women in and outside of our church.  We collected almost 50 surveys from women on Sunday and I spent almost all of Sunday evening collecting data and making charts of what the women in our church want.  (Remember my comments about organization yesterday...yeah).

Bottom line, I know that women are busy.  Whether they work at home or outside of the home. Whether they have young kids or grown kids.  We women seem to have trouble saying "no" I have realized, and that can almost leave no time for "extra" stuff.  Unfortunately, church can sometimes get put in that "extra" category.  I know I'm a little bit different because as a minister's wife, I sometimes feel that church is our only category!  (And I'm ok with that!)  I guess because church can sometimes feel like it is my "only category" I am so eager to spend time with women at church, but I realize that not everyone else is that flexible.

Why am I writing about this?  Well, I need your help!  I have heard from the women in our church.  Now I want to hear from you!  What elements of women's ministry at your church are most relevant to you?  What Bible studies have you most enjoyed?  What is the most important element of a women's ministry?  What aspect of an event, study, or program makes you look at your busy schedule and decide it is worth your time?  What element would you love for your church to include in a women's ministry?

I know what I think - and it would take a ton of posts to fill you in on what's going on in my head write now about Women's ministry ideas.  So I would love to know what you think!  If you can, please take a moment to share your ideas.  Thanks!

more vbs fun!

Here are some more pictures of VBS last week. On the last night Justin got a pie in the face, so we just had to stay and watch! Yum! Elijah loved all the VBS songs and just jumped up and down when I had him in the closing rally. (He sure heard them enough around the house last week!)

I snuck in and caught a picture of Elijah sleeping one night

Elijah's teachers surprised me and took him to crafts one night! So sweet!

Justin and the kids leading a song at the final worship rally.

Let the pieing begin!! (Justin and our pastor, Johnny)

And everyone got pied!!

There's a missions offering competition between the guys and girls every year to see who get's pied. The girls won, so the guys got pied, but Cheryl and Tina were good sports and took one to the face too! This was the last picture I got before it got SO loud I had to take out a screaming baby.

musical monday

There's such a benefit to being a part of a church choir. Not only are you blessed by leading the congregation in singing, but you also get to witness the congregation worshiping from a different view. As I look out at our church congregation each Sunday, I notice quite a spectrum of worshipers. From those who perhaps aren't so comfortable with singing, attempting to move their lips without drawing attention to themselves, to those who unashamedly seem to give their entire mouths and bodies over to the corporate time of worship. I am honestly blessed and humbled by both types of worshipers, though I guess I find myself falling somewhere in the middle.

I am intrigued by the first group because I honestly don't know what it's like to not like to sing. I spent many hours as a child and teenager "entertaining" my poor family as I would sing just about anything from Sandi Patty to TLC. And if no one was there to listen, I would sing anyway. I just love to sing. Those who struggle with singing cause me to be thankful of my God-given eagerness to sing.

The second group of worshipers challenges me to be more free in my witness and worship of my Savior. Growing up in more of a traditional church, where people did not raise hands, I have been stretched over the years as I "learned" to raise my hands and now enjoy worshiping in that way. Still, as I sing, there is often a "battle" raging in my mind some Sundays of whether or not to raise my hands in worship. During times when I have been faithfully relying on God's Word each day I seem to raise my hands with ease, and then other times when I am struggling to be faithful, I do find it harder to simply raise my hands in worship. I long to be so in tune with God that my outward expressions of worship are just an outcry of a humbled heart. Those who are so free in worship ignite a passion in me to grow closer to the Lord.

I loved watching our congregation yesterday as we sang the song You Are God Alone. As we sang more and more of the song, more and more hands could be seen across the sanctuary as the words resonated within their minds. How amazing to watch as God touched the hearts of His people who were offering praise to Him. As we come together to bless our Savior in our praise, we are uniquely blessed by Him in a way that just can't happen when we are alone.

No matter what "type" of worshiper you are, God desires to draw you even closer to Him and enable you to worship Him more intently. Are you open to His prompting within your worshiping heart?

"O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory. Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you. So I will bless you as long as I live; in your name I will lift up my hands. My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips"

Psalm 63:1-5

to d.c. and back!

As you can tell from the lack of blogging, our lives are just not that interesting lately. Other than the great time spent with our adorable son, not that much goes on in the Blakley household each day. With summer here, we just had to create our own excitement. And nothing spells excitement quite like a road trip with a 4 month old!

Because we had a singing group for the entire church service on Father's Day, this meant a "week off" for Justin. We decided to take advantage of that and planned our trip around the churches of music ministers Justin wanted to glean some wisdom from. This sent us to Durham for Justin to attend a choir/band rehearsal last Wednesday at The Summit Church and north of Washington D.C. to attend a worship service at Covenant Life Church.

We've been to The Summit several times, and their choir rehearsal is an amazing thing to be a part of. God has tremendously blessed their worship leader, Chris Gaynor with a humble, kind spirit, and a gift for leading God's people in worship. Justin was glad to be able to go again and spend some time talking to Chris. Since we were headed that way, we spent some time Wednesday and Thursday seeing some friends in Roxboro, where we used to live. That was a great blessing and such a good time to catch up with people we hadn't seen in a while. (Really, everyone just wanted to meet Elijah!)

Friday morning we headed to D.C. to spend two nights. Our time in D.C. was pretty much spontaneous and hilarious because we were just following wherever "Mr. GPS Voice" took us! With Elijah, we knew we'd have to be flexible and Justin and I are aren't exactly what you would call "planners," so we just went with the flow.

Looking back...we would've done a few things differently, but I guess you learn what to do and not to do when traveling with kids...so now we know for next time! Overall, Elijah had enough clean clothes and diapers, ate every meal, and didn't get us kicked out of the hotel, so isn't that all that really matters?! I survived my first two "real" public breastfeeding episodes - one at the National Museum of Art and the other on a park bench facing the Washington Monument - I definitely set my standards pretty high! (All the other times I fed Elijah in the car).

So, as Elijah slept around D.C. on Saturday, Justin and I toured a couple of places. Other than enjoying the great monuments, we decided that the internet has probably caused us to lose a little bit of our wonder in the museums. As Justin put it, if we wanted to see Kristi Yamaguchi's figure skates, we'd just look online. If we wanted to see Duke Ellington's manuscripts, we'd Google them. We're gonna have to save up our excitement for when our children are old enough to want to tour these places. (Obviously we didn't do a good job picking the right Smithsonian museums to visit, either!)

Then, Sunday we headed to Covenant Life Church for what we thought was an 11:00 service. Turns out, the internet ISN'T always right and their 2nd service is at 11:30. Too bad we got there at 10:20. Oh well, that left me time to nurse Elijah and tour their GIGANTIC children's area. I was SO impressed. I felt so welcomed as I found their "Infant Care Room" that housed what looked like theater seating of sofas and nursery gliders. Nice. Real Nice. There's nothing like nursing in style at church on Sunday morning. (At least that once!)

My experience was nice, but unfortunately the pastor (Joshus Harris) and the worship pastor (Bob Kauflin) were out of town yesterday. It was a great service, but I hated that Justin couldn't "see Bob in action." I think it was a good first Father's Day, though!

It was a great trip, but its good to be home. More thoughts and pictures to come!

7 quick takes friday

1.

When we moved to Elkin over a year ago, I was determined to choose a beautiful comforter for our bed. I looked and looked, and ended up spending way more money than I should have, but I was pleased with what I found. Apparently Jazz hates it! Because since I have owned it, that poor comforter has been drycleaned at least 4 times. (That’s over 20 bucks each time! Ugh!) Why, you ask? Because Jazz just LOVES to pee on it. Not only that, but it is forever ruined with runs in it because of her toys that I repeated tell her not to play with on the bed. (I know, I know! She’s like my first child!) Well, the other morning, Justin was already in the shower and I awoke to the sound of Jazz heaving next to me. (Yes, we have let Jazz start sleeping with us again). …somebody please pick my Mom off the floor if you are with her… I was alert enough to know that doggy throw-up would be more easily cleaned off of the pillowcase than a blanket, so I shoved the pillow up under her. (Later Justin said, “Why didn’t you just throw her off the bed”…again, barely alert here!) At the last minute, though, Jazz turns her head and vomits right on my (beautiful, satin) comforter. UGH! Back to the cleaners…unbelievable…I’m gonna have to assign a whole budget category to cleaning my comforter.

And yes, I hear you…we should just stop letting Jazz on the bed…but I’m a sucker!

2.

I love to make lists. In fact, I literally make a list for EVERYTHING. I love to see things checked off or crossed out during the day. So why, since I am staying at home do the lists just seem to glare at me louder and louder as I accomplish less and less? It was nice when I could make a list at night, planning for the next day, accomplish a few things in the morning, then leave the list behind as I went to work, returning to it later. For some reason, I am despising lists lately as they continually remind me of what I am NOT getting done while I’m at home all day.

I wish I had a list of all my outings/fun things I want to do in a week. Maybe I should just start one and pretend I have a life outside our home!! Anyone wanna volunteer to be on that list??

3.

I’ve decided that Monday needs to be “Crockpot Dinner Night” because I have piano lessons from 5:15-6:15 and Justin goes to play basketball at 7. Any good crockpot recipes out there?? I have found that those can be the most discouraging new recipes to try out because you are literally waiting around all day to find out if it’s gonna be any good or not! Please share!

4.

Since being at home with Elijah, I have gone through different spurts on the internet. Some days I could care less about getting on and find facebook/blogging/e-mail to be of no interest. Then there is this week…I have been addicted to being online. Maybe it’s because I’m actually getting some more sleep now and getting more time to myself during Elijah’s naps. I don’t know. I just know I’m gonna have to set some ground rules for myself. Mostly, this week, I have been addicted to this blog. I set out to be a Babywise mom with Elijah (more about that later) and this blog is AWESOME!!! I have spent hours reading, so now that it’s Friday and Justin’s day off, I have to make up for all my slack. No fun!

5.

Today, I’m going to pick out some tomato plants and herbs to plant. We had a pretty big garden last year, especially for new gardeners, but this year we’re gonna tone it down a bit. Unfortunately, right now I’m not eating tomatoes because they negatively affect Elijah, but I’m hoping to try them again soon and find that they don’t bother him. I’m excited to have fresh herbs for the first time. Any suggestions on those are welcome!

6.

Here’s a picture of Elijah from last Friday when my friend Sarah visited us!

Hard to believe he’s 11 weeks old now.

7.

I’m excited for my first Mother’s Day on Sunday! Elijah will be dedicated and our parents and my sister are getting to come to church with us. I’ve looked forward to this day and I want his dedication to be a reminder to us constantly of Who Elijah truly belongs to. These verses have been my challenge as we continue to raise him:

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
Deuteronomy 6:5-9

Happy Mother’s Day to you all!!

church nursery

We've had revival this week with our church and two other area churches, so last night I had to prepare to leave Elijah with nursery workers I didn't know. I had a great test/lesson of my faith when this 80-looking year old woman walks in the nursery, takes a look at Elijah and says..."Well, I've never taken care of one that small before."

Hello?? First rule of nursery care should be...never reveal to the mom how much you don't know about babies...(or, even better, don't sign up for nursery if you don't know anything about babies!)

Really, I didn't have to worry too much because another mom of two boys walked in and she was gonna be in the room to help. Of course, last night was the LONGEST revival night yet, so it was a good thing I didn't wear my watch. Elijah survived and all is well!..although I'm pretty sure the (80-looking year old) woman called him a "she" when she gave Elijah back to me. Oh, well...gotta love the church nursery.

Another note about church nursery...last Sunday Elijah came home wearing makeup on his sleeper and smelling like a perfume counter...yuck!! ...But he was in one piece!

reflecting over 8 weeks

Tomorrow Elijah will be 8 weeks old. I can't believe it. I have watched my "Sweet Pea" just grow and grow and my love for him just keeps growing, too. It's true what "they" say...it's hard to imagine life before he was a part of our little family. Elijah has been a true joy. My first few weeks as a mother were quite a roller coaster ride of emotions. I would go from thinking "this is the greatest thing in the world" to thinking "what in the world have I gotten myself into." I've had moments of true clarity while being a mom as well as moments of great doubt. I never knew that I would begin to worry so much when we had our son, but God has been good to help me (mostly) keep my head on straight and gain control of my thoughts. (Reminding me that Elijah is His).


My days seem so strange to me lately...a never ending cycle of baby events. I feel so crazy on the days when our routine seems to go haywire, but days like today when Elijah is a "dream baby" I just feel so complete in what I am doing right now. I desperately need to put some more "me time" in to my routine...(aka: I've gotta make some friends and get out of this house!) ...but overall, I am so thankful to be staying at home with Sweet Pea and watching him grow.


Recently, he has been smiling SO big and cooing like crazy. I just can't get enough of that! Sometimes he'll just smile up at me and I just can't help but cry because my heart is so full. What an unbelievable feeling to love someone so tiny so much. Elijah has been sleeping so good at night. I am so blessed. Today he woke up in his crib about 7:30 and just laid there and cooed and talked to himself for about 10 minutes. I just don't know how it can get any better than that! I feel like my whole being is now wrapped up in his accomplishments instead of my own. I can't wait to see what God has planned for this little boy.


One of my favorite things is taking Elijah to church. My little Sweet Pea just eats up the attention of all the ladies in the nursery. (I'm so in trouble since all of his little nursery friends are gonna be girls!) He's been so good in the nursery so far. Our church has tv's in the nursery rooms for the workers to listen to the service and they all tell me that he just turns his little head toward the screen whenever his daddy is singing or the choir is singing. I just love that!

Just this week, Elijah has started smiling at me while I'm nursing him. He'll just take a quick break and smile so big up at me. I'm telling you...Justin is gonna come home one day and just find me in a puddle on the floor! I can't believe he's 8 weeks old tomorrow, but I definitely owe the blog some pictures, so check in for a photo update!

mommy's "big break"

Alright. I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna post. It may mean I miss my window of opportunity for a shower right now during Elijah's nap, but so be it!

I have to share with you about my "big break." That is...my big break from Elijah last night as I left him in the church nursery. Ok - it was only for an hour, but I must have looked at my watch a million times during that hour as I sat in church. The service was great last night and it felt so wonderful to be back at church and out of the house, but I still worried about my little man. Mostly because he was basically screaming when I left him. (I felt good and bad about that!)

I was praying about whether or not last night was the time to get out and go to church for the first time as I was feeding Elijah yesterday afternoon. As I was praying, I suddenly realized that orange, runny poop was running onto my jeans, my boppy, and my awesome (antique white) rocking chair. As I changed Elijah, I called my mom, then Justin on advice on how to get this awfully orange stain out of my chair cushion that I thought was machine washable. Turns out the directions say not to wash it. Long story short, I got the stain (mostly) out, but I was sure this was God's answer to going to church: "OK, Erin, you're right, you're just not ready to leave Elijah in someone else's hands while you spend time in worship." And I was ok sharing that with Justin - tonight just was not going to be the night.

But...after I had a chance to calm down from the ridiculous stains, throw my jeans in the wash so I could wear them (because not much else fits right now), get dinner started, put Elijah to sleep (after I changed another completely full orange, runny diaper)...God was confirming that it was the night to head out to church again. And it was such a blessing.

I dropped Elijah off at the nursery where it was just him and one other little girl. I changed another yucky diaper (trying to be considerate), which ended in me leaving him screaming with the nursery worker. Even though it was weird not having him with me, I returned to the nursery to find him fed, SO content, and eating up the attention of all the ladies who had inevitably shown up to get a peek at him. I was so proud! He did really well for his first nursery experience. The rest of his umbilical cord fell off while he was there, which freaked out the ladies, but I was just glad to finally have it all gone!

Then, we headed to choir practice where I was praying for the same good experience. And it was! It was like Elijah knew exactly where he was - I guess because he'd spent 9 months sitting through Justin's (grueling) choir rehearsals. (Just kidding, babe!) He was wide awake at first, taking it all in. Then he slept for the rest of the time, which amazed me. Again, I was so proud!

I'm so thankful for how God calms our nerves and often works things out better than we had even expected. How amazing that God cares about the small areas of our lives, knowing exactly how we feel. I pray that I will continue to give my fears and feelings to the Lord as I am raising Elijah, because, honestly, he has evoked some major feelings since his arrival, and I've gotta keep my thoughts in check with Him!

Please share: What was your first experience in leaving your child in someone else's care??

productive week! ...with correction!

So...my week in review...

• I turned 27! Monday (can't believe it) and got some great scrapbooking stuff from Justin that I can't wait to check out and these beautiful flowers!
• We had a great Ladies Fellowship meeting on Tuesday night at church...now on to planning for December
• We went with our parents on Monday to look at a house Justin found last week. They love it and we love it!...plans are in the works!
• Two of my closest clients at work had their babies! Praise the Lord!
• I had a great OB appointment...it's hard to believe I only have three weeks left! (Um...hello I must have had a "pregnancy moment!"...I have three MONTHS left! Glad you girls read and commented...no...with three weeks left I doubt I'll even have the patience to bullet everything!) I was told I was measuring "perfectly," so I liked hearing that :) ...It would've really been a productive week if we had decided on a name... but Baby Blakley is still doing great!
• I baked a pumpkin pie...from real pumpkins...tastes pretty good, too!
  

From decorations.......to dessert!!

• Justin has been back and forth on the phone with banks and mortgage companies and the owner of the house we're looking at...things are looking good...I'm so glad he's doing the dirty work, though!


• I decorated for Christmas!! And I'm so glad...it's minimal, because we're hoping to move very soon, but I'm just glad to have my manger scene up and all the beautiful Christmas things. I can't believe we might be moving around Christmas again! Oh well!
  
• We saw Fireproof today - finally! And I cried almost the ENTIRE time ...I should have been warned as the pregnant, already emotional woman that I needed to take plenty of tissues. But, I loved it!

church family...

...is one of the greatest things in life. I just left praise team rehearsal tonight, and every time I leave I am so thankful to be around believers and people who are focused on taking time out of their week to prepare for upcoming worship services. There is just nothing like the fellowship of the Church. I love that I get to work with Christians each day - I know that everyone does not have that work environment. I love that you know you can share prayer requests that others will take seriously and have compassion on. I love that I know others who are working behind the scenes in church each week, not ever expecting to get any recognition. What a privilege to know people who truly love the Lord and it shows!

I am so saddened when I hear people say that they don't go to church because of the hypocrites that they know in church. Of course, everyone in church is not perfect - we're human. But I'm thankful to be a part of a church where I daily see the genuine love and grace of those around me. What a great testimony to those around! If you are reading this and have been hurt by someone in church - I'm sorry. If you are not connected in a church, I urge you to keep looking for a church that is welcoming and where the preacher is real and true to the Bible. Don't quit looking if you haven't found that yet. Church is an essential element in a Christian's life. There is nothing like having a supportive, God-glorifying church family.

______________________________________

Side note: Happy 100th post to me! It's been a long road to 100 - not as celebratory as I'd hoped it would be, so I'm working toward a party at #200! Stick with me :)

mythbusters

As promised...here's the video!

Our house is in the background, so you can see how close we actually are to the church!

welcome home present

So after a wonderful day of work (honestly), I got home, walked in the door and realized that our dryer was running (it's right by our back door). I was confused for a few seconds...I knew that I (obviously) didn't have anything going in the dryer because I hadn't been home in 6 hours. Justin was at youth choir practice and I couldn't think of what he might have been drying. (Mostly because I don't think he knows how the dryer works!...haha...love ya, honey!).

So...I hesitantly opened the door and about fell over. There was a cat in there!

*Warning* If you are an EVBC member...this next part might spoil a Sunday surprise!...You may not want to read :)

Thankfully, it was not, I repeat, not a real cat.

As usual, being the music minister's wife, I have been well aware of what the plans are for this Sunday's service. They happen to include a promotional video for a great sermon series our pastor Johnny will be doing on Wednesday nights. (Can't tell you yet, though!!)

A new sermon series for Johnny equals hours of thinking, planning, and yes, scheming for Justin. Lucky me...I get to see and hear all of that for weeks as Justin runs ideas by me. Lucky for our congregation...Justin runs ideas by me so that they are not subjected to some (a lot!) of them. God has gifted Justin with an incredible sense of humor and great, crafty ideas to engage our congregation and encourage them toward participation (in my personal opinion). I guess He has also gifted me with a skepticism and just enough discernment to help look at the possible outcomes for some of his ideas and hopefully encourage or discourage ideas, accordingly. This time, thankfully I only ended up with a stuffed cat in my dryer. It could have been worse. You'll soon understand...

I promise I'll link you to the video for Sunday when it's been "released," but for now, you can be thankful with me that it was only a stuffed cat involved in this filming.