My Girl

OK, I realize I have been slack with my blog as of late. There has been so much going on these days, and I really need to tell you guys all about it. We'll just have to start with what is currently on my mind,and I'll try to catch all of you guys up in the next few weeks.

I just got back from dropping Caroline off at our church's youth group. Tonight is the first night that the rising 7th graders join the rest of Evergreen. I was not prepared for the flood of emotions I would experience today. I'm pretty sure I was more nervous than she. I was feeling the same way that I felt when I took her to kindergarten on the first day of school.

I mean, I know she'll be fine. She knows almost all the other kids, and she is the pastor's daughter - so people have to be nice to her. Right?!

I am just more determined than ever to enjoy every phase of my daughter's lives. I am realizing how quickly it all goes by.

We Always Have Joy

When we launched out to start The Branch, our main focus was helping hurting people. We didn't consider everything else that comes along with pastoring. I think we were "blissfully ignorant". Oh my, how we have learned that there is so much more that goes along with the role of helping to lead a body of people.

There have been decisions that we have had to make that haven't been the easiest, and my heart was heavy this morning. My good friend, Pastor Scott shared a Scripture with me that I found helpful, that I thought I would pass along.

2 Cor. 6:4-10 "In everything we do, we show that we are true ministers of God. We patiently endure troubles and hardships and calamities of every kind. We have been beaten, been put in prison, faced angry mobs, worked to exhaustion, endured sleepless nights, and gone without food. We prove ourselves by our purity, our understanding, our patience, our kindness, by the Holy Spirit within us, and by our sincere love. We faithfully preach the truth. God's power is working in us. We use the weapons of righteousness in the right hand for attack and the left hand for defense. We serve God whether people honor us or despise us, whether they slander us or praise us. We are honest, but they call us impostors. We are ignored, even though we are well known. We live close to death, but we are still alive. We have been beaten, but we have not been killed. Our hearts ache, but we always have joy. We are poor, but we give spiritual riches to others. We own nothing, and yet we have everything."

WOW! There is so much is these verses, I don't think I can really add anything to it! I am so thankful that God always has a word for us. I hope this passage blesses you as much as it did me.

Potty-Training

Oh, the joys of having a toddler!!

I realize that I have been slack in my postings, and am a little disappointed that my first post (in a while) is nothing spiritual. There really is no teaching, no deep thought, just the happenings of my world. I feel as if lately, someone has pushed the fast-forward button on my life, and I just haven't taken the time to blog.

So, this is what is going on at the Turner home these days - potty-training!! It has been 9 years since we have entered this beautiful phase of a child's life. To be quite honest, I have not been in a hurry to get Kate out of diapers - they are just really convenient!

When Kate goes potty on the potty, she gets a little treat. Caroline had the great idea of putting the treats in a play toilet. So, I thought I would share this picture of Kate holding her toy potty as she eats her treats.

This may be a long road. Kate doesn't seem to be in much of a hurry to get out of the diapers, either. We'll see how this goes. I just feel like it's time because she is over two, and Caroline was potty trained by the time she turned two. I know every child is different. We'll see...

I Never Knew That Was in There

One of the areas I need to work on, is speaking before really thinking. I'm sure I'm not the only one out there with this particular issue, but that doesn't make it right now, does it? One thing that I do that drives Derek crazy is I sometimes have a way of saying "I TOLD YOU SO", but not in those exact words.

Well, I was doing my daily Bible reading the other morning and came across a most interesting Scripture. I am reading the Bible through in the New Living Translation, and it is amazing what I am seeing because I am reading a Bible I can actually understand. (Yes, I am admitting I don't always understand King James English) Anyway, I was reading in Acts chapter 27, when I came across Paul saying to a group of men, "MEN, YOU SHOULD HAVE LISTENED TO ME IN THE FIRST PLACE..." What?!? Did Paul just say what I think he said. Now, I totally forgot the context in which it was written, but I just saw where the Apostle Paul said to a group of men "YOU SHOULD HAVE LISTENED TO ME IN THE FIRST PLACE".

So, now I have a Scriptural backing to say to Derek or anyone else - YOU SHOULD HAVE LISTENED TO ME! IN THE FIRST PLACE! As a matter of fact, I think that will be the next verse my children memorize:)

A Change in Perspective

This year has been much different than I had anticipated. God has been amazingly faithful to our family, and I have experienced a wide range of emotions. (If you don't know what I am referring to, just read my previous blog). I feel as if I am just now beginning my year. I want to thank everyone for their prayers, cards, calls and just general kindness.

It has been challenging for me to get the accident out of my thinking. I didn't drive for almost 3 weeks, and the first time I drove at night and saw headlights coming at me, I nearly freaked out. It has been amazing to see God's grace through it all. When I experience various emotions, I just call out to God to help me, and He does in such amazing ways.

One of my challenges is that I drive by the sight of the accident every time I leave my neighborhood. There is charred grass on the left side of the road, and skid marks and orange spray paint where my car came to a stop. I have looked at it every time I drive by, and there has been a sense of sadness and loss. That is until I got a call from a good friend.

My friend called to say that every time he drove past the scene, he would think of our family. He was wanting to spray paint the charred grass green but was unsure how to get rid of the skid marks on the road. Then he heard the Lord say, "No, that is to serve as a reminder of my protection." As soon as he said that to me I realized that I had been looking at that scene the wrong way. God saved my life that night! That's an amazing thing. All the paramedics and the policeman at the scene were shaking their heads in amazement that I had walked away.

It was astonishing to see that nothing on the outside changed, I just needed to change the way I was looking at that night and at the scene of the accident. It got me to thinking about so many things in our lives; we will see something that God has done, but not fully appreciate it. Maybe an answer to prayer didn't look the way we wanted it to look. I am now more aware than ever to be looking for what God is doing, to be thankful for all He has done. I have so much to be thankful for - I am alive!! God is good.

Where Do I Even Begin?

So, it's been over a month since my last blog. First of all, we had a great Christmas, just enjoyed spending time with family, excited about all that God had in store for the new year. Everything seemed to change, though, on New Year's Day. We had several families over, and I remember at one point, just stopping to thank God for the amazing people He had brought into our lives. Caroline had a friend over, and I had promised Caroline that I would take her to see a movie. We loaded into the car and headed to the mall.

We were almost out of our neighborhood, when I saw headlights coming directly at us. Having no time to respond, the car slammed into us. I just screamed "Jesus". The girls were also screaming, and then Caroline (who was the most calm one) asked "is everyone OK?" I tried to get out of my door but couldn't open it. I was telling the girls we needed to get out of the car. We got out and people were running toward us asking how we were. I was making sure the girls were alright, and they were fine. My back was really hurting. I just wanted to have Derek with me, so I called him and then called 911. The man's car was on fire, and people who heard the crash from their homes had come out and were attempting to get him out of the car.

The scene was crazy. I was just holding the girls, all of us crying, while wives are screaming at their husbands to get away from the car because they are concerned it is going to blow up. We were just praying for God to help them get this man out of the car. It seemed like an eternity, but they finally got him out. I hear a man yelling for his family, and I realize it is Derek. He runs to us and holds us all. The paramedics arrive, and the scene calms down a bit. I am just thankful that we are all alive and not seriously injured. I have to go to the hospital so they can check-out my back. Caroline is fine, but her friend complains of chest pain. So she is wheeled into the ambulance next to me. I look at her while we are both laying on stretchers, and tears are falling down her sweet cheeks.


We get all checked out, and we are fine. They give me prescriptions for pain and tell me to prepare to be sore. The next day, Derek has a wedding, so my sister-in-law takes care of the girls for me. I am home alone when the doorbell rings. I reluctantly get out of bed and go to the door. It is a police officer. He comes into the house to give me the police report and tells me that the man was drunk. I just lost it, and started crying in front of the policeman. My husband's first wife was killed when they were hit head-on by a drunk driver. The night before, I just assumed he had a heart attack, it was 7:30 - who is drunk at 7:30? They think he was passed out when he hit me. The policeman then tells me that the man was going 45 and I was going 35. He says that I am lucky to be alive, that usually it is the drunk person who walks away and the victims die. He also tells me the man is in critical condition at the hospital because of smoke inhalation. WOW- lots of emotions swirling around. I tell the policeman about Derek's first wife, and he just looks at me and shakes his head.


I could go on and on with more details, I already shared more than I had planned. I am not the best at putting into words everything that has gone on. If you want to see pictures and videos, you can check out Derek's blog. To be honest, I am kind of tired of looking at any pictures from that night, and I don't really like talking about it. I am ready to move on now. It has been quite a ride these last few weeks. I feel like I am just now starting my new year.

I only anticipated being sore for about 3-4 days. I then learn that it actually takes about 6-8 WEEKS until a person is back to normal after such an accident. All I could do to get better was rest. Initially, that sounded just fine to me. I could use some rest, but after several days in bed, I was starting to get a little frustrated. God has done quite a work in me with all of this, but I will save that for another blog. This is already shaping up to be my longest blog yet. One of the things I have been most thankful for in all of this are the people that we have in our lives. Our church family and neighbors have been amazing! We have had food, cards, flowers, calls and e-mails galore. WOW, people are really thoughtful in a time like this.

One tidbit on what God has been teaching me in all of this is to want what God is doing on the inside more than I want things on the outside to change (thanks, Sherrie). Yes, I am ready for the pain in my back and neck to be gone for good, but I want to be so content with who God is and with what He is doing. I want to be more aware of Him and who He is than I am of my circumstances.

Choices

For those of you that go to our church, you know that Derek says things at times that embarrass me. I always felt sorry for pastor's wives because of how they would expose their families to everyone in the church - and now I am one!! Most of the time, it doesn't bother me, I am able to laugh a lot of things off. However, this past Sunday was a little different. So, here's the scoop.

Derek has been teaching on serving the last few weeks, and he really is a servant in our home, most of the time:) He was talking about how sometimes we don't feel like people deserve us serving them. He said that sometimes we may feel like that in our homes. I was a little confused and a bit taken aback, thinking - so Derek is JUDGING me and won't serve unless he feels like I DESERVE it. What is that about?? I'm just being honest here!

So, the rest of the service, I didn't hear much of what he said because I was so upset with him. And then, I finally came to my senses and realized that it really isn't a big deal and I need to make a decision to believe the best! Love covers - right?! It took a little while, but by the time the service was over, I was good. I did have to stay for the second service so I could really hear the message.

I just thought it was good to share this moment because I realized that it really is a choice to believe the best. He didn't mean anything by what he said, he was just being real. Let's make choices to cover each other's weaknesses or faults, especially in this busy season.