I've been published!

Just in case you are wondering... I was getting bored of the way my blog looked... wanted a change. No worries! Same ol' me! Different template. :)

The latest exciting development in my life? I have become a published author... cool! My pastor has been after me for a couple years to WRITE for the kingdom of God. He recognized a gift I had. I was too busy raising my family. There is a online weekly magazine called 90&9 that serves as a forum and voice for Apostolic Pentecostal Christians around the world that he encouraged me to write for. "Yeah, yeah, in my spare time", I would tell him. LOL! Right! Then our friend Stu from the state of Georgia joined in the encouragement. Evidently, he became my "unofficial agent" (hee hee hee), as he wielded the editor's pen, per se, on one of my attempted writing projects. One day, however, I was moved to write and the words just flowed. I submitted the article, and a few weeks later, BOOM! There is my article on the website! What a neat feeling! If you are interested, you can read the article here.

Three days and counting until the BIG CONCERT! And the beginning of 5 busy days of camp! I am anxious to just drink in the Word of God, to be refreshed at the well, to renew the Spirit within me. I also want to see my boys receive the Holy Ghost, and build new and lasting friendships with other children in our district. I am very excited, and am going EXPECTING great things to happen in the Spirit! I'll write when I get back! Blessings!

Funny picture

Couldn't go to bed without sharing this picture of my youngest son with you. He and CJ are best buddies (CJ lives upstairs). CJ is gone for the summer with his dad. Nick misses him terribly already. They played together a LOT the last few days he was home, and I took some pictures of them being silly. This picture is worth a thousand words! LOL!



Nick and his buddy CJ trying to look tough with clothespins in their hair.... LOL!

Now I am really going to bed! Night all!

Concert on Saturday

Hello everyone! Well, camp begins in just 5 days! I am so excited! We are opening camp this year with something really really different... we have formed a District Choir, and they are phenomenal! They are powerfully anointed! And if you want to find out how passionate this endeavor is for Jesus Christ, just read the NH/VT District Music Blog, and read about the last practice, which was just this past Saturday. This concert will change lives forever. This concert will introduce people to Jesus, the life changer. I cannot seem to adequately express in words what I feel in the Holy Ghost... It will be the beginning of something much bigger than us! If you have the chance to attend, my local readers, DON'T MISS IT!!! :)

Today, I worked hard on camp stuff in the morning, then the boys and I went swimming, because it was 95 degrees! They swam for about 3 hours, then we came home, recovered briefly in the air conditioning, and then headed out to watch my husband play softball with the EMS team. They SMOKED their opponents from the lab by a score of 25-3! Yee ha! That's okay, two weeks ago, the EMS team was smoked by the UVM Math dept. by a score of 14-3. They know what it feels like!

Well, the A/C is in my bedroom... the computer is in the Living room. Time to retire! Blessings!

tooth fairy is comin' tonight

Today was HOT. Yup. The thermometer in my volvo read 100 degrees today (it's a black car with black interior....). Hot. Anyway, it was a perfect day for the two birthday parties my sons attended. They were both invited to separate super soaker parties... one for their cousin, one for Adam's best friend Josh. They had a ball and played really hard in the heat. Consequently, they are both exhausted tonight. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Thank GOD for air conditioning! Can I get an AMEN??

The most exciting part of the day?? Nicolas FINALLY lost his first tooth! He is very excited! He knocked on the door of every apartment in our building to show off the new hole in his head! Hee hee hee! He was chanting, "Tooth fairy is comin' tonight! Tooth fairy is comin' tonight!" He's far too cute!

Nick FINALLY lost his first tooth!



Anyway, I got lots done for church camp today. I bought all the craft stuff, and made 30 kits to make mosaic trains from foam shapes. Sounds boring, I know, but it will be fun when it all comes together!

Time to motor. I'm beat! Want to hear some EXCELLENT preaching online??? Here's a fabulous link! Check it out! http://www.goodpreaching.com/media/index.php?q=f&f=%2FPreaching

Pre-camp exhaustion!

Wow... it's been 5 days since I have posted here. Sorry, folks! Tonight we had a staff meeting for church camp in Lyndonville at the college. It was very informative. I have been working like a mad woman creating materials for pre-campers, like laminated name tags shaped like train engines, boxcars, tankers, and cabooses. Also, 11x14 tickets to get on the gospel train. Plus tons of other stuff! It is exhausting. I have also been praying for the children we will have in our classes. I am praying for each of them to feel the love of Jesus and be filled with the Holy Ghost! That includes my two handsome boys! Adam has expressed an interest in being baptized. I am so excited! I found out at this staff meeting that our pre-campers are expected to sing a song in the Wed. evening service...and that we are responsible for choosing a pre-camper of the year and giving them an award. These are all good things to know one week before the start of camp! AHHHH! It's okay, though. I already know which song I want to do. It's on the Carman "Passion for Praise" CD called "Sunday School Rock" ( to hear it, click the link and click play on song #3). It's an echo song that says "I love Jesus (echo) Yes I do (echo) I love Jesus (echo) How 'bout you? (echo) (Together) I love Jesus yes I do, I love Jesus how 'bout you?" That should be totally fun! Anyway, I will do my best to be a faithful blogger in these very busy days leading up to church camp. Pray for a harvest of children's souls for the Kingdom of God!!

Fun day for all

Today was such a fun day and a special day for everyone in our family for all different reasons. First our youngest: Today Nick's kindergarten class had a sprinkler party! They put on their bathing suits after lunch, and ran through the sprinkler, played in the water table, and made bubbles of all sizes! Ain't kindergarten fun??

Adam, our oldest, had "move up day" today. All the 2nd graders got on a bus and went over to their new school and met their 3rd grade teachers today! Adam has Miss Ahoukas (pronounced a - HO'- kas). He says she seems really nice. Good first impressions are essential! Now he won't spend the summer worrying!

My husband Jason had the distinct privilege of driving his Dad back to the airport in Manchester, NH for the trip back to Germantown, MD. They had EXCELLENT father/son bonding time! Their relationship is growing so deep, and both of them can't seem to spend enough time together to satisfy! It is really neat to see. :)

As for me, I was substitute IA (instructional assistant) again today in Christine Anderson's kindergarten class, and we had an all-school field trip to Airport Park today! It was sunny, blue sky, 80 degrees, nice cool breeze off the lake... it doesn't get any better than that! What a blast we had today!

And to top off our day, a surprise 30th birthday party for my sister-in-law Stacy.... Happy birthday my sweet friend! Love ya!

I am thankful to Jesus for days like this... they balance out the rough spots in life, like we had the day we found out about Julie's passing and Ella's emergency surgery. I love you Jesus! You are the dearest friend I could ever hope to have!

School is out tomorrow! YAY! 70 days of summer vacation (but who's counting??)! 70 days filled with fun! Swimming lessons, church camp, cub scout camp, my mom and Ray's camp on the lake, trip to Maine to go to the beach and see cousins.... I think 70 days will go by quick.

Blessed again!

Hello again!

It is currently 12:31 am early Sunday morning. I got done work at Hannafords at 11pm and proceeded to leave work and head for church to clean. This is my weekend to clean, and I had to tend to MY house first (which was desperately bad!), and I ran out of time to clean the church before work. So, I went up at 11:15 pm. When I got there, I found it had been done by someone else! This is the second time someone has cleaned the church for me, and I don't know who is doing it. But I love them dearly and owe them a debt of gratitude! Thank you mystery cleaner!!!

In other news... Happy Father's day to my Dad. And my husband. And my father-in-law Alan. I love you! Have a wonderful day! You deserve it! And a shout out to all the dads that actually read this blog (Pastor! hee hee!) Happy Father's day, Steve!

In closing, I want to post a fun little picture of my boys being.... well, boys! This is Adam and Nick doing what they do best...battling one another!

my little warriors!

Balloon pictures

A couple weeks back, I told you about the excitement of having a hot air balloon land in our postage stamp size backyard. I am getting a tad bit better with the picture posting process thanks in huge part to my friend and fellow blogger Kelly. Here are a couple "proof is in the pudding" pics for your viewing pleasure! Thanks Kel! And thanks to my wonderful husband for downloading them off the camera and burning them onto a CD... you married a technologically incompetent woman... sorry!


60 foot tall balloon in our backyard


I can't believe they had ROOM to bring it down!

In a word.... HOT

Hot. That would be the word of the day. Hot. Humid. Yuck! Today, we have had a good day! Our 8 year old son decided to make my husband breakfast in bed while I was in the shower. He cooked scrambled eggs and toast with LOTS of extra cinnamon... just the way HE likes it (hee hee hee)... trying to sweeten Dad up a little bit! :) We headed out to church, and then off to Adam's final baseball game of the season (a make-up game, actually). It was my first opportunity to see him as catcher! GREAT JOB, Z-MAN! (His coach calls him the z-factor!) He made a fabulous pop-fly catch to get an out on the Braves... yay Adam! We all got sunburned and nearly died of heat stroke, but it was a fabulous game, worth all the sweat! Thanks Jack, Julie, Ben, and Stacy, for coming out to support Adam today!

Then, it was off the the little town of Orange, VT for a church rally. Word of the day. Hot. Humid. Packed house... REALLY HOT. We had saints there from every church in Vermont! Barre, Chelsea, Jericho, St. Albans, Burlington, Rutland, St. Johnsbury... it was awesome! The atmosphere of praise was powerful! The message was an arrow straight to the heart... the fellowship was so uplifting... the heat... well, we won't go there. Did I mention it was hot?

Here is what God is doing in me. I must become bold about sharing the Gospel with everyone I know. I cannot afford to bury any more friends like Julie (or family members)... lost without the salvation that God's Word demands. I cannot be ashamed of the Gospel! I cannot be afraid of "offending" them! If they die lost, and it was in my power to tell them the truth, I will hang my head in shame when I stand before God. My heart will shatter in the knowledge that it didn't have to be that way. This is what God is speaking to my heart. I must be praying more. I must be bold. The Great Commission is to proclaim the Gospel to EVERY CREATURE! To do any less is disobedience to His Word... sin. What is God speaking to your heart these days?

I love y'all!! Gotta go get in my air conditioned room! Hot.

Fun ride on a ferry

After Julie's funeral yesterday, we needed something fun and uplifting to do. So we took the boys out for Chinese food, then went to Charlotte (pronounced shar LOT') to get a creemie and ride the ferry across Lake Champlain to Essex, NY. The boys loved the boat ride, and once we got to the other side, there was a cute little mallard duck swimming around. The boys were quacking at him (saying "Aflac, Aflac") and a woman we had ridden the ferry with had cookies that she gave the boys to break up and feed the duck. The second they threw the first piece in, a million seagulls appeared out of nowhere! It was hilarious! Then we walked over to a little playground. The boys had fun playing, while my husband and I sat on the rock wall about 20 feet up above the water, and looked out over the lake. It was so peaceful and relaxing. We gave Jason's dad a call and shared the moment with him. By the time the ferry came back for the 9:30 ride back to VT, it was dark out, and the boys were really sleepy. Back at the car, we saw a bunch of fireflies... our boys had never seen fireflies before, and they thought they were really cool. It was a really fun end to a pretty hard day.

Thoughts for the day...

Ok... I am done with pictures for a while until I can get a handle on the "hello" program... hello? Anyone home that wants to teach me how to use this program??? While trying to post the pictures of my family, I inadvertently deleted a TON of pictures from my hard drive that were important to me! *sniff* I thought I was deleting them from the hello program files, but I guess not..... I plead ignorance.

Today, I have spent lots of time getting materials together for teaching the pre-campers at church camp next month. I am getting so excited! We have lots of work ahead of us, but our outline is very detailed and we don't anticipate any setbacks. I want to see little souls saved at camp this year!

Well, got to go get ready for my friend Julie's wake... I love you Julie! I will miss your beautiful sweet smile...

Adam Jeter?

And here is our oldest! He's too cool for words! He made a fabulous defensive out last week at 2nd base... way to go, Adam! We are totally proud of you! (The Yankees still stink, though!) GO RED SOX!!!!!!!!!!

Adam, our eight year old star shortstop! A Jeter wanna-be!

Nick the slugger!

I cannot seem to be able to post two pictures on the same POST.... grrrrr! So here is the first one. This is our T-baller! Ain't he cute?? hee hee hee. We are pretty fond of him! :)

Nick, my six year old slugger!

TRYING to figure the picture thing out!!

Well... I consider myself a highly educated person. I have a BS degree in elementary education, with a minor in personal communication. SO WHY IS POSTING PICTURES ON THE BLOG SO DIFFICULT??? Sorry, didn't mean to post in all capital letters... I'm not yelling, just highly frustrated with the so-called "easy" program called hello (hello? Duh, it's NOT easy!) But anyway, here is the picture I was trying to post in my profile, but I can't seem to get it there... consequently, it is HERE! And if I can possibly figure anything else out, I will try to post recent pictures of my sons as well. Blessings to all! Michelle

northern apostolic mom and her wonderful husband

What a difference a day makes

I suppose all the excitement from yesterday's balloon landing was to pump me up in preparation for the coming crash. I am reminded of Christian comedian Mark Lowry who reminds us that life is a series of ups and downs, and that Jesus promised us life (little ups and downs) MORE ABUNDANTLY (huge ups and downs). No, seriously, today was one of those days you just wish you had never gotten out of bed.

We were getting ready for church this morning, when the phone rang at 8:30. It was the sister of a VERY dear friend of ours, Julie, who is living in Florida. Her sister stunnned us with the news that at age 43, Julie has passed away. We were shocked and heartbroken. We headed out to church (quite late) anyway, and did our best to offer our praise and worship to our wonderful Savior who is so worthy of our praise in every situation. In the afternoon, Jason went over to Julie's mom's house to help her with the funeral arrangements. While there, his cell phone rings. It is his Dad in Maryland. "Jason, it's Dad. Your grandmother is in emergency surgery right now in St. Johnsbury and I need you to get up there right away until I can catch a flight from DC." Yikes. My husband is a very happy man, and he doesn't cry much. But he has cried a lot today.

What a difference a day makes......

But God is always good, and he works all things together for good to those that love the Lord and are called according to HIS purpose. I love my Lord with all my heart, all my mind, all my soul, and all my strength. There is no higher calling in life than to live your life according to the Word of God... to surrender all of yourself to Him who created you and holds every breath you take in His hand. His strength is made perfect in our weakness. Today, I have allowed God to be strong in my times of weakness. I choose to be a Christian, nobody's making me do it! This is how I choose to live! Praise God!

No lack of excitement here...

Well... today was sort of an extraordinary day for us! Here's the scoop. I stayed up late last night... way too late! I was listening to another of Bro. Terry Black's powerfully anointed services online (click on 05/22/05 Sunday service). I was particularly moved by the testimony of Dorothy Johnson, an elderly lady who was attacked in her own driveway after arriving home at 10:00 at night. A man was hiding in her bushes, and jumped out and grabbed her purse. Her arm got tangled in the strap, and he thought she was struggling with him to keep hold of the purse. So he pulled out a .38 caliber handgun and from 4 feet away, shot her directly in the center of the chest. The bullet went in about 1/8 of an inch, then came out, ricocheted down her chest... left 5 bullet holes in her blouse, then hit the cement floor in her garage where they were standing and blew a hole in the floor next to her foot about 3-4 inches in diameter. Dorothy Johnson was uninjured. God was with her that night... He is SO FAITHFUL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

Sorry, got distracted from my original message here. ANYWAY, I was up way too late last night watching that service and testimony, but intended to sleep in Sat. morning. Well... wouldn't ya know... Nick came bursting in my bedroom at 7:45 a.m. hollering, "MOM! MOM! There's a hot air balloon in our yard!" Ya, right. Our backyard is FAR too tiny for a balloon to land in, Nick. "No, REALLY MOM! Come see! Get out of bed!" Grrrrrrrrr... I want to sleep in! OK. I went out back on the porch, and there before my eyes was a 60-ft high hot air balloon on our lawn! I apologized to Nick for not believing him, then ran to get my digital camera! Got about 25 fabulous pictures of them landing, letting the air out of the envelope, and packing it up and putting it in a bag (we got to help with that part... how fun!). There was a champagne toast on our lawn, with lemonade and cookies for the kids. What a cool way to start the day!

Then, after taking both boys to the dentist (Nick has TWO loose teeth!!) and cleaning up at church, I went to work at Hannafords scanning groceries. At about 3:40, my husband comes in with the boys to pick up fruit for the fruit salad he is supposed to bring to the Cub Scout picnic at 4pm. A quick hug, then off they go to shop. Three minutes later I hear someone hollering, CALL AN AMBULANCE! I look, and an elderly gentleman had fallen at the end of one of our registers and was bleeding heavily from his head. HEY! My husband is in the store, and he is an EMT! They call him to the front of the store, and I end up waiting on customers (in the express lane, no less) and taking care of my two children at the same time while Jason tends to the patient. The boys were awesome. My husband is now somewhat of a hero at Hannafords. The people who work on the front end are mostly teenagers and very young adults who sort of panicked and had no clue what to do. They were SO relieved when Jason arrived and took control.

Adam is now a bear cub in scouts... wow! Time is flying by SO fast! I took him shopping for shoes and he has gargantuan feet! QUIT GROWING, KID!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well... time for bed! Will write more soon!
Michelle

Correction

My pastor just sent me an email informing me that we are no longer the only church in our district with a website! It's nice to be wrong that way! Our Manchester, NH church has a site now as does our Laconia, NH site, which is still in the early stages of development. Now that is good news!

Where are they?

Well... I've never done anything quite like this! My blogging friend Wendy over at ninetyandnine.com has asked all her A/P blogger friends to "weigh in" with their opinions on an article posted on this week's edition of the 90&9 zine. The title of the article is "Where are the Apostolics?", referring to the LACK of web presence apostolics have on the world wide web. I appreciated many of the comments that those interviewed for the article had to offer. In particular, Kent made a profound comment in his introduction that the internet may become so sinful, a sea of darkness, due to lack of sufficient light... the light and hope of Jesus Christ. If the internet is void of the light of truth, it will become a menacingly evil device in which Christians will be able to have no part. We must allow the LIGHT OF HOPE to be available for those who are searching for more to life than darkness and despair.

Our experience here in Vermont is as follows. First, our district (NH/VT UPC) has 11 churches and a few daughter works. Our church is the only one with an actual website. Not that this is bad. The article discussed the difference between websites that minister, and "placeholder" sites, which offer only static information (like service times, message from the pastor, lists of church leaders/musicians, and pictures from a youth rally 2 years previous). These kinds of sites have their place. For example, if apostolics are moving and need a new church to locate near, then EVERY church should have a site with location information and how they can be reached. But they have no way to minister to those who need help or encouragement for their soul. I personally LOVE to hear worship and preaching! There are precious few A/P sites out there with preaching and singing that I can access when I need it (which is OFTEN). My mother-in-law recently pointed me to my BEST FRIEND'S church site in Tennessee (I miss you so much, Britt!) which has several entire services (one including a baby dedication) :) right on the home page available for viewing/hearing! WOW! Sis. Nona Freeman preached a powerfully anointed message on there at the age of 89!! THAT blesses me, and ministers. THAT is the way church sites should be designed... to minister! Our church site is still really really basic and incomplete, but the one thing I love about it, is that there are several recorded services available online to be listened to when I need a lift!

The reasons our own church website is so basic are as follows:
1. Lack of technological know-how. Our webmaster is an amazing guy! No one else in our church had a clue about how to get a website created, up, and running. He is our go-to guy, and we all highly respect him! However, he is not a "professional" techie, and hence we lack the very difficult graphics that make a site so incredibly attractive. That is not criticism. That is simply where we are.
2. Lack of time to devote to the site. Kent made the observation that doing this kind of stuff can take hours and hours of your time, with little to show for it. Our wonderful webmaster is a dad of two beautiful children, husband to one wonderful wife, bread-winner, sound guy at church, etc etc. He doesn't have tons of time to devote to our site. That's just the way it is.
3. Lack of money. Yes, the web is an "inexpensive" way to reach people, but not FREE. Our small church doesn't have the extra money to spend on professional web developers. What you see is what you get... :)

Don't get me wrong! I love that we have a website! I just have a desire for our site to become a tool we can use for outreach purposes. I want to be able to tell someone who is hurting, but not willing to come to my church for whatever reason, "Here, go to our website and check it out in the privacy of your own home, when YOU have the time! You will find so much here that will minister to your hurt/fear/etc."

Kent also made the observation that independent ministries in the evangelical community have MASTERED the web for the purpose of ministry (ie. Focus on the Family, Group Publishing, Christianity Today ). We need to tap into what they are doing RIGHT! Find out how they are doing it! Don't reinvent the wheel. If the organizations we are tied to (UPCI, ALJC, PAW, etc) are unwilling to support this, then we must PULL TOGETHER and make it work... the folks at ninetyandnine.com have been tremendously successful! Look at what they have done... what makes them successful, and do the same!

Well... there you have it... the humble opinions of a northern apostolic mom... living for Jesus here in Vermont! It's longer than I normally post... please don't fall asleep! Most of my posts are MUCH shorter than this one! Check back often... who knows what Wendy will have me up to next?! Blessings to you all!
Michelle