Molded

Yes, I mean it.  I have moved yet again.  You can now find me here at www.helenfuller.net  Come by and visit soon!

So I have not yet finished my first full week at the office as Children’s Ministry Director at Rock Church, but I thought you would enjoy a list of things I have managed to do in 3 days.

First 3 days Top Ten

10.  Had my first meeting with my Senior Pastor canceled and rescheduled

9.  Planned my first volunteer meeting

8.  Narrowly avoided stepping full force into a fire ant bed

7.  Averaged 4 hours of sleep a night

6.  Moved 300 lb (jk) desk around my office only to move it back to within 3 inches of where it started

5.  Drove the Senior Pastor’s wife to the hospital to visit Founding Pastor who was there sick.

4.  Record my voice message 6 times (still not happy with it but I was afraid someone would be able to detect the frustration in my voice if I did it again)

3.  Locked myself out of the office when going to the bathroom not once but TWICE in 2 days

2.  Set the alarm system off

1.  And finally…are you ready

I brought my home phone to work with me in my laptop bag…not my cell phone – my cordless home phone

Now that I had said “yes” to God’s call, the hardest part was keeping quiet and waiting.  So much was racing through my mind.  I was so excited.  I wanted to tell the world the entire story of what God had just done in our lives, but I couldn’t.  I wanted to shout it from the rooftops about what God was about to do in our lives, but I couldn’t.  I just wanted to tell…but I couldn’t.

I began working in Kid’s Rock every Sunday.  Watching what went on, getting to know all the volunteers, learning how things work.  Was this an easy thing? No!  Was it a God thing?  Yes!  As I watched, listened and learned, I gained valuable, needed information that has helped prepare me for what is to come.

These last 6 months have taught me lots of things

1. God’s plan is always better than what we could have planned.
2. Sometimes it’s time to “ponder” things in our heart so that He can bring it to pass
3. Waiting is never easy, but if we will learn to treasure the times of waiting, we will find the lessons in the wait.
4. Sometimes we don’t always understand the “whys” but the truth is we don’t always have to.

I am less than 12 hours away from the completion of my marathon ten days and I have to say the last 2 days of this ten day craze have been so much fun. 

On Friday I walked out of J.C. Roe as a teacher for the last time.  I cried briefly…mostly because I was amazed at what God had done in my life and because I’v never been good at saying good-bye.  But I left so excited about what was about to take place.  As soon as I got home, we headed out to a weekend adventure in Boone, North Carolina.  Caleb was going to football camp.  We had a blast – watching Caleb work his butt off, freezing at the top of Howard’s Knob after leaving 95 degree weather here, hiking in flip flops all the way to the top of Rough Ridge and well, trying to all sleep in a hotel room 2 nights without hurting each other…especially when one of us snores really loud and one of us doesn’t sleep well anymore!

Tomorrow morning Caleb leaves with a bunch of other crazy teens to head to Healing Place in Baton Rouge for a 10 day mission trip.  Once I get him off my plan for the rest of the week is to rest, clean my house, enjoy my girls, maybe visit a friend, and enjoy the beach because in a week I start the job of a lifetime.  The thing I know God created me for, but the very thing that seems a little overwhelming at this particular moment.

There are so many things running through my mind, so many ideas, so many thoughts, so many things to do, I know once I start it will be hard to slow down, so for now…I will enjoy the rest.

Shortly after I wrote my last post I got a phone call from my mother.  She told me my sister’s exchange student from several years ago that is an “adopted” family member was in a very bad accident.  He lives in Venzuela and his parents own a farm.  From what I understand he had left to go take care of something for the farm, it was raining, he went around a curve and lost control of the car.  It flipped several times and left him with a broken neck. 

He is currently in ICU but is showing some good signs.  He has moved his right hand and foot and also showed very slight movement on his left side yesterday.  We are praying for a full, quick recovery.  Please pray for him – his name is David. 

Something like this, puts everything in perspective.  The exhaustion you feel from running non-stop seems a lot less overwhelming with the realization that you have so much to be thankful for that you simply take for granted.

Ok so I lost my calendar and I need to place to vent my anxiety about the next week and a half so here I go.  I am down to the wire with school.  I can’t tell you how exciting that is, but in the same respect I have so much to get done, I want to crawl in my bed and not get up til Monday the 15th.  So here it goes, what I can remember off the top of my head with no calendar.  Here is my life in the next 10 days..

1 Play to attend

2 kids to take to movie’s with different groups but luckily on the same night

1 relocation party

2 birthday parties

1 small group

1 church service

1 mission trip mandatory meeting to attend

1 small group outreach

1 last lesson plan to write

4 more days to teach

1 end of year celebration to plan and prepare for

20 DVD’s to copy after I actually make the DVD from the pictures and video of the school year

16 certificates to make

1 8th grade graduation to attend

3 end of year parties to make sure the stuff gets to and gifts for teachers to buy

1 classroom to pack up

1 trip to Boone to pack for

2 day trip for football camp

1 trip to Baton Rouge immediately following (like 12 hours between) trip to Boone to pack for -not going on the Baton Rouge trip though…

This does not include, cleaning the house, doing laundry, going to the grocery store, cutting the grass, or any of the other normal day to day things that have to be done…but

 then….

A week of rest!  I can’t wait!

This used to be easy.  This used to be the place that thoughts poured onto the page with no concern for who was reading or what I was saying or people took what I said…but all of that has changed in the past few months.  For months I really couldn’t share what the Lord was doing in my life because the time was not right to discuss those things.  Now that I can, I can’t!  I mean I’ve waited months to share the things on my heart and now I don’t know what to say, how to say it, or even if it should be said.  Every time I start to write, I walk away frustrated and confused.

But today I decided I’m just gonna be honest…this transition has been amazingly exciting but very hard.  This weekend has just been a flood of emotions.  I watched my son get all dressed up and go to his 8th grade dance and saw him hanging out and having fun with friends he had known since kindergarten – some really great kids – and I was proud of the young adults they had grown into.  They were beautiful and handsome and well mannered and just great friends!  I felt blessed…made me think of the first day of kindergarten.  I was freaking out about my firstborn going to school, praying we had made the right, though non conviental, choice for school.  As he walked in the room, he found his seat – right beside a cute little boy named Joshua.  How cool was that – Caleb and Joshua!  That’s all I needed.  Caleb and Josh are still best buds!

Kid’s Rock went fine this morning thanks to all the amazing volunteers…but learning this new role is…well…new.  I guess that’s the only way I know to discribe what I’m feeling.  It is just new and trying to figure out how and what my role is on Sunday morning is a little challenging.  I’m still learning everything that has to be done and still teaching school makes me feel like I’m not doing anything well right now.

After church, we had Kennedy’s birthday party.  When I left church, my house was still a wreck – and I had 2 hours to get it all done.  I got home, ate lunch, sent Kennedy and her granddaddy on their way to go shopping, while Johnny was out picking up the cake and groceries for the party and I headed out the door to my parents to get the vacuum.  As the door slammed shut, I realized I had left the keys inside…so there I was, outside in the heat, no one home, with only my phone…luckily I found a key to my parents, who had a key to my house, which allowed me to finish cleaning with only a short delay and a little sweat.  By the time the party started I was ill, tired, and then there was the bike drama!  That’s a whole other blog! 

I have felt many things this weekend…but could probably be summed up with one word – undeserving!  I am so blessed to have an amazing 8th grade boy who is a really good kid inspite of me sometimes.  He is still a teenager and loses his mind on occassion – but he’s a good kid that loves his parents (most of the time).  God has blessed me with an amazing job, and I have a beautiful soon to be 11 year old daughter that is so easy going did not get offended or upset when we forgot to send out invitations and plan her sleepover.  She said she understood how busy we had been.

It’s 10 at night.  I have been home for about an hour total today and still have to get up early for school tomorrow…only 9 more school days left!  I felt a responsibility to take a moment though to share some great news after my last post.  Kennedy went to the doctor on Tuesday and it was determined her arm was not broken but just sprain.  YEAH!  No cast!  God is good all the time…and He would have still been good if it was broken but I’m glad it wasn’t!

So it’s been quit a while since I last posted anything so for the 2 or 3 people that may still check this blog here is a recap on my week/weekend.

• Lead Kid’s Rock for the first time without Jennifer around this past Sunday.  Though it was an unexpected circumstance, I learned a lot and we survived.  No one got hurt or lost, and no staff quit.  So all in all – it was a success!
• We did, however, have 13 babies in the nursery.  I had to pull people out of  the sanctuary. 
• People in the sancutuary were willing and happy to serve!  I love the volunteers in our church!
• Before church, Kennedy was playing on Pastor Matthew’s scooter….and you guessed it, she fell. 
• After church, Kennedy was still holding her arm, so we decided to visit Medac. (Second trip to Medac on a Sunday in 3 weeks).
• You guessed it – broken wrist!
• Called parents on the way home – they had just found my cousin had called the ambulance for my uncle.  He’s got pneumonia.
• Spent 3 hours today trying to find a suit for my 13 year old for his 8th grade dance and graduation.
• 12 school days, 2 workdays, and then a week’s vacation before I official start a new job!

Really, God are you sure? 

When I fail, are you sure?

When I do something stupid, are you sure?

When my intentions are right, but my actions are wrong , are you still sure?

When I do something impulsive, are you sure?

When I wait for you to write it on the wall, are you sure?

When I see the splinter in someone else’s eye, but miss the plank in mine….really God, are you sure?

Are you sure I can do all you’ve called  me to do? 

Are you sure I can be who you created me to be?

Really God, Are you sure?