Balancing Ministry N' Work

I am sitting here on New Years Eve reflecting on 2010 and thinking on how good God has been to me! This year has been an amazing year filled with dreams being fulfilled, lives changed, and interesting challenges. I started this blog on Dec 26, 2009 (roughly 1 year ago) not knowing what 2010 had in store for me. I believe God guided me that night to start this blog so that I would have a way to communicate the ups and downs and record His blessings. This blog has allowed me to share these things with family, friends, and many people I have never met. I started this blog as a way to journal what was going on in my life mostly for my benefit, but I have received comments about how this blog has encouraged others as they go through difficult times. I am glad this tool has allowed my story and my faith in Jesus Christ to touch people in need. Thank you Jesus for expanding my sphere of influence! Someone has recently told me that I am 'Always looking at the bright side'. With this po...

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas! Ours was GREAT! My Mother flew out to spend Christmas with us and we had a nice relaxing time. Last time I saw my Mother I was in a hospital bed recovering from my surgery. If everything had gone as planned in the hospital we would have spent a couple of days at our house in MI during her last trip. With the complications I had I was still in the hospital when she had to head back to CA. I was on the mend when she left and was just waiting for the spinal fluid leak to seal up. My Mom coming to see us in IA this Christmas was a blessing for the whole family. Not only was she here Christmas morning to celebrate Jesus but she also got to see first hand that I am doing just fine. This Christmas we have a lot to be Thankful for. Eventhough things have not worked out perfectly so far in Spencer with our House not selling in MI and us in a rental instead of a new home, we enjoyed ourselves. My Mom got to have a Christmas morning with the kids, which is s...

Here are my notes from the sermon I was blessed with sharing last weekend. I hope you enjoy and are blessed! Merry Christmas and God Bless! Most of us tend to think of this as a time to celebrate with friends and family, and many of us tend to get wrapped up in all the different aspects of the holiday. Family gatherings, giving and receiving of gifts, singing Christmas carols, and some extra time off work. While these things are great, we should take some time and reflect on the first Christmas. Let’s start our reading in Matthew 1:18 “18 This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. 19 Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.” Imagine being in Joseph’s shoes. He is engaged to a beautiful woman and finds out she is pregnant and he knows h...

WOW it has been a long time since my last blog post! It has been roughly 5 weeks since my last post, and I missed my 6 month post by roughly 1 week. I guess I have been busy. New Job and getting settled in our rental home has taken more time than can be imagined. Thankfully I am still feeling GREAT! I have been able to help paint, clean, un-pack, move boxes, move furniture, and more! God has given me the strength to do everything I have needed to do. My energy level is still not what it was before the surgery and I do have to take time to rest. I have found that when I push myself to hard I get weak and uneasy on my feet. As long as I pay attention to how I am feeling, I do just fine. Overall I am doing really good. Still get minor headaches but they do not slow me down. I also have all the energy I need for regular day to day activities. I am still very grateful for all that God has done for me this year! It is nothing short of a miracle that I am feeling so good 6 months after having...

Today is October 26, 2010 and I feel GREAT! God is AMAZING! Over the last couple of months I have talked about some of the ongoing side effects. 1. Dull aches on the left side of my head. 2. Excessive Tiredness. 3. Numbness/tingling in my legs. Two of the three list above are all but gone! The dull mild headaches that I used to constantly deal with everyday are GONE! It has been several weeks since I have had those dull aches on the left side of my head. This was a constant annoyance but never really slowed me down. I did not notice they were gone until I started thinking about this update. While I have been tired the last couple of weeks, I am getting used to a new job schedule and have my family crammed into a small condo like hotel room. So being tierd is expected. I cannot say that I have my pre-op energy levels back, but I am not slowing down. I still don't think I could handle both work and leading a church, but I am doing great! A lack of energy is not slowing me donw! You g...

Copy and paste the following into your web browser. (Could not get the hyperlink to work) http://www.ted.com/talks/stacey_kramer_the_best_gift_i_ever_survived.html?utm_source=newsletter_weekly_2010-10-12&utm_campaign=newsletter_weekly&utm_medium=email Thanks Mom for forwarding this to me.

It has been roughly 2 weeks since my last post. Life has been busy! Needless to say we are now in between where we left and where we will end up. My last post was written in a hotel room and so is this one. Last time I was in a room all by myself missing my family and beginning a new job. This time I am not alone and in a very nice hotel suite. Alexis and I are sitting at the kitchen table that seats six at our different computers. The kids are trying to go to sleep on the sofa bed and air mattress and the dogs are lounging around here somewhere. As I look at this suite, I realize that it is bigger than our first apartment from almost 15 years ago. Heck it might be bigger than our second and third apartments. While back then it seemed so large, now we are crammed in here. Thankfully we have a full kitchen, a separate room for Alexis and I, and free access to the indoor water park every weekend! This was a great find for our temporary housing. Today Alexis met with the realtor and sent ...