Christmas 2013: Caroling!

We headed out Caroling again this year(Just like last year) with some friends from church. We had the perfect weather for it, and almost didn't even need jackets! We got some delicious cookies from Ms. Marjorie, looked like we were trying to break in to Ms.Kimble's, pulled Larry over on the side of the road and got yelled at by the cops, and sang peacefully to some others! What a fun filled night!


















- Mrs.Pate via my iPhone

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

Glorious ol Church Softball...

So I just realized that I haven't blogged about church softball at all this summer, which is funny because we spent the whole first half of summer there I believe! Even though I complain about it often, church softball was actually a really fun social activity this summer. I loved getting to see our church family outside of church on a regular basis. Griffin was head over heels for softball this year, and if he saw daddy get that green softball shirt out you better believe he was immediately on his way to find his! He did great at the park and actually watched quite a bit of the games. 

We got runner up in the regular season and won the tournament. Way to go Grove! 

A church building in the making

Well we are in!! It's been less than a year since our church "broke ground", and as of last week we are in the building. I am amazed at how quickly the process went and how great the process has been. I was expecting way more drama ;-)

For those who don't know, our church had been meeting under several roofs. We had several houses on our block and different classes met in each. For our building project, we tore down our old education wing, children's house and youth house in order to add one large education and multipurpose space. It connects to our sanctuary. Being under one roof is amazing. Like tonight, I didn't have to walk thru wet grass to get to youth. Woo hoo!!! I mean, walking thru wet grass is not a huge hardship and having a space to meet in at all has been a blessing all these years, but having it all in one space is truly blessing beyond compare.

Griffin and his buddy Eli are having a blast breaking in the new nursery too!! ;-)

- Mrs.Pate via my iPhone

Griffins First Bonfire

Our community group had a bonfire Sunday night, which was Griffin's first ever bonfire I believe. Even though he is BADLY teething, it was a great distraction from all the pain for a little bit. He had a blast and so did we!

Trunk or Treat 2011

We had Trunk or Treat at church tonight (Smiths Grove Baptist), and it was great! 

It is crazy to think that at this time last year, we had basically just found out we were pregnant and only our families knew. I remember looking at every cute baby and thinking 'wow, i will have one of those next year!' And here we are a year later already! 

Dustin was Captain Underpants

And we had a Hot Dog Stand. 

Joey was a Hot Dog. He did so good and all the kids loved seeing him! 

And our cute little Ketchup Packet! He did so well!

Our family of four! 

Randa hanging with the boy.

"Please- No Pictures!"

We had a blast! 

And for comparisons sake: 

Our Family in October 2010

Our Family in October 2011

Wow... 

LiveLove

This past weekend I participated in a DNOW (Disciple Now). What's a DNOW, some of you may ask? It is a weekend youth event churches put on that seek to lead students into a deeper relationship with God. Students from churches are divided into small groups. Those groups are then assigned a host home provided by respected and trusted members of the church. The hosts feed, watch, and provide a place to sleep throughout the D-Now weekend. At the host homes, a guest leader guides the group in Bible studies that encourage students to grow in their faith by challenging them to think about what has been presented that weekend. Throughout the weekend, the groups meet at church for recreation, music, and worship as a large group. I never attended a DNOW as a youth, but I was small group leader for a few when I was a college student. I always loved them.

Well the DNOW I participated in this weekend was a twist on this traditional style. You see for smaller churches (like mine), it is hard to have a weekend like this because you don't have the people, resources or space. So to solve the problem, 18 churches in Bowling Green came together for this event! It was super exciting because churches are not very good at partnering together generally, we are too worried about our turf or pride or whatever (… we are human and we struggle you know?). Anyhow, all of the youth ministers came together and helped plan the event. Mr.Pate was a big part of the planning and did a fabulous job, he is gifted in event planning.

None of my youth guys participated in the weekend- so it was girl time! It was such a great time to connect with them, catch my breath from the craziness of life and see these students truly seeking the Lord. One of my girls accepted Christ as her Savior this weekend- so that's awesome! The BCM had student leaders volunteer to lead the small group times, and my girls loved loved our leader. Its good for them to get to listen to someone besides the pate boys and me sometimes! It was a true blessing to get this opportunity for our youth, even though we are small in number. Here are a few pics of the weekend, enjoy! 

He understands

Last week one of my sunday school kids got baptized. During the baptism my pastor told us a story that just sums up our salvation really. He meets with each person one on one before they set the baptism date, to discuss the meaning of baptism and make sure the person understands what they are doing. During the one on one with this student the pastor asked her a question (not sure what), and her response was:

"I know I am a sinner but I know that Jesus understands."

Praise Him that He truly does understand! "For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need."(Hebrews 4:15-16) Basically this passage is saying that Jesus understands the struggles we deal with on a daily basis, I mean he was a human who walked on this earth, and yet He overcame it for us.

Approach His throne with confidence today my friends, because He understands. No need to clean up or hide here... out of the mouth of babes comes the most significant theology, wow!

Heartbroken

Things at church are kinda depressing right now. A leader had to step down because of lifestyle issues, and several families have left for other various reasons. I have just been really heart broken by how the church has no idea how to deal with sin. So people hide it and fall into bigger pits. I am just overwhelming heartbroken by the lack of closeness and truly seeing the church as family today in the American church (well most of them). We dont know how to communicate when we are hurt or upset, so we just dont communicate at all. We run when we sin because we dont want to be found out. We are terrified to let people know the "real" us. We refuse to call out a sister or brother who is sinning, because we don't want to upset them, or worse yet, we don't want them to throw our sin back in our face.

I believe the Lord can change us. I believe He can "fix" these issues in the church today, but only if we are praying for it. Recently I have realized how little I pray for my church family as a whole. I may pray for specific requests they have, but I have not been praying for their everyday lives, their thoughts and motives.

As I mentioned here, our pastor preached a three week series on "Kingdom Prayer" based on Luke 11 recently. A big thing he stressed was praying not only for yourself, but for your church family also. Everything I pray for me should be a relevant need and prayer for my brothers and sisters in Christ. They need relief from temptation, power to live from the Spirit and not our flesh, to share the gospel boldly, etc. So this is a habit I want to develop, that this would be second nature for me.

No real point with this post, just thinking "out loud" (or "out type" I guess?). Pray for my church and me today if you get a chance. We need love and grace and communication skills and a deep deep love for Christ.

letting go

For those of you who don't know, Mr.Pate and I have had one of those "hurt by the church" experiences. You know, the kind so many people have let keep them from continuing in the faith?

Anyhow, 2 fall seasons ago, mr.pate went into the church he was working at just like any other morning and 20 minutes later he left as a non-employee. We were asked to resign. No we had done nothing wrong, there was no scandal. They simply felt we were not a right fit for where they were headed (which is a very true statement). The asking us to resign thing came as a shock, but wasn't really the hurtful thing in the circumstance. The thing that cut like a knife was that they asked mr.pate to leave that day. Don't come back on Sunday and do not collect $200 dollars, well maybe not the last part.

He had worked there for 2 and 1/2 years. He had poured energy and love into this church. He had worked there when there were 50 people there. Did he get a goodbye party? Did he get a thank-you for all you have done in front of the church? Did he get a chance to see his church family again? No. No. No. We had money thrown at us (which don't get me wrong, the money was a blessing) and were told to say nothing negative about the church or they would take the money back.

Does that sound like a church? Does that sound like how a church should "do business"? No. No.

Fast forward two years to November 2009, the scene is my living room. Here I sit pondering these events that have made up my life. Everytime I hear the word forgiveness I think of this church. I think of the leadership team and the pastor.

See the thing is, for 2 years I have refused to forgive and let go. I say I have, but that is just not true. The anger has subsided. The desire to hurt them has subsided. But the desire to punish them has not.

My pastor has been preaching through Luke. And over the past few weeks he has been preaching on prayer and chapter 11.

"forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us." luke 11: 4

How can I accept the Lord's forgiveness for my sin, but not forgive others? Finally, after 2 years, I feel the Lord softening my heart and my memory over this whole ordeal. I once read in a marriage book, "Forgiveness is giving up the right to punish someone".

It is not making sure they understand how they messed up and how much it sucked. It is not reminding them of it over and over again just so they would be sure to remember how bad they messed up and to fix it. And it is not saying you are over something and then questioning their character anytime they come up in conversation.

But forgiveness is saying kind things or nothing at all about the person, instead of mean things. It is letting them succeed without trying to sabotage it. And it is letting yourself begin to think nice thoughts about them again.

I am not there. I am so far from close to there. But I am finally on the road to letting it go. I am on the road to trusting God's plan for my life, which doesn't include that church anymore. I am on the road to living out Joseph's example:

"As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good" Gen 50:20

halloween... just a few days later!

As promised- pictures from Halloween. Mr.Pate was Billy Ray Cyrus, in the early years, and I was Hannah Montana.
Our church does "Trunk or Treat", which is an event where people decorate their trunks and give out candy from there instead of at their house. It is a neat thing really. We grill up lots and lots (over 800 hundred this year) of hot dogs, make lots of warm soup and setup tables right in the parking lot so families can feel free and safe to sit and eat. It is hard to get the kids all dressed up, take them out door to door and still get dinner on the table. We want to serve our community by just providing a time for them to focus on time with their family without worrying about money or time. These days you never know where is safe for children to go, but by doing this we hope families know there is a safe place for their children to come and be loved.

We decorated the back of our van with Hannah Montana stuff, and had the "Hoedown Throw-down" playing for 2 1/2 hours!! No joke. I heard it in my sleep I am pretty sure! And at one point this little girl came and stood in front of my van and did the dance over and over, for at least 10 minutes.

All in all a great night! God is growing a huge love in me for Smiths Grove. There is such a mix of people there: those that have 'grown up' in church but never experienced the gospel, the rural poor, and the rural rich. They all need the same thing- to experience the Grace of Jesus Christ. We are just praying that small events like these water the seeds that God is growing in these people.

**And I was even a pretty good Weight Watchers girl too!! I had 8 pts worth of candy (translation: 4 Hershey's small bars and some Starbursts).