Babies, In-Laws and Youth... Oh My!

It's a quarter after six in the morning and Shaylee has been fussing since 4am so I thought I would go ahead, make some coffee and sit in my office with her until she decides to head back to sleep. At least this way Dena can get some sleep.





Things have been busy here the last couple of weeks:

• New babies are a lot of work
• I am so thankful for this amazing little pack of joy that God has given us. we had been concerned before the birth thinking, "Wow, 2 kids... this is going to be hard work." And guess what? It is! But we are handling it well thanks to a lot of prayers, Dena's mom's non-stop help and the fact that both are children are young enough that they won't remember how stupid we were as we tried to figure out how to do this 4-person family thing.
• I have preached the last 2 weeks
• This has been a blessing as I love to preach, but on the same token it's being a trying time because 1. I've been trying to do it and make sure I still get to spend adequate time with all members of my family (something more difficult now than last month) and 2. Even though I have ended up preaching with a translator both times, it's different to write a sermon and have to have a non-native english speaker in mind. It's amazing how many idioms and phrases don't translate, and even after I thought I had edited it pretty good, my translators would often stop me during our run through and say, "What does that mean."
• On a side note, I preached in english the first time on purpose, the second time I tried to write my message in Spanish but at 8:30pm, Saturday night, my friend and I realized that we'd be working into the wee hours of Sunday morning if we continued trying to correct it... instead we just opted to have me preach it in English with translation at the Church.
• We are making major changes in the youth ministries we are involved in (logos at the top of the post are the logos for the 2 groups)
  
• Dena is taking somewhat of a "maternity leave" from the youth groups in general, but has actually managed to sit in on some of the meetings we have had over the last week as we (youth leaders of both groups, senior pastor, Dena and I) are making some pretty big changes to the way the youth ministry at our local church operates. After being here 6 months, it appeared to Dena and I that part of what was lacking in the groups were commitment. If something "better" showed itself at the last minute, the youth had no problem ditching the youth meeting to do that. For that reason we are going to be working with the core members of each group developing "student leaders" (I use the term "student" loosely as some of our youth are actually professional Dr's or Architects due to the Latin view of "Youth"). The overall leadership for the group will be broken down into two "teams" the "Leadership Team", which will be those that have been appointed by the church to lead the group and will be available for teaching as well as to provide oversight, vision, counsel and discipleship to the "student leaders"; and the "Direction Team", which is just that, a team of 5 youth (plus 1 for ever 5 new members as the ministry grows) and 1 member of the Leadership Team, that will basically do just as the name states, give direction to the group. This team will determine, through the guidance of the LT and Holy Spirit, the purpose, values and form that the ministry will follow. They will decide on schedules, speakers, special events, decor and ambiance, flow of the youth service/meeting as well as outreach and other ministries which the youth will be a part of.
• Our goal is twofold. 1. To develop our youth into leaders that will be able to guide the church in the years to come, and 2. To encourage the youth to realize that they do not have to wait for the "years to come" in order to serve Christ and His church.
• Visit from the Mother-in-Law
• First let me say, if you have any good mother-in-law jokes, I would LOVE to have them. Secondly, it has been awesome having my mil, Lydia here these last couple of weeks. Dena and I actually sit in bed at night talking about, "How will we do this when she leaves?" She has been a life saver these last couple of weeks as I have been couped u in the office so much writing sermons or working on the youth changes. THANKS MOM!
• Shaylee's dedication
• We had Shaylee dedicated at church yesterday. It was a beautiful time and a thrill t be able to do it with Grandma here. Pics soon!
  

This week seems a little calmer and I am hoping that tomorrow we can take mom to the coast and eat at "Mangos" (maybe just my favorite restaurant of all time) and then some other time in the week I will hopefully find time to head over to our mentors house and hang out withj their son Joel and play some "Guitar Hero".

Oh, and see new pics below.