I'm back... for a breather

Hey all my blog friends (if your still even out there)
It's been some time since my last post. Too long actually. So much has happened I feel I am not doing the blog world justice if I don't get everyone up to speed. But since it's been so long I'll just give a brief synopsis of life in the Kline family circa September. And since my life is now broken into about seven intentional little categories of goodness. I'll update you on all of them.

hubby Bill - Wonderful. Love him. Still being challenged by God on financial stuff. Stewarding money. Being debt free. Living disciplined with joy. Our ten year anniversary is fast approaching. And I can happily tell you all I am so excited for the next ten years. BK is blowing my mind with the man he is to me as well as the amazing father he is to our children. He simply rocks. And the fact that I think he's kinda hot doesn't hurt either. :)

Grace - Grace is in third grade. She is a officially a reader. She escapes into book land whenever she can. She is reading Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Junie B Jones books constantly. She is an expert at homework. We have begun a family "schedule" when we get home from school. Kids do homework first. Then they can play and have the rest of the night free. Grace will do her homework in the van if it means she can have free time. She is Math girl and told me if she could teach a subject (she has the gift of teaching) it would be Math. And this makes my heart swell because in Math class I was always excused to go to my "lower" level math class. So Im loving that she is so into it. The "newness" of Josie has officially wore off. This morning as she was eating her breakfast in bed. (yes. I rock) I heard her ask Bill if he could close her bedroom door so Josie could not come in and try to climb on her bed. Dont' get me wrong. She digs her, but definatley needs her alone time. Grace needs a "thing" we are right now trying to determine what her "thing" might be. She has attended a 4H meeting. I am signing her up for gymnastics at some point this fall and can't wait to see what God is going to do in her life.


Toby - T is in 1st grade. And many of my prayers this school year have been for him. He is boy... ALL boy... and he may have a slight degree of his mother's side of the family ADD... he's dreamy, he is creative and LOVES to talk and do his thing. I'll give you an example. He was washing his hands in the boys bathroom. He put soap on his hands... some of the soap splattered on the mirror... he tried to wipe the soap off of the mirror with his soapy hands... realzing this made a very cool pattern he began to then create ART on the bathroom mirror. Upon the teacher's arrival in the bathroom, she sees toby "playing" in the bathroom and making a mess of the mirrors. These characteristics do not bode well in a classroom environment. So Toby and his Mommy are working through how to navigate life in a school system that needs to teach many children, without squishing the goodness and spirit and esteem of my boy who at time can throw a teacher's "system" all out of wack. HOWEVER, Toby is bright, intelligent, does HIS homework well. Is learning about telling time and counting money and fun things like that. God is teaching me what it means to "support" teachers in the school district. Being open about my perspective while being open to what teachers do in the classroom. Toby is great. And in his case he is LOVING Josie because he loves to watch her learn new things.

Josie - J is unbelievably a go getter. She climbs everything, she eats everything, she touches everything. Nothing is too small too big too hot too cold too sharp too dirty for this girl. She has no fear. Yesterday we were watching a movie as a family and I walked into the kitchen and she is sitting on top of our kitchen table. We have a bench in our kitchen and her favorite spot is to climb up onto the bench and look out the window and scale the bench. But she is a firecracker. She has been having pooping problems lately. I've never experienced this with the other two. Josie "delivers" her poop. She gets consitpated and literally sometimes we have to help her. We are finding the balance of apple juice, peas, pears and milk that all work well together. Poor thing. She is smiley and laughs and giggles and tries to do things her way. I can't wait to see the gifts God has poured into her little spirit and to nurture them.

Pastor/church stuff - This is exciting. We are officially kicked off into a new year of a new ministry and we are making some good progress. We have some new people on the riverKIDS team and I am excited to see them impact kid's lives. We have some die hard servant leaders as well who have perservered through all of this change like troopers. They have made more progress and been so dedicated it warms my heart just thinking about all of the people God has brought to me on the riverKIDS team. I went to Denver for a three day conference and terribly missed my family. But I had a good time and got to see my good friend Jinny and hang with my new friend Kelly. I am truly blessed by this church and this ministry. The pressure I put on myself is sometimes unbearable. But God seems to always reach in right when I have beat myself up enough and show me His grace, His love and His understanding. And then it's all OK. God is so good. It's why I am in ministry. So other people can see and know it too.

Me - I was looking in the mirror the other day trying to get a pair of jeans on.... and I literally started laughing out loud. I was like... you know what I am just going to be chunky for a while. I am not going to freak out about it, I am not going to be self loathing and I am not going to think poorly of my body. This is just how my body is going to be until I have a little bit more free time to schedule in a FULL workout that can shape my body. Don't worry though, I am exercising... in babysteps. I play volleyball once a week and I started to run (slowly) and not for a long time on our treadmill. My eating habits are different working so much so I am still learning what a healthy life looks like in this job and my busy life. I turn 39 in October so I am fast approaching 40. I am looking forward to it. Because I have this "when I am old I will wear purple" mentality. I know my strengths, I know my weaknesses. I know what God is working on and what I can and cannot change. No one other that the Lord himself is going to make that different. So I might as well just accept it and enjoy it and keep on keepin on! Truth be told.. I miss my Dad. It has been six months since we last spoke. At least since I spoke to "that guy" who told me leave and never come back. My Dad is in there somewhere and man do I miss him. But again, God has shown me that He is taking care of my Dad. That this time away is giving me a perspective of God's love for me and also some time to heal my heart. Someday I'll see my Dad again and I'll be better prepared spirtually and emotionally. I actually miss all of my family. My Mom, My bro's and my sweet sisters in love. My neices and nephews. I miss my Grandma and Grandpa. Funny story... I was at McDonalds the other week with Billy and I was walking out and there was a man in front of me. He had on cowboy boots and black jeans. (just like my grandpa used to wear) as I walked by him he TOTALLY smelled like my Grandpa. I ran to the van and jumped in and started sobbing. Bill was like.. "What's wrong?" I told him that I just missed my Grandpa so much and that cowboy dude smelled like him and his cowboy boots clip clopped on the ground just like my Grandpas did. I think I had a little PMS, but the grief just overwhelmed me. Family is good. Family relationships are important. I was telling BK the other day the cool part about being with the family God gave you is that they love you NO MATTER WHAT. Even though my Dad is hurting and broken and wrecked. I still love him. Even though I am not perfect, my kids and husband love me. We have to. We are a team. We know all the good bad and ugly of each other and we love regardless. That's what family is for. It's vital.

Anyway, I better wrap this up. Thanks for listening and thanks for checking back with me. My camera is fixed so I'll be posting more new pics soon.
Love, jen