26/M/Tulsa, OK-- My brother!

Okay so it has been forever since I've posted on my own blog and instead I've just been reading others.  One of the encouraging blogs I have been reading is called Kelly's Korner http://www.kellyskornerblog.com/ and this week on SUYL she's doing a show us your singles and thus I introduce to you one of my dearest friends since birth... My brother.  I didn't ask his permission to do this, but he's always teasing me that I need to help him get married, so here goes nothing!

That's my brother, Randle, myself and our Momma at my wedding! Randle is a 26 year old teacher (agriculture/FFA).  He lives and teaches in the Tulsa area; he loves the Lord and loves learning more about him.  Randle loves his jobs and enjoys getting to help mold the young lives of his students (they LOVE him!)

There he is in the middle, being goofy with his students on a FFA trip. Randle has a great sense of humor, loves his OSU Cowboys (graduated 2006, Magna Cumme Laude (he's smart too!)) He loves to watch sports. Randle is extremely loyal and loves his family and friends.  Randle helps out our widowed grandmother by making sure all the extra "man stuff" is taken care of.

Here's Randle as the best man, at his friend Cody's wedding!  Randle can be a little reserved until you get to know him, but he has a wonderful personality, he's super funny oh and ladies... He can DANCE! He'll burn up a dance floor like its nothin' (especially if its two-stepping).  And I would be amiss if I didn't mention what a great husband and father Randle will make one very special lady.  Randle is responsible and cares about providing a good future for his family.  Little kids love my brother! He just attracts them like no-one else I've ever met.

There he is w/ my best friends little boy!  So ladies don't miss out on my wonderful brother who loves the Lord and is just what you're looking for.  If you're interested in meeting my brother please email me @ rendyjanssen@gmail.com and I'll send your info on over to him...

Washed by the Water

Washed by the Water is a wonderful song that was suggested to me by my dear friend Kelli months ago when things were rather rough for Mike & I.  I have been wanting to share this with others, but for months, anytime I heard the song, I would bawl like a baby get slightly emotional.  So here's the link to a the video for this song that was so impactful to me.  Sometimes we are affected by the bad decisions that others make, and there are times where others are going to say things that are not true.  But one thing we knew was that even when the storms come, I am still washed by the water and I am still called to love. And that's the hardest lesson to ever learn, and while I went through that class extensively, I don't know that I still have it down pat, but I know that no matter what He who washed all my sins away, will continue to provide. And He has... Glory to Him!
Need to Breathe, "Washed by the Water"

New Church, New House... and hopefully a New Home

So I've haven't posted on blogger in so long because I have a big mouth and can't keep a secret er... I've been so busy!  Mike and I are no longer at CCY!  We had been praying for quite some time about whether or not that was were God wanted us.  While we were seeing kids come to know the Lord and grow deeper in their faith, it was not necessarily a healthy place for our family.  And God has worked his magic and taken us to a wonderful place where there is no doubt we have been called to serve....

So Mike is now the new youth/singles pastor at Village Baptist Church!  Everyone has been so super sweet to us since our first visit (people were amazingly nice before they even knew who we were!).  It is truly a blessing from God.  So there's the new church part.  As for the new home part, we'll be renting our home out and living in a parsonage close to the church... and its bigger : ) and it has the most wonderfully amazing backyard with two trees that will be spectacular for hanging a hammock

As for as the new home part... Mike and I are so excited to not only be serving at Village, but to be able to make it a home for our family.  As much as I love ALL of our students at CCY and many of the families we got to know, CCY was never home.  Unfortunately, it felt like a place that I served, sometimes a 2nd job, lol, but I never got that home feeling.  This could be due to the fact that we never got the opportunity to participate in many of the over-all church functions.  Regardless it wasn't and that was a really big deal to me, and in taking this new job, I definitely stressed the importance of being able to plug-in not just in the youth ministry, but in the church as a whole. And so far we've gotten to do that a little bit.  We attended our first SS class together in nearly 3 years (and it was awesome!); I've already been to a women's ministry event, and tonight Mike & I were invited to the Adult 2 get together! Yes! They have an Adult 2 class! There are people our age! So needless to say I'm pretty stinkin' pumped.

For those of you who have been praying for Mike & I for so long, I just want you to know how much we appreciate all of your prayers and support.  Please keep them coming, as we know God has big things in store for VBC, the Village and the surrounding area.

Change, Change, Change

I am so excited for all the new opportunities God has in store for Mike & I! There is so much going on in our lives... but I can't spread the good news on blogger just yet... But I can talk about some of the emotions I'm struggling with through the transitions in our life.

God has a reason for everything. I truly believe that. It is not always easy to believe, but I know it must be true.  With that being said, we have definitely gone through the ringer the past 2 years.  For me, I have had some major changes that take much adapting to, moving to a new town farther away from my college friends, Mike's first full time youth ministry job, graduating from OBU, starting my first big kid job, and having to try to balance all the relationships in between.

Relationships change as people change, and their lives around them change.  There has been one relationship for me that has been very difficult to watch the change.  Mainly, because I desire it to be a closer relationship and that's not the case.  There are people that we feel we have shared our lives with, who know (or at least knew) our hearts and the fact that they are less interested in fostering a friendship is very difficult.  It's not from lack of me trying, there was a time where I was messaging this said friend on a weekly basis for about four months trying to get together.  Once it finally happened, but was more because I insisted.  I know that lives are busy, I totally get that.  I'm working on my masters, I'm working full time and I'm volunteering at the church about 10 hrs or so a week.  Believe me I understand busy, the kind of busy that makes you wanna sit and cry some days because you don't know how you can do it all.  And yet I still make time for my friends, and so does this old friend of mine.  The time being made just doesn't happen to be for me.  And that does hurt.  I being avoided, I get that. I don't get why, although I am suspect to think its due to the fact that there is a big life event coming up that I have not been asked to be actively involved in (I'm trying to be vague here, forgive me) and she doesn't know how to deal with that.  I'm okay w/ not having a large place in your event.  I don't need a title.  I'm not about people looking at me.  That's not who I am. I am about relationships.  And that is a relationship that I do miss.  I don't care if I'm the go to person, I don't care if we can't share everything, but wouldn't it be nice to share something?  I have mourned the relationship that used to be... It will not be that way again, too much has changed, too much has happened, life took place and we missed it! that's how life is sometimes, that doesn't mean that we still can't continue to be friends on some level, or does it?  My hubs tends to tell me how some of my friends are shallow and self-centered.  I used to think he was just a pessimist, but now I understand.  He's not saying that what we shared was not friendship and was not real.  But he is saying that maybe they're not healthy for me.  He's saying that it's time I accept them as who they are now, and maybe that is flaky.

But what about me what do I say?

I say life happens, and will continue to happen.  God understands changing times and schedules and I know that he will no doubt continue to place newer friendships in my life that are healthy. Where I can be me, and they can be them.  He has already blessed me greatly, the Lord has given me a wonderful best friend, a woman who allows me to vent, complain and cry.  She often serves as a Barnabas and as well as the one who will help me to see if from someone else's point of view rather than my own.  Five years ago had you asked me if this person would be my bestie, I would have had no clue who they were!  But after four years of knowing her and her family, who have in fact become an extension of the family Mike & I have created together, I know that the Lord knows exactly what I need in life.  And He is the supplier of all things great. And while some things look different and may have been difficult to walk through. I know I have been blessed with a great and wonderful life, exactly as God has always had planned!

Weekend!

I love Fridays and yet some days I hate them too... I love Fridays because I know the weekend is coming up. On Friday nights you can stay up as late as you want, you don't have to worry about working the next morning (most of the time anyway). Fridays are often the time when Hubs and I get to relax together (often with friends) and just de-stress from the crazy week we've had and then we wake up to the best day of the week Saturday! Now I know what some of you are thinking you're a pastor's wife (and yes I know that he's a youth pastor which according to some of you is different than a "real" pastor, but believe me my Hubs is a real as a pastor as they get!) so shouldn't Sunday be your favorite day. And in some ways it is, we get to spend time with our students (we teach the High School Sunday School class together), then worship together (although most of the time us worshipping together consists of Hubs preaching/teaching and me soaking up the amazing knowledge the Lord has shared with him), then its on to a crazy short afternoon break (that's what I call it) and four (ish) hours later we're back at the church!
(that's our church BTW) So that's where we spend the majority of our Sunday.

But Saturday, Saturday is often our Sabbath (yes I realize the Sabbath is actually Saturday), but I know for many Christians they treat Sunday as their Sabbath, but for me its Saturday. Saturdays are my day of rest. Since we spend a good part of Sunday teaching others, I try to use Saturday to truly rest. I try to spend a little bit of me time, mixed w/ some time w/ the Hubs, maybe a little time with friends and voila. I feel rejuvenated (yes I'm an ESFJ and you can see my extroversion as I get jazzed by being around others).

So what's up for this weekend? I'm so glad you were wondering, now I can share. As for today I will finish out my work day (I'm at lunch right now, thank you very much!) and then home to change clothes, get the Hubs, grab the chicken & veggies that have been marinating since last night and head to the Bestie's for kabobs & fried rice and some good 'ol relaxation! Saturday I will hopefully get the time (and motivation) to clean my house up some and then dinner with the home care group @ our church that has adopted Mike & I since we aren't able to participate in one due to us teaching. Sunday=church, which I do enjoy by the way....

So pics from this weekend and the recipe for the kabobs (if they turn out to be good) will all be posted soon!

Have a wonderful weekend all!

Patience

Oh the Lord loves to teach me patience, and in the end I love learning more about patience, but stometimes (like the present moment) I'm not so good with patience. I began to ponder this and wonder if in some way sthis is a generational problem. After all, I am so connected... I spend enough time at my computer (at work mainly), but I nearly always have my Blackberry on, and it's hard to find me w/o my Ipod. Sometimes we just need to pull back from all thats going on around us though.

This morning on my commute I realized about 15 minutes into my drive that the radio wasn't on. I had been sitting in silence thinking about things that were going on in life, praying when I suddenly thought, "Wow! It's really quite in hear. Oh wait, my radio's off". Today I decided to leave off the radio. I want to hear God's voice loudly in my life. But as I began to analyze sometimes there is so much chatter around us it is hard to hear God's voice and we need time to stop and to listen to that still Small voice. Oh what a joy it is to hear from the Lord! I am so thankful for the gift of the Holy Spirit in my life!

To end I'll tell you a little story from Sunday....
I was being impatient (as usual), but Sunday morning we had a youth service that was mainly song and then communion by ourselves at a time we decided (with offering done the same way) blended with scripture. I was singing my heart out to God (which means I was having a great time those around me might not have loved my pitch-iness (?) but whatever when I just felt the Lord direct me to Romans 5
"Therefore since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into his grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we rejoice in our sufferings because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy spirit, whom he has given us"

God is using every situation in my life to develop my Godly character. He is teaching me perseverance and perhaps most comforting he always promises me hope and "hope does not disappoint".

God bless!

I've been a blogging slacker, yes I realize that. However, part of my slacking is due to the inability to express all that is going on right now. Wow! So much! And I'm not always the best at describing the emotions, and sometimes when I am I don't believe that these emotions should necessarily be put on the Internet for all to read. I have started following some bloggers who have this gift to describe everything and yet even with my ability to say so much. Not everything is always appropriate, but sometimes I wish I had that ability. So with all that being said!

March was a crazy busy month... It is by far one of my favorite months! There are like a bajillion birthdays of my friends&family in March (including my own) as well as spring break (which I didn't really get to participate in due to my new big kid job, boo!) and the first day of spring! The first day of spring disappointed me by snowing 6 inches, but other than that it was good. March also got to see the writing and turning in of my Research Methods paper, which I felt like I might not survive, but I did and as long as I passed, I don't really care. I loved my topic, and enjoyed reading about it, but HATED putting the paper together. Thus, you can all rest assured I will never be a research psychologist.

Our church (CCY) has hired a new senior pastor, although we are unsure of when he will actually come. We are praying that he has wonderful things in store for the church body and brings about a refreshing view of ministry.

On a totally separate note: Mike & I have been trying to eat healthier in an attempt to be healthier and loose some weight. Some of you may remember us doing our "poor man's weight watchers" and both lost a considerable amount of weight. Unfortunately, camp and various other things we stopped that and gained all of the extra weight back (and maybe a little more). While I enjoy being more conscious of what I putting into my body, neither of us have experienced the huge drop in weight like we had before. There are multiple reasons I'd like to get in better shape: weddings, beach vaca in Sept, wanting to eventually have a baby and be a cute pregnant lady (okay so I'm a little shallow at times, give me a brake, no one wants to be the person that people wonder are they pregnant or just getting fat). So I'm planning on really buckling down in order to get the results I want and today.... Today I WILL start working out. I think I'm typing this in hopes to have some invisible blog accountability. But I believe I can get in shape, and that I'll be a better person for it, I just need some motivation. So hopefully this will help.

Changing topics once again: I ask that you be praying for Mike & I. So maybe there's only 3 of you out there, but still. The Lord has been stirring our hearts and we are trying to decipher what exactly it is he wants us to do. Our desire has always been to follow God in whatever it is he wants us to do. So I know that this paragraph could not be more vague, but information will come in due time.