Merry Christmas from the Reeds!

We have had a wonderful Christmas season together! My break from school has been so relaxing and refreshing for me. I have been able to catch up on some much needed sleep, read books, watch old Friends episodes, see friends and family, bake and cook new meals, and spend some uninterrupted, quality time with Gabe. It was been wonderful. You might think I don't want to go back to school, but I am actually excited to see all of my students! I went into my classroom the other day to grab something, and I was happy to be in there! I am able to say that I LOVE my job, but a break from the hard, time consuming work is great for me. It makes me appreciate it more.

Enjoy the picture update of our Christmas gatherings! It lets you in on our little world this Christmas season!

Instead of buying each other gifts this Christmas, Gabe and I decided to spend a day together instead. We don't really NEED anything right now, and we both love spending time together.....just the two of us! We decided to spend the day in Indianapolis last week at the Children's Museum and downtown. We LOVED the museum! I guess that tells you we are really two big kids! :)

Gabe is making a boat to float along in the river.......it didn't make it very far though.

I won in the big tic-tac-toe game!

They had an exhibit on superheroes and comic books which featured the real Batmobile!

We went to the huge Borders on Meridian Street and looked at all the books, games, and music.

Gabe took me to eat at the Old Spaghetti Factory downtown Indy! I had never been there, and wow, it is a great restaurant. We got to sit in a traincar to eat our dinner! It was a wonderful Christmas date with my hubby. I love him!

On Christmas Eve, we celebrated my Grandpa Brown's birthday! Almost all of my Brown family was together and it was an evening of SO much fun! Gabe had never been with my family on Christmas Eve, and he loved it all! He said he loves having cousins......me too!

My cousin Chris and Grandpa.....I love this picture. Chris, who is probably one of the funniest people I know, just finished kissing Grandpa on the head and they were laughing about it!

Another set of cousins, Tom, Eric, and Alyssa with Grandpa. I am thankful for these beautiful people. They all have such sweet hearts.....even if Tom and Eric would roll their eyes if they knew I said that.

My brother, sister, and I with Grandpa! (I have to apologize....I didn't get a picture of my two cousins Amanda and Carrie....I didn't have my camera out fast enough!)

My grandparents are some of the most giving people I know. They go out of their way to help other people and build relationships with almost anyone they meet. We all look up to them and are thankful for all they do for our family. I love you Grandpa and Grandma!

Four out of five Brown kids with their parents!

Sister picture......Kate's short hair is SO cute!

Gabe got to read the Christmas story, The Night Before Christmas this year to our family. It has been a tradition that one of the cousins read this story every year. Since Gabe is the newest cousin, it was his year to read. I think his Santa hat was a little small.....

My dad always leads our entire family in some Christmas carols. This year he had my brother in law help him lead, and then they had Katie up there too! We sang the whole 12 Days of Christmas song with motions and everything! The Brown gang sure knows how to have fun and to really celebrate Christ's birth!

All of the Reed family came to Anderson to celebrate Christmas together! We got a great shot of us all. I really love this picture of us all.....we are so happy to be ALL together!!

What a cutie.....Ezzie!

Keziah looked like a little Santa princess in her red and white outfit. I couldn't get her to look at the camera though.

Ezra goes crazy over Uncle Gabe! He LOVES to wrestle with Gabe!

And we love to take the silly pictures together! It doesn't take much for this kid to become silly! I love him and the rest of my "new" family! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the Reeds! We are both resting up today because we are taking a bunch of middle school and high school kids bowling tonight until 1 a.m. to kick off the New Year! I hope Gabe and I can make it!

Christmastime is here....

I cannot believe it. With only a couple days until I am on my Christmas break, we have had two days (Wednesday and Thursday) cancelled due to ice on the road! I had all of these wonderful activities to do with my fifth graders. The weathermen are calling for a big ice storm in central Indiana tonight, so we will see if I go to school tomorrow. And we were supposed to make gingerbread houses too....

We have not updated lately, and that has been my fault! It has taken me so long to get the pictures off my camera and on to our computer. This is a quick look at some 'holiday happenings' at our home. We both LOVE this time of year and have had so much fun being married for the first time during the holidays!

Joe, Natalie, Ezra and Keziah came home from Africa on Thanksgiving! It was so awesome to spend time with them. Keziah is so beautiful!

Ezra loves his time with Grandpa!

Gabe and I are in the car going to cut down our first Christmas tree together! We were so excited to start our own traditions!


We found our beauty of a tree! A 5'2" Douglas pine....we searched for awhile for just the right one!

Happy and in love....








They had a cute sleigh out front of the tree farm and the lady inside insisted we take a picture together, being our first Christmas together and all. I love this one.


I forgot to take pictures while we decorated the tree, but here is the finished project! We made homemade pizza (thanks Elise for the dough recipe!) and rearranged our whole living room to show off the tree. It smelled so great.



My sweet friend, Marcia, and I planned a holiday party for all of our friends from the Bridge last weekend! We had everyone come over to our house to have dinner together! My aunt and uncle gave us their kitchen table this fall and I finally was able to put in the four leaves to make it seat twelve people! I didn't get lots of pictures from the night, but here are a few before our friends ate their wonderful dinner!



We want to make this holiday party a tradition for our friends. There were about 15 of us this year.....I wonder how many more we could have next year!

Phil and Kylee.....beautiful friends inside and out. We love them!
Chris and Rachel......they are going to be parents soon and adopt four children into their home!

David and Marisha......just as sweet as their amazing homemade Alabama ice tea! :)

I feel better now that I have updated the blog world....or maybe just a couple friends on the Christmas happenings in our life. There is much to come and much to celebrate. Joy to the world!

Embracing Truth

So I've been on a kick with some worship music lately. One of my favorite things to do in my car alone is to turn on Shane and Shane and just sing it out! Don't laugh, you do the same when you're alone! But there is a song that gets me every time. It talks about how the devil is whispering in our ear that we are cursed and the penalty for our sin is death. How true. It's so weird to know that the devil is right! But the ending is cool because they say how he's forgotten one thing...one very important thing, "JESUS SAVES"

This got me thinking and I've been thinking about this for a few days now. Normally I write while things are burning in my heart and I just need to get it out. But instead, I've been spending time seeking in my own heart what I believe, what I feel like God is trying to teach me. What I have come to realize is that we miss it. I have friends of mine that like to get into theological debates all the time and convince each other their way is the right way. There is nothing wrong with discussing theology, I believe it stretches your understanding and it's a good thing. But when we get into the liturgical stuff of today's church, there is a huge disconnect between God and the church that He came to save. We are his bridegroom and we let that slip past us too many times.

What am I getting at? I don't care how you take communion, how you pray, how you worship, how you are wired spiritually. I care about you understanding the relationship we have with Jesus Christ. He says, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." Period. That's it. It's about a relationship with Him. We won't always get it perfect, we'll make mistakes along the way. But do we ever look at the relationship He offers us? We get too wrapped up in the details of things and trying to always be right. Instead, we just need to be, to exist, to be in love, in relationship with our Heavenly Father.

If we pause for just a minute and really look at the love of God in our lives...what will that do to you? It wrecks me today. I'm in my office right now listening to a song called "How He loves us" and I can feel that burn in my eyes because it messes me up. I know how much I love my wife and to know I want nothing more than to be near her, to be close to her and to never see her hurt. When I even imagine it, it hurts me. To know that God loves me so much more than that. I pray I never lose sight of what He has done for me. We are in a relationship - do you treat it that way? Or do you treat it like a business, doing what you know needs done so you can call yourself a Christian for the day?

When you encounter the love of God - you should never be the same. Embrace Him, Embrace the Truth. Embrace it and know His love for you.

Missin my bro and the joys of my job!

I've been having an issue for awhile now and it just got brought up in a leaders meeting at the church on sunday. Do you ever feel like you are alone in your spiritual walk? Like your prayers mean nothing? Sometimes it seems like when I pray, God doesn't hear me. So I've been dealing with that, then I had my one on one with Chris yesterday and he nailed it. He asked me who I have in my life that I can talk to, that pushes me, encourages me and helps me through life...not Libby, but a man in my life. And I realized that it was my brother. Joe was the guy who was in the same "job" as me, but wasn't at the same place as me. He knows me so well that when I would have issues, he was able to help me with them, but he was also that guy that would just let me talk about things and he would listen. Then he left for South Africa and I've noticed since he's been gone, I've kept a lot more to myself. So as I'm talking to Chris, it begins to hit me and I begin to fight the tears because I'm here in Anderson...yet, I'm alone. I have so many great people around me and some awesome friends, but I don't have that access to my brother like I used to and I think it's finally sinking in that I may never have that. But through all of this I am learning how blessed I am with the family God gave me. Because my dad is another man in my life that I can be so open and real with. Granted, he's my dad and he'll love me no matter what. But how many people can really just open up to their parents and share their hearts? I think the reason I share this has 2 reasons: 1) Be thankful for the family/people in your life. If you have that person that you can just be real with and they are the same with, be thankful!! 2) My brother is coming home this week and I'm excited cuz I'm really missin him and his family a lot. Never thought I'd say that growing up! ha. Joe and I ALWAYS fought and my mom always said, "when you guys are older, you'll be best friends" I can hear my mom now "I told you so!". Good job mom :-)

The other thing that's kind of been wearing me down is my job. I love my job and what I do, but with my job, comes people that don't like me. Have you ever heard of the 80/20 rule? 80% of the people in your life like you and 20% don't? Well, I've been good for awhile about not hearing about the 20%, but for some reason I did last night. We had youth kids over at the house and one of the girls said she was leaving school to come over there and another mom said, "let me tell you something about Gabe" - she said she wasn't trying to keep the girl from coming over, but to let her know her opinion of me. I guess the reason she didn't like me has something to do with her oldest son and I not clicking? Or maybe I did something to her son that she probably heard wrong. If only she knew the times I had with her son, the decisions he made that we talked over and he decided he needed to change things around. If only she knew the influence I had on her son...would she feel the same about me? What's hard is that I know her son, and I'm sure he went home and maybe said some things that weren't completely true because I upset him. Who knows. But I did something today I never thought I would do...I called her! Wow, talk about a heart wrenching! ha. I've never had my heart rate get so high from sitting at a desk. But I called and left her a message letting her know I'd like to run some things by her because of what this girl said and how it raised some concern for me. I understand people won't like me. When I have 80 kids at a youth thing - I won't do everything perfect that every parent will be happy with. I've come to learn to live with that. But when the parents start trying to keep other kids from getting involved, now it's time to step in.

How would you feel as a mom or dad having a 24 year old young man confront you on something? I've gotta say, it's scary for me. It's hard enough to earn the respect from these people cuz of my age. But I've also learned over the past 3 years that a lot of times when the people don't like me, is because of selfish reasons. It's probably hard for a 40 year old person who is still figuring things out for their life see a 24 year old come around with it "all together" and trying to coach them through life as well. I'm not saying I have it all together at all...but when I am helping your kid more that you are, it probably seems that way. So it's understandable not everyone will like me. I've come to deal with that. But instead of telling people you don't like me, why don't you talk to me about it? That's the funny thing. These parents are worse than the kids when it comes to gossip! Ministry never ends, influencing people never ends, seems like problems never end. But until I'm done, I'll just keep on pressin on and pray that I remain where God wants me and my eyes stay fixed on Him. I'm too much of a people pleaser and it's killin me...I need to find my security in Christ, not people. Do you ever wish God would rewire your mind? A lot on my mind obviously...seems like I've been a roller coaster lately...so clearly I don't have it all together :-)

God on his throne

So the election is finally over...now let's see how long people keep arguing about it. It's funny though, I paid 1.95 for gas yesterday, Bush's economics must be so bad! Atleast the ignorant people think he's bad, whatever. I've learned a lot over the past several months from people - myself included. That people are uneducated about their decisions on things and people look to politicians to save them. I heard a friend of mine talking about Obama and why he has such a following- it's because of his passion! People want a leader with passion!! But where is your passion? So many people got into this election, which they should have, but how come that passion never bleeds over to any other areas of your life? I listened to someone in my life rant and rave about Obama and how great this "change" is going to be...but in all the years I've known him, I've never heard passion about his relationship with God. Not saying it's non-existent, but how come that is something we never get passionate about?

I am leading worship this sunday for our youth service (which I've never done!) and as I was practicing, I kinda had a break down. The song by Shane and Shane called "You Said" came into my head and I lost it. As the angels sing "HOLY HOLY HOLY, is the Lord God almighty...." I found myself crying that out. As God shows Himself to Moses, He says, "this is HOLY GROUND!" - "Where I am, where I go IS HOLY!" The angels have passion as they sing. I had passion today for my God. But why is that passion lost? Why is there only passion during crap like this election?

I work with a guy, Phil. If you want passion, talk to Phil. His heart for God, for others, for serving...defines passion to me. I love to just be with him and his wife with Libby and just talk to them both. The passion just pours out of their hearts and it doesn't come once every 4 years. When you have caught a glimpse of God, the passion will burn from within.

Where is your passion? Can people even see the heart of God in your life? I pray they can! I pray my life exemplifies God in all I do. That when I am gone and leave this place, people won't remember me for supporting McCain, but for being a man after God's heart, a man with passion for His kingdom.

As this new guy comes and takes over our country and leads us into "change" (socialism is change! ha) - Remember, God still sits on His throne. No one shall overtake Him, He still rules. I have to find my peace in that. To be honest, it's a struggle for me right now. Sometimes it feels like God is distant for me...but daily, I'm trying to humble myself, to surrender my ways, and to catch that glimpse of God...to renew my passion for Him, daily.

Check out my brother's blog "Joe and Natalie". It helps put things in perspective, atleast for me. Talking about the refugees in South Africa and what they are going through, while us pathetic Americans sit and complain about elections and we argue and bicker over stupid stuff which causes division among the people. When we should come together for a great purpose and attempt to accomplish something worth talking about! I wrote a note on being the hands and feet of God...I'll post that on here sometime. But anyway, I'm proud of you Joe. I appreciate you helping keep things in perspective for me.

Just a Glimpse

I apologize in advance if this blog makes no sense. I threw my back out I think, and it hurts really bad so I took some pain killers that make me really drowsy. But my heart is full, once again. I am full of joy because I feel like God is continually teaching me new things and I see His hand on my life more and more...how could I not find joy in that? When we seek Him, we experience His blessing and when you begin to learn more about Him and draw closer, you can't but want to share it with people. So I pray what I'm about to write makes sense :-)

I was reading in Exodus 33 when God tells Moses that He is going to meet with him. But as He passes by, He will put His hand over Moses' face to protect him. Then, as he passes by, He will remove His hand so Moses can catch a glimpse of God.

This passage grabs my attention. Moses told God to show him His presence. How often do you seek out God's presence? How often do we sit at the foot of the cross and cry out "HOLY HOLY HOLY!!!" We get caught up in the daily grind of things and we miss our chance to be in the cleft of the rock to experience God. We have this opportunity to know God. Let me rephrase that, God wants us in relationship with Him, to know Him, to seek Him...to love Him. He is right there waiting, He goes before us, His glory shines around us. But you have your back to Him, you miss Him completely! Do you truly want to experience God? Then what does your life look like? What choices are you making to experience His presence?

Obama can not save our country, Biden can not save our country, McCain can not save our country, Palin can not save our country. Until we as the body seek God, we can not save our country. 2 Chronicles 7:14 "if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land"

God promises to heal our land! But too many of us are getting so wrapped up in politics and what each candidate is saying that we look to them as our savior. Why have we taken God out of the picture? I'm not one of those "Jesus for president" guys - but I am a "Jesus is Lord" guys and I pray that I will continue to seek God's presence in my own life, that I will humble myself before Him. I believe that if the body makes this their prayer, that a revolution will finally take place in this world!!! Why has this been lost in the mess of the world? I pray that this message reaches atleast one person...that this message will get passed on and spread like wildfire and that it is finally caught by the church.

What this country needs is a glimpse of God. For Him to pass before us to catch JUST A GLIMPSE of Him. How can you truly say you've caught a glimpse of God and your life not be changed? Take a moment, be still, be quiet and let God show Himself to you today. Join me in prayer for our own lives. God has not left us, but we seem to have left Him. Humble yourself and pray, catch a glimpse of God and let's be the people that are used by God to heal this land.

I'm here.

It has been too long since I have said hello to the blog world. My husband has been filling up our blog with lessons he has been learning and the thoughts swirling in his head. I thought it time to say hello again. I don't have time to upload any pictures to make this post cool because I am really supposed to be grading some journals, math homework, and reading questions. I think I am procrastinating. The house is quiet because my amazing husband (who works so hard at his job!) is hanging out with our church's youth group tonight. I don't always go to youth on Wednesday if it has been a long day at school with my own eighteen squirrely children. I can't believe the first grading period is through for my fifth graders. I had parent/teacher conferences last week before fall break. I was pooped and yes, I did have two awful kanker (sp?) sores because of the stress which Gabe announced. Yet, through all of the work and overtime I do for my kids, I absolutely love going to school and being around my students. For fifth graders, they say funny and weird things that crack me up each day. They know how to take a little sarcasm and we are connecting more than I ever thought we would. My brain gets a constant workout everyday too as I am making hundreds of decisions and tending to the needs and questions of eighteen busy bodies. My brain likes it. I hope it will keep me sharp for years to come.... :)
For the month of October, Gabe and my weekends were b-u-s-y. It seemed like we didn't rest. I am proud to say that not much is happening this weekend for which I am extremely grateful. I hope to just be home (I love my home!) , work a little, have people over for dinner, drink a whole cup of coffee from a real mug instead of a travel mug, sleep in, make a pumpkin roll, and have free time to myself. Maybe I will get those things in.....just maybe. For now, I will settle on the couch with hot chocolate and grade my ever-growing stack of scribbly papers.

No Debate Necessary

I'm writing again, and Libby wants all of the readers to know she isn't dead. She's working hard and has 2 canker sores because of stress.

Now, onto what I want to talk about...
The election is coming up and I'm still stuck! I read about our candidates and take quizzes to see who I agree with more and who I believe would be the best to run our country. I've realized (maybe just cuz I'm older and don't have a lot of experience) but this seems to be the most debated election process ever! There are pros and cons to both parties. But what gets me is the people that get angry with each other. I am pretty sure who I'm voting for, but I know once I say it, it will open up debate. I'm getting sick of this. We can debate until we're blue in the face, but where does it get us?

I miss Mike Huckabee. He was the man and I was pretty pumped to think he would be our next president. But as I was reading a friend of mine's blog tonight about the election and watching people comment back and forth on it, I thought about Huckabee and why I liked him (the fact that he would speak about his faith and was not ashamed...all that jive). I know I want a God-fearing man to run our country, but from the looks of it, that's not going to happen.

We have the right to vote for the person running our country and we should be thankful for that. Too many people just don't vote because they think whoever wins is the person that is supposed to win. But instead of debating who should be in the office, do we ever step back and put God back into the picture? When Huckabee was running, I thought a lot about God's plan for our country. Now that we have these 2 guys running, we overlook God. Do you ever picture God up there waving his arms saying, "HELLO!! I'm still here! Don't forget about me because I have NOT forgotten about you!!" So why not be praying for our next elected official instead of debating who it should be. Sure, we all have our view and we're all different. Most people can't seem to agree to disagree...everything turns to debate. How about you take a moment to pray about this election - what would happen then? Do we even pray for the people running our country? I don't want to get back into my prayer topic - but I don't want to overlook the fact that God is not out of this country. This country was founded by a group of Christian men built on Christian principles. Then enemy has been crafty at trying to get God out of this country, let's join forces (like on captain planet! haha) and come together as believers and PRAY FOR OUR COUNTRY!! God has not left us, no politicians can take God out of our country. There is always a war going on, and we've watched the enemy slowly take hold over the years. Join me in these next few weeks to pray for this election. We are one nation UNDER GOD - never forget it.

Pointless ramblings...

My heart is full right now. I could possibly write a book on what all is going on in my head. I'm thinking about my family, how awesome they are; the student ministry, how much i love them; debating with people, how much it exhausts me; new discoveries in God, someone will want to debate them and then I'll get exhausted. So what to write about tonight....I'm stuck. Maybe write on prayer?
Here's my deal - tonight at youth was incredible. It got real deep and I didn't even mean for that to happen. I was talking about community and how we all need people in our lives to be in relationship with. These relationships are crucial for when we go through a hard time in life. We talked about Kerry (he is a senior who was diagnosed with Leukemia last week) and his sister was there. At the end, we gathered around her and prayed for Kerry. When the night was over, a lady that helps out with youth told me that next time, I need to pray that we accept God's will, whatever that might be. I wasn't sure how to take that, as if my prayer was bad or something. I know it wasn't and I know my heart was genuine, so it didn't bother me like she was telling me I pray bad (can you even pray bad?!) but it did get me thinking...how do we pray? Obviously, there is the Lord's prayer we Jesus even says, this is how you should pray! We know God has a will (plan) for our lives, but can that plan change? Sometimes it's like God has the answer, but until we ask for it...we don't get it. Think about Jabez - God had a blessing for him, but he didn't get it until he asked for it. Then I read in Romans 8:26-27 that the Holy Spirit intercedes for us and interprets our prayer to God according to His will. So essentially, our prayers are always in line with God's will. So is there really a method to praying? Do we stick to the Lord's prayer?
If I went to the Doctor and wanted to get better, I wouldn't say to him, "Doc, I know you know what's wrong with me...so if it's your will, please heal me" NO!!! I say "Doc, FIX ME!!". To me, it's almost like praying a prayer and at the end asking for God's will to be done that we lack faith. We can't ask for anything from God because we don't know if it's in line with His plan. But go back to Romans, it will be according to His plan. Look up verses on prayer - you see example after example of people praying and God answering their prayers. But when Paul asked God to remove the thorn from his side, He said no. So our prayers don't always go according to planned, but clearly there is a reason to pray, right? I mean, when I was looking up verses on people praying, it's almost sounds like "Because they prayed, they received their answer".

Guys, I know this blog is totally confusing and you're probably messed up in the head right now. I'm not writing this to open up debate with you because honestly, I don't know what I'm thinking. It's a process right now that I'm trying to figure out. Maybe I never will! But I do know one thing, I will never stop praying. Whether you think I speak the right way or not, I know God sees my heart and you can't, so for me, that's enough. He is the one that answers prayers, no one else, so I can find peace in knowing it's not up to anyone on this earth to answer my prayers, I just need God to search my heart. Any advice in this journey would be appreciated though! Kylee - that's a job for you :-)

Finding Contentment

I (Gabe) have been real hard on myself lately. I don't know what it is about my personality, but I think I like it too. I set the bar high for myself in different areas of my life and if I don't live up to it, I'm let down. Everyone else around me thinks what is going on is great, but for some reason, I leave feeling discouraged. There are 2 main areas where I feel like I do this: Ministry and business. Saturday I had my whole business team out to do a product thing for our church and friends around Anderson, our goal was to help raise money for the new building for the Bridge. I was excited because I was going to give 100% of all the profit to the Bridge! Then when it was all over, there wasn't much to throw a party about. I don't get it - I understand people are negative about what I'm doing, but if I was doing cutco or arbonne or any other business system like that, they would be all about it! But because of people involved with us in the PAST like, 70s and 80s, the older generation hates it...which then carries over into today. It's completely different and how we do it is completely different. You'll find bad people in any business endeavor, how come when I am involved in something all I get is bad feedback? I think what is frustrating the most is that I have a friend that just recently got involved (not with me) and now is making a killing at this and doing very well!
So I left that day just asking God, "WHY?!" Why can someone else get started with us and within 12 months be making enough money to pay off all their debt and live a comfortable life? But when I commit myself to this and am wanting to do this to help out the church and support my brother and his family in ministry - how come then nothing happens? When I was selfish about it and wanted it for myself, I saw growth and things happening. There is some disconnect there and I don't understand it. But I know that there is no victory without a struggle. I know that I'm struggling now, but the victory will be so sweet. This is where the contentment comes in....
I went to church the next morning and took my mind off business matters and focused on my job with the church. That service was the best I think we've had. The music, the message, the whole thing was incredible. I had great conversations with kids later in the day about it and so much awesome stuff came from that. I realized that God has me in His hands (not that I didn't know that before), but I felt a real peace about it. Sure, business isn't where I want it to be - but do you see the lives changing right in front of you? God has blessed me so much in the area of ministry and I LOVE what I do. I wouldn't trade it for the world. I have to look around me and see that God has not forgotten me, He hasn't taken me out of the picture. But right now, my picture is the Bridge student ministry. He has taken care of me, bills are being paid, I'm able to take my wife on dates, I am even able to throw a lot at debt each month. We aren't behind at all. I tend to overlook that sometimes. I look around me at successful people (financially) and get upset because that was the path I was on before God plucked me out of the crowd and said, "I want you to go this way". I know that in all things, God works for the good of those who love Him. I'm finding contentment with what God has given me. I know that He is doing a great work in me and that my future is bright. I know that God has put a "no-quit" mindset in me and that I will not quit, I will not walk away from what He has put into my life. I need to remember that where I'm at in life is not an accident and His plan is perfect for me. I can't focus on where I'm at right now, I need to know that God sees my life, He knows my future and He has big plans for us. I'm excited to see where He takes it, but in the meantime, I will rest on the fact that He has not forgotten me, He will not let me settle for mediocrity, He will continue to bless my life. I'm challenged daily to look around me and see God in my life and everyday, He surprises me. My prayer is that God will continue to surprise me, that things will happen that the only way to explain it is that God had a part in it. We've seen it with the youth program, but we've only just begun. I know He isn't finished with me at the Bridge, not even close. God, surprise me! Use Libby and me for extraordinary things...I'm ready and I'm excited to see what is about to happen.

Fireproof

Last night Libby and I had a date night. We went down to Indy so she could shop (her love language...not mine!) and then had dinner with my parents. It's always good to see them, I feel like I don't very often even though they are so close. Guess we should have a kid :-) Just kidding. But then we went and saw the movie "Fireproof". It's from the makers of "Facing the Giants". If you haven't seen the giants one...you need to. If you are married, you need to see fireproof. Even if you aren't...it's incredible. But if you are married, you will leave the movie loving your spouse so much more and not take them for granted and appreciate so much more about them. I've only been married about 5 months (wow, I can't believe it's been that long!) and I've seen myself as the main character is. You become complacent. There is a part where a guy is talking about how you study your love while you are dating and you know so much about them and what will draw them closer to yourself. When you marry the person, it's like getting your high school diploma in regards to how you studied that person. But for most, once they are married, the pursuit stops. He tells the guy to continue to go for your college degree, your masters, even your doctorate. You never stop studying the other person and finding ways you can show your love to them. Marriage isn't a destination, it's a journey. I was challenged by that movie to find ways I can love Libby in the way she deserves to be loved. To capture her heart daily and pursue her constantly...not out of duty, out of love. I desire to know her more, to love her more deeply and to grow closer to her daily. As I came home, I thought of how many marriages around me I see where people just live together and just do life without truly pursuing each other. Even getting my hair cut, the guy was impressed we go out on a date atleast once a week. We had a good talk about it and I encouraged him to never stop dating his wife. (this was all before I had even seen the movie) But I knew that when I dated Libby before we were married, those were the times we just fell more in love with each other. Now I know even more the importance of dating once we are married. Marriage is a commitment till death, but it is also a "battle" until death and I have won her heart and I will continue to pursue her heart and never give up on our love. She is worth fighting for, amidst the struggles we have with each other, we will overcome and be drawn closer together. Is your spouse someone that you want to fight for? Are they someone you want to pursue and be drawn closer too? Then what are you doing about it? If you don't capture their heart...who is?

Random ending note: I was having some really cool alone time a little bit ago and just talking with God about life. Tomorrow at youth I'm talking about surrendering our will and asking for God's will to be done. As I prayed, I kept saying "Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven" - how often do we pray this? How often do we ask for God's will to be done? If we could see the picture of God in heaven and He tells us this is how we should pray - shouldn't we be excited? When I close my eyes and imagine heaven, I get excited. But God asks us to pray that His kingdom will come!! Heaven is all around us, we see God's glory shone throughout our worlds, but how many of us open our eyes to it? Or are we stuck in our own control and we can't surrender ourselves to God's will? That hits me between the eyes, so I thought I'd share.

Today was an awesome bad day. Does that even make sense? I hope so. I got to hang out with some really cool people tonight and it was very refreshing for me to be around people that are not part of the Bridge or our business team. So it was cool to "just be". That was the awesomeness to my day, I got to meet new people without any of them really knowing me and I could just sit there and listen to stories and not even think about anything. Kind of weird, I know, but it was great.

I know I posted my last post about some feelings I've been having. I'm still searching for God's lesson in that...but today I think I may have begun to see the light. I'm realizing how much the enemy hates me. I am not sure people outside of ministry roles really understand that there truly is a spiritual battle all around us. This past week, I began to feel it, to really experience it. There is a time when Elisha was about to be attacked by his enemies and his servant dude came running in all scared. Elisha then prayed telling God to open his eyes. When his eyes were opened, he saw God's army around the enemy to protect them. But this week, I felt as though God was holding off his army and letting the enemy knock me down. This has been an incredible summer and we have seen so much happen in the lives of students and I know the enemy hates us for that. But I continue to feel attacked and it feels like a constant battle for my heart and my mind. I was finally beginning to grasp ahold of something this morning, but had to stop to take care of some other business. Before I could get back to it, it's like another attack happened. Something happened to me in a way that it should not have happened, but I had no control over that...but I think it happened to me for a reason. Here is why...
I was beginning to discover myself this morning, to see my real beauty in God's eyes. But before I was able to really dive into it, my phone got a text that I needed to go pick something up to set up. As I got to the school to set up, only one guy showed up. The other people I called had to work and 1 was out of town, and there was miscommunication between Joel and I on who to call so no one else was there. Then I went to lunch and had an interesting conversation about how I was doing my job. I understand that in dealing with a lot of people, I will tick off people...that comes with the job. As I was listening to this guy talk to me, I had a few different feelings going through me. Let me tell you what I "heard" - you dropped the ball, you wasted the summer, nothing is ready and you are a terrible leader. Let me tell you what he said, atleast what I believe his heart to be - you are a great leader, but you're not taking it to your potential, what has happened in the youth program with the students has been incredible, but we need to focus on adults as well, and our communication really needs work. I know you read this, so know that now, I see it...it took me awhile

I want you to see God's hand in this....

I left and had all day to process about Aftershock and my experience earlier in the day. It's 1 am right now and I finally broke down. As I was looking back, what I "heard" was very audible to me, I truly believed my friend was sitting here attacking me and after the past 2 weeks...this was the last thing I could take. The thought of finding a new job came in front of me, I felt like I was the person that should sit in a cubicle and just do office work. I sat at my computer tonight looking over things for Aftershock and prayed that God would open my eyes. (sounds like Elisha's prayer...didn't think about that). Guys, the enemy is real and all around us. I began to listen to his voice and believe his lies. My eyes were opened to a God that is pulling me to Him and holding the enemy back.
I began to pray and as I had my eyes closed, I could see this darkness around me closing in. It was hard to even process the words in my head, but I just began to ask God to hold me. I needed comfort, I needed reassurance. As I prayed for Him to protect me and send his angels in to keep the enemy away, the darkness began to leave me. The craziest thing about it, my lightbulbs got brighter. And I just sat there with my eyes closed and just found rest in Him - not even kidding you, there was a physical feeling of something in my chest being lifted and it caused me to open my eyes and right in front of me Libby had written 2 different verses and they were on a bulletin board and one on the outside of a pencil box. Both had the words "Unfailing love" written on them.

I was reminded tonight hanging out with those friends how refreshing it is to "just be"...it's the same with God. How renewed, how refreshed can you be by just being you in the presence of God. I can look back on this day and see where He brought me and what He taught me. Now I pray I can sleep and Aftershock is just filled with God's love in the room and that these 100 kids will leave experiencing Him in a new way, like I did tonight. Thank you God.

School days...

Gabe is so right. This blog was my idea and he posts more often than I do! I have some updating to do! I have been a "real" teacher for just over one month now, and I absolutely love it. Teaching is one plan God set out for my life, and I love being in the midst of that plan. Instead of going on and on in paragraph form, let me just list a few things, ok? (My life is now filled with lists......its how I function.)

What I enjoy and love about teaching fifth grade:

-seeing my students walk in the door....I still get excited every morning when I hear the bell ring

-looking at my room and realizing that it is "my" room. Finally!

-actually teaching the material and seeing excitement on their faces as I am teaching

-comforting students when they come down too hard on themselves

-playing "Knockout" at recess

-sharing poetry with them and seeing their hunger for it!

-watching their faces after I hand back an A+ test

-laughing with them after I make a mistake or say something weird....it happens frequently!

-working with my co-teachers.....Kim and Regina are amazing women! They have helped me grow as a teacher in leaps and bounds in just this one month!

-knowing in my heart that I am trying to love these children as Christ would each day

What I am learning to deal with as a teacher:

-I really don't have enough hours in a day

-it takes hours of sacrifice to be an elementary teacher......more hours to be a good one!

-if I don't grade papers for one night, it bites me in the rear down the road

-how to handle a child who cannot control his anger and frustration in my classroom

-I am learning how to be consistent, fair, and firm every single day.....you wouldn't think it would be that hard, but boy, it is! I can't worry about getting them to like me; I need them to respect me first! I'm learning......

-how to pray for wisdom hourly

-meeting the needs in my classroom of 19 students

-I need more sleep than I am giving myself! :)

Here are a few pictures of my classroom! (They are hard to see, but you get the idea....)

They are hard at work! (We have no lockers at my school, so that is why there are backpacks on desks and on the floor. You can just imagine me trying to walk around all of them....it gets crazy!)

This is the view from the back corner! I now have different curtains in my windows thanks to my mom! The lace was driving me nuts! My desk is in the front corner. And those yellow folders on their desks are their working folders to hold all of their "in-progress" assignments they are working on. They just reach in there during work time and know what to finish up!

Here is my work space which I feel like I am never at throughout the day! I try not to be back there because I feel like I need to be in and around my students even as they are working. I can check their progress much better by walking around than looking out at them! My desk is always clean at the end of the day, but watch out! Throughout the day it gets quite messy because I am not around it to organize!

My mom and I worked on this bulletin board together! It says, "Look who's campin' out in fifth grade!" And those are sticks with "marshmallows" on the end of them! And another thank you to Kylee for the beautiful dragonfly you see by the Welcome circles! She painted that for me one afternoon!

My classroom library is back in the "Reading Campsite". I love this area.....it's bright and colorful and encourages them to get cozy while reading. I hope to find some camping chairs to put back here soon. It's not in the Reed budget......yet. :)

I hope that gives you, my friends and family, a little look into my life at the moment. I love this opportunity I have to invest in the lives of my 19 students. They are precious to me. Pray for them this week as they take their ISTEP (state standardized test) tests. They will be wiped out as they they will test for three hours each morning this week. I think I will be nice and not assign homework. Maybe. :)

Victory in the Struggle

You know what's funny to me...this blog thing was Libby's idea...when was the last time you wrote on here?! :-) I guess I'll keep everyone up to date with what is happening.
Libby is teaching in case you haven't figured that out and she is the best teacher I've ever seen! I'm a little partial though. I'll let her write on here what has been going on with that.
Youth has been going very well. We are getting ready to launch our youth service for the year. We had some complications with the facility so we've had to wait longer than we want...but I think I deserved a little break. It's cool to know how much I love my job though because I want to be doing it now!! But our wednesday nights have really picked up. I've been getting to know the high school's football team a lot better and we're getting a good turn out from the players and seeing some really cool things happen there. here's a story...
There is a kid, we'll call him Bob. I met him probably when he was a freshmen, he's a senior now. Never really got to know him because he didn't go the Bridge, but I try and get to know as many kids as I can in the schools whether or not they do go to the Bridge. Well, a lot has been going on lately in his life. For instance, he found out recently that the dad he thought was his dad his whole life, is not really his dad. They had a blood test done on his step dad and his "Real" dad to see....turns out, it's not his dad, his step dad is his biological dad. That'll mess a 17 year old up! Then a good friend of his who is in high school, has a stroke or something go wrong and he dies. So this kid is hurting. Luckily, the place where we do youth, the guy is one of his coaches! So he comes out to youth and we actually connect really well. So I've been bonding with him a little bit and it's been cool to really be a part of his life. Last wednesday when I was talking, I felt like I needed to share what a relationship with God is about. I normally don't go deep on wednesdays because it's more of a time for kids to bring their friends. But I couldn't fight it, I could tell the Holy Spirit was prompting me to do this. At the end, I had the kids pray with me and then look up at me if they prayed with me. He was one of those kid!! Praise God! It was so cool. Then I got to talk with him after youth more and I can just tell he needs someone. So he's been another kid I've been investing in. That's the victory we experienced in the trouble. He was having a troubled life but was able to experience a cool victory! I'm kind of excited about that! :-)

Here's my issue...here's where you can pray. I love what I do, wouldn't trade it for the world right now. But I think my heart is getting too into it. Is that possible in ministry? Apparently it is. There are long stories which I won't get into right now...but I'm struggling with 2 kids right now. One of them is this guy that has been around for a little bit and is a senior now. He's been real distant lately and I've heard rumors of him doing things on weekends, just stuff that isn't like him. When I was talking to him at lunch today, he treats me like I'm nothing. He has that "I'm too cool" attitude. I think the issue is that he thinks we're more buddies than we are mentors/protege relationship. So he talks to me like that. Sometimes I don't have an issue with it because I want the kids to know I'm their friend and I care about them. But there is a deeper issue there and I'm letting it bother me right now. I know this is confusing, but I think I just need to write it out. But I could use prayer on this. I don't want to see this kid slip away...but I'm struggling with what is going on right now.

There are lots of stories like this, of kids that I just don't get what is going on in their head. I want to help them, but I think the age thing is an issue. It's hard when I'm only 6 years older than some of them. I know I'm in the right place...I think I just need some time away. I need time to reconnect with God and know His place for me in their lives. When we have 100 different youth, it's hard to get my place in each relationship when they are all different. It'll all work out...I just need prayer. The enemy hates me, hates what we're doing, hates to see all these kids turning towards the light. People think I have the easiest job, going to schools, hanging out at football games and just being with kids. But I don't think people realize the spiritual darkness there is. There is a war going on for these kid's hearts and I'm in the thick of it. I'm daily battling the enemy for my heart for God, and for these kids. You may not see it if you sit in an office all day at work, but until you get on the battlefield, this is real. I take joy in the fact knowing that I am fighting on the winning team. It's a cool realization to know that the battle is won, victory over the enemies is happening. We just have to get through the battle to the other side. Until the day I go home to be with my God, I'm fighting and daily I have to equip myself to not let the enemy take my thoughts captive. That's my heart, that's where I'm at right now...be praying because I am feeling weak in this moment.

Lessons from the bike trail

Today is monday, which is typically my day off...but today I did something completely different...so I'm going to tell you about it.

It started out way earlier than I ever want to experience. Yesterday 2 guys from my church wanted me to join them on a mountain bike trail in the morning. Knowing I had to get up early, kept me from sleeping, then the fear of dying was also part of the lack of sleep. We got on the trail and it was not what I expected. When I was in High school I used to ride a trail in Indy with a friend of mine, but it wasn't too dangerous. This course was ridiculous, but I learned some cool stuff while riding. When I approached the top of a hill and had to go down a 15 foot drop and then climb a hill without breaking, I froze in fear. One guy (Toby) was leading us and went through it to show me (keep in mind, he does these trails about 3 times a week so he knows what's up. Then Chris Frazier was behind encouraging me. It was cool to have these 2 men in my life that I really look up to and respect be patient with me and help me realize that these hills will always be a fear of mine if I don't overcome it. It was a very humbling experience for me because not many people see my fear so much. But in a way, I felt a lot closer to these guys because they saw me very weak and were able to help coach me through it. I'm not sure it was the most fun I've had in awhile, but I do know that it was something I am glad I did.

When I look at the spiritual implications of this, it amazes me. Life is like these trails, sometimes you don't see the turns, the trees, or something scary coming up. But when we approach those times in our lives, we can either sit there and hope it just goes away, or we trust the One we are following and the One that is with us guiding us through. Now Toby isn't God and Chris isn't the Holy Spirit, but it's an incredible visual for me. I saw Toby go through the course, I know the path is set for me, but I get scared that I can't do it, that I will get hurt. Even if I do fall, if something does happen, they both were there to pick me up and to help me press on. Sometimes in life, we focus so much on ourselves and let fears keep us from accomplishing something great in our lives. We all have obstacles in our lives to overcome, the longer we sit and wallow in it, the harder it gets to go through it. By the end of the course, I was going right down these hills because I knew the longer I sat there, the more I would have fear. I love the song..."if you're going through hell, keep on going..." if life is tough, if something isn't going right for you in this moment, if life feels like "hell" - KEEP GOING, don't stop, get through it. We weren't meant to sit at the top of the hill fearing what is to come, we were meant to enjoy the journey, to learn from what we go through and to follow God through life and know that His presence is with you. So to Toby and Chris, who may never read this, you guys taught me something today. Something that i pray I never forget.

Why Support Missions?

So I've felt a need to do this for awhile and am just now getting to it. But a lot of you know because you've read my blog posts about my brother and his family going to South Africa. You read how I felt when it was my last time to see them, you read about how much I love them and want to support them however I can, you read how proud I am of them. Now I want you to read this.

I don't know all that my brother is doing, he posts on his blog a lot to keep us all up to date (he's good about it unlike this side of the Reeds). I've seen a huge change in him since he was even in college. (It's amazing what women do to us!) But he has grown up so much, his heart has become sensitive to God's calling in their life. He is pursuing the kingdom as God has called each of his followers to do...."Go and make disciples of ALL nations" it's in Matthew 28 I believe. He doesn't send us all overseas, most of you need to do this in your own workplace, but Joe and Natalie felt the call to go to South Africa and they stepped up to the plate to answer that call. They are making a difference, they are being changed, they are being obedient.

I'm in missions as well, locally. And when I started out, we had the dreaded task of raising our own support. Which meant relying on others around us to help us meet our needs financially. I didn't accept the call to ministry so I could drive a luxury vehicle or live in a mansion. I did because that is the direction God has for my life, to impact others for Him. But God also didn't call me to poverty. Many people did and do support me financially in this area of ministry in my life.

Why am I writing this? Because I came across a website today and it made me think of my brother. It showed me reasons why God tells us to support missionaries:

1. The greatest mission ever known was when God looked down and sent His

Son ~John 3:16.

2. The world will never be brought to Christ unless we bring Christ to the world.

We are ambassadors ~ II Corinthians 5:20.

3. Jesus taught that missions was the way to make disciples.

4. Because Christ commanded us to do so. The great commission has never been canceled.

5. We cannot be happy unless we’re totally committed to telling others of Christ

~Romans 1:14-16: I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians, both to the wise, and to the unwise. 15 So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also. 16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

6. If we don’t it’s a sure sign that we’ve lost our vision or never had one. ~Selfishness is a contradiction to Christianity.

7. A missionary spirit is the hope of the world and the nearest thing to the heart of God.

Joe didn't ask me to do this, he doesn't even know I'm doing. He may even ask me to remove this from the blog. But I want everyone who comes across this to atleast be praying for my brother and his family while they are over there. But if you know you can do more, please keep up with what they are doing, go to: http://sareeds.wordpress.com/ you can read all of their blog stuff which will honestly teach you a lot too. Joe has a gift of writing and I learn all the time from what he writes. But at the top is a support tab where you can choose to support them. I know they have not met their goals, but they are already over there and can't raise support from new people here if they're not here. So I think it's my turn to step up and ask those of you that I know that have any connection to me to consider supporting them in what they're doing. It's hard enough to live off of what support SHOULD come in, but it's even harder when you haven't met that goal.

Luke 12:48 says, "From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.

Not "much has been asked", NOT "much has been suggested. It says "much will be DEMANDED". So please, be praying for them. I'm not telling you go support Joe and Natalie Reed, but who are you supporting? Where is your money going? If God expects us to give the way He says too, what are you doing about it?

Gabe and Libby Reed

summer evenings...

Gabe and I had a date night tonight. After a good dinner....even though I made lumpy mashed potatoes, Gabe said to me, "Libby, we need to get out. Let's have a date night!" We hopped on our bikes and rode for about 7-8 miles around the countryside of Anderson. It was awesome....we talked and talked. It's amazing how much we can talk about when we ride together....the conversations just flow. Then, we headed to Ritter's and had a little ice cream while sitting outside on a bench. I love how light it stays outside even when it is nine o'clock at night. Now, we are home and I think I have convinced Gabe into watching Shall We Dance with me for a little relaxation together. I told him he would like it; I hope I am right. How sweet it is to be married to my best friend.....I love him.

the lake. the children. the job. the love.

So, I need to be better at updating. For awhile, it was Gabe who has done the posting, but tonight I thought I would give it a whirl. Plus, I have some pictures to upload and that is always fun for anyone to see! I thought I would give a glimpse as to what has been happening in our lives this summer! We are not very good picture-takers at every event, but I have managed to whip out my camera now and again!

On the 4th, Gabe and I went up to Milford for a day at Dewart Lake! My aunt, uncle, and cousins live on the lake, and it was a total blast being with the whole Brown crew! Gabe especially loved the jetskis and waverunners, while I liked tubing with my sister! And yes, I got a bloody nose while tubing! True story! We hit some giant waves and I smacked my face into my tube so hard and then flew (literally!) off into the lake. We were done after that, and I was sore for almost three days. But here are a few pictures......and no one had my camera to capture the "smack and fly", but believe me, it happened!

My surfer boy.....Gabe took my cousin Levi on a ride on the wave runner! Gabe said he was a little nervous at first, but then Levi really got into it! They both came back with wind-blown hair.....so cute!

We stopped playing long enough to take a picture before the fireworks!

We were so happy for an extended weekend for relaxation!!

My dad took Joe and Katie sailing the day after the 4th of July on Waubee Lake, the littlest lake in Milford. My parents own this little sailboat and absolutely love it!

This summer I have been working at a preschool in the four year olds classroom. I took my camera in yesterday and got to capture a few shots of my precious yet always rowdy students. Let me tell you, they can look very cute and sweet but we have had some wild days! :)

Four year olds are funny when asked to smile.....they scrunch their whole face or they make a scared, forced smile. Oh boy....

These two boys are full of energy every SINGLE day!! However, I love being crazy with them and just smiling at the things they do in our classroom.

I like this picture of us......this boy has a special place in my heart and we laugh every day! I love it in the morning when we sees me come in the door, and he runs up to me screaming "Miss Libby!!!!" I get multiple hugs from this little guy. But..... he always tells me that he only likes kisses from his mom and I tell him that I only like kisses from my hubby. :)

Silliness and fun once again.

Ahhh haha....I don't know why but this one cracks me up. Not very cute for me, but my friend has an awesome face on. He loved taking pictures with me.....special attention is a HUGE deal for a preschooler!

From the previous post, you can pick up that I got a job for the fall!! I am so extremely blessed and thankful to Jesus for providing this opportunity to teach! School starts on August 13th for Daleville!! This is my last week at the preschool full time and next week I will just work in the afternoons. I will spend my mornings preparing for school and getting ready for a class full of fifth graders! I could go on and on writing about the many awesome facets of Daleville Elementary School, but it might get a little boring. To sum it up, it is in a small community, has a close-knit staff of amazing teachers, my principal is such a helper and believes in me already, is a four-star school, has small class sizes, and many more things that fits with what I was looking for in a school! I have much to learn as a teacher this year, but that doesn't hide my excitement to try my best and do what God has called me to do: open up the minds of youngsters and help them learn and show them Christ's love in the process! I think I will love my job. :)

This week Gabe is in Texas at a big youth conference with ten students and his youth ministry interns. Yep. I am home alone for the first time. I am surviving just fine. Trinity, our cat, keeps me company! My mom came down on Monday and we went shopping after work down in Indy and out to eat! We got a few things with wedding gift cards for our house....which I will post pictures soon of our house....she was wonderful company! I can't wait for Gabe to come home....it is weird to be home without him here in the evenings. I miss him terribly. He makes life so much fun here. I have realized that now that I have spent the evenings here by myself. He really is my best friend. I love him something fierce!

Taking a walk one summer day........

Thank you Jesus for all your blessings.....family, preschoolers, my teaching job, and my amazing husband. I am blown away at the things you have given me. Your joy makes me complete!