My Sunday Song

I am not a great cook like Amanda. I am not the amazing designer/sewing/craft woman like Jenn is, nor do I take fabulous pictures like Breanna does, but one thing I can do is music. A huge part of who I am is music. It's what I do. It's what I love. It's my passion. I love singing. I love driving around in the car for hours with Jason and listening to music. All kinds of music. Our iPods would surprise you. There is no rhyme or reason to them. And because I love music so much I thought it would be fun to share favorite songs. It may be something that is inspiring me, making me dance in my seat at a stop light or provoking an emotion that only music can sometimes do.

So, on Sunday's I'll be posting "My Sunday Song" and I'd also love to hear from you. I love hearing what different people are listening to. Dawn & Breanna are always on Twitter talking about the different musicians & artists they are listening to. I usually end up checking them out just because they mentioned them. A lot of christian songs that people have recommended to me usually show up on my worship set list. It's fun to add new music to my play list and even better when it feels like music connected you to something or someone. This may require me to stop listening to the same cd over and over again too. (That's a bad habit of mine)...

My pick today is Feels Like Home by Chantal Kreviazuk.

This is not a new song, but one that I have been coming back to these days. I've sung it at weddings and every time I do I cry. I am sappy and I love romantic songs. This song makes me smile, it always makes me think of Jason, definitely makes me want to sing along and I love, love, love her voice. I also LOVE the piano line. Give it a listen, share away and be inspired!

40 weeks

Today I am 40 weeks pregnant. That's right, pregnant. I just keep trying to remind myself that I am going to be getting no sleep by next week. I know that I WILL have a baby by next week. There isn't much I can do beyond that except continue to pray for a healthy delivery and baby girl.

I am so excited to see her. I can't wait for the kids to meet her. I can't wait to see her daddy fall in love with her. So much to be excited about.

Until then, I will eat as many chocolate covered raisins as I want. Drink as much fruit juice as I can and sit on the couch as long as possible.

Sounds like a plan to me! ;)

What's going on.

I am still here with a baby inside of me.

That's weird. A baby is inside of me?? Still gets to me, even after having 2. Sometimes it's neat to think about and I realize how amazing God is. And then sometimes...it's just weird. A BABY IS GROWING INSIDE OF ME!?

That baby should be here soon. I would have liked for to have been here last week, but I have feeling she won't be coming until next. She is taking her precious time...I don't know if she is stubborn or just doesn't want to cause me pain too soon. I'm hoping for the later because that is a nicer characteristic.

So much has been going on. Over the past 2 weeks I have been humbled, overwhelmed, grateful, hormonal, blessed and challenged.

1. 2 very special friends came over and surprised me with a room makeover for Reagan and the baby. I can not begin to describe to you how amazing it is. AMAZING. However, my camera battery died and I can't take pictures. Therefore, I really suck and can't show you what it looks like. Here are 2 that I took with my iPhone, but they really don't do it justice. (plus the bed looked a little messy..I will get better pics!!) I have never been so humbled in my entire life!!! It is so beautiful. A million thank-you's to Jenn & Daphne. I love you!

2. There is a lot of drama going on in my family. That's all I'll say. Except I'll also say that I'm 39 weeks pregnant and I'm quite proud of myself for how I am holding it together...and yet I think it's crazy....and absurd...and nuts....but that's all I'll say.

3. I am on maternity leave already. I am enjoying the downtime....except I'm angry every morning I wake up without a baby.

4. God is so good. He just is. I hope you know that too. God IS GOOD. That is what I wake up with and go to sleep with every night. I know there are painful things happening out there...I see very close to me...but I still know that God is faithful and that he is GOOD! Thank you, Jesus!

I do not care

I do not care...

that I drank a real Coke today.

and a caramel mocha from McDonald's. (probably a little too much caffeine in one day)

I do not care...

that I did not do laundry and sat on my couch instead.

I do not care....

that I enjoyed watching Bon Jovi on Oprah today. Jason hates Oprah. That is such a strong word. I'll rephrase that. Jason strongly dislikes Oprah. He thinks she is..well, I'll say no more. But I like his music...so I don't care.

I do not care....

that I thought about moving the living room around again even at 9 months pregnant.

But I stopped myself.

I do not care....

that I really, really, really, REALLY would go into debt at this point just to know that I am going to have a vacation this summer.

It was just a passing thought. Don't worry Jason, it won't happen!

Today, I do not care....

That is all.

Yay for 2011

• 38 weeks pregnant. - I feel good. I feel ready, but I feel good. I am pretty tired at night and have a hard time walking at times, but I feel good. Had a great Dr.'s appointment today. Nothing new, but while I was there I was getting put off by how long I had to wait in the exam room and then realized that my Dr. had been in the same room for over 30 min. When I heard him come out, I realized that things seemed to get very serious and a lady came out with him crying. I don't know what exactly happened, but I am pretty sure it wasn't great news. When he came in and did my exam he ended the appointment by telling me how glad he was that I was doing great and sometimes the less exciting appointments are the best ones because it means things are going well with baby. He reminded me of how healthy I am. I needed that. I realized that I have been complaining so much about how "miserable" I am and yet there are people out there who are suffering the loss of their babies or receiving hard news. I left so grateful. So humbled. I left truly being reminded of how blessed I am.
  

• Jackson and Reagan are doing really well these days. Reagan is Miss Princess 2011. Jackson is all about his drums. They both adore each other and have learned to play so well together. They are really getting excited about baby and talk about her all the time. Reagan has named her "Madison", but we'll see...;) I am so proud of them and have been struggling a little with how it won't be just the 4 of us anymore. I know those feelings will change, it's just a little strange to think about. I am currently praying and seeking God right now about specific scriptures to pray over Jackson and Reagan. I really sense that God wants me to focus on that this year.

• Jason and I are just so thankful to see what God is doing in our lives. Jason was recently announced as the campus pastor for our Redland Campus. If that confuses you, it is not a different location. It's where we are at now and it's not a video venue site. As I had been praying at the beginning of last year, I knew that the Lord was going to be calling Jason to a new level in his leadership, but didn't know how that looked. Now that it is fleshing out, I see exactly what he was preparing me for. I am so proud of Jason and I so love that we get to do ministry together. Thank you, Jesus!

• I am ready to see what God does this year. I am blown away already by what He is doing.
  

Yay for 2011

While I'm waiting..

I will reminisce on how sweet this baby girl was when she was born.

And, of course, this one.....

And wait in anticipation to see the next one. :)

Preparing for baby

Hospital Bag - check

Baby clothes washed - check

Newborn diapers - check

Baby bed up - check

Things are pretty much done around here and everyone is getting ready....

Winter is here.

Winter is here.

Finally.

And so is my joy. my love.

my hope.

my happiness.

January 7th, 2011

Friday, January 7th, 2011.

Wake up.
Take a bath.
Never mind. Take a shower because I can't get up out of the bathtub.
Go to work.
Lunch with Jason and kids.
Go shopping at mall to find a robe.
Score. Found one for $7.
Walk around mall....
verrrrrrryyyyy sl0ooowly.
Come home.
Get burst of energy and clean my house.
Lose burst of energy and never do laundry.
Get on the computer.
Don't get up.
Write this blog.
Dream of having a personal chef.
Realize I'm 37 weeks pregnant on Sunday.
Sit on couch some more.
Think about how to make a tropical vacation happen this summer.
Realize that I can't even get up from the couch, will need to eat nothing, but grapefruit to go somewhere like that and that the baby who doesn't even have a name isn't here yet.
Start crying.
Breathes deeply....finds chocolate....The end.

The insanity of it all.

Last night was the night of all nights. I got home from a long day of working until 2 (whatever) and decided to sit on my bottom and do nothing. (By the way, I just erased the word 'butt' and wrote 'bottom'. I don't know what I thought that would offend you.) The kids turned on the television themselves and I hooked myself up to an IV of orange juice, cheese sticks and my Mac. It truly was a thing to behold. Around 4:00 I thought it might be good if I got up and picked up things to make myself look productive before Jason got home. After all the tweeting I did, I was exhausted and only managed to pick up the wrappers from my cheese stick and refill my cup of OJ. I'm telling you...phew.

While all this was going on, my sweet Jackson broke the cymbal on his new drum set..... that Santa spent so much money on....and was in hysterics telling me that "it was his most favorite drum set he'd ever had" and crying very loudly. I felt REALLY horrible for him...and Santa.

Thankfully, we can get it fixed and there is a warranty. Lucky Santa.

When Jason got home, he decided that he should take Jackson out for a boys night, so that meant Reagan and I were stuck at home watching "The Little Mermaid" for the 105 time. I might also mention that he had to go to AutoZone to buy a part for the side view mirror I ripped off when I backed into it the other night at 10pm going to Dairy Queen. However, that is a whole other story that I don't have time for.

The rest of the night consisted of me eating a bowl of cereal, Reagan eating left over spaghetti and the 2 of us sharing a banana. We also painted our nails and she took a bath where I had to tell her a million times to not stand up and sing, "Shake Your Booty"....while shaking her booty.

And that my friends, is the Wednesday night life of a Powers.

Happy Thursday and stay tuned for more adventures.

The other me.

I do actually do something when I work at the church. I don't just sit around and think about puppies and rainbows...although I've been known to do that.

Right now I am preparing to take my maternity leave and for me, that can be hard. Not just because I'm a control freak, but also because it's hard to take maternity leave from "ministry". None-the-less, I've done it 2 other times and it's worked out. In the meantime, one of the things I am doing right now is getting together new songs for the new year. As I wrote in my last post, "Focused" is my word for the year and it very much pertains to where I feel God leading our worship ministry at River City.

As I have been praying about where the Lord is leading me this year in the worship ministry there have been a few things that come to mind.

Focused on Jesus. - Because that's first and foremost!! And always should be...NO. MATTER. WHAT. I am convinced that when we lift up the name of Jesus we see the power of God in amazing ways and I believe that God wants us to do even more of that starting now. Off the stage and on.

Focused on loving others. - I can not lead worship or lead a team of worship leaders if I do not love others and care about the vision of why we do what we do. If I forget that there are people who come in every week and do not have a relationship with Jesus, then I am missing a huge part of what Jesus wants His people to experience.

Focused on excellence. - Whenever you mention the word "excellence" in a worship arts ministry you get 2 types of responses. You get the "Hallelujah! Amen!" or you get the "You're of the devil and all you care about is how you sound, look and appeal to people". Both can be taken a little too extreme and in the meantime we've missed the whole point. I don't expect perfectionism, but I do expect us working hard at what we do to create a beautiful experience in worship. A wrong note, a missed lyric, an ugly backdrop, and even misspelled word can distract more people than you think.

All that to say, I am excited about what God wants to do. If you go to River City, then be excited! I think this year is going to be an amazing ride. If you don't, then please pray that God would lead us in the direction He wants and that we would hear his voice as artists in the church.

Just a little insight to what I'm up to....:)

Come on nameless baby!

Fact: We don't have a name yet for our baby.

Fact: I'm laying in my bed right now writing this.

Fact: I'm tired, very pregnant and cry at least 12 times a day right now. I could hit a new record tomorrow and go to 13...maybe 15.

Fact: This last month of pregnancy feels like the longest one ever. Unfortunately, my blood pressure is still high. I feel so unhealthy when I go to the Dr. and they tell me that. I know it could be a number of reasons, but I still feel like it's my fault or something.

Fact: No matter what someone says to me about "how great I look", it does not make me feel better. I have never wanted to run/exercise so badly until now.

Fact: I am now 36 weeks pregnant. Thank you, Jesus.....

Fact: We do have 2 names picked out...one of which I LOVE...and one of which Jason LOVES. We both don't LOVE each others though. That's not a great place to be in with 4 weeks left, but things could be worse. I decided that if we can't decide on a name we will compromise and pick my name. I know, I think that's a great compromise, don't you?

Fact: I painted. 3 times this week. Probably not good for my blood pressure. I will stop and never do it again.

Fact: I have the best family & friends in the whole world.

Fact: I have the best husband in the whole world.

Fact: My family & friends keep asking me when this baby is coming and then shudder when I say 4 weeks. Is it me or them? Oh...ha, yeah...it's them.

Fact: I am done being random.

Focused.

That's my word for the year.

I stole this from my friend, Kelly's blog. She has done this every year and it really has impacted me from afar. On New Year's Eve, Jason and I had a long discussion about how 2010 was and what we wanted to see in 2011. When he asked me to sum it up in one word I immediately thought

Focused.

1. To converge on or toward a central point of focus; be focused.

Something I don't have a lot of and something that I desperately need more of. I have a great life. A life of love, meaning, purpose and craziness. The craziness part comes off as a bit of a negative and well, frankly, sometimes it is. But, if I have learned anything this year, it is because I make it that way. And that's why I choose that word.

2. To adjust one's vision or an optical device so as to render a clear, distinct image.

This year I want to be focused on...
my husband - As he takes new steps in ministry and more responsibilities I really have felt a desire to support more and spend more time focused on what he needs.

my kids - this is my last 9 months with Jackson before he goes to kinder. I want to spend more intentional time with him, plus Reagan and the new baby will definitely need my attention.

my home - I want to be one top of my home. The cleaning, cooking, etc...but even more than that I want it to be a safe place. A refuge. A resting place.

my passion - I feel God leading me in so many areas right now with the creative arts and worship ministry. I am privileged and humbled by the opportunities I have. I'm excited about 2011 and can't wait to share more of what comes from it. :)

my Christ - Above all else, my Christ. Boy, is this a big one. Focus. Focus. Focus. Focus.

It's not a surprise that I am usually all over the place to some people. Some of that will always be a part of who I am and I can't be someone I am not, but I know the Lord is speaking to me in this area. So, that's what I'm going with. Here's to a focused 2011.

3. To concentrate attention or energy: