Day 1

Today has been the first day of a 21-day fast for my husband, Michael, and me. We have disconnected from social media, and have selected only to eat vegetables, fruits, legumes, and fruit juices. 

On this first day, I have been praying for our youth group. My husband is a student pastor at a small church in east Broken Arrow. We have been at our church for nearly two years. Over this time, there have been ups sand downs, but it sometimes feels like mostly downs. Much of that feeling has been due to bad communication and poor planning on our part. Michael and I both work full-time jobs aside from what we do at church, so planning has been tricky. Today we got a surprise day off from church because of bad weather, so we put the time to good use. We sat down together and planned out youth events for the year. I am so relieved by all we wrote down today. I know that writing it down doesn't get it done, but it's a huge step in the right direction. 

This year, we want to see our youth group GROW. I do mean that in a numerical sense...we've been teetering between 15 and 20 for far too long, but I also mean it in a spiritual sense. Many of our students remain stagnant and apathetic. We want them to see what God can do in their lives, and we want to see them excited about what He is doing. God is so much more than what we can ever say or teach them about Him. We are believing that they each will find a deeper, more meaningful relationship with Him this year. 

Tomorrow, I was scheduled to be back in school (I'm a teacher), but I get another surprise day off because of this awful, cold weather. I'm not sure what I'll do with it yet, but hopefully tomorrow is as productive as today has been. 

R

P.S. I should give a quick kid update too... 

When Ephram (3) woke up, he said to his sister Rayna (8 mo), "Good morning, Sister! Your ponytail wooks great!" I've been trying different things with her hair because it is getting longer. The aforementioned "ponytail" was a little Cindy-Lou-Who-esque... :)