Update

I cannot believe that it is already so close to the end of another year! Wow, how times flies as you get older!

Marshall and I just celebrated our FOUR year anniversary, which just seems crazy! We had a sweet day in Branson just walking through shops and we had a nice dinner at Longhorn Steakhouse, thanks to Pastor Appreciation month!

 

Hubby and I on our way to Branson for the day!

 Our Pumpkin for our 4th Anniversary pic.

My Handsome Hubby at Branson Landing

Hubby & I on Main Street in Branson

Pumpkin Pic

 

 

Over a week ago we got to celebrate with my brother Jared as he married the beautiful Hannah! It was such a beautiful wedding and Marshall and I were so very glad that we got to be there in Chicago with them! I have never seen my brother look at anyone the way he looks at Hannah and I am so happy for them and can't wait to see what God has in store for their lives together. I pray that work for them slows down so that they get a chance to enjoy life together! I can't wait to see thier brand new house! What an exciting new start for them!  So happy and excited and full of love and pride for them!

 

 Mr. & Mrs. Jared Wiggins!

Their happy exit!

Marshall and I are both officially done with school. We both now have our diplomas from Central Bible College! How incredible is that! When we began this journey three years ago, it was hard to see the end in sight and there were certainly moments (mostly math moments) when I felt like I would never make it and actually get that diploma! But thanks to the support of our family and friends we both did make it! It feels great to have accomplished that together!

 

 We did it!

We are absolutely loving life in ministry! I feel like we still have SO much to learn and so much growing to do! We just have SO much fun in Kids Church teaching and playing with the kids! We have seemingly found a nice rhythym ministering together and I cannot wait to see how God grows us and changes us as the years continue to pass by at lightning speed!

Our 3rd Sunday Team! Love these amazing workers so much!

 

The kids love the new BGMC wishing well!!

 

My precious Girls Only class! Oh they all have my heart!!

 

 Pastor Appreciation lunch with one of our students/workers! Love Titus!

 

God is always so faithful and loving! We are so blessed with the wonderful students, friends, staff, and family in our lives!

Life these days...

Life these days is filled with laughter. It seems my wonderful Hubby gets a kick out of his silly wife. I tend to make us laugh by accident and sometimes on purpose and I love it because there is absolutely nothing greater than my handsome husband’s laugh.

Life these days is filled with math. I am almost through my very last college class, which happens to be college algebra. I love my teacher and currently I have an ‘A’ in the class. My, oh so patient, husband gets me through my homework and my funny and easy going teacher gets me through class. So far it is going much better than I ever expected it to and I know it is because of God’s timing and God’s placement! I am thankful.

Life these days is filled with ministry. We fall more and more in love with our students every week. We love pouring into them and loving them and connecting with them and we are so proud of how they are learning to worship and how they are reading their bibles! We are also about to begin being youth sponsors as well and we could not be more thrilled about that! We love youth as well as children and I feel like a piece of my heart is returning once again! So excited!

Life these days is filled once again with softball. Monday nights are once again softball nights with my hubby and our friends! I look forward to it every week because my hubby loves playing so much and because we have built such beautiful friendships with our friends and it is a perfect time to hang out and visit!

Life these days is wonderful. God is good and oh so faithful and we are so excited to be doing what He has called us to do. We are loving life these days with our Jesus!

We just returned from a mini getaway to Eureka Springs, AR and we had such a beautiful and peaceful weekend away! It was just what we both needed! I am so thankful for what I have coined as our “Sabbath” trips. It feels like such a true Sabbath when we are able to get away like that. It was nice to wake up every morning to a slow pace and sit out on the balcony with my journal, bible, and coffee and spend some quite time there. It was nice to walk leisurely down foreign streets hand in hand and onto wooded trails. It was nice to eat out and take it easy. I truly love our Sabbath getaways!

And I have to just say that I am more in love with my amazing husband than ever. That man absolutely blows me away with his patience and love. I know that God truly thought of everything when he picked this man for me and I am thankful to God every single day for sharing this man with me! I know that I am blessed and I know that if I had settled how very much I would be missing out on!

We are blessed with a wonderful family and wonderful friends but mostly with an amazing Heavenly Father that meets all our needs and blows us away on a regular basis!

Blown away by life these days.

Peace is what I seek.

In the midst of life and all its joys and woes…I seek HIS peace.

In the midst of plans mine alone, others, and HIS…I seek HIS peace.

In the midst of the unknown or the bits that I think I do know…I seek HIS peace.

I believe that all my life all I have ever wanted can be found in the Peace of Jesus Christ. He is the one who has calmed my every storm and fulfilled my every dream.

There is nothing of greater value than my relationship with Jesus, from it stems everything. Every relationship I have is directly affected by my relationship with HIM. Every word I speak is directly related to my Heart in which HE lives.

Why then do I take such poor care of my relationship with the KING OF KINGS?

Why do I falter so?

I think there is nothing more frustrating than being humanly imperfect. I fail. A lot.

Sounds depressing right…oh but it is NOT!

For my Jesus stands waiting to take me in and waiting to forgive and smooth over all my rough places with HIS grace, mercy, and peace that transcends ALL understanding.

My Jesus stands ready to teach me the most valuable of lessons…if only I’ll pay attention and listen and seek.

What a Lord. What a Savior. What a Friend. What a Jesus!

I. AM. BLESSED.

Always my Battle

I remember my God mom teaching me once that I need to “be present”.

I translate that as connecting and engaging with people.

You see I have what I call a “do mode”, this is when I get busy or have a task that consumes me or when I am completely overwhelmed with something (emotions, situations, doubts, fears, insecurities).

When I slip into “do mode” it is very difficult for me to stop and connect with others. I can be right in front of you and be a million miles away. I know we have all experienced this with someone before.

I find that I have slipped back into this place again. I am struggling to simple “be present” in the lives of those around me outside of my Hubby.

My Wednesday night class has gotten “do mode Mrs. Tabbie”, my kids on Sunday morning have been getting “do mode Pastor Tabbie”, my friends have been getting “do mode – checked out friend”, it is a struggle indeed.

Well as my God mom also taught me…the first step is recognizing and I have recognized it and my prayer this afternoon is that I can stop being “do mode Tabbie” and “be present” beginning tonight with my Girl’s Only class.

No more glazed over looks or rushing from here to there or half hearted listening and responses.

I’m so mad at myself for slipping back into this rotten place! It is a selfish rotten place to be and I do not want to be this person.

What I recognize is that this will always be my battle. I will also need to fight here. It is likely that I will forget again and slip back there at some point but my hope is that I will recognize it much much sooner. My hope is that I have not created too much damage in the wake of this stint as selfish unfocused Tabbie.

My heart is broken over this and Father I ask you for forgiveness. I ask you for your help to remind my heart when this begins to happen to stop it before I slip back into that place again.

Thank you Lord Jesus for your eyes to see and for your forgiveness.

Here I come world…ready to engage again and to listen with all my heart and hear and ready to “be present”!

Jumping In

Things are in full swing and I am jumping in!

We started a new series in kids church on Sunday and it went so well. God showed up and spoke to hearts and that is all I ask for this year. I simply want God to show up and move and work! I am so thankful.

I started what I hope to be my last college class today - Intermediate Algebra - I have a super sweet and caring teacher and I am setting a goal to pass this class with an A and surprise everyone, including myself! I can do this and I want to do this and do it well!

We had a great week of fasting last week and I felt God drawing me nearer and nearer to Him and I came out of the week just wanting more and more of Him. Is there any greater desire than that - Nope! I want to see God move this year in big ways in my heart and life and in the hearts and lives of those around me and in my church!

Hubby and I had a very fun and relazing weekend.

Thursday - Hubby bought me a groupon several weeks back for a paint night with three friends. So I took three speical ladies to paint with me and we painted snowflakes. We had a very good time. There were awkward moments as I placed together three people who do not normally spend time with each other but overall it was truly a great night. My heart was that each of theses women would feel special and thought of and loved.

Friday - Hubby and I just relaxed at home and watched some movies that we had recorded on our DVR and that was fun! I enjoy down time so much!

Saturday - Hubby and I slept in and then went to look at beds. We are wanting to upgrade to a king size bed this year and since we are not impulse shoppers we wanted to go look and get an idea of what we liked and what the cost was of the things that we like. It was fun. We came back home and hubby watched football while I relaxed before heading to the church to get some work done and going to our end of fasting Worship and Prayer service. After service we set up kids church and headed out for dinner before heading home to crash!

Sunday - We began our new series by teaching the kids how very important it is to read their bibles. The Lord led me to be very transparent in something He had recently taught me about putting Him very first in my days instead of social media and I know that God annointed my message and our worship time and spoke to hearts young and old! I am so thankful. We then went out to eat with some friends, where I did not get my meal until many around the table were already done eating. But it was a very fun lunch with some very dear friends! We then went home to nap before JBQ dinner and practice. Our evening was then spent bowling with Old Navy peeps as their Christmas party or after Christmas party. It was so fun to bowl and catch up with sweet people I had previously worked with and who Hubby still works with. And I beat my Hubby on the last game! Fun!

We are truly blessed with great friends and people and we had a great weekend! I am looking forward to this week and what God has in store. I have my eyes open for opportunities to bless and minister to others and I plan to be in His Word and Presence as much as possible for there I find who I truly am and I find strength, joy, and peace! He is good, so so good!

The New Year has arrived

Yes the New Year is here and I am in full planning mode as we prepare and plan and dream about all that God has in store for this brand new year.

Currently I am working on getting everything ready to start a brand new series called - There's an App for That! We will be using popular iPhone apps to teach the kids biblical truths! I am so excited and I think it is going to be very fun and good!  We have two GIANT iPhones for the platform with apps that will rotate! So excited!

We will also be using our new curtians that my mom made for us! They are Lime Green and Blue! I just love them so much and they are so much brighter than the ones that we have been using!!  I hope the kids love them as much as we do!

So I have been in my office all week working on those things! I love being in my office working! It truly is one of my favorite places to be!!

I love my job and I love our kiddos!!

Hubby has been working hard this week on finding us an electric heater that will help offset the cost of our gas furnace this winter. I hope that we have finally found one that will work well enough that we do not have to run our big furnace the majority of the time! Gas is so expensive and one of our goals this year is to cut back on spending!

I am waiting with baited breath for my January Birchbox! This is truly one of the best gifts that I have ever gotten becuase I get a new one every single month!! I am loving it! I am most excited about January because I found out that you could adjust your profile to your specific preferences so that you get products in your Birchbox that you are most interested in!! I can't wait to see what I get this month!! So fun!!

I am realizing more and more that I need to take care of my skin better, especially the older I get.  So I am in the market for good skincare products this year! I will be saving and researching to buy some things that I hope will help my aging skin! Oh the joys of getting older! I don't mind though, it just means that I am getting wiser!! At least that is my prayer everyday!!

I am officially ADDICTED to COFFEE! Most likely because it is winter and it helps keep me warm, whatever the reason I LOVE IT!!

Well that's a wrap for now, I am getting ready for my Girl's Only class tonight!! I cannot wait to see my girls!! We are talking about colleges tonight! I love getting to be part of their journeys and helping them to prepare for the things that God has in store for each of them!!

2012 Christmas photo

Merry Christmas!

Love,
The Trotters

Heavy Heart

Tonight my heart is so heavy.

Loss is so hard especially around the holidays.

My heart breaks for so many that I love and then it breaks for myself. So many moments I wished we would all get.

It hits suddenly and I feel physical pain.

I want to fix it but I can't.

So I'll pray instead. I'll pray for peace that transcends ALL UNDERSTANDING. I'll pray for comfort from the physical ache of my own and for the physical pain of others that I can't even begin to imagine. I'll pray for strength and for joy in the little things. And mostly I will pray for truth to be found and for relationships with You Jesus to be stronger than ever before and to be unbreakable. I pray for relationships to be born and established forever!

Yes I will pray because I know that is the very best thing that I can do and because I trust in my Heavenly Father with all of my heart!

Hear my heart and my prayers Jesus. We need you, we want you. Amen.

Last Kid Connection service of the year

Today we had the last Kid Connection service of 2012! A whole year of ministry all came together as we partied to celebrate Jesus!

The kids were so wild but they had a great time!

We sang karaoke, ate yummy goodies, made marshmallow snowmen and played many games!!

I have to admit that I did not love the lack of structure of a party but I do love that the kids gad a good time!

What a year we have had! I remember being COMPLETELY terrified of the year to come knowing that for the first time we would be pastors and that we would be responsible for the tiny little hearts and what they learned about God each week and each time they saw me.

I still feel that same sense of responsibility but a lot less terrified of how to do the job. I am thankful!

I am thankful for the year we have had a d for all of its learning moments where we learned from our mistakes sprinkled in with all of the God moments where we saw our work pay off in little ways in The lives of our previous kiddos!

I am so looking forward to the year ahead! We have so much to teach that our hearts are Bursting!!

After service we celebrate a friend's birthday with other friends & then home to nap!

And now it is time to get up & get my Christmas break on! I am off for the rest of the day & for the next two days and I plan to take full advantage!

Merry Christmas! Happy Birthday Jesus!

A perfect peaceful day

It was such a perfect peaceful day today!
I had coffee with my best friend this morning which just fills my heart!
I then cleaned my lil house! There is just something do calming and peaceful about a clean house!
Then I sat and soaked up the peace with the Christmas tree on and the afternoon sun streaming through the window! Ah peaceful indeed!
Then it was on to a wonderful afternoon nap! Oh how I love naps so much!
Hubby and I then went and set up for out kids Christmas party in the morning!! It's gonna be so fun!
Then my sweet, wonderful, thoughtful hubby stopped and bought us hot chocolate and we set off to see Christmas lights! It was so peaceful and sweet and fun! I absolutely cherish time together like that!
I am just so in love with my hubby and I love how are life is unfolding!

I am thankful for such a peaceful and wonderful day!

Merry Christmas!

Looking forward to 2013

So in the New Year I would really love to get back to blogging and keeping a record of life and thoughts and such. I hope I can pull this off!

I can't believe that it is already Christmas and that a New Year is upon us again. How time does fly!  I still find it quite unbelievable how amazing life is and how much God has done. Everytime I think about it I am truly blown away.

This past year has been so wonderful, we have been working on finishing up school and we have been loving walking daily in our calling as Children's Pastors.

We have learned so much this year and we have just fallen more in love with God!

We have built some truly amazing friendships and we are so thankful for the wonderful people that God has so graciously placed in our lives.

We just have been so abundantly blessed it is mind blowing!

I am looking forward to seeing what God has in store for 2013! I am ready to love people bigger than ever before and minister in any and every single way I can!

Currently I am gearing up for our second annual Girls Only/Friends retreat in March. Last year was so incredible and I cannot wait to see what God does in these girl' lives this year. We are going to be talking about leadership from the inside out. I am also gearing up for Kids Camp in July. Last year we were able to guage where our kids stood and it is sad to say but we were heart broken with the way our kids responded at camp. We did not expect the lack of response we saw. So we go in 2013 better informed on how to better prepare them for camp. I have a plan in place to begin teaching them about the fundamentals and the basics of loving and responding to God. We are going to continue to teach them and encourage them in worship. We are encouraged in that area as we spent all year working with them and we are taking that learning a step further in the new year as well. We are currently up to about a handful of kids who worship completely and it is such a BEAUTIFUL sight indeed.

I know that God has a great plan for these kids and I am so honored to be a part of their journey toward what He has for them. My heart is to teach them and prepare them to be able to recieve everything from Him that He has for them. It is a long journey but I am excited about what lies ahead. I can't wait for the New Year to start so that we can get started teaching them the things that they so desperately need to know! Ahhh!! I really cannot wait! I love them so much!!

It truly is such an honor to get to love and minister to God's people of all ages! I love ministering to our kiddos every week and I love ministering to the youth and I love ministering to adults as well! Oh how I love loving people! I am so blessed to have a Hubby journeying alongside me who loves to love people too!

How blessed we are indeed!

Merry Christmas!

Stirring

There has begun a stirring,
Deep down in this heart of mine.

There has begun a stirring,
Of the most familiar kind.

Weight Watchers

Yesterday I joined Weight Watchers online because I need to change and get healthy.

I HAVE TO GET HEALTHY AGAIN!

My first full day has gone very well, I even have points left over for today!

I am really ready to make this change and drop all of this excess weight I have been carrying.

Lets face it when you can't breath or bend over to tie your shoes, there is.a real problem.

So here I go. I am excited and ready & praying for God to help me be successful!

Pray with me!

Love

Love

 

The kind of love God gives us does not depend on our feelings or desires, and it is totally unselfish love that is always available – always freely given.

 

Romans 5:5 – “Now hope does not disappoint, because the LOVE of GOD has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

 

Father, Thank you for the way you love us, may we also love others in such a way! Show me Father…show where I do not love like this and show me how to love like you. In Jesus name. Amen

Third Anniversary Trip to BRANSON Missouri

Hubby and I decided to go to Branson this year for our 3rd anniversary. We want to do some of the bigger things now while we are able to. So off we went on the 45 minute drive to Branson! One of the things we love about Branson is that it IS so close so we did not have to spend a lot of time or money on the traveling, we could spend it on the FUN!

We stayed in a simple hotel that had a great bathtub, so I got to take relaxing baths everday! Loved that!!

Here is a day by day of our trip:

Thursday:

• We had lunch at Bair’s on the way out of town. Bair’s is a great hamburger place in Springfield that Marshall loves. They have aprox. 40 different hamburger choices!

• We checked into our hotel and purchased our tickets to all of the shows & activities that we wanted to do while in town.

• Our first – The TITANIC exhibit and Museum. We were both 3rd class passengers who survived. It was a beautiful and historical museum and it was very fun and interesting. We enjoyed it. I especially enjoyed the deck simulations and my favorite thing was the grand staircase. So beautiful!

• We went to Ripley’s Believe it or Not and had a blast seeing all the extraordinary things there! We were especially impressed with the tallest man!

• Next we went to dinner at Outback and had an excellent meal and service. My food was delicious!

Friday:

• We slept in :)

• Walked around at the Landing and old town Branson. We found some ALABAMA treasures in a pawnshop, got candy and old drinks at the candy shop, and had fun exploring and holding hands.

• We went to The Hollywood Wax Museum and hung out with our favorites Hollywood characters such as: Nicholas Cage, Shanghi Noon, Jack Dawson, Jeff Gordan, Forrest Gump, The Men in Black, & Indiana Jones.

• We played Hollywood Mini Golf and I came really close to beating Marshall. We love mini golf!

• Dixie Stampede: Oh my was this a wonderful experience. We loved the preshow and we loved the food and the show was great too! It was a Christmas show and I was not quite ready to be seeing a Christmas show as I was wanting to enjoy FALL, but it was still a really good show and WE LOVED DIXIE STAMPEDE a lot!

Saturday:

• We got up and went out in hopes of getting our room cleaned.

• We walked grabbed snacks and coffee and went and walked around a sweet little Christmas village (Grand Village). I loved this of course! Hubby was just trying to kill time until he could relax and watch football!

• We went back to the room to relax! Hubby watched football and napped while I worked on creating a photo book that Hubby bought me on groupon.

• Acrobats of CHINA: We enjoyed this show. The acrobatics were amazing and I have no idea how they do that. I felt the show was a bit awkward with the clapping moments but overall it was great! It was a TWO hour show!

• We grabbed dinner at a Hibachi buffet that was terrible and headed back to the room to watch the Alabama Game! Hubby watched the game while I watched Gilmore Girls and soaked in the bath!

• It was a lovely relaxing day!

Sunday:

• We had a country lunch and yummy homemade dessert at McFarland’s after fleeing the smoky sports bar we tried first.

• The Legend of Kung Fu: We really loved this show. The sets were amazing and the acrobatics and story line were wonderful. We really enjoyed this show.

• We rode go karts and had a blast flying around the tracks and laughing and racing each other.

• We did a little shopping at the Outlet mall. We got shoes and iZod clothing and just enjoyed meandering around holding hands.

• We enjoyed an Indian dinner. I love curry! It was very yummy! (thanks Groupon)

• We grabbed Krispy kreme and headed back to the room to relax and watch more football and Gilmore Girls!

Monday:

• Last days of trips are the saddest!

• We got up and packed up and checked out

• We headed to the Landing to – RIDE THE TRAIN!!

• Hubby stopped and bought me a Starbucks

• Branson Scenic Railway: We enjoyed a 1 hour and 45 minute ride through the Ozark Mountains. We boarded first so we secured a spot on the Dome Car and had a bird’s eye view of the beautiful scenery. We met some fun older people and had some good conversation about politics, the south, & Branson!

• We had lunch at the Landing at Charlie’s Subs our fav and then we headed back home and back to reality!



Our trip was very relaxing and lovely. It gave us time to enjoy each other and reconnect and to reflect on the year past and plan and set goals for the year ahead.

Our main goal for the year ahead…

In our vows there is a line that says: “ I pray that others see Your loved in the way that we love each other”.

This line is speaking of others seeing God’s love by the way Marshall and I love each other. Our goal in this next year of marriage and in the years ahead is to love each other big and well so that others see God’s love reflected in our marriage.


We are blessed to have a Heavenly Father that loves us so much and we want nothing more than to reflect that love in all we do, say, and in the ways that we treat each other.

Here’s to many many beautiful years ahead!

I love you Marshall Seth Trotter and I am still giddy and honored to be your Wife! I pray that I love you better in this next year that all the previous years before! I love doing life with you and I love walking this journey with you. You fill my life with so much joy, love, and happiness and I am thankful EVERYDAY for you and that God shares you with me! He is faithful and good and He is indeed the center of our lives!

Thank you for a wonderful weekend away and for all of the love and fun we have together EVERYDAY! I love you!

Three Years

Hubby and I have almost been married for three years. It feels so weird to say that. In one sense I feel like, “where did the time go?” and in another sense I feel like, “that’s all it has been?”. Crazy right.

I still remember my single years and how wonderful and difficult they were. I spent those years really building my relationship with God and allowing Him to work in me deeply. I spent those years serving Him without reservation. Those years were some of the hardest, most wonderful, fulfilling, times that I have had. Intermittently within those years I found myself lonely for the one that I knew God had for me. I loved those years but did have those difficult moments of loneliness and wondering through every wedding of all my younger friends if I was meant to be married and if so, when would I find him.

And then it happened, I finally fell in love and knew that this man was the man that God had just for me and me just for him. It did not look a thing like I thought it would and I confirmed with God over and over and over again that I could and should finally really give that part of my heart over to a man. It had been so long (8 years) and it just didn’t seem real. And it seemed too good to be true.

But that is not how God works. He really does want us to have good things, great and wonderful things even.

And that is just what these last three years have been: good, great, wonderful and completely unbelievable! I cannot believe all that has transpired in the past three years. We married, moved, went to Bible College, I graduated, he is extremely close to graduating, and we got a job as Children’s Pastors at our church. It has been truly unbelievable! Through it ALL, the good and the bad, God has been so incredibly faithful. He has taken care of our every need and has supplied some wants as well.

I feel that we have found wonderful balance (and that is truly the first time in my life that I can say I have found balance)…WOW! But we have found good balance.

I believe that this past year has been one of the best. I feel like we have reached a wonderful place in our marriage and ministry. We are communicating better with each other, we know each other so much better, we have so much fun together, we know where to stand with each other, we know where to challenge each other, we know better how to support each other.

By no means am I saying that we have arrived but what a great year #3 has been. I have loved it so so much!

I have loved ministering alongside my incredible husband and I see now how God planned it. Marshall brings so much balance to me and I to him. We truly are a great team. I do not want to do ministry without him. I know I could, but I don’t want to. I want him with me and I want his input and his heart. There is absolutely nothing like seeing my man worship and serve the Lord. There is nothing like seeing him get things done for the kingdom. There is nothing like seeing him minister, teach, and love these kids and students. There is nothing like doing ministry alongside my Husband.

I am truly blown away by God’s goodness and faithfulness to us in our marriage, our ministry, and our friendships.

Truly blown away. I know that I shouldn’t be blown away, but I can’t help but be. God is so incredible and He is so good and kind, and He loves us so much and so completely that it is impossible for my human self not to be completely blown away by God and who He is and who He has made me to be and who He gave me to walk this journey with. Incredible. Unbelievable. Wonderful.

And do you know what…I GET TO LIVE THIS LIFE. LOVING GOD AND MY HUSBAND AND MINISTERING IN HIS KINGDOM!

Thank YOU my Heavenly Father. Thank YOU for all of this and so much more. I truly do want others to see YOUR love in the way Marshall and I love each other. Help me to love, honor, and respect him more everyday and every year that passes. In Jesus name. Amen.

Journey. Love's Journey. Our Journey. His Journey.

Journey:


1. a traveling from one place to another, usually taking a rather long time; trip: a six-day journey across the desert.

2. a distance, course, or area traveled or suitable for traveling: a desert journey.

3. a period of travel: a week's journey.

4. passage or progress from one stage to another: the journey to success.



Journey a passage or progression from one stage to another: the journey to success.

Yes, I do believe with all my heart that is the journey we are on. I absolutely do not believe that we would be on this journey had we not decided to follow God no matter what. No matter if we were scared witless. No matter if we didn’t fully understand the why or the how. No matter if it made others happy or not. No matter who agreed or disagreed. No matter if it was easy or hard.


What I have learned so far on this journey is that it is the hard that brings the most return. Brings the most faith. Brings the most growth. Brings the most change. Brings the most learning. Brings the most out of our relationship with God.


The Journey to Success.

And how exactly is Success measured? Success to me is measures in moments of laughter, moments of love, moments of hugs, moments of peace, moments of challenge, moments of tears, moments of strength and moments of weakness. Success is holding hands through the rain and sunshine. Success is saying the hard things because they need to be said. Success is never giving up. Success is doing what you know is right even if no ones else gets it. Success is a gift of God and a choice to work only for His Glory. Success is measured in love and forgiveness. Success is measured in the moments of complete surrender to a God who cares more than any other can about EVERYTHING in our lives. Success is measured in His love and Faithfulness.


Journey: Jeremiah 29:11 –“For I know the plans I have for you say the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.”

This is the journey we are on and everyday this journey blows me away.

God’s love and faithfulness are beyond anything I could have ever imagined or hoped for growing up. I have never and will never experience anything like it on earth.

Heavenly Father I thank you for your great love and faithfulness. I am thankful that you reached down and pulled me from the darkness I was in and revealed the light of your love and hope to me. I am thankful that you never gave up on me and still do not give up on me and I am thankful that you walked with me and gave me the strength to never give up on myself. I am thankful that you supply the strength and wisdom to keep fighting the good fight in my own life and in the lives of others. I am thankful that even though this journey is chock full of difficult and hurtful things, you are quick to step in and remind me who you are and who I am in YOU. I am thankful to You Father for the partner that you gave me to walk this journey with. I know that you had me in mind when you brought him and that you had him in mind when you brought me. I know that you love us both more than we could have ever imagined and that no one could or will ever love us the way that you do.

I ask that you would continue to speak your love and truth into our hearts always. I ask that you would continue to give us your wisdom and your love to share with those around us. I ask that you would always give us the strength to stand in the hard places and never give up. I ask that you would always give us the tools that we need to walk the journey that you have planned for us, whatever comes our way. I ask that you would keep us in your Spirit forever. Let us finish this race and this journey STRONG! Let us never give up or give in.

In Jesus Name. Amen

Life these days...

Life these days:

We are both finall well again after Hubby having pnuemonia and me having shingles. We are glad both are behind us!

We have been trying to cut back our schedules to create more rest and no burn out!

We are READY for Football Season! ROLL TIDE!

We are getting to visit with my brother this weekend as he stays with us on his way to Oregon to live! We will miss him tons but hope to visit him at some point!

We are looking forward to JBQ this fall! Getting started next week!

We are experiencing what I believe has been our absolute BEST year of marriage thus far! And we are looking forward to MANY MANY MANY more to come!

We are both sinking into ministry and loving it so very very much!

We have both been so very blessed to make such incredible friends and we are enjoying the comfort and blessings of those relationships!

Life these days is busy but blessed and we are as always so thankful for God's incredible faithfulness and never ending love!

God is GOOD all of the time!

Questionnaire

1.) Mood: Ready to be healthy & well again! But blessed & thankful for caring & praying friends & family through our sicknesses!
2.) If you had to guess, how many beauty products would you say you use a day? Three
4.) Current nail polish: Actually...none...I'm all natural for a change! Shocker I know!
5.) What is your favorite dinner dish? Anything Italian
6.) Current outfit: PJ's
7.) Do you like to dance? When I'm not in public lol
8.) Can you drive a manual transmission/stick shift car? Yes
9.) What is the last beauty product you purchased? Hair Spray
10.) Weekly goals: Rest, get well, make Christmas gifts, & work @ the end of the week to prepare to see my kiddos again!! Woot Woot!

A lil’ Trotter Update

We are coming to the end of:


Our first summer in ministry

  • it has been unbelievable to say the least

  • we took our first group of kids to camp (33) and it was really awesome in so many ways

     o It was different being at camp as the pastor – much different

     o We were blown away by the amount of kids that came!

     o We learned a lot about where our kids stand and we better understand the road ahead of us now.

     o We connected with our students on a deeper level & that is one of my very favorite things about kids camp

  • We have learned that we have to find ways to connect with the kids as it is not as easy to do so now that we are leading

     o But this is still one of our top priorities – we love our students so very much



Our third year of marriage

  • it has been so wonderful, I feel like we have grown the most this year

  • this year was easier than the second (I believe that was our toughest year)

  • I believe we have learned so much more about each other and learned to love each other so much more

  • I am still so very much in love with my husband and he still takes my breath away everyday


Our third summer of living in Missouri

  • Being this far from family is not easy at all but we have made the effort to visit and keep our relationships  as strong as possible

  • In some ways the distance has been really wonderful for our relationships

     o We take full advantage of all the time we get with family

     o We appreciate each other more

     o Hubby and I have learned to depend on each other and that we can indeed trust each other


Life sure does move fast. It is unbelievable to me that we have been married and in Missouri this long and that I have graduated from Bible College and Hubby is right behind me (he graduates in March) and that we have been in ministry already for seven months.

In everything the one thing that remains is God’s incredible love and faithfulness.

We serve one incredible God, one who loves and cares more deeply and completely than anyone on this earth could and for that I am truly truly thankful. I depend on my Heavenly Father more now than ever before and that is exactly where I always want to be.

Thank you Father for your love and faithfulness and for so much more than I could ever put words to.