Let it start with my husband & my babes...

Monday's are my favorite days, they are our day off and I love them! It's our day to go on family adventures, go for walks on our property, get house projects done, bills; you know, the everyday family household things. I look forward to it every week. Yesterday was one of our at home, family walk and productive days and it was great! Got the garage and shed organized. Finished going through the kids gazillion toys and redistributed to children's rooms and bagged up for Goodwill, wonderful! But before all this, we took advantage of the beautiful weather we finally had and went on an adventure walk with our babes. As we were walking, D & I were finishing a conversation we had gone to bed on the night before. He said to me, "receiving truth well is a lot easier in theory!". I laughed and replied, "all truth is easier in theory!". Sunday he spoke on receiving truth as a good thing and resisting the urge to defend ourselves because it's a sign that we are truly loved, by God and others. He also began talking about the need to speak the truth out a loving heart. This morning the Lord led me to reading Ephesians 4 and the part that stood out to me were verses 1-3 "As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace." and I felt the Holy Spirit say to me "and let it start with your husband and your babes." I never want to get stuck with truth in theory because there truth is "easy". But rather, my prayer today is, Lord, let it start by my practicing being 'humble and gentle' with Dustin and my kids. That's where the rubber meets the road! Here is where reality is. Lord, help me today. I know You will because You are that good!

Every day, extra ordinary

Every day, extra ordinary...

Unbelievable that it's been over a YEAR since I've posted a blog!  I'd say I've been just a tad bit busy.  We've had an incredible amount of additions, changes and adjustments in these past 12+ months.  To name a few, July 5th we were blessed with our 3rd baby, Dominic Joseph Adrian McCuen, having 3 children was quite the adjustment for me, but I am finally figuring it out (learn to be ok with things not being perfectly in order, get to things when you can, my babies are more important than having a perfect house - a subject for another day).  July 25th we rented out our 1st house we ever owned to great renters.  August 1st we moved into the city we pastor in (with a 2 year old, a 1 year old and a newborn).  August 13th we had our annual church family camp.  Then in October we flew to California for our church network conference, had the holidays and all the wonderful things that entails and went into the new year ready to announce the theme God put on our heart for 2012, Authentic Community!  And this year has been full of wonderful times of building deeper, more real friendships and discovering more and more who we are in God and what He has called us to in leading Christ Church Monroe.  It has been an incredible season full of every day, extra ordinary things.  Truly, this is my life, in the midst of pastoring with my husband and parenting and building our marriage, I am learning to live extra ordinary in the every day things.  Changing diapers, wiping noses, spanking bottoms, giving big smooches, listening to my children pray on their own on the steps, falling more in love with my husband today, asking for forgiveness, remembering that I don't have to be a missionary in Africa to do something amazing for Jesus, I can and am doing something extra ordinary for Him right here in my home, He is pleased with my every day exta ordinary life :) I love my life!  And He is better to me than I deserve...