nine months later...

I went back and found what I wrote on March 9, 2013...


It was a great week despite being fast-paced. I loved being back at Journey. It's worked out perfectly for me to be working with Aaron again. His workload is increasing quite a bit because our student pastor and his family are leaving for Uganda in a few weeks. They are an amazing family and we are excited for them as they move across the world to fight for their adopted daughter. You can check out more of their story here.

Anyway, until a new student pastor is hired, Aaron will be the interim student pastor. That means, for the next few months or so, he will be leading volunteers working with birth-college.

We are excited for this opportunity, and have prepared ourselves as best we can for a very busy spring and summer.

Our time at home will be very precious, and it will mean cutting back on a lot of extra-curricular activities in the near future.

I am praying a lot of understanding and selflessness over myself.

I know that Aaron will be pulled in a lot of different directions, and I don't want him to feel pulled by me. At least, not in a bad way.

For him, I am praying for wisdom, endurance, strength, peace, guidance, and so much more. I know he will thrive in this season, but I know it will not be without difficulty.

We believe God will not give us more than we can handle and we are excited for this opportunity.

Off we go on another great adventure!

Nine months later, this season of our life is coming to a close. It's been nothing but a blessing, through the good times and not-so-easy-times. I laugh at how what turned into maybe a "few months" was almost a year-long endeavor! But, God's timing is perfect, and he has brought just the right guy to take over Journey Students. We are so excited to welcome our new student pastor, John, and his family.

God answered my prayers that I prayed back in March for sure. I know there were a few nights or days here and there where I was just ready for Aaron to come home and not think about ministry anymore, but I never felt neglected or that he wasn't here enough.

I could not be more proud of how he handled himself through it. He was busy for sure, but when he was home, he was home. And I know his brain didn't always shut off from work, but it was only every so often that I had to call him out for staring off into space. 

I would say, "Whatcha thinkin?" (Even though I knew.)

And he would say, "Sorry. Journey stuff."

And then I would usually remark about whatever the certain situation was and why there was nothing to worry about. And end it with, "It'll all work out. It always does." Because that's what we say around here.

Working with students is way different than working with kids. Way different. It has definitely gotten me out of my comfort zone. I lean towards the preschool age, so older kids and teens make me a little nervous. I didn't get to know a lot of them, but I do like them as a whole a lot more now!

We (well, mainly Aaron) also had an opportunity to deal with some of the tougher issues that you don't get with birth through fifth grade. Being a teenager now is so much different than even 10 years ago when I was in high school. Smart phones, social media, and having constant access to anything and anyone at anytime is the norm now. I can't believe what some kids are looking at and doing and learning about at such a young age now. It scares me to think what it will be like when Graeme is a teenager. He might just never be allowed to have the internet... (kidding, kidding...but you better believe it will be insanely monitored!)

We could not have survived the past nine months without God's help, obviously. But there are also several people that kept Aaron from totally losing his mind. They know who they are. Our Journey Kids/Students part-time staff and volunteers kept the weekly stuff in motion while Aaron stretched himself between the two ministries. I know for me, those people are some of my heroes. He could not have done it without the help that he had.

It has been a long nine months. It's hard for me to even think back to March. But coming out on the other side, it is easy to see how perfect everything was pieced together. When I quit my nanny job last year, we had no idea Aaron would start working "two" jobs. If I had also been working full-time...well, I think that would have been not fun at all. It was orchestrated by God for me to not only get to work part-time, but to work part-time with Aaron. Our pregnancy happened at the perfect time too. God knew that Aaron would phase out of student ministry just in time for this coming March. I could list a lot more, but you get the idea.

This has been a long, rambling post. I am so thankful that we've had this opportunity. I'm glad we didn't miss it. And now, I'm glad it's coming to an end. And all in God's perfect timing. We wouldn't trade it for anything. We are so thankful and trust in Him even more now. He is always faithful. 

about the MSO retreat

Whew...am I glad that I have a good 12 years or so before I am a parent to a middle schooler. I love our middle schoolers, don't get me wrong, but I'm not ready to take one home with me.

Our fall middle school retreat was a lot of non-stop fun. We left last Friday evening, and after traffic, a dinner stop, and rain, we rolled into the Ridgecrest Conference Center in Black Mountain, NC around 9:00pm.

By the time the kids were sorted into their rooms with all of their luggage, it was 10:00pm. Baby Bauer and I were done for the day and opted out of the campfire that was supposed to last until 11:30. A shower and bed sounded like wise choice for us instead.

The next morning, I felt much better, and it was so nice to wake up in the mountains.

Aaron and I walked to breakfast and ran into a groundhog/gopher/beaver thing on our way. He let us get so close before he ran away. Sorry for the blurry picture.

After breakfast, we had our morning session. The plan was for everyone to go on a four hour canoe trip that afternoon, but the weather had other plans. Thankfully, Asheville has this amazing land of fun called "Fun Depot," and I think it more than made up for the missed canoe trip.

I, on the other hand, played my pregnant card again and decided not to spend four hours playing lazer tag and video games and mini golf indoors. I found a fun organic pizza place down the road for lunch instead...

...and followed that up with a three hour nap.

The elusive second trimester energy boost has yet to strike, but thank God I have not felt sick for a whole week.

By the time everyone got back that evening, I was well-rested and joined them for dinner, an evening session, and a movie night (since it was still raining).

Sunday morning, we woke up and packed up. After breakfast and one last session, we headed back to Raleigh. 

The retreat was short and sweet, but I think they all felt like they had been there for a week. Nobody except me got any rest during their non-stop days! (And I still took a nap when I got home on Sunday so I imagine they needed one for sure.) We have amazing leaders and I am thankful that they are willing to spend a weekend on little sleep with 30 energetic middle schoolers.

And I'm thankful that I got to go with them, even if I had to skip out on some of the fun. 

about Goldfish crackers and other things

It was a shopping day today. Journey kids sure love Goldfish. This will last a couple months. Maybe.

Speaking of Journey, over the past three weekends, 192 people "went public" with their commitment to follow Jesus. Mind=blown.

I never get tired of watching people get baptized. It's one of my favorite things we do at Journey.

And also speaking of Journey, our college small group, Journey18:25, kicked off for the fall semester. We are doing a study of Hebrews 11 over the next several weeks that my one and only husband pieced together.

This week, one of our assignments was to take a picture to represent each day of creation and share it on Instagram. I will share them on here as well after I take them all.

I am trying to figure out how I'm going to take a picture for the first day (light and dark), when the sky and sun and other lights weren't created yet. The struggle, I know.

Anyway, that's all for this random post. We are doing well. We are busy. We are having fun per usual.

about our Journey-filled weekend

Hi.

It's oh-so-wonderful to be at home. And to be here. Aaron and have agreed that we can't quite have the same crazy summer schedule that we just had again. Surely there is a healthy middle ground.

It was fun-filled, of course.

But it was draining.

And we have never been so glad to be home. And be working even.

I had to agree with Aaron last Friday when he said he was excited to go back to work. It just felt like we had been missing out on so much by not being there.

So, since Friday, we've definitely been re-entering "Journey mode."

Friday, Aaron and I began the task of doing all of the work online to make our promotion weekend go smoothly. Let me just say, our church database, CCB, does not mess around with promotion. They are so serious.

THERE IS NO UNDO.

It warned us of that twice more before we finished. I mean, it's good I guess. It would be a pain in the you-know-what to mess up the promotion of 1,600 people to the next year/grade...

Thankfully, everything was correct, and we were able to start the weekend off on Saturday with our two new services.

For Journey Kids, the services went....

Well, they happened.

Really, they went well. Anything brand new like that always takes some time for everyone to get used to. Kids heard about Jesus and that's all that really matters. We had a lot of brand new volunteers that jumped in with no clue what they were doing, but they did awesome. 

It was a lot of fun. Hey, if Aaron and I could always do Saturday night, we totally would. You have most of your Saturday free, and then you still have a whole Sunday to rest. It's the way to go. You should attend on Saturday. Do it. But make sure you serve for one service!

Anyway, Sunday was wonderful as well, especially because we did not have our normal third service. Everyone got to sleep in a little later and leave a little earlier. It's a nice break for the next few months.

To end the weekend, we also kicked off a brand new season of Journey Students. Aaron and I still love that we get to help out with student ministry. There was great turn out (although the free pizza and ice cream may have had something to do with it).

MSO (Middle School Only)

3:12 (High School)

We were exhausted at the end of Sunday night, but it was definitely in the best way possible. There's no place else we'd rather be.

about our camping trip

So this was the day I was to blog about our college group camping experience. And boy did we have one.

Except instead of this:

(outside camping like these cool kids)

it was like this:

Camping in the lobby at Journey (thanks for the picture, Joe)

Yes, our fun-filled camping wilderness adventure (and by wilderness, I mean someone's backyard) was foiled by the evil Andrea.

Julie, who was to be our lovely camping hostess, said her yard was a pond after the rain started.

When we all pulled into the parking lot and it looked like this...

...we quickly made a plan B for an indoor camping adventure.

We played Wii. We played Quelf. We played Mad Gab. We watched Pitch Perfect. We played Counselor Hunt.

We ate pizza. We ate cookies. We ate popcorn. We ate S'mores Sundaes.

(Another photo credit to Amanda...I was so bad at taking pictures last night)

And we even told a ghost story based on this super creepy braid of hair that was found in a purple Easter egg in the freezer. (Yes, and I don't even know)

This was the cause of a major giggle fit and a total freak out.

Even though we still look forward to making up our missed camping trip in the fall, this camping trip was amazing.

Even if I am exhausted from staying up until 2:30 in the morning...

about fx:MiNi

Wasn't the set for fx:MiNi so cute?!

We had a great turn out for our first preschool family experience. Our preschool-age director, Robyn, did a fantastic job as the brains behind the whole morning. There were donuts and coffee in the lobby before they came back to the room. Then, there was singing, stories, and activities.

We learned all about how God made us to help others.

That had been their focus for the month of May, so the kids knew all of the songs. They got to teach them to their parents.

Plus, we introduced the new song for June (which I love).

I am definitely looking forward to the next fx:MiNi in August!

And of course my man did a great job telling the Bible story. :)

about the MSO retreat

Last weekend, we purposefully got in the car to spend the weekend with 40 middle school students.

It wasn't long until we became a little unsure of our decision.

But, as we drove through the pretty countryside and neared our destination, our worries ceased.

We arrived and were more assured by the fun group of kids we brought.

And despite the questionable meals.

And creepy cat curtains.

We had a wonderfully, great weekend.

Truly. I love those kids. I did not want to come home.

We played games.

We explored the outdoors.

THERE IS A SNAKE IN THIS PICTURE.

And, most importantly, we worshipped Jesus and learned how important it is to pause in our every day lives to spend time with our Creator. Out in the beautiful country it's easy to free ourselves from distractions. I mean, this place had no cell service or WiFi. It's a social media-ites nightmare. But it freed everyone from worrying about what was going on in the cyber world to look around and realize so much more was going on in the relationships around them and in the beautiful world God created.

about Timothy and our cool job

The other day I was reading Paul's second letter to Timothy in God's Word.

Paul says to Timothy,

"I remember your honest and true faith. It was alive first in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice. And I am certain that it is now alive in you also." (1:5)

And a little later in the same letter Paul says,

"But I want you to continue to follow what you have learned. Don't give up what you are sure of. You know the people you learned it from.  You have known the Holy Scriptures ever since you were a little child. They are able to teach you how to be saved by believing in Christ Jesus." (3:14-15)

Reading these words was an instant reminder of why our job is so cool and why we do what we do. Aaron and I both have a desire for parents to be the spiritual leaders of their kids. God says that faith should be passed down from generation to generation: just like Timothy learned about God from his mom, who learned it from her mom, who learned it from her family, and so on.

When a little child begins to learn about following Jesus at a young age, it will stick with them forever. They might ignore it sometimes, but there's no doubt that those truths are instilled in them. And one day, Lord willing, they will follow Jesus and in turn teach their own children.

At Journey, we exist to be a resource for parents. There's no way we can be the spiritual leaders of everyone's kids. That's not our job. But, we will do anything we can to equip parents to lead their kids to Jesus.

We begin giving parents "parent cues" as soon as they drop off their newborn baby with us, and we continue to partner with parents through high school.

In May, we are offering a brand new class for parents of kids in elementary school called "True Story." It's a class to start parents and their kids on the most important conversation they will ever have: the conversation about God's big rescue story.

I am so excited about this, and I hope we have a good turn out.

Have I mentioned that I love what we get to do?

how I've spent my time this week

Hi. It's been a few days. I've been meaning to write, but my free time has lately been preoccupied with these:

A little creepy, I know.

I've been watching movies while cutting out animal masks for 150 preschoolers. The masks are no big deal. It's those stupid eye holes that really take a lot of work. And the movies make it fun at least. 

It's crunch time again at work as we get ready to prep June and July so I've been spending lots of time with the copier, paper cutter, scissors, and paper clips. 

Anyway, I have lots to catch up on in these next few days on the blog. Stay tuned!

about April FX

Well, hello.

I'm Whitney, and this is my blog. It's not about anything in particular, but I like to write it. And if you read it, thanks. I appreciate it.

I know this goes without saying, but we had a busy weekend. What else is new? Friday was our Family Experience for elementary kids at Journey. It was a lot of fun and a great time talking about friendship: spending time with someone you trust and enjoy.

Who doesn't love to have friends? Well, maybe some people don't, but they are probably crazy. I think everyone at least has one or two people that they would call friends. After all, God created us to thrive in community.

I am blessed with many friends, but of course there are always a few that are your truly good friends that you trust and enjoy the most.

Anyway, this month in UPTOWN (our elementary area) will be devoted to looking at different aspects of friendship from God's Word.

Friday night was a great kick off!

a Journey post

Today I woke up determined to sit down and write for awhile. It's been a little crazy around here. 

Last week was packing week. We packed the Journey Kids' supplies for April and May on Wednesday and Thursday after shopping on Monday. It went really well because Robyn, Lisa, and I had done most of the prep work beforehand. We packed both months in around six hours over the course of those two days. That may sound like a long time, but it's not really.

After packing was over, we spent time getting ready for our Good Friday event, "The King's Walk," and made sure our environments were ready for Easter Sunday.

"The King's Walk" was a hands on experience for families that told the story of Jesus' death and burial. It went amazingly well, despite running out of almost every supply. We were not prepared for the response that we received...over 500 people went through!

Nailing their names to the cross. We died with Jesus so that in return we could live!

Easter Sunday was a great day at Journey. The Warehouse was packed for all three services, and back in Journey Kids we got to teach 400 kids that Jesus is alive!

I am continually blown away at the work God is doing at Journey and so very grateful not to have missed it. Every weekend brings a new adventure!

I love my church.

how we do what we do

It's a gloomy day today. I am ready for the weather to make up it's mind. Cold. Hot. Cold. Hot.

Apparently I have grown allergies, because for the past week, my nose has been a waterfall, as well as my eyes. And the sneezing is constant.

Anyway, to the topic...

Our new season has begun. Here's how we are getting by so far (I'm sure it's not the only way to get by and I'm sure we have a lot to learn, but for now...):

So far, it is busy as expected, but with planning and scheduling, it's been great so far. Besides, Aaron and I sort of thrive on being busy. I'm sure that's a good and bad thing. (We do actually have this Friday and Saturday sans plans or responsibilities, so I promise we aren't overdoing it yet.)

During the week, Aaron is scheduled for about 10-12 meetings. Some are weekly meetings and some are random. I have been designated as his calendar keeper, so his meetings get planned through me. I like that, so I can prepare myself, as well as him for what the coming week looks like. 

Let me just say that Google Calendar, Apple Calendar, and Apple Reminders are my favorite things. I operate 5 different calendars: mine, Aaron's, one for us together, a Journey Kids calendar, and the meal planner. They all sync between my phone, iPad, and computer. I can invite people to events, set alerts, and color code everything. I. Love. It.

Aaron is typically busy during the day Sunday through Thursday. We try to keep Friday and Saturday generally free of plans when possible. We've also tried to keep the nights we are at home to four a week. 

Ministry jobs are tricky in that they aren't always 9-5. Aaron is basically on call whenever, so some weeks are harder than others.

I leave work by at least 2pm on Monday-Thursday, so I have about three hours at home before Aaron gets there to do laundry, cleaning, or errand running. I also use that time to blog or do other "me" things. That way, when he gets home, we can focus on being together.

I am still keeping up with my meal planning, which I love. I can only handle thinking a week ahead. I plan on Saturday and shop on Sunday evening for the coming week.

The budgeting is also getting easier. This month, I finally feel like I budgeted just right for everything. I was pretty pumped.

We are also still going to our gym. We'd of course love to go every day. Wishful thinking is five times a week. Reality is usually four times a week. Hey, it's something.

Another priority is keeping in touch with Bensen and Keyen. I am determined to not let this slip. We see them at least every other week, even if it's just stopping by for an hour. It's helpful that they live super close to us.

Things we aren't doing as well that we used to? Well, we unfortunately have lacked in plans with family and friends. They all live relatively far away from where we live and work. We obviously see Aaron's mom at work and have our Tuesday lunch, but it's not quite the same. We haven't been to the Bauers' since Christmas. We see everyone on Sunday in passing, but again, there's no time for family bonding or anything. And whereas I was seeing my parents every Thursday when I was a nanny, it's definitely a lot less now. And our friends...well, they just have to take us when they can get us.

It's a season, I know.

And it's what we are given to handle for now. Right now, I can't imagine having kids and doing all of this, but I don't have to. And I know that if this had been our life last year when I was working full-time, it would have sucked. But it wasn't like this last year. God always has us just where He needs us to be. He has worked everything out for us to be in a really good place for this busy time. We are having a blast.

So, there it is. It's not easy, but it's not hard. We aren't doing it by our own strength, and we firmly believe God has not and will not give us more than we can do with excellence. We have a few kinks to iron out still, but that should always be the case. We are works in progress. Always learning. Always growing.

about my new frenemy and rainbow pasta

Meet my newest frenemy:

It's my friend because it prints the things I need to print at work.

It's my enemy because it sure does give me a hard time printing those things when I've only known it for one day.

I'm sure Kyocera TASkalfa 3550ci and I will work out our differences in the end. 

My new job is great so far. I love being back at Journey and working with people that I love to hang out with.

Their is so much to do that the days fly by.

This week, we had our first ever Journey Kids Team Meeting on Monday morning. All five of us sat down together to talk about ministry and life.

We also had the fun messy task of coloring pasta.

Soaking in rubbing alcohol and food coloring

Drying

I sure do hope there's enough left over for me to make a friendship bracelet!

The best part of my job is that I get to play a small part in God's BIG story to reach kids and families in this city.

But right up there with that is working with my hot boss. I know people say relationships with people you work with don't usually work out, but I think I have a chance with him... ;)

about my new (old) job

I kind of started working again today. I began "re-training," at least.

Before I was a nanny, I was Aaron's Administrative Assistant at Journey. When we decided I should take a full-time job, I tried to do both for awhile (work 40 hours a week as a nanny and 15 hours a week as his assistant). I was getting it done, but barely. And it meant that I had basically no free time. I would work from 8:30-4:30 every day then head straight to Journey to work another 3 or 4 hours. Plus we would go in on Saturday. It was becoming ridiculous.

So, we decided that it was for the best that I hand off almost all of my responsibilities at Journey and just work my nanny job. Aaron's right and left hands at Journey, Robyn and Lisa, took on what I was doing and kind of divided it between them. And that was that. Except, of course, while I was nannying for the past two years, Journey kids has continued to grow and expand. It is so much bigger than when I left it. In size and in numbers.

When we again decided that it was time to transition from me working full-time, the timing was great in that there was a need for me to come back and work with our Journey Kids team again. Now, we are on the brink of that transition. I am coming back. And all four of us (Aaron, Lisa, Robyn, and me) are going to figure out what it looks like to run this thing together.

So, after taking January off and getting a slow start this month, I went to work today. It's not like I've been entirely away from it for the past two years and am completely out of the loop. But it was still overwhelming. We don't do much differently than when I left. We just do a lot more of it.

Robyn and Lisa are great and answered my millions of questions. And of course going to work with my husband is like the best job ever.

I am excited to get back into the swing of things.

If I can learn how to use our monster of a printer/copier this week at least, I think I'll be off to a good start...

about our Orange Meet-up

Tuesday morning, we being Journey Kids, hosted an Orange Meet-up.

Orange is the strategy and curriculum that we use at Journey. But, we sure aren't the only ones. There are many churches in the Raleigh area that use Orange, and we offered our space to get as many together that wanted to come.

This meet-up was a chance to talk about Orange, network with church leaders in our area, ask questions, answer questions, exchange ideas, and partner with each other to reach the families in this city.

We had a great morning of discussing everything from how to train student leaders to how to best partner with parents. 

It's encouraging to know that others are walking alongside of you that have dreams and problems and questions and goals as well. We may do things a little differently here and there, but we all want to see parents and kids know Jesus more.

And, as always, I love watching my husband be an awesome leader and communicator. I never get tired of listening to him talk about Orange. And he talks about it a lot. :)

a catch-up post

Well, the blog has slipped down the priority list these past few days. January isn't over quite yet, but our month of "no plans" is most assuredly over.

I've been a bit hesitant, but it's time to jump back in. There's much to be done and no time to lose.

After being "snowed in" this past weekend, we finally got our butts off the couch on Sunday for a non-stop day of fun.

It was more like "Iced in"

Being back at Journey was wonderful after missing a week, although I failed yet again to make it to a service. You would think with three options it would be easy. Sunday, however, that was not the case. I worshipped with Mini City first and second hour and got to snuggle cute babies during third.

Sunday afternoon we had a rehearsal for February FX, which is coming up on Friday. 

After rehearsal, Aaron and I jumped in the car and drove all the way to Cary for our niece's first birthday party.

Aaron and his brothers being strange...

It was a Minnie Mouse birthday party...we were so proud.

The birthday girl

Us with our nephew, Samuel.

We crashed back at home around 7:00pm Sunday night.

Monday, we woke up and headed straight for the Dollar Store. One of the many jobs of a children's ministry is preparing supplies for each week. We are very intentional about what we do at Journey, and in no way do we just sit around a babysit for four hours every Sunday.

Our curriculum is very age-intentional as well as focused on a particular bottom line each week. We prepare supplies and activities for our kids from 2s all the way through fifth grade.

Each activity is targeted to an appropriate age-level and makes a point with what we are learning that day. We, thankfully, don't have to make up the activities. But, we do supply everything for our teachers.

For example, two-year-olds this month are making stethoscopes one week in February out of headbands, ribbon, and stickers to remind them that Jesus loves them and wants them to love others. One way they can do that is taking care of others when they are sick. We therefore scoured the dollar store for 50 headbands.

Another example would be that elementary kids this month are learning that sometimes you have to get messy to make peace. Fourth and fifth graders are painting with shaving cream on cookie sheets with their noses at one point. That's something that will be hard to forget. It's a great reminder to make peace even when it does get messy. 

So, seeing as we have about 300 kids per Sunday who are all doing activities such as those every week, we buy a lot of supplies. Shopping day is no small feat. We shop for two months at a time. It takes a whole day and three different stores on average. 

I haven't been able to be a part of shopping day in a couple years because I've been working. It was good to be back.

Here was our stop at BJs:

It's hard to see everything. But that big cart is packed with February supplies.

So, Monday was busy with shopping. Tuesday then, was packing day.

After we buy everything for the month, we have to go through the lesson for each group, each week and pack the supplies they need.

This entails:

TheBLOCK (2s):  prep for approx. 50 kids each week

MiNi CiTy (3s-5s):  prep for approx. 90 kids each week

Uptown (K-5th):  prep for approx. 150 kids each week

Every week, each group has between six-eight activities. Not all activities require supplies. Some only require a couple. Some require enough for every kid to make something that they will take home.

You just never know.

Packing day for February actually finished up in three hours. This is basically unheard of.

To end our Tuesday, we headed to our friends Ryan and Aura's house for an impromptu birthday celebration for their daughter, Leah.

It was complete with a fire-breathing ninja rainbow dragon cake.

Yes.

Not your typical five-year-old girl...we love her.

And that's been our week so far.

My sister-in-law asked me on Sunday how I had time to write a blog.

I thought for a minute.

"Well, I don't really have time I guess. I make time."

So, I did. And I will again tomorrow somehow.