sunday's

sunday's at the dewalt house have always been somewhat interesting to say the least...

even while we still lived in berwick we were somewhat involved in ministry and when we moved to the harrisburg area we were ridiculously involved in ministry (forgive me but i do think one can over-do it sometimes) especially if you are like me (and tim) and can't say "no".

the mornings were somewhat chaos for many years and often times we would have to drive in different cars just so one could get to church on time to teach or go to a meeting...but even in all the chaos we ALWAYS had a rule in our house...IF anyone slept over on saturday night they had to attend church with us...HOUSE RULE. (and just for clarification...that was a tim house rule-my preferance was ALWAYS to not have sleepovers on saturday nights-but i lost that battle and now i am so glad).

so as you all know i am taking a much needed break from ministry so that i may be ministered to...and i am loving it. the last few weeks or so i have really enjoyed getting up on sunday morning...no stress...no obligations...no worries. it seems that once we decided to commit to CLA for one year i felt a relief that i can not explain. i am settling in and feel really good about our decision.

the funny thing is that UNTIL recently i did not realize how all those years of ministry had affected our kids...tim and i often wondered if we were so involved at times that we would push our kids away (you read and hear about that stuff all the time). there wasn't a day go by that we didn't pray that we were in God's will and doing what we were supposed to be doing and pray that our kids would grow up to be "in love" with the things of GOD and not feel that they were a burden or worse yet a ritual or habit.

so here we are in 2010. my kids have grown up and have access to a vehicle and have a drivers license and mom works every third sunday...what do we do?? we "impress the socks off mom" is what we do. keep in mind that dad was the HOUSE RULE guy and now dad is gone and on some levels mom can be a softie but this rule has stuck without me having to even address it.

we have been to CLA about 7 times now...do you know that on 3 of those 7 times my kids have taken a friend to church with them. one of those weeks i had to work and didn't even go myself. talk about putting their mother to shame...the sermons this entire month have been on ONE MORE and how we need to reach out to one more individual this year...

their dad would be so proud. i am so proud.

when i hear my 16 year old kids tell their friends that they can sleep over but they have to go to church in the morning and then they continue to say...it's ok to wear jeans if you want and the preacher is pretty chill and kinda funny and i think you will like it...totally blows you away. you know how many people i invited to church this past year??? probably the same as you...ZERO.

part of todays sermon was to "live the life"

"WITNESS AT ALL TIMES; USE WORDS IF YOU HAVE TO"

i don't say anything to my kids because if mom approved they may stop...it's a teenager thing...but i think they GET IT. being a christian and going to church is such a huge part of who the dewalts are and if you are going to hang with the dewalts we want you to be part of that world also. our GOD is an awesome GOD and if you need a place to hang out on sunday morning's you are always free to join us.

SO>>>just so i am not falling too far behind my kids...if you are not doing anything next sunday morning at 11am...come on along and join us. the sermon is on WINNING ATTITUDES and this week you can wear your favorite jersey to church (yes...on sunday morning). Ashley already has her steelers jersey ready to role.

this is one proud mom signing off

thanks for checking in

tammy