i really enjoy the words to the older hymns, but i don't always love the music part!
last night i decided to take the hymn "close to thee" by fanny crosby and switch things up a little bit.
my friend sarah and i sang it in church tonight.
you'll have to go to the bottom of the page and click on the pause button so you can hear it over the music on my blog.
hope you enjoy it and that the "close to thee" part gets stuck in your head all day long to remind you of where you need to be :)

my baby boys...

i recently found an old flash card that i put in my camera.
it brought many smiles to my face.

sometimes i honestly forget what life was like then.
i never ever. ever. thought i would.
the days of potty training, and intense discipline were sometimes more than i thought one girl could bear.
i do have an amazing husband, but there were times that he was working 2 jobs, and would leave for work at 6:30, and i wouldn't see him until after midnight.
those were long days. and oh so very tiring.
but you know what? i miss it. i miss the little hands reaching up for me, the need to carry these little boys all over the place, the need to cut their food, and brush their teeth and tuck into bed.

i still do tuck them into bed. every night. and i still do pick them up...sometimes. ok. well, not aj. he could probably pick me up.

but i loved the chance to look back at these and remember those days.

i miss them, but i love where my boys are now too. i love the thrill of seeing how mature and godly they are becoming.
oh i am so in love right now ♥

know what is coming?

my favorite time of year...

FALL!!

which means...

football
the fair
apple picking
apple pies
cool, crisp, beautiful weather.

oh how i love the fall!

we love gram!

we love having my grandmother here. she is visiting for the month, and then is coming back for christmas this year! my boys adore her (including adam) and i just love her so much. she took us out to our favorite ice cream place the other night. she is always so generous and thoughtful. 

thankful...

sometimes i have pity-parties.
i don't say that boastfully...at all.
i am not proud of it.
i am saying it because it is true.
and even though i stand up on the stage on sunday mornings looking all done up for church, it is not a true judge of who i really am. do not ever think that because i am a pastor's daughter or an assistant pastor's wife that i am any different than you.

who i really am is a very big sinner who was adopted by a very big Savior.

what i am thankful for, is the fact that God decided to put people in my life who are honest. that is truly what i want. i want the kind of friend that hears my pity party and does NOT tell me how true i am, how horrible things are, and that everyone needs to vent (right, ruthie??)
so sunday morning, when those stupid, good-for-nothing-feelings were overwhelming me, and i got a letter from someone i love, telling me to be thankful for what i have (in a very loving way) i was not at all offended. at all.(and for real, there is no sarcasm there this time!!)

when i come home and find an email from a girl that i love, who is currently way too far from home, asking me deep questions that make me want to dig deeper into my Bible to find out why exactly i believe what i believe, i am so incredibly thankful.

when i have a sweet friend announce very openly and honestly that she has a pride problem... and you know why? because she went a couple of days without reading her Bible. really? pride? YES! i am so challenged! pride that says I can do things on my own today, and do not need GOD to tell me what to do!

i could go on and on. you know why? because these are the kind of people that are in my life.
it is not at all uncommon to have an email from a family member giving me a Bible verse they just came across and thought i should read.

and God has blessed me with some other people who encourage me to grow as well, AND ask for advice in areas that they want encouragement with!
this is a choice on my part!
i want to be spending time with people who are helping to bring me closer to Jesus, not giving me excuses as to why i need "me-time" (grrr...don't even get me started!)
or how it's ok that i skip church this week, becuase after all. i have been sooo busy!

i am thankful to have a husband who has no problem at all telling me what i need to do to change. because he loves me and he wants me to be happy!
i heard a great message about influences in our lives. you can check it out here. i think it's worth watching. (oh, and you can hear me and my brother singing too :)

don't even think for one second that the people you choose to spend time with have no effect on you. they do.
choose your friends wisely. i am so thankful for the friends God has blessed me with that are "sharpening" me to be more like my Savior.

so what started out as a pity-party, ended up to me more of a thankful-party.

eat that, satan :)

Lilla

my brother, sister-in-law and niece lilla came for a very short, but wonderful visit.
they drove a very long way for a professional photo shoot (hahaha.kidding of course) but i did manage to get some cute ones of my beautiful niece!

and the visit comes to an end...

so the time came when we had to say goodbye.
we tried to get a few final pictures...









then decided that one more time in the pool couldn't hurt anything!
here's aj's long shot...



here's why i was never a part of the cool shooting group...



and here are the cool ones...



oh i wish we lived closer! but we had such a great time, and made a LOT of great memories!

we miss you NY chase's!!

more of the NY chase's

we decided to go to a baseball game because it was buy one ticket get one free if you brought a package from kraft cheese. (and don't forget to leave the cheese at home to enjoy its melty goodness later)

my man...


my little man...


my littler man...


my super awesome brother and sister-in-law and their boys...



Brayden was all ready to catch a ball!!









i heart this girl...


and it all ended with the cry of

"COUSINS!!!!!"


great food
great fun
great night
and...um. don't ask who won the game, because i don't have a clue :)

some more of our time with the NY chase's

we had such a great time in NY that it is almost impossible to go through all the pictures! but since my sister-in-law has outdone me with her posting, i will try to keep up!



i think adam and james felt like they were kids again the way they played in the pool!












and i guess the momma's aren't so bad either! :)



later on that night we went to a baseball game, but i am too tired to start working on those pictures. so this is it for tonight.

controversy alert...

i have been thinking a lot about the passage in judges 17 (as well as judges 21 and places in deuteronomy) that talk about the fact that "every man did that which was right in his own eyes" pretty interesting to think about.
now, i expect that people who do not know the power of the Word of God and the power of the Holy Spirit indwelling the believer might have nothing else to fall back on than "what is right in their own eyes".
i mean, who else are they supposed to look to for what is "right"? it would have to be whatever is right to them. what starts to bother me is when people who claim that they have accepted Christ, which of course means that the same power that raised Jesus from the dead is IN US (eph. 1:20) decide to do what seems right in their own eyes.
one main group that i see this problem in is mothers...especially those of young children. i am extremely passionate about parenting. i just believe so strongly that we have everything we need to raise our kids...it's in the Bible.

a few years ago, i joined a mommy-type forum. it was christian, and i thought it would be helpful to get advice from other moms regarding parenting. i quickly got discouraged. i would see a mom post something like this.
"i can not get my 3-year-old to stop having temper tantrums when it is time for her to put her toys away". as i started reading all the "advice" that was given by MANY mothers, i found myself getting...a little irritated.
they went a little something like this...
*give her options. she needs to feel like she is in control
*never spank. i tried that, and it doesn't work
*put her in time out

i could go on and on, but i can feel all those emotions rising up in me, so i will stop :)
we, as the parents are the authority.
the child should not feel like they are in control because they are not supposed to be.
spanking, when done properly does work,
and putting a child in time out is totally contrary to the verse that says "a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame".

all i am trying to say here is this:
i want moms to know that they do not have to do whatever is right in their own eyes.
whatever the other moms are doing.
whatever dr. phil says.
whatever, whatever, whatever!!

some times i think the best thing for us would be to stop reading books altogether and just go to THE Book!
when did we start thinking that the Bible is not "creative" enough, and we have to come up with our own practical, realistic discipline?

if nothing else, i hope that this post will get you thinking.
thinking about what you use for correction and instruction with your kids.
ask yourself where you got the idea to use the methods you do.
make sure that they are not just popular opinion, what your mom did, what you read somewhere.
but that they are from God Himself. who is the creator and designer of you and your child!
we have to make sure that we are intentional with what we are doing and that there is a deceitful, lying, coniving enemy out there who is trying to subtly trick us into thinking that we are wiser than God.
isn't that how it all began?
his devices have not changed. he wants us to think that we know our kids better than anyone else, and that our kids are somehow different from all the other ones, which is why God's way of discipline just doesn't work!
don't believe it for one second.
don't fall into his trap.
we have all we need in Jesus Christ and HE is the only one we should be going to for advice!

"Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God." 2 Cor. 3:5

Kayla's Senior Portraits - Sneak Peak

It was a beautiful day with perfect weather. Kayla is beautiful (inside and out!) and we had a lot of fun doing this shoot!

time with the new york chase's

Asking for Prayer

Most of you know that my husband and I, along with 2 close friends, started a ministry called Epping Lighthouse Ministries. Our Mission Statement is to demonstrate the unconditional love of God to our community by building relationships, meeting needs, and sharing the truth of the Gospel that transforms lives.

A description is that we are a non-denominational, not-for-profit family oriented organization, whose purpose is to assist people of all ages to come to know Christ, and grow in their walk with Him. This is done through a weekly Bible Kids Club, Teen programs, and special events throughout the year for children, famiies and adults.

We started last year by opening a teen youth center, called The Porch, in the middle of our town. We had a friend from church build a porch inside, and we had it set up with a ping-pong table, foosball tables, a pool table and a flat screen tv. We had a local organization donate 5 brand new laptops, and we were so excited to see how it would progress. We had great success in the different clubs and meetings that we had, including one salvation and many other opportunities to share God's love as a direct result of The Porch.

Unfortunately, our landlords have decided to rent our space to someone else and are taking it right out from under us. We realize that we could really push things legally, and most likely be able to continue on there. However, we don't know that we want to sign another year's lease with people like this.

I am asking for my friends from all over the world to please be in prayer for us right now. We want to follow God 100%. We want to serve our community. We want to please God in everything we do. We KNOW that God is in control, and that God is certainly more powerful than any human.
Thank you so much for praying.
I know you will.
I am trusting that this mighty God we serve is able to do way more than we can ever hope or imagine!

A little bit of our first day...

here's just a tiny bit of what's been going on our first day with the new york chase's :)

Swimming

We are in New York visiting adam's brother and sister-in-law and 2 nephews. Here's just a tiny bit of the huge amount of fun we are having!!!

spaghetti

ever heard of the book, men are like waffles-women are like spaghetti? well, you should read it. it's super funny, and kind of helps explain some things about the differences between men and women.

when i have a conversation, i normally start about 3-4 different topics, without finishing any of them, then just keep going. or not. it drives adam NUTS!! he will always be like..FINISH ONE STORY!! :) (in love of course!)

the point being, a woman's conversations all intertwine and go all over the place.

a man's conversation stays in one box at a time. get it? ok good.

that's what this post is. i just have a bunch of little thoughts that have nothing to do with anything.

so for the girls, you will be able to follow me.

for the guys...you may have to read this a few times to get it! ha!

i am reading through the New Testament in 90 days, which you would think would be so much easier than when i read through the whole Bible in 90 days. for some reason, i am always behind! ugh.

anyways, i just finished the book of Romans.

i love Romans.

what i realize though, is that i can not just read 5-6 chapters of Romans at a time and call it a day. i can barely get through 5-6 VERSES without feeling convicted, or challenged, or like i need to study this one more!! there's so much there!!

take chapter 8.

starting in verse 35...What shall separate us from the love of Christ? NOTHING! wow. not even my rotten, ungrateful, judgmental attitude? there are times when i feel like no one should love me. and even in those times, the most amazing. powerful. incredible GOD loves me! wow. i could just stop my reading for the day right there, and meditate on that all day long! that should change the way i act and feel!

what about chapter 13, in verse 13 where it tells us how to walk honestly...not in strife and envying. then it says in the next verse, "make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts"

um. ok. in the rcv (rachelle chase version) that says.

do not envy and start "needing" things that you really don't need...so STOP going to the mall, and looking at pottery barn catalogs. you're only going to give yourself more opportunity to envy that way!"

see what i mean??? that's only like 3 verses!! crazy. God's Word is a light, it shines itsself all over your sin! that's for sure!

another thought i've had lately is from the verse in proverbs that says "a fool shows his annoyance at once, but a prudent man overlooks an insult"

so. here's the way it goes.

someone says something that you find offensive. and maybe it really IS offensive.

i have 2 choices, and only 2 if i want please God.

choice 1. OVERLOOK IT! like i explained to riley, it's just like you are walking and you don't even realize you walked over this lego in the middle of the floor until someone pointed it out to you. just overlook it and move on.

choice 2. go to the person in private, and in love, and tell them that they offended you.

that's it. do you know what i usually choose?

choice 3. i know, i know...i said there were only 2 choices!! but here's what i do.

i act like it's the worst thing ever said. i get my feelings hurt. i might start to not only be offended by that ONE thing the person said, but start thinking of all the other little things they have said over the year! that is so WRONG!! oh, my God is so good to me to forgive me over and over when i continue to make wrong choices!

so those are a few of my spaghetti-like ramblings for tonight. oh i have so much more. don't you even worry.

but i don't want to totally scare my readers off for good!! :)

ry and his aiyah