My ministry, my family

Do you ever wonder where you fit in? This question has been bothering me for the past few weeks. Especially in regards to ministry. So tonight I was reading a friend's blog and randomly clicked on one of her friend's blog and I came across a post that seemed like it read my mind. She was talking about her place in ministry. Where she should serve according to her gifts, etc. She said so many things that I have been thinking, but wasn't sure how to say.

So, my question is how is God using me to impact River Church and the people of Charleston, SC? I am definitely not gifted in any area that would put me on stage on Sunday morning, like singing, playing an instrument or speaking. I am hospitable enough, but not always great at conversation and so I'm not sure I would be a great greeter. I don't exactly have time to go and volunteer at homeless shelters around the area. My husband leads two ministries through his staff role at River Church and I would love to serve beside him, but I am not able because we have kids. And someone needs to be at home with them.

And when I really think about it, this is my ministry. My kids and my husband. And you know what? That is a pretty important ministry, probably the most important I will ever have. And it is one that I have come to embrace over the past few months.

I have learned that as a wife/mother/follower of Christ, I have been called to serve my family. It is my job. In our family, we feel that it is best for me to do this by staying home full-time. I might not be the perfect Proverbs 31 wife and mother, but I do my best everyday. I have opened myself up to be teachable and am allowing God to work in me as He sees fit.

My two boys are small and I personally think it is important for me to be home with them. It is my role to love them, teach them and train them. It is my role to correct their behavior and redirect them when need be. It is my role to kiss their boo-boos and read them stories. It is my joy to rock them to sleep and push them on the swings or play cars and trains with them.

As a wife, it is my honor to serve my husband and to help him with anything he needs. I take pride in knowing that he enjoys the work that I have done in our home. I enjoy taking care of and organizing our home. I enjoy planning our meals and looking through sales ads for the best deals on groceries. I enjoy keeping our house clean and making sure everyone has clean clothes to wear. And I ultimately enjoy doing these things because I know that I am serving God.

Will I be home for good? I have no idea. But I do know that right now, God has me at home. And right now I am honored to serve Him by serving my family.

They remember everything!

A few weeks ago I posted about how amazing 2 1/2 year olds can be. Its so true. Seriously, Will amazes us everyday with the things he does and tells us. One thing that we have found to be quite remarkable is Will's ability to remember everything we say around him, even if it isn't directed towards him! Here are a examples of his great memory!

He is at the age where he picks up on words and phrases that we say and loves to repeat them. "Oh shoot", "crap" and "dang it" are his favorites to say. Of course we tell him not to say them, but he still uses them and uses them correctly! They don't sound bad when we say them, but it isn't as cute coming from my 2 year olds mouth!

The other day the boys and I had gone to the store and I told Will that I would buy him some ice cream and he could share it with his daddy. But, it was going to be a surprise for daddy after dinner. This was about 10 am, by the time Mike walked in the door at 5pm, Will ran to meet him and proceeded to tell him all about the ice cream we had bought. That showed me I better be careful about what I buy in front of Will or he will tell on me!

Last weekend we went to Mimi and Poppy's house for our nephew Caleb's 2nd birthday party. I told Will that we would be going to Caleb's party and that was all he talked about for the week leading up. Everyday he would ask if it was time to go to Caleb's party. Now that we are back, he is asking about his cousin Tate's 1st birthday, which is in a few weeks. For the past few days he has told me everything he plans to do when we go to Marmie and Poppy's house.

But, the sweetest thing is Will and his bible. He carries it around constantly and is always "reading" it or asking you to read it to him. He even likes to tell us that we need to get ours out and read it while he reads his! When you ask him who is reading about he tells you Jesus. Oh it melts our heart to hear him say this!
He is not as fond of praying out loud, but he loves for us to pray and usually won't go to bed unless both of us have prayed with him. We pray before eating and Will knows to be quiet and to say amen at the end. Well the other night, I prayed for dinner and when I finished he got real upset. I asked him what was wrong and he said he wanted to say "Dear Jesus", that means to pray. So I said ok and helped him thank Jesus for our food and every family member we could think of. I was just about to say Amen, when Will decided to thank God for the Backyardigans. We then had to thank him for Diego and the Fresh Beat Band too. That was a sweet moment I hope I never forget!

Some other fun things I hope I remember:
*He loves to laugh!
*He loves to read and to go to the library.
*Everyday he asks me "Mommy, wanna play cars"
*He constantly wants to be outside.
*He loves to start a sentence by saying "I just wanna ..."
*He still loves to cuddle and even will ask me to lay down in his bed with him.
*He loves to say "I wub you mommy/daddy/Gukie!"
*He loves to do things himself.
*He loves to help me, especially when I cook.
*He hates to have his picture taken, just like his daddy, so it is hard to get him with a good smile.

Standing at 7 months

It seems like every post here recently is about Luke and one of his new skills. I hate to break it to you, but this one is no different. That little one of ours is growing up too fast. Now he has learned how to stand. He is so proud of himself and he now stands every chance he gets. So for the past few days I have followed him with the camera.

Look, one hand!





At 7 months, I want to make sure that I remember Luke:
*standing and crawling
*getting into everything
*laughing as he plays with his brother
*eating solids, but also enjoying cheerios and ritz crackers
*smiling all the time

Slow Down!

For the past month or so at River Church, the teachings have been about rest and the biblical idea of observing the Sabbath. The challenge has been to slow down and take a break. It seems funny that someone would need to remind you to rest, or even teach you how to rest. But our culture doesn't seem to believe in that concept. The more you work, the more money you make, the more things you can buy. Which means you have to work more to make the money to pay for all of the things you just bought. The problem is you don't have time to enjoy these things with the people you love because you are too busy working to pay for them.
Always up for a challenge, we at the Fessler house signed up to observe a sabbath day. The first one that we took was so nice that we decided to try and observe it once a week. What does that mean and look like for us? Well, so far it involves doing fun things as a family and taking a break from work. This includes Mike not talking or texting or checking e-mail that relate to River Church or Kiawah. For me, that means no housework, no laundry, no cleaning bathrooms, no vacuuming. I have cooked dinner for us, though. We do still have to eat!
The nice thing is there is no schedule to worry about. We don't feel rushed and we feel like we actually get to enjoy each other. Both Sabbath days we have observed so far have been refreshing.
What have we learned so far? Sunday does not equal a Sabbath day, especially if you are in ministry. A Sabbath day can be taken any day of the week. The point is to rest physically from work but to also, more importantly, rest spiritually through praying, being still before God, and reading His word so that we can refuel and recharge from the past week's activities.
On our last Sabbath day, we took Will and Luke to the Children's Museum downtown.
We spent about 2 hours and had to drag Will out of there. He loved it! The only way we could get him to leave was to promise him a cupcake from Cupcake which was right across the street. Below are some pics from our day of fun.
Luke was excited to go to the museum!

Will shopping at the mini Publix. He picked his own groceries off the shelves and put them in his little shopping cart. This was his favorite part!
He even got to scan his groceries! He was in heaven!
Mike and Will in jail in the pirate ship room.
Luke having fun in the baby room.

The King and his 2 princes in the castle room. The Queen was taking the pics!

Will loving his cake pop at Cupcake. After he finished, he managed to eat half of my cupcake!

Luke the worm!

So, last week I told you that Luke is "worming" himself all over the place. Tonight I have pictures of this new talent of Luke's.

We are so proud of Luke and his new ability. Evidently, so is he. As soon as you sit him down, which he fights something awful, he is gone. He is off to find something to chew on. Which is why have to watch him like a hawk. Everything goes straight to the mouth!
He can get up on his hands and knees, he just prefers to move on his belly using his arms and torso to move him along!
We aren't sure what this little move is, but Mike loves to watch him do it. It looks like he is doing yoga, but he does it when he is trying to move. It must help him focus on the task at hand!

2 1/2 is an amazing age

I am currently reading a book called "Shepherding a Child's Heart". It discusses at one point the amount of change that a child goes through between birth and the age 4. It is crazy how much change they go through in this short amount of time. This amount of change will not happen in this short amount of time in any other time of their life. That's mind-boggling! It also means that young children are taking everything they hear and see in and storing it all up whether they know how to use it or not.
I found this interesting, especially since we are in the middle of this change season with both of our boys. It has been fun, and trying, to watch Will go through this change.
This little boy is learning so much. He knows so many songs, he can count to 10 and is learning to count to 20. He knows his colors and many of his shapes. We have been working on letters and the other day he sang the ABC song word for word with me. I was shocked. We have sang that song so many times, but he never acted like he knew it and then one day it just clicked!

Some days I am just amazed at the amount of stuff he knows. I mean, I sit and read with him everyday and we talk about things, but he has never been in an official school setting. I am a certified teacher and am capable of teaching him things, but I am also learning just how absorbent the 2 year mind is and how much it can take in. I have tried to put limits on him thinking he is too young for this or that but I am now seeing that he can do it. Show Will how to do it and he will watch you and then do it himself. He is very observant.

One thing Mike and I are finding is that with this great capacity for knowledge that Will has comes a great responsibility on our part as his parents. We are doing our best to teach him God's word and truth and to protect him from too many outside influences that could harm him. We know that right now we have to be diligent in laying a solid foundation for him so that he can be strong in his faith when he is older. Its a scary thing to think of how huge a responsibility it is to be a parent. But, as we have seen, it is so worth it!

Luke on the move!

Luke is 6 months, almost 7 months old. We no longer have a baby that we can put down and expect to stay in that spot. Luke has no become mobile! He is not crawling on his hands and knees quite yet, but he is moving like a little worm across the floor. He gets to where he needs to go with such a look of concentration on his face. It is really quite cute! And even though, we have not quite mastered this skill, the other day I caught Luke trying to pull himself up on the side of our bed. He has also tried this in the bath tub a couple of times. He is growing so fast and doing things faster than Will did them. At least it seems that way, maybe I am just too busy to remember!


Things I want to remember about Luke at this age:
*He has the best smile and laugh!
*He eats three meals a day, not including nursing
*He does not care for applesauce, but I make him eat it anyway
*His arms seem to be 8 feet long sometimes, it is amazing what he can reach
*He sits up all the time, but he can't get himself in that position yet
*He likes to worm himself across the room to get what he needs
*EVERYTHING goes in his mouth!
*He likes nothing more than to be held and cuddled
*He weighs 19 pounds and is 23 inches long