I had planned on writing a post describing the following story, but, as usual, my husband beat me to the punch.  His story was so beautifully written that I decided instead of writing my own I’d just steal his.

As a father I feel as if I have the responsibility to teach my boys a lot of different things. Here’s just a few I’ve been thinking of…

How to ride a bike.

How to shave.

How to tie a tie.

How to dribble a ball.

How to love people you don’t like.

How to jump off really high stuff.

How to do a push-up.

How to understand women.

How to treat a woman.

But the most important thing I want to teach my boys…

How to trust a God they cannot see.

This past Sunday I watched hundreds of people make their commitment to Faith, Hope, & Love. Each commitment represented someone trusting God in a new and unique way. But the pledge that caught my attention was the one my 8 year old son filled out.

He pledged $50 (that he doesn’t have) to the vision of Cross Point Church. He later told me that God would provide a way for him to fulfill his commitment. This card represents a lot more than fifty bucks. It represents what is hopefully just the first of many adventures my son will have trusting a God he cannot see.

If you missed commitment Sunday at one of our Cross Point campuses and want to make a commitment to Faith, Hope & Love you can do so HERE.

What do you want to make sure you’re teaching your kids?

A few weeks ago Lori did a fun post where quite a few of us made a few Pastor Wife Confessions.  My personal confession was when I’m at church I usually introduce myself as “Brandi” and leave off the “Wilson.”

Hope over to Leading and Loving It to read the rest.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year… yes, we started decorating for Christmas this weekend.  We worked (when I say we I actually mean Pete) on the outside decorations.  We (when I say we I actually mean Pete) always tend to go a bit overboard with outdoor Christmas decor.  Think 4 blow-ups… in one yard.

A friend recently sent me this photo recently and it made me laugh…

Kinda reminds me of our house!  Even though we decorate early we won’t actually turn our lights on until the day after Thanksgiving. We have some boundaries!

What about you all, anyone decorating for Christmas yet?

Last night was the biggest night in Country Music… the CMAs. I love the CMAs, we watch every year start to finish.  I was so happy to see Barbara Mandrell was added to the Country Music Hall of Fame.

I’ve been a Barbara fan for as long as I can remember.  In fact, her concert was the first concert I ever attended at the ripe old age of 7.  Yes, “I was country when country wasn’t cool.”

What was the first concert you ever attended?

Last night I was roaming through some old photos… I LOVE looking at old photos.  It’s one thing I feel like I’ve done well as a parent, taken lots of photos.  I remember a friend, who also had 3 children close together, telling me right before Brewer was born that the best piece of advice she had was to take lots of photos… sometimes with the chaos of life the only way we, as parents, might remember some details is through photos.

Last night I found a few that would have been blog material if I’d been blogging 3 years ago.

When I look back on this one it makes me melt… even though Brewer was a little high maintenance and the two of us spent many nights sleeping on the couch together, and in that moment I don’t recall thinking it was “sweet.”

Those fat feet and the paci that had fallen out of his mouth… it’s almost too much.  And he was wearing one of my favorite sleepers.

And this one made me giggle…Poor baby Brewer, being loved on so well, but so uncomfortably by his big brother.

And I clearly remember this one… we’d just gotten back from the pool and I’d put a dry diaper on Gage.  I went to the laundry room to get his clothes and I came back and he was like this…

Passed out cold!

Photos… do you take a little or a lot?

It’s my second week at Leading and Loving It and I decided to jump right in and tackle a topic that’s not fun… misery!

Let’s be honest, sometimes misery visits ministry.  I remember hearing Beth Moore speak last year and she said…

It’s Tuesday so I’m visiting HERE today.  Click over to finish reading.

It was a year ago this week we extended our family to include Sammie.  Sambasiva, a little boy from India whose birthday is extremely close to Jett’s.  A little boy who we pray for daily and also receives our letters and drawings.  A little boy who doesn’t realize how much he is loved by this American family.

Here is Sammie’s original sponsor photo.

And here is the photo we received from his this week.

I’m sorry the photos aren’t a better quality but our scanner is down.  Pete and I were shocked when we saw how much Sammie had grown.

This just isn’t a catch-up session on Sammie, I wanted to encourage you to follow the Compassion Bloggers heading to El Salvador today.  My friend, Heather, will be heading on her second Compassion trip and I can’t wait to follow her journey.

So remember to pray for these bloggers and pray for the children of El Salvador.  And, of course, please consider sponsoring a child with Compassion.

Let us know if you already sponsor a child… I’d love to hear about them.

I’ve got a BIG announcement this morning. We’ve decided to broadcast our annual Volunteer Gala which happens tonight LIVE. Trust me when I say you won’t want to miss watching how we celebrate our volunteers here at Cross Point. It’s one of the most unique celebrations I’ve ever been a part of.

Just between you and me it’s one of my favorite events of the year.

We’ll be going LIVE around 7:15 cst, so grab some popcorn and get ready as we pull out all the stops to honor the thousands of volunteers that make Cross Point so special.

HOP OVER TO PETE’S BLOG FOR THE CHANNEL LINK. I’d embed it here… except I don’t know how!

We try to be a pretty organized family.  One of the things we do each evening is lay out the kids clothes for the following day.  I asked Gage to help me out recently by laying out his school clothes…

I think he matched quite well.

I’m excited to tell you all that starting this week I’ll be the regular Tuesday contributor over at Leading and Loving It.  We’ve got some big plans churning over there and we’d love for you to stop by and visit.

Today I officially join Leading and Loving It as a contributor… and I couldn’t be more excited.  Let me fill you in a little about my journey, I’ve spend most of the last 12 years or so “wandering” in the role of pastor’s wife.  To take it to another level, in a lot of ways I’ve been lost.  I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the last 12 years of ministry… but I’ve spent quite a bit of time wondering where and how I fit.

To continue reading click HERE.