the adventures of milo and gwennie.

hello! we are milo and gwennie. 

 {milo & gwennie}

we are king penguins from a sub-antarctic island in northern antartica.

[actually we're from atwoods. amber walked by us while browsing and couldn't pass up our cuteness. we are so thankful she brought us home with her because we won't even go into what those chickens and cows do when they turn those store lights out for the night. party animals.] 

instead of letting us sit on the shelf with all her other penguins, amber decided to let us blog about our weekly adventures.
basically that means she has no life and had this crazy idea that would either make people laugh or declare her clinically insane. 

[we think she's awesome.]

this week, we are at vacation bible school. 

 as you can see, we are up to our beaks in VBS crafts.
amber is in charge of crafts this year, so we get to watch the children make all kinds of fun planes and bracelets.

we are excited to share our adventures with all you humans who read {beauty in humble places}.
you never know where we might show up next! 

sunday school, take two.

remember last sunday morning?
remember how i was trying too hard?
remember how i felt defeated afterward?

i am ecstatic to say that didn't happen this week.
all the glory and praise goes to my Jesus.

all week, i prayed about sunday morning.
i prayed i would be hidden behind the cross and that Jesus would shine.
after all, it's not about me. [lesson learned]

this week's lesson was on philip and the ethiopian.
philip acted with haste to the Holy Spirit's guidance and in the end, the ethiopoan came to know Christ.

philip didn't question or ask why, he just went. he acted in faith.

the kids listened and answered the questions. [just when you think they're not paying attention, they really are.]

their memory verse for the week is: "everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved." -romans 10:13. 

and to my amazement, three of the kids had last week's memory verse [pretty much] memorized!

at the end of the lesson, i brought in "bible pool".

the bible has 66 books, which can be broken down into different divisions.

old testament:

• law - genesis, exodus, leviticus, numbers, deuteronomy
• history - joshua, judges, ruth, 1 & 2 samuel, 1 & 2 kings, 1 & 2 chronicles, ezra, nehemiah, esther
• poetry - job, psalms, proverbs, ecclesiastes, song of songs
• major prophets - isaiah, jeremiah, lamentations, ezekiel, daniel
• minor prophets - hosea, joel, amos, obadiah, jonah, micah, nahum, habakkuk, zephaniah, haggai, zachariah, malachi

new testament:

• gospels - matthew, mark, luke, john
• church history - acts
• paul's letters - romans, 1 & 2 corinthians, galatians, ephesians, philippians, colossians, 1 & 2 thessalonians, 1 & 2 timothy, titus, philemon
• general letters - hebrews, james, 1 & 2 peter, 1, 2, & 3 john, jude
• prophecy - revelation

the object of the game is to name where the book of the bible is located and then "shoot" it into the correct bag.
they had to use pencils to shoot, which made it fun.

the kids loved this game! i had so much fun watching them get into it and work together.



thank you, Jesus, for reminding me Who it's all about.

over the weekend.

my body is covered in sporadic little bruises.
and i'm sore in places that i didn't know existed.

this can only mean one thing: i spent the weekend decorating for VBS.

 in the pastor's yard.

 we love our meagan.

5 things i learned this weekend:
- sometimes people just don't change. and all you can do is move on.
- i can still play the piano one-handed. i'm thinking of taking lessons so i can use both hands.
- my sunday school kiddos love "bible pool". (check back for more on that later)
- my daddy can build anything out of cardboard.
- when a seemingly single young man comes to church, i'm all of a sudden on an episode of love connection.

4 things i am thankful for:
- the creative ways the Lord speaks to me
- clean drinking water
- people who help because they simply want to with no strings attached.
- a great morning at sunday school.

3 things i'm looking forward to this week:
- VBS!
- VBS!
- VBS!

2 blog posts i'm lovin' at the moment:
- this post by sarah bessey.
- this post by tamara erbacher

1 thing i read:

"in our world of stress and tension, teach us love that conquers fear.

help us learn to love each other with a love that constant stays;

teach us when we face our troubles, love's expressed in many ways."

-would You bless our homes and families.

independence day.

as i laid my head on the pillow last night, my heart was overflowing with joy.
yesterday was so wonderful.
family, food, fun, and fireworks.

we celebrated mama's day of birth as well as this great country's birthday.
i thank God for america the beautiful & the men and women who have sacrificed their lives for our freedom.
we are the land of the free because of the brave.

we ended the night with our own fireworks show, which was orchestrated by my baby brudder.
as you can tell, we kinda like blowing stuff up. :)

 

to my mama.

you are:
my best friend.
my shopping partner in crime.
my confidant.
my shoulder to lean on.

but more than anything, you are my mama.
our relationship is something i treasure so much.

your heart and service to others makes me want to be a better person.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MAMA!

i can't wait to blow stuff up with you tonight.

snapshots of summer.

 [this is in my top 10 of favorite shots of yours truly]

 

let's have a coffee date.

  

right now. [say whaaat?]

in an effort to get to know y'all (the readers) better, i want to have a coffee date. a virtual coffee date.
you know when you meet a friend for coffee and spend time catching up on life? that's what i want to do here.
this is a way for me to learn more about each of you and vice-versa.

so grab your cup of coffee or tea and let's do the dang thing.


[1] first off, what did you order today?

[2] what are your plans for the fourth of july?

[3] if you could only eat one food and drink for a whole week, what would it be?

[4] what was your favorite childhood toy?

[5] what is your favorite hobby? 


here are my answers:

[1] i ordered a hazelnut iced coffee and a maple scone.
[2] the fourth is my mama's birthday, so we cook out, eat cake, and put on a fireworks show for her.
[3] hands down: buffalo wild wing's asian zing chicken wings + sweet tea.
[4] micro machines. i know, those are for boys, but my brother wouldn't play with dolls. :)
[5] photography. i love everything about it. i feel most alive with a camera in hand in God's beautiful nature.

when God teaches a lesson using 'saved by the bell'.

yesterday was my first day as a sunday school teacher.
to say i was excited would be the understatement of the year.

i would like to tell you the kids listened and hung on my every word.
i would like to tell you they all participated in the activities.
i would like to tell you that once class was over, i felt accomplished.

but those things didn't happen.

to most of the kids, i was invisible.
i had to ask multiple times for kids to participate.
when class was over, i felt like a defeated failure.

after church, my parents and i went to eat at boomerang.
they gave me great advice and dad said something that really made sense:
"the devil is going to try to bring you down in any way he can right now. he doesn't like that you are excited. he will take this and make it more than it is if you let him."
my parents are kinda smart, ya know.

but what happened when i got home is nothing short of divine intervention.

i flipped on saved by the bell when i got home.
the episode i chose (without realizing it) was the one where the students become the teachers.
when the students wouldn't listen to kelly as she was teaching, mr. belding offered her advice that hit me right square in the eyes:
"it looks like you lost control of your class. now that reflects on the teacher as much as the students."
i felt like mr. belding was talking to me.

i was trying so hard to be the "fun" teacher.
i was trying so hard to be exactly like meagan.
i was trying so hard. too hard.

i realize there are a few things i could have done differently.
i know some changes i can make next week.
i also see the lies satan tried to feed me.

most of all, i am not giving up. mama didn't raise no fool.

i am still excited to teach. i know the Lord will use this experience for the good. 
i just needed to be reminded of exactly why i am there: to teach the kids about Jesus, not show them how fun i am.