Today marks a date I’ll never forget!! June 12, 2005 was the day that I said “Yes” to grace and stopped trying to earn God’s love and approval through my own good works and effort.  I grew up in church and had mental knowledge of the truth from the Bible.  I had even said “a prayer” 100 times or two.   But something just wasn’t right in my life. And by age 25, God showed me what it was.

I came to the end of “Jenni.”  I had tried so hard my whole life to be good, went on 8 missions trips, was a leader in my youth group, studied youth ministry in college, and even married a pastor for Pete’s sake!  But at the end of the day, God lovingly showed me that He had NEVER asked me to DO any of those things. ALL He asked me to do was to receive His grace and believe that Jesus was enough.  The equation of my life was Jesus + Jenni.  Sure, I believed in Jesus, but His gift on the cross just wasn’t enough to make me right in God’s eyes…so I believed. I needed to add a little more effort and goodness to it.

I did all of this unknowingly and literally wore myself out trying to be perfect.  What a freeing thing to finally realize, on June 12, 2005, that I didn’t have to be perfect after all!  Jesus was perfect and if I just receive what he freely did for me and gave to me, that’s all God requires!

But I didn’t really want to write about me today.  Rather, I wanted to write about someone who actually helped me get to this point in my life and who has continued, over and over, to push me deeper into my destiny.

My sister…Rebekah Joy.  She is an amazing woman and I am truly the most blessed sister in the world.  I’m a little sister so of course there are those moments where I’ve misinterpreted her love and care as motherly control.   But she is so amazing she even works with me through those moments!

Why am I thinking about Rebakah today on my Spiritual Birthday?  Plain and simple, because I wouldn’t be where I am at today if it wasn’t for her.  It began with her willingness to step out into what I call “more.”  It’s hard to put a definition to what “more” is, but she came to a point in her life where what she was living and her experience with God was just not enough.  She knew there had to be more.  So she boldly stepped out to go after God.  And she took me along with her.

Her step towards true life and freedom is what propelled me on a journey to find grace, rather than just religion that tried to take the place of true freedom and relationship with a living God.  If it wasn’t for her boldness and fearlessness to face everything in her life that needed to go, I don’t know if I would have. We have both been on a radical journey of transformation over the past 6 years and I am forever grateful for her starting it!  Neither of us are the same people as we were 6 years ago.  And because of her catalyst, my family will reap something different now too!  It’s amazing how one person can change so much in not just their life, but many lives around them simply by a CHOICE!

Most little sister’s probably look up to their big sister in some way and even want to be like them.  I’m no different!  I’ve always adored Rebekah, even when we used to play basketball together and I’d get so mad at her for blocking every single shot (without even jumping) because she was so much taller. But my big sister is someone that I think everyone would want to be like!  I’ve never met a person quite like her, never been challenged by someone’s faith like hers, never seen such genuine generosity, total honesty, and a willingness to be thought wrong of if it means standing for the truth.  Everything Rebekah stands for is Truth.  And she is willing to go to lengths I’ve never known to make Truth known.  She loves people till she hurts.  Nathan, my kids, and I have been the recipient of that selfless love that she exudes and we are forever changed by it.

After Hosea died, Rebekah used to drive 12-13 hours at a time to come see us.  She would go without sleep and do whatever it took to just get to us to help fold laundry or whisk our kids off when we were hit by an unexpected wave of grief. She was just a quiet presence there to help at any time!  And not many months after this loss, when we lost two jobs in the span of 18 months, there she was again, at our house folding laundry!   Haha! I’m not sure what’s with laundry, but she sure knows what I needed! Point being, she has loved us wherever and however we needed over the years and given of herself to help us get back on our feet again.  I am forever grateful for these tangible displays of love.

I can also point many of the blessings that have been recently poured into our lives back to things I’ve learned from watching my big sister, in faith, step out into first.  She is an incredible leader, friend, confidant, business woman, and encourager.  I kind of think of her as my own personal cattle prod.   She has lovingly “prodded” me into greatness!

So today, as I celebrate the new life Jesus has given me, free of striving and performance and full of His grace and goodness, I think of Rebekah, and how one life really can impact another forever!  I will never be the same!  Thanks sis!! I love you more than words can say!!

This is a bittersweet time of year for our family.  However, I’ve been praying and looking for ways this year to actually “celebrate” Hosea’s life. It’s easier said than done, when your hear feels sad at times.  But this year we were given several gifts for Hosea’s birthday.   We wanted to share them with you through video rather than just writing it all out!

Thank you to our amazing friends who called, texted, Facebook, and send gifts of love, remembering with us Hosea’s life.  Zach and Jody Gray, we love you dearly and are honored you spent this special day with us, making us laugh and letting my kids use you for a jungle gym!

Happy Birthday little buddy!  We love you more than words can say. We are forever changed because of you.

Photo from an IPhone. Taken by Zach Gray of GrayPhotography

Micaiah, our 8 year old, had a Business Day in 2nd grade last month. Each child had to create a “business” that sold either a good or a service. She came up with “Micaiah’s Brainy Brownies.” It is a fabulous recipe for brownies that has two secret ingredients…spinach and protein (these are gluten free and completely flourless!).  Her business was a hit in 2nd grade, to say the least!

Right around this time, we had sat our kids down and walked them through in detail what we do in our own home business. Nathan and I both work from home and we thought it might be a good idea to bring them in to what we are doing. Per suggestion of a good friend, Diane McCracken, we told them all the details and then created incentives for THEM to earn as we achieved our goals. We work for incentives, so why can’t they??  They LOVED the idea. We spent hours making a list of things they thought would be good incentives for themselves as they “helped” us hit our goals each month in our business.

This conversation fueled Micaiah to begin thinking non-stop about business. She asked when she could join us in our business and have her own (not till she’s 18!). But, much to our excitement, a few days later on a Saturday, she started her own little business. It was completely her idea. We saw her in our backyard collecting rocks from a huge rock pile we have a round a drainage ditch. Then we heard her in the bathroom cleaning every one. Next came the hairdryer to dry them all off quickly (she had money to make and had no time to waste on them air drying!).

Then came the massive amounts of paint, feathers, eyes, pom poms, markers, and glue, glue, and more glue!!  She worked tirelessly for hours that Saturday. Every day after school she all of a sudden miraculously LOVED doing her homework and would walk in, drop her bag, get it all done, and head to her work station for more rock painting.

That next weekend, she went out in the neighborhood with Nathan and knocked on doors to sell her Pet Rocks. She sold every one and came bursting through the front door waving $16 dollars!  That’s alot of money for an eight year old to make in 2 hours!  So, needless to say, she has the business fever. She’s worked non-stop on many other creations and is now taking orders.

Here are a few of Micaiah’s Pet Rocks

This is Phatty

This is Mo (Short for Mohawk)

This is Fred

This is Tuffin

And this is Marlin

Here is Marlin’s Story: This is the one she made especially for me….to match my blue, white and brown bedroom. I was woken up the other day to a sticky feeling on my hand. I opened my eyes to she a toothless grin and this rock in my hand, fresh glue still dripping off. She is amazing. Definitely made me giggle!