Bible Study Fellowship

Something I've been wanting to share for a LONG time on this blog is the Bible Study group I've been a part of for the last 4 years. 

Before we moved to Dallas, one of our dear friends in Tallahassee suggested I look up/find a Bible Study Fellowship (BSF) group. In fact, she was almost insistent on it, and talked SO good about it. BSF is a 50 year old international program, so it is everywhere. (Like 39 countries...everywhere, people.) She mentioned that as her and her husband had moved around often in their early married life, she always had a Bible study to get plugged in to. Not knowing ANYONE in Dallas, this sounded perfect for me. 

I got signed up and started in the Fall of 2012. (It follows the school year.) And ya'll, the book that we were to study for the entire year was Genesis.  I'm gonna be super honest here...I rolled my eyes and sighed. I thought, "OK, I got the whole creation/original sin/Noah/Abraham/12 tribes/Joseph and his pretty coat deal.".......But ya'll, I didn't get it. I may have known the stories, but I had never deeply explored the beauty of God's specific plan for his people and how that one book sets up the WHOLE redemption story for those who believe in Him and the Son he sent. And that study changed me forever, as well as the ones that have followed, just in different ways. I feel like I carry a theme out of each one, so I'll share that with you: 

Genesis: God intended to live in perfect harmony with humans when he created us. Sin (through man's choice) entered the world, so death and evil entered the world. But God LOOOOVES His people....and He knew this was going to happen anyway.....so in Genesis he sets out His Sovereign plan. To save his people from sin. Through a man that would come from people who loved Him.(See folks, it's always been through faith, not works...) Anyway, even though they know and love God, ya'll, there's some messed up things that happen in Genesis, and redemption seems unlikely. But He's Sovereign. I can't say it enough. Nothing thwarts God's plans.

Matthew: Agghh....Jesus is now in the scene! Praise the Lord. And yes, he was a darling tiny baby that was born in a manger, but ya'll, he's tough. He'll call you out.  Even if you are a king. Just because you act religious doesn't mean you're heart's in it, and that's what he cares about. But don't judge, lest YOU be judged. Because even if we WANT to do right, let's be honest, we're all struggling here. But DO judge everything around you, what you do, what you say, what you think about, etc. Because "where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Then of course in this book the ultimate sacrifice takes place as he hands over his life painfully to be the justice for our sins. Think of all the evil happening in the world that we think should be paid for. Well, He did that. And this was the first time I've deeply invested my thoughts into the death and Resurrection of Christ.  And it hit me to the core. 

Moses: I'm gonna be honest and say that Moses (the study of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy) was a little fuzzy for me. I was super pregnant for some and then mother of a newborn for the rest. BUT....it just affirms God's Sovereignty as he releases his people out of Egypt after 400 YEARS. 400 YEARS YA'LL. Let that sink in. Anyway, they do what we all do when we leave what we know and act like straight wildcats. But God is faithful to them. He never leaves or forsakes them. He teaches them about obedience, which we ALL need some lessons in people. And not because he wants to rule over us like a dictator. He wants us to be obedient through HIS strength because he knows on our own, we'd act like wildcats and treat each other terribly!!! And based on our current culture, we know we're not doing so great on our own strength, don't we? So He is faithful, will never leave us, and instructs us not to be afraid. 

Revelation (just wrapped up this week):  WOW. Just wow. Again, in all honesty, I've never studied Revelation end to end. I was scared. I was happy in my ignorance. Ignorance is bliss right? But it did the opposite of what I thought it would. It grew my confidence.Without getting into specifics, some of it was mind blowing. But-God is HOLY. He despises evil (don't we all?) and cannot let it go unpunished (again-don't we all feel that way?) He is only waiting to condemn Satan forever because He wants more people to know Him so they can live in eternal paradise and not be separated from Him forever. End of story. But until the "End of Story" he wants us to live godly lives, not just sit around and wait....we are his workmanship and he prepared things for us to do in advance. (Ephesians 2:10). 

Okay, please know that that is a VERY brief highlight of my overall takeaways. If you feel like I left something huge out, I probably did!  Also, I want to point out that I'm human and still fail and forget these things DAILY and pray that God will remind me of  His goodness. And faithfulness. And sovereignty.

Anyway......so now let me fill you in on the "logistics" of BSF: 

• BSF is international, non-denominational, and broken up into men's and women's. (I go to a day women's group, but there is night class for men and women.) It solely focuses on the Bible and encourages you to stick to using your Bible for the study. Not kidding, at first I though this was weird, but it pushes me to depend on God and the Holy Spirit to speak through His words. 
• Since it is non-denominational, they are held at "host churches", so for example, I am actually not a member of the church that hosts my area BSF. 
• They try to alternate between Old Testament and New Testament studies. 
• The format for all BSF groups is meeting in the sanctuary at the beginning and singing a hymn. (It's usually old school, ya'll, so practice some Shall We Gather at the River...).  Then you break up into groups of 10-15 and talk about the lesson from the previous week. We solely talk about the lesson. There is no "how is everybody" warm up, etc. Which I actually love. We just dive right in and dig deep. This keeps me accountable because I know at some point I actually have to say something worthwhile, lol! 
• After about 45 minutes, everyone heads back to the sanctuary for lecture. It's the same teaching leader every week and she talks about the lesson we just discussed in group, which usually fills in the gaps for us.  After lecture we are handed a set of notes also about the previous week.  They are always amazing and usually answer any remaining questions floating around in my head. Along with the notes are the next week's lesson, which is divided up into six days of questions.
• BSF clearly takes donations, but it is technically a free program.
• Like I said, BSF is international, and all nations do the same study! If you are visiting from out of town, you can attend any BSF location! So literally-if we went to China-I wouldn't have to miss Bible study! 
• In regards to signing up, sadly, this year's study has ended, so the new study (which is the book of John) will begin in September. 

Now let's get to the EXTRA amazing part. The Children's Program. They do NOT call it childcare, because the class teachers take their job seriously. It is clearly their calling to plant seeds of faith into these children. They have planned lessons that go along with my lesson each week and take the Bible around to all of them to let them touch the verse they are reading from.

When I was pregnant, I had signed G up for the next year and the first time I showed up with him (when he was around 6 weeks old) they knew him by name and said they'd already been praying for him. My hormonal self just lost it. There are specific nursing mother's groups, so you can bring your newborn and feel comfortable nursing, but they have classes for babies as young as 8 weeks if you're ready to be hands free! 

Greyson LOVES BSF! And the tugboat they have.

I can't say how fruitful BSF has been for me. It has helped me get into a consistent routine with the Bible and has grown my relationship with the Lord exponentially. Please please please consider signing up. Just go to this link where you can search for a class and email an instructor in your area and they'll get you plugged in! 

March and April

Well HAPPY MAY FOLKS. If you're like me, you're in complete and utter shock and denial that we are almost 5 months into 2016. After going through the pictures for this post, and I can't believe how much we've packed into March and April. The early March pics seem a million miles away. But it's been wild and it's been good.  Warning: this post contains 2 months of pictures. And I deleted lots. 

We kicked off March with Dr. Seuss' birthday at Mother's Day Out, which apparently is a VERY big deal to kids these days. Lord have mercy, does this mean I have to figure out every author and superhero's birthday?....because geez. But listen, I'm ALL about a theme, and if a theme makes my toddler happy, I'll dress up like Miss Piggy if I have to. Jeremie ordered him a Thing One t-shirt off Amazon and we found a bag at a dime store so we were set. And this was the BEST pic I could get of my little Texas tornado. 

                                                  

We've also spent a lot of time at the public libraries this month. Our area libraries are STACKED with all sorts of programs and storytimes and puppet shows, etc. each week. I encourage you to check yours, because they are fun and FREE and we also always leave with some new books and CD's. Plus, most of them have some great play areas so Greyson can try new toys. And of course he's obsessed with the Legos now, which I'm bittersweet about. I refuse to be consumed by 50-11 Lego bins in my home.

                                                

This was a GLOWING Lego table!!!

                                       

Library Playgroup!

                                     

We've also entered into a new phase of of tantrum-hood. It starts with a tired toddler......

                                                   

Leads to this......

                                                

And before you know it, you've got a full scale-four alarm tantrum. 

Just in case he didn't get across just HOW miserable he was......

                                                    

And the next day, I left town. Not kidding. But it was already planned. My Square One group from church planned ourselves a little overnight "retreat". We found out Jen Hatmaker was speaking about an hour away, bought our tickets, and booked a little cabin. Jeremie was a sweetheart and took Daddy duty all day Friday so I could have the entire day to myself. I started out with a "little" breakfast and enjoyed a day to just be still and do some Bible study.

One of my new favorite places, Coffee House Cafe

We had a blast listening to Jen Hatmaker, she was hilarious, but also deep and convicting! 

LOVE these girls! We have walked through mommy hood together!

One of G's new toys is the Swiffer. That's what I'm talkin about. Work.

                                                  

So it rained for a good portion of March.....April is proving to be the same....

But on the sunny days, we managed to hit up the arboretum and do some yard work.....again, when he's actually old enough to mow, he'll probably hate it....

                                               

                                         

Daddy is working on a playhouse, so ofcourse that required a trip to Lowe's.....

Is the anything sweeter than this. My boys.

We had our first Easter Egg hunt which I understand is technically above an 18 month-old skill level. Therefore, we practiced a little egg-hunting in the yard the day before. Just so we wouldn't be embarrassed, you know? But really-I was setting myself up for failure. Because if he DIDN'T do well, I'd feel inadequate, but if he did, all the other moms would feel inadequate. So I don't really know what I was going for here. But neither did G. 

                                          

The egg hunt was darling but ofcourse, I didn't quite get the Pinterest moment of my little cherub with his Easter bucket. Again, I'm setting myself up for failure every time I put a monogrammed shirt on this child. He WOULD NOT stop moving. 

                               

Then ofcourse he was completely terrified of the Easter bunny. 

                        

Our real Easter Sunday (which is what it's all about, right) was a success with church and a delicious traditional Easter lunch. 

                                            

                                  

 In very sad circumstance, we did take a trip to Mississippi to attend my grandfather's funeral. He was special ya'll. One of a kind. That being said-it just seems too weird to include a tribute in this post, so I'll tell you about him soon.

We were SUPER delayed on the flight over, but sitting in the baggage sizer seemed to keep G content. #whateverworks

 We had fun playing on the farm in the puddles with Pop. 

I barely got back home before a terrible batch of storms came through Texas. I had to take a picture though of the meteorologist's description of how big the hail could be.........hen egg size. People, I grew up on a farm and I didn't even know what hen egg size is........

                          

Until it started falling deafeningly onto our roof and cars. So let me just show you what hen egg size is.......

It totaled my car, badly damaged J's truck, and completely busted through our cousin's windshield who happened to be spending the night with us. Yep, Allstate pretty much hates us. In 18 months, they've had to rebuild our house and replace our vehicles. #youringoodhands

Our sweet friends are expecting and had a gender reveal party. The dad thought outside the box and filled a huge balloon with blue powder and shot it with a bow and arrow and the powder exploded into the air. It was adorable and I'm pretty sure Jeremie was jealous and this will probably happen for our next kid.

If you look closely, you'll notice that out of 20+ people in this photo, my two are the ones with their eyes closed and completely turned around the other way. #proudmama

The party was so fun and we were supposed to wear the color we thought the baby was. G wore his blue tie for the win.....

                                    

And while I was taking advantage of this darling mini photo shoot.......he squatted down....

                                                 

And yep, pooped his little heart out as he was hiding behind the bushes. Me and Jeremie were laughing SO HARD.

In other news, Mr. Tinypants got his own chair....

                                                 

And motorized 4-wheeler......

                                                  

Which he uses to ride up to the fridge and stand on to steal goodies...

                                              

Tell me I'm not reaping the rebellion my husband sowed as a child. 

We've enjoyed the railroad muesum...........

And playground time with our BFF........

                                      

And bathtime...........

And our new dump truck PJ's.......

                                         

And wheeled down to BBQ with the neighbors...... 

And playtime with our friends......(that's right, I watched 3 kids at one point)

                                               

We've also been working on "bible study" every day, and on this particular day, G proceeded to stand on the "Ba-Ble"......

He's standing on the promises of God, folks. 

There were a couple times this month where I looked at G and just thought.....what happened???....where is my baby....he just looked like such a little boy.....

                                                

                                               

Too bad he has no confidence......

We also hit up the Bluebonnet Festival in Ennis and rode around their designated Bluebonnet Trails to take some pictures.  I redeemed myself on this photo shoot ya'll. So much that it deserves it's own post. But here's a sneak peek for your viewing pleasure.

Ennis had an adorable downtown and we had such a great time at the festival. We are such festival people, ya'll.  And I love that this area just has so many of them.  G enjoyed the music, the ice cream, the car show, and even the petting zoo. 

                                                    

                                                       

Just for giggles, let me tell you what my precious husband did. He is all about me rubbing his feet, which is completely something I do out of godly, wifely obedience. Apparently, he had a little chat with Siri and this kept popping up on my phone one day.

This month I was also working with some fellow Bulldogs on a big alumni event because we had the head basketball AND head football coach, Dan Mullen to come speak. We had it at the Gaylord Texan and it turned out great. 

And finally.....our CC came to visit which we always LOVE. We played at the arboretum, went to Marshall's (DUH), and even had a Ladies Night Out.  (Well, until I turned into a pumpkin at 9:15.) 

                                             

                                        

She's still my BFF. 

Whew......... all that just makes us tired.........

                                                     

Can I just say too that even though you are seeing the fun, darling, picturesque highlights from this month, these are HIGHlights. I wanna be real and say that in between those days, these last couple of months have been logistically hard in a lot of ways. We've passed around the stomach bug, a cold, and other circumstances had us just off normal routine. And Lord KNOWS, I'm all about (and most comfortable) in a routine. But I know it's good for me to feel out of control.....it just reminds me of my dependence on Christ. My devotion reminded me of this a couple of weeks ago, and I'd love to share it with you in case you are feeling the same way.