Evangelism Linebacker

My brother showed me this video. Silly, silly, silly.

November

Yes, we realize we stink at updating this thing. New Year's resolution? Sounds good.

Here's a bit of what's happened in November. Our church has been approved to remodel the building with the idea that we will do it as the money comes in. So we've been working on getting the money to "come in." Yesterday we, along with six others, made 103 pumpkin rolls. No, that's not a typo. (When we were at Brookhaven we sold pumpkin rolls as a youth group fundraiser and made 79.)

We had a blast! It was great spending time with friends and church family. We turned on Christmas music and sang obnoxiously and made some small messes in our kitchen and the church kitchen. This year went so well we plan to do it again next year. One person already suggested we try for 200. We'll see about that...

We're looking forward to spending some time with family next week for turkey day. We'll see both sides as well as Josh's mom's family in Ohio.

Maddie also turned one on November 5th. We had a small birthday party for her (not that she had a clue) filled with cat treats and new toys. She's getting so big!

Raking, er, laying in leaves.

Ordination

Romans 1:1 says, "Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God..." Paul says of himself he is first a servant of Christ Jesus, something all Christians are. He then adds that not only is he a servant or slave of Jesus, but he has also been called. He has been called to be an apostle (a sent one). He was set apart for the gospel.

These two elements, the call and being set apart, are a big part of what we now call ordination. Ordination is a way of the church confirming the call to ministry for a pastor. It is also a way for the church to set him/her apart for service. Some say that ordination has no real Biblical basis, and yet Paul states he has both been called and set apart. In Acts 13:2 the Lord said that the church in Antioch should set apart Paul and Barnabas. They had hands placed on them and were sent out.

Is this not the same thing that happens in an ordination service? I believe so.

The reason I post this is because last Monday night I was interviewed for ordination. I will be getting ordained in June 2008 at our district conference. Exciting and humbling at the same time.

Jamie's New Job

After laying in bed for 2 hours, hoping to fall asleep before the alarm rings at 5:45, I decided to give up and type awhile. So, now it's one in the morning, I've caught up on several of your posts (wonderful late night reading), and figured I would post, as well.

The last month has been a whirlwind. I am getting reacquainted with the workforce...I started a job in September as an educational assistant (teacher's aide) at one of our local schools, West Kindergarten Center. As the name suggests, it is entirely made up of kindergarten classes (6 of them, all full day). And I am loving it. It is so fun to be able to work with children, especially because our church doesn't really have any of its own. I get my kid-fixes in all week, and I think it is making me a better wife (at least a happier wife) for Josh when I return home each day. I can't fully explain just how much I love this job . . . and there are 116 5 & 6-year-old reasons. In the last month I have had more encouragement & compliments from "my kids" than I think Josh & I have had in the last year...and coming from a really encouraging church family & work environment in Marion, that has meant a lot to us. (I don't want to sound negative--While this last year was tough and pretty discouraging, we were not alone...we have amazing support from others in our district and several in our church here...but it is so good to have that encouragement each day!) So, back to school...I work with two teachers in their classrooms, have 2 recess duties (my favorite!), morning bus duty (thus the 5:45 alarm!), and then office coverage, general cutting/pasting/laminating/copying time, and lunch duty (I can open milk cartons pretty well:). It's definitely not the same intensity that I had in World Impact by a long shot...and sometimes I miss that purposeful driven environment and mission and wonder if I am pursuing the right dream at this moment...but right now, it is so nice to not have to worry about what might happen next at work and not be in charge of anything important (financial/travel/etc!). And did I mention, I love the kids?! There are several whom I am attached to and I even have a little secret admirer--tons of fun:) The job offers just enough hours to help us financially and get me out of the house, but isn't full-time, which I know we couldn't handle right now. It's been a great way to get to know several others in the community and make contact with parents of all of these kids...so we are feeling more a part of Baraboo...Josh also comes in three days a week to volunteer in the classrooms, and the teachers just love that. All in all, it is a great arrangement. Tomorrow we all go on our first bus field trip to the pumpkin patch and apple orchard, and I am so excited! Perhaps it's time to crawl back in bed, pull up the covers and start counting sheep....good night!

Donald Miller

Last Thursday night Jamie and I got to hear Donald Miller speak at Elmbrook Church (www.elmbrook.org). Phenomenal! Brandon Heath and the Robbie Seay Band opened for him. He spoke about story and what it means to live a good story. He said a good story involves a main character who has a dream who goes through conflict on his/her way to achieving the dream. He related this idea to the story of Joseph in the Bible. Joseph had a dream from God that his brothers would one day bow to him. He is sent to Egypt, then sent to prison (conflict), but eventually becomes second-in-command to Pharaoh.

Donald Miller said that the main character may mess up, won't be perfect, but never thinks of him/herself as better than anyone else. You may hate some of the things a main character does in their pursuit of the dream, but they treat others as equals. He didn't explicitly say it, but I think this is Jesus' love your neighbor as yourself.

He said the dream has to be better than "I want a Volvo." Who goes to a movie all about someone trying to buy a Volvo and leaves the theater with tears? The dream is bigger than that. It's better than that. He told a story of a woman he knows whose dream is to build 1,000 wells in Africa. He said if she got hit by a bus and died today, hundreds of thousands of people would die.

In dreaming there's always fear. Fear of failure, fear of rejection, fear of embarrassment. And the only way to overcome the fear is to dive into the dream. Don't worry about next steps and possible setbacks along the way; just dive in. He said in a movie you don't know what a person is thinking. You only know if he's going fishing if the camera takes you to the boat and you see him sitting in it with a fishing rod out on the lake. Same thing with our dreams. We have to do something with them.

Then comes conflict. But conflict enables us to appreciate the dream all the more. What sports team loves going undefeated if they're playing the JV team all year long? There must be conflict. And finally the dream is reached. The character is changed in the process.

It's made me question if I even have a dream. At this point I don't think I do. What's your dream?

New Look to the Church

Last week a team of four from Main St. Wesleyan in Jonesboro, IN came to help us upgrade our church building. Here are pics of the results. Jamie and I think it's a cute little Wesleyan Church!

The cross, plants, stones and mulch are all new. Many people have said how much the cross makes the church look like a church. Thanks Stephen!

The picture of the roof shows how the shingles now match. The small triangle used to have old gray shingles with a blue tarp in the middle. There was an opening where the old fan/vent was. We closed that up and it looks great. Thanks Stephen and Dillon!


Our church sign is currently blank. The old service times and my name looked dilapidated and dated. So we'll leave it this way until we come up with a new church name. The mums and mulch are new here as well. There used to be a "pine" bush on either side of the sign. They were alright, but not my preference. Perhaps we'll buy something else to put in their place. Thanks Ben and Gina!

We meet with a building committee from the district Saturday to discuss further changes/ remodeling to the interior. Right now we have to work in stages based on what we can afford. Hopefully we'll come up with a strategy to do things in the right timing. If you think about it, pray that we would have wisdom for this project.

Josh Needs Help

For all of you married couples (and singles) who read our normal blog, click on the "Jesus and Josh" link in our blogs section. I need your input on my premarital counseling material. Get on the other blog, see what you think, and let me know. Thanks!

We're Back

Sorry for the lack of blogging this summer. We don't really have an excuse. Here's 6 new posts from Hilty happenings in July and August.

Prep for 14 Extra People Living in Your Basement

I think the title says it all. The fact that I'm writing almost two months afterward tells you it can be done. It was a joy to fit 16 people through one shower all week. It's part of the mission trip experience. Our Sunday School class has been going through Keith Drury's "There's No I in Church" for the past month or so. The theme is how God uses the church as a body to sanctify us, to make us more like Him. One of the questions He asks is, "Why can't churches be more like mission trips in regard to koinonia, or fellowship?" And the answer is simple: Mission trips provide a group of people an extended period of uninterrupted community. Sleeping in a basement on an air mattress 6 inches from the kid you normally see a few hours a week at church makes it almost impossible for bonding not to take place. Standing in a church basement on a chair with paint in your hair and on your shirt, breathing in paint fumes, isn't something that normally happens on Sunday morning or Wednesday night.

Jamie and I were excited to have the team from Brookhaven here. And we were just as excited to prepare our basement for them to sleep in it. Here are some pics from prep time.

That little black thing is a bug. The wall and floor meet but there's a bit of a crevice between them where these goobers come through. Jamie was washing the wall and they just started popping out. I couldn't spray them fast enough, so this was option 2. Remember the game where the gophers come out of the holes and you hit them on the head? Same thing. Gross! Oh, I killed about 30 that day.

Jamie and I both washed the floor. What a difference scrubbing the floor and walls made to the smell. When we moved in, the entire basement was full of church clutter which create a less-than-pleasant smell. Now it's a liveable space. Can anyone say "TLC"?

We also cleaned the panels for our lights. No more dead bugs up there.

Brookhaven Team

Have you ever had a project you wanted to tackle but knew you couldn't do it on your own? Our recent projects were painting the church basement, weeding around the outside of the church and putting on a VBS. We know that without God providing 14 extra helping hands we couldn't have done any of it.

To those of you from the BWC team who came and helped, thank you so much. Our congregation loves the basement and we still see Ryan. We're getting ready to add some landscaping to the church next month.

The team arrived Monday July 30th. We showed them the church, set up shower and meal prep arrangements, had devos and went to bed. Then the fun began. Tuesday morning we started taping and painting the church basement. Some of the guys worked outside to weed around the building and did a great job. That night we held a youth service for a few of the teens that come to the church. This was their first experience with a youth group and hopefully is a taste of what we'll have (someday). Pastor Tony preached a great message about God's unconditional love with a little help from Rob Bell (Lump).

Wednesday through Friday days were the same as Tuesday: paint and weed. Those nights we held a VBS. We had one boy show up each night, a 6 yr old named Ryan who lives 2 houses down. He had a blast with kickball and enjoyed learning the memory verses each night. While we were disappointed to have so many volunteers and only one kid, we know Ryan loved it. Plus it's given Jamie and I a connection with his parents.

Saturday Jamie took the team to Devil's Lake even though it rained. They had fun hiking the trails and warming up back at the house.

Sunday the team presented our VBS songs and verses and stories for the congregation using Powerpoint slides and a guitar and worship DVDs. These are all things our church has had little or no experience with, so we're glad we could use the VBS as an "excuse" to introduce them. That afternoon we went to Noah's Ark, the largest outdoor waterpark in the US. It's 15 minutes north of us in Wisconsin Dells. Think of Cedar Point with lots of water.

Monday August 6th was farewell. We were sad to see them go. Here are pictures of our week together.

Haley cleaning the women's bathroom prior to painting. Let's just say it's not good to touch or breathe in mold.

How many teens can you fit on a couch?

Before #1

Before #2

Our cousin Crystal and Jessie removing old curtain rods.

Allie working her tail off to rinse paint rollers and brushes. When you use 9 different colors this becomes a difficult task :)

Jewel, Jessie and Haley painting the back wall of the basement.

Jewel starting to paint "the squares." You would not believe how many times we taped and retaped so we could paint this correctly. You can only paint in every other square, both horizontally and vertically. Then pull out the hair dryers to help the dry time, pull off the old tape (in places) and put up new tape. Repeat process. It took us to Saturday morning just before family members showed up for a memorial service to finish this wall.

After #1. Yes that's me jumping like an idiot.

After #2

Ryan, our VBS kid and neighbor.

Mollie

Jamie's friend Mollie Bozarth came to visit in late July. She was on her way up to Minnesota and we had lunch together. It's been nice to see friends and family quite a bit this summer. A team of four people from Main Street Wesleyan Church (Jonesboro, IN) is coming in September to help out at the church, including pastor and friend Stephen Mowat. We thank God for great friends no matter how far apart we are.

Family Time

Jamie's family came to visit us in the beginning of July. We camped at Devil's Lake State Park for about a week. Some of these pictures were taken from on top of the West Bluff that surrounds Devil's Lake. We hiked along the lake one way, then went to the top on the way back.

They brought corn hole, the game where you toss bean bags onto wooden boards. Simple yet addicting.

These two just had to go together. Yes, they're related.

A Sad Day for Maddie

Today we took Maddie to the vet for spaying and de-clawing. It was like dropping your child off to kindergarten on the first day of school. If you think about it, how many times are you really away from your pet? And how many of those times is it crying in the back seat of your car, looking at you with the "puppy dog" face? Maybe I'm pathetic, but it was hard to leave her.

BUT...praise God she won't have any little, white, mutilating, blood-producing front claws when she returns! We pick her up tomorrow at 11:00, complete with recycled newspaper litter and incomplete without claws and, well...

These pics were taken a month ago. She actually slept on hte couch with Jamie like this, butt in the air, head on the couch. Owee!!!! She loves getting into our laundry baskets. We have tall ones and we throw her toys into them. She jumps in after them and tries to jump out. She can do it, but not without the basket falling down after her. This time she's trying to use those blood-producing things to get Josh.

Rain!

Here's how the back page of my newspaper reads:

Precipitation Month to Date: 14.70"
Normal Month to Date: 3.67"
Year to Date: 34.11"
Normal Year to Date: 23.06"

The front page article is titled, "Residents can get federal help." That's right. We've had enough rain to be considered a federal emergency. All summer long, especially in July, we had no rain. The grass was dead. It hurt to walk outside barefoot. All of a sudden August comes and we have water gushing through into the church basement and a small puddle in ours. Okay, maybe gushing is a strong word. But it did take about 10 towels to sop it all up one Sunday morning. Now our grass is far from dead and we're sick of the rain. Today we woke up to thunder and lightning. Hopefully God decides its time to quit and shares it with areas down south. We'll see.

Church Remodeling

We're getting excited about some upcoming changes to our building. We met with DeLon Davis, the man in charge of it all, today. He's lining up guys to do the electrical, glass, and drywall work. And Jamie's been working hard getting prices on all the inside decorative/practical things like curtains, paint, coat racks, etc. We hope to start as soon as possible. Once we get prices to the District Board and they approve them, we'll get to work.

Teams from Brookhaven Wesleyan and possibly Main Street Wesleyan and Warsaw Wesleyan in Indiana have volunteered to help, along with Hillsboro Wesleyan, the First Church of the Nazarene (Baraboo) and Lakeshore Church (Madison) in Wisconsin. Plus Jamie and I will devote every possible moment to the projects.

We've been doing car washes and bake sales to raise money as well as put out a "wheelbarrow for change" in the sanctuary (thanks Brookhaven for that idea). Plus the contractors have offered to volunteer some of the work for a tax write-off. God is slowly but surely working things out. Things like not having to draw up plans for the county (8-10 thousand dollars), providing a man who went to IWU in DeLon, and providing many people to volunteer.

If you could pray with us that the necessary plans would be approved (those that the Lord would deem appropriate--we're hoping we can do an extreme makeover!) and also that the finances would be provided somehow to cover the expenses. We really feel like this is one large step that we can make to become a welcoming environment & viable option for those in our community.

Here are some pics of the building to give you an idea of what we have now:

The platform area

Our sign out front

Inside the sanctuary . . .

Looking into the entry area

Our 1960's windows--imagine with us Pizza Hut cups in a light yellow hue

Vacation Pictures

These are a month late. Pretend like we just got back and we won't feel so bad. :)

Poppa J teaching Josh how to set up their huge-mongous tent (so he could have it all ready for them come July in Devil's Lake State Park).

Part of the photo board for Josh's brother Andrew's gradution. Jamie and my mom worked on this for a few hours.

A picture of Jamie I couldn't get upright. She's learning how to decorate cakes with her mom.

Jamie and Tiffany being goofy. Those two can be just as silly as me and my three brothers.

The van being towed on our way to Michigan to see Jamie's grandpa. Needless to say we missed the noon meeting by a few hours.

What vehicle is this? The 2007 Ford F150 with the extended cab that we rented when the van broke down. For some reason all I hear now is we need toi buy a truck.

Goofing off.

Falling down while goofing off.

Some of our best friends from Jonesboro, IN...Stephen and Michelle Mowat. We had a good time playing Rook together and going out to Ivanhoes for ice cream.

Sunday morning at Brookhaven. It was children's Sunday, so the KOH kids' choir sang.

Josh, The Graduate, and Nate.

Jamie with our niece Olivia (she's growing up quick!).


The Goobers: Nate and Andrew.

Wow, It's been a month

An entire month since we last posted . . . we've been running ragged--so here's a quick update on our lives...pictures to come when I can find the camera.

Car Wash/Bake Sale---was FABULOUS. Four out of our 5 new families participated, as well as 14ish teens/kids. We made $440 and sent 3 girls to camp with the rest of the money going toward our remodeling fund. One of the best days since we've moved up here.

Vacation--HECTIC. We spent 37 hours in a vehicle, made 2 trips to Michigan, were at graduation for Josh's brother, Andy, a funeral for our friend, Eldine, the hospital with my grandpa, and the car repair/rental place, as well as Marion/Brookhaven/home & with both sets of families. Great time, but we had to crash when we returned because we were so worn out.

The next week brought church catch-up and remodeling pricing & helping friends move. . . and then last week was District Conference...where we learned not to always go for the cheap motel room when you really desire and desperately need a good night's sleep. Conference was great...it was good to be with fellow Wesleyans and other pastoral couples. We got to know Ben & Ingrid Kidder better. They are church planting in Minong, WI, a village of 500 people. Their previous church was going through the refocusing process like ours is now, so they had some great insight and encouragement to share with us. And the worship & speakers at conference were fabulous! We got home late Friday night to an overflowing answering machine and a list of long to-do's for this week, including the funeral of a young man who passed way tragically. Pray for Josh as he officiates this funeral tomorrow...that he might have inspired words of comfort and hope for the family & friends.

Master's Praise gave a concert at our church on Sunday morning....and were FABULOUS (this is my new favorite word)...we had a great time with Brent, Branden, Dan, and Jon...it was nice to have "college-aged" guys around the house and the church...and our congregation loved the concert ("Wow, those guys were awesome! Can they ever sing!"). Today, while Josh worked through his day off, I baby-sat 2 kids whose family has been coming to our church recently. I had so much fun watching T-ball, reading stories and playing with them...and my respect is renewed for all of you who are parents already. I was tired when they left!

So, that's the short & sweet update...hope all is well. It's nice to be back at the keyboard again after a month away.

Vacation in 4 days!

My hair has gone through therapy...and I think we've got it tamed into a decent rendition of something nearly in-style! I even got compliments on it at church from some of the girls...Josh keeps rating it on a scale from 1-10...the first few days it was a 1 or below...and this week we were up to an 8...hopefully he is being honest and not just saying it!

The real reason for writing: We are coming home (INDIANA) this week. We leave on our first official vacation Thursday afternoon, and we are so excited for it. You'd think we were going on a Cruise or something...that's how good it will be to be home for a week and not try to fit visits with family into just 2 days or less. We've realized that sometimes it is harder now that both of our families live only 20 minutes from each other because we always feel like we need to be everywhere as much as possible, and there's really not a whole lot of rest to be had...but it's worth it to be with our families. We'll be traveling from home to home a lot this vacation...it seems like nearly every other day we are at a different place.

But: we are coming to Marion (my real home!) on Saturday and will be there through Sunday after morning service at Brookhaven...We are eating at Ivanhoe's at 5pm on Saturday, and had hoped for our friends/family to meet us there so that we could be with you for a little bit of time that day...Hopefully, it will fit into your schedules...I don't know of another way to see everyone in just one day. We emailed, but haven't received many responses back.

Anyway, that's it for now. We have 6-10 girls (age 10-14) coming to our house tonite for a bowlathon & overniter. Then we have a carwash & bake sale on Monday to raise money for camp registrations...I hope they have a good time. It will be the first thing we've done with them since Christmas, and several are new to our church. So, we'd appreciate your prayers.

Wistful Thinking

A few weeks ago Amy posted about her unsuccessful haircut experiences. I understand. I've had several bad cuts in my life. In kindergarten my mom decided to save money and cut it herself . . . and I ended up looking like a hick-child with a mullet. She took me to the hair stylist after school pictures were taken . . . so I have a great photo to remind me not to be as frugal with my kids. The next very bad haircut (I've had many more than this, but these are definitely the worst) happened the day before my senior pictures . . . I left the salon with feathered chunky hair and now have senior pictures that I'd prefer no one see.

I've been craving a haircut for several weeks now. It's been a good two months since my last one, and my hair has been driving me crazy. For the last year, I've been growing it out long...but recently, I got the urge to cut it short again . . . and so I've been looking forward to this salon visit. When I arrived, it was lunch time. That should have been a clue that I was in trouble. There was only one stylist there, and she sounded tired, like she just needed a long lunch break away from scissors and customers. I'd decided to go to a new salon, the one in Wal-Mart (that should have been my next clue that something might be wrong), so that Josh could also get the oil changed in our car at the same time. He dropped me off; I walked in, picked up a magazine and read an article about getting the right cut and style from your salon. Perfect timing, I thought. Apparently the key is in the initial communication between you and the stylist, before she takes the scissors in her hands. The article told me a picture would help the stylist better understand my needs . . . and lucky for me--I'd brought a picture--four, in fact, showing exactly the style I wanted (one I'd had back in the summer of 2005)...the short, layered, flippy kind . . . a little longer in back, with long side bangs that frame my face . . . something my brother would be proud of and compliment me on. I'd even made sure that Josh still liked that hairstyle before leaving home today.

I shouldn't have bothered. The stylist took a look at the cut in the picture, told me her version of it ("one chop at the chin and another at the ears"), and started whacking. I've never had such a fast cut. She asked me about the bangs . . . I told her that I get annoyed when my bangs brush my nose . . . and so she whacked some more until I had a straight line of bangs above my eyebrows . . . the cut ended within 5 minutes . . . she blew it dry, and when I looked in the mirror for the final once-over, I saw a combination of poof and short mullet . . . a triple combination of June Cleaver, Lucille Ball and Betty Rubble staring back at me. My new hairstyle makes me look like I'm in my forties or fifties. (The goal was summer-flippy-fun-young cut, not this!).

Josh didn't comment too much in the salon except to say, "I have to get used to it." Later, in Subway, the truth came out (which I completely agree with): "You look like you're from another decade." Thanks, Honey. He has been really great . . . tonight he sat down with all of my styling gels, sprays and mousses, my hairdryer, curling irons and straightener to try and create a style that would put me back into this century . . . his attempts were valiant, but I don't think he's going to want to do my hair every morning. He did say he'd still walk with me in public, and he offered me his baseball cap to wear for the next few months. I'm so grateful!

I guess I thought that as I age, bad haircuts would become a distant memory. Now, I only wish I could explain to anyone I pass that my hair isn't supposed to be this way...and even though it will grow out, I still have to live with it for the next few weeks until that happens. Needless to say, I miss Kathleen, our stylist in Marion, and it's time to find a new salon up here. (I've added these classy cuts to the blog to give you some uplifting humor . . . definitely at my expense . . . #1: Kindergarten frugal cut #2: Senior Pic #3: Two weeks ago #4: Tonight, after some major depoofing by my husband. . . hopefully I'll be able to laugh about this most recent cut in a few days!)