Mother's Day - Why this day might suck.

These are the thoughts that are always the hardest for me to express.

The reason It is hard is because I don't want anyone feeling sorry for anyone.

These are my honest thoughts.

The day is Mother's Day...so if you exist, you, at one time had a mom. You either loved her or you didn't get along...maybe you didn't even know her. But you had one...so that is fact.

This day is hard for me 2 fold.

1. I have no kids, not for lack of trying. On every day, I am more blessed for more than I can account. I am blessed on Mother's day...but this particular day, tomorrow, mother's day, is a little painful.

Especially in the church - especially when they don't recognize that it can be a painful day. Truth is, I tear up every mothers day at church. I do not have gaping wounds about this and I am not even sensitive about it. I love my life and I know that we will have little rugrats running around sometime, even if we have to go get them...It is just a matter of all the other Mom's being moms. It is so sweet it hurts. Yes...I realize that sounds selfish, but if you know my heart, you know that if you have kids, I ADORE THEM and I am blessed by your family! I love when you call me with the news of your pregnancy. I REJOICE WITH AND FOR YOU! AND here are photos to prove it... some of these are old! And I don't have any pic's of Reece Rochat, sorry Reece, soon enough little nug(short for nugget)!

Burgers: we need to take some pics!

There are so many more kids in our lives, this is just a little sample.

2. I just left LUMY, in our youth group, at the time of us leaving we had 5 students mom's die.

3 of which were girls. One of which I'm extremely close to. Mothers day holds a different meaning to a teenager who is neither a mom or has a mom to celebrate...I don't know what else to say about this. Except that today I pray for Ally, Kiana, Ethan, Dakota, and Kelley. I love you guys so much!

So, these are my two reasons Mother's day might suck.

Even so, I am blessed and am especially excited about this next post...

Mothers Day - Anne Beard

First of all, let me say that I have the greatest, most thoughtful mother-in-law of all time. I cannot believe how lucky I got! The Lord not only blessed me with an amazing husband, but with a husband with a mother who taught him how to be a "man" in the Purest sense of the word. I am sure Scott had something to do with that too...but today I am celebrating Anne!

For the rest of this post, enter my guest blogger!!!!!

Everyone welcome ANDREW BEARD!

Thank you, thank you...you're too kind.

Well, it's Mother's Day Weekend. This is the weekend when CVS, Walgreens, and gas stations do some of their biggest flower and candy business with forgetful sons and dads. When I was in High School our prom was always the Saturday before Mother's Day, so there I was...every year in Hy-Vee at 1 in the morning buying a Hershey's bar and a Mother's Day card...I was very thoughtful. But...though unfortunately I haven't improved in the planning ahead department very well, I've come to be a person who reflects much more. So, with this weekend upon us I've been thinking about my Mom (Anne Beard) a lot.

When I was growing up my Dad traveled a lot for business. He was on the road most weeks Tuesday-Thursday providing for my mom, my two brothers (Brian and Thomas), me, and our endless list of activities (mostly my endless list of activities...looking back as an adult, I was a really expensive child...sorry about that). But due to my dad on the road three days a week, my mom was extremely busy carting us around, keeping us dressed and fed. In the midst of that craziness my mom was unbelievably organized. In fact when I reflect back, I cannot believe how my mom kept everything in order so beautifully. I can barely keep myself together now...I cannot imagine having three sons running amuck through my house draining my bank account. So on this Mother's Day I would like to celebrate and recognize some of the amazing things/memories of my mom Anne Beard.

-My mom uses lists like nobody's business. Her planner is full of her life broken down into lists. She one time told me that if she was mugged she would tell the mugger to take everything, but leave the planner. With that list she keeps everything in order and she takes so much joy in crossing something off that list. I've even seen her cross out, then ex out, then scribble out, then even tear off the item that she accomplished off the paper in the planner. I've found myself sometimes even listing things to do, that I've already done just so I can cross them off.

-My mom is the queen of volunteers. Growing up she was (and still is) constantly volunteering at church, at non-profits, and at food kitchens. As I remember it during the summer my mom would drag us to church to fold bulletins and newsletters for what seemed like forever on a beautiful sunny day, but I'm sure it was just a few hours. She still helps fold the bulletins and newsletters happily every week. In fact, a few years back my parents skipped celebrating Thanksgiving and spent the day delivering food to people who couldn't afford their own Thanksgiving meal. I believe my parents being so giving of their time, money, and gifts is part of the reason I work in the ministry today.

-One of my favorite memories is during the summer my mom would often be up and running errands at what seemed like the crack of dawn. As she would head out she would walk into my room and let me know that I needed to get up and do a list of chores (that I would inevitably not hear because I was still asleep). Regularly the next thing I would hear is the garage door opening because she was now home...and I was still in bed...without accomplishing a single chore. I would jump out of the bed, run to the kitchen to check the list of chores she left for me, and as best as possible try to make it look like I had done those chores while she was gone. My mom told me many years later that when she would get home from running those morning errands she could hearing the scampering of feet when she walked into the house and knew exactly what had happened. I was rather disappointed, I thought I had fooled her.

-My mom loves chocolate. So growing up (and still today) when I couldn't think of what to get her for holidays, it was going to be chocolate of some sort. We got her chocolate everything. I remember her once getting a huge pill that was made out of chocolate. My fear is someday she's going to let us know that she doesn't even like chocolate, but she doesn't say anything because she is so nice...

-My mom always found ripe bananas and chocolate chips as an opportunity to bake banana bread and chocolate chip cookies. I often find myself now checking out the ripeness of bananas and always wanting to make cookies.

-My mom has the best memory of anyone I know. She will definitely remember every one of my friends, their names, their spouses names, what they do, and more. I love it. She always knows who I'm talking about when I tell stories and asks lots of questions.

-Once when I was a kid my mom was out running errands and my brother and I got into an argument. He locked himself in his room and I proceeded to kick a hole through the door with my bare foot...whoops...I knew I was in trouble. So I laid down hoping I would wake up and it would all be a dream...but it wasn't. I then heard the van pull into the driveway, so I decided that I should soften the blow by going out and seeing if my mom needed any help bringing anything in. When I was standing outside her door helping her open it and asked "can I help you with anything?" She responded with, "what did you do?" Dang...she saw right through me. Despite my shortcomings, failures, and disappointments my mom continues to love me. I feel so unbelievably blessed to have such an amazing mom.

Thanks mom for all you've done and had to put up with. This world is a better place because you live in it. I love you. Happy Mother's Day.

Below are a few more pictures of my amazing mom.

Mothers Day - Christa Welker

Man, my mom.

I have heard "I love your mom!" More times than I can count.

I love her too. She is a best friend!

I feel like, when I start to write, I am totally overcome with emotions about my mom.

I love her so dang much.

First of all, I have to say that I am the woman I am because of my family and Jesus Christ. She has shown me what it means to seek first the Kingdom of God. My mom led me to the Lord when I was a little girl, sitting in my bed.

When I was thinking about what I was going to write, I had sooo many memories cross my mind. A lot of them were things we don't really talk about. I thought, this is the perfect time to bring those up. I am not sure how long this list will be but I am totally going to number it!

1. My mom is the WORST poser for photos in the world! Like the weirdest. Family photos are always an ordeal cause she always looks so silly. Josh and I always laugh so hard at how awkward she is...so these are 2 of my favorite photos of her...she won't like either of them. but they are her in real form!

her laugh in this one is priceless...but how is she standing? haha!

don't you love it?

2. We always had people living with us. Like...all the time. Some of you, my readers, lived with us. Our house was truly a home.

3. I remember this one time when mom and I were cruising down new 21 in her toronado with the moon roof opened...and we were jamming to "Do the Bart-Man". She cranked it FULL OUT! We just laughed and let the wind blow our hair!

4. I can never remember a time when my moms Bible wasn't on that ottoman in our living room. It was there because every morning she would wake up, drink her coffee and read.

5. It is because of my mom that I like sea food. One summer she was trying to finish a book, we got in the car and spent 20 glorious days of the summer in Panama City Beach. I read, she wrote and we went out to eat each night...

we tried different fish every night so that I could be a well rounded and knowledgable seafood connoisseur.

6. One time, my mom and I got into a fight before school, I think I was in 3rd grade...She felt bad for saying something that she didn't mean (i think it was that she was going to put me in a foster home - HAHAHAHA). She bought me a rose to give me when she picked me up from school. She came in to get me and left the windows down in the car. We got in the car and there was a stem sitting on the dash board. Someone had pulled the whole bud off of it. HILARIOUS! I am laughing now just thinking about it. She was FLAMING mad and really upset.

7. The one fashion thing my mom did that I still stand behind hating is this: She cut ALL of her hair off and dyed it purplish red...Josh, do you hear me on this one? seriously, I could barely look at her. And she picked me up from school and it was just that way! I was shocked!

This is how she normally looks if you have never met my mom...

And yes, she always wears heels and she always is always stylin!

8. Our yard and house was always beautiful.

This taught me 2 things. You work for what you have and you take care of it...and then you share it with everyone. My mom would work, weed and prune the yard as soon as there were sounds of spring. She still does. What a joy it is to watch the labor of your hands produce such a beautiful scene! The house was always beautiful, which is something, but more than that, even though it was beautiful, it was FULL. Full of people. Our friends were over all the time. It was always just stuff.

I remember countless times when I picked bouquets of flowers from our yard for my grandma and for my teachers and for my friends...etc. SHARING!

9. Interestingly enough this leads me to what maybe shapes my "person" more than any other.

One day when I was in elementary school, Steve showed up. Steve. A high school student. One of my mom's high school students showed up at my house. Now, this was rare, my mom worked like 30 miles away. My mom took me into my room and explained to me that Steve needed a place to stay because his mom kicked him out of his house, so...she brought him home to stay with us. WHAT??? WHO DOES THAT? The older I get and the more I work with students the more amazing I find this. My mom only cared that Steve felt alone. hmm. I think that this act of LOVE may have impacted me as much as it did Steve. (he stayed with us for quite a while)8. I watched my mom, the summer of 2008, totally release a burden she had been bearing for YEARS, when she came as a leader to Bigstuf camp with LUMY. Her and Anne both came. How many moms would do that? It was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. It was like watching her totally transform. Tears.

10. I have always admired how hard my mom worked and was still able to have time to spend with me. At one time she was working at school, tutoring some boys and teaching night classes. (Probably to support her shopping habits)

Some of these are serious and some are silly and they are just a few! But one of the things I love the most is that my mom is completely honest with me.

Mom, you are the most beautiful person I know. I know it sounds funny for a daughter to say this to her mom, but I am so proud of you. I know sometimes you wonder why I do some of the things I do, but it always comes back to being obedient to a Holy God that you taught me so much about. I cannot thank you enough for the support you are constantly giving me and the UNCONDITIONAL love that I receive from you. Thank you for allowing the Lord to change your life so many years ago so that I would know how to let Him change mine.

I love you so much!

Please forgive me for posting those pictures!

Mothers Day - post series.

I felt I have a few things to say about mothers day, and the best way for you to not feel like you have to read a whole lot, I will go ahead and just do a series. So this is just the explanation post.

This series will most definitely bring you a guest blogger too!

Hold on to your seats blog world!

Here it comes...

Video from Students to us...

This video was made for us when we left LUMY (Liberty United Methodist Youth)

If you know us at all you find this funny...if you know our leadership styles, you will think its Hilarious, and if you don't know us, you may think it is just weird.

We were absolutely amazed at how many ridiculous things we either do or have done that people remembered. We love you guys! Thanks for paying attention!

Also, the one where she is putting water on her face is me making myself laugh so hard I cry...

Sunday was Fun day

This past Sunday, Andrew led worship at the Youth Led Cornerstone Sunday. Cornerstone is the Contemporary service at Highland Park UMC.

Click here to watch the entire Sunday service.

It is pretty great, so if you have time you totally should.

It will only be up till next Saturday so look soon!

For some highlights, in my opinion, click the above link and then check out the following.

(These are ALL YOUTH)

17:35 - Lauren Bagwell - Slam Poem - Senior

31:46 - Wes Cole - teach - senior...scripture read by T-Pitch...reminds me of Danny Folk. hahaha!

43:16 -Youth Staff Video (andrew is not in this one) - Transform ya...hilarious

47:04 - Andrew Beard and youth band...(only two weeks practiced!) - Closing song. by the way, there are 3 7th graders in this band. Electric, keys and drums...redonk!

Thanks for stopping by!

Recipe!

I love to cook, but I do not post recipes. Mostly because I don't usually use recipes. I sort of start with a basic recipe and then take a few liberties.

Our friends Holly Erickson's blog "Feeding the Masses" is full of recipes and they always look DELISH. I wanted to make something new this week, but I wasn't sure what to make so I went searching through her old recipes to see if there was anything that sounded too good to pass up!

Then I found it. Filed under 2009!

Bourbon-Mango pulled pork!

BOURBON-MANGO PULLED PORK

1 bag frozen mango
4 lb. Pork shoulder
2 T. ground black pepper
1 t. kosher salt
1 t. chipotle chili powder
1/4 c. balsamic vinegar
2 cups water
1 t. chipotle chili powder
2 t. honey
1.5 oz bourbon whiskey
1 (12 oz) bottle BBQ sauce

Put pork in slow cooker with black pepper, salt and 1 t. chili powder. Pour in balsamic and water. Low 5-8 hours. Puree mango until almost smooth. Pour into a saucepan with honey, 1 t. chili powder and whiskey. Bring to a simmer until darkened. Stir in BBQ sauce remove from heat. Drain pork, shred. Add all together. Cook on high 1-2 hours.

I made it yesterday and will be having it for dinner again tonight...and I can't wait to eat it!

Thanks Holly!