Why *I* Love Xtreme

Yes, I know Carlo did 4 posts about why our family loves Xtreme, but I have to piggy-back and add something he missed.


I love Xtreme because of the worship.  Kevin, our worship leader, does (in my opinion) a great job of balancing newer worship songs with hymns and older stuff.  I think it creates this wonderful atmosphere of worshiping the Lord and then being drawn in and reminded of when you first fell in love with Him.  I love that Kevin doesn't look down on hymns or older songs, but instead looks the message and intent of the song.  He leads our church before the Father and sets such a sweet atmosphere to hear the Word.


Don't get me wrong, I loved worship at our old church, but it was different.  Not bad, just different from Kevin's style.


The thing is, since our first service at Xtreme, I've felt this wonderful presence of God during worship.  I know any lack of feeling is on me, and not who's leading, but I do think that the fact that I'm not responsible for anything but spending time with Jesus helps.  I always get a little jolt when I hear songs I sang at 15 and 16 when I first got saved.  Those songs obviously hold a special place in my heart, and when I'm singing around the house just worshiping God, they are the ones I usually sing.  I think there is still power in those songs, because of who they are about.  When we don't forget that, and look past the fact that they are 15+ years old, they can still move.  I know this to be true because I see people who claim they aren't very "churchy or religious" like everyone else clapping their hands and spending some serious time with God, not realizing what's happening in their hearts.


That's why I love Xtreme.

The Chapter Has Come to a Close

Tonight was our last service at Clarksville First Assembly of God.  We have put an end to 6 1/2 years of ministry there.  For Carlo and I, tonight was very bittersweet.  We were sad to say goodbye to friends and people who are like family to us, but we're also excited about the next chapter of our lives.

We don't have a definite answer to the, "Where are you going next?" question.  We can and will say that Carlo will be speaking at Xtreme Ministries the first 3 Sundays of August.  We are pretty positive that we will be the lead pastors at Xtreme, but we haven't been told we have the position and we aren't going to presume.

The church gave us a going-away reception tonight after service.  Pastor Montoya had a money tree set up for people to bless us and show us their appreciation for our time of ministry at the church.  This totally took us by surprise.  Even more humbling was the attendance at the reception, and the gifts we were given.  We never expected or asked for it, but God is good and we were blessed beyond compare tonight.

Stay tuned to find out what's going on around here!

Stupid Decisions

Yesterday I read a blog that talked about stupid decisions. The blogged really touched on the murder of football star Steve McNair, and how his one stupid decision led to many more that ultimately led to his death. The author of the blog talked about phrases like, "But for the grace of God there go I," and how just one decision we make affects so many others. I don't know if you know about the the "Butterfly Effect" if you've seen the movie (extremely lame), or possibly the episode of Scrubs (hilarious), but basically, the "Butterfly Effect" is this: if you kill a butterfly that lands somewhere around you, how would the ripples of this affect the world. Could that butterfly be the last of its kind and now that you've killed it before it could reproduce it's extinct and we will no longer enjoy it's beauty? Did it have pollen from a tree attached to its legs that when combined with the pollen of another plant in just the right combination it produced a new type of plant that could lead to the cure of a terminal disease? The possibilities are endless, just as the possibilities are endless if you don't kill the butterfly. So why the ramble? This: When we make decisions in life the ripple of those decisions carry on through our lives. The one lie we tell turns into many more until lying becomes second nature and we can't separate truth from fiction anymore. The one person we go too far with on that innocent date leads to going further and further until we're trapped in a life on sexual sin that we don't no how to escape. That party where everyone was drinking and smoking out. You decide one drink and one joint won't hurt. Next thing you know you're on the streets doing whatever you can to score a fix. I read a Sweet Valley High book when I was younger about a girl who was pretty popular in high school despite some physical disabilities. She went to a party one night and people started doing cocaine. She made the decision to try it. Well that one hit sent her into cardiac arrest and she died. Keep in mind that this was just a book, but I'm pretty positive stuff like this happens everyday. A few years ago I had the pleasure of hearing Josh Mayo speak. He talked about playing "Jenga" with life and family. The gist of his talk was about making your family priority in life no matter what, but with lives like the ones you lead in ministry, those choices are crucial to the lives of your children. He talked a lot about making the "Pre-choice Choice." What is the Pre-choice Choice? Simple, you make decisions about things in life before they come up. You make the decision before you have kids that you will raise them in the fear and admonition of the Lord. Church is not a choice they get to make, if they live in your house, they go. You make the choice before you have kids to protect their purity. This means not playing the "They're so cute, just like a little boy/girlfriend" game with your toddlers. It means not labeling them as a heartbreaker. It means teaching them that there are more important things than the opposite sex. Teach them that they have value as a person, in your eyes and God's. Teach them to be young ladies & gentlemen. Show them the respect they need to have for the opposite sex. When the time comes talk about dating and teach them to make the Pre-choice Choices about their dating lives. No solo dates, no places that are quiet, and dark and isolated. No hang ing out in parked cars or in homes with no supervision. All these Pre-Choice choices lead to smart decisions when the time to make a choice comes, because we are set up for success. We've already made the decision to do or not do something, so there is weighing the options, we've already done it.

I think if people did more thinking and planning and made more Pre-Choice Choices, we wouldn't be caught by surprise about things and we would make sounder life choices for ourselves. Whether we make a decision in innocence and don't think about the conequences or

Hail the Conquering Me!

So I just killed a spider in my bedroom. Who cares right? Well, I do. I HATE spiders in a major big way. When you come up with the list of questions to ask God, one of my top 10 is, "Why did you create spiders?"


Now, the big deal about me and this spider is this, it came out of nowhere fast and was headed to somewhere else in my room *very* fast. I didn't have time to do what I normally do (call my hero of a husband to come dispatch it), so I strapped on my big girl clothes and made mincemeat of the thing. Not only did I kill it, but I didn't scream my house down in the process. Usually when I'm forced to deal with killing a spider (or the mutant crickets that want to live in my laundry room) I get this build up of adrenalin and yell or scream as I'm taking care of business. My two boys find it quite amusing to watch, but for me it helps me to get the job done. I know I'm bigger than the spider and it's just doing what it was created to do and what not, but it doesn't have to do that in my house! Today I uttered a quick, "Holy moly!" when I saw it, but then boom....I took care of it. Not big on someone else's list, but I know 3 guys who are going to be mighty proud of my accomplishment when I tell them about it.


How do you handle the one creepy crawly you just can't stand?

Like Flash? Try HTML5

I had a conversation with my mom a couple of weeks ago about not being able to use a lot of Facebook's apps on our iPhones. for those of you with farms or mafia or cafes to manage, you know that not having access to these apps when you are away from your computer can be a pain.

I tried to explain to my mom apple's stance on Flash vs. HTML5. Now truthfully, a lot of this went over my head, but I knew enough to tell her that Flash is ok, but HTML5 is better and that most developers are moving to HTML5. She got the idea of what I was saying but was still upset. I read a blog that Steve Jobs posted on apple's website that helped me to better understand the why. Read his post here and hopefully understand better as well.

David

My baby boy, my promise from God. This little boy is so full of energy and life. I always joke that he moves in two speeds, fast & faster.

I honestly believe he couldn't sit still for 2 minutes if his life or favorite toy depended on it.

He's smart, independent yet definitely "momma's boy." He's rough and tumble and such a dare-devil. My heart has stopped & my stomach dropped so much because of some of his antics.

I know he'll be a bigger handful as he gets older, but I love my David Elijah and I wouldn't take him any other way.

Tony

What can I say about my oldest son? He is a joy to parent. He's smart, compassionate, tuned into the Heart of God. He's got an imagination to rival Mr. Magorium & a his emporium. He's our miracle and I'm so thankful to be his mother. I love that he is totally & completely himself all the time. He's doesn't feel pressured to try and fit in. He does his thing, take him or leave him and guess what....his friends take him. He's so handsome and sweet. I could go on and on about this wonderful son of mine.

Carlo

Words can't can't begin to describe how much this man means to me. He's my best friend and lover. The last 12 years have been so much. He is an amazing father and never ceases to amaze me.

He's talented, humble, funny, sweet, compassionate, and tender. He takes superb care of me and boys. Not just as a provider, but he is our priest, our confidante, our teacher, mentor, sounding board, and strong shoulder. Who could ask for more? I know I couldn't.

Remembering

Today all across the country people are drinking, pinching, using horrible Irish brogues, and so many other things in homage to St. Patrick's Day. Me? I'll have on a green and white polo, I'll do a devotion on the legend of St. Patrick, and I'll whisper a happy birthday.

You see, 7 years ago today our twin daughters, Chloe Suzanne and Alexis Pearl were delivered. They were still-born at 37 weeks, a thought that is still mind-boggling. I won't go into gory details, suffice it to say, my body was shutting down and I was dying so my body fought against "the foreign invaders" that were causing the problems. To say my family was devastated wouldn't do justice to our actual feelings. 37 weeks of expectancy, for me a dream coming true, so many things crashed down on us and it was hard.

I praise God that He healed my body and promised us our precious David. Without the Lord, I never would have made it through my recovery or the subsequent year Carlo spent in Iraq. His grace and mercy are good. My memories of the labor and delivery process are very fuzzy. I remember all the wonderful people from the church who were in the hospital with us, I remember the the girls being born, but I don't have any clear memories, until the nurses brought my precious babies over for me to see and hold. They were gorgeous!! The were feminine versions of their big brother, Tony. They had heads full of black hair I'm sure would curl. Both had their bottom lips sucked in and looked so peaceful.

It took me a couple of years to care about St. Patrick's Day again, but I have slowly started caring about wearing green again and making a nod to my Irish roots. I still whisper a happy birthday to my baby girls though and look forward with anticipation to the day we'll all be reunited.

I confess...
I get really frustrated praying for people who don't truly follow the Lord and live a psuedo religious lifestyle. It's hard to pray for God's will to be done when people are living in direct contradiction to His Word.
Please understand that this is a bit of a rant, because I pray for people the people I have in mind as I write this. What do I pray? That first and foremost they have a real and personal encounter with Jesus so that they can be called His in spirit and in truth. Then I pray for the situations they are in because I never know, those very situations might be the thing God chooses to use to reveal himself to the person.
Okay, I'm done.

Why??

I don't get why people make a big deal about something and then totally ignore what they made a big deal about. Not necessarily hypocrisy, but you know to bring up something that bothers them or hurts them that you've done, but then they turn around and prove the point of why you've done that particular something.

Just a thought.

I know, very random and vague but hey, my blog is titled, "Random Thoughts from Me" for a reason.

Snow and Stuff

So today we didn't have school, again. We were out on Monday and Tuesday because of snow and today was due to a massive power outage on our side of town. An estimated 8,000-9,000 customers were without power for about 6 hours total.

For the Serrano family this was okay because we went to breakfast at Cracker Barrel to eat something hearty and get warm. We also scored the two Batman movies missing from our collection and a drum-set for Rockband. We should definitely have a fun Friday.

Now, for the rest of our school, they may not have as fun a day as us. For that I am sorry. I'm also sorry about the fact that the elementary school students will have to postpone their Valentine's Day festivities until Tuesday. The even more tragic thing is the fact that this puts us 2 days over the days set aside for inclement weather and we're scheduled for more snow and winter weather this weekend.. What does this mean? There is a possibility of losing one day out of our Spring Break, but I foresee going to school into our Summer Break. I hope this does not happen, and I hope that we are able to come to a better solution. We'll see...

It's Been Nice

It's been a nice weekend. Thursday we celebrated David's 5th birthday, and had all of yesterday off. School was officially canceled because of the winter storm headed our way, but Carlo made the executive decision that the boys weren't going long before the announcement was made they didn't have school. This made for a great Friday. The boys were able to sleep late, and then enjoy a lazy morning playing together.

The snow didn't get started until late morning, but once it started there was a constant stream of white stuff falling from the sky. I spent the day doing nothing! I did get dressed and stuff, but beyond that I did nothing. It has been a long 2 two weeks with extremely early mornings and not enough sleep, so I took the day to enjoy not being responsible to do anything. Today, I will take up the mantle of responsibility and do laundry and stuff, but it was nice to do nothing yesterday.

Here's to snow days and being able to enjoy them as an adult!! :0)

My Baby Boy

Today is our David Elijah's 5th birthday. I never thought I'd see today come, and yet it has come too soon. David is our precious promise from God, and it is wondrous to see him grow up.

We say he is our promise, because he is just that. In March of 2003 we lost twin girls. The doctor told us that it would probably be best that we not try to have anymore kids because we could experience a similar loss with more devastating effects to my body. One month later we were told that we could possibly try again, but we would have to be monitored very closely to ensure that my liver was doing fine. Knowing my husband, I figured the risk would be too great in his mind and started preparing myself to have only one child, our miracle, Tony.

Well, God had different plans. About 3 months after Carlo got home from Iraq I received a word from the Lord. He told me that He was going to give me the desire of my heart and that there would be no pain or heartache, only joy and peace. This was a big deal for me because I knew what the desire of my heart was. About a week later I found out I was pregnant. When I shared this with the woman at our church who had given me the Word, she said to me, "His name is David." How do you argue with that?

After nine months of a hassle-free pregnancy, but nearly 21 hour labor, David Elijah Serrano was born at 6:59am on January 28, 2005. He was beautiful and perfect and dearly loved by so many people. I'll never forget my first words after he was laid on my chest, "Carlo he doesn't look like Tony!" And he doesn't resemble his brother in any other way. He is mischievous, flippant, tender, arrogant, witty, creative, stubborn, and so many other things. The best thing? He's mine!! 'Nuff said.

The New Normal

I can't believe it's 2010. Where did like the last 6 months go? So much has gone on in our lives it's crazy. We'll skip the usual stuff like the holidays. I think I'd rather not relive them anyway.

I think the biggest changes for us are 1)I started working full-time outside the home & the Master's Commission world, 2)Carlo has had a set-back of sorts medically, and 3)I now have two jobs.

So, how does this come about? Easy. 2 years ago I was the Supervisor in the Middle/High School class of our church's school. Towards the end of the year, I felt the Lord calling me to work full-time with Carlo and Master's Commission. So I spent last year having a blast pouring into the lives of 4 young adults. I mean I woke up every morning excited about what might come that day. It was great. Well, we've put our program on hold until this fall, so I haven't been doing a lot dealing with Master's. Around Thanksgiving, the new teacher for my old class left the school and there really wasn't anyone to fill the position. So me being me, I volunteered to fill in for the rest of the year. So there you have it, Job #1.

People who know us know that Carlo spent 5 years serving our country in the United States Army. He spent a year in Iraq. When he came home he was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis. This lead to his being medically discharged from the Army and cleared him from any further military service meaning he could never be reactivated and called to duty. Big plus for us knowing he couldn't get deployed again. Well, about 3 months after he was discharged, we got some great news from the doctors and Carlo went about 5 years with no meds and no issues. Well, right around the start of the holiday season Carlo had to go back on his meds plus some additional ones. I am believing and many other are as well, that God is going to completely heal my husband, and we won't have to deal with these medical issues anymore. Please continue to pray for a total and complete healing in Carlo's body!

So you probably just want to know how and why I'm working 2 jobs right? Yeah, I know you aren't but hey, it was worth a try. It's simple. At Christmas I had someone say to me, "We could have used you at work today!" I thought that was cool and was then "pitched' a job for about 30 min. The cool thing about the job? I would have to do stuff I love to do (paperwork, organizing, coordinating, all that kind of "officey" type stuff). Not only that, but once I learned the systems and got used to the job I would be able to do like 75% of my stuff from a mobile office type setting! This is a major score because I wouldn't have to cut back on Master's Commission when it starts in the fall! Why don't I just do the job doing stuff I love and not do the school thing? Again, if yo know me, you know I can't just turn my back on a commitment and leave 6 teenagers hanging, so I've had to make some modifications in my schedule.

So, on Tuesday, the Serrano Family will start adjusting to the new "normal" in our life. I'll work 3 days a week at school and 2 days I'll be a KOP (Key Office Personnel) for some really cool people doing some things I really love to do.

This was long, but you're caught up for now. I'm definitely going to try to do better this year with blogging more frequently. I always have a lot to say, I just don't always get around to getting the thoughts out of my head. I probably wouldn't talk to myself as much if I did blog more.

That's a thought...