Test Baby

October 15, 2012 by Jules 10 Comments

Dear Test Baby,

Sorry, that God chose to let us test our parenting abilities out on you. I'm sorry you were given to us first. There's a lot of woes that comes with that.

You are teaching us to be parents while we're trying to teach you ... well, all kinds of things.

We had/have no idea what we're doing. We've read all kinds of books, articles, and blog posts trying to figure it out. We've watched moves and talked with friends, family, and random acquaintances about how to do this thing called parenting. We're really no closer to knowing the right way to do this.

Don't get me wrong. We know our job is to teach you about the One who loves you, made you, died for your mistakes, and wants to know you deeper than you could imagine but how we're supposed to do that is the part we struggle with. You are an individual. Though we like to say "She has your memory. She has your toes {poor girl}. She has your eyes. She has your OCD. She has your _____." you're not exactly like anyone. It might be way easier if you were. We'd know what worked and didn't work with that person and then we could create a formula for raising you in the love and admonition of the Lord but alas, you're not.

You probably bare the brunt of the harshest discipline. The highest expectations. The most rigid diet. The most delayed 'big kid' milestones.

Thanks for loving us through the growth pains. Know that we are constantly praying for guidance. Reading up on the best tactics, practices, safety issues, health promoting whatevers to try to do this thing called parenting the best for you.

Know that we love you more than you could imagine. We take delight in you. We pray you see, hear, and feel that! We are trying our hardest to train you in the ways of the Lord.

Oh my sweet Test Baby,

I'm so excited you were given to us first. That God chose to let you be our first love. The one that we experience all the first milestones with. The one who taught us how to love. How to become more self-less. The one who is continuing to teach us more and more about the character of God through innocent eyes. Showing us His heart as our heavenly father. There are so many blessing that come with being the test baby. We pray the blessings out number the woes.

We LOVE you!
your mommy {and daddy}

Linked to Dear First Born – An Apology @ the Bohemian Bowmans

Filed Under: Parenting, The ones about the Rothacher Home

YES! This is the same asJulesisgoing blog!

October 11, 2012 by Jules 6 Comments

I know things are looking a whole lot different around here! But, hopefully you'll quickly realize it's the same old blog at heart!

How do you like the new look? Is it me? Pray you're still comfortable here! Can you find things more easily now? Tried to clean up that silly sidebar mess for ya. Made some of the main categories available on the menu as well as the basics at the top. Let me know if you're having trouble finding anything in particular.

Now that we've chatted about that, I wanna say a HUGE thank you to Mindy from Simply Designs! For those of you who know me, you know I'm a pretty frugal girl. I would have never even thought about hiring someone to help me with this. I just did it all myself attempting to use picmonkey to appear professional. Honestly. I won a "design credit" from a friends blog giveaway. For Real!!! I can't tell you how much I enjoyed this process. Mindy is such a professional. She knew the perfect questions to ask to discover my personality, goal for my blog, and exactly what I was going for theme-wise. Knowing what I know now, paying a professional like Mindy is more than worth it! Check out her portfolio and tell her how much you love her work!

THANK YOU MINDY!!!

~~~

Please excuse the wonkiness for the next few days 
as I continue wrapping things up.

Filed Under: The ones about the Rothacher Home

Where are you ‘chasing’ the DeChurched?

October 9, 2012 by Jules 2 Comments

I told you a little yesterday about who some of the DeChurched are. I also mentioned that they, along with the UnChurched, are the target group of The Valley church we are planting in Vilonia.
Today I want to share this video of Matt Chandler, the lead teaching pastor at the 'mega church', The Village in Dallas, TX. I hope this explains yet another sect of the UnChurched population in America.

Many of you may be wondering where exactly we plan to "chase" this generation of Christ followers who happen to not regularly attend a Sunday service somewhere. You may be disappointed but our goal is not to chase them back into a building to take part in a boring weekend hobby. Our plan is to chase them back to the heart of Jesus.

For some that means introducing them to the real Jesus of the bible as opposed to what some churches have portrayed Him as, a tradition or moral to uphold
For others that may mean we provide them with a freeing space to worship together with the the family they have in Christ.
For yet others, it may mean showing them God's heart for serving and sharing this amazing love story as it unfolds all around them.

We want to be the arms of Jesus reaching out to a group that needs solid biblical teaching, strong fellowship among other Christ-followers, an example of authentic gospel driven lifestyle to mimic. Ultimately, this model will mobilizes this generation to reach the world for the name of Jesus like we're called and long to do.

We will not be a building. We will not be a location. We will not be a service. We will not be an organization.

We will become the body of Christ in order to bring honor to His name and accomplish His will.

Filed Under: The DeChurched, The Ones about Post Series, The ones about the Rothacher Home, The Ones about The Valley Church

Who are the dechurched?

October 8, 2012 by Jules 9 Comments

Most of you know that my husband and I have been "called" to go plant a church. What many of you may not know is why. There were many factors but the one that's growing the most meaningful to me is this:

We are going to chase down the
unchurched and dechurched in our generation!

Vilonia is a "bedroom" town {people commute all week to jobs and only sleep in their homes} made up of mainly 25-35 year old's with an average of young 2 children. That's US. I am 28 and Matt just turned 35. We have 3 kids...but they all came in 2.5 kids so they're kinda like just 2... hehe

This is my generation! Generation Y. The Millennial Generation. Echo Boomers. The children of baby boomers or Gen Xers. Marked by an increased use and familiarity with communications, media, and digital technologies.

I've always wanted to be that generation. The generation that seeks! That seeks His face. Oh, God of Jacob!

Sadly, when I moved into youth ministry with my husband I had all but kissed my hopes of being in that kind of generation goodbye. I'd moved on to the hopes of helping the next generations. I mean really! Ton's of people in generation Y won't even try church because they've been burnt by someone claiming they are apart of "the church" when really they have no idea it's not really just a boring weekend hobby. These are the unchurched. Lost. Completely unaware of Christ. Nope, they don't know the stories.

My people are, if in fact they've ever been apart of a church are leaving church in droves. No, we're not just leaving. We're running from church. We are no longer coming back to church either. Not like our parents and possibly grandparents did after their phase of college-age life. Ya know, coming to their senses when they settled down and had some "kids that needed to be in church." These are the dechurched.

Today I want you to know a little more about my generation from the well-know, much cooler than I, Jessica Bowman of Bohemian Bowman's, Parenting Wild Things, as well as the Finding Church Community Project set to release Fall of 2012.

~~~

Who are the dechurched, the truest cynics?

We are her children - we are the churched.

We've been there, done that, and gotten the VBS t-shirt. We are the burned, the spurned. We are not scholars, but know when things don't add up. We know the words of Jesus, you made us memorize them for stickers and trinkets - so we know when they're being stomped, ignored - twisted.

When you attack our appearance, put your man-made traditions before souls, squander resources on self-preservation, exclude - we see it. We pick it up off the holy ground where you dropped it and load it in our guns like ammunition.

We don't bother listening to you because you don't have anything new to say. We tune out your Charlie Brown teacher droning - mwamwa, republican, mwamwa abortion, mwamwa, pro-war, mwamwa, gay-hater, mwa mwa mwa.

Until you speak grace, we will despise you. Until you speak love, we will only hear a clanging gong. Until you speak truth, we will run from your institutions.

We may be wrong, but we know you're not right. And that's enough to fuel the fires of our disgust and disinterest. Indefinitely.

~~~

Learn more about Jessica's journey of Leaving the Church as well as her resent Returning to Church.

Continue reading here about another sect of the DeChurched, where we plan to chase them. and where you lie in the DeChurched perspective.

Filed Under: The DeChurched, The Ones about Post Series, The ones about the Rothacher Home, The Ones about The Valley Church

Layered Striped Picture Frame {tutorial}

October 4, 2012 by Jules 3 Comments

Oooooo, I had been waiting for THIS package for a few days in eager anticipation! I was beyond giddy when I pulled this in the backdoor after it'd been dropped off! {the things a mom get's her kicks from...}

I was scheming up a new look for my mantle this fall and decided I wanted a little more color than your typical autumn palette. I used this abnormal frame combination to add a little funk and an uncommon color.

Today I wanna tell you how I made it. It was a fun process!

Matrials Needed:

Poppy Seed Projects frames: the Carson 11x14 with the Eleanor Trim Piece 11x14 {or your chose of frame}
NOTE: these kits do not come with glass, only backing for the frame, not trim piece

Black & Turquoise Acrylic Paint {you choice of color} ~2 fl oz
Paint Brush {almost any size will work, I recommend avoiding sponge brushes}
Palm Sander {small light weight sander or just a couple pieces of sand paper}
Painter's Tape
Krylon Clear Coat Spray Paint
Elmo's Wood Glue
A Bunch of Heavy Stuff
Some kind of Hooks for hanging {if you chose to hang} OR a Big Easel {if you chose to display on a stand}

We'll jump past the unwrapping-the-box-and-packing-materials-like-a-small-child-on-Christmas step and get to the the break-out-your-cheap-acrylic-paints-and-go-to-town step.

I chose black because it's neutral and I had a lot of it. If you have a small bottle of acrylic paint, it will take nearly the entire bottle. I used a rolling sponge brush for the 1st coat but I don't recommend it. It soaked up all the paint and made streaks as I tried to squeeze the paint out as I was going. I would do at least 2 even, thin coats. Make sure the back and front are covered. If you're a little impatient like me with projects {due to the limited time for crafting that mothers have}, paint the back 1st. Then put 4 push pins in the 4 corners of the back of the frame. Flip the frame over, resting on the push pins. No you can paint the top. You don't have to have the back coated overly well.

When it's dry, use a light weight sander and buff up the trim. I think this gives it a more layered look and some depth. Then measure and add painters tape the width you want the FLAT paint stripes to be. I used the 1/4 inch tape {I think} and did 2 strips wide. HINT: the black showing will be the glossy stripe.

Take the frame outside and spray an even coat of the CLEAR spray paint over the frame. You might want to do 2 thin coats but I just did one.

After that dried {super fast}, I buffed up the trim again. I think it was super cute with just the stripes before the laying but LOVE the layering even more.

Next, I painted my smaller, trim piece with the turquoise paint. Again, same painting "process". {You can so do this at the beginning when you're painting the other frame OR while the other frame's clear coat is drying. I just didn't have that much available space.}

After the blue is dried, sand the edges, wash off, and do your clear coat, buffing after just like the black frame.

After everything is dry, lay your trim piece on top CENTERED, where you want it. Then, hold it in place and trace lightly with a pencil so you can see where to add the glue and put the trim back. Squeeze a thin layer of glue inside your pencil line and the inside of the frame. Don't get it too close to the pencil marking or too thick or it will ooze out. Gross. I forgot but they recommend doing a layer of glue on both pieces of the wood. Ooops. Mine hasn't fallen apart yet ;o)

After adding glue and placing the trim piece back on top, add something HEAVY on top. I don't own clamps but if you do, that would be perfect. I used tons of Matt's giant books, hehe. Over night would be a great idea, but again...my kids would attack this in the morning. So, after several hours, I gently removed the books {and DVD sets of TV series'} and did the scientific test: tipped it up right and shook gently watching to see if it moved at all. NOPE! We're good to go.

Here's the result:

You can go to the Poppy Seed Projects blog to read my guest post about this addition to this "Photo Fanatic's Home" AND to the Homemaker's Challenge where I shared about creating "A Year-round Frame for a Seasonal Mantel"!!!