Joy!

We woke up this morning to "Mama! Mama! Dad!" This is our routine weekend alarm clock, but the difference is, last night we stayed up to watch Revolutionary Road. We were up until 1:30, and let me tell you I about cried for an hour afterword. (This movie will suck any happiness you have out of your 2 hours.) Of course the dog woke up twice in the middle of the night, and Paul got up and let her out both times. He was running low on sleep and he was a BEAR this morning. So, I got up and walked into my toddler's bedroom, to find him pointing at something on the floor. "What's that momma?" I had a feeling what was to come. I saw a quick glimpse and forced myself not to scream as my husband quickly pulled me out of the doorway, barging into the room with his weapon of choice: toilet paper. He knew too. Yes, my friends, the Voltron of all cockroaches was laying on it's back in my baby boy's room.

Needless to say, we freaked out. We are very clean people. I vacuum every other day, and there is never a drop of food left out or where it's not supposed to be. The same issue occurred around the middle of June. We spotted a couple of dead ones. One on the wall in the bathroom and one in the spare room closet. Immediately we had the house sprayed, and we found a few dead ones after that, but apparently that's how it goes.

It's only about a month later and they're back. I have to tell you, there is nothing I fear more than a cockroach. I never saw one before now, and they're just as terrifying in person as they are on screen. They may be the only phobia I have.

We called Orkin, and they'll be here tomorrow morning, thank God, but it's still terrifying to think that they are in my house for another day.

So, after all that mess was taken care of, we got showered and ready for church. Paul cooked breakfast, and grumbled at the dog, the kid, and me. (Grump.) And we were off to church.

We've had a hard time up until now trying to decide on which church to stick with. Glad Tidings or Harvest? We loved specific things about both. The friends we made at Glad Tidings are awesome, and they have a Military Fellowship twice a month as well. But the pastor wasn't the MOST personable. Which is kind of understandable, I mean, it's a huge church, and it's hard to get into deep conversation with every new person that goes. We like the fact that GT is so organized. They have their small groups and they are AG, etc.

Then there's Harvest. Pastor Craig wears jeans and a button up for sunday service, the worship is AWESOME! It's concert style, which is what we're used to, and the sermons leave us feeling fed, and even FULL!

So, I left it up to hubby today. "What church are we gonna go to babe?"
"The one on the road."
"They're both on roads, babe."
"I forget the name! The one we went to last week," he growled. (It was along those lines."
"Ok. Why are you so grumpy?"
"I'm not grumpy! I'm just upset. The dog is driving me nuts, Jacob keeps throwing his food on the floor, Gidget eats it, he knows he's not allowed to throw it, and now we have COCKROACHES! I swear to you if we can't get rid of these cockroaches..."

We hopped in the car and I prayed, "Lord, PLEASE let him find his niche. He's not going to be really happy happy until he finds his niche."

Service was AMAZING. I'll post a link to the message as soon as it's up. It's a MUST hear. Pastor talked about how Christians have let the joy be sucked out of their life, by removing the simple things that God has created for joy. And the Bible says, "Joy is our strength."

He went on to talk about how he went to a Coldplay concert, and how everyone was so excited and everyone talked to everyone else and they were really joyful! And how when he goes to a Christian event, majority of the time, he feels like he has to be on his best behavior, and like he has to walk within a margin, sucking the joy out of it. He even said, "I know a lot of Christians would judge me for going to a Coldplay concert. Why? Why does there have to be "secular music and spiritual music?" This man was right on our level. And something within Paul was lifted. His eyes started shining, and you could LITERALLY SEE joy shooting through him. This pastor is us. And it was then we realized where we belong.

Everyone knows the part of service where you turn and greet eachoter and say hi and everything. The pastor walked from the pulpit and shook Paul's and my hands, and welcomed us. He said he saw us last week and didn't get to meet us. *gasp* There is no way for me to type an expression of how awesome this was to us! He personally invited us to their luncheon after service.

At the luncheon, he came over and sat with us. We explained to him how we used to be on worship team, and Paul noticed they don't have a bass player. I explained that I had spoken to one of the guys from the church on the phone and told him this, but he'd said we'd have to wait til after "Harvest 101," which is a class to make sure the church is the right fit for us, and we're the right fit for the church. Pastor said, "Ya, that'd be great if you could make it to that, but you be at practice Thursday at 6:30." !!!!!!!!! Paul's niche.

GOD ANSWERS PRAYER.