Parenting

I seem to be having a multitude of exciting opportunities this year. In a few months, I will be hosting my first parenting seminar. YAY!!! This seminar will be focusing on commuincation between parents and teens. It seems fitting to lead this seminar. I am constantly bombarded with parents who are in need of advice in dealing with their teenagers. Likewise, my teens are constantly texting and facebooking me about issues they have with their parents. Sometimes, I just sit back and laugh. Although I make light of the subject, I often witness a deep hurt between both. By the time I am contacted a series of arguments and words have been shared. Most of the time the result is not pleasant. I desire to teach both teens and their parents how to survive the adolescent years with joy, peace, and a biblical perspective.

Every parent and caregiver is invited. You can register for the conference by visiting http://www.fellowship-church.com/ and click on EVENT REGISTRATION under the Calendar.

Cheese...

Definitely not a post about cheese. I am uber excited today that the sneak peak is available for the portico photo shoot from last weekend. These are so much fun! I definitely have some favorites. But, I'll let you decide which one's you prefer them most.

Check them out!

Porch Talk

I'm having way too much fun blogging this week. Don't worry, it won't last. My blogging desires are like snow storms (some light flurries, some blizzards, sometimes a whole winter of no snow).

I wanted to chat a little bit about the portico. I have been asked many times since becoming the official youth leader if I wanted to change the name of this youth group. Nope. Often, I am an advocate for name changes when something new and fresh is on the horizon. But I am attached to this name. I just like. It's different. It means a LOT to me. The portico name came sometime around 2004. It has seen several leaders, volunteers, and students come and go. But all in all, the porch is still standing. I think I like the name so much because of the southern connotation it holds. When I think about North Carolina spring and summer seasons, I often have an image of sitting outside. On my grandmother's porch their are several chairs, hanging baskets, and a swing. It's an amazing porch. So often after a delicious family meal, we will all congregate out there for hours and just talk. It's good porch talk. I love it. I feel warm, relaxed, engaged, and loved. I love to sit on a porch and just swing. No matter how life is going, in those moments it is perfect. I imagine this is a true glimpse of what God desires from us when He says, "be still and know that I am God". I can't help but breathe in His beauty and creation when I am sitting on a porch.

The portico name is a reference to the porch or colonnade that existed in Solomon's temple. It was a place that everyone could hang out at and chat. It was an invitation to gather together just before entering the temple. The people had fellowship on the portico. It was a place to talk and a place to listen. As the weather turns warmer, you will find me outside a lot more. Just sitting in the grass or if I can find a good rocking chair for my new patio, I'll be rocking! I urge you to find your portico. Then invite God over for some porch talk. Let Him talk and you just listen.

Beautiful faces

This past weekend, I invited a college friend to take some group shots of the portico students. How exciting! It was a beautiful day. We spent a little more than an hour playing in the Nashville park, posing on the railroad, and just acting silly. I am excited to see the final results. My friend is an amazing artist, and I encourage you to check her out at http://www.ashleysisk.com/. I personally think you will enjoy reading her blog (especially if you enjoy photography).

As my friend was leaving she commented, "Pam, you have some really good kids here". I responded, "I know". Let me pause a moment and insert that I am by nature sarcastic and lack humility to be funny. This was not one of my humorous moments. I agree 110% that I have the honor and privelage of serving some amazing teenagers. They keep me on my toes and fill my life with a joy that is unexplainable. It is my heaven on earth. Why God entrusted their lives with me, I will never know...but I am eternally grateful. While I will never say they are perfect, I will shout from the rooftops: "THEY ARE BEAUTIFUL". Their hardships, flaws, imperfections, craziness, silliness, devotion, unexpected nature, love, and emotional baggage make them completely human and beautiful. I love them. Through the heart aches, pain, hurt, sadness, joy, prosperity, blessings, and peace I know they have some beautiful faces...

http://www.ashleysisk.com/

Discouraged

Post was actually made on January 13, 2011

It seems sad that my second post on my lovely blog (which is still in the decorating process) would be about discouragement. It is hard for a youth pastor to admit discouragement. It’s like a major sin. It’s taboo. We are supposed to be the joyful type that has everything together at every moment. Sorry, world…we don’t.
I don’t even know if discouraged is the right title for my blog. I just know that I have faced an unbelievable amount of opposition in my current life path in the past two weeks. I must admit that I only like change when I propose it. These new changes do not have me very happy. I have this yucky, edgy, slighty at the verge of a major-emotional-sob-fest feeling. It feels like discouragment.

Yet, as I am writing this, David Crowder is singing on my computer, “how could you be so good to me?” Such a great moment for that song! Why is God so good to me? Little ‘ole me? Despite being at a MAJOR crossroad, God is GOOD. And more importantly, He is good to me. YES ME!

A dear friend has reminded me of Matthew 5 when Jesus taught on the mount. I am not going to say too much at this point, because I have a message to preach to the Portico in a few weeks regarding this passage. YAY for message inspiration in the midst of my discouragement. But in The Message Bible, Matthew 5:3 reads, “You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and His rule.” Some moments over the past two weeks I have felt that I am at the end of my rope. This passage elevates me so much! To know that in the middle of my despair and discouragement, there is now more of God and his rule. I want more of you God and more of your Kingdom in my life. Please pour yourself into to me! Let me hear your voice! Let me experience your greatness and glory. Oh how I long for You!

Welcome to my moment of stardum

My husband and I signed up for a personal blog many years back as a way to keep up with our family in North Carolina while we lived in Pennsylvania. Blogging was difficult for me. I constantly felt this pressure to impress people with our lives and insert picture after picture. In the end, the blog just stopped and I was relieved. However, as I look forward to 2011, I felt inclined to start a blog. Again. This blog is very different from my previous experience in that I am just going to run my mouth. Whew! Hold on…this could get bumpy.

I am honored to report that I am FEMALE youth leader at the church responsible for raising me spiritually. I have known since I was in high school that I was called to work with teens. It has taken many paths, many tears, many prayers, many successes and a whole lot more failures to completely understand that calling. So here I am, barely in my 30′s and working towards a path of righteousness as God unfolds His will for my life. I am blessed beyond measure to be the wife of the most amazing man I know. I also have the cutest kid in the world. Really, I didn’t make that up. Then there are my 2 four-legged children. Maggie, the golden mutt and Chase, the English bulldog. If we added a cat, my husband says we would be living the Homeward Bound movie.

So what is the purpose in all this blogging stuff? I wanted to be able to just write and write and write all the things that God speaks to me as well as all the dreams and desires that I have for the teens in my life. I do not think like Forrest Gump and feel that I am floating “accidental like on a cloud”, but that I was designed for a purpose. God has ordained the breath in me and I intend to seek Him and His plan with every step I take. So get ready, and enjoy the ramblings of a small town youth leader from beautiful North Carolina.