This is what we are up to...

We have had MASSIVE amounts of free time lately. It is a blessing, and definitely wonderful to have this time together...but it also comes with its challenges.

Like:

What do we do with ourselves ALL day long?!

Or even narrowing it down:

What do we do with ourselves all day long that will be fruitful and inexpensive!

I mean of course we could just run amuck all day long and go on shopping sprees and entertain ourselves with outside means, like eating out, mini vacations, movies and such...but that gets pretty expensive, pretty fast.

And we could just stay at home all day and bum around, but we get too stir crazy for that.

So the question lately has been, what do we do with ourselves that will be not only permissable, but beneficial? How can we enjoy this time together, but not be wasteful with the time given to us?

Well, one of the ways we are taking advantage of this time is by getting more involved in our church. When Ben was in the middle of training, we were very limited on what we could do...like maybe one thing a week with the church, because of all his studying.

But now, on top of the small group we were already in- we were able to start helping out with the church's youth group on Wednesday nights. It is a SUPER small group- I'm talking like 4 kids max. but we are actually really glad for that because we know exactly who we are supposed to be pouring into and can really devote our time and energies to the kids! Ben taught the lesson this week and it was great! I believe the Lord really used him, and because he is a cool, older, Jesus-loving, hardcore, military-man they were so responsive and easy to engage in the lesson (usually they are pretty quiet). I am excited to be involved in ministry together- it is something we have never done together in a formal setting!

Another new thing for us has been my joining the praise team at church. It has been a really stretching experience for me actually and something I was almost resistant in doing...but God has had His way and I am up there! It is definitely good to help lead worship again- it is just something God has wired in my heart that I love to do! And I am thankful for the new lessons He is teaching me through it.

Ben has also been working on his waking up early skills-- he is becoming very disciplined in it! which is very hard when you don't really have anything to wake up early for, but he is trying to train himself now so that it won't be such a struggle when he gets back into training.

And finally, another thing we are praying about is what I will do once he starts training again. I have enjoyed being at home with him thus far and have seen how the Lord has really used it. If I had been working, or tied down to anything outside of Ben and our home before hand, I would not have been able to go with Ben to Colorado or Alabama or to spend this time with him right now. But recently, we felt that it was time to take that before the Lord again, to see if He would lead us to have me work or take grad classes or volunteer or to have children. We basically were just trying to pray with open hands- for whatever the Lord would have.

In the past few days, we have seen the Lord open the doors for me to at least apply to this really cute coffee shop nearby. It is brand new, super cute and pretty much everyone who works there is a girl! We both saw that it could be a neat ministry opportunity and a fun part-time thing for me to do while he is busy training.

So, we have inquired and have had a positive response from the owner and are now just waiting to see if the Lord's hand is really on this.

So, God is shaping our days here in Pensacola and helping us to become established here--exciting times!...we are just praying that we will always be willing for what He wants to do with us!