I've got a link you've gotta check out. I know this couple and their kids. What a transformation. I would never have know. God is so amazing!

A Marriage Restored
http://vimeo.com/54044632

So many churches in America...I mean so many. I can't imagine how hard it is to decide on which church to attend and plug into when you move into a new area. As of this week I can say that God's given me the opportunity to minister in 100 churches while I've been serving with Life Action Ministries for the last 4 and a half years. I see that as a huge milestone in my ministry and God's faithfulness to me :) . Of course my ministry is shared with my whole team. On my way to First Baptist Church in Brandon, Mississippi I counted up all my teammates in the 5 travel seasons....50....I can hardly believe that. 50! Ahhhh. Praise God for the people He has brought into my life. oh....that 50 only include the single team members. I've also traveled with the Finch family, Slenk Family, and Loveing Family so....another 14.

Anyways as I think through the last 10+ years it's amazing what God's allowed me to do. Four years of college, 2 years teaching my precious fourth graders, a year in a bunch of part time jobs and just trying to figure things out, and than the past 4 and a half years on the road. I can still remember my high school graduation in 2001. Larry, Nathan, Jameson and I all had to give a graduation speech. I remember mentioning that I would be starting a new chapter in my life. Looking back there's been a lot of chapters since then. Many of them involve kids and just the other day one of my leaders shared with me that I had a unique gifting from God in my love for kids. 

Using your gift from God and not wasting it....that's a concept I've heard for years and I've wondered so many times what mine was. But after she said my love for kids it made sense. For once it really made sense. I've always seen my love for kids just a part of who I am. I never equated it with my gift from God. I know I'm not perfect in my love for kids but I love when you get to teach kids and they "get it".  That's always been my favorite thing to see. And I just long for these kids to love Jesus and trust God now and be able to live a life that's upright and for the glory of God.

Pray for me as God allows me to use my love for kids while on the road. Pray He would help me to communicate the truth of God's Word. So many times I just think "do these kids really understand what I'm saying?" I love teaching kids because of those who were there for me when I was a kid and teen. I tell you the things I learned when I was little really did stick with me. Thank you to whoever first taught me Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all thy heart and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths. Yes I learned it in the good ole' King James Verison. My heart just resonates with that verse and I think on it all the time. 

Hm...imitate me as I imitate Christ....I tell ya....I must me imitating the lives of those that were living examples to me. And that's kind of cool to think of. You never know what kind of impact you have on people.

Well...I got to go now.

God Bless you all and thanks for reading!

Serving Him,

Shawntay

And these two pics are robbie and i on crazy sock night!

Ohio to Georgia

Yes....we have hit the road. We just finished a THIRST Conference in Dublin, OH. Base Camp (2nd to 5th grade) started off with 63 kids Sunday Morning but it dropped to the upper 20s the rest of the nights. I'm teaching with two teachers I've never taught with before. Pray that I would have the wisdom to know how to lead my fellow coworkers.

Thursday we start heading to Georgia...it will take us two travel days to get there.

Well....keep your eyes fixed on HIM!

Gold Rush Pics

The Little Guys played a version of Duck Duck Goose that I loved. They played it as "good guy, good guy, bad guy" but they had a water gun to pick the bad guy. It was so cute!

The teenagers help with many things for VBS. Here's on of the kids getting this teen with a water gun....I'm so glad for the teens' willingness to serve.

You just have to have puppets. The little kids LOVED them! One little guy would strain to see them and had a huge smile when they came out.

Welcome to Gold Rush! Our sign to welcome the kids
 

Snack Time

  

Working on Worksheets

 

More of game time

Review Game inside the church

Got caught out in the rain.....well...after being soaked some really wanted to play in the rain...we had a hard time getting them in out of the rain...so it was time for a group picture.

Tonight I got to hang out with two of my Base Camp girls from Lodi, CA. I chatted with them and looked at pictures and videos with them. I was a great way to spend my last night here. I love being able to spend time with our Base Camp kids outside of Base Camp. I thank God for the opportunities that He has given me this year. The girls like to call this our Oreo picture. :) I will miss these girls.

Please pray for us as we head to Beaumont, CA Friday morning. It will be a quick trip down there. Only there for 6 days. I pray that we connect quickly with the kids. This will only be a 4-day THIRST Conference so 4 days will go by super fast.

Lodi, CA....The Home Church

Tonight we just finished an 8-day SUMMIT. We had a great group of kids and I think I may have found some new prayer supporters. I'm so blessed to minister to kids who in turn pray for me.

Here's a few pictures from the week.

Ladies Luncheon Day....we help with nursery...we had 19 kids from newborn to 3 years old. Crazy but all was fed!

Anna loves babies and also was watching the kids during Ladies Luncheon.

Mountain Man Jack and Murrill getting ready to set up a tent for our Base Camp skit.

Crazy Head Night in Base Camp

Brennan and Josh during out skit on Saturday....Max and Stevie

Enjoying Oranges in more ways than one :) So much fun!!!!

Jonathan with a Go Bananas shirt....He wore it just for us.

Twins that I had lots of fun telling them apart. Amazingly I got it right every time. (One has a dimple when she smiles and one is taller than the other.) Two shy but sweet girls! I will miss them. Twins are an amazing thing and I can only imagine what it was like for the first mom that had twins....talk about a shocker.

 

 

Austin, Brooke, and Cylie....that's C-Y-L-I-E! Austin was in Base Camp this week and his sisters were in Happy Heart City. I met them while they were signing in Austin. They brought a smile to my face every time I saw them. More and more kids that I will miss!

Of course I had to get a picture with them!

Another pic from Base Camp....yup that's my hair for crazy head night and the kid with the paper in his hair....yup that's his homework. I love the creativity that the kids have!

We get a few days off before we head to Beaumont, CA for a 4-day THIRST Conference. For the home stretch we will travel for two days to get to Colorado Springs for our last 8-day SUMMIT and on to Fort Worth, TX for our final 4-day THIRST Conference of this travel year. This year surely has flown by. But I've love it. I definitely have come a long way this year....and love it that God expresses His love for me in soooooo many ways. He truly is the Lover of my soul....I wish I could come close to loving Him like He loves me.

Please pray for me as I finish out the rest of this year and try to figure out my summer. I will have a break from the end of May until the beginning of July. In July I will be helping at our ministry's camp and than it's off to train with the new team for the 2012-2013 travel year. I'm amazing at the fact that I will be starting year 5! Wow.

If you want to get my e-mail updates please e-mail me at smichic01@gmail.com and let me know!

Serving HIM,
Shawntay

March Madness?

Although March maybe known for it's intense Basketball season, I can see the craziness of March 2012.

March started with the end of our 4-day THIRST Conference in El Paso, TX. And was followed by a week at Lonetree, a high adventure Camp in Capitan, NM. Then it was off to Show Low, AZ where our scheduled 8-day SUMMIT was advertised as an 11-day SUMMIT. And today we started to head toward Reno, NV, two days of travel. But we got to spend a few hours in the Grand Canyon National Park.

At the end of our conference in El Paso, TX my teammate was released from the hospital. She was recovering from a ski accident. Praise the Lord for His Protection and Healing for her.

Lonetree was where we spent our Spring break...but I don't think you could really say we had a restful break. When I was not exhausted, I was having a lot of fun. We had the opportunity to go repelling and rock climbing. Two things I've never done, but would totally do it again. We also got a chance to do some archery and shot some 22s. Oh and a snow storm hit while we were there.

Lonetree is a Christian Camp in Capitan, NM. And one of the couples that works in their kitchen has family ties in Hawaii. So of course I hit it off with them. I loved just chatting with them and I learned how to make banana lumpias. They are actually really easy to make. I loved eating them as a child and still do. I guess it looked more complicated when you are 8 years old and watching a lot of Filipino women prepare them for parties. :)

I would love to go back to Lonetree this summer. But I'll have to see what I can figure out.

As for Show Low, AZ. What a week and a half! It was soooooo busy. For Sunday mornings we had what I like to call a "Sunday School Sandwhich". Which is two worship services with a Sunday School Hour in between. We had around 30 kids all week. The kids were such a blessing to us. They were soaking up what we were teaching. Usually we don't hear a whole lot about what the kids have been "really" learning but some of these kids were excited to share what they realized about their lives.

The first monday we passed out information about our SUMMIT at the church. On Tuesday we had Ladies Luncheon. On Wednesday the pastor spoke to us in our morning team meeting. I was encouraged in prayer again. Especially with praying for unbelievers. On Thursday we finally had a meeting as a team and now we are planning to study the book of Ephesians for the rest of our travel year. I'm excited about digging into the Word of God together. Friday we had a day off....a much needed one at that. My host home invited our team over to hang out and ride 4-wheelers. It was a lot of fun. On Saturday we had Home Life Cafe and we had the kids for 4 hours...we taught about telling the truth and not being conformed to this world. Then we had another LONG Sunday. It was testimony Sunday....no sunday school hour. But there were at least 40 people that shared about what God was doing in their life this past week. Then we continued on with our SUMMIT an extra 3 days.

On Tuesday we successfully took some kids to Sonic. It was so much fun. We talked to the parents about taking them to Sonic after school. It was going to be a surprise. So Evan, Josh, and I drove to wal-mart and "just so happened" to see the kids. I asked them what they were doing and they said they were out for a drive and were getting some school supplies. I said "no you're not....we are taking you to Sonic....get in the van." They thought we were joking but when they saw we were serious they were excited. They were shocked that we worked it out with their parents and were planning it. It was a good hour for us to just spend time with these kids.



Well...it's almost midnight so I should go to bed. But I really want to write more. I'll just have to try to do it later.

Oh we went to the Grand Canyon today. I put a few pictures on facebook. Check it out.

Serving HIM and loving it,
Shawntay

Intentionality, accountability, and Teach-ability

Intentionality, accountability, and teach-ability are three things that have been on my mind for the past few weeks.

Do you go through life feeling like God's not showing you a whole lot....but you are doing your best to stay faithful? Well that's where I've been for a while. But within the last few weeks that has changed. Life hasn't been smooth sailing but it's been good because I know that God is in it. And He will be with me through it too.

I've realized being intentional doesn't mean convenient...that's why you have to be intentional (I know that sounds basic). We have to be intentional in decisions we make, who we hang out with, the things we take stands on....I've always said what you really believe is what you do when the rubber hits the road. We can talk all we want about what we believe but that is proved when we are put in a situation that makes us act upon it.

Accountability....I've always known it's important but haven't taken the steps to seek that out. I can honestly say that's not true anymore. I've sought out some ladies that I respect and have opened up to them, knowing that being honest and vulnerable will only be a help to me. But I must also remember who I use as my accountability partners. I must seek out those who are living a life of seeking God and loving Him. I read a pamphlet by Nancy Leigh DeMoss and it challenged me to find accountability and share with them when being tempted not just when I'm in trouble.....so it's been a neat time and a good source of fellowship.

And last but not least teach-ability. Keeping a teachable spirit is so important. God teaches us through life circumstances and he also uses people to help teach us. Whether we really learn what He's trying to show us is up to us. I'm seeing how important my attitude is in my spiritual growth. I must be humble and acknowledge my short comings and move on to changing. I want to keep a teachable spirit and if I don't have one I know I need to take some time and get to the place where I will be teachable.

I just wanted to share with you a little of what God's been doing in my life. I hope you are at a spot where you are being teachable. If not take some time to search your heart and get to a place where you can be teachable.

Serving Him!
Shawntay

Farmington, New Mexico...how I didn't know what to expect. I didn't realize how beautiful the drive here would be. When we reached the north side of Albuquerque we started to see lots and lots of rock formations, cliffs, canyons. Oh it was so beautiful and breath taking. It was a very long travel day for us. We left early in the morning and then broke down about 60 or so miles away from Roswell, New Mexico. We got delayed at a gas station for over an hour. While sitting on the bus I just knew that the church in Farmington was going to be a good time of meeting...seeking the Lord. Satan was already trying to trip us up and discourage us. (This is the 2nd travel day in a row that something happened with our vehicles....the travel day before coming here the bus blew a tire 30 minutes away from the church)

Now I am able to look back on all what has happened. It's pretty neat. Evan, Josh, and I taught in Base Camp (2nd grade to 5th grade) and Brennan went to Happy Heart City (4 yrs to 1st grade) so that Ross could sit through the messages and be challenged by God's Word. It was a great time for Evan, Josh, and I to work together. This is Evan and I's 2nd year to be teaching together and Josh's first year. Next year just Josh and I will be returning to work in Base Camp. We've got a lot of preparation to do in order to get ready to train one or 2 more people.

Right out of the gate Sunday morning was good for us. By the end of the morning service we knew most all the kids names....granted we had less than 30 all week....we usually can't memorize all the kids' names. We were able to connect with the kids and get to know them. We taught lessons on Obedience, God's Word, Salvation, Sin and Holiness, Grace, Pride and Humility, Lies and Honesty, Integrity, keeping our lives PURE, having a Clear Conscience, and Prayer. This week sure did go by fast and I wish we were staying longer.

Of course we may not see all the changes but some of the kids shared what they learned. My favorite was the honesty of Jack. During our prayer time when all the kids could pray out loud together He prayed and thanked God for his parents forcing him to go to Base Camp. He thought it was going to be stupid there but said he was glad he had to come because he learned a lot of things. Another change that I saw was between to brothers....they were twins. After the morning's session of Clear Conscience I believe they must have talked about something because they were different when they came back that evening. It was like their relationship as brothers got better. I saw the change in them even when they didn't say a word about it. And then there is a little girl with an adopted brother....she has a desire to do what's right but she needs God's help to help her through.

As for the main services....I have no clue what happened there :) Lol. I guess that's life as a Children's Minister. But I love what I do. I pray these kids find their strength in God and God alone.

Serving HIM and LOVIN' IT!
Shawntay

PS I just put up pictures on Facebook...if you don't have facebook use this link

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150555502169751.383466.517659750&type=3&l=ebd01d9e13