Talk Is Sheep

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Gentlemen, I must admit I’m a hopeless romantic. This is a plus when it comes to the lady of the house. In fact it was how I won her heart. Blame it on watching “You’ve Got Mail” etc. with mom and Clint. But I must equally own up to being thoroughly and completely manly. I don’t really need to go into details, but suffice to say there are days when there is only one thing on my mind. It involves the girl, but not much else. Thusly, I have developed the mantra of “Remember the GIRL.”

Unrelated, I just created a “Girl from Ipanema” station on Pandora. Bosa Nova to the max! Guys, bosa nova is ultra romantic. Which brings me to the title reference. While listening to said Pandora I got totally hopelessly romantic in the general direction of The Lady. And like rolling thunder across the fruited plains, I brainstormed some romance with her. When we got home I interrupted everything that we were doing upon arrival, plugged in the Pandora box and we danced a ditty to some hep Bosa Nova. Needless to say some fanatical romance broke out all over the kitchen.

I started this as a draft during lent. For whatever reason I never got a chance to finish it, so I’m just re-writing it. No biggie.

Sarah and I just got back from a whirlwind of a trip to Greensboro, NC to attend and work the Church of God of Prophecy International Assembly. That’s long-winded for we taught children at a convention. Specifically we taught children the importance of being devoted to God. It’s an awesome and important topic for old people as well, but I’m going to focus on the surrounding idea that Sarah and I teamed up for this.

We minister and teach children biblical principals regularly at our local church, Providence West Chester. But last week was a little bit more intense a schedule. So to the point, marriage and ministry, and what I think about it: it’s awesome, it’s fun, and for now, children’s ministry is a ministry that God has called and gifted Sarah and I both to do.

Ministering with Sarah is awesome! While we both have similar education backgrounds, we’re different people and think in different ways. So while I’m usually the more program-oriented person, we found that for the assembly I was more program-oriented in figuring out, how we would make it, and how we would fly it down to Greensboro. Sarah had to remind me regularly that what was important was the content of the lessons. I argued with her to the point that we could use the environment to harness the children’s fickle attentions and give depth and color to the lessons. But, Sarah is essentially right and we’re able to also use curricula and our own brains to develop engaging and meaningful classes for children together.

Ministering with Sarah is fun! I mean really, if you know our personalities you know we’re pretty bent on having a good time and enjoy ourselves. This applies especially when we work together on things we enjoy. Teaching and ministering to children is tough work, but it can be rewarding and even enjoyable. Being able to do this with Sarah really brings that home for me. We saw, appreciated, and responded to our differences during the classes last week. My favorite thing to do is characters, she is particularly gifted with the object lessons and the bible lessons. I love to watch her as she works with the kids in the ways that she is gifted.

Ministering with Sarah is what we’re called to do! At home, at Providence, Sarah actually directs the elementary ministry. I don’t know what that entails, and I don’t want to. I loathe admin stuff and recruiting volunteers etc. But we still teach the classes together. And while every Sunday we teach, we have to discipline ourselves to spend the time to make the lesson excellent, it is always a joy to finish a lesson and review it with Sarah. We trust God that His Spirit is speaking to the children, knowing that He has a purpose for them and we are a small, if tiny part of that plan.

I was making the trek back to Bloomsburg earlier this year and as I usually do when I’m in the car, I hit the Scan button and search for something good to listen to. Sometimes I’m looking for something to dance to, other times news, but I settled for one of those Christian talk radio shows that today just happened to be extolling the values of marriage. As I listened, I was reaffirmed in my desire to have an amazing marriage. Not to be confused with a great marriage, but one that works because we work on it and lasts because we continue to see the value in each other. (more…)

Let them eat marshmallows on their cake.

Sarah has teamed up with some our awesome lady-type friends to do some out-of-this-world baking. So while I and my gentlemen brewers are concocting the latest and greatest homebrew, the ladies are doing some kitchen chemistry of their own.

Do not joke about baking dear readers. In this masterpiece there are home made marshmallows. The process here is way over my head so I couldn’t really relate it to you – ask Sarah.

The name of this cake is the hot chocolate cake (though I may be mistaken). It really did taste like hot chocolate. It also melted my brains. I’m not really a huge chocolate fan. In terms of chocolate cakes there are only two that I enjoy, Texas sheet cake and red-devil’s food cake. This latest chocolate rendition may have topped them.

The weekend the ladies baked this was a wonderfully early warm weekend. There was brewing – we were brewing or bottling a blonde and had a whole crew over. The kitchen was a massive hub of conversation, laughter and Ricky Gervase impersonations. The smells of the chocolate, vienna malts, Czech saaz hops, and grilled meats filled the room. The light and the warmth of the sun kept the doors and the windows open to the outside as we spent time indoors and out.

In the words of dear father, “that’s what’s it’s all about.”

photographed in 2008 by Sarah Creasy

We need to do something to get started on here again. So I’m starting the picture of the day. I’ll also share a FUNNY story: – last night Lee was installing a new fan in our living room and asked for my help. As I’m holding up a VERY HEAVY piece that gets attached to the fan, he says I can let go…so I do…and God knows why I decided stand around in the danger zone because before I know it that VERY HEAVY piece has come unattached and crashed right into my FACE!

After a bloody nose and an ice pack, I urge Lee to go finish (because it’s better to wake up with a sore head and a new fan, then wake up with a sore head and a mess but no fan.)

Long story just a little longer: The fan looks great!

Do you know that after almost a year and 3 months of marital bliss,  I found out something new about my husband? Imagine…not knowing him absolutely after a year?! A couple of nights ago, I heard this tap-tap-tapping sound as I was trying to sleep. Thinking it was the cats playing, I decided I’d give them the benefit of the doubt, close my eyes, and try to fall asleep. Ahh, sweet sleep, I’m just about to start dreaming I know it, when…tap tap tap.

Hey. This is closer to my head…and the cats are nowhere to be seen. “Lee…? Is that you?”

Tap tap tap…”Yes.”

“What are you doing?

“Drumming.”

Hmmm. It turns out that after a  year and 3 months Lee has broken out the drumming that he used to do when he tried to fall asleep…but has stopped doing because he was afraid it would keep me up. Well, it did keep me up. But, I was intrigued and a little excited to find out something new about Lee. I urged him to keep going, but he politely declined for the sake of both of us getting some sleep. Maybe next time I won’t say anything

Merry belated Christmas from the little drummer family! Here’s to a new year in hopes of finding out many new things about my husband!

But you wouldn’t be able to tell that from the amount of time we spend posting. So sorry for anyone who actually depends on us! Here’s a little screenshot of how we’ve been flirting lately.

Upcoming updates will include:
1. India Trip
2. Overhaul of all of the stuff we have horded in our house
3. Holiday Plans/Trips
4. And so on!

Much love,
Sarah

Can you believe that in just two weeks we’ll be in the air to India?! I can’t. Everything that we’ve been praying for is falling into place and it’s truly all God’s provision. We have just $45 dollars left to raise to meet our $2500 goal. You can see more details here:
http://indiatrip.chipin.com/childrens-ministry-trip-to-india

Our passports have been mailed back to us this week. We have gotten all of our vaccines (always a fun experience). And it’s official. We bought our airline tickets for the trip last week.

Unbelievable.

I’m left wondering how I can better prepare myself for this kind of trip.  What else can I do but ask that He works through me, Lee, Kathy and everyone else on the team so that the people we’re training are truly better equipped to lead children to Christ?

Nothing.

Wow, almost a month goes by and that’s how you know we’ve been busy celebrating the summer and watching it fly by…and now it’s Fall! Yet another great season to celebrate! This fall Lee and I have an opportunity that we’re both so excited about…a Mission’s Trip to India! We’ll work alongside Kathy, my wonderful mother-in-law, and train Children’s Ministers, Pastors, and Leaders how to be more effective teachers to children.

If you would have asked me if I thought I’d be doing this two years ago, my answer would have been something like…”That sounds like a really great experience…I just don’t think I’m ready” or “I’ll go but I have no idea what I can contribute.” These last few years have meant a lot to me in building up confidence, trust, and faith in Christ and His plan’s for me. Around two or three years ago, I started assisting teachers in the pre-school class for Providence Church. I would do whatever the teacher said, but I felt overwhelmed with all those little children running around…but I would gain confidence after some time. Then the big one hit. Kathy wanted Lee and I to lead a class together for Elementary kids. Kids who can walk, talk, make some sort of sense, and make trouble! I was nervous before almost every class, but I would pray through it and something happened. I began to pray beyond the nervousness, prayers that were effective in building my trust in God, that He knew exactly where I was and that He had plans for me in the classroom. And now I’m again at the point where I can see He is increasing in me, and this trip to India marks a new step of growth in Him.

So here we are. Lee and I have been making plans and raising support and asking people to pray for us over the last couple of weeks. We’re excited to offer anyone who would like to support us a chance to win something, too….an iPod Touch. You can read more about the raffle details if you go to this page: http://indiatrip.chipin.com/childrens-ministry-trip-to-india

…but here is the gist: the raffle is open to the first 500 entries. For anyone who donates $5 for our trip to India, you get 1 entry to win the iPod touch. So, if you give $20, that give you 4 entries…you do the math! As soon as we reach our goal we’ll randomly choose a name from the list of entries. We’re so excited to be able to go to India, and we’re trusting in God to provide for us for this trip. Please help us get the word out by posting this link on your blog or social network pages. http://indiatrip.chipin.com/childrens-ministry-trip-to-india

Much love,
Sarah and Lee

Ahhhhhh. I’m away from Lee for the first time in our 10 and a 1/4 months of marriage. After being with someone at least 12 hours a day, 7 days a week, for 10 months (minus the night he spent in the hospital), I was kind of amazed that I didn’t just break down when I realized that an essential part of me (my heart, as discussed in the previous post) wouldn’t factor into the equation for about 4 days. There is a major difference that I have noticed from the time I spent apart from Lee when we were just dating to these last couple of days we’ve been apart now that we’re married….a marked increase in Lee calling me on the phone! I love it! When we were dating, it’s more than possible that I pursued Lee by telephone more than I should have…and in general ripped him off as being the pursuer at times. Now that we’re married, it’s a rare (and wonderful) occasion that we would take time to talk on the phone while we’re not in the same place. I think I’ve learned a lot about confidence since we’ve been married. Not self-confidence…but a confidence in what our marriage means to both of us. By letting Lee take the lead in calling me, I’ve been able to see that he views me as a priority, that he’s willing to take time out of the daily grind to know that he is thinking about me while I’m away. That I’m important to him. And that he misses me, too. I hate to say it but the old adage rings true for me. This week I’ve been able to just appreciate Lee. He’s a wonderful man. And even though I’m only his arm. At least it’s attached to his hand. That I can’t wait to hold again.