The Life and Times of the Watters Family

Camp Firwood

At the very last minute (Saturday night) we decided the boys could go to Firwood this week. We packed Sunday morning after church and they were registered and ready to go at 1pm on Sunday afternoon. The boys were SO excited. Caleb was a bit nervous about taking the swim test but he did fine (he was happy to get the yellow bracelet that allowed him to do most things with a life jacket). The boys are in the same cabin, which is great and their counselors seemed like really nice guys. Cory is also at Firwood (he’s a CIT this summer) and the boys were thrilled to be able to go and spend some time with him there. The theme for this week is PIRATES! It couldn’t be more perfect for them!

When we took them out to camp we walked around and Cam showed the boys what cabin he stayed in when he was a CIT (13 years ago!). He shared with them the story of how God told him that he was supposed to marry me (while lying in his bunk, contemplating pursuing another girl!) We had been dating before camp but “broke up” a couple weeks before he left for the summer. God pretty clearly spoke to his heart that day and confirmed that we were “it” for each other. As we walked around and talked with the boys yesterday, I remembered visiting Cam at Firwood that summer. I knew I had taken him and our relationship for granted and I missed him SO much. It didn’t take long after camp before we figured our stuff out and resumed our relationship (shortly after that there was a lot of other drama but that’s another story…). As Cam and I talk about our history as a couple I am so grateful and amazed at how God brought us together. Through the hills and the valleys God had His hand on each of us and had a good plan for our life together. One important thing for us to remember, as parents, is not to freak out if one of our boys tells us he’s totally in love with a girl and God told him that she’s the “one” when he’s 17.

We miss our boys (Daddy most of all right now) but Cam and I are having a lot of fun together and are really thankful for this time for them and for us.

To see a few more pictures click the Flickr link (on the right).

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Bible study

With the study, A Woman’s Heart: God’s Dwelling Place, ending I am really thankful to be starting a new study already. It’s always sad for me when a good thing comes to an end. One thing that makes this transition a bit smoother is that the majority of our table group is continuing on with a new study together, No Other gods, by Kelly Minter.

Our group is joining thousands of women around the US and the world who are taking time every other Tuesday to meet together and study God’s word throughout the summer. Beth Moore and her team at Living Proof Ministries have organized this unique study. Each time we meet together we will share what God is teaching us through His word. We will share prayer requests, snacks and we will work together on memorizing our summer verses. Beth challenged us to memorize Jude 1:24-25.

No Other gods challenges us to “confront our modern-day idols”. In the introduction to the study Kelly says:

A few years ago I was feeling stuck. Stuck with God, people, career, living space, finances, convictions. I constantly cried out to God, “Please deliver me.”….. I was not ready for the simplicity of God’s remedy; He wanted to be God in my life.

Though somewhat unaware, I had been depending on false gods that were at the bottom of much of my pain. They were taking up room in my heart– room God desired to occupy. Through this process I became desperate to discover who the true God was in all of His glory so as not to return to the lesser and baser things. These idols could only offer temporary relief– promising what they could never deliver. How relieved I’ve been to find that through the dismantling, God has planted, built, restored, and redeemed. He has done nothing short of miraculous.

Idols are objects of worship and can be anything that we spend more time thinking about, interacting with or trusting more than our God. The subjects of idolatry and worship have been reoccurring themes recently and for me this means–God is speaking, pay attention! Pastor Mark Driscoll preached a fantastic message on the subject of worship. Mark teaches that whatever our issues may be, all our strongholds and addictions all boil down to having a worship problem. I highly recommend checking out that message, it’s one of the best I’ve heard on the subject.

This last season of Bible study has been life changing. The studies, the decisions, the clarity that came and life experienced throughout this spring will be one of the stones of remembrance in my life. Studying the Tabernacle, God’s presence, His glory and His plan for our salvation all the way back to Genesis has been indescribable. God has drawn near and I am forever changed. I am so grateful for His faithfulness and the journey He continues to call me to take with Him. Following God is exciting, challenging, refining, peaceful, restoring, and so much more. I just love Him.

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weekend melt-downs

We are a family of “P’s” (see Myers Briggs personality types). Not one of us enjoys mundane, boring, repetitive jobs. We strongly dislike household maintenance and chores. Yet, practically every weekend we set these big goals to accomplish all the tasks we have been putting off for the last year (or more). We always hope to get EVERYTHING done on Saturday and then enjoy our Sunday together.

What typically happens is this– major melt-down between the boys or us that ends up taking hours to “fix” and we end up with very little productivity. We need a new approach. We have this dream of having this very organized, minimalist house with everything in it’s place and organization that we can maintain. Don’t get me wrong– we aren’t slobs, generally our house is tidy and sanitary, it’s just not as efficiently organized as we would like.

Somehow we (or more honestly, I) have to learn how to accept that we are who we are and that our dreams of being this super diligent, organized and task oriented family might be a bit too lofty for what we actually are.

God created us with different gifts– we can’t all serve the same function in the body of Christ. Comparing gifts and strengths is a bad idea– we’ll always come up wanting. I need to remember to focus on what makes us unique and how God continues to use us in spite of our limitations in the area of organization.  When I take the time to stop and look at who/what God designed us to be I am thankful and humbled. He gave us a heart for people, relationships and hospitality. He gifted us with an ability to be flexible and to function well in chaos. He allows us opportunities to be transparent leaders and visionaries. He blessed us with discernment and the ability to counsel and encourage.

Practically this is what that all looks like– you’ll always be welcome at our disorganized and cluttered house. We won’t be freaked out by your messiness and chaos (it can’t be worse than ours). We will be 100% honest with you about our “stuff” and hope we can encourage you to do the same.

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flickr set uploaded

Click the mosaic above to check out the the Photoset on Flickr.

Looking through all of our sunny vacation pictures makes this dreary, rainy day much more dreary and rainy! If summer doesn’t come this year I think I’ll be ready to move in September!

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pictures

I finally uploaded all the pictures from our trip to iphoto, now I need to sort through them and and post them on Flickr. I hope to have them up tomorrow. Here’s our group shot that we had one of the Disneyland photographers take on Friday. We had so much fun and we have so many great memories to keep with us.

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