Thanksgiving

So much to be thankful for...for salvation. my amazing family. for the fact that our house finally sold in Indiana and now we were able to move to Wooster. Thankful that God never turns his back on us...that he is a God of 2nd chances. Thankful that I get to work with a team that cares for me, my family and people...a team that makes me better. Thankful for the internet...no really. The way that we can now keep up with old friends...the way that at a couple of clicks I can read devos and go deeper with God.

God is good and his love endures forever!! AMEN!!!!

His Strength is Perfect

I remember this song so well...Steven Curtis Chapman... "His Strength is Perfect, when our strength is gone...he'll carry us when we can't carry on..."  Sang that song COUNTLESS times in High School.  I was reminded of it this morning as I started a devo on marriage. The verses I read were all on God's faithfulness and his ability to make the impossible, possible.

God's perfect strength in our weakness... The older I get the more I realize that I need HIS perfect strength. AND that strength does not mean that my struggles will disappear, but it will be the strength we need to get through whatever comes our way! 

Encouragement Saves Lives

No really...I say this... Encouragement Saves Lives and I really mean it! Think back through your life...to when you felt like giving up...you felt like walking out...you felt like quitting, but someone said something to you...or you read something in the Bible... or you read a post by someone and it spoke to you right where you are. It stopped you from running...from doing something that could have really hurt you.

I'm thankful today for people who have breathed words of encouragement into my life...thankful for times when I have struggled and God put just the right person in my path for a reason.

Find someone today and thank them...thank them for their investment in your life!

Renewed.

I sure remember when writing came easy for me...it was back 4-5 years ago...I could just sit at my computer and write...then...in a moment things changed...you'd have to go back and read my posts from March 2010 to understand it all...but my world got rocked. Frankly...it has taken way toooooo long to recover from that. My relationship with God has been ok, but not passionate. The drive in my gut for God has been weak --> ok. My faith has been rattled...

Yet through all of this...one thing remains true...one thing has remained constant.  "...great is YOUR faithfulness." And then add to that... "The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him." (Lamentations 3: 23, 25)  He remains faithful to me...faithful to listen...faithful in his patience with me... faithful in the peace he gives when we ask for it.

Recently I have been reading "My Utmost For His Highest" each day...I hadn't read those devos since High School...and it has been refreshing...and challenging. Here is a quote from today...

"We lose the vision because of our own lack of spiritual growth. If we do not apply our beliefs about God to the issues of everyday life, the vision God has given us will never be fulfilled."

It is time...no really...it really is...time to renew my passion for my Savior. Time to have a renewed and refreshed vision for life...for leading...for loving people...for sharing HIS message!  "Father, forgive me for where I have fallen short and tried to control things on my own...It is time for me to dive back in...not just tread water...it is time to dive back in to YOUR mission...all out...all in! I love you...in Jesus name!"

Just felt like posting today...been a long, long time...in fact it was funny to even go back and see that I had more drafts of posts than posts in the past years...time to post. Time to step out again...time to LIVE instead of SURVIVE!

Alright...enough said!

Moving To Wooster, OH!

CHANGE.

That is probably the key word for our family over the past 4 years.  Each year it seems that something happens that makes a major shift in what we are doing and where we are headed.  SO…after a GREAT DEAL of prayer (and a trip to my favorite prayer walking spot along the St. Joe River)…we have decided to accept a position as the Director of High School Ministries at Wooster Grace in Wooster, Ohio.  (WHAT?!?!  A Buckeye again?!?!  Crazy!)  SOOOOOOOO excited about the opportunity to team up with Grace to share Jesus' love in Wayne County!

The emotions inside of each of us are ALL OVER THE PLACE!  I look forward to seeing what God is going to do!! QUITE excited about the next 15 years of our lives!!  We are also quite sad to leave SB…We LOVE this city…Kelsey has lived here since 7th grade...We have been here for over 15 years...our kids were all born here...we have family and friends in the area that we will miss so much...our family at Living Stones Church...the staff and the youth group...I don't take lightly that I have been blessed to work for 2 churches with staffs that LOVE Jesus and each other!  I feel grateful for the opportunity to have served God in this place...SO grateful!!

We GREATLY appreciate your prayers in the coming weeks…there is quite a bit to do...we need to sell our house and buy a house in Wooster!  God has already been putting pieces of the puzzle together to make this move happen, which is good!!

To all of our friends in SB…WE LOVE YOU!!  And will sure miss you SO MUCH…and to our new friends that we will meet in Wooster…we are SO looking forward to coming out there and reaching Wayne County for Jesus Christ!!!!

I was right!!

I love being right!!  Don't you!??!  Really...no matter how big or small the issue is...it is good to be right!  To have the right answer...Last night was NO exception!  I made a prediction yesterday that I would not get wet in the dunk tank!  That no one would be able to knock me into the water...GUESS WHAT?!?!  I was right!  Only it was because the seat broke in the first 15 minutes of our event...BUT still...I was right!

SERIOUSLY THOUGH...(although...that is serious...'cause I was right!)  the even was AWESOME!  We had a ton of students at our Back to School Bash and it was VERY fun!  Cool to see the students playing...listening to music...eating junk food...and more sugar...and a little more...OH...but there was bread there for the hot dogs, so it was a little healthy.  GREAT TIMES!

A HUGE SHOUT GOES TO EVERYONE WHO HELPED MAKE IT HAPPEN!!  2 1/2-3 hours of helping...prepping food...watching over the inflatables...playing volleyball...basketball...and on and on...AND I SAW SMILES ON THEIR FACES WHILE THEY WERE DOING IT!!!!  How cool!  We had a TON of adults helping make it happen...and I didn't have to twist any arms to get them there!

A very fun way to finish off our summer and kick off the school year!!

Plan B!

WOW!  What a year...a year ago this day, our family didn't know where we would be going to church. I was about to go full time at Jackson Intermediate Center.  Frankly...I felt lost.  No clue where the future would take me. I was on a path in my life...one that I thought I would die being involved with...then BANG!!  Detour time!!  Shocked me really...rattled me to the core.

Crazy things happen when you are searching for what Plan B might be...what the next step in your journey will be.  I knew that God put me at Jackson for a season...that there would be students, teachers, families that I would have a chance to influence...quite cool to see that happen!

Then when we started at the Living Stones Church...started attending...Sam has always been a good friend...many talks through the years...it was good to be here. But at the same time...whenever you try to connect somewhere new it is a bit ackward...know what I mean...you just don't know how people do things...it has taken time, but boy it is good to be here! 

Then after the first of the year when Sam said...what about coming on staff at the end of the year...scary.  Not because Living Stones is scary of course! ;)  BUT because it meant stepping out again...

Well...here we are!  On to Plan B in the life of the Bouchers...and it is soooooo good!  I feel UNBELIEVABLY blessed to be able to serve in a church that is less than a 1/2 mile from my house...a church that's mission matches my personal DNA of living life for God!  A church with people that I like being around and get to serve in SOUTH BEND, INDIANA!!!!!!  I just love this city and although I opened our family up to move if that is what God wanted...I'm glad that I still get to serve here...for however long this season is...maybe even for the rest of my life...detours happen, but I'm not looking for one!!  THIS IS OUR HOME and I am thankful to God for the opportunity to be building HIS Kingdom on the SOUTHSIDE OF SOUTH BEND!

Umm.....soooooooo good to be a year down the line and see God's hand thoughout the past year...so good!

Teacher of the Year Reflections

Today I received my award for being the Teacher of the Year at Jackson...cool award and a HUGE honor...the overall award went to a kindergarten teacher...THAT is a person with A LOT of patience!!! (For those of you outside of SB...the South Bend Comm. School Corp has 34 schools...each school has a teacher of the year and then a committee picks 1 person to represent our School Corp at the state level...I was one of the Building Teachers of the Year...cool stuff!)

I was reflecting through the ceremony and on my way home...I thought back through all of my teachers that I have had that have sooooo shaped my life...teachers that sometimes I catch myself talking like them...or wondering how they would handle a situation or a student...sometimes I even want to go back and apologize to a few of them!! On my ride home I just had names running through my head...from K-12th grade...and as I'm sitting here I think of my college profs and then Mr. Beam and Mr. Dillon my supervising teachers...people that have invested so much in me...sooo grateful.

Thankful to for my students...because I love seeing them have breakthrough in their lives...love seeing them attempt more than they ever thought that they could...

And I'm thankful that I have NEVER had a bad principal...I mean it!! My principals have been AMAZING people and leaders...they make my life easy and pour belief in me!! Some teachers have horror stories of the people they work for...I don't have 1 bad story of a poor administrator!!

I was just reading a comment on Kelsey's FB page...that behind every man is an amazing women...and that is SOOOO true in my case! Kelsey is an UNBELIEVABLE teammate! She has shaped my life and my teaching in sooooo many ways! She shares ideas and doesn't let me settle...she expects me to do my best and helps me make that happen!! It also helps that she has been a music teacher...she's a GREAT resource too!!

For fear on continuing to go on and on...I'm going to go on and on!! One of the things that changed a lot of my teaching was having children...and more than that...have school aged children. Each of my kids are different...and seeing how they come home and perceive what their teachers are saying to the class...has made me be more careful in how I communicate...Also...I have changed some of my practice time homework!! Kids do need to be kids, so I cut my orchestra practice time after Chloe went to school! Kids do need time to play!!

Lots of reflection tonight...very grateful to have been so blessed to have so many amazing people invest in my life as I get the opportunity to invest in others!!

Manning + Tebow = Super Bowl Ring

Alright...STAY WITH ME ON THIS ONE...

Tebow is an AMAZING leader and VERY SMART and talented athlete.

Manning is one of the best QB's EVER and even at his "diminishing state" is still a better QB than most every QB in the league.

So here is my thought...first...Denver is a GREAT PLACE for Peyton to play...actually...I mentioned on Facebook on the day he was released that I thought he should go to Denver. They have an TOUGH defense, so he could work his way back and not have to do it all.

I ALSO BELIEVE that because of Tebow...Peyton can focus on his health and getting back to peak performance and let Tebow be the leader of the team...No really...

So WHAT DO YOU DO WITH TEBOW?!?! Put the "kid" at RB and TE...seriously...he is a solid runner...as long as he can catch, he is big and strong...PLUS...he can throw some, so you have some trick plays!

I WOULD SAY THIS...if Tebow moved to TE...with Tebow's work ethic and Peyton's ability to make anyone into a great receiver...WATCH OUT...Timmy Tebow will be a Pro Bowl TE by the end of the season. PLUS...he can continue to lead the team emotionally too!!

AND...he wouldn't be able to play in the PRO BOWL game because Denver's Defense will be #1...Peyton will be Back and Both Peyton and Tebow will miss the Pro Bowl because they will be playing for a Super Bowl!!

So here it is and WHY NOT?!?!? Would be best case senerio for both Peyton and Tebow!

Listen up!

Doctors. We pay them A LOT of money. A LOT! We ask for their wisdom...their advice...we want them to be miracle workers...want them to heal our bodies...our minds...we want all our physical and emotional issues to just disappear when they take care of us...

Here is my question though...

WHY DON'T WE JUST LISTEN TO THEM?

You know what I mean? They tell us to take time off...to rest our bodies...and we think..."I'll be alright...I can go back to work/school/regular activities now...I'll be fine!" They encourage us to take medicine for a certain time...and we think..."probably long enough...I'm good!" They encourage us to change a behavior...even give us steps on how to do it...But somehow we think we are smarter than them!!

This really hit me a while back...Here I was...sick as I have ever been in my life...my doc tells me to take AT LEAST...that wasn't a maximum...it was A MINIMUM...AT LEAST a month off...I had the time built up...so I could do it...BUT NO...I knew better than him...SO I went back to work after about 3 weeks...worked hard...and it set my recovery back...and as I look back (because we always have 20/20 vision then!!)...it set my recovery back by months...probably by about a year!! What if I would have simply listened to my doc's advice?!?!?!

SO...why don't we just listen? For some reason we think we know better!! Good ol' human nature...we ask the experts their advice...but then we only use what makes us happy!

Same thing happens in our spiritual lives...we read the Bible...listen to people who have "been down the road before..." yet we think..."It won't happen to me like that...I'll be alright..." only to roadblock ourselves and set our development back by months...sometimes years!! And frankly...I've watched some ruin their lives and deeply hurt people around them...simply because they weren't willing to listen and act.

The book of Proverbs in the Bible has A LOT to say about listening to wisdom...LOTS TO SAY. I still have not become a master listener...but I am working harder to listen to those around me...those that have been down the path before...to learn from their mistakes...to absorb some "tips" from their successes...so that I don't fall into wrong traps...so I make positive habits and patterns in my life...sometimes this makes me go against the grain of my makeup...but when I have it is soooooo worth it...saves me time and pain!!

So let's "Listen up!" Which means we won't just HEAR wisdom...instead we will ACT on what we hear!