Stage 20

"Stage 20"

Today is my 30th Birthday!!!  I can't help but to sit and reflect on the past ten years in my, "Stage 20's." 

When I was a teenager my sister Rebecca would excuse away all of my short comings by what
"stage of life" I was in at the time.  Around that time we began to include in our Birthday cards to one another what number "stage" we were celebrating.  Since then it has stuck and I almost think of my age as what "stage" of life I am in.  So, for the last 10 years I have been in, "Stage 20's" and I felt the need to journal/blog a few of the highlights from each "stage".  As I have set and reflected on each year I honestly can't remember very much. (oh no! my mind is already slipping:/)  I can recall a few things but most of all I know that, goodness and mercy have followed me. 

As you read this you will notice the words I and we.  I promise that when I say, "we" that I do not have a split personality.  I'm referring to the other half of me, my side kick, soul mate, life companion, my prince,  bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh, my husband, Jason Scott Wheeler.  I can't really tell where he starts and I begin.  I don't know life without him.  Because of him I have a life because I am his helpmate.  The things I will write about are because Jason has followed God's plan for our lives.  The past ten years are just a few foot steps in me following my husband as he follows the Lord. 

Stage 20:

We celebrated our first wedding anniversary.  (yes! I got married in "stage 19" lol) We lived in the cutest, tiniest cottage style house in Fountain City, Tenseness.  Jason was a Jr. in Bible College.  I was a teacher at the Early Childhood Center at Central Baptist Church in Fountain City.  We traveled home to Nicholasville, KY every weekend to serve at our home church, Tabernacle Baptist Church. We ran the bus and vans to pick up kids and Jason taught the Jr. Church.  The Lord called us to Hickory Valley Baptist Church later that year and I became a youth pastor's wife.  I became an aunt for the third time:)

 Olivia Faith Hearn is born!

 5516 N. Broadway Knoxville TN

 one of our first trips with the teen of HVBC

 We took them to Island City, KY

Early Childhood Center 3yr old class

Stage 21:

My life was busy with work, church, teen activities and helping Jason study for his Greek 4 classes.  Jason graduated in the spring. That fall I quit working for the daycare, went back to college myself and became the nanny for my beloved Hindu Family the Venkatesh's. HVBC bought us a new to us car. (What a blessing) I also became an aunt for the fourth time to Jason's nephew Connor Ray and for the fifth time to  a little girl who would later call me, aunt Hauney Leeler:)

 only half pretending to joke him (long story)

 Vikram and Divia Venkatesh

My last day at the Daycare

Stage 22:

I enjoyed going to college.  I picked up Divia and Vikram from school everyday and was with them  until bed time.  I learned a lot about the Hindu cutler and fell in love with their food. I often called myself a part time missionary to India. (I'm still praying for their salvation) We took a group of teens on a Missions trip to Montana for a week.  We loved it and would love to go back there one day.  Such a beautiful place with such a need of churches.  I also almost drowned in 3ft deep water on that trip. (yes it can happen)

Later that year I learned that God's grace is sufficient in a very personal way when my sweet Memaw went home to be with the Lord.

 my prince rescuing me

 Teen trip to Middle Tennessee Baptist Church

 Helping with the VBS in Montana

 I love that me and Papa are making the same face;)

Stage23:

I was very happy to finish college and have all my family come and stay with us in our tiny house for my graduation!!! The Lord started working in Jason's heart to come back to KY to pastor a church.  We began to pray where that church might be.  That summer we had a record 70 teen come to church on a Wednesday night!  We were able to see many of them saved and grow in the Lord.  We also ran a bus route and I got to work with the kids music while we were at HVBC.  Jason's uncle Jim went home to be with Jesus that year and around that same time the Lord confirmed in our hearts it was time to say goodbye to HVBC and move back to KY to start a church in Lancaster KY.

Graduation 2006

  

Stage 24:

We moved back to KY and  I became a Pastor's wife.  I was super excited to see our church quickly grow from 0 to 40 in  just a few months.  I loved being close to my family, especially to be at the hospital with my sisters when I became and aunt for the sixth and seventh time:) I taught the K-3 class that spring at Tabernacle Christian Academy.  That September Jason was ordained and we bought our First House on Kemper Lane in Lancaster KY!

The Wheeler family at Jason's ordination

* sorry to say there is only one pictures available for this stage because apparently in this stage I never developed any pictures or they are stuck on some broken phone or computer:/

Stage 25:

We got a puppy and named it Cotton, we still have her and if anyone wants a crazy dog call me.  Our whole family took a trip to Walker Town North Carolina to the Sword Conference.  I became an aunt for the eighth time:)

Eden is born

 

Baby Cotton



 



Stage 26:

Our church chartered that January and became self supporting. We survived "the ice storm of 09".  We went with out electricity for 14 days! (if you are a close friend of mine I'll show you a video that we made in our absolute boredom during those two weeks;) 

I worked for about half a minute at a Dr. office in Nicholasville but it wasn't a job that I was too crazy about so needless to say when my dad called and asked if I wanted to return to TCA and teach K-4 I jumped on it. Some where in there I took our Jr. kids  to camp.  That fall I became an Independent Beauty Consultant with Mary Kay cosmetics and yes I am still working on getting that pink caddy. 

The BFFs

Some of my K-4 class

Stage 27:

Trips, I took several trips.  Couples retreat, Ladies retreat, trips to see my sister Leah and her family in Mississippi and  I was my mom's taxi driver on a couple of trips.  My sisters became more precious to me as my Sister Rebecca had some serious health problems.  I'm so thankful we were all able to come together and help during her recovery. 

Sarah B. my partner in crime

L Ray

Ladies Retreat

Couple's Retreat

Stage 28:

My hair went extremely blond I took a trip to Dallas with my Mary Kay friends.  Our church bought a fixer upper building and I enjoyed helping fixing it up and watching it shape up into the beautiful building it is today.  We are so thankful for it and we are looking forward to out growing it and getting another building:)

Giving a Devotion at a baby shower

Dallas TX

Stage 29:

The year of stretching my faith.  We claimed by faith 2012 to be the year God would give us a baby.  We enrolled in foster care classes and were approved.  We were very excited to celebrate out 10th anniversary.  I  went to the Dr. and they found a lump through much prayer and faith God removed it.  Had one prayer after the other answered. Met the cutest baby girl I have ever seen and by the Unseen Hand of the Lord she became our foster daughter.  She has moved into out hearts and we are looking forward to what the Lord has in store for us in "stage 30".



 

"STAGE 30" HERE I COME!!!

"Lord please help me to be the person you have saved and called me to be. I want to study your Word so that I can know you better.  Let me be a witness and a light to this world.  Help me to love, support and pray for my husband more. Give me the faith to trust you in the situation with baby girl.  Help me to be a teacher of good things.  Give me the strength and steadfastness to accomplish the desires you have placed on my heart. Stir my heart to pray more for my friends, family, church and the lost.  Forgive me when I fail you lead me in the straight way.  Help me to be a good steward of the things you have given me.  Thank you for your goodness and mercy, for your blessings, for the past 10 wonderful years and most of all I thank you Jesus for saving my soul. In your Precious name I pray Amen."









Break Me Off a Peiece of that Kit Kat Bar

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Break Me Off a Peiece of that Kit Kat Bar

Give me a break, give me a break, break me off a piece of that Kit Kat Bar. Is'nt it wonderful sometimes to just take a break. Since I last wrote on my blog there have been many changes in my life. First, in the Fall I took a job teaching at Tabernacle Christian Academy as their K-4 teacher. This has been a very fun and rewarding job. It is wonderful when you can have a job that is acatually a ministry. Most of my conversations these days have been about all the funny things they say. I am so amazed at what there little brains can retain. It was rewarding to me that the week before our Christmas break they were actually reading small sentences!! So, needless to say I am exhausted at the end of the day!! (If you don't exert more energy than them they will run over you:)
If teaching K-4 was'nt enough I also became an Independant Beauty Consultant for Mary Kay in October of this year!! I'm very excited about this job. There are so many benifits of this company (The PINK CADILLAC) and I'm very excited to be apart of it. I look forward to my summer break when I can teach Mary Kay full time. I have only had 4 Skin Care Classes since I got started and it is looking promising that one day I just might have to give my little Honda Accord a break and start driving something that's pink:)
Above these two jobs that I have the two most important titles that I have our Pastors wife and wife. Being a wife is the most important to me because it was the one God called me to be when I was just a young girl. He confirmed this calling when I was 19 years old and Jason Scott Wheeler took me to be his wife. (this is the one thing I will never take a break from) I am very thankful the Lord called my Husband to be the Pastor of Lancaster Baptist Tabernacl in January 2007. (It is hard to beleive that we will be celeberating our third anniversary this month!) Our Chruch family has been such a blessing to me because it is a blessing to serve.
I would be lying to you if I said that I have kept all of thses titiles balanced in my life. In fact I'm sure that I have porbably neglected them at times:( do you want to know a very, very, very sad thing??? I have also neglected my time and relationship with the Lord:( :( so, while I'm sitting hear on my break off from work I have decided that I must have a break everyday so that this relationship can grow. If this relationship is not what it should be then all of the other jobs, ministries relationship will not be right either.
So, as the comercial of one of my favorite candy bars says,......"Give me a break, give me break, break me off a peice of that Kit Kat BAR!!!!!
As of January 1st 2010 I'll Hannah Lonee' Wheeler will be taking more breaks!!!Sincerly Hannah

P.S. If any one wants to get me a Kit Kat I'll glady take a break with one of those too:)

What I Love About The Spring

"What I Love About the Spring"

The Lord has really refreshed my life with so many different people, things, and thoughts this spring. So, here are, " A Few Things That I'm Just Love'n This Spring!"

Green grass:

It just looks so much greener to me for some reason. Maybe it is because of the rough winter we just came out of or because of "I Surrived The Ice Storm Of 2009"!

It makes me dream of going to Ireland one day maybe on a Missions trip.

Watever the reason it just looks greener to me.

Cold Wet Rain:

I love how the rain is making the grass so green and giving all the vegitation the moisture it needs to make our yards so pretty. Ahhhhh, I love to go to sleep to the sound of a loud rain.
The coolest thing is when it is raining "Cat's and Dog's" but the sun is shinning. My favorite thing about rain is, it reminds me of The Blood of Jesus and how it washes away the dirt.

Warm Sunshine

The very thing that I said I loved in the above paragraph makes me love sunshine in the spring. Somedays it rains and it is cloudy and dark and you don't think you will ever see the sun again. Just when you think that, here it comes shinning through the clouds. I just feel Like I need to make the announcement to those around me, "I see the sun"! Whoooo, this makes me think of Jesus too. That is what I'm going to say when I see God's Son Coming through the clouds!

Song Birds

I love that the birds come back in the spring! If you come to my house you know I love birds. There is a bird in every room of my house. Birds also remind me of love. I can't help but to fall in love with my "Love Bird" more everyday. I guess I love birds because of their singing and that ,is one of my favorite pass times too. And how cute is a bird taking a bath in a little puddle of water! When I see birds in the spring all I can think of is God knows when one of them falls to the ground. How much more He cares about the smalles of things in my life.

A Change

There were a few days this winter that I felt I was stuck in a rutt. It was too cold to go out side, (sometimes to cold to stay in my house) and not a whole lot to do. Now, spring is here and the weather is changing for the better. Now, the Lord has blessed me with plenty to do. He has given me a job. At the begenning of the year I asked the Lord to use me more than He ever had and I think He gave me a job so that I could be a wittness. Sitting at home by myself was not going to get the job done. I also love the attitude change in people especially in kids. They know that school is on the back strech and I know things are starting to shape up.

Easter Sunday

Yesterday was by far my favorite day of spring. Easter has always been an important day to me, but yesterday was so different. This past week we had five people saved at our Church! So, this just started it out on a great note. The Lord showed me so many new things through bothe services yesterday but, I have to admit my favorite thing was getting to tell 18 kids the story of Christ death, burial and ressurection. Some of these kids had never heard this before and I will never, for the rest of my life forget the look in their eyes. For the first time they realised wow ,Jesus must really love me to die for me. For the first time they realised our God is different from all other gods, He's Alive! I pray that I will have that look in my eyes everyday of the year and not just in the Spring at Easter.

Hannah

Nice Lips!!

You want to hear something funny? So, Sundays for me are beyond crazy right? I stat by teaching the kids sunday school class, then get the kids to the bathroom then to their seats, put some lipstick on, find out if the nursery workers are there to keep the nursery, greet visitors, go to the bathroom myself, slip into the office and find a song to sing for a special, and yesterday we had some extras going on than normal. Dr. Louis Arnold was a guest preacher at our church, the kids were singing a special, and we were going to have lunch at the church for all the people who were going to go out in the afternoon for "Out Reach Sunday" whew.... needless to say lots of things going on. Well, after the kids sang I slipped into the office and put on some lipstick because , Jason wanted me to sing a special which I did after that I go into the kitchen to see if there is enough food for the lunch. This is when I realize that I was suppose to bring the drinks for this lunch. So, I grab the keys and go to get some cokes or something. While I'm in the truck I just happen to glance in the rear view mirror and what I see almost causes me to wreck. I guess in all my running around I put my lipstik on twice, without looking in the mirror. I had so much lipstick on it looked like I had been eating barbeque and it was everywhere but my lips. The first thing that came to my mind is I just sang a solo in front of the whole church and we had visitors!!!! This is just one of the crazy things that happened to me yesterday I'll spare you the long details of when I slipped and fell all over myself on a busy road while on visitation yesterday and getting in a fight with a thorn bush. (and yes, the thorn bush won!) The moral of this story is all of my friends and faimily need to pray for me on Sundays!

This blog is just going to be a page where from time to time I can come and wright down some of my crazy thoughts. I also hope that I can share some of the wonderful things the Lord is doing in my life and also some fun things I have done or seen.

Please hang with me though because I don't really know what I'm doing on a computer let alone how to create an interesting blog.