Happy Anniversary - 9 years

NINE years ago today, we stood before God and a handful of family and close friends and said I DO! We were ALL IN and ready to start our lives together. After being a confirmed bachelor for 40 years, God had finally revealed to me my #2. My soul-mate. My BEST friend. My LOVE!

Not only had I been lucky enough to find my beautiful bride, I became instant dad to my 2 incredible 3yo twin daughters. We then added our amazing son, Jake and our MIRACLE son, Finn! Our family was now complete and we have set off on some amazing adventures!!

The past nine years have been full of AWESOME HIGHS and TERRIFYING LOWS. We've said hello and goodbye to special lives. All the while, standing side by side and barreling through it all. Eight months ago found us a one of those low times …. we were both extremely overweight and struggling financially … with no real motivation to do anything about it.

******** found us at that point and we dove in head first …. not expecting any real results but figuring, at that point, we had nothing to lose. To say it was difficult is an understatement …. but no one said it was going to be EASY ….. but boy has it been WORTH IT!! To date we've lost a combined total of 120+ pounds and have more energy than we've had in years!!

So …. here we are today!! Once again we are standing in front of a group of family and friends … this time 90,000+ strong …. Reaffirming that we are ***-**. Our passion for helping others is greater than ever and we love representing this amazing, Christian-based company.

Betsey – you are my rock. I can’t imagine a single day without you. There is no one on this earth that I’d rather be on this journey with! Thanks for putting up with my quirky habits and loving me unconditionally.

Happy Anniversary … I LOVE YOU!!

~Britt

Hope and a Future: 2015

Christmas is over.  All the presents have been played with and the decorations put away for another year.  The New Year countdown came and went.  The New Year is upon us and the “new” has already started to wear off.  The extended 2 week vacation from work, school and reality is coming to a screeching halt in just a few short hours.  So, now what?

For me, 2015 seems so very full of promise.  So much unlike last few years.  Of course still filled with TONS of unknowns, the things I do know are filling me with excited anticipation.  A giddy expectation.  My ONE WORD for this coming year is “joyful.”  I am looking to be joyful in whatever comes my way, and to look for the joy in all things. To be joyful in the journey, and to spread joy along the way. I am (FINALLY) old enough to appreciate that not everyone is going to like me, and I’m completely OK with that.  I can’t please all the people, and I don’t need to work so hard trying to!  And not everyone is going to like or even agree with everything I do or the way in which I do it.  And that’s just fine!  We all have our own path to follow. Haters gonna hate…  And I’m just gonna… Let It Go!

Britt and I just celebrated out 9th wedding anniversary last night (our actual anniversary is the 7th).  NINE years!  And this next one's going to be great as well! Here are just a few things I am excited about for 2015. 

·         We’re moving.  I know this is happening.  I have no idea what it’s going to look like, but I know it’s happening.  The lease is up on the home we’ve been renting, and we will not be renewing it.  We really (REALLY) want to buy a house here, but the details are all in God’s hands and in his timing.  For the first half of the year, this is my number one prayer.

·         Emma and Lara, my first born babies, will turn 13.  THIRTEEN!  I will be the mother of teenagers.  This boggles my mind, but truly thrills me!  I love watching them become the young women God intends them to be!  It’s a little sad as they “need” me less and less, but it’s so AWESOME to watch them take charge of their own lives and make decisions. Constantly praying for them to listen to the Spirit and make wise decisions.

·         Financial Margin.  We have been working the last 9 months to set the foundation for our business in order to create more wiggle room in our monthly budget.  And it is truly a blessing to watch this process unfold.  We put braces on Lara last fall, and we were just told a few weeks ago Emma needs to start the process soon as well.  And Jake has decided he is a 3 (or 4 or 5) sport athlete, and at the rate he’s growing we’ll need new shoes every 2 months!  Plus, out sweet, miracle baby Finn – always a medical bill or two floating in… We need this margin in our lives!  Praising God for the guidance we have received and the knowledge we are gaining.

·         Britt and I are back to leading a LifeGroup.  I specifically took action in saying “No” to many things last year for a variety of reasons.  I feel like it worked for me and my family.  Late this past fall, we were approached with the prospect of helping our current LifeGroup (that we’ve been members of for 4 years) multiply into 2 groups.  We will be leading a group that will start with 4-5 couples later this month.  I continued my “No” streak by choosing not to host the group in our home – we are meeting at another family’s home.  Praying to be effective leaders and wise stewards of our time in this area.

·         Junior High School.  Back to those red heads of mine.  I was TERRIFIED of them going to middle school.  Paralyzed with fear.  I had heard so many bad stories, seen so many wrong choices made by friends and acquaintances.  I failed miserably by worrying CONSTANTLY about middle school.  It turned out to all be for naught.  Seriously.  The girls have had an EXCELLENT middle school experience!  I know we have 5 more months there, but I trust that nothing much will change.  So, in the fall, it’s off to Junior High.  I’m not scared.  I’m optimistic.  Lord, you know my heart in this area… I pray for continued watchfulness.

·         Time Freedom.  Right now, and for the next few months, we are dedicated to living like no one else, so that later we can LIVE like no one else.  We are dedicating all of our free time to growing and nurturing our ******** business. So that later, within this next year, we can bring me home from my regular day job.  I want to do more, and have better, for my kids.  So for now, we are saying “No” to good things to be able to say “YES” to better things.  Working smart right now will allow me to come home to my babies soon. God help us to make discerning choices in this area and guide us as we work to change our life for the better.

·         ********.  This company and this business have changed our lives.  We started last spring so we could lose weight.  We jumped on as distributors so we could get a discount.  IN the process of the journey, we have learned so much, and our focus has completely changed.  We are loving the opportunity to HELP OTHERS!  Share the knowledge and lessons we have learned.  Show friends and family how they can have what we have.  Our lives have changed, for the BETTER!  We want everyone to have what we have!  To know what we know and to feel like we feel.  Our health is improved, our finances have improved, and our OUTLOOK has improved!  Lord, show us how to be effective with our passion and help others.

·         Health and Fitness.  It seems almost un-American to not include some sort of health and wellness goals in a New Year’s list! LOL!  Britt and I started our journey 9 months ago.  He has lost 72 pounds.  I have lost 42.  We are starting a ** *** ********* (with THOUSANDS of our friends) this week.  This journey is never “over,” it just evolves.  Britt wants to lose about 30 more pounds.  I am only ½ way to my goal, so we still have work to do! 

That’s quite a list!  But can’t you see it, too? This year is going to be so joyfully amazing!  So many promises that I know will be fulfilled.  So many plans unfolding for prosperity!  We serve an AWESOME God, and He will not fail.  This is our opportunity to shine.  Our passion is to help others with their outlook on life.  To help them with their dreams.  To weave the fabric of their lives with joy.  We want to take the things we are passionate about (Jesus, family, health), and successfully share them with others to help improve their futures as well.  We invite you to pray for these things with us in 2015. 

What’s your outlook for 2015?  How can the Six Dream Weavers pray for you?  Tomorrow we go back to the “grind.”  Work, school, lessons, practices, the “daily” things.  Let’s find JOY! 

AdvoKids! Even they are ALL IN!

If I Were a Christmas Letter…

The time of year has arrived when I just LOVE to check the mail box every afternoon!  SOMETHING finally out numbers the bills and the unsolicited advertisements and random coupon fliers stuffing the mailbox on our front porch.  CARDS!  Real, signed, personal (and some not so personal) greeting cards!  How humbling to think that someone thought of me and my family – even for just a moment as they addressed the envelope – with love! We got our first card on Tuesday of this week, and have gotten a couple more each day.  My kids fight over who gets to check the mail, and if the envelope says “The Weavers” or “The Weaver Family” there is a mad scramble for who gets to open it!  Just another Christmas tradition that I absolutely LOVE!

*edited to add: This is my personal opinion and is not meant to bash anyone who loves or writes Christmas Letters. No throwing of flames needed.  :) *

But, inevitably, some of those cards come with the notorious “Christmas Letter.”  You know the one – the letter that touts the fabulously amazing accomplishments of the kids and tells of gloriously wonderful trips to exotic and magnificent locales – WITH PICTURES.  Tales of laureled accomplishments in the workplace and domestic bliss in the home.  I get it!  We all loved to tell our story and to brag of our endeavors – it is human nature.  And I love stories!  I just get the feeling with these types of letters that somehow, I’m not doing it right.  I don’t have a laundry list of marvelous events and spectacular triumphs to share with my Christmas Card List. Don't get me wrong - I LOVE my life and I love the time I spend with my family and the fun things we do - it's just not Christmas Card worthy, in my opinion.

My letter – if written in that vein - might tell about my kids meeting all attendance requirements at school because we finally had a “well” year!  It might tell about the trip to the City to go to Sam’s AND Target – ON THE SAME TRIP! LOL! It might mention dance, or baseball, or volleyball – but there’s no trophies or ribbons or medals. Nobody wants to read that.  And besides – isn’t that what Facebook is for? ;)

So, the Christmas letter is basically a chance to pick out and emphasize the BEST things that happened over the past year.  You see that?  The BEST things… Not the daily things.  Not the less than stellar things. Not the hurtful, sad, trying things.   During a message one time about social media, my Pastor Craig Groeschel said “We're comparing our behind the scenes with their highlight reels.”  YES!  That’s exactly it!  (He has actually said that in a few different references, but this one stood out to me.) That’s why Christmas letters make me sad.  That's why there are no Christmas letters from the Weavers.  Not like that, anyway. You get a fun card, with a picture of my family, and a message about the true Reason for this season. Merry Christmas!

But you know where we are all the same? And our “Christmas Letters” don’t matter? At the Foot of the Cross.  We all know the Christmas Story - the "Highlight Reel," but have you thought about the details? The "behind the scenes?" Instead of a highlight reel of the things the members of my family have done this past calendar year – which would surly bore you to sleep – I am going to write you THIS behind the scenes Christmas letter…

Dear Friends,

As the year 2014 comes to a close, I want to tell you about the only Christmas that really mattered.  The one that changed eternity.  The one that happened over 2000 years ago.  To a young girl, and her fiancé – who both had faith above all things to carry out an incredible mission. This is their Christmas letter...

Mary had grown up in the same village as Joseph who was several years older than she was. Perhaps they had admired one another from a distance ... perhaps Joseph had just been waiting for the darling Mary to grow up!

Mary was in the house one afternoon, maybe working on her wedding attire, or sewing towels for her new home when she sensed someone in the room with her. Conceivably, Mary looked around to see if anyone had joined her.

“And coming in, Gabriel said to her, Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.” ... 

Joseph and Mary’s love story had been horribly and inexplicably interrupted. Mary is pregnant and Joseph knows that he is not the father. Joseph surely must have wondered if Mary had been violated, although she was quietly insistent that the child in her womb had been placed there by the Holy Spirit.

Did Joseph wonder if Mary was delusional? How else is it possible to explain this catastrophic turn of events? What was once lovely is now tinged with ugly. What was once anticipated is now dreaded.

Joseph apparently did not believe Mary’s story because his plan was to put her away privately. This was the kindest and most loving choice for a young man found in the throes of betrayal. He could have allowed her to be stoned before the baby was born. Or, after giving birth, he could have allowed both her and the baby to be stoned. Sending her away never to be heard from again was the ultimate loving sacrifice on Joseph’s part.

It is impossible to even imagine Joseph’s disappointment with God and with the person whom he had loved most in the world. Mary had been his world and now he would never see her again. Did Joseph believe that the girl of his dreams had given her virginity to another man?

Joseph did not deserve this betrayal or this heartbreak. What he “deserved” was a wedding day filled with joy and the promise of young love.

Now, perhaps, Joseph’s reputation had been sullied on the streets of Nazareth and his boyhood friends were snickering behind his back.

Joseph had to face Mary’s parents and his own parents. Although he bore no guilt there was still the possibility that they would not believe him. There was no holiday frivolity for this disappointed, heartbroken young man.

Christmas, for Mary, was the challenge of understanding what the favor of God is truly all about. Mary was about to learn that being highly favored by God does not mean a life of unbroken happiness nor does it promise that all of your dreams will come true. There is a tremendous price to be paid by those who are highly favored by God; favor means, simply, that God is willing to use you.

Christmas, for Mary, was about discovering the intimacy of the Lord’s presence as never before. Mary was about to be confronted with the reality that favor happens when God places a piece of Himself into an earthly life. No longer was God a mere concept or a Divine Being who never engaged Himself in the affairs of everyday life. Because of Gabriel’s message, the presence of God Himself had invaded the life of this young girl who, prior to this moment, had nothing but Joseph on her mind.

Christmas, for Mary, was about understanding that God’s ways are so much higher than our ways. Mary was learning, like all of us must, that when Divinity invades humanity ... Divinity always wins! Christmas is a reminder that His ways are always higher and better than anything that we could ever think or imagine.

Christmas is about the Holy Spirit bringing peace and joy through a Baby Boy to the mess that we have made of planet earth. It is about the power of heaven’s reality invading one life. Christmas commences the moment a person realizes the longing that has always existed to be overshadowed by all that He is and all that He does!

Christmas has nothing to do with dancing elves, reindeer with red noses and snowmen who sing. Christmas is about an invasion! Christmas happens at the moment when heaven’s light invades the darkness of planet earth! Christmas is a time when we should all expect heaven’s entrance into our dusty, dirty worlds. Christmas is a time that reminds us all that miracles really do happen, prayers are actually answered and that heaven is just one response away. God absolutely hears your prayers. He is listening intently to your requests and loves it when a believer comes to Him boldly and unashamedly. Ask and keep on asking, seek and keep right on seeking, knock and keep on knocking! (Matthew 7:7) 

Claiming His Promises,
Betsey

(All excerpts from the YouVersion reading plan "Joy! to Your World! A Countdown to Christmas" written by Carol McLeod if Just Joy Ministries

This is one Christmas letter I am glad that was written. Can you feel the hope in this?  The Promise! He will bring us GOODNESS and LIGHT!  This is what I love about Christmas and this season of the year.  I love the pomp and circumstance, the decorations, cards, food and festivities!  I love the lights and trees and BLING!  But most importantly, and definitely above all, I love the Gift of Jesus, my Savior!  To God be the Glory. Amen.