Take back your land

Every once in awhile I will come across something that I read/study that resonates with me or students, because, well, that tends to be my heartbeat. However, this applies to every Christian as we wrestle with letting satan have an inch of power in our lives.

...and said to me, ‘I am going to make you fruitful and increase your numbers.I will make you a community of peoples, and I will give this land as an everlasting possession to your descendants after you.’ Genesis 48:4

"The enemy is standing on your God-given ground daring you to take possession of it. Are you going to let him have it? Or are you going to claim your inheritance? Possession is the law of the Promised Land." -Beth Moore, Believing God

For students, your God-given ground is your school. Will you stand by and watch as the enemy takes and has free reign in your hallways? Or will you stand up and let GOD "take it over" through you?

For some, your God-given ground may be your work. A place where you constantly have to stand up for what's right and lay down what's going to be successful (in earthly definition) for your company! Your God-given ground could be your family or your marriage, where the enemy may have a foothold. Will you let him conquer your household and run wild with his games? Your God-given ground could also very well be your place of worship where you see the enemy creeping in and starting to cause trouble, enlist a power-struggle, or attempting to build pride in yourself or others in leadership or the body.

Will you let him have an inch of victory for just a short period of time? Satan knows he has ultimately lost the battle, so he will creep in in other areas of our lives. Will you STAND up in his place and shove him out of the way? God is calling you to take back your God-given territory...but will you do it?

Take back your land!

19 weeks & counting

No chalkboard today! With all the moving it's kinda been at the bottom of the to-do list! Next week we should be up and running again! And no I don't feel as big as this picture makes me look. Thank you, lunch! and YES the hair's been chopped...that's another post for another time ;-)

How far along? 19 weeks...almost halfway through!! 

Total weight gain/loss: Not sure

Maternity clothes: A little bit of hand-me-downs but rocking my el cheap-o maternity jeans from Ross

Stretch marks? None :)

Sleep? I sleep good just toss and turn a lot!

Best Moment this week: IT'S A GIRL! Mother's intuition! 

Miss Anything? Being able to walk up the stairs without wanting to just keel over!

Movement: Not that I'm 100% sure of! I think she may have agreed with the worship this morning but not enough to knock me off my feet! 

Food cravings? Not really...always can go for cheeseburgers though!

Anything making you sick or queasy? No

Gender: Pink & bows!

Symptoms: Lack of energy and motivation to do anything!! Also, leg cramps during the night, lots of bathroom breaks, and always thirsty! But NO headaches so I'll take the constant peeing!!

Labor signs? No

Belly button in or out? In

Wedding rings on or off? On

Happy or moody most of the time? Been a tad moody lately...I blame it on all the moving stress and three flights of stairs!

Worst moment this week: Don't really have one! My back hates me and the moving process!

Best moment this week: Should I really say it again? I get to buy lacy things!

Looking forward to: Picking up B's crib from my parents this weekend! Yes...they still have the crib I slept in & now I get to use it :)
Baby info: She's the size of a mango (1/2 lb) and 6 in. long! Certain areas of the brain are developing for her senses and there could be a possibility of hair sprouting on her head! 

Offbeat week 1

"As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received."

Eph. 4:1

As we kick off a new series at Pursuit, emotions are at an all time high for students and leaders! Emotions that are those of anxious excitement! We had another record-high attendance Wednesday as we saw 178 STUDENTS, 25 NEW guests, 3 SALVATIONS, and 15 REDEDICATIONS. They continue to be fired up and rally together to get all their friends there! They are buying in to the GOSPEL and buying into seeing them MEET JESUS! Here's what all went down on Wednesday:

"If you all yourself a Christian, God has called you to live for Jesus."

"Jesus may live on the inside but He's to be portrayed on the OUTSIDE!"

"Our lifestyle should reflect our identity, so who are YOU?"

"If we're saved, we can't live like we're lost!"

"What we've received cost Jesus His LIFE while we were still considered His enemy!"

"Live like who are you ARE not who you've BEEN!" 

"The only time we should look down on people is to help pick them up!"

"Our LIPS & our LIFE HAVE to add up!"

"People aren't going to always read the bible. They're going to read YOU!"

"Be a world CHANGER not a world CHASER!"

The challenge for this series is to not "go with the flow", not live for the world, but live on a different level than the world. Live OFFBEAT! Our hearts should beat at a different level than the world's does!

To see more of what's happened in the student ministry, check this out!

...and this :)

 Be OFFBEAT!

  

Brooklynn Noel Hux

That's right, we're having a GIRL!! God bless my husband and my wallet! People continued to ask me if I wanted a girl or boy and that I had to have an opinion. But I didn't. I never cared either way, girl or boy, but I would've been shocked if that technician had said, "It's a boy!" Instead, she said "Yep, no doubt about it, that's a girl!" Cheers to my gut for being right all along! Hopefully the ultrasound doesn't indicate future behavior as it took forever for baby girl to cooperate and turn over so we could see her assets and pronounce her a girl!

So, why "Brooklynn Noel Hux"? I don't know. Ha-ha. A lot of people have significant meaning behind the names they choose. We really didn't. Brooklyn, NY was the place that husband and I took our first mission trip together but honestly, I just liked the name. And Noel was picked as we walked out of the ultrasound room, Haha! I had a list of two or three middle names in my head and Noel won. Thus, her name was "chosen".

Some things I worry about with having a girl: My wallet. Self control will be on top of the prayer list. Her teenage years...those are always a fun time! Ha! And probably just the possibility of her being a diva/drama queen. I'll be working hard to humble her from day one!

Some things I look forward to about having a girl: A future BFF, bows and lace, hopefully not as much blood and broken bones (the Lord knows I can't deal with all that), and hopefully her daddy's eyelashes!!

People asked when we found out if we were pregnant if we were "ready". I very honestly replied, "NO". So, are we ready now? Now that we've found out it's a girl? Nope. Ha-ha! Is anyone ever really ready? Maybe by the time she moves out of the house in 20 years I'll be ready. Actually, probably not!

So funny to watch her wave!

 


To Brooklynn,

17 Weeks

There's no "bump" this week well for two reasons! 1. We're moving and our residence is flipped and flopped and upside down. 2. Let's be honest, it still looks the same :)

How far along? 17 weeks!

Total weight gain/loss: I'm guessing still 7 lbs

Maternity clothes: Maternity jeans but still the same ol' tops

Stretch marks? Nada

Sleep? Once I fall asleep I'm good to go! We are moving so lately I've been ex.haus.ted!

Best Moment this week: NO major headaches! Someone cue the hallelujah chorus!

Miss Anything? Not really! Just being able to participate in the "heavy lifting" that comes with moving ;)

Movement: Not that I can recall!

Food cravings? No just still always hungry!

Anything making you sick or queasy? No

Gender: We will know next week!!

Symptoms: Backaches!!! And acne :-/

Labor signs? No

Belly button in or out? In

Wedding rings on or off? Off...they're getting tightened in the store ;)

Happy or moody most of the time? Happy...until 3am when I have to listen to unwanted episodes of Law & Order via the TV upstairs! Go to sleep people!!

Worst moment this week: Well I was told I "passed" my glucose test with a 139 (they like it under 140) but they're still sending me to a Diabetic Dr. More blood. I swear the hospital has more of my blood in vials than I have left in my body! If anyone ever needs a blood transfusion, I'm ya girl!

Looking forward to: We are moving, my sister has a wedding shower out of town, and we find out the gender all within 5 days! 

I thought it would be funny to look through some Old Wives Tales regarding baby's gender! Here's what our "outcomes" revealed! We will see how right they are! I guess we have a 50/50 chance of being right, huh ;-)

1. Belly sitting HIGH or LOW?
2. Is the Heartbeat ABOVE 140 or BELOW 140?
3. GOOD skin or BAD skin?
4. Craving SWEET foods or SALTY/SOUR foods?
5. Chinese birth chart: BOY
6. More Headaches? YES NO
7. MORNING SICKNESS? NO MORNING SICKNESS?
8. Mayan Legend: BOY
9. Hairier legs? (ha-ha) YES NO
10. Do you sleep on your LEFT or RIGHT side?

Girl: 4
Boy: 6

We may have a little "stud" on our hands (or in my stomach...) Will my "gut" lose?? We shall SEE!!!

God Takeover

¹³ Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to him, and he began to teach them. ¹⁴ As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him.¹⁵ While Jesus was having dinner at Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. ¹⁶ When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
¹⁷ On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” Mark 2:13-17

I'm writing this post for two reasons: 1. being that my husband told asked me to and 2. being that its too good not to write about. But let's be honest, I'm a lazy blogger 95% of the time and it takes a little nagging encouraging from my husband to do it. So, lets go.

As we begin to wrap up our Pursuit series, God Takeover, he's truly taking over. He's taking over the lives of His students at Team Church as well as taking over the seats in the building. Like I've said before, Hux and I are numbers people for several reasons that I've talked about before. If we don't continue to see growth in attendance and growth in the hearts of our students then we aren't doing our jobs! But our students are on fire and bringing carloads of friends with them as we have gone from 105 students to 154 students in the past 3 weeks! Praise The Lord! 

Our faith in God grows with every salvation we see come through Pursuit. Last night 10 students chose Jesus for the first time and 6 students decided to follow Him closer and rededicate their lives. I love seeing the students party, jump, and scream as students stand to receive Jesus! It's like no other. 

If you missed last night...

"When someone is spiritually sick, so we run to help or do we flee the scene?"
"We have to go into the mess to bring people out of mess!"
"Jesus went after the people we run from!"
"Jesus didn't wait for someone to come to Him, He went to them!"
"Sin makes us sick! It's so serious that Jesus died for it!"
"Jesus isn't MAD at you He's MADLY in love with YOU!"

Keep praying for the next generation!

They're going to CHANGE the WORLD!

16 Weeks

How far along?16 weeks, 1 day
Total weight gain/loss? Gained 7 lbs. total
Maternity clothes? Still wearing my normal clothes but rocking the jeggings/leggings all day every day.
Stretch marks? :)
Sleep? Once I finally get to sleep I'm okay! It's getting a little too uncomfortable a little too fast.
Miss Anything? Fitting into my favorite jeans and not having people yell at me every time I lift something. I-N-D-E-P-E-N-D-E-N-T (and yes, I sang the song to make sure I spelt it right;) I'm really not that independent. I just like to contribute to society :)
Movement: My stomach has always made odd noises and movements. Not sure if I'd notice baby moving or not. Ha-ha!
Food cravings? Breakfast biscuits :)
Anything making you sick or queasy? No
Gender: Two more weeks!!
Symptoms: Headaches, cramps, peeing ALL the time!
Labor signs? No
Belly button in or out? In
Wedding rings on or off? On
Happy or moody most of the time? Happy mostly. Lacking patience but what's new :)
Worst moment this week: Had my early glucose test. But heck, as much blood as they've extracted from me...it was a cake walk!
Best moment this week: Not sure there was one. 
Looking forward to: MOVING in less than two weeks! Woohoo!

15 Weeks

Labor Signs: No

Belly Button in or out? In

Wedding rings on or off? On

How far along? 15 weeks. Chuggin' along.

Total weight gain/loss: The weight of lots of McDonald's

Maternity clothes? I caved and bought a pair of jeans...but they slide down a bit. But let's be honest, maternity clothes are just way more comfortable pregnant...or not pregnant so go get you some ;) Ha-ha!

Stretch marks? No {Insert scared face}

Sleep: Still sleepin'

Best moment this week: Not sure there was one. Other than it went by considerably fast. 

Miss Anything? Poppin' pills...for a headache or cramps...!

Movement: Do cramps count? Haha

Food cravings: Cheeseburgers. Husband and I had a "buy one Big Mac get one Free" so of course we had that for dinner Saturday night along with two large fries. I ate it all and didn't feel like throwing up. He said, "you must be pregnant, like real pregnant." It's true :-/

Anything making you queasy or sick: No

Have you started to show yet: Little bitty

Gender prediction: We find out SOON!

Symptoms: Still headaches & cramps

Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy, mostly :)

Looking forward to: Since I have the glorified PCOS, I get to take the "sugar/glucose" test TWICE during this pregnancy. Once at 28 weeks and once next Monday. Super excited about that!! Not....