Steee-rugglin

yep. my blog is steee-rugglin' theses days and i would like to take a moment to excuse myself in hopes that finally writing something will spark ideas for future blog posts.

excuse #1 summer travel.

since mid may we have been home less that 30 days. vernon has been home even less than that. we love the summer travel season that working/running a non-profit brings but its not exactly blog-keep-up friendly.

excuse #2 summer travel.

ha. i know it was number one but i feel it deserves another paragraph. we have driven over 4000 miles this summer, 8 major cities, 6 states and still have one road trip to accomplish next week.

excuse #3 Instagram

i mean really, i love it. i really enjoy having twitter but Instagram just makes social media a little more appealing to me. This is one of my summer excuses because I have been able to post photos along the way of our travels from the convenience of my phone and feel as though i am contributing to the curiosity of those who would be satisfying said curiosity via this lovely blog. Also, I seem to get more comments from my social media friends than i do from this sweet blog so it spurs me on just a wee bit more to be consistent. :: not a shameless plug for more commenting...just fact.

excuse #4 brain fog

i remember very vividly the feeling of "baby brain" and it made me CRAZY. I hate not being able to keep my self and family organized and not being able to put my thoughts in an sort of sequential order. This is how I've felt since mid May. Coming off a big move back to Texas, getting the house unpacked and settled, establishing a routine just in time to hit the road for the summer has sent my head for a spin. I assure you it is NOT baby brain, although a few times this summer i have wondered solely based on my inability to have clear cognitive thought. since i have nothing to call this aformentioned "brain fog," then I will call it just that and hopefully the "fog" will lift soon. :)

so excuse me if you will, i do plan to be back in action soon.

thanks for sticking around all summer. hope yours has been great! ours has been fantastic!

A Dino-Mite Time

haha! That might be the cheesiest title you'll ever get out of me, but hey 3 year olds tend to do that to ya. This week, Justus turns 3 **sigh, deep breath** yep t.h.r.e.e. As in not a baby, not a toddler, a **another deep breath** preschooler. yep. thats what I said, a preschooler. crazy.

Justus doesn't actually turn 3 until this coming weekend but Vernon was going to be out of the country the next few weekends and not home for another weekend until mid June, so we decided to party this weekend! It was planned on a whim because we had previously planned to be in Austin but ended up having to cancel those plans at the last minute. SO I threw together a fun little party and friends were able to make it! Justus loves dinosaurs so it seemed fitting to have a Dinosaur theme. It was so fun. Dino-rific to keep the theme rolling :)

I loaned my camera to a friend that needed it to shoot a wedding, so I borrowed Lauren's and Keri's (moms who were at the party) then dumped them onto my computer before they left! Thanks girls for letting me use yalls!

We had a Dino Dig ::

we hid eggs filled with mini dinosaurs and cardboard cut out bones. The kids dug to find the dinosaur eggs and bones. It was a hit!

We had a Dinosaur Egg relay::

Pin the Tale On The Dinosaur::

And a Texas party is not complete with out::

A pinata ::

And a whole bunch of fun::

Never More Than 24

I wrote a song once. I'd say it was spring of 2002, actually. It was titled 67. My buddy, Steve Pullen, and I were attempting to write a song about the lack of time in a day to accomplish what we dream to accomplish and how this can drive us to not dream, to excuse our life away and never accomplishing a thing. Far better though, this lack of time can drive us into the One who created time, who gave us limits and had intentions of those limits drawing us to Himself. This song was written, like most in my college days, on a random napkin and then stuffed into a journal and sadly over time has disappeared and the only line I remember is so random, "like the 67 colors of blue & grey in the sky." Like I said, random.

But lucky for Steve and me (and likely many of you), just months after we wrote our little ditty, the best band ever...oh, pardon me... I mean, my favorite band, Switchfoot released their gem of an album, "The Beautiful Let Down," and on that album was a song that would forever mark my life, Twenty-Four. This song said everything and more than Steve and I set out to say in our amateur little tune. Lyrically and musically this song penetrated deep into my soul at a very crucial time in life. It challenged me to dream, to dream big, to live in who God had made me to be, to press in to Christ and believe that He is who is says He is and He can do what He says He can do.

Years later this song still spurs me on. Many of you know that this last year was not the easiest of years we Burger's have known. My flesh wanted to give way to laziness, thinking there was just not time in the day to accomplish what we dreamed to accomplish. The Lord kindly reminded me of this song & the time in my life in 2002-2003. A phrase that kept coming in my head was, "Amber, there is never more than 24. What are you going to do?" So in effort to avoid falling in the trap and giving up, I began to make a list of things I would like to accomplish but tended to just talk myself out of, because after all, "there's only 24 hours in a day."

Some of what was on this list was::

read.

read more.

learn.

be creative.

give homemade gifts.

read more to the boys.

learn another instrument.

re-learn greek.

run more.

love my neighbors well.

talk less.

memorize portions of scripture that ive always wanted.

That, of course, was just a short version of the "Short term" goal list I began. I remember reading, just months before making my lists, that CJ Mahaney was quoted as saying something like, "only One accomplishes His to do list everyday and that is God." I had read many books from the Mahaney women on motherhood/being a wife and all of them talk about forming "to-do" lists as being a sweet form of humility and honestly, boy is it! The reality is:: you will not accomplish them all and that is fine, infact, its very freeing! But if you never have goals, laziness creeps in and quite frankly God is doing such a great work in our world, why would we want laziness to steal us away from being a part of it!?

So 9 years later, I am here writing you, My sweet blog friends, to say,"Y'all, there is NEVER more than 24!" Live each 24 hours to its fullest. Enjoy the moments. Take advantage of the now. Dream. Learn. Love. It is so worth it. These things were "easy" as a young, carefree college student but as a work-at-home/stay-at-home/homeschool mom I gotta preach this to my soul! The Lord is up to great things in your life and the enemy wants to steal it from you. Don't be overwhelmed by your "to do's." Let them drive you to the feet of Christ and enjoy Him there while you accomplish much in this life. May many hear of Christ through you as you go and do and be.

with hope::

Amber

The Aftermath

You may know that Hillsong United just released a new album entitled "Aftermath." This album has been more than fitting for us as we adjust to life back in Texas. We have the title song "Aftermath" on repeat in our house and our cars. "Lifted out of the wreckage I find hope in the aftermath" is the line my heart sings.

Our life in Missouri was great. The dearest of family and friends were just miles from our reach. We made amazing new friends that somehow now feel as close as family. The Lord gave us all we needed and more as we followed Him to Missouri. I look back at the last year and a half and the words that come to mind are:: refine, realign, refocus, brokeness, humility, redefine, rebuild. After the events of our move back to Texas, aftermath is a great word picture for us. Not that our life was destroyed in anyway physically but spiritually and emotionally our hearts were wrecked and redifined in a beautiful way over the last year.

I know the writers of the song Aftermath had the intentions of illustrating our lives apart from Christ and the wreck we make of ourselves as we seek our own life apart from He who gives life. They wanted, I am sure, to illustrate the hope of being pulled out, set apart for the cause of Christ and I would contend they did an amazing job of that both musically and lyrically.

After a long period of brokeness, humility, hardship, suffering or refining, do you ever feel like you are being pulled from the wreckage? The aftermath of what you just walked through is all around you, the sting of the wound, the stench of that which was peeled away? But in that aftermath, there is some how hope. Hope that you made it through alive and that it was worth it for some reason. Christ pulls you up, dusts you off and cleans your wounds so they can heal.

We are so elated to be back in Texas, a place we never thought we would live again. Its funny how the Lord excites your heart for things you never thought you would be excited about! We love it here more than EVER. We are adjusting to life in Fort Worth, our new Church and loving being close to our sweet friends.

I am a part of a women's Bible Study on Tuesday nights and I mentioned that I was thinking of not blogging anymore because I was pretty sure if I had readers they were not readers anymore because of my lack of posting. It came out that some of those ladies (whom I did not know until last month) actually read my blog! So they encouraged me not to stop. So here I am. In the aftermath. Stop by, I guess, and read as we wade through the beautiful wreckage.

with hope::

Amber

One of The Many Reasons We Do What We Do::

This footage was captured at the His Voice/ EPC Orphanage in Lura, Sudan by a member of The Village Church's team, Jesse McKee. :: I love these kids :: Videos like these remind me that all the administration and networking done everyday on our side is worth every bit of our effort. Sometimes, since my heart is often in Sudan, being on this side seems like unnecessary busy work. But the Lord uses videos like these to open my eyes to the Truth. He has called us to serve and sometimes "service" doesn't mean going (although sometimes it does). Sometimes it means staying here and being voice for these kids. Sometimes it means staying up late or getting up early to return emails, calls or send mailouts. Sometimes it means printing and mailing and setting up booths. Sometimes it means brainstorming, creating videos and posting photos. Sometimes it means having less and giving more. Sometimes it means being home and raising boys who love the nations so the next generation will carry the Gospel to many.

I hope you enjoy their joy::

Sudan Orphanage from Jesse McKee on Vimeo.

Pumpkin Patch 2010

or rather

Pumpkin Patch 2010 Camera Fail

We got up early this morning to have our fun family Friday (its Vernon's day off) and had decided to go to the pumpkin patch. It was a lovely, brisk 48 degrees and we would be able to wear our sweaters and drink our coffee and have a magical time (see THIS post for background info). An added bonus to going early is that you pretty much have the place to yourselves and the sun is just at the right angle to get beautiful morning lit photos.

We got there just as it opened and we were sharing the place with just a few other people, who happened to have the same idea as us...GREAT morning lit photos. They had hired professional photographers to follow them around and capture their beautiful kiddos on film. I however was ready to follow my own kids around, decked out with my camera w/50mm on and a spare lense in case it didnt work out like I had hoped. I was so excited. They had on their cute sweaters and the pumkins were perfectly placed for great photos. They began to climb on them and I snapped two pics, trying out the lighting. AND THEN, my camera died...battery...DEAD. I usually have a spare battery for things like this, but not today. I was bummed....but very thankful for my iPhone.

So here are the two lone pics from my DSLR::

and a few that my iPhone captured::

oh well. We had a wonderful time and that is what matters folks :)

He's Got Moves



Titus loves dancing. Most of the time he does it with out any music. He just makes the music up as he goes. Today I caught his dancing on video. Later today I put it to Lecrae's "God Is Enough" and couldn't help but post it. If you didnt know you would think he was actually dancing to the song. It must have been the song that was in his head. :)

I Really Wanted To Say Something...but I'll Let the Pictures Talk.




These photos show a little into our lives the last few weeks but also say so much more. I had little "devo" type thoughts for each one but am afraid that time will pass and I'll never post them if I wait until I have enough mental energy to write about what they do in my heart...so I'll just share them and let you be ministered to by "Life:: the way I see it." I learn alot from these little boys of ours everything from perseverance to dependence. I hope you have a tremendous weekend and enjoy what is going on around you and those you are blessed to love.

"Isn't That Just Like God"

Every time I think of all the details of life that God ordains to fall into place at just the right time, (never to early never to late) I hear my sweet friend/mentor, Mrs. Thomas, saying, "Now, Isn't that just like God!" That phrase keeps ringing in my head this week as I look back on all that has taken place.

Saturday we got a phone call from Sudan asking Vernon if he could be in country by the following Saturday. All for AMAZING, EXCITING reasons, which will be for another post. (or just check our His Voice Blog in the next couple days). We knew we would have a team from our partnering church, The Village Church, in Sudan at the that time and had already decided our Fall schedule was too packed for Vernon to join this team. Little did we know that he would end up being there to minister with them!!

All that said, Vernon is in Sudan. He will fly in on Friday to Minneapolis, where I will have already dropped the boys off with my Mom and driven to this beautiful northern city. I will pick him up, we will attend the Desiring God National Conference (we do this each year as a gift to each other instead of getting other stuff). We will drive to pick up the boys on Sunday following the conference, sleep at my moms, get up early and drive Vernon to the Ozarks for Staff Retreat. The boys and I will go home for the week, drive back and pick up Vernon from the Ozarks and head to Bolivar to do some ministry there. We will head back to STL, Vernon will be home for a day and then fly to Midland for some His Voice meetings. That said, the boys and I will be home 7 days between now and Oct 15 of which Vernon will be home 1.

Crazy.

But here is the cool part. As you may or may not know, we decided to homeschool Titus this year. It has been the biggest blessing EVER. Taking that step of obedience (for us, not that homeschooling is obeying in general,it just was for us in this time) has been SOO freeing to us! At the time of deciding this, I was a bit panicked. I also work for His Voice Global from home and I had no idea how I would be able to accomplish getting Titus schooled while being an effective staff member of HVG, not to mention a decent mom and keeping up with Bible study, prayer, outside reading, house work, cooking and ministering outside the home!
What I have found is that I am ALOT more disciplined with my time because I HAVE TO BE. I have found that not being strung out going here and there with school pick ups and events, we have so much more family time and time to get things done! So here is my, "Isnt that just like God" moment this week:: We are finished with 1st quarter in all Titus' subjects! History, Math, Geography, Science, Reading/Language Arts. (we even started a unit on Sign Language) Isn't that just like God to give us some time to pace our selves in the middle of our crazy season! This means, I can school Titus the days we are home and not have worry about getting behind while we are out ministering together as a family. How cool is that!

So that's my little, "Isn't that just like God" moment this week...Do you have one?!

Just Take It (pt2)

So...as I mentioned in my last post, I was challenged to start bringing my camera along instead of always wishing I had it. Here are pics from Day 2 of taking my camera...just in case you needed a little extra encouragement to lug yours around. We went to the park to play and decided to explore. We found a great trail around a pond and lots of rocks to play on. Titus, just this week, learned to ride his bike with no training wheels...so the trail was a perfect spot for him to showcase his new talent!

Titus on the trail::



and take 2 of Justus fitting as we leave, poor little buddy loves outside::

It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year

I know that is a popular line from a classic Christmas song but it has been ringing in my head since August began. I love August. Yes, it is my birthday month and it's our anniversary month and those are both fun reasons to celebrate but there is more to August that gets to my heart. You see, to this Missouri raised girl, August means the beginning of Fall. Cooler weather, light jackets, football practice and pre-season games, school spirit at its peek, hints of Fall decor creeping on to store shelves and into homes, jeans w/ t-shirts or even better, shorts with hoodies, oh man! the list gets me so giddy that I must stop! I can almost smell the pumpkin spice lattes and see the trees changing!

This year has been so special to me since we are now living back in Missouri. For the last 10 years August has come and gone and it only made me grumpy....clear until December. "Why?" you ask. Well, because in Texas there is no such thing as Fall. All the smells, the decorations and the sports come, sure, but not the weather. Its like a tease. Each year I would find myself avoiding college football (which is one of my favorite things) because in my mind, NO ONE should be forced to wear a tank top and shorts to watch football. I was seriously grumpy. Every year in October I would finally give in and come to grips that 90+ degrees is, in fact, fall in the south. So I would plan us a trip to a pumpkin patch, buy some straw bales to decorate the front porch and change our table center piece to something with beautiful fall colors. The only problem was that we would wear our jeans and long sleeve shirts to the pumpkin patch (because that is what you do in the fall) and FRY! It was never a memorable experience. Then we would bring our pumpkins home, place them on the porch for decoration only to have them rot from the heat within a week. I will say though, a good candle and some table decorations did bring a glimpse of fall to us and often I would turn the air conditioning down and watch a football game on our computer in the "cold."

We just got off of a long road trip to the south for His Voice Global. It was a great time, so refreshing to our hearts and just over all SUPER FUN. As we drove home on Thursday, you could sense the excitement as we got further and further north. When we left Louisiana our car thermometer read 96 degrees but as we pulled into St. Louis it read 76 degrees! I got so excited that it was fall and just couldn't help but make some celebration fall decor. So I grabbed some supplies and made this::

Doesn't it just say, "Come on over, it's FALL!!" So come on over, I'll bake something fall-like and then we can sit on the porch while the kiddos play and enjoy the weather...and dont forget your jacket or hoodie, it gets a bit chilly at night ;)

::7 Years Today::

I've been sitting here contemplating what to write about the past 7 years, but honestly, how does one summarise 7 years. I could not be more thankful that the Lord saw fit to have me be Vernon's wife. He is an amazing man. I love him AND I really like him! Seven years, wow. Seven years of fun, laughter, highs, lows, long trips away, overseas flights, satellite phone calls, beautiful returns, ministry, tears, hurts, pains, grieving, Love, hope, restoration, Life...together. I love you Vern. You're the best.

Exciting Times = Lack of Blogging!

Y'all, here I am again apologizing for my severe lack of blogging. I thought I would stop a second and fill you in!

If you don't follow our ministry blog/website, than this will be new news to you but if you do...well then bare with me! It is exciting times in the life of His Voice for Sudan as we are stepping into new territory! After much prayer by our employees (Vernon, Justin and I) and our fabulous Board Members, we feel like it is time to go GLOBAL. His Voice for Sudan will now be His Voice Global!! We have praying towards this for years and have watched as the Lord has moved for such a time as this!! We did a short video blog series on what the transition looks like and where we are heading as a ministry. Please stop by our viemo page and watch them! (they are only about 1 min a piece)

That being said, my job for His Voice Global has really stepped up in hours. As the transition neared I had lots of small projects to accomplish. My favorite projects was the new Logo. I got to sketching one day and I made this little HV sign I really liked...emailed it to my brilliant designer friend Michelle and this is what it became!!! Michelle is amazing. Didn't she do awesome! She has designed all our new material for us and WE LOVE IT!

Now, the lack of blogging is also a result of our final decision to homeschool Titus for 1st grade with hopes to make to Sudan as a family this school year. (he missed 18 days of school last semester of his Kindergarten year just from traveling with us as we ministered and that was w/ me and the boys staying back as Vernon went most of the time) SOO we went for it! Nothing like giving it a try! So we have gone a head and started his language arts curriculum, some history and math w/ hopes to have a good deal under our belt before our major travel season nears. HE is loving it, surprisingly. He constantly thanks me for choosing homeschooling! (which is funny since he is such a social kid)

At any rate, that is how I have been spending my normal blogging time. I am trying to find the balance of working from home for HVG, being a stay at home mom and a homeschool mom and would love it if you would join me in prayer as I start this new venture!

::: Guess Who is 6 :::

Titus is 6 today, I can hardly believe it. It is such a joy. He is intense in every way. He loves intensely. He gives intensely. He play, learns and listens intensely. He feels all his emotions intensely. He is full of life. We love him to the moon!