Not So Perfect

Hey, everybody -- just want to thank all of you for your comments. I can't respond to all of them, but I sincerely enjoy reading them. Well, I haven't posted in a few days, and one thing I know about this blogging thing is you have to keep up with it. So here it is, Sunday night, and I am sitting on my couch watching "Barbie: Swan Lake" with Annabelle. Stovie is running in and out to watch the fight scenes -- otherwise he is disinterested -- too girly.

So my big thought of the day is PERFECTIONISM. The dictionary defines "perfectionism" as a disposition that deems anything less than perfect as unacceptable OR a belief that pefection is actually attainable. I just started realizing today how often I procrastinate or put off things altogether simply becuse I can't do it exactly the way I imagine it should be done.

For example -- I want to post pictures on my blog. That's the way Pastor Dino Rizzo does it (www.dinorizzo.com) and I like that. I want to do it too. But I'm having trouble uploading pics. Anyway, Friday morning I went to the gym and when I walked in I saw Meredeth Springer, Lisa Stewart, and Debbie Lindsay there. then Tarik Stewart and James Price walked up and we were all talking about church life. I thought, "How awesome that we can see at the gym the people we work with everyday and we still want to be around each other --- AND talk about work!" I felt so blessed at that moment. I thought it would be a great thing to post on my blog to share with you guys. So we went and found Stovall and took a picture together by the bench press.

Fast forward three days -- no post.Why? Because I couldn't post the picture, and I did't want to do it "half-way." Because I was so caught up in doing it right, I lost sight of the purpose of the blog --- to stay connected. So I am sitting here thinking, how many other ways do I let unrealistic expectations, or perfectionism hold me back... I don't have time to list them here, but trust me, it's too many.

Anyway --- baptism by fire today. Stovall and I were out at OP today and guess who was on video doing the sermon out there? You guessed it! Me! If you've been around me for any length of time you know how much I hate seeing and/or hearing myself on video. I make it the goal of my life to NEVER have to see myself on film. But today I had to sit through 2 whole services and watch myself. You know what? It wasn't that bad. Yes, I made mistakes. Yes there were times I thought, "Ouch, bad camera angle." But overall, I was pleasantly surprised to find that most of my issues were just in my mind, not reality. Again, I thought if I can't do it perfectly, I don't want it on film for everyone else to see. What I realized today is that my mistakes don't stop other people from receiving the word, but if I get caught up in trying to be perfect? Now that could be a serious hinderance on my life! Anyway -- time to tuck the kids on bed. Its' a school night.

Love you girls. Live beautifull, and don't forget about Joyce Meyer on Wednesday!
Love, Kerri xoxo

It's Working!!!!!!

Hey, Everybody! WOW -- I have to say that I am s pumped that people actually visited my blog and read it AND posted comments. It's Working!!!! I love reading all the comments -- thanks you guys. I see a lot of ya'll liked that book, Redeeming Love. It IS an amazing book. I don't know how long it's been since I read a book for pure pleasure, rather than to study or research. But I remember now why I quit reading for fun. When I find a good book, I can't put it down. I mean, I think my kids must have played video games and watched TV for 8 hours. I took just long enough breaks to feed them rolled up turkey slices with ranch dip to eat. It was a new low in my mothering career. Sooo...that's why I guess I don't let myself read for fun. Anyhoo --- Redeeming Love is a great book retelling the story of the book of Hosea set during the gold rush in the American West. It's an unlikely setting, but it works beautifully. If you are up for a good read, you should try it. I confess that I did cry -- I'm sure that shocks all of you!

We went to OP tonight, and it was an awesome service. Worship rocked and Stovall brought an awesome word about going to the next level. Taryn is speaking at OP tomorrow for women, and I am back at Deerwood talking about recovering from setbacks and avoiding comparisons. Speaking of which -- I better get some sleep. It's late (the time on this blog is 2 hours early -- can't figure that out.) See you later! Live Beautifully -K-xoxo

Diving In

Okay -- here I go. I am going to try to be a BLOGGER. I'm sitting in my family room and my kids are watching Bambi while I create this blog and they are bugging me to get off the computer so they can play games at nicktoons.com. So...this won't be long --- just an intro.

I don't know if I'll be very good at this, but I love how these things keep everybody connected to each other's lives. Especially in this incredibly busy world where scheduling a cup of coffee can almost require an olympic feat! Also, I am a terrible typist -- so expect lots of typos. I've already corrected, like, 20.

So what happened this weekend? We had Reuben Morgan and his team from Hillsong Church in Sydney, Australia to the Deerwood Campus. It was incredible! We had an incredible time of worship. At the end people did not want to leave. They kept saying, "More! More!" So funny. I think "Mighty to Save" might be one of my favorite songs EVER! It is from that verse in Zepheniah 3:17 that says, "The Lord your God is in your midst; He is a warrior, mighty to save. He will comfort you with His love. He will rejoice over you singing."

We had a great time hanging out with Reuben and His wife, Sarah and their team. The campus worship teams were out there --- Eddie and Angel, Brian and Rene, Jennifer -- we had a great time hanging out afterwards. Check Reuben out at http://www.reubenmorgan.com

Okay -- Bambi's over, so I have to sign off. I am going to try to keep up with this the best I can. I really like reading other people's blogs, so I hope all of my friends out there enjoy reading mine. Till next time -- live beautifully!-K- xoxoxo