MaryBeth

WOF...here we come!

Orphan Summit and Women of Faith! Newbie and Scared!

Steven and I head out in a bit to go to the Orphan Summit in Minneapolis to take part in an amazing event.  Pray for us as I share and as Steven sings.  Trust me, you wouldn't want that the other way around.  Steven speaking would go long.....Just kidding....but some truth...but more importantly....Mary Beth Singing would clear the room...quickly!  So, I pray we will be a great team as we allow God to pour through the broken places of our lives and let people SEE where He has been working in us. I'm very nervous as I am the Newbie this weekend at WOF in Columbus, Ohio.  If you are coming to that event, go easy on me!!!  LOL.. Seriously, I am humbled and honored to be a part of this wonderful gathering, but...I'm really operating out of my weakness.  I feel that God has this season for me, but I never would have imagined it!  Please, pray for me as I have a short amount of time and I long for Jesus to be seen and heard as I share from broken, dark places of my life.  I will try and keep you posted, as long as I don't throw up, pass out, or die of heart failure....I could try running away, but Steven would just find me.  He IS my biggest cheerleader......did I say YIKES!!!!!

AMAZING! Director of Marias pre-school

AMAZING! Director of Marias pre-school retiring. In her honor they raised 15k 2 start the pre-school @ MBHOH!

Look What God Did!

42 Chapters....Choosing To See. To God be all the glory. This is rough form of a book! Finishing touches is all that's left!

Caleb and Will play Cinderella @ BMI Christian Song Awards

Dad was out of town so Caleb & Will played Cinderella at the BMI Christian Songwriters Awards.  Cinderella and Yours won song awards each, and then Steven received BMI songwriter of the year, which was actually a 4 way tie.  Which is great.  4 times the love!  Word on the street was that the boys did a great job and impressed some industry folk.  But, that doesn't surprise me.  They are two of the most talented young men I've seen.  Caleb's guitar pickin and Will's drummin are skills well practice.  They had a pretty tough mentor!  They are personable and hilarious...with manners to boot!  Can you tell a mom is writing this or what?   At any rate, I love Caleb's voice, and the songs that he writes rival another man I know in this family, but in a new fresh way...but the most amazing thing about Caleb and Will....They will be upset that I wrote this about them!  They are humble and gracious and hardworking.  They are excellent son's, brother's and one of them is even a great husband!  I am blessed that God gave them to me to raise!  You blink your eyes and it goes from your husband being the young blond singer/songwriter, to your son.  I always tell people though, that it took two boys to make one of Steven.  Caleb, as they (Caleb and Will) are known make a dynamic duo. I can't wait to SEE how God uses them and their story.  To God Alone Be Praised for to Godly young men who long to follow Christ and make a difference in the lives of others.

My Duke Championship Stuff Came!

To Knoxville 4 Show Hope.Hope

To Knoxville 4 Show Hope.Hope nThe Dark event.Pray 4 WF.Home alone recovering from a bacterial infection that has him hurtin bad!.

Easter in Ohio: Casting Crowns, Final Four, Easter Egg/Scavenger Hunt, Geocaching, and a Vicious 4-Square tourney!

Our Easter weekend started off by going to Dayton, Ohio to see Caleb (Caleb and Will) open for Casting Crowns!  How amazing it was to watch my two very professional boys play their music in front of the Crowns fans!  I've made a lot of mistakes in my life, but with tears streaming down my face, I looked at my husband while they were playing and said, "We've done a couple things right!"  meaning my two young Godly men who have such a powerful voice already at their young age.  I know God's hand is on them.  It will be amazing to watch as God leads them to steward their talents and gifts well.  Please pray for them as they continue on their new musical journey!

Then, it was on to Springfield, Ohio, home of Mary Beth!  My Parents still live in the house that I was 10 months old when they moved into it. What a sweet place it is to come home too.  The little girls love it when we go.  they have a blast with Mammaw and Poppy, as well as Aunt Jeanne and Barry, cousin Daniel and girlfriend Melissa.  The weekend was full of, geocaching, board games, Wii bowling tournaments, Easter egg scavenger hunts, and well, yes a quick trip to the final four.  It also culminated into an amazing 4-square tournament that ended with Shaoey to winner once, broken leg and all, and then I believe......Steven Curtis won the second tourney...Amazing but true!  Below are a few snap shots of the beautiful weekend we shared with my parents and my sister and her husband.  What a fun time.  I especially love the picture of my mom and dad.  Are they cute or what?  Enjoy, and remember, Easter is why anyone who is suffering with pain of any kind, can trust Jesus!  He suffered the ultimate for us.  He came, conquered death, and I'm going to SEE Him and Maria soon!  Jesus come quickly!  We ache in waiting for you, but in the mean time....We'll continue filling out final four brackets, enjoying family and the relationships that we've been blessed with, trying to beat Shaoey in 4-square without cheating, and trying to smile a bit more along this whole weird, crazy journey!Hugs,MB

Cale and Will with My sister, Jeanne, Mammaw and Poppy, and their

cousin Daniel and girlfriend Melissa!

Final Four View from where we were!

 

Egg Hunter Shaoey     Egg Hunter Stevey

 

 
Clue #1                     Clue #2                   Clue #3

  The clue led them to the Clothes Dryer!

Mammaw and Poppy!  Amazing.....

 

Geocaching in Ohio, Shaoey found 2 different ones!

And the Finale!  A vicious 4-Square Challenge!

The 4-square off between the eight of us.  Notice SJ in the front.  Where does

come from?


 

March Madness In More Ways Than One...Glad April is here...Kind of

 

While I wasn't there, because a certain Book that I am writing is due soon, I am posting a couple of sweet picture that my sister took at the CHAMPIONSHIP NCAA mens final basketball game!  My bucket list includes watching Duke win a National Championship!  I got to do that vicariously through my son's, Willy and Caleb. Thanks to some Awesome friends, they were able to take a couple of their buddies as well.  David, Will's best friend and brother to Julia, Caleb's wife, and Ciaran, Caleb's brother n law, married to Julia's sister, Ashley.  It was a great time for them. My sister and her husband got to go as well, so ALL had an experience of a life time.  I must admit, and Jim Houser can validate....He asked me to predict the outcome.  I said "give me five minutes into the game and I'll make my prediction."  At the 15 minute mark of the first half, I text Jim and said, "It's gonna be a close game.  I predict Duke but only by 1 or 2 points."  Duke won, 61-59 for those non-basketball watchers, which may be all of my blog world!  LOL, but that is OK.... I cracked myself up at the prediction I made and the outcome!  The Chapman family (Mary Beth's Chapmans) have been college basketball fans for many years, well all of the years actually...  My mom and dad still fill in the NCAA bracket March madness bracket white board we gave them for Christmas one year!  Nobody can talk college ball like my Mom and Dad.  So, what a year it was in the March Madness of college basketball!

Time out to say....I WON THE BRACKET in our ESPN group.  All you win is bragging rights for the year!  But for Mary Beth.... That is all I need to wear certain people out like Will Chapman and David Anderson!!!!  I'm gonna get you buddy!  Oh, did I mention that David came in dead last?  But that is really beside the point!  LOL

Quite honestly, the smile on Will's face (who has loved Duke his whole life thanks to his Mam-maw) lightened the heart of this weary Mom.  Pray for me as this book has been a difficult one to birth.  It has taken me on some unexpected/expected detours and of some things that needed to be dealt with before I could move forward in some of the writing.  The grief of not only Maria, but of some painful areas of my life have been in front of me in book form now, for a while, and the fresh pain it brought finally found me needing to deal in a more serious way with the "stuff" and "junk" that life can bring.

So without going into huge detail, I've been in my own March Madness as writing this book has made me realize that the lid has come off of my nice Tupperware bowl.  Now it is the bowl that you take out of the cupboard only to realize you can't fine the lid.  But it has been a journey that while difficult, has been worth the struggle.  I'm going to be journeying for awhile trying to reconcile all that God has allowed me to see through the sorrow and pain, but am up for the task, if it brings me closer to the One who longs for me to be at peace.

We said all most 2 years ago now when Maria left that relationships are all that matter.  It is time for this wife, mom, friend and following of Christ to begin the long process of healing.  I am confident that the healing won't be complete until eternity, however....So glad to be on the journey towards that.

Pray for me as I try to finish this project as soon as possible.  The publishers and other powers that be, would like to have it yesterday, and I begin feeling as though I am only as liked for the manuscript I deliver.  I'm sure that this is my whacked out perfectionism of wanting to do it right,great and on time, but it can leave one feeling isolated and alone.  I know that there is a business side to everything, but I will say that this book will be my only one, and I want it to be the best it can be.  It needs to not only honor my story and the redemptive God in my life, it also needs to honor the terrible loss of Maria, and the story that He is telling through her short little life that was lived so BIG. I long to honor the One who can take every loss, smallest to biggest, and use it for His purposes that we may not see for a long long time, maybe not until eternity.  

So, GOD, you have all of time in your hands, and you know when done is done. I trust that as it nears completion, that you will even use the imperfections that will surely be in the book for your glory!  The book I write now, will not be the book I'd write 10 years from now.  That is good news in that YOU are ALIVE and I will continue to become more like YOU and see things even clearer then!  I'm trusting YOU FATHER to do with this what you will....take me out of the way, and make it completely about YOU.

New Hugs from me, sorry I've been absent,

Mary Beth

Watching Duke/Butler from my living

Watching Duke/Butler from my living room.Willy,Caleb & a couple of buds r there live! Will's dream! GO DUKE!