Darlene Partin

Oh, Amy. I am in love with your writing.  Yes, I love you, too.  I hope everyone enjoys laughing with us when they read your post…

http://ourcircle.wordpress.com/2008/06/10/jesus-has-an-awesome-laugh/

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Ok, it’ been a while… a long while.  Another graduation, a fundraising event, and lots of preparation for my daughter’s summer trip to Indonesia. So…because I have been so focused on my kids and their recent life events, I have nothing but mush for a brain so I am incapable of writing anything worth reading.  I am going to indulge myself in motherly pride and recommend a few links that will undoubtedly have me bragging on my kids, yet again!  OK, just indulge me today, I will be back writing regularly in the next week. So until then, check these out:

Michaela’s blog (she is now in Bali and has begun sharing her thoughts and some pics) www.mobilelikethewind.com

Harbor’s latest acheivement has been announce at http://calltopreserve. blogspot. com/2008/06/weve-signed-with-facedown-from. html

Darlene

PS.  Since I didnt mention John or Skyler and what they are up to, I will make each of them their own blog in the next week!

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I have a guest blogger today. Monica Blowes is the wife of our favorite associate pastor at Shoreline Church! She and Sam have 2 precious children, Will and Amy. I love what Monica has to share about helping out. Enjoy…

Helping Out

So I’ve come to a realization recently. Beginning to understand my role as a wife. Finally, right? I never truly understood what it meant and was actually a little offended by being described as a “helper.” In Genesis 2:18 where it says~~ The Lord God said, “it is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.” I just didn’t get it. It made me seem like a lesser human to be described as simply a helper. Can’t I have goals and dreams of my own? Why do I have to help him? Why isn’t he helping me? Oh, the selfishness that goes on in my head.

Anyways…what I’ve come to realize is that by being Sam’s helper, in making sure he has what he needs and that he’s taken care of, I’m making things easier for him. When things are easier for him, the less stressed he is, the less work he has to do and the more time he can spend with the family. By volunteering for jobs that he would have to do, I’m making things less complicated for him. Seriously…the guy doesn’t have a thorough understanding of cooking and recently I’ve needed to HELP him with stuff at church that involved several things that I’m passionate about. Why not join in on the fun with him and help him out. I’m not a lesser person because of it. I’m a more loving person because of it.

I’ve amped up my responsibilities by quite a bit in the past couple months and honestly, I like the work. I enjoy making phone calls for him. I enjoy emailing back and forth with brides about wedding vows and reception plans. I enjoy handling props for church on Sunday. I enjoy doing a little computer work (restricted by my serious lack of knowledge on how he does what he does) and am interested in doing more.

I’m not just a housewife/cleaning lady/chef. I’m a HELPER and I’m proud of it! I’m helping the best man I could ever possibly help to do the best job he has ever had. By helping Sam, I’ve discovered more about myself and have gotten rid of the terrible resentment that accrues in my mind when he’s working long hours. Because now, I know what is going on and how much work it actually takes. I’m a part of it.

Monica

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This weekend, Joe Johnson married Kassy, the love of his life. Joe came to Destin from East Coast Christian Center, in Merritt Island, to help us plant Shoreline Church. So many of our friends came up from Central Florida to celebrate with Joe and Kassy. We spent time talking of “remember whens” and enjoying every minute together like it was old times.

My best bud from our previous church, Suzanne Ellis, stayed with us and we attended the wedding together. We laughed, stayed up late hours, ate great food, and talked about our children and the future. We got the opportunity to take her and Tony and Debbie Demarzo out to Crab Island, to eat at Dewey Destin, and then for a cruise through Cinco Bayou. It was fun to show them where Eric and I grew up and to proudly expose them to our little piece of paradise.

What a great pleasure it was to worship with my family at Shoreline Church, along with some members of my family at East Coast Christian Center (ECCC). Pastor Chris Johnson from ECCC led worship at Shoreline and God showed up big. Chris was just a young teen when he got involved in our youth ministry and it was rewarding to see the incredible man he has become and to see him walk in the incredible giftings God has placed in his life. I can’t even express the gratitude I have towards God and my ECCC family for their support for Shoreline Church. Just their presence in our service yesterday reminded me of mine and Eric’s great heritage in ministry and made me thankful for the people God placed in our lives during our time at ECCC.

Thank you, my East Coast Christian Center family, for coming to visit. I can’t wait to see you all again!

Darlene

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Over this past weekend, our family attended Flagler College’s graduation ceremony. Our oldest son, Harbor, was in the line up. How great it was to glance back on his childhood and think about how God has prepared him all this time to embrace a future so full of adventurous possibilities

St. Augustine is such a beautiful city. We walked through the Flagler campus with great appreciation for the architecture and Florida history. I am sure that was an inspiration for him as he studied for the last 4 years. After receiving his diploma, we crowded around with other families on the busy streets in front of the college to give hugs and congratulate our graduates’ accomplishments. When we found Harbor in the crowd, everyone could sense the pride as he was holding the red leather bound diploma. Harbor opened it up for us to see. We all read “Bachelor’s Degree” as Harbor said, “I’ve been working a long time at being a bachelor. Now I’ve finally received an award for it!”

Harbor received a bachelor’s Degree of Arts and majored in Communications with an emphasis in Journalism. He loves to write and aspires to write for music magazines and hopefully one day his own book. For now, his plans are to complete the lyrics for his band’s next CD, which will be recorded sometime this summer. He will spend part of the summer in Brevard County with his band working on the project and hopefully part of the summer taking advantage of Destin’s tourist season, working as a crew member of a charter sailing vessel, taking tourists out for day and early evening sails. After the CD’s release on Facedown Records, late summer, they will tour the country - again.

Thanks to Beth Scales and her family for the beach front condo and Jay and Melissa Wachsmuth for their beautiful condo that my family vacationed at during our stay. Harbor, John, Michaela, and Skyler enjoyed some sibling rivalry surfing right out back. My dad, Eric, and I enjoyed the weekend watching them fight for waves and fight about other things, too (maybe some of that was not too enjoyable). But we all were grateful to be celebrating with Harbor, this marked time in his life.

We are so proud of him. It’s been really cool to see how God has shaped Harbor the last 4 years and to see God’s expression through his writing and his abilities. He is one cool kid - talented, kind, generous, and full of integrity and God’s character. Harbor, great job on achieving your Bachelor of Arts degree and great job on being such a good bachelor! And in the words of Doc Brown, never forget, “Your future isn’t written yet, so make it a good one!”

Darlene (Mom)

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Last night, Eric and I headed out to Baytowne Wharf. Our good friends, Jeff and Dawn Landry, recently bought one of my favorite restaurants, Graffiti and Funky Blues Shack! Their precious kids, Gabe and Paige, were there singing on stage because it was “Kids Karaoke” night. What a great idea!

Eric and I were so excited for this young family who attends Shoreline. Jeff has been in the restaurant business for a while. It was encouraging to see God’s faithfulness to them because of their faithfulness to Him. Jeff and Dawn have been a blessing at Shoreline Church and it was great to come and eat dinner with them and see how God has blessed them back. And as usual, the food was amazing.

Dawn is a cake-maker, too. She prepared a special cake for Harbor’s graduation this weekend. Thanks, Dawn, for the Back to The Future cake!

Make sure to check out Graffiti if you have never eaten there. The atmosphere is southern artistic eclectic at its finest with local artists paintings covering the walls. I have never eaten anything there I didn’t like - the Hazel Grouper is my fave. We will actually be having a special event there in May. We will be auctioning off surfboards and skate decks painted by local artist and have a special spread of food, to raise money for the Indonesia mission that my daughter Michaela and Lindsay Barfield will be doing this summer. It’s going to be a fun event and we are grateful to Jeff for offering us such an incredible location.

Darlene

PS. The pictures were taken from my phone. GO check out Graffiti live for more vivid detail and color!

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God has so much in store for us. Satan wants wants us discouraged, tired, depressed, overwhelmed, lethargic, and so defeated that we aren’t able to accomplish anything for others or ourselves. He wants you to fail. God wants you to win.

Run to win! Prepare yourself for winning! You can win the battle you are in for yourself. You can win the battle for your future and what God has called you to and what God has planned for you. But you have to train to win:

1 Corinthians 9:24 - 27
24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. 25 Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. 26 Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. 27 No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.

Who are your coaches? Who encourages you? Who are the people that God has put into your life to help guide, direct, and train you for the race? Know the race you are in and what it will take to win it.

Now, when you run, you would never wear clothing that would weigh you down, or carry your belongings with you. So you wear your lightest clothing and if you want to win, you don’t take anything that would drag you down…

Hebrews 12:1
1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily hinders our progress. And let us run with endurance the race that God has set before us.

What are you carrying that is weighing you down? What is slowing your progress? Throw it off. Run towards the mark - the finish line! You are almost there!!!! Don’t give up!

I know you can win. Go after the prize.
Darlene

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Michaela is a senior. She can’t wait to graduate and honestly, I can’t wait either. I am excited about her future. Last Saturday she had her senior prom, something she can look back on with joy. It was amazing the preparations we made for that night - nails, hair, the perfect make up. She had appointments ALL DAY. She had a great time with a group of her girlfriends from FWBHS. (She’s the girl with the very tan legs.) This was a night to celebrate the joining of youth and womanhood. All of that preparation to showcase the young woman she has developed into, ended by sleeping on the floor at a slumber party - in her dress!

Dance on Michaela! On to your next Adventure!

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Running on Destin Pass

I have the energy to run. I haven’t had it in quite a while. A few years ago, when we moved to Destin from Central Florida to start Shoreline Church, I made some new commitments to take better care of myself. I started walking to get some exercise. My husband was a distance runner and triathlete, so he gave me some ideas on how I could start a program where I eventually would be running 2-3 miles a day. I started by walking for 30 minutes, then at a faster pace. My next step was to start running for 1 minute out of every 5 minutes that I went out. It was really difficult! I felt like I was 100 years old because I would be completely exhausted! The following week, I was to up it to running 2 minutes out of every 5 minutes. My friend Esther loves running and took the challenge to help me. As I added the extra minute, panting and shuffling my feet, Esther could tell this was painfully difficult for me so she started chanting my “vision” for my new life, “Mom bikini and long-boarding, Mom bikini and long-boarding!” I had told her I wanted to be able to wear a mom bikini and start surfing on our long-board when spring came. (Definition of a mom bikini: a bikini that moms can wear without trying to look 16 years old) She chanted it over and over and it worked - just a tiny bit. I was so out of shape, I could not even run for 2 minutes!!! After 2 months and not being able to run longer than 2.5 minutes at a time, I gave up.

I went through the cycle every few months, trying again, thinking maybe I weighed too much, maybe I’m too stressed, maybe I am just not athletic anymore. I just could not keep up with it. I finally chocked it up to being over 40 and out of shape and just not good enough and disciplined enough to accomplish exercising regularly. Bummer. I don’t have the strength or willpower.

Last October I saw a doctor for my regular yearly exam. Well… it was supposed to be yearly, but ummm… yeah, uh, it had been way too long. Because of being over 40 and the extended length of time it had been since I had been examined, she ran a few blood tests. The next day I was getting my hair cut when I get a phone call from the doctor’s office. It was Nurse Sue (one crazy fun nurse that goes to Shoreline - I love her!). She said “Where are you right now?” I told her where I was and she told me to get to the pharmacy asap. She went on to tell me how I was SEVERELY anemic and I needed to get the prescribed amount of iron asap. She said that my red blood cell count was so low, she didn’t even know how I was walking around. Anemia occurs when the level of healthy red blood cells (RBCs) in the body becomes too low. This can lead to health problems because RBCs contain hemoglobin, which carries oxygen to the body’s tissues. Anemia can cause a variety of complications, including fatigue and stress on bodily organs.

Well, duh? No wonder I couldn’t run! My body was not getting enough oxygen to my organs. It was working REALLY hard on those runs. No wonder. I wasn’t too old after all!

Sometimes we work so hard trying to accomplish things in our lives. It’s exhausting. We try and try to stop that nasty habit (gossiping, nagging, procrastinating, over indulging, etc. - you name it!) We try so hard to better relationships, reach a friend or family member, be a light to a dark world. Maybe you are working too hard and you are low on God’s power. The Holy Spirit is oxygen to our lives. Without Him, we have no power, we are stressing out trying to do things in our own strength. God sent us the Holy Spirit so that we could be His witnesses on the earth, vehicles of His character and strength, carrying His actual power. Jesus knew how necessary it was to have the baptism of Holy Spirit. He wouldn’t even let the disciples go out to minister without waiting for Him. (check out Acts chapter 1)

Sometimes a simple adjustment can bring health and life and energy back into our lives. I am thankful for that call Nurse Sue made to me. I feel soooo good, and I can run now, whoo hoo! Make a simple adjustment today, ask the Holy Spirit to baptize you with His presence and begin allowing Him to flow through you and into every life situation that comes your way. I needed that reminder today.

Serving God and having fun,

Darlene

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