Evangeline is really good with names. Like, really really good. I'm pretty sure that there are adults at our church who could identify fewer people by name than Evangeline can and she's two. Not knocking FBC Marion in any way. It's a super sweet congregation with tons of fellowship and love for one another. And, Evangeline knows almost everyone.
So, it was only a matter of time before she started calling Drew, "Brother Drew." I think it's hilarious. Drew hates it. She also calls him just plain ole "Drew" but in a condescending kinda voice that sounds a lot like me. Not sure where she picked up on that. :)
In slightly related news, I was brushing Evangeline's teeth earlier and she started to have a total meltdown. As in screaming and trying to bite me. I looked down and was using Trey's toothbrush. Ooops! Now she knows how it feels as I've chased her around the house with my toothbrush in her mouth on more than one occasion.
Trey just said, "Edy" very clearly. I'm thrilled. Drew, not as much. He could definitely do without that cat and isn't crazy about how big of cat lovers his two children are turning into. They have Snowden in there blood, after all.
Showing posts with label church. Show all posts
Showing posts with label church. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
God is working in Marion
I love Marion. To be honest, for a long time I've been scared to say that. Scared of hurting all of my Henleyfield friends who I also love very much. I definitely left a piece of my heart in Henleyfield. But, I know know know that Marion is where we are suppose to be. And I've fallen in love with this little neighborhood.
Nearly every day I go walking up and down my streets with my double stroller and dog. I have gotten to know my neighborhood very well. I walk around and pray and search for people to invite to church. Nothing excites me more than being able to invite someone to church and we have been praying since we got here for opportunities.
The week before Easter Drew and I passed out a bunch of flyers and met many people in our community. And several came to our Easter activities, which was thrilling. I see God at work and am just so excited and encouraged by it!
There have been several families with children that we have met and been praying for. One family joined our church Palm Sunday and their oldest daughter was baptized Easter Sunday!
There's another family that lives close by whose kids are always playing outside. Evangeline loves them. She prays for them every night and is always asking us where they are. In fact, when I told her they were at school, she said she wanted to go to school, too. The little girl has been to church a few times.
A few days ago we met a mother and two young children who had recently moved in. The mother mentioned that the little kids use to ride a van to another church at their old house. Today I stopped by and asked if they wanted to come to TeamKid tonight and I could just walk over and get them. The mother said okay, and I prayed all afternoon that they would actually be there to come to church when I went back and got them.
At 6:40 Evangeline and I walked over to pick them up. I realized half way there that it was a mistake bringing her b/c she wanted me to hold her the whole time and she is a heavy chick! Anyway, a lady I hadn't met answered the door and told me that the woman and children had left to go to her mother's because their washing machine had broken. I was disappointed, but at least encouraged that she had specifically left a message for me.
Evangeline and I walked back over to the church and were met with a crowd of children. After averaging four kids at TeamKid for the first several months we were here, you can see why we were so excited to have had 16 kids there tonight! And, four of our "regulars" weren't there. If you add the two other kids who were doing laundry, that's 22 kids. Wow! God is blessing us for sure!
We decided a few weeks back to do an Easter lesson tonight since church Wednesday was cancelled due to our Maundy Thursday service. Tammy did Resurrection cookies, we did an Easter craft, and I did the Resurrection eggs (a preschool and grade school version). The awesome thing about the resurrection eggs are that they present the plan of salvation really well.
By the end of our lesson I was blessed with the chance to pray with two girls to accept Christ. And they both poured out their heart to me, confessing sins to me and telling me about some really deep hurts in their families.
In my ladies' Bible Study we talked about how sometimes you pray for something but what you're praying for isn't what really what needs to happen. It struck me tonight that had those two other children come, I would've had to immediately take them home and not have been able to pray with the other girls. God knows what He's doing. And, I'm excited to be in the middle of it here. If you're reading this, please say a prayer for Marion. Pray for the many unchurch families in this area. And, pray for these two sweet new believers.
Nearly every day I go walking up and down my streets with my double stroller and dog. I have gotten to know my neighborhood very well. I walk around and pray and search for people to invite to church. Nothing excites me more than being able to invite someone to church and we have been praying since we got here for opportunities.
The week before Easter Drew and I passed out a bunch of flyers and met many people in our community. And several came to our Easter activities, which was thrilling. I see God at work and am just so excited and encouraged by it!
There have been several families with children that we have met and been praying for. One family joined our church Palm Sunday and their oldest daughter was baptized Easter Sunday!
There's another family that lives close by whose kids are always playing outside. Evangeline loves them. She prays for them every night and is always asking us where they are. In fact, when I told her they were at school, she said she wanted to go to school, too. The little girl has been to church a few times.
A few days ago we met a mother and two young children who had recently moved in. The mother mentioned that the little kids use to ride a van to another church at their old house. Today I stopped by and asked if they wanted to come to TeamKid tonight and I could just walk over and get them. The mother said okay, and I prayed all afternoon that they would actually be there to come to church when I went back and got them.
At 6:40 Evangeline and I walked over to pick them up. I realized half way there that it was a mistake bringing her b/c she wanted me to hold her the whole time and she is a heavy chick! Anyway, a lady I hadn't met answered the door and told me that the woman and children had left to go to her mother's because their washing machine had broken. I was disappointed, but at least encouraged that she had specifically left a message for me.
Evangeline and I walked back over to the church and were met with a crowd of children. After averaging four kids at TeamKid for the first several months we were here, you can see why we were so excited to have had 16 kids there tonight! And, four of our "regulars" weren't there. If you add the two other kids who were doing laundry, that's 22 kids. Wow! God is blessing us for sure!
We decided a few weeks back to do an Easter lesson tonight since church Wednesday was cancelled due to our Maundy Thursday service. Tammy did Resurrection cookies, we did an Easter craft, and I did the Resurrection eggs (a preschool and grade school version). The awesome thing about the resurrection eggs are that they present the plan of salvation really well.
By the end of our lesson I was blessed with the chance to pray with two girls to accept Christ. And they both poured out their heart to me, confessing sins to me and telling me about some really deep hurts in their families.
In my ladies' Bible Study we talked about how sometimes you pray for something but what you're praying for isn't what really what needs to happen. It struck me tonight that had those two other children come, I would've had to immediately take them home and not have been able to pray with the other girls. God knows what He's doing. And, I'm excited to be in the middle of it here. If you're reading this, please say a prayer for Marion. Pray for the many unchurch families in this area. And, pray for these two sweet new believers.
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Spring cleaning, lost keys, and a stump..... oh my!
Yesterday was a good example of how trying to do too much can get you into trouble. Spring hit with a wham and suddenly I realized that it was HOT outside and my poor children were still wearing long sleeve shirts. So, even though I was organizing a Team Kid fun night, had a photo session scheduled at Sears for both my kids, and desperately needed a trip to Wal-mart, I decided it would also be a good day to reorganize my children's clothes. Actually, I didn't so much decide to do it as felt like I was forced into it by all the nice, but hot, weather that was just not compatible with our wardrobes.
Thank goodness my mom is off for Spring Break! She came with me to Sears and took Evangeline to Cici's while Trey and I shopped at Wal-mart. Our Sears pictures were just okay. Not nearly as good as the ones of Trey we took two weeks ago. Here's a hint as to why: the guy who took our pictures yesterday was there for an interview two weeks ago when we got Trey's pictures made. He was nice enough, but I'm confident that I could've gotten some better shots than him. At least Evangeline is no longer afraid of the big flash, so she didn't freak out like she did at her two year pictures. More positives are that I easily stayed in my budget since the pictures weren't so great and the newbie accidentally ordered me an extra page of wallets that I did not have to pay for but apparently will still recieve.
I got home and for once both kids went down easily for naps. They've been having difficulty (especially Evangeline) since Daylight Savings Time. I should've known it was too good to be true. I had plenty of time to put all the clothes that were stacked in various baskets and boxes throughout my house into some of the empty tubs that were in our shed. I jumped in my van and headed to the shed to load up some tubs when Wham! I hit something. My first, sinking, thought was that it was Blue Bell. Too scared to look under the van for a dead dog, I ran back to the house to see if she was there. She was lying comfortably on the living room floor. Whew! Edy was hanging around so I knew she was not the victim either. Then I realized that my van was stuck. Like, really stuck. Really really stuck. I called Drew. No answer. I texted Drew to call me ASAP. When he finally arrived we discovered that I had hit a stump.
Now, in my defense, you couldn't see this stump at all because the grass is really grown up around it. And, since Drew isn't writing this blog, I won't point out any of his reasons for why I should've easily been able to avoid that stump.
Drew spent awhile trying to get my van unstuck and then finally called Mr. David- the man who can do anything- to come and help. When I say he can do anything, I mean it. Since we have moved to Marion he has built us bathroom cabinets (he's a master at cabinetry), fixed our hot water heater, made us a turkey for Thanksgiving, a ham for Christmas, baked the best dessert I have ever eaten called California pie (okay, tied for the best ever with Tammy's lemon cookies, Jody's Bakery iced sugar cookies, and Carolyn's Creation's cheesecake.... I like desserts, can't you tell?), built the church a soft serve ice cream machine and then made us ice cream for Evangeline's party. How this man has stayed single I have no clue. Anyway, after an hour and a half Drew and Mr. David managed to unstuck my van. Next time I'm just going to call Mr. David directly. I'll probably get just as much grief, but in a little nicer way.
Because Drew was busy unstucking my van, and because, unfortunately, the place the van was stuck was Blue Bell's potty spot, I knew Drew would not be able to pick up our pizzas for the Team Kid pizza party. So, I called my mom, my second hero of the day, to once again come to the rescue and watch my kids while I ran to Cici's. When I dropped the pizzas off at the church we already had one family there. They had misread the bulletin and come an hour early. Their granddaughter had been to Vacation Bible the past few summers, but Sunday was their first official time to visit the church. So, naturally, I asked them to help me clear out some tables and put them straight to work! They are really hard workers and I am very thankful they came early!
We had a great fun night with sixteen kids at church. The only mishap was a lost tooth. I teased Maggie telling her that she lost her tooth twice! The first time it fell out of her mouth. The second, it accidentally got thrown in the garbage. I hated for the poor child not to get any tooth fairy money :) so we dug through the trash and Mrs. Sherry came out with the tooth!
The tooth was not the only thing to be lost. Somewhere in the process of cleaning up I borrowed Drew's church keys. I really, REALLY, thought I had returned them to him but a while later he asked me for them. They weren't in my pockets. I searched the entire building. No keys. By the end of the night, everyone was searching. As a pastor, Drew feels like it is important for him to have keys to the church and his office, etc. I agree. But, the keys were lost. After we went home and put the kids to bed I went back to the Family Life Center and searched again. By this point, I was kinda feeling like our marriage was at stake (just kidding, but I certainly was testing it!). I dug through another trash can with no luck. Finally, I came home and recieved a lecture on how I never give Drew his keys back when I borrow them which is, sadly, true.
Two guesses as to who found the keys first thing this morning? Yep, the man who can do anything. I don't know why we didn't call him last night! I'm just glad Drew has his keys! I think I need to put Mr. David's number on speed dial.
Thank goodness my mom is off for Spring Break! She came with me to Sears and took Evangeline to Cici's while Trey and I shopped at Wal-mart. Our Sears pictures were just okay. Not nearly as good as the ones of Trey we took two weeks ago. Here's a hint as to why: the guy who took our pictures yesterday was there for an interview two weeks ago when we got Trey's pictures made. He was nice enough, but I'm confident that I could've gotten some better shots than him. At least Evangeline is no longer afraid of the big flash, so she didn't freak out like she did at her two year pictures. More positives are that I easily stayed in my budget since the pictures weren't so great and the newbie accidentally ordered me an extra page of wallets that I did not have to pay for but apparently will still recieve.
I got home and for once both kids went down easily for naps. They've been having difficulty (especially Evangeline) since Daylight Savings Time. I should've known it was too good to be true. I had plenty of time to put all the clothes that were stacked in various baskets and boxes throughout my house into some of the empty tubs that were in our shed. I jumped in my van and headed to the shed to load up some tubs when Wham! I hit something. My first, sinking, thought was that it was Blue Bell. Too scared to look under the van for a dead dog, I ran back to the house to see if she was there. She was lying comfortably on the living room floor. Whew! Edy was hanging around so I knew she was not the victim either. Then I realized that my van was stuck. Like, really stuck. Really really stuck. I called Drew. No answer. I texted Drew to call me ASAP. When he finally arrived we discovered that I had hit a stump.
Now, in my defense, you couldn't see this stump at all because the grass is really grown up around it. And, since Drew isn't writing this blog, I won't point out any of his reasons for why I should've easily been able to avoid that stump.
Drew spent awhile trying to get my van unstuck and then finally called Mr. David- the man who can do anything- to come and help. When I say he can do anything, I mean it. Since we have moved to Marion he has built us bathroom cabinets (he's a master at cabinetry), fixed our hot water heater, made us a turkey for Thanksgiving, a ham for Christmas, baked the best dessert I have ever eaten called California pie (okay, tied for the best ever with Tammy's lemon cookies, Jody's Bakery iced sugar cookies, and Carolyn's Creation's cheesecake.... I like desserts, can't you tell?), built the church a soft serve ice cream machine and then made us ice cream for Evangeline's party. How this man has stayed single I have no clue. Anyway, after an hour and a half Drew and Mr. David managed to unstuck my van. Next time I'm just going to call Mr. David directly. I'll probably get just as much grief, but in a little nicer way.
Because Drew was busy unstucking my van, and because, unfortunately, the place the van was stuck was Blue Bell's potty spot, I knew Drew would not be able to pick up our pizzas for the Team Kid pizza party. So, I called my mom, my second hero of the day, to once again come to the rescue and watch my kids while I ran to Cici's. When I dropped the pizzas off at the church we already had one family there. They had misread the bulletin and come an hour early. Their granddaughter had been to Vacation Bible the past few summers, but Sunday was their first official time to visit the church. So, naturally, I asked them to help me clear out some tables and put them straight to work! They are really hard workers and I am very thankful they came early!
We had a great fun night with sixteen kids at church. The only mishap was a lost tooth. I teased Maggie telling her that she lost her tooth twice! The first time it fell out of her mouth. The second, it accidentally got thrown in the garbage. I hated for the poor child not to get any tooth fairy money :) so we dug through the trash and Mrs. Sherry came out with the tooth!
The tooth was not the only thing to be lost. Somewhere in the process of cleaning up I borrowed Drew's church keys. I really, REALLY, thought I had returned them to him but a while later he asked me for them. They weren't in my pockets. I searched the entire building. No keys. By the end of the night, everyone was searching. As a pastor, Drew feels like it is important for him to have keys to the church and his office, etc. I agree. But, the keys were lost. After we went home and put the kids to bed I went back to the Family Life Center and searched again. By this point, I was kinda feeling like our marriage was at stake (just kidding, but I certainly was testing it!). I dug through another trash can with no luck. Finally, I came home and recieved a lecture on how I never give Drew his keys back when I borrow them which is, sadly, true.
Two guesses as to who found the keys first thing this morning? Yep, the man who can do anything. I don't know why we didn't call him last night! I'm just glad Drew has his keys! I think I need to put Mr. David's number on speed dial.
Monday, October 31, 2011
Fun Fall Fest
All week long I have worried about our Fall Fest. And prayed. Prayed hard that there would be kids there. We don't have many kids at our church, and the ones that do come mostly come with their grandparents. The church had been successful with Trunk or Treats in the past, though last year's attendance was slim. I'm not sure how many people know about our church. To be honest, I grew up only a few miles away and never heard of the church or even knew where it was until we considered sending Drew's resume there. We have an amazing Family Life Center and plenty of willing volunteers to work with our kids. At our planning meeting last Sunday there were thirty people there who had signed up to help. I was completely amazed and nearly cried.
I knew our Fall Fest was going to be good. We had tons of prize booths (16), plus face painting, pumpkin decorating, cookie decorating, popcorn, cotton candy, a continual hayride, a horse ride, and a bouncy castle. Plus about 100 hotdogs. Oh, and ice cream. Gotta love our ice cream machine!! At 3:30 everything was set up and I couldn't help but think, "This is so wonderful! I just hope people come!" Someone asked what was left to do and all I could think to tell them was to "pray that people will come!" I knew of exactly six kids who were coming for sure (including my two)! I joked to the one kid that was there helping set up that "wasn't this nice of us to throw a big party for her?" I was mainly just afraid that we would have a lack of attendance that would discourage our church.
In about 30 seconds I went from fear that no one would come to fear that too many people would be there. People started showing up right at 3:50 and we had a steady flow til 5:00. I didn't know hardly any of them! Some had seen our signs, others our flyers. Some were friends of friends and a few had attended VBS at the church and gotten a flyer in the mail. A few even came because I had given them a flyer at our garage sale the weekend before. I was thrilled that my friends Sarah and Terri from Bible study came and brought their kids. We have been praying for our children's ministry at the Bible study and I was so happy to have them come and support us!
In about 30 seconds I went from fear that no one would come to fear that too many people would be there. People started showing up right at 3:50 and we had a steady flow til 5:00. I didn't know hardly any of them! Some had seen our signs, others our flyers. Some were friends of friends and a few had attended VBS at the church and gotten a flyer in the mail. A few even came because I had given them a flyer at our garage sale the weekend before. I was thrilled that my friends Sarah and Terri from Bible study came and brought their kids. We have been praying for our children's ministry at the Bible study and I was so happy to have them come and support us!
Our best estimate is that we had around 120 kids there, and at least 200 total. I think it was slightly more than 200 though when you count all of our workers and adults.
Thank you, thank you, thank you, Lord!!
I had a lot of apologizing to do to God for not trusting enough that we would have a crowd. He definitely heard our prayers and blessed us! We have several real prospects that came and a lot of people we will need to contact.
Next week we will meet with all of our Fall Fest helpers and address the question, "What now?" There is such potential in Marion and North Lauderdale County! I am super excited to see how else God will answer our prayers and what He will do in this ministry!
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