Last night was had a little pizza party here for the students who went to Jubilee this year. It was a time to talk about some of the things we heard over the weekend. Greg asked them all to answer two questions.
1. What is one thing you want to START doing as a result of the weekend? 2. What is one thing you want to STOP doing as a result of the weekend?
Their answers were encouraging. Some talked about pursuing excellence in all areas of their lives. Others asked for accountability for some of the things they would like to stop doing.
My answers were that I would start living like every square inch of my life belongs to the Lord and that I would stop avoiding uncomfortable situations b/c it is only in the tension that I can learn.
Oh, and the arm wrestling was over the last chocolate chip cookie...who can blame them?
For those of you checking this blog for ministry updates, please bear with a proud mama! I like to post things about my babies!
Cole tried solid food (if you can call rice cereal solid) for the first time this week. The Dr wanted us to wait until 6 months but he is watching us eat and getting upset when he doesn't get any! He caught onto the idea pretty quickly. Here are a few pictures.
We just got back from a short but sweet trip down south. Our home church in NC hosted its annual Global Outreach Conference. It has been a couple years since we have been able to attend and I had forgotten how encouraging a weekend like this can be.
We had the opportunity to see some amazing speakers like Jason Janz (a pastor from a church plant in inner city Denver), and hear some of the awesome things that are going on around the world. We caught up with old friends and realized that the kids that we once worked with in the youth ministry at Colonial have now graduated from college! (We felt so old!)
It was also a blessing to be able to visit and share with the other missionary couples. We spoke to couples who have been in full time ministry as long as we have been alive. What wisdom and encouragment they had to share! It was also great to see other couples with young children.
A huge thanks to everyone who put the conference together. It was a blessing to our family! I also want to thank Greg's parents for taking care of the kids while we were busy all weekend!
It would be impossible to share all of our weekend with you, so here are a few of my personal favorites.
Friday night there was a one woman play titled "Juliet: A Dialogue About Love". Here is a brief synopsis:
Melissa Hawkins stands alone on the stage, inhabiting the body and soul of a woman who is possibly dead.
The woman, whose name is Juliet, tells stories of the desolate Romanian prison where she was captive after the Hungarian revolution of 1956.
Her husband was imprisoned elsewhere, she reveals, and her seven children clamored around her for any morsel of food. Juliet clung to memories of her husband – his photographs, his love letters – and longed to hear his voice, touch his hand and share his bed.
When she succumbed to illness and was carried to the prison camp’s morgue, she met God, the one in whom she had placed so much trust. Their encounter was not peaceful.
“She grabbed him by the shirt collar,” Hawkins says, “confronting him about abandoning her and her family.”
“She refused to be Job,” adds Christopher Markle, head of performance in the NIU School of Theatre and Dance and the play’s director. “ ‘Why did you cast me in the role of Job? Why are we being persecuted? What did we do to make us suffer?’ ”
Here is a short promo video.
Moving beyond words...
My favorite speaker was Andy Crouch. He recently wrote a book titled "Culture Making: Recovering Our Creative Calling."
We also enjoyed a couple break out sessions with Andrew Marin of The Marin Foundation.
Overall it was a great weekend of inspiring music, drama, talks, and fellowship. Thanks for all of your prayers!
A few weeks ago a friend gave us a HUGE bag of clothes for Abby and in it there was a red velvet dress with hearts all over it. She tried it on that day and I could not get it off of her. Well, today was the day she was waiting for...she got to wear it to school for a Valentine's day party!
This morning she got dressed all by herself, tights and all! We braided her hair and got out her "sunday shoes." When she was all ready to go she looked at me and said
"I feel so pretty, someone should throw flower petals so I can walk through them!".
We are taking 18 students to CCO's annual Jubilee conference in Pittsburgh this weekend. Please pray for safety in travel, and that our students would be greatly impacted by the whole idea of academic faithfulness!
We ended up getting about 5 inches of snow yesterday. It is the really pretty kind that sticks to the branches of all the trees. It is beautiful to look at! Caedmon still had school today, although it was delayed a couple hours. Greg took the kids out sledding this afternoon. Here are pics and videos. (To hear the video you will need to scroll to the bottom and mute the music)
Ok, so the Cardinals did not win, but we had a BLAST! We had about 30 people over for the game. There was a ridiculous amount of food that disappeared at an alarming rate! It was definitely an exciting game to watch. Here are a few pics.
Abby helped me make the Snicker Brownies
We PACKED them in!(FYI Those are root beer bottles :))
Cole and I enjoying the game...and the rice krispy treats!
Cole just had his 4 month appointment. Here are the numbers.
15 lbs 14oz 75th percentile!
26 1/8 in 90th percentile!
Cole continues to be the sweetest baby. He fits right in with our crazy lives and goes from student to student with smiles...and spit.
Developmentally he is on track. He just discovered the joys of rasberries and blowing spit bubbles. He is incredibly ticklish, he will start giggling when you look like you are about to tickle. He is also VERY close to being able to roll over.
Cole's new favorite toy is the little entertainer. He LOVES being able to stand up and play.
