What to Say to a Grieving Friend...

Go here to be encouraged...

Christmas Fun!

The Annual Gingerbread House

Precision!

Concentration!

Little Helping Hands...

The Finished Product (which didn't last long)!

Can YOU guess Calvin's Sunday School craft?

Calvin came home with an interesting craft yesterday! We had a hoot of a time trying to figure out what it is. Maybe you can help. Could this be a ghost or something?

This is a paper plate with yarn on it...

Could it be a pot holder or something?

I guess it could be baby Jesus in a manger maybe (since it is Christmas time)?


What do you think?

A Faithful Pastor

"If the church is to prosper and mature, she will need faithful men to lead and care for her. The church will need men who are sound in doctrine, whose lives are guided by the Word of God, and who are willing to defend the truth. The church will need to hold up as its ideal those who model fidelity and love toward God, men who will pour themselves our for the benefit of the Lord's sheep. Men of this mold are gifts to the church from her Lord."
-Thabiti Anyabwile - "The Faithful Preacher"


Here's an update on our church search. The search has been completely covered in grace. We visited a new church in November and the Pastor, who was somewhat familiar with Brian's role in our church plant, immediately contacted us. He sought us out with concern, meeting with Brian to seek to understand the circumstances surrounding our departure. He has also been in contact with our former Pastor to have these truths confirmed. The leadership of this new church has taken great care to reach out to us and other families during this time of hurt and healing. This man has a heart for the Lord and a heart for the people he is shepherding. We have been missing that for a long time and we didn't even know it. I am overwhelmed when I think about how gracious God has been to us during this time. We are forever thankful!

What's Going On Around Here!

Well, it's been a whirlwind around here lately. We went down to GA for Thanksgiving week to spend time with Daddy Mac, Mimi and Ms. Fran. Once we returned we jumped into decorating for Christmas... Here are the kids decorating 'their' tree in the playroom:

(Apparently decorating made Daddy really tired - or maybe it was the 11-hour drive the day before!) Then the kids spent some time helping PawPaw and Granny decorate their tree:

One of our favorite Christmas traditions is going to the mall to ride the little Christmas train.

Each year we also bake sugar cookies and decorate them with icing and sprinkles. The kids really enjoyed it this year! Especially little Ellerie - she sure seemed to enjoy her cookie!

Guess who started the 'icing on the face' - well Daddy of course!

That's a little of what's been going on around here!! Just wanted to let you know we're still around!

Fall Fun - Catching Up

Calvin having fun with the Princess Leia wig!

Ellerie's turn...

The Crew on Fall Festival - Candy night!

Yoda carrying his Lightning McQueen car.

Annakin

Princess Leia - with her gun in her holster and baby on her hip!

Sweet friends!

More friends...

Coleman and Ellerie in the leaves (if you can see her)...

Emmie

Dad and Calvin

A New Home

The last couple of weeks have been hard for my our family. (Well, the kids have been spared most of the heartache so far). The story began three years ago when God clearly called us to help plant a reformed Bible-teaching, expository-preaching church in this area. During these past three years, the biggest blessing has been to see how God has grown my husband and refined his gifts in the area of leadership, particularly in the service of teaching and preaching.

One of the greatest joys has been the strengthening and deepening of Christian friendships. True friends have been the ones who have pointed us toward Christ, encouraged us in the hard times, and stood by us when no one else did. I am thankful for these type of relationships which speak Truth to us (not just what we want to hear) and challenge us to be more like Christ.

During the last year there has been some tension among the leadership of our church about the job responsibilities of church planting leadership. Through a long series of unfortunate circumstances, we saw that in order to protect the body from division, it would be best for us to step down and find another place of worship. (If anyone has questions for us, we are more than willing to talk with you in private).

This decision has been hard and is grieving our hearts but at the same time we feel a peace about this new direction for our family. All along, our desire has been to bring glory to God with our lives. Is there regret? Not at all! We have seen God working in many ways the last three years. Our comfort has been that our service is not for any man, not even for the church, but for Him!

So now we begin the journey of looking for a new church home. Read here to find out how our first day went…

The Church

Today, while reading "Women's Ministry in the Local Church", I read this quote by Ligon Duncan:

"The Bible is to have a controlling influence in our lives and in our ministry in the local church ... The people and the house we serve are not ours; they are His. It is vital that we live and minister in accordance with His Book. This is completely counterintuitive in our pragmatic culture. We want to minister our way. We want to set up our own rules and define the game plan. But Paul emphasizes that if we are to grow in grace as a congregation, if we are to be what He has called us to be, we have to live and minister according to the Book."

Pumpkin Patch Pictures

Back in October we went to the local pumpkin patch for a hayride, a straw maze and pumpkin picking! Here are some pics...Ellerie - "I can get it ..."

Calvin - 'this will work but...'

'I'd rather have this one!'

Coleman on the hayride...

Emmie in the straw maze

Let's try for a group shot...

Ok - let's try again...

Alright - one more time.

Work with me people!

All the VA cousins...