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...

Are you serious?

Did you know that there is a sermon site where Pastors can buy sermons to preach on Sunday? Seriously. Pastor James Merrit has a site called Pastor'sEdge where you can choose from several options: sermon series with artwork, single sermon with artwork, single sermons without artwork (I guess if you're on a tight budget), and PowerPoint background sets.

Come on people, are you serious?

Politics

Go here and make sure you don't waste your vote!! (By the way, that is my husband's blog!)

Crock Pot Chocolate Cake

I found this yummy recipe online. Be sure to serve it with homemade whipped cream or vanilla ice cream. Add some hot fudge sauce too!

Ingredients:

• 1 pkg. two layer chocolate cake mix
• 3 oz. pkg. instant chocolate pudding mix
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup water
• 2 cups sour cream
• 3/4 cup vegetable oil
• 3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 1/4 cup milk chocolate chips

Spray a 4 quart crockpot with non-stick cooking spray and set aside. In a large bowl, combine the cake mix and pudding mix. In a medium bowl, beat the eggs with the water, then add the sour cream and oil and beat until smooth. Add to the dry ingredients and beat well. Stir in the chocolate chips. Pour into crockpot. Cover slow cooker and cook on low for 6-8 hours, until top springs back when touched very lightly with finger. 8-10 servings

(I just mixed it all together in the crock pot and I cook it on high for about 3 1/2 hours)!

Enjoy the moist, chocolately goodness!!

A Conversation With Emmie...

Emmie: Who is John McCain?

Dad: He's a guy that is running for President.

Emmie: Why is he doing that?

Dad: I guess he aspires to be President of the United States...

Emmie: Does he know Jesus?

Dad: I don't know - I don't think he does.

Emmie: Well, who is going to tell him?

Dad: We need to pray that God will raise up someone who can share the Gospel with him.

Emmie: What about you?

Dad: Well, I don't know him and probably won't ever have a chance to talk to him.

Emmie: What about Michael Phelps?

(What? Where does she come up with this stuff? I'm not sure why she assumes Michael Phelps is a Christian, but I guess she thinks he might have a chance to talk to the President.)