I am so proud of my man!

Jeremy received some very exciting news this week. He wrote an article that is going to be published in YLO. YLO is a "magazine" of sorts. There is a company called Interlinc that provides Christian music to youth ministries at a reasonable price. Four times a year Jeremy recieves a box of the latest Christian music & videos from Interlinc. Included with the music is a rescource book for youth ministers called YLO (youth leaders only) that contains articles & bible studeis based on the new music. An article Jeremy wrote entitled, "Lanes Merging" is going to be in the next YLO that comes out in 2009. I am SO proud of him!!!!! Writing is not something that coes easy for him and he pursued the opportunity to write for Interlinc totally based on the prompting of the Holy Spirit. I am so thankful for this blessing of encouragement- Go God!! I'm sure I will put a link up when it comes out.

MEXICO!

So, technically our anniversary isn't until May. But we celebrated anyway!

Getting ready to go snorkeling. It was fun except that the water was very rough. And towards the end I was a little sea sick.

The sun was perfect. It wasn't hot- just warm. We actually had to make an effort to get tan.

On Sunday morning we got up early (5 a.m.) to watch the sun come up. It was gorgeous. Jeremy and I both thought it was a great way to worship.

One of our favorite things was getting dressed up and going out to dinner each evening. It was absolutely lovely to not have to cook, or cut up food, or encourage good manners, or wrestle a little person who needs their face washed, or shout over little people noise in order to talk!

I have to admit I am still adjusting back to cold weather & being in the middle of the Christmas season. Our trip was amazing! And other than missing our girls it was absolutely perfect. We didn't have any travel issues. We had fun going snorkeling at a coral reef, shopping in Playa del Carmen, eating yummy food, laying on the beach, reading, walking (our resort was HUGE), listening to the ocean, and just having time with each other when we didn't have to share. Our biggest adventure was going to explore a cave. It was part of an underground river system so we had to wear wetsuits. Part of the time we were swimming. It was really cool. I don't have any pictures I can upload because they wouldn't let you have a camera (at all). The flashes can damage the cave (a.ka. they take pictures and charge big bucks!). So we hated to do it but spent $25 so we would have one picture to remember our adventure.

I think one of my favorite things about the trip was enjoying the fulfillment of a dream. Jeremy and I from the very beginning had set a goal of getting away every five years. It was so fun to reflect on the past five years and see the blessing of it actually coming to be. On our way to our resort the van we rode in dropped off some people at the resort we stayed at on our honeymoon! It was also great to realize I enjoyed this trip even more than our honeymoon. I am still crazy about my husband and he is still my favorite person to spend time with. The world tells us that all the "excitement" is before you get married and then everything is down hill from there. What a lie! The past five years has been full of challenges, but it is such a blessing to think about how my love for Jeremy has grown! I was very worried about being away from the girls. We both missed them, but they seemed to have a great time while we were gone. And they are enjoying the maracas we brought back for them.

Jeremy,

I love you more now than the day I married you. And I am already dreaming about 10 years! You are my best friend, an amazing husband, and my favorite person to experience life with. You have gotten me to do stuff I never would have (Caves were not my thing!) and I wonder what that will include in the future. Thank you for challenging me, loving me, and helping me to grow.

Jennifer

A Little of This & That

Well, as you can see from my countdown Jeremy and my trip to Mexico is rapidly approaching! We leave Wednesday night for St. Louis and then will fly out early Thursday morning. I am really looking forward to the trip and dreading it at the same time. (If you are a mom this totally makes sense to you) I have LOTS of details to finish ironing out and am trying to get our Christmas decorations up before we leave. But, I wanted to blog one time before we left. So here is what we've been up to lately. A little of this and a little of that...

Nana came to visit before she left for her trip to Michigan for Thanksgiving. She brought a fun edible project for Grace to help with. Grace loved it! (I however did not-I ate a ton of those things!)

The weekend before Thanksgiving we went to visit Grandma & Grandpa's house because Jeremy's dad had shoulder surgery that Monday. Grace enjoyed helping Grandpa feed his cats & taking a ride on the tractor. Here Faith & Grandma show off their beautiful jewlery.

On Thanksgiving Day we traveled a lot. First we went to visit Jeremy's grandparents. We enjoyed a yummy lunch and then they took the girls to see their farm. Grace like the horse and Faith had a fun tractor ride with her dad. Then we went to my family's later in the afternoon. We enjoyed getting to meet our new cousin, baby Felicity.

On Friday my sister and I threw caution to the wind and went Black Friday shopping in St. Peters. It was SO much fun!!!! Jeremy was a gem and stayed home to watch the girls. Here they are with my clothes on. (Daddy's just have a different kind of fun!) We got some great deals and then had lunch at Olive Garden. I enjoyed every moment of my mommy's day out!

Sunday we woke up to a great surprise, the first snow of the year! It was absolutely beautiful. The girls had fun looking out our big picture window before church. Grace also stomped through it in her dress shoes on the way into church!

Well, I have A LOT to do! I'll be back sometime next week-with a tan and a big smile.

Passing Down a Tradition

Grace drawing a "rainbow" for her box.

Grace packing her items in her shoebox.

This week I got to experience something really neat. Watching my daughter enjoy doing something I LOVE. Ever since Lindsay introduced us to Operation Christmas Child in college I have loved packing shoeboxes. Since then I have learned a lot about Samaritan's Purse as an organization and read several books about it and Franklin Graham. But, I had yet to do this project as a family. I was waiting for Grace to be "old enough." At Grace's class on a Wednesday night they got to help shoe boxes for our church. She LOVED it. She came home telling me about her friend (an older child) who helped her pack the box. She also told me many of the items she helped pack. After seeing what fun she had at church I decided it was time we pack a shoe box togethor. Before our trip to WalMart we talked about the box and that is would be a gift for a friend. She wanted to know if it would be for Jada or Brynn (her best friends). I explained it would be for a friend she had never met who had no toys and needed to learn about Jesus. I was so proud of her, she willingly picked out the items she liked to give away. I was amazed she didn't want to keep them for herself. Since she did such a great job I rewarded her with getting to pick out new hairclips to keep. She explained to her dad he was to "Take the box to Miss Ashley who would send it to her friend with no toys." Parenting is challenging(and I am sure the greatest challenges still lie ahead)...so I celebrate such a fun memory & teachable moment!

One of those days...

Today started out as one of those days... If you are a mom you know what I mean. If you happen to be the mother of a strong-willed child you might just REALLY know what I mean. Grace is perfectly capable of picking out her clothes, going potty, and getting on her pull up/clothes. (as long as it is her idea!) Today I was trying to coax her along. This is not very effective; she was fighting me the whole way. So after struggling and loosing my patience I pulled her in my lap and said, "You are having a rough day, lets pray." She began to pray, "Thank you for my rough day. God come visit my house." I followed up affirming her prayer, "Lord that is the perfect prayer. Send your presence to fill our home toay." After our prayer time we fished up getting her dressed and then she ran to the door to see if God had arrived yet. What a priceless moment! I explained God wouldn't come and visit our house like that. What followed was a great "theological" question answer session.
Why?
Well, because Jesus is in heaven with God.
Where is heaven?
Far away & only God knows the way to get there. Someday he will send Jesus to get us and take us there.
Mommy will you go to visit heaven?
Yes!!
Can I go?
Yes!
Will we see God there? Will you be with me?
Yes!!

This is why I LOVE being a stay-at-home mom. Not because I love spending the day with my daughter when she is having a rough day. (a.k.a not listening, crying, whining, being defiant, etc.) No, on those days it would be easier to entrust her care to someone else. But because it allows me the opportunity to teach her when we are having a hard day we need to pray! And on really special days the opportunity to answer her questions about heaven.

Lord, thank you for teaching both Grace and I today. You reminded me we can be thankful for the challenging days. And you blessed me with the awareness of your very real presence in our home. (even if you didn't knock on the door!) And I love the chance to teach my daughter about heaven. She can't wait to visit heaven because its your home.

Happy Birthday Nana!

Today is my mother-in-law's birthday. Known to my girls as, Nana. Even though we won't see her today I wanted her to hear the girls' birthday wishes. Charlene is a special lady, and lovely mother-in-law. (I'm serious!!!) Here are some of the lovely things I appreciate about her: -She is SUPER generous. (I always say it is Christmas every time she comes to visit)She is always picking up clearance & sale items for the girls. She brings books, snacks, toys, decorations, etc. -She is very supportive. Every mom does things different...but she has never questioned me about how I do things as a mother. (Now she might night actually agree with my crazy structured way of mothering but she never complains!) -She is flexible. I think every married couple has had to work through the whose house for what holidays challenge. Even though Jeremy is an only child she never pressures us about when we celbrate holidays. As long as she gets to spend time with us she is happy. I know...she sounds pretty lovely, doesn't she?

Happy Birthday, we love you! (Obviously since Jeremy and I sang and posted it for public viewing!)

Fall Fun

Girls are crazy!

Girls are crazy. Now I feel I can say this without offence because I am one and I now have two daughters. So, I am pretty familiar with all things girl and the truth is- being a girl sometimes is pretty crazy! Today I saw my daughter rubbing something on my beige chair while saying, "mommy, my owwie." I realized it was blood!! I investigated further and found that the blister she had on her little toe had started bleeding. Here is the crazy part. She went on to show me she also had blood on her new princess shoes. Why is this crazy you ask? I will tell you. Last weekend my mother-in-law brought my daughter these fancy Cinderella light up shoes. She LOVES them. In fact, she loves them so much she has worn them every minute since then. (except when sleeping & going out) Well these shoes are too big and they are heels. So she got a blister. Did this keep her from wearing them? No! And you already heard the end result. She continued to wear the until her blister finally blead. That is some serious love for fancy shoes! Girls are crazy! You don't see men wearing shoes until their feet bleed.

I wish I could tell Grace not to worry you loose this craziness as you get older but that would be a lie. Because friends I still have some. I have been working out an hour six days a week. Kristina let me borrow Slim in 6 and it is a little intense. Now in my opinion when you can find and hour each day to work out with two little ones running around your house there has to be a little craziness involved. I tell myself I am motivated by getting healthy, and preparing my body before a third pregnancy. But if I really evaluate what motivates me to carve out an hour a day when I could be napping it is a little black swimsuit. You see in 29 days I will be on the beach in Mexico and I want to look "okay". You want to know the CRAZY part!!!! Last week my husband complimented me on my dedication. So I finally asked him, "Can you tell any differnce?" You know what he said, "Not really." Was my husband being terrible? Am I getting zero results? No, he just reaffirmed that he thought I was perfect before I started this craziness called Slim in 6. So what am I left to conclude? I am still a crazy girl (even as a mom)!!

More Birthday!

More Birthday!

Faith enjoyed her first birthday party. We had a party at my parent's house so that all my siblings could come. Faith enjoyed opening her present, diving into her cake, and seeing her aunts and uncles. We decided to make Faith a Tigger cake because her favorite thing to do is to bounce in her crib. She LOVES to bounce. Grace and Faith both got red Carhart hoodies to wear when they go to the farm from Uncle Cody. Faith got a Leap Frog Fridge DJ (we had one when Grace was little and are pretty sure she threw it away when she went through a phase of throwing things in the trash!)

Thankful

If there is one word to describe my attitude the last 24 hours it is THANKFUL. Yesterday I experienced a parenting nightmare. Faith fell down the stairs. I was watering my plants and heard her crashing down. I was sick! She really was a trooper though. She didn't cry that long at all. But her head looked pretty rough. I was concerned but she didn't show any signs of trauma other than her banged up head. If you look closely on the left hand side you can see the imprint of our carpet.

I am so thankful that God protected my daughter. It is a horriblle feeling to realize your child experienced pain because of your mistake. I thought the gate was closed-but it wasn't... I know that this situation could have turned out much worse. Everytime I think about what could of happened I tear up and once again offer a prayer of thanksgiving for my baby girl's safety. As soon as Faith quit crying I gathered her and Grace up and began to pray. Immidiately a memory from my childhood popped into my head. When I was a little girl I had to cross the highway when I got of the bus. Because I was so young a highschool girl was assigned to help me cross the highway to my mom. One day the girls wasn't paying attention and a car illegally passed the bus. We were almost hit by a car. I will never forget how rattled my mom was (although I remember not understanding what the big deal was!) She took my brother and I and prayed thanking God for keeping me safe. I'm also thankful I had a mom who taught me what to do when a tragedy is avoided- PRAY.

I know it may take some more prayer to work through the seriour mommy guilt I am feeling. But even my guilt is overshadowed by my sincere grattitude the Lord watched over Faith. Here she is banged up head and all. (She doesn't look like she knows what the big deal is either!)

A Girlfriends Weekend

Baby Hannah's First Craft

Our Little Girls: Hannah, Belle, Grace, Faith, & Sadie

Fun Painting!

Faith "helping" Stephanie see what the future holds with an active baby in the house!

Last weekend the girls and I took a road trip and had LOTS of fun. Jeremy and family & friends were helping to replace our roof. But we were 4 hours away having a great time. We left Friday and spent the night with Stephanie (one of my college roommates). It was the first time we had visited since she had her daughter Hannah. Grace enjoyed seeing baby Hannah and trying to "share" toys with her. On Saturday my college girlfriends all got together. We got to see Kristina, Lindsay, Stephanie, Betty, & Abby. We also had lots of little girls. Even though Lindsay's daughters were not there we still had Belle, Grace, Sadie, Faith, & Hannah! Thats a lot of girls. It was fun catching up & hearing about Abby's upcoming wedding plans. We also did a fun craft with the little girls. Everytime we get together I am overwhelmed at how close we have stayed. We had some serious fun together in college!! One of the things Jill Savage says you have to have to survive in minstry is close friends that don't attend your church. I don't really have any friends in Hannibal that don't attend CRCC. I really value the special friendships I have with these girls. They don't see me as a minister's wife. They see me as "just Jenn" a girl who had some serious bumps along the way to get where she is now. (Can anyone say Tom?) I love you girls!! And I am loving seeing our little girls have fun together now too!

Faith turns 1!

What is this?
Blowing out her candles with a little help from Grace.

I like cake!!

Opening a birthday gift from Grandpa Rick & Grandma Leeanne

Faith tries cow's milk for the 1st time...not sure yet!

On Sunday Faith had her first birthday. I can't believe she is one! Because her Birthday fell on a Sunday we celbrated by having cup cakes before youth group. She took one tiny taste of icing and then dug right in. She really enjoyed her first official taste of cake. Her big sister helped her blow out her candle. Here are some pictures from the big day. At her doctor's visit on Monday she was 29 1/4 in. and weighed 21 lbs. 10 oz. She is also walking now more than crawling. In one week she really took to walking. We are still celebrating with family in the coming weeks, so there will be more cake & presents pictures to come.

Faith,

Mommy & Daddy are SO glad God blessed our family with you! You are such a sweet little girl and we love you very much. You make us laugh & we love watching you explore, bounce, and try things you see Grace do. We pray you will continue to grow and learn more about Jesus.

Love,

Mommy

Big Truck Night

One of my favorite things about living in Missouri is an awesome program they have called, Parents as Teachers. A parent educator comes to visit us once a month and we do activities together that are specifically geared towards what the girls should be learning. They also host special family night events. Our favorite is Big Truck Night. Two weeks ago we attended as a family and had lots of fun. We parked our van and then road a bus to the parking lot where all the trucks were. Grace LOVES busses and thought it was very cool to get to ride on one. When we first arrived she was very timid. (Jeremy and I thought it was ironic because the year before she loved climbing up in the trucks without hesitation!) We walked around for awhile letting her take everything in. Faith rode in the backpack and also loved looking around. After awhile Jeremy had to leave for a meeting at church. He told Grace to make sure she drove a truck to tell him about the next day... Only minutes after he left she bravely climbed in the mail truck, and then many others! It was funny. She kept saying, "Daddy told me to drive a truck!" I was sad Jeremy didn't get to see her enjoying the trucks, but glad his "assignment" motivated her to try them out.

I didn't have to look far to find a correlation between this story and my relationship with my heavenly father. I like to check new things out, look around, hold back even. But sometimes when God asks me to do something I find myself willing to venture outside my comfort zone. Why is that? Because God knows what is best! But sadly unlike Grace sometimes my father asking me to do it isn't always enough motivation. Sometimes I doubt. I cling to the comfortable because I'm just not a risk taker by nature. I settle for thinking I can just be faithful where I'm at. I'm still being faithful right? When I look at my daughter's face in these pictures I know I need to trust God to lead me on an occasional adventure-because that is where joy is. Not in faithfullness in the easy comfortable places, but faithfullness in the uncertain adventure.

A Walk to Remember

I am glad to be back to updating my blog. Last Wednesday we left for a family vacation. While we were gone one of our friends here fixed our computer. (yeah!) So I am glad to have access to the Internet again. I am working on going through all the vacation photos...we took over 400. (Did I mention I just got an amazing new camera!!!) But until then I wanted to post about special moments from yesterday. Vacation pictures & memories coming soon....

Yesterday was a special first for both of my girls. I will start with Grace. We have been trying to take a walk each day after they get up from their nap. We had gotten out of the habit of walking because I can't navigate the double stroller in our neighborhood with the bumpy sidewalks. So Grace has been riding in the umbrella stroller and Faith has been on my back in the backpack. (plus I count this as a workout for me:) So yesteray we were getting all ready to go and I decided to ask Grace if she would like to walk.... A risky proposition but with Faith on my back my hands would be free to hold her hand. After some discussion she decided she would very much like to walk and hold my hand. It was a wonderful walk! She held my hand the whole time and did a good job of listening. It was really fun, and another victory for us. We are planning another walk soon so she can collect leaves. Something she couldn't do for herself while riding. As we walked hand in hand it was like one of those moments you feel like you are in a movie. One you want to capture and never forget-her little hand in mine as we went on a neighborhood adventure. There is nothing quite like holding hands.

As I was thinking about blogging this special walk Faith surprised me too! Last night during small group she took the most steps we have seen. She was cruising along our ottomon and then she just took off on her own. She took 3 or 4 steps then stood for awhile and took maybe 2 more. I totally interupted prayer request time I was so excited! She is really getting to be a big girl these days. She is much more interested in tagging along with her big sister and even thinking about trying to climb things. I can't believe on Sunday she will turn one!!

Although all of our days are not perfect or picturesque they are such a blessing of joy to me.

Fun at Papa & Grammy's House

This past weekend we had a fun trip to Papa & Grammy's house (my parent's house). Jeremy was gone volunteering at Super Start (4th-6th grade CIY) so we went to visit. The girls of course had lots of fun. Two highlights were Grace getting to ride in the Artic Cat to help feed the moos with Papa and feeding the goats. Down the road from their house are some goats (yes, on the edge of their town). Both the girls enjoyed feeding them. Grace's favorite was the white one. The goats loved the leaves off the nearby trees. We also took Grace for her first visit to the library. She enjoyed that too.

City Wide Garage Sales

Everything we bought!! Can you believe it?
A closer look at our garage sale steals!
Grace's new $2 dress for her dress up box (thank you nana!). It is made entirely of sequins.
Grace apparently takes after me, she didn't like the scratchy neck.
A pop up bed for traveling, complete with princess sleeping bag. A hit with both of my princesses.

Well another city wide garage sale weekend has come and gone. My mom & mother-in-law came once again to join in the bargain hunting expedition. We are crazy, did I mention that? We left the house at 6:30 am. It was so much fun. Here are my favorite purchases this go round.
-A khaki colored oversized chair $60 (I was super excited I have been looking forever!)
-The pink pop up princess bed
-A super cute Old Navy coat for Grace for $5
-A Leap Frog Letter Radio for $.50 (Grace LOVES it!)
-Lots of cute dresses for both the girls.
-Fun clothes/hats for our dress up box
-An antique looking fire engine car for $30(This was my mom's big purchase for her photography business)

Probably the funniest moment this time was all three of us ladies driving around in the country at 10 o'clock trying to figure out where a sale for the next day was that wasn't on the map. Did I mention we are crazy??

Family Weekend Part II

As you can see from the slideshow we had a lot of fun visiting my sister at WIU two weekends ago. Grace loved getting to see JoJo's new school. She got to see her apartment & then we had to eat at HyVee. (One of Jeremy's old favorites!) After that we went to play at a "park" (the playground of WIU's on campus daycare). Grace loved every minute.... Here is her version of the day.

Family Weekend at WIU

Mexico here we come!!

You might have noticed the latest addition to my blog is a countdown to Mexico. I am super excited!!!!! Jeremy and I have been saving for a five year anniversary trip since our honeymoon. I was always nervous everything wouldn't fall into place but it did. On December 4th we leave for four glorious nights in the Riveria Maya (south of Cancun), Mexico. Some of you might know our anniversary isn't actually until May. But after talking with our travel agent we decided to go in December for a couple reasons. First, we are saving lots of money. Also it is a good time of the year for Jeremy to be gone since we don't do any youth events between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Plus May is really hard with all the graduations we have to go to.

One month after our one year anniversary we found out I was pregnant with Grace. Then around her one year birthday we found out we were pregnant with Faith. So basically I have been pregnant or nursing 4 of the five years we have been married. So we are very excited to get-a-way just the two of us. Even though I am excited I dread leaving the girls. I am not always great about leaving them. But I know God has helped the pieces fall into place so that Jeremy and I can have the needed time to charge our marriage batteries. So I am praying God will help me keep from falling into mommy guilt as I seek to enjoy time with my first love, Jeremy. I hope someday when the girls read this they will be glad they had a mom who loved their dad like crazy!! (and not sad they didn't get to come along)

All my bags are packed I'm ready to go......because on December 4th I'm leaving on a jet plane!

Gracie's Purple Flowers

One thing my husband is amazing at is bringing me flowers. He just randomly will come home with flowers. My favorite thing about this is most of the time they are potted flowers. (he knows I hate how quickly cut flowers die, and love plants) Yesterday he brought me a yellow mum. Earlier this summer he brought Grace and I both flowers. Grace LOVES purples flowers. She always wants to go outside to smell the flowers. So Jeremy bought her an indoor flower. Now I thought this was very cute that he brought her flowers too. But, I was very nervous, because he brought us two African violets. For those of you who aren't up on plants they are not the easiest things to keep alive. They don't fall in the hard to kill category. They don't like too much water, so you have to water them from the bottom. And they have to be happy in order to keep blooming. So I was worried if I killed it I might have one sad two year old on my hands. But I am happy to report that thus far the purples flowers are alive and have bloomed again!! In this picture Grace's flowers are just starting to bloom. Now they are in full bloom and very beautiful. She asks to look at them quite often. I am so thankful for a husband who loves me, and is teaching my daughters how they should be treasured.

Learning about God-from the Grocery Store

Well, yesterday the girls and I had quite a little adventure. If you have young children you know that anything can be an adventure, even the day to day. For sometime I have been wanting to let Grace take her shopping cart and do her own grocery shopping when we went to the store. This summer Kristina told me her sister-in-law had done this with her neice that is close to Grace in age. As soon as she told me about it I knew Grace would love it. She already makes her own list and wants to put each item in the basket & on the check out counter. But my immediate response was, "I could never do that with both the girls-Grace would run away, or break something, or..." So my plan was to try and find a time when Faith could stay with someone and Grace and I could go together. Well, this opportunity wasn't coming along since I go shopping during the day when my babysitters are mostly unavailalbe. That is just the way my personality works. I like to do things in an undercontrol and organzied manner.

But yesterday something inside told me to throw caution to the wind and just let her try it. I just knew how much she would love it so I decided it was worth the risk. On the way there we talked about what we were doing and what I expected. That she would only be able to operate her cart as long as she could listen & obey. (with a HUGE emphasis on staying next to mommy's big cart). She even told me if she didn't listen she would get her bottom spanked! I assured her that she was correct if she did not listen when we got home she would face a spanking and her cart would be taken away.

I am overjoyed to report it went wonderfully!!!! She stayed right next to me putting the instructed items in her cart. She had so much fun. She put all her items up on the belt to check out. At the end the cashier even printed her her very own receipt. We were shopping at Aldi so I had brought her own Barbie trick-or-treat bag to load her groceries in. She really thought she was big stuff. It was a blast! I came home really thankful for such a fun time because the truth is I don't think she could have handled it this summer. (we had a very rough time with obedience this summer!) I think we will even try it again sometime.

So what did I learn about God from this little adventure? Well I started wondering how often God wants to bless me with something: financial blessing, a ministry oportunity, a challenge, etc. But he thinks, " I don't think she can handle that she won't obey, or get off course, or break somethig!" But he longs to give it to me because he knows the joy it would bring. And I'm thankful for the times God blesses me even if he is uncertain, but I'm also thankful for the times when he waits till I'm ready. Grace finally got her special trip to the grocery store because she was willing to listen to my instructions and obey. Right now I am praying about stepping out of my comfort zone into a new ministry opportunity I have felt God prompting me towards. It would utelize my passion for great marriages and families. I hope I too can listen & obey!

Pic of My Girls

The Fall Fling

In the preschool area we had a three pools. One with corn, one with sand, and one with water. The kids loved playing in them.
Grace with snack mix she made in the Preschool Area.
Doesn't she look like she is having fun? Football "toss"
Basketball

Last weekend was a huge weekend for our family. It was the first annual (hopefully!) Fall Fling at Clover Road Christian Church. This is an event Jeremy dreamed up and had a huge part in bringing about. Last year we were planning for it and it got canceled due to budgetting. So Jeremy has had to be patient in waiting to see God bring this to fruition. But God really blessed us in how everything came together!! I was so proud of Jeremy. He has such a heart for reaching out to our community and it was such a joy to see something he has a passion for bring God glory. Did I mention the weather was amazing?! We have had a TON of rain lately and even with all this crazy weather the day before and of the event were dry. It started spinkling at 6:00 just as the event was ending.

Basically the Fall Fling was a totally FREE event for our community. It was a way for us to tell them we love them in a fun family environment that wasn't too churchy. The event included inflatables, games, cotton candy, snow cones, a meal, and more. I was in charge of helping with a special section for preschool kids. We had over 600 people show up! I have a few picture of Grace & Faith that my mother-in-law took. I was too busy to take pictures.