Life with my sister

This are my Pine Bluff girls. Well, minus one that left us when she moved to Jonesboro . But since she is allowing us to live in her house I have forgiven her. Rachel, the one in the Ridgway t-shirt is moving away from us, also going to Jonesboro , so this was our good-bye lunch. No tears were shed, but oh my goodness the laughter that was heard! We had such a great time together. We are all pastor's wives and mothers. We love that our husbands are in ministry in local churches, it is what brought us together. But our love for each other is what keeps us friends. These women have been by my side, literally, over the last couple of months. It is a joy to know them and to call them friend! And on a side note, if your pastor has a wife hug her neck the next time you see her. She'll love it! Julie

http://ordinaryfamilies.wordpress.com/2012/01/19/lee3/ This is a link to the blog our preschool ministry has just started. Its purpose is to introduce several families in our church as an encouragement to others in their walk with the Lord. We are the first family to be featured. It thrills my heart to serve in this church and have them serve us the way they do. If you do not have a church family, I encourage you to find one. If you live in our neck of the woods we would love to have you come to NBC with us. Abby

Henry was all smiles when I picked him up early on Friday from school and told him we were going to see Juju and the gang. He had his Gigi, juice and his DVD player playing. He was set and ready! His little squinty smile is funny stuff. We traveled to Stuttgart on our way to Pine Bluff to see Samuel and Daniel play basketball. Henry had never been to a basketball game. He ran right onto the court and after the ball. Anna caught him for me. She is such a good little helper. I wish I had her all the time! Aren't they cute in their raccoon and beaver hats?! Daniel is on the far left and Samuel has the ball. I loved that they were both on the court at the same time. They are in a homeschool group that plays other homeschool groups and small private schools. It was fun to watch them play, cheer for them and hopefully not embarrass them. They are at that age and I forget sometimes. They are all still Henry's size in my aunt heart! This little love went to a lock-in with a local ...

Do you remember the post from September when I told you about the different churches we had visited? And how different they were, yet still had similarities? Well, since I last blogged I have visited quite a few other churches. We have visited with Stephen and without Stephen. A couple of times he preached at one church and because of the children's activities we went to another church. I have seen church people at their very best. Let me tell you what an encouragment that has been. Not only to me, but also to my family. After being so disheartened by church people it has been a balm to our souls to see the love of Christ shown to us. One Sunday morning I wasn't feeling 100% and was thinking of what my excuses could be to stay home. I don't feel good, lunch needs to be fixed, need to get groceries, need a few more Christmas gifts bought, would love to stay home by myself and also a sinking feeling about how "Christians" treat other Christians. I had excuses! With ...

Santa came and came big. Before he came we had to soak up the real meaning of Christmas. We went to church on Christmas Eve and Nana and Papa came in time to go with us. We got to sing and light glow sticks...Henry loved it! He got to go in the service with us and he did great. Christmas at our new church was such a treat this year. I reflected on things I had never really thought of. I love taking away new little nuggets of truth. I always enjoy a Christmas Eve service. It puts the rest of the night and the next day into perspective. Keeping with our Christmas tradition, we wore matching pajamas for the third year in a row. We wore Sesame Street themed pajamas this year. It was fun times. We love doing Christmas at home now that we have Henry. It is so peaceful and fun. We stayed in our pajamas all of Christmas Day. Nothing like a day in the pajamas. Those are rare for us these days. It was bliss. Christmas with a 2 year old is fun and exhausting. Capturing him on camera is difficul...

This week Henry learned about Mary and Joesph in Sunday School. He heard that an angel came to them both and told them that Mary was having the son of God and his name would be Jesus. The teacher gave us the handouts that went along with the lesson. I can point at Mary and ask Henry, "Who is that, Henry" and he says, 'Mary!" and he points at it. I then say, "What is Mary's baby's name" and he quickly smiles and shouts, "Jesus!" What a joy to my mama heart to hear my child say the name above all names, "Jesus" with a grin on his face and in an excited tone. He has no idea what the name means, what joy and hope that name will provide him, nor why he speaks the name with a smile and in a different tone. He will though. He is learning by example and repetition right now. There is nothing like hearing your child learn about Jesus. Nothing like it, I tell ya. I am counting my blessings that we know the true meaning of this festive seas...

We participated in trunk or treat at our Church's Fall Festival. It was great fun to prepare for it, but when I got there the wind was insane, so I had failed execution and found myself just sticking stuff where it would stay put. It sort of looked like Halloween threw up in the back of my ride...but it was all good! My little family was excited about our first trunk or treat with our new church family. Our duck was a hit...as he always is. It is almost embarrassing how they make over him at our church. I pray he is humble. I seriously pray for humility for him. It worries me! The handsome little duck sat in the back and watched all the kids trunk or treat while sucking on his sucker. He would occasionally belt out "I'm a duck!" and they would laugh at him. Henry is a mess! Our pastor, Bro. Stan is smitten with Henry and loves talking agriculture with Randall. He tried to get Henry to ride his pony but Henry would have none of it. He smiled and said "NO!...

We have been to four different churches in the last four weeks. It's been fun to visit other churches and I've made some observations. We have seen the offering taken up in beach buckets, paint buckets, and traditional offering plates. We have sat in chairs and pews. We have sung praise music, hymns, old songs and new songs and in one church we got to hear a southern gospel quartet. We've had music led by women and men, guitars and full orchestras. Piano's and organs. I guess because of the time of the year I have heard two "vision" sermons. They weren't really sermons, but the pastor's vision for the church. Oh, how I long for a sermon! I can't wait to sit in a pew on Sunday in my own church and hear my own pastor preach! I realized that people worship in all kinds of ways. I knew that already, I'm not a total dingbat! The subtleties in a couple of the worship services were just enough that neither church family could have changed churches and...

This past week Henry went to B-I-B-L-E school at our church. Henry loves the "B-I-B-L-E" song that we play in the Tahoe over and over and over and over again, so when I would say "Bible School" he would say "B-I-E " (That is how he spells it and he drags the E out for a long time). I was the preschool "craft lady" (as I was quickly named by the preschoolers) and made the BAD mistake of going into Henry's room for crafts on the first night instead of sending one of my helpers. It is a wonder his teachers did not kill me with the craft scissors. He cried ALL NIGHT because he kept seeing me and hearing me. He is such a mess about going to church, I tell ya. He tunes up as soon as we turn into the parking lot. It is actually funny and I laugh at him now. He does not laugh though. Look at that face. He loves his church, he just plays hard to get so he can get special attention (which he has had great success. He is super-duper rotten with the n...

This weekend I had the honor of hosting a baby shower for my friend Sandy in my home with a few other girls. Sandy and I met when I moved to town through the newcomers club. Sara (standing next to me) is also a friend from that club and my running buddy. The other two girls were church friends of Sandy's that joined Sara and me in hosting the shower. We had a great time getting to know each other and showering our sweet friend. Our shower table turned out so pretty. I made the cake and did the decor. The other hostesses did the rest of the food and punch. The baby's room is green and pink so we tried to match it! The baby's last name is also Green, so using green was great fun. I made the cake. A 4 layer strawberry cake with buttercream icing. It was so much fun to make. I have not had that much fun decorating a cake in a very long time. I prepared in advance to make it and had no other irons in the fire. It made all the difference in the world! I loved listening to my ...

"I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him. So now I give him to the Lord, for his whole life will be given over to the Lord. And he worshiped the Lord there." (I Samuel 1:26-28) Sunday we were blessed to dedicate Henry to the Lord. Henry did really well and enjoyed seeing a picture of himself on the big screen. He kept pointing at it, when his fingers weren't in his mouth, of course. Our pastor shared the spiritual meaning of Henry's name and it fits him perfectly, "Ruler of the house"! It was such a sweet time for our little family. As a Baptist, we dedicate our children to the Lord. It is not baptism or christening. It is a voluntary act in which parents who have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ present their child and themselves to the Lord as an outward expression of their gratitude to Him for the child. It is a formal appeal to God, asking for his assistance in rearing the child. It does not impart salvation ...