Visiting IWU

Took some students to Indiana Wesleyan University this past weekend. If you are alumni, all I have to say to you is wow! The campus is totally different! I cant believe it. I want to go back for 4 more years...well maybe not. But I will post some pics soon.

Youth Xplosion

This past Sunday we held an area Youth Xplosion involving over 10 different churches from other denominations. There were over 350 teens there with close to 450 total! Whats even better is that 39 teens came to Christ for the first time! We had the band Me in Motion lead worship and do a concert and Tim Byrne, a professional free-style skater, gave the message. The event was held at the Jackson YMCA. Suposedly this was the biggest youth event ever held in Jackson. What a night! I am glad its over.

Its Been A While...

Well, we havent blogged in quite a while. Mainly due to laziness and busy schedules, but also because we no longer have internet at our house. So if any of you read this from time to time, which I doubt, but if you do, leave me a comment! Thanks!

Here's the thing...While Cora is at pre-school and
day care I (joy) am home with Abby. From these pictures you probably think...Oh she is so cute and sweet...but don't let her deceive you. Our little Abby has turned into quite the trouble maker. She has come to love dumping opened bags of things on purpose, spraying herself with windex, throwing things in the toilet and bathtub and aggervating her sister. This is all new for me because Cora was a good toddler! So you can usually find me inside out most days!

Skiing in Ohio

Well I really miss the Pocono Mountains in North-EasternPennsylvania, but we still had a lot of fun. I took the youth group up to Mad River Mountain to do a little snowboarding and skiing. I think it is a man-mad mountain. No broken bones, so that was a plus. I was really excited to see Joy on skis for the first time since the 7th grade! Since then she has always carried this fear of falling of the ski lift when it was time to get off. Well she did great and had a blast! It was fun finally having her out there on the slopes after all these years. Had a good time playing a little Euchre in the lodge too. Overall a great weekend.

A New Home

We just made one of the biggest financial decisions of our lives up to this point. We bought our first home! It is pretty scary and exciting at the same time. I never thought I would be buying a home in the middle of Ohio! We will soon be able to be offically deemed "homeowners". Pretty sweet. Joy has already redesigend the whole home thanks to IKEA. Too bad the the closest one is over 4 hours away, unlike Jersey. We have learned quite a bit about mortgages, insurance, credit scores, deeds, etc. It has been crazy, but well worth it. God has def. blessed us!
We will post more pics when we move in.

Just the day to day...

It's the day to day moments with my girls I begin to grasp the enormous responsibility of being a mom. Abby since she was a little baby has been getting ear infections. Now it is a four to five week routine of doctor's visits, andtibiotics and absolutely no sleep. We had to make the decision to have tubs put in her ears. Even though this is the easiest surgery I was really nervous about going through with it. She is the sweetest baby! I don't think she has felt good her whole first year of her life. I pray that her little ears heal. For those of you haven't met Abby yet she is an amazing little girl!

3 Season Ant Live!

This was our first big event since I have been here and all things considered, it went well. We had over 60 students and 120 all together. TSA did a great job getting them pumped and leading the group in worship. It was great hagning out with them a little bit. I highly reccomend them for any youth event, camp, or whatever.

So...I know we already posted something recent but I just can't resist sharing these with you all. Anthony is usually the one posting things. But after reading some of the other blog's out there, I felt I needed to share the joy in my life. I don't have anything profound to say except for....I have found more joy and fulfillment in raising my two amazing girls than anything else. There are those moments I wonder why I wanted to be a mom but as you can see those thoughts are simply forgotten...There is so much joy in this house!

(joy)

Thought that this was a cute picture of our youngest, Abigail. She is a hilarious baby. her personality makes us laugh.

As of late I have been hooked on Donald millers books. Maybe because they are really easy to read. They really get you thinking about what you beleive in as a Christian. One thing that I have been thinking a lot about lately that he mentions often in his book is materilism. Doing with out is not an easy thing to do in this world today. Joy and I have never been incredibly responsible with our money, we both like to spend. I don't know, just something to think about. Even though this author is a little nuts, and some theolgy is a little off, I highly reccomend his stuff. He is speaking in Columbus at Cedarville Bible college sometime in March. I was thinking about going.

Presidential Upgrade...

The night of the first rally at Logos5, gifts were handed out to youth pastors who went through some hard times over the past year. To our surprise, we won the grand prize! It was a pretty emotional moment for Joy and I. They put us up in the presidential room. It was crazy! We had a party with close to 40 teenagers in our room the last night. We had a lot of quality time together too! This def. made the convention even more memorable.

Logos5 Boston, MS

Boston was an unforgetable event. It was weird going to a Wesleyan Youth convention without a youth group. There were moments were I wished I had a group to be with, but at the same time, it was nice having that freedom and to spend time with old friends and with Joy. This was one of the best conventions I have been to. Three Season Ant exceeded expectations and the speakers delivered clear and challenging messages. Joy and I accepted the challenge to read through the entire Bible for a year. I just hope that commitment doesn't fall apart in the middle of February! It was good to see our old youth group. We had a great time together, especially partying in the Pres. sweet. I had the opportunity to work under John Wood and Kevin Beers (two great guys). I was the stage manager for the event which basically meant that I messed around and cracked jokes on the headset the whole time. I also thought it was cool that pretty much my whole family was at this event. Three of my brothers, my sister, brother-in-law, and both my parents. We all had a alot of fun and are looking foward to Orlando 07!

First day of school...

Cora started her first day of pre-school last Wednesday. It has now been a week and she is still so excited to go! I don't think that will be the case when she is 15...but for now Anthony and I are enjoying her enthusiasm. She now prays all by herself for dinner and to show you how sentimental I can be...when she did it for the first time....I cried. It is an indescribable feeling when your own child talks to God in their own way...Well...I will leave you with that.