A Night To Remember

The day before valentines day, I took Joy up to a nice restaurant and surprised her with tickets to a Chris Tomlin, Matt Redman, Louie Giglio concert. When we got there, it was postponed because of the weather. They rescheduled it for March 25th. After many days of anticipation we went and were blown away. I had not seen Chris Tomlin lead worship since the C3 in Charlotte (WY convention). This time he was even better. Plus Matt Redman was there. They did many songs together. It was incredible. I could also listen to Louie speak all day. We left very encouraged and very blessed to experience a "worship event" like this. It was also cool to see Chris dancing around the stage while Matt Redman sang. He is a wee little man.

The Shaft... I think So

I now have a beef with the NCAA selection committee. I am sure their job is not easy because there are so many great teams out there, but what the heck? Syracuse University (22-10) did not get in to the tournament. Even though they beat Georgetown (72-58), Marquette (70-58), and Villanova (75-64), I guess it just wasn't good enough. This year I will be filling my brackets out with a little less joy in my heart.

Crap...

Someone stole my Sony Mini-DV Handy cam and my Sony 5.1 Mp Cybershot from my office. It had some great footage and pics of my kids on it too. Not a good day. Stupid theives...

More Changes...

After being at Good Shepherd Wesleyan Church for a little over a year as their students ministries pastor we made the tough decision to resign. God had been speaking to Joy and I for some time about this decision. I am a pastor who truly beleives in longevity, especially in youth ministry. So why leave you ask? That part gets pretty comlicated. We both have come to the conclusion that it was no accident we came here. We have built some great relationships here and its going to be very hard to leave.
As I have heard thousands of times before, ministry is never easy. I am not calling for my own pity party but as youth ministers we are underpaid, overwokred, unappreciated, and expendable. With that said, our job is still worth it. I must give a shout out to all my freinds who are in youth ministry. Keep on keepin on!
So whats next? I have considered leaving youth ministry, but I probably won't. I simply love teenagers and the privledge to make a difference in their lives. I am in no rush this time around for our next ministry location. We will be leaving Jackson in June. We have just put our house up for sale that we bought last July. I try not to worry about it. God's will take care of it all...
Tony

Dare 2 Share Gameday

This past weekend Joy and I took 2 students to Dare 2 Share Gameday youth conference. Last year they put on an incredible conf. They didnt let me down this year either. It was even better. One of my students accepted Christ for the first time. Starfield led worship and Greg Steir delivered some pretty powerful and challenging messages in front of 5000+ stuendents. Joy and I were both challenged to take advantage of the opportunities that God gives us to share our faith. If you are a youth pastor I would encourage you to go to this event next year. You will not be dissapointed! (The last clip is of Jeremy Camp, when we went to Winterjam)

Before and After

3 Weeks ago Abby broke her leg falling off the bunk-bed. It was not a fun day. She did learn how to walk and run with her cast pretty quickly. She had X-Rays yesterday showing that her bone was almost completely healed with a healthy calous growing over the break. She is very excited to have her "band aid" off, but is still a little hesitant to walk on it now. Oh and her leg smelled pretty nice when the cast came off.

Before



After

Sledding

We have a perfect hill in our backyard for sledding. The only problem is that the house is at the bottom of the hill...

It has finally snowed here in southern Ohio. We recieved three inches, enough to close down the whole town for a day. Pretty funny. The girls couldnt have been more excited about the white stuff. Tank, our dog, went insane in the snow. It was a great weekend! It was also nice to have that extra day off from work to spend time with family. The highlight of the day was the giant snowman. I had not built a snowman like that since I was 10 years old with my older brother. I about slipped a disk trying to get the middle on top of the "butt" of the snowman, but it was worth it. This baby aint melting till May!!!

Where is winter?!?!?

I can't believe it has been almost a year since the last ime I posted! I hate saying I am just to busy....but unfortunately that is life. I (joy) am now teaching two grades, 5th and 6th, and trying to be a mom and wife. Now we have added a new member to the family...TANK. He is so much fun but so much work. Anyone who has had to raise a puppy will know what I am talking about. I get so frustrated with him! BUT, he is cute as you can see from the picture. I am sitting here in my classroom doing some lesson planning and I keeping looking out the window just wishing for some snow! The weather is so crazy! I should probably get to work.

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.