Show Us Your Life- Your Church

I'm linking up with Kelly's Korner today to share our church! 

A month before our first anniversary and two months before Anna-Kate was due, Derek started preaching at his father's hometown church in Lepanto.

It was an hour and a half drive, every weekend but we agreed it was the right thing for our family. 

There were so many difficult things about being away every single weekend but it was a HUGE blessing! 

Derek and I grew so close to the families there. I know that Derek enjoyed getting to share such a special place with his own family. 

Just a few years before Derek started preaching, his grandfather passed away. His grandfather was an amazing leader in that church. For many reasons, being in that church every week was healing. I know that it was a challenge but I think Derek felt his grandfather with him when he was there. 

The Sunday after Christmas, Derek and I said our goodbyes. It was extremely difficult but the church needed a minister who could live in town and we were ready to stay put on the weekends. 

When we came back from Franklin, we stopped and I made some pictures of the church and the town. 

Our little Lepanto church

The parsonage. We spent a lot of weekends in this house. The first night that Anna-Kate slept all the way through was in this house.

This is one of the streets downtown. I love this town! :)

Another downtown shot... 

This is the last one. I just love it here.

(ps. Sorry to all you photogs- I like to play around with color in my pictures...)

In January we became "full-time" members of the church that Derek and I had been attending on Wednesday nights. It is conveniently located right across the street!

Derek and I visited several different churches before we started at Lepanto but we never found a "home." Lepanto taught me more about a loving church family and helped me to realize that our Searcy home was at Westside.

I'm so glad we made that choice. The friends that we have made there are wonderful. They have a pretty close-knit group of young marrieds, many of them have children near Anna-Kate and Thomas' age. We have enjoyed the lessons from the minister and it's been so nice to have Derek in the pew with me!

The classes for the little ones have been wonderful too. Anna-Kate is learning so much! She loves her teachers too. On Sunday nights, they have a special class for little ones called "Christian Soldiers." Anna-Kate loves going. She always asks during the week if it's time for Christian soldiers! haha.

The nursery is wonderful too. I try really hard to keep Thomas in church for as long as possible, but he gets really stir crazy. It seems like he just wants to get down and play and talk. If the girls make a noise, he has to compete with them! Usually, we have to take him out because he is so restless.

Sunday mornings with little ones are tough! I'm always looking for quiet "pew activities" and ideas. (So if you have anything... please share!!) I usually pack a couple of books and a coloring book or notepad and crayons. I try to pack a few quiet toys for Thomas but most of them get thrown right in the floor... or he finds a way to make them noisy. Anna-Kate enjoys taking her baby doll to church too. I have a little magnetic dress up doll that she likes to take sometimes too. I try to let her pack a bag (with supervision) so that things kind of rotate in and out according to what she is interested in.

Wednesday nights Derek and I host a home Bible study. We decided to start doing that this fall so we could branch out and make some new friends. It has been so wonderful doing this! It's really easy for people with young children, since we are right across the street.

I'm standing in our yard. We have no trouble with finding a parking spot! :)

Sorry for the terrible picture!

I've enjoyed getting to link up with Kelly's Korner and share our churches with you! God has richly blessed us with two wonderful congregations and lots of loving family!

Link up and play along too! 

Picture-Packed Weekend!

Weekends have quickly become even more special for me now that I'm working. I cherish the moments I get to share with Anna-Kate and Thomas. 

Last Thursday Anna-Kate told me that she missed me which absolutely broke my heart! I was extra good this weekend and took lots of pictures! :) Aren't you proud of me? ;) haha. 

I threw in the first few pictures from last week because they were too cute to resist! 

Wednesday nights we host Bible study while Anna-Kate and Thomas go to church across the street. Derek's parents usually walk them over to us and then chat and stay for a few minutes. I walked into Anna-Kate's room and found her in her 'Fancy Nancy' dress up outfit! It was so cute! 

Anna-Kate also has a new rug, isn't it super cute! Thanks to Nini and Granddaddy!! 

Thomas enjoyed a special treat- sausage balls! He loves them! 

After everyone left, we played in our jammies for a few minutes! 

Growing up, Frosty always hung on the wall in our kitchen around the holidays! I love sharing him with my children! 

Anna-Kate decided to leave on her leggings and shoes and wear the dress OVER her nightgown! haha! 

Friday Morning I made Thomas some pancakes before work! He was very happy about them! 

We got invited to a Christmas Party Friday night! It was so much fun! 

He's such a cutie! :) 

Anna-Kate wore her cheerleading uniform because her school made it to the State Play-offs! :) More on that in a second! 

I know this is going to make me sound so lazy but Saturday morning we all slept until nearly 10!! It was great! After we got ready we grabbed lunch at a pasta place in town! 

The waitress brought Thomas his own marinara sauce and he loved it! He wanted to dip his own bread! 

Thomas and Anna-Kate shared tortellini. It was so good! Thomas ate most of it though! 

After we ate, Derek took Thomas for a nap while Anna-Kate and I had a special "girls only" movie date to see Tangled! 

She was so excited! Although once we got in she did point out all the "daddies" and say that it was girls only! haha! 

She liked the movie a lot but I think it was a little scary for her. She wound up falling asleep just over halfway through! Poor thing! 

After the movie, Derek went to the play-off game in Little Rock! We decided that it would be too cold for the kids, so I stayed at home with them! 

We played for a while... 

and attempted watching The Polar Express. Then we ate dinner and took baths and the kids went to bed while I did some online Christmas Shopping! 

Our team lost, but Derek said they played really good! 

Sunday we went to Lepanto and I taught Sunday School! 

Anna-Kate was probably telling me how I don't do things like her other teacher... haha. She's a good "helper." 

Poor Thomas had to wear his jammies through class! :) 

Thomas was WILD during church! It is so hard to keep him from distracting everyone! He was putting the attendance cards in and out and then he'd reach up on his tippy toes and look in. After church, I tried to catch him doing that but he was not cooperating! 

After church Sunday night, we made the drive back home! 

I know it's not super exciting, but we had a good weekend! 

Go Ask Your Mother: Sunday Off

As many of you know, I have been working as a preacher for the Lepanto church of Christ for over 3 1/2 years. I have to say, it has been a blessing in so many ways. I have family connections there that are nice, and the job came along at just the right time for me and my family. I've been there a little longer than I had planned originally but I don't mind for the most part. The members of our congregation are loving, friendly, and hospitable.

I can't deny that there are some difficult things about the job. When I started in June 2007, it was just Nicki and I. We are twice as big a family as we were then and packing up and making the two hour drive every weekend isn't quite as simple as before. There's also the missed opportunity to sit with my family and participate in a worship service together, and quite frankly, I would like to hear someone else preach every now and again.

I began thinking about it over the last few weeks and I don't recall ever taking a Sunday off from preaching except for illness or weather. That doesn't bother me much but I have almost forgotten those days when I could spend Sunday afternoon watching football or working around the house. That came to mind as I made the call to let folks know that I would be absent last week. To be fair, my taking off was spurred by a cracked filling combined with a sore throat that would greatly threaten my pulpit performance potential. (isn't alliteration awesome..oops did it again..lol)

So I got to go to church with Nicki and the kids at Westside, which is across the street. What a change, 100 miles vs. across the street. It was a wonderful and encouraging morning all around. After lunch, I went home for a half-conscious football watching session. I have really forgotten all of the things that changed when I started preaching. It actually conflicts my mind about the whole thing.

After Sunday's little preview, I can't wait to move on when the time comes. Civilian life looks great right now. But at the same time, it will be difficult adjusting to a new (although old) church home. So much has changed in the last few years. Most of all, I will be saying goodbye to a church, a family, and a town that has been a part of my entire life.

I know I will get used to it just like I got used to Lepanto. I will rediscover everything I love about the church I grew up in here in Searcy. Most of all, I will get to embrace the opportunity sit with my children and help them learn about God's love. It has been the highest honor of my life to serve the church in Lepanto, but it has been the greatest encouragement to have my family's support in that time.

County Fair

Tuesday afternoon Anna-Kate had a half day for parent/ teacher conferences so I picked her and Kristen up. We went to eat lunch with the family and then came to our house to play!

The girls made tiaras... which they loved! They were so cute putting the stickers on and then wearing them for a while after!

After we played for a while, we went to the county fair with my friend, Liz and her son Ben! I was very glad to have an extra set of hands! Thanks Ryne! Thomas fussed most of the time but the girls really enjoyed it!

We took them over to see all of the animals!

They had chicks and hatchlings (those were my favorite... so sweet!)

and goats

and sheep

and a Zebu

Kristen didn't like the cows moo-ing at her! This was right before one of these ducks bit Anna-Kate! After that she asked "do they bite?" before she'd pet any animals!

and a miniature pony

and longhorns

and a yak

I loved the little Bison!

and cows

This is a Scottish Highlander... he was pretty cute!

and little piggies! 

The girls got to feed the animals!

We went pretty early so there was not a big crowd at all! After we pet the animals, the girls and Ben went for a pony ride! They loved it!

Then we walked around and got snow cones and cotton candy... but I figured Derek's parents were keeping them, so no worries about the sugar high! Ha!

After the fair the girls were WORN out! I took them to Derek's grandmother's house so that I could go meet Derek for parent teacher conferences!

I know I'm a dork, but I was so excited about going to hear what the teacher's thought of Anna-Kate! Of course, she's right on track and doing really well! She's only brought one note home because she did not take a nap and talked the whole time! Anna-Kate's teacher makes a portfolio and keeps certain papers the whole year so we can see how she's learning. Anna-Kate has never been one for coloring or drawing much. I've tried to get her interested in writing letters and drawing shapes but it just didn't interest her. Honestly, I think we are too much a like for me to be able to really teach her! So far most of her papers and drawings were just scribbles but they told us that's the first step. I'm really excited to see her drawing more shapes and making people!

Anna-Kate's class has had color days. Tuesday was purple (that's why the girls were both matching). Their class made a book with the adventure of the purple crayon. Each child "drew" some part of the adventure with a purple crayon. Anna-Kate had "the adventure" to draw! Haha! Very abstract!

When we got done, we went to get Thomas and Anna-Kate. Thomas was super sleepy so I got to nurse him to sleep and then he snuggled with me for a while. I love it when he sleeps on me!!

We laid him down when we got home and he slept Wednesday until after 11! I was sad to miss Ladies Class, but I know he needed to sleep in!

Derek and I volunteered to do a home bible study so that some of the parents with small kids can still go to a home bible study but don't have to be far from them. (We are right across the street!) So, I spent some time cleaning and getting ready for that yesterday too.

I'm really enjoying it! Derek is leading the class and he always does such a great job!

This morning Thomas decided to sleep until 9, so we were late to MOPs. (Mother's of Preschoolers) I can't remember if I mentioned that I have started doing stuff with this or not! I missed the first actual meeting so this was my first time going, excluding the kick off mixer! I'm really looking forward to meeting other moms!! I had a lot of fun today! Hopefully next time we wont be late! :)