Memorial Day Weekend/NYC

Over Memorial Day Weekend, we took our high school seniors and some juniors to New York City. Of course Amelia had to make her first youth trip. She did amazing and all of the students were great with her.

We drove up Friday during the day and we stayed in Secaucus New Jersey. We then took a bus in crazy traffic into the city to go to a Met's baseball game. (note of fun: I left my phone on the bus! Luckily they turned it in but I didn't take any pictures the trip, so I am stealing from everyone's pictures!) They gave us all free hats, even Amelia! Of course we were late with the traffic but it was fun for everyone.

Saturday we went in groups and we went with the guys. We saw the Statue of Liberty, walked to Ground Zero, walked around the Financial District, and went to Times Square.  The students went to see Mary Poppins on Broadway but I didn't think that Amelia could sit quietly so we hung at the hotel. I was walking with Amelia in the Ergo carrier to get some food in the rain when I started falling. I tweaked my knee to not fall but I was like a little gimp after!

Sunday we went to the Apostle Church and they said that Amelia did great in nursery! (I was a little shocked!). We then walked through Central Park which was my favorite! We got tickets to the 9/11 Memorial which was really neat. They made these deep waterfall pools where the two towers once were with the names of all of the people who lost their lives engraved around.

We finished Sunday walking through China town and Little Italy. Little Italy made me miss (big) Italy! We drove back Monday morning in a bus with no A/C! Sunday was Amelia's most fussy day but who could blame her?

Amelia really did awesome the whole time. She barely took naps but was in a great mood the whole time.  She even slept better was sleeping 6 and 7 hours straight! It was great with the guys because they would carry her stroller up all of those Subway stairs. My favorite was some of the kids had never held a baby before. Amelia even let some students into her 'inner circle' like Ashley here. Such a fun weekend!

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My Ministry Marriage Tips

Joe and I have been married for 3 years in May. I am by no means anyone qualified to give anyone marriage advice. We have our ups and downs along with all couples and we struggle. I have also learned along that way what this calling that God has placed on my life.

So without further ado, here are my tips for a ministry marriage.

1. Pray for Your Husband-This is obviously self-explanatory. But it is still the best thing we can do for our husbands, those who are in the ministry or not.
2. Support him in private and publicly-I am opinionated, probably to my fault. I have learned the hard way to support him. Joe gets very hurt if I disagree with him in public, even on unimportant things. In private Joe encourages and asks for my opinion on things. But we give a united front when although I did not totally agree with his decision in private, I try my hardest to not let any hint of things show. God has whispered to me several times that He did not call me to be the Pastor but He did call me to support my Pastor/Husband. Another facet to this is sometimes Joe just needs to vent and I can be listening ear.
3. Have fun with your husband-An important part of our marriage is doing things together, just be silly. It's important to carve out time for just the two of us. I also try to take those moments when he'll go to the store with me or go to the doggie park together.
4. Be Flexible-I try to be flexible with my time with him. There have been times when we are out doing things or have plans when Joe is called away. I could easily pout or try to make him feel guilty, but I have to realize that his call is a higher one.
5. Be Visible-let's be honest and say that people notice when the Pastor's wife is not present, justified excuse or not. I have not been at every church service by no means but I do try. But I do think it is an asset to a Pastor's ministry when his wife is seen in the church supporting the church.
6. Make your husband your ministry-This is something I am still learning. Last year I went to a Women's Conference at Southern Seminary where I went to a session about this. There was a Pastor's Wife that spoke to this, and I stood there amazed at all she does for her husband. It really made me think my most important thing I could do for our church is making him my ministry. I would be a terrible Pastor's Wife if I impacted so many girls but did it at the expense of our marriage. So that may mean that I will not go to every event or be involved in every ministry, but I am called to make him my priority.

Do any other PW have any more tips?




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What We Have Been Up To...

Last weekend we took our students to a Dare 2 Share conference outside of DC. It's a conference focusing on students sharing their faith with our friends. A highlight for me was Shane and Shane leading worship! I loved them since high school so it was neat to introduce them to our students! We had a great time learning how to practice our faith during the weekend. It was an eye-opener for me as the youth were learning about witnessing in how much I still needed to learn. Still very humbling in ministry...

For Valentine's Day, it was a gorgeous springy day. We took our dogs to the dog park. We went early in the afternoon and we were surprised by how many dogs were there. Since we are new to the dog park 'scene', we are starting to pick up when the dogs are ready to leave. When it gets to the point when they are just hanging out on our laps, we know its time to head home!  Joe also helped me make Boeuf Bourguignon and Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes. Yummy! We finished the night off with the romantic movie The Social Network :)

  

Then the highlight of the month was our trip to Ikea on Saturday. Joe had been hinting to take me to Ikea so I decided it was the day and off we went! The closest Ikea is about two hours away but still worth it. We came home with a new entertainment center that was on sale. Our TV was previously sitting on a goodwill find of Joe back in his bachelor days. We then spent a 'fun' evening putting together some furniture and we tried to watch Inception but I got confused...

 

That's what we've been up to....what have you been up to?



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Small Groups

Sunday nights, we have started small groups for our students. I am blessed to a be a part of the High School Girls small group. Each group is studying Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God by Francis Chan. It is all about how this amazing God loves us and our response to that love. We have 30+ girls each night for hanging out, eating, and most of all good discussion and Bible study.

How awesome to hear girls talk about their stuggles and how they have been they have been praying for their friends. Even how they can talk to the classmates about the gospel



Can you say amazing?

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Girl's Sleepover

What happens when 70 girls get together and you 'sleep' at the church?

You play a lot of games. (And may have the police called on you if you are outside)

 You tie-dye shirts while I slightly freak out about a mess!

And you all dance to Just Dance 2 and I got quite a workout. I loved it so much that I ordered it just so I could make Joe play!

And you get to spend the night with some amazing girls whom we love!

 

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Elevate Worship Service

Tonight was our kick off worship night for the youth. It was a great night because a. I did not have to work and b I got to go to church!

We had 70+ students tonight and the student response was great! Lots of planning, praying, and effort went into starting this worship service. We really encouraged the students to bring their friends to church and Joe taught a great message in Genesis about the gospel in creation.

Joe showed this video to start




We love our students and so thankful God called us here!


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High School Fall Retreat

This past weekend, we had a blast at our High School Retreat. We had 30 students come and had a great time in worship and learning about being Living Sacrifices.

I also introduced the students to the game Pit. I heard comments like "This is the best game EVER!" You can see us playing it in the video.

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Pack Your Bags!

This weekend is the High School Fall Retreat. I feel like I am a little more prepared for this retreat but we shall see. Maybe I'll get more sleep?

 

 Expect lots of pictures to come!

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Weekend Recap

This weekend was a little more relaxed. Friday night, the church hosted an outdoor movie in night, in October! It was after the football game so it was about 40 degrees! The funny part is the rest of the week the low is the upper 50's! Even though we had about 75 students and parents come. We watched Letters to God. That was my third time seeing it and I still cried.

Saturday we hung out and got the house cleaned up. I had a couple of boxes left to unpack and found a lot of things I was missing!

Sunday after church, our rental house was having an Open House. So we decided to take our dogs to a dog park in Richmond. It was only a 20 or so minute drive. Before our trip, I was kinda worried about how they would do. I pictured Annie running around like crazy jumping on dogs.

They surprised us. They did really well but were more interested in following us around then the dogs. They especially loved all the attention they got from other dog owners. They did have a chihuahua follow them around for about 20 minutes.

Last night, Joe shared his vision with youth and their schedule for the next year. The students were pretty excited about our mission trip to New Orleans next summer. We had a fun weekend!

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Camp Willow Run Video

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Weekend Recap

This past weekend, Joe and I went with our Middle School students to Camp Willow Run in North Carolina. YouthQuest from Liberty University came and led worship, and small groups with our students.


We had a blast! I must admit as we were leaving, I thought "What did I get myself into?" But I soon knew that this would be a fun and God-lifting weekend. We took over 70 students with us.  

  

We loved the trip. The camp had canoeing, rock wall climbing, and low ropes courses. We really started connecting with the students and developing relationships. We came home really tired though! Now I am trying to condense my 200+ pictures into a video for the students.



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Weekend Recap

We had a fun weekend! Friday night, we babysat for some friends here that included the girls painting Joe's toenails pink. The stipulation was that no photo were to be taken! He found the nail polish remover quickly after we got home much to my disappointment!

Saturday we were lazy getting up and then we took the dogs to Petsmart. It was packed! Annie I think enjoyed it but we didn't stay very long because there were too many dogs. That night we went to see some of the Juniors and Seniors and they had a college presentation. Brought back some high school memories.

Sunday after church we had our Mount Pleasant Family Picnic. It was predicted to rain the whole day but we only had some pop up showers and then rained after we left.  Great time connecting with our church family and meeting new people.  

I also brought Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes. They were a huge success. But took some work to make the cookie dough, cupcake batter, and the frosting but definitely will keep this recipe!


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June and July

The last time I blogged we were getting ready for our movie night. It was a success I think, until there was some type of power surge in the neighborhood and we had an unplanned intermission.  We watched Fireproof and we had a really great youth turnout.

Our 7 year old niece Mikah came up for a week to spend with us to go to our VBS. She came over 4th of July. She helped me decorate my Flag Cake. We had a few couples over to help us eat. I however was sick in bed but I heard it was great.

Joe came in the bedroom after lunch and we were talking. But, Annie was surprisingly quiet wherever she was. Joe went into the kitchen and found this:

 Finally, it was our VBS week. We had over 100 kids through our church doors. Although I think my favorite part was seeing Joe in the dunk tank during the Carnival Friday!

Soon we will have so more updates!

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