Family Ties

We were able to make a visit home over Labor Day weekend.

Micah really loved playing with "Juncle Jeremy". It was so cute!

We had a small photo shoot in my parents' backyard.

Me and my sisters.

The whole family. We had a great weekend seeing old friends and getting to hang out with family as well. We were also in town to attend Jenna's wedding reception. It was very beautiful! Congratulations, Jenna and Josiah!

We're Having a Girl!

We're having a little girl! We had an ultrasound on Monday. The technician assured us that this image meant that our baby was female. We are so excited!

This is the baby's head and body. You can see her spine in this picture. She was wiggling all around during the ultrasound. The technician was trying to get a profile picture for us, but she just wouldn't cooperate. This is as good as it gets for now.

A Time to Grow

These are just some pictures of my ever-growing baby belly.

12 weeks....not much of a bump at all.

17 weeks....just a little bump.

This is the most recent picture (taken last night) at 20 weeks. We are supposed to find out the gender of the baby on Monday. So I'm sure that will be my next blog entry. It's becoming a baby kind of world in our house.

Oh The Things We Do....

Oh the things we do to minister to others...in this case, dress up as nerds. This past week was VBS at our church. For the youth there were different dress up themes each night. I think Jeremy looks dashing, don't you agree.

We also had a band that played live praise & worship music each night. They did a wonderful job engaging the students in worship.

Two of our high school girls decked out for Mismatch night. They definitely went above & beyond the call of duty here.

We had a great VBS week! Ultimately, three students accepted Christ and a number of others rededicated their lives to Christ this week. We had over 100 students attend throughout the week and an average of 80 per night. It was a fun and challenging week for our students. And tonight is the carnival. I will be face painting all night; a great end to a great week.

iLift Middle School Camp - i know. i grow. i go.

Group picture that we took on the way home.

Three of our middle school girls hanging out.

Jeremy and I sitting in a worship service with our students.

We took our middle school students to Lift Camp last week in Springfield, MO. We had a really awesome trip and had two students get saved. Between paintball & bowling, there wasn't much time for rest, but, after all, we are talking about middle schoolers. They enjoyed not getting much rest. This was the last trip of the summer for our students. Now we are looking forward to VBS and promotion Sunday. They are both coming up very quickly.

Don't Worry, Be Happy

Sometimes when you are in ministry, it is easy to get caught up in worry. We worry about trips, and the spiritual condition of our sheep, and whether or not we are making people happy or even making a difference. When really, the only one we should be striving to make happy is our heavenly Father. I was praying today about some of the worries on our hearts lately and God brought these verses to my mind and heart. I wanted to share them with you.

Matthew 6:31-34 says,

"So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."

I love these verses. How many times has the Lord provided for us? More than I count, and yet, we still worry. So my motto for today is "Don't worry, be happy.....because God loves us and knows exactly what we need."

Summer Time Means Camp Time

We took our high school students to Crossings Camp in Bagdad, KY last week. It was a very good, but very tiring week. The youth stayed busy with all kinds of activities like:

Blobbing;

Rock Climbing;
and horse-back riding.

It was truly a life-changing week for our students. I'm very glad that I was able to go on the trip. God gave me the strength & energy that I needed to make it through the week. Hopefully I'm on the end of this whole morning-sickness thing. Middle school camp is coming up in one week, so I need to get caught up on laundry! Speaking of clothes, I'm currently in that in-between stage where my regular clothes are too small, but maternity clothes swallow me whole. So I pretty much look silly all the time. Maybe I'm on the end of that stage, too.

You Knit Me Together in My Mother's Womb

Yes, we are pregnant! Right now God is creating a wonderful creation inside of me. It amazes me to even think of how great it will be to actually see our little one. I am due on December 31st....Happy New Year! There will definitely be more pics coming your way & I will really try to be a better blogger. Thanks to all who love & support us with prayers. We love you all.