KidzCamp

Yes, that is spelled with a "z"! We just finished our week of KidzCamp, which was an outreach event to our community. We focused on a one mile radius of our church, inviting the community to a camp for K-5th grade kids. We took traditional VBS and made it new and fresh...a little outside the box. More geared towards unchurched people. It was a lot of fun. Our youth had a huge role in planning and implementing much of this camp. They did a fabulous job. Needless to say, it was a very busy week. I barely saw Ed.
But today we were busy packing and getting ready for our vacation. Tomorrow we head to Topsail Island, NC for a week with Ed's family. I can't wait. So have a great week! I'll post pictures when we get back.

What a Day!

Yesterday was an absolutely beautiful day! It was a very busy day for Ed and I, but we enjoyed every bit of Tyler and Lauren's wedding. Ed did a great job for his first wedding. He was very relaxed and brought so much truth into their wedding. He said it was really cool to just stand up there with the two of them and share that intimate time with them during the ceremony. As a pastor you get a front row view of the ceremony, but even more so, you get to lead them through their first moments of marriage. Ed challenged them to start their marriage off right like the first button when buttoning your shirt. If you get the first button wrong, the rest of the shirt is messed up. So in marriage we need to get the "first button" right and everything will line up correctly. So he said the first thing was that the quality of your marriage hinges on what you believe to be true about God. Then he shared four things that are true about God that have to be true for marriage to work. They were that God is LOVE, God is FAITHFUL, God is WORTH every minute of this Marriage, and God is GRACIOUS.
It was an absolutely beautiful wedding. Ed would never say this, but I can because I am his wife. He did a really great job. He made the ceremony personal, comfortable with light humor, and a commissioning to their lives together and their lives as missionaries. It was a worship service. There were many wet eyes and people who do not know the Lord were awakened to Him. Ed received many many complements and people were surprised it was his first wedding. The best was when several couples in their 40s and 50s said they wished Ed could do their wedding!
Tyler and Lauren are so special to so many people. It was neat to see a lot of the youth there that Tyler had worked with. Those guys love him! They truly are a neat couple and my prayer is that the Lord would protect their marriage and bless them with many many years of happiness. May the Lord give them the grace they need to love each and every day!

Wedding Weekend

Good Morning everybody! Today is a fun day! Two years ago, our first summer here, we had two interns for the youth ministry. Both interns were MKs and somehow ended up at our church through random connections. The guy, Tyler, immediately connected with Ed. They worked really well together and he absolutely loved the students. The students loved him as well. Anyway, Tyler went back to school that fall and everyone missed him. He graduated and moved back home to Richmond to work as a PT, but started working with the youth again. Really he was Ed's right hand man. Ed could rely on him for everything. They were so like minded when it came to ministry. The past year has been amazing. He proposed to his girlfriend and has been planning the wedding all year. He and Lauren are getting married tomorrow and Ed is doing the wedding. I have been doing a lot of the coordinating for the church. So we have been very busy preparing for the wedding. Yesterday, we moved all the furniture off the stage. It was very heavy.
So today we have the rehearsal and dinner. It will be so fun to celebrate this time with them. I hope to have pictures up soon, but our camera broke, so I have to wait for the film to be developed on our old camera. (how weird is that?)
Micah has gone to the beach with my parents, so it is nice that I have one less child to think of this weekend. (I'm sure he is having a blast!) Tomorrow Ed and I will be at church pretty much all day. We are very excited to send off Tyler and Lauren to Southeastern (where we went) for seminary. They are doing the 2+2 program because they want to go overseas. So it is very sad to see them leave Grace, but we are very excited for their new lives together.

You've Got Supper

So I just found this site and it looks amazing. You sign up for FREE and you get an email every Thursday with 5 new recipes and 2 side dishes for the following week. You choose which recipes to do and it automatically makes your grocery list for you, all organized by category! How great is that? I am always looking for more recipes to do for dinner. Sometimes we just get in a rut and I can't think of anything else to do. So I just signed up and I am excited for some new ideas. I think it was started by two moms from Richmond. If you want to check it out, click here.

The Joys in Life

This is so very opposite of my earlier post, but I had to share this. Yesterday, I had the amazing moment of seeing and hearing Caleb laugh for the first time. I sat in the nursery with him, tickling him, and he just started giggling. It was so adorable! It blew me away to think that this was the first time of many many laughs ahead of him. I hope that his life is filled with laughter and joy. More importantly, my prayer is that his pure joy comes from the Lord. I know the Lord will bless him with people in his life to make him laugh. (he already has Micah and Ed) But I hope that God will reveal himself to Caleb and that He will be the greatest source of joy he will ever know.

One of my least favorite things...

This morning I experienced yet again one of my least favorite things to do...the grocery store. Yes, you would think that because of the frequency of trips to the grocery store, I would just get used to it and maybe even learn to like it. I even remember as a child dreading going to the store with my mom, not because it was with her, but because it was just so boring to me and no trip is ever quick! There are times that I enjoy the cooking and even planning of meals, but I have never really enjoyed the trip to the store. Except maybe before children, when my husband and I would casually walk down the aisles together enjoying our new life together.
But I have to admit, I hate it. And even more frustrating now is the fact that groceries are so expensive! I've done the coupons, etc, but my grocery bill is so high! I guess the only redeeming factor is the Starbucks that is in the store. I deserve a treat, right? This morning I did get to go to the store without children, thanks to my wonderful husband! This is obviously just one of my least favorite things. What is one of your least favorite things?

Summer fun!

We recently enjoyed a week at the beach with my family and we totally loved it. It was a little more different with a 2 year old and another child! Let's just say there really was no relaxing or reading a book. Well I take that back, I think I got to enjoy 2 chapters! But it was so fun taking it all in through the eyes of a 2 year old. Watching him play in the sand was priceless, or being mesmerized by the fireworks, or the joy of riding rides for the first time.
My whole family was there except for my sister, Krista, and even some of my cousins. The ladies enjoyed a day of shopping at the outlets in Atlantic City and then went out to dinner at PF Changs. I loved it!
Since then we've been preparing for our KidzCamp in August and Ed just got home from Student Life Camp today. I have him home for as long as I know now! So we have some crazy weeks ahead of us with KidzCamp prep, 2 weddings, and another week at the beach with the Martins!
Here are some pictures of our trip!

4th of July pictures
The water was really cold, so we made a little pool for Micah and he just played in that all day!

Baby C couldn't take the boardwalk...
Micah's favorite ride...pure joy!
The whole gang...minus Krista :(