What to do, What to do?

I'm sitting here in the living room with James and he will not quit asking me to do something with him. "come on dad, let's go to the pool", "hey dad, you want to go play tennis", "what can we do dad?" .......
I kinda feel the same way, I feel like there is a lot I need to be doing, but it is so hard to get doing it. or to even figure out what I need to do right now. I know I need to work on a newsletter to send out, but it's about done, and just needs to be printed. There are some phone calls to make, but most of them I have already left messages with and I don't want to keep bothering people. So I sit here on the couch with my son wondering what to do?

I know you are wondering where is everyone else right? Well, Josiah and Johnathan left with my dad this morning to head down to the Gulf Coast ahead of us. (we are going down on Monday). The girls are upstairs. Bekah's already asleep and Myra is laying with Rachel 'till she falls asleep. Chances are Myra catches a nap too.

So, what to do? Make the most of the time with my oldest son, I guess. I did finally beat him in Fifa Soccer on the playstation earlier, but he said it was because one of his buttons wouldn't work. he usually beats me. he also said that he wouldn't miss his brothers and doesn't really play with them that much. I hope that this time apart makes him realize how good of friends they are.

Have a great day!!!!

another day in the adventure of a lifetime

I don't know how to summerize all that has happened in the past week and a bit, but I will try. Hopefully I will be sending out another newsletter email this week too, so if you haven't subscribed to our list, please click the link on the side and jump on board.

McPOW was last week
McPOW stands for McMinnville People Out Witnessing
It is a week long event that we (McMinnville Area Youth Ministries) put on as a united "home" mission event for youth. We gather each morning for Worship, a devotion by different Youth Pastors, and small group time, then send the youth out all over the community doing all kinds of things from free car washes, to service projects, to back yard bible clubs, to door-to-door witnessing. I was given a back yard bible club this year and had a great time, bring my boys with me and seeing them reach out to other kids. The mission projects end around 2pm, then we would all come back together for evening "fun" nights. Monday was Family Feud, Tues was Let's Make A Deal, Wed. was Survivor (I was in charge for this one), Thursday was Hometown Idol, and Friday we did a "block party" for all the people we had reached during the week. It was a great week and exciting to see teenagers out reaching their own community for Christ. If only we could get more churches and adults to work together on things like this. here is a video that Jeremy put together from McPOW http://theBiblestudy.net/library/files/MAYM/McPow.wmv

I have also been down to Alabama to speak to the youth at Pleasent Grove Baptist Church (Jon Kents Church), spoke at First Baptist McMinnville one Sunday Night, and spoke at Smartt AOG this past Sunday Night. All about our going on a mission trip.

We also moved this past Saturday from the trailer to an apartment in town. In fact it is right across from the civic center and the pool, so we can go to the playground or the pool anytime we want, and Myra can run around the track. it is also nice to have two levels, with two bedrooms upstairs (and a big closet that we have made into a third room for the girls) and living room and kitchen downstairs. Praise God for more space. As much as we liked living in the "country", Myra and I are definately city folk.

We have a week here of putting things together, then we are heading south to Mississippi for Hannah and Daniels wedding. We will be speaking at a few churches while we are there too. When we get back I will be "officially" done serving at Christ's Family Church and fully focused on getting our support team put together and Work Visa's to move to England as soon as possible. We are trusting that God will supply for our needs from the time we stop getting paid till the time we start being supported.

We appreciate your prayers as we look forward to this fall, starting homeschooling here, speaking and travelling and getting ready to go.

2 More Shocks to My System

Have we really been in the trailer 4 weeks???? We'll the last time I posted I had been in shock for two weeks and little did I know I was in for more. And I have sooooo been in withdrawls from so many things, especially from my email and blogging! This is like therapy for me and I haven't been able to do it so I've had to take up other things...like bareback horseback riding, picking blackberries, being outside on 22 acres, taking rides on a 4-wheeler, making 22 acres and a trailer try to feel like home. I'm not sure how I'm doing but it sure it nice to be outside. I have pretty much lost all concept of time and day. Everything is still a blur and there's no sign of it letting up. I miss keeping up with all my blogging friends and I miss all my internet communications and relationships! Our time with Hannah, Daniel and Nancy was such a highlight and we can't wait to head down for the wedding and see and spend time with so many family and friends!
However, before that fun event we have a HUGE week coming up with MCPOW(McMinnville People Out Witnessing). This is a highlight for us every year. It was started by a friend of Matt's, another youth minister in town and it just keeps getting bigger and bigger and better and better. All the youth ministries in the area get together for a week long mission trip right here in their own town!

Please continue to keep us in your thoughts and prayers.....we need it! I'll update the calendar so that we can kinda keep up with where we are and what we are doing. I have so much more inside that I want to get out but I don't want to overwhelm myself(well forget that I always overwhelm myself and yes I'm trying to work on that) or everyone else for that matter. I also have a long list of "to do's" to get today. We're in town at moms and this is like the first "day off" we feel like we've had in awhile....a day off, in town to catch up with the world. I feel like I've been back in time for a century and I'm getting a day in the future :)

More going on

Still don't have much time to post. Myra said, just put in the announcements from church, so a little info and the announcements...

Super long weekend - July 4th, gosh I can't even remember what all we did, oh yea, eat lunch with some friends, and did fireworks at the trailer with some youth at night. July 5th, Warren Co. Bicentennial - I ran the 1 mile with James, while pushing John-John, Bekah, and Rach. Josiah hung out with some "soccer boys", and Myra ran the 5k, then we hung around downtown, got kids naps at Gigi's. Myra, Johnathan, Josiah and I took a train ride from downtown to morrison and back about 10 miles took 2 hours, but fun. Met my mom, Hannah and Daniel at BBQ place for dinner then went to fireworks at the civic center.
Sunday we all made it to Sunday School on time. Simpsons came to church and DM led singing acappella, then Hannah and Daniel shared about ministry in the Middle East. We had the simpsons over with mom, hannah and daniel over for lunch = 18 people in the trailer. Myra has taken up trying to bareback ride one of the horses so Tiff gave some advice and we rode the four-wheeler around the property. All was finally quiet around 5pm, till matthew brought more fireworks that night. We need rest now and prayer for what we are doing next!!


CFC Anouncements:
Good Morning! What a weekend! I hope that everyone had a great time with family and friends, celebrating our independence day on Friday, Warren County’s Bicentennial on Saturday, and Freedom in Christ on Sunday. Hannah and Daniel gave us a great glimpse into what it would be like to be a Christian in a Muslim country. We were also blessed by our friends the Simpsons, coming and helping lead our singing.

Wednesday: We will be having baked Pasta, bring salads and desserts

McPOW is almost here!!! It is July 14-18. McPOW stands for McMinnville People Out Witnessing. It is like a local mission trip for youth that we do with a bunch of Youth groups together. We will be meeting at Northside at 8am for Worship, devotion and preparations before going out into the community for mission projects. The mission projects are anything from free car washes, to kids bible clubs, to door to door witnessing.
Youth: this is for you, it will be a great week of growing and serving. Of course the nights will be just a whole lot of fun. The missions projects last till 2pm (don’t forget to bring your lunch). Then the evenings start at 6pm.
Adults: We can use you to help lead kids and drive to the mission projects. If you love kids and want to help them impact our community, please join us.

McPOW Night Schedule:
Monday Night – FamilyFeud at Gath Baptist
Tuesday Night – Lets make a Deal at Covenant Fellowship
Wednesday, July 16th – CFC is the sponsor for this Night of McPOW. We will be at Riverfront park and we will be doing lots of fun “Survivor” type games. Please come and help. We will meet there at 4:30 to set up and I will need help during the game time and just keeping everything going and in order. Let me know if you can help, Thanks.
Thursday Night – Hometown Idol at Cornerstone Baptist
Friday Night – Community block party in front of Biglots