VBS Silver Creek NY

Just a few more pictures from our actual VBS and some of the work we have done. . . Everyone has really pitched in and God has accomplished alot through us this week. Tomorrow we are headed to Niagara Falls (with a few answered prayers for weather concerns) and then we are on our way home Saturday morning. I am physically exhausted, but spiritually refreshed! I can't wait to see everyone Sunday morning! The boys painted the fence outside the church under the supervision of James who pressure washed the whole thing first!
This is from an evening trip to the playground across the street from the church. I had almost as much fun as the kids!

An evening run to the Frosty Treat had the boys sharing "the barrel". They finished every bite!

Robby has spent most of the days on a ladder sanding, caulking and painting the window frames. He has sunburn on the backs of his thighs and a sore back, but what a difference it has made for the church! I'm just glad he had enough energy left to cook us our gourmet dinners!! :)


Lindsay vacumed out our van while we waited for our laundry to get dry.
Dee made friends with the penguin at the Frosty Treat! He really needed some hands don't you think! The ladder holder is One Cool Dude! The Frosty Treat never disappoints!

MORE pictures from Silver Creek

OK. As you can tell I am having some trouble with the internet. There are very few places to get a good signal for either the cell phones or the laptop, so I have been trying out different locations to be able to send the pictures. The front steps of the church and the front porch at the parsonage have been my only successful spots. Anyway, that's the reason these are on several posts. I will give more indepth information and tell some funny stories when we get home, but for now here are some more pictures of our activities. . .

Jennifer and Katie really enjoyed playing with Jacob. Jacob is the baby Denise was pregnant with last year. Isn't he just the cutest!!!!

What dedication!!! These guys stayed out by the side of the road drumming up interest in our carnival even through the rain!

Ican always find some smiling girls to help me with crafts!

The youth all made their own room decorations. These two have kindergarden. They made the animals out of paper plates and construction paper! Pretty impressive!

I'll end here for now. I'll try to add more tomorrow, but the connection issues are really frustrating! Don't worry, though. We have tons of pictures to share when we get home! Thanks for all the prayers! We miss everyone! Payton says "Hi. I miss you all and love you all!" and Shannon says "Hi Mom!"

Pictures for everyone back home

I don't have much time, but I wanted to give a quick update. . .

Shannon on the drive up (I LOVE this picture!)

Payton enjoyed a BLUE ring pop before falling asleep. Wake-up sleepy head!

Everyone enjoyed Lake Erie. Keith evengave lessons on rock skipping! Remember last year on the creek Shannon? :)

The view is breath-taking! What an awesome God we serve! His creations never cease to amaze me!
Our first night in the Parsonage was spent practicing the motions for the VBS songs. These girls are excited about serving our Lord and teaching others about His love!

Garrett helped carry in game supplies





Payton's creative mind came up with this pirate costume. We hardly recognized her!

We didn't have much in the way of decorations, so I "created" this overhead transparency to bring out our theme in the sanctuary.

On Monday several of us walked a few streets and passed out flyers about the carnival and VBS. The response was mostly positive. At 6:00 Monday night we kicked off the carnival with a crowd (maybe 20??) kids eager to see what was going on. The rain that started at about 7 slowed things down a bit, but the Lord was faithful (as always!) and the youth were able to keep the kids attention by getting a head start learning the songs.

Timmy was ready for the kids to arrive. Each of the youth (and John) ran a game for the carnival.

Eileen (Rich's wife) is on the left. She HATES having her picture taken so I had to sneak this one in.
The man in the green is Dan. He moved his family's membership to a church with a thriving childrens program, but they came to enjoy the carnival and catch up with old friends. His wife is the one who was very pregnant last year during our trip. Next to him is George and then Rich and, or course, Keith.

Robby has been our cook and we have been eating well!

I haven't seen much of Rob R, John , Keith or James. They went to the Parsonage Monday morning with the intention of cleaning the deck and completing some concrete work, but boy did they get a surprise! They found a sewer leak! They were able to fix the problem pipe, but not without knocking a few holes in the walls. Their work load has been increased quite a bit! That whole situation reminds me of our Lord and how He works. ( I know, strange but think about it.) Our expectations don't change His plan. When we try to do God's work with our own expectations we usually get surprised. Although no one was excited to find the broken pipe, the fact is it was there. With no one staying in the parsonage it might not have been discovered until a Pastor moved in. What a Godsend! I pray that God is using us to prepare this home for whomever He is sending to pastor this struggling church, but I know that His plan is perfect, even when it doesn't follow my expectations!

On A Mission

Okay. I know. I haven’t posted anything in FOREVER! I’m sorry. It seems that time is passing so quickly and the “summer fun” just wears me out. So many times I have thought to myself “this would be good to blog about”, but when the time comes to sit in front of the computer and type I get distracted. I check out the latest My-Space news, only to keep an eye on the kids, of course ;) and look to my fellow bloggers for inspiration (where IS everyone? ), but never get around to finishing a post. I’ve started several-you should see my “drafts”. I know. No excuse.

Well. Here it is, the wee hours of the morning and I am supposed to be in bed. I JUST finished packing. We leave in a few hours for our mission trip to Silver Creek NY. No doubt, it will be a week of service, worship, sweating, laughing, bonding and most of all, spiritual growth for all of us. Cynthia and I went last year (with the most excellent group ever I might add!!) and had an amazing time. This year we are taking the whole family. My Mom might even meet us at Niagara Falls again! I’m sure there will be much to write about upon our return, and I PROMISE to make time to get it posted!

For now, I pray for safe travels and cooperative children. I pray that we will let God lead our work as we did last year and we can be a blessing to a church whose faith in Him is never-ending although they are weary and their membership is small. And I thank God for giving me yet another opportunity to be a part of His great plan.

Aren't We CuTe !

This is me and my big brother at the Salt Mines in Germany. The best part of the tour was the huge wooden slides that burned your butt if you didn't stay on the leather pad they gave you to slide down on. I kinda like the outfits too!

! me and my big brother!
This one is me, my big brother and my little sister. I loved my brother's blonde hair. I wonder what color it would be now if he had any!!

Oh NO ! ! I Can't Hear His Heartbeat ! ! ! !

I Haven't Dropped off the Face of the Earth. . .

OK. I know it has been forever since I posted anything, but things have been really hectic. I will write more about the latest happenings later, but for now I wanted to share a few "highlights" from the past few weeks.

VBS took over most of the first week of June between preparing the set and getting the kids to church every night.

The highlight of the week was Wednesday when Garrett went forward with his profession of faith. It just goes to show that no matter what is going on with our leadership, God is always at work. My Mom and Grandma were already planning a trip down (from Pittsburgh) so we were able to schedule Garrett's baptism for that weekend. It was wonderful to have them take part in the celebration! We were also blessed to have our good friend Jon (If you frequent my blog you've seen his uvula!!) perform Garrett's baptism. It was only fitting that he be a part of it since he and his family have been great Christian friends to our entire family and helped to teach Garrett in Upwards and VBS. Also during this period of "No-Blogging" we had an opportunity to cool off in the pool with my brother and sister-in-law. I won't post the picture of Jeni (my sister-in-law) because I don't like to make pregnant women mad, but I will embarrass my hilarious brother who decided to model the "child-size" goggles.

Garrett thought it was so funny he couldn't even talk!

Lindsay decided that she is big enough now to jump in without someone catching her, even though she still needs to hold her nose! She's a sucker for an audience! She would have done this all day if we would have let her!

While my Mom was here, she took Cynthia to get her hair cut (And that story is a whole other blog!!!!) but I thought I would go ahead and share a picture of the new do. I think it's really cute! In the pic she is holding her ponytail to send to Locks of Love.

I can't resist sharing this picture of my little Lindsay. She is growing up too fast! She is only six, but she wants to be just like her big sisters! I'm not sure what the expression is all about. . .

I will end for now with another picture from the weekend visit. I think I am jealous of Lindsay's "nap time" with Grandma Suzie!
P.S. Hey Karman: It's still Sunday!