Water Day and Food Packing

Saturday was our church’s water day. It was super fun!

There was a big inflatable water slide, a little kid slide and bouncy thing, and a small dunk tank.

Paul, Tyler, and some of their friends brought their cool, gigantic, homemade water guns and ice water to get people with, and others mercilessly dumped buckets of water on each other. Imagine standing there and suddenly you are chilled to the bone, soaking, and blinded by some guy who had snuck up without your notice. Lol! It was great!

There was always a long line for the water slide. Some would try a new, creative way of going down, and the gigantic splash that would soak everyone waiting in line was hilarious!

Pearl and a girly friend freezing, happy, and about to go down together.

Throwing a buddy in the pool...

Splash! They got him. :) 

Aimee, Kate, and Paul left half way through to go help pack food at "Feed My Starving Children" with some friends. They had a blast! 

Soon after they left the water fight was put on hold for a rather wet pot-luck dinner. ;) 

And then more splashing was in store.

The End! Be thankful for hot summers, and have a happy day! 

By Our Favorite Pastor-- A Sermon Series

Listen to this sermon series on the Upper Room Discourse by our favorite pastor! <3

Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled
If Anyone Loves Me...
God's Wonderful Plan for Your Life 
The Counsel of His Will

By Our Favorite Pastor...

Listen to the first two sermons of this super encouraging series by our favorite pastor! <3

Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled
If Anyone Loves Me...

Stay tuned for the last three!!!

Recent Ministry Opportunities

-Monday-

Jerry led Evangelism Training (South). We are going through The Way of the Master, and this week we watched session 2 ("Discovering Hell's Best Kept Secret"), a very convicting episode! 

Praying for all the lost souls and asking for courage to bring them the Gospel.

-Tuesday-

Mrs. Y who usually leads the monthly Ladies' Bible Study (Living the Gospel in Relationships by Tara Barthel) was very sick so she asked Betsy to, and she did a GREAT job!

Some of the girls squished onto one couch under a fuzzy blanket as we watched the message in the chilly basement. 

-Thursday-

Jerry led Evangelism Training, North

 Praise the Lord, it was so crowded we had to use a second room adjoining the first one!

-Friday-

Betsy and a friend have been hosting a girls' Bible Study every Friday on the topic of reclaiming beauty. They are doing a biblical study (using the webinar material by the Botkin sisters "Reclaiming Beauty") on what God says is beautiful and how we, as biblical women, should represent Him. 

 The girls each decorated their study guide notebooks...it took all day, but they enjoyed it immensely. :P

Our week was rather packed, but we thank the Lord for all these opportunities to reach out to the people God has put in our lives.

Food, Family, Friends, and a Yard Sale

A quick recap of the month of November.

Thanksgiving at Aunt and Uncle's:

Which of course includes football. Watching football, that is. ;)

 Yeah, you might just be a hick if you can't figure out how to use the whipped cream. :P

It was great to be able to spend our Thanksgiving meal with family after so many years. 

We said goodbye to two very special families. On direction from God, our church sent out the M family as missionaries for the Lord to a tiny town in Mexico. It was a bitter-sweet goodbye.

Pastor M sharing a little with the congregation about the people there in Mexico and what his family's goals in reaching out to them are.

 The father and three of his daughters singing a beautiful song together

Praying over them as we sent them off. We miss you, guys!!

The second hard goodbye was to our best friends from Oregon who visited down here for a month. We've known them for a very long time and highly enjoyed getting to hang out together again. So sad when their stay ended. :( 

Ever since we were really young our families and personalities have just clicked, and we've built many priceless memories together. 

 ...Including silly ones. :)

 We walked to the park so the guys could play basketball like in the old days, and everyone else had fun playing, taking pictures together in the cool lighting, and catching up after so many months. 

 The girlies. :)

And of course you've got to take pictures of your toes with the awesome lighting!! 

And of course, whenever these two are in the same vicinity (for more than two hours) a war always breaks out. Axis and Allies, a board game depicting the second world war between the world powers. Sadly, there wasn't the kind of time they needed to resolve their differences before we had to leave, but there's always another chance. :) :) :)

Can't wait to be with you goofy people again!!

We attended a super wonderful wedding of two longtime childhood friends!! Praise the Lord!

Yard Sale!!

 Wow! Hold your breath everybody, and pray!!! :P

And that was our November! Looking forward to what God brings our way during 2016!

Catching Up Part 1: Our 4th and Church Changes

Our Fourth

On July fourth all across the country we celebrated the birth of our country, one that endeavored to follow God from the start. Now in the 21st century it isn't perfect; in fact it is a nation hard to be proud of. But through the dark and grim we must remember that God is still in control. 

We didn’t have any plans for our 4^th until the Ys invited us and the Cs for hangout, songs, and a Mexican food dinner that everyone brought stuff for. We dressed in what reds, whites, and blues we had (Paul claimed he was a confederate since all he could find was grey :P) and joined the Indians and colonists for a sunny day of fun! 
Upon arriving, all the older kids migrated outside to the Africanized Killer Bee hives (for some reason) and stood around talking about a wide variety of subjects, while the adults chatted in the air conditioned living room (smart, huh?), and the younger kids played a wild game of house complete with a scalping. 
Then everyone gathered, we prayed, and got our food. Three tables were set up. A small table for the four youngest girls, the regular dining table seated all the adults, and all the rest of us kids crammed together at another table (15 kids squished at one table makes for a goofy, loud bunch!).

After that we sang patriotic songs, listened to the recitation of a dramatic poem, and a little guy recited a summarized version of the Patrick Henry speech. 

 Just before we left they broke out the sparklers and firecrackers. The boys figured out that a combination of a sparkler fountain and a firecracker in their rifles sounds and looks just like gunfire. (Thanks to Emily for the pictures)

 Ready! Aim!

Fire!!!

One of the boys had made a gun that shot potatoes. Here they are getting it ready.

 Laughing because it didn't work until the fifth try. : )

 Talking...

 Talking... and talking. :P

 Sparklers!

 Patriotic girls!

 Wow, neat effect!

 Yikes! Who gave the Indian gunpowder?!

 Getting the sparkler lighted.

It was such a fun day! Thank you Ys!

Church Changes

Lately Heritage had to move from renting the usual school building to renting a  Presbyterian church building on Sunday evenings. It has been a different and hard change, but we are grateful that God provided a meeting place for us and it is nice that it is private property and we got out of the school system. It was definitely God's timing!

Here are a few pictures of us enjoying fellowship with the church body:

 Our rows

 The congregation.

 Pastor Y. doing the announcements after the service.


A group of the older boys talking politics. :)

 Picking up the sanctuary before moving over to the atrium for communion and lunch.


The girls in the food line.

 The little Ks' lunch table is soooo cute!

 Serving communion

 Singing Happy Birthday to all those whose birthdays are this month.

 Cleaning up the lunch hall together

The little guys <3

 All of the older kids headed out to the back parking lot...

 to warm up for Ultimate Frisbee by throwing it around a bit. 

And that is how our Sunday looks! 

I hope you enjoyed Part 1 of the update on our life right now! 

Look for the next post about a crazy-fun, impromptu trip to the International House of Pancakes, and T's kind of babysitting. : )