Monday, November 30, 2015

Live Animal Christmas Play 2015!!!!

Our church's Live Animal Christmas Play is coming just around the corner!! The next couple weeks are going to be FULL of preparations and LOTS of practice! But it'll all be worth it next weekend (December 11-13) when we perform 6 showings to over 3,000 people and the Gospel goes forth loud and clear!
If you've never checked out our play website, you can see pictures and all kinds of great stuff by clicking here! If you live anywhere close to the state of Iowa, we encourage you to please come join us for this year's production (free of charge)! You will not be disappointed and every mile you travel will be well worth it!
Check out the commercial Caleb made for the play, which will be broadcasted on multiple cable channels throughout the midwest!  We hope to see you there! And if you live too far away and can't come, PLEASE pray for us! This is a $30,000+ endeavor, involving over 300 volunteers from our church and dozens of live animals. Pray for the finances to be provided for, health and safety for us all! We would LOVE to have good weather next weekend, so no one is forced to miss because of bad roads. On Friday night, we have a private showing for our bus kids/families, so please pray that the buses can get out and back safely late at night in sometimes precarious weather.
Pray for our Pastor (Joseph Brown) who is also the director...he has the weight of everything on his shoulders (although Caleb tries to help hold up his hands and be an "Aaron" in any way that he can each year). Pray for our health (especially the actors and singers!). Pray for the unsaved who will attend, that their hearts will be open to the clear presentation of the Gospel they will hear throughout the play and at the end in a special Gospel message by our pastor.
I could go on and on...but you get the idea! PLEASE PRAY FOR US! I look forward to posting an update to let you know how everything goes, when it's all over and done with for another year!








Friday, November 27, 2015

Fall Update

I just realized I never posted anymore about the end of our fall tour! I'll post a couple photos here and briefly mention where we have been, but the majority of this post will be about what we have been up to since getting home for the holidays!
We spent a couple weeks with meetings in Albuquerque, NM after we finished up meetings in Texas. It was so nice to be able to fellowship with our dear friends, James and Andrea Leeder, while there!

Thankful for our friends, Mark and Lacey Lenentine, also in Albuquerque!

We got to go to the Balloon Fiesta!

My sweet boys! Growing up so fast!!

Jonathan's 14 month photo and stats :)

My mom came into town soon after we got home from our year of travels (in early Nov) to spend time with us while my dad was on a missions trip to China!

My sister, Becki, came to visit then too, with her girls! Her husband was renovating their hardwood floors, so they had to be out of the house for a week!

The cousins had LOTS of fun together!!!

For my 30th birthday (Nov. 9), Caleb took me to Branson (my mom watched our boys at home)! We spent a fun week there just the two of us :)

Loved the beautiful scenery of the Ozarks!

The highlight of our week was definitely seeing Jonah at Sight & Sound! We also got to go on an hour-long behind-the-scenes tour! 

Little Jonathan turned 15 months old on Nov. 14!

My little baking assistant! David has really started to love helping out in the kitchen! :)

We got SNOW on Nov. 21! David played out in the snow (and built a snowman with Daddy) for the FIRST time ever!!!

Once again, helping mommy in the kitchen again! This time, he helped me make casseroles on Thanksgiving morning!

We had a great Thanksgiving with sweet friends from our church!




David was SO excited to eat one of the finished products of our cookie-baking adventure the other day! 
Happy Thanksgiving to you all! We love you and appreciate your friendship and prayers for us through the years! 


Wednesday, November 4, 2015

Another Little Blessing!

We are praising God for entrusting another little blessing into our lives! 
"Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord: and the fruit of the womb is his reward." (Psalm 127:3)


Thursday, October 1, 2015

Fall Tour Part 1 - September

End of August, we left home for our Fall Tour!

First stop was in Independence, KS and Lighthouse Baptist Church with our dear friends Pastor and Mrs. Bill Munson!

Then it was south to TX! We had fun finding ways to stay cool in the intense heat!

Jonathan loved the water sprinklers at this park in Decatur!

Caleb and I taught split sessions in a Christian school in Decatur, TX a couple days that week.

We got to meet up with my parents as they were headed home from their long road trip and passing through Texas!

Pastor Mosely and his wife took us on a tour of the Water Gardens in Ft. Worth!

David LOVED the huge waterfalls!

Caleb got a chance to preach college chapel at Lone Star Baptist College in the Ft. Worth area.

We headed back to Kansas for a couple days and got to stop in quick and visit Caleb's older brother, Jason for lunch!

We had a fun Stars and Stripes themed youth rally in Leavenworth, KS!

Great meeting with our dear friend, Pastor Randy Taylor, Jr in Gainesville, TX in mid-September.

We were blessed to get to stay in the guest house on a the property of a sweet couple from Pastor Taylor's church in Gainesville! We spent many fun hours in their beautiful pool! We even had David's 3rd birthday party here! Check out that special post here.

Little water baby!

Sunday, September 20...David is three!!!!

That day, we had great services with Lakeland Baptist Church in the Ft. Worth area.

A mommy/son date :)

Sunday, Sept. 27, we enjoyed being with our dear friends Pastor Hector Rodriguez and family & Trinity Baptist Church in Texas City, TX in the morning and afternoon...then that night, we were with a Spanish church in Baytown, TX (where Caleb preached through a translator). Busy long day, and I wish I had gotten pictures of our wonderful time with Trinity. But I do love this one of the boys on Sunday night, chilling and having a snack before church!

Park fun!

Little sweetie!

Our final meeting in September was Weds. night at Victory Baptist in Baytown, TX with Pastor Cripps!