Relay for Life 2008

Relay for life was such a blast this year... I am so glad I was able to be here and participate this year because I was out of town last year. It was inspiring to see the perserverance of the survivors. I was especially affected by one sweet baby that Brandi & I saw walking he was so little and to be working so hard to live makes me pause and thank God for the health I have enjoyed and taken for granted. It was also great to be apart of the community where we will someday (Lord willing) have a church building. SO EXCITING!!! Well here are some of my favorite shots from the night. Great Job Relay for Life team... thank you especially to the Zarates, Earls, Barringers, and Jammers for serving in SO many ways. You amaze me with your servant hearts!








A Little Survivor

Membership Sunday

MEMBERSHIP SUNDAY!!!!!

One of the things I LOVE about my church is the fact that membership is not something that is entered into lightly. I love that when I decided to join it was after much prayer and study. Let me explain. In our group of churches (Sovereign Grace Ministries) a class is offered prior to membership (it is called Starting Point at my church)explaining the doctrines and practices of our church. I have loved learning about the doctrines because for me there were (and still are) so many things that I had to learn about the foundations of my faith. By the grace of God, I have learned so much by being apart of a Sovereign Grace church and attending their conferences!

SOOOOO the last Sunday in January was our membership sunday, it has in the past been marked by a themed event this time it was a "simpler" affair with our new members being brought before the church and then we as a church body shared a meal following our Celebration Service. It seemed to me as though it would be much simpler this time without the theme but as I was reflecting on the day I was struck by the amount of work it takes to both make our Sunday Meetings flow and to coordinate a meal for our whole body. Let me explain for those of you who may not know our church meets in a schoo. Every Sunday members of the body serve by setting up our location and tearing it down after the service. I have been amazed since first coming to the church by the heart God has given so many to serve heroically. Set up can so many times be a thankless job and something I know I take for granted. I am going to end with a short prayer I hope everyone enjoys the photos!

Thank you God for making me aware of the work it takes for our Sunday Meetings to flow. Thank you for the Men who serve on our set up teams and the hard work they put in week in and week out. Please help me to show them my gratefullness and to thank them for serving me, our church but most importantly You. May you recieve all the GLORY! Amen

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Merry Christmas to all... I just keep thinking about the vs from Luke

"For unto you is born this day in the city of David a SAVIOR which is Christ the Lord"(emphasis added mine)Luke 2:11

Born to save us from our sins. Thank you Father, thank you Jesus & thank you Holy Spirit. There are many things about this that I don't understand but I am keenly aware of the magnitude of sacrifice involved. Please keep God the Father and His son King Jesus in the center of all you do today!

Praise God, from Whom all blessings flow;
Praise Him, all creatures here below;
Praise Him above, ye heavenly host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. (Thomas Ken 1674)

Thank you John for sharing these words on Sunday!

Dip Night

Okay so I thought it beneficial to introduce everyone to the "dip night" idea.

Alas I am not the inventor of dip night but I did benefit from it on Friday Night. Jessi and I implemented our version last night. A family from our church was telling me that they enjoy a dip night about once a week. She makes dips (everything from Crab Dip to Spinach Artichoke dip to mexican layered dip) and her family sits around with crackers and/or chips and enjoys the dips. What a fun way to have a meal! Jess and I were talking about the idea and started getting hungry so we made a trip to the grocery store to get the makings of some dips. We made sausage dip and I also picked up some frozen spinach artichoke dip. We decided that next we will try the spinach artichoke dip. (The frozen kind doesn't compare!) It was quick and the thing about the idea that I really like is being able to try out dip recipes in the comfort of your home.... not making them to take somewhere and realizing it isn't that good of a recipe!

So it is not my idea but a way to learn from another amazing woman in our church! One of my thoughts was that it is a great way to get others in the kitchen and also a nice way to leisurely eat. It would be so great for a family game night! I am needing to get more dip recipes though. Which if you know me very well you will know or soon find out that I LOVE new recipes! Next is a dip with Feta Cheese.

CrossWay

Okay so no real blogs yet but for those of you who are checking I did change my layout and add a picture... thanks to Jessi's help :)

"I did want to share a little of what has been going on. This has been an amazing weekend for the life of our church! A mission X team from around the state of Florida came to serve our church this weekend. We have recently changed our name, as most of you who are reading this know! I was blessed to be able to go out with them and hand out fliers on Friday afternoon. It was so much fun to hand out information about our church and to communicate with people about the changes that are happening some of them who have known of our church for years. Someone even asked me if we were the McKelvey's church! It was great to share with them the changes and the exciting things that are coming in the life of our church from our name change to the pending land purchase. I was constantly amazed all weekend with the children in our church. Their passion to let people know about CrossWay and to talk to people. They were more willing than anyone to knock on doors and invite people to come meet with us.

Group Shot on the Church Land :)

Plus it was such a blessing to me for us to meet for prayer at the land that we are in the process of purchasing. Seeing the land makes it seem so real! What an amazing provision God has provided!!! It really is something that reminds me that God is so good to me and that he is trustworthy. Always learning to trust Him more and believe that He is good. He cares about us and gives us things that we desire, this is something that people in our body have prayed for and looked toward for so long. What an opportunity to praise God!

“What is man, that you are mindful of him, or the son of man, that you care for him?" Hebrews 2:6

Check out the Mission X Niceville Blog:
http://www.mission-x-niceville.blogspot.com/

In addition I learned about Dip night which is too cool, and something I should definitely implement! Maybe tonight!

Okay well that is all for now. I hope everyone is starting off to a great week.