The Naughty Kids' Club

On Sunday, our pastor, David, gave a message about serving. To illustrate the importance of servants (volunteers) at church, all three services were carried out without volunteers. There were no greeters to tell new people where to go, the bulletins were done messily and with errors, no ushers to seat people, no multimedia or audio volunteers, no worship team, etc.

There were people serving in children's ministry (otherwise it just might have been too chaotic), but David wanted to demonstrate what might happen if there were no children's workers. Ella and three of her friends were chosen to help illustrate this message -- we called it "The Naughty Kids' Club". At a certain time during the message, Ella and her friends ran out of the hall, screaming at the top of their lungs, and ran down the aisle in the worship center, totally disrupting the pastor and the service. They practiced on Saturday and were so excited to do it on Sunday! Here is a picture of them practicing -- way too much fun!!

Unfortunately, Tyler was sick and couldn't participate. To Avery's delight, she was asked to fill in for Tyler, and she became an "honorary member" of The Naughty Kids' Club. It was so fun for them, and a great picture of just one of the ways that God asks us to use our gifts in serving His church

Here is The [original] Naughty Kids club, plus Ruby (Caleb's little sister). From left to right: Caleb, Ella, Taylor & Tyler

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Trees

All of this beauty can be seen from our front door!

"Then the trees of the forest will sing, they will sing for joy before the LORD, for he comes to judge the earth. Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever." 1 Chronicles 16:33-34

"Snow" by Go Fish

I just found a GREAT Christmas CD! I purchased "Snow" by Go Fish for the girls, but I love it for me and have already listened to some of the songs repeatedly. There are a variety of familiar Christmas songs (done in the Go Fish guys acapella style), but my two favorites are "It's About the Cross" and "My Jesus I Love Thee" (not even really a Christmas song). "It's About the Cross" is amazing -- the gospel is very clearly laid out in a way that kids can understand. You can watch/listen to it here

The bridge and final chorus goes like this:

The beginning of the story is wonderful and great
But it's the ending that can save you and that's why we celebrate

It's about the cross
It's about my sin
It's about how Jesus came to be born once
So that we could be born again

It's about God's love
Nailed to a tree
It's about every drop of blood that flowed from Him when it should have been me

It's about the stone
That was rolled away
So that you and I could have real life someday
So that you and I could have real life someday

It's about the cross

It's about the cross

I HIGHLY recommend this CD. And I got it for Just $5 at Alpha & Omega. Merry Christmas my friends, a couple of months early :)

Punkin' Patch

What a beautiful fall day to head to the "punkin' patch"! We went to a pumpkin farm that we haven't visited before and had a great time with our good friends, Sheri & Maria.

The kids enjoyed many fun activities, including a "sandbox" filled with corn kernals. It was so cool!

They also had races in giant "hamster wheels".

We saw a lot of animals. Our favorites were the pigs -- a 400 lb. mama and her 1 month old babies. They were a riot trying to get some milk!

There were several big slides, as well as a zip line, corn maze and much more.

The three girls were so cute and really had fun together!

It was sunny and cool, the perfect fall day! Thank you, God, for the special family times you bring us!

For more photos from our fun day at the punkin' farm, visit our Kodak Gallery album here.

Such a Big Girl Now...

Avery was thrilled to get her very first iPod shuffle yesterday! It is new-to-her (just $25 on Craigslist!) and purchased with her saved allowance money. She was so excited (understatement) and it was really fun to go with her to get it and watch her enjoy it these last couple of days.

We have been on the reluctant end of the spectrum (another understatement) when it comes to purchasing electronics for Avery & Ella. They have such great imaginations -- we would much rather see them playing school, house, or with their dolls than sitting with a hand-held game or with earphones on. So after a lot of thinking and talking, it was a fun surprise to give Avery the "okay" to make this first big purchase.

Last night I helped her download all of her favorite songs from HighPoint, as well as Pure NrG and her other favorite CD's. She has been singing all day, and is being so sweet about letting Ella listen in and share.

I can't even tell you how many times I've heard this phrase in the past 24 hours: "Mom, I feel like such a big girl now!" Note to self: She will always be my precious little girl!