October 31, 2008
Our tradition on October 31st is to go to Stonebridge Community Church's Fall Festival. Our former neighbor and dear friend Dave Zeltner is the worship leader there. Dave is truly the finest musician I know and we were wonderfully surprised when we arrived at the festival to hear his jazz band playing! It was such a joy reconnecting with Dave's wife Karen, his sister Pam and dear mother Mrs. Zeltner. Miri had a blast running around with the Hutchinson children while Bill and I so enjoyed the free concert :). Thank you Lord for a wonderful night!!
Stonebridge Fall Festival!
Happy Birthday!
October 31, 2008
Happy Birthday Mirielle and Da!!
Today is Mirielle's 11th birthday and she loves that she gets to 'share' her birthday with her Da :)! There are no words to express our love for these two!
May the Lord bless them beyond all they can think or imagine today!!
Happy Birthday!!!!!
Co-op Celebration!
October 30, 2008
Last night the co-op that Mirielle is in celebrated their end of quarter by putting on a wonderful show! Thank you teachers for all your hard work...it was a wonderful night!!
My brother~
October 28, 2008
Can you join me in prayer for my younger brother Dennis? He's having minor surgery this week. I so love him and pray the Lord will completely heal him- body, soul, mind and spirit. Thank you my friends!
Help!
Okay Ladies... I have a question. I just made a recipe that included 1/2 cup of wine. We didn't have a wine bottle opener- so Jon came to the rescue (see below) with a drill and pliers to get the cork out! In the end we still couldn't get the cork out- but made a big enough hole to pour the 1/2 cup needed :). I know the easy answer is to just go buy a bottle opener- but is there another way to uncork a bottle??? :)
HomeArama!
October 21,2008
I had a glorious afternoon at The Palisades ~ HomeArama 2008 with my friend Sharon Hawkins today! We had so much fun looking for ideas. Ideas for us are... how do they position their towels? What color paint do they use? How do they position books on bookshelves? :) I hope you enjoy the photos. I wonder what our mansions in heaven will look like???!
Charlotte Extreme Home Makeover
October 22, 2008
Miri has always been a fan of the Extreme Home Makeover Edition TV show. She especially loves to see how the girls rooms turn out :). When the EHME crew arrived in Charlotte this summer- we went to the site... a few times! When we were recently in Philly, Miri was so excited to find out that her Uncle John is actually a driver for the show. He gave her a hat- which she HAD to wear on Sunday to celebrate since the Charlotte episode was airing. Miri celebrated Sunday night with our friend Julie- also a big fan. (Thank you Julie!)
Here are a few pictures we took of the house in the making....along with pictures of one of their biggest fans- Miss Miri.
Apple Picking Fun!
October 21, 2008
Yesterday Miri and I went apple picking at Skytop Apple Orchards with my friend Kim. We had a blast!! I hope you enjoy the pictures. The mountains are so beautiful! http://www.skytoporchard.com/
What are we going to wear tomorrow?
October 17, 2008
Not sure what to put on tomorrow morning?
Put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness (Ephesians 4:24)
Therefore as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. (Colossians 3:12-14)
Clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature. (Romans 13:14)
I also want women to dress...with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God (1 Timothy 2:9-10)
Put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness (Ephesians 4:24)
Therefore as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. (Colossians 3:12-14)
Clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature. (Romans 13:14)
I also want women to dress...with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God (1 Timothy 2:9-10)
Thank you Barbara Hughes! Help Lord! (Disciplines of a Godly Woman pg. 94-95)
What do our trials mean?
October 14, 2008
Taylor is reading J. I. Packer's Knowing God and asked me to read chapter 9 because he thought it'd encourage me :). Wow did it ever! I especially loved this quote from page 97:
Our Perplexing Trials
“We should not...be too taken aback when unexpected and upsetting and discouraging things happen to us now. What do they mean? Simply that God in his wisdom means to make something of us which we have not attained yet, and He is dealing with us accordingly.
Perhaps He means to strengthen us in patience, good humor, compassion, humility or meekness, by giving us some extra practice in exercising these graces under especially difficult conditions. Perhaps He has new lessons in self-denial and self-distrust to teach us. Perhaps He wishes to break us of complacency, or unreality, or undetected forms of pride and conceit. Perhaps His purpose is simply to draw us closer to Himself in conscious communion with Him; for it is often the case, as all the saints know, that fellowship with the Father and the Son is most vivid and sweet, and Christian joy is greatest, when the cross is heaviest. Or perhaps God is preparing us for forms of service of which at present we have no inkling.”
“We should not...be too taken aback when unexpected and upsetting and discouraging things happen to us now. What do they mean? Simply that God in his wisdom means to make something of us which we have not attained yet, and He is dealing with us accordingly.
Perhaps He means to strengthen us in patience, good humor, compassion, humility or meekness, by giving us some extra practice in exercising these graces under especially difficult conditions. Perhaps He has new lessons in self-denial and self-distrust to teach us. Perhaps He wishes to break us of complacency, or unreality, or undetected forms of pride and conceit. Perhaps His purpose is simply to draw us closer to Himself in conscious communion with Him; for it is often the case, as all the saints know, that fellowship with the Father and the Son is most vivid and sweet, and Christian joy is greatest, when the cross is heaviest. Or perhaps God is preparing us for forms of service of which at present we have no inkling.”
Lastly on page 98-
" We may be frankly bewildered at things that happen to us, but God knows exactly what He is doing, and what He is after, in His handling of our affairs." Amen!
We love Philly!
October 14, 2008
What a weekend! We praise the Lord for safe travels, beautiful weather, and for allowing us to see so many loved ones! Our weekend started with the long 11 hour drive- but with the breath taking views of the changing leaves and laughter in the car-it was so enjoyable!
Though we arrived quite late at the Whitpan's, we enjoyed a late night visit and then headed to get some sleep. While Bill, Miri and I headed off to Eddie and Heather's wedding Friday afternoon-Jonathan and Taylor were getting ready to go to a semi-formal Friday night-honoring Dave Harvey (senior pastor of Covenant Fellowship church)!
The wedding...Eddie is Bill's sister Sherry's oldest son. This wedding was a joy to attend for many reasons. 1.Because we all love Heather and Eddie! 2. Sherry and husband John live in CA- so we rarely see them 3. Bill's parents and all of his siblings were there! Bill's brother- George-who lives in Colorado is a pastor and helped officiate the wedding. Bill's sister Bette and husband Paul came from Atlanta. What a glorious reunion!
Saturday our family headed to my cousin Mike and his wife Jackie's house. It was such a joy to also see my Mom and Aunt Rita there!! We had a delicious cookout and so enjoyed catching up. Miri LOVES her cousins Rachael and Kara and had a blast.
Saturday night we spent the evening with our dear friends...the Farmers- from Covenant Fellowship! We so treasure them and had a wonderful time catching up. I asked Missy to email me the 'Better than Robert Redford' dessert that Jill made that night. I will be sure to pass it on when I get it. It's so yummy!!
Sunday! What a glorious morning to be at Covenant Fellowship! We attended this church before we moved to Charlotte and had the privilege of seeing Dave Harvey become senior pastor. Today Dave was joyfully passing the baton to Jared Mellinger so to enable Dave to serve Sovereign Grace Ministries full time. (He will remain in Philly) It was a joy seeing Bill Patton honored (who was senior pastor when we first joined the church and Alain Redrup (interim pastor). What a surprise it was to also see Mary Brown! Mary was the one who introduced us to Sovereign Grace about 20 years ago! We saw many dear friends and gave much praise to the Lord for how He is working in and thru the precious people at Covenant Fellowship. We will forever consider this church.... home. ~
There is a rule in our family. You cannot leave Philly without having eaten a Philly cheese steak. Okay...it's MY rule :). After church we enjoyed wonderful fellowship (and a cheese steak) with Jocelyn and Kirk Whitpan (our hosts). They are family to us and we love them so dearly!
We then watched the Eagles win!! Yahoo!... took a long walk and then enjoyed our next rule. We MUST play the Mexican Train with the Whitpan's every time we're with them. It was a blast!!
We then packed up and said our sad goodbye's the next morning. We thank the Lord for such dear friends who live to glorify the Lord thru their lives!
We pray you enjoy our little slide show which captures some of our wonderful times...
Philly or bust!
October 8, 2008
We are so excited to be heading to Philly in the morning! For those who don't know- we lived there for 10 years before we moved to Charlotte.
We are going to be able to see most of Bill's family at Bill's nephew's wedding this Friday... then on Saturday we will be able to see my mom and some of my extended family! On Sunday we're going to our old church- Covenant Fellowship. We are so excited!
We appreciate your prayers for safe travels~
Nana and Da are here!
We love Bill's parents!
They are here for one night while they're on their way to Philly for a wedding.
Take 1
Take 2
While I'm Waiting~
Bill and I saw the movie, Fireproof, last night. A song in the movie that we were still talking about this morning is titled "While I'm Waiting". I just saw that my friend Cissy just posted it on her blog too! The Lord is using this song for His glory! We are all in a time of waiting with so much uncertain. How are we to wait? Why are we to wait on Him? The Lord tells us in His Word...
Ps. 27:14- Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage;wait for the LORD!
Ps. 33:20 -Our soul waits for the LORD;(Why? Because)he is our help and our shield.
Ps. 30:5 I wait for the LORD, my soul waits,and in his word I hope.
May your heart be encouraged as you wait on the Lord...
6 year old piano player :)
A friend from our worship team sent this to me awhile back. We just watched it again and thought you'd enjoy it too! This little boy is precious and gifted. I especially love his hand gestures! (You'll want to pause my blog music before starting the video!)
Hippo what?
October 4, 2008
A helpful definition ...
"Hippotherapy is a treatment that uses the multidimensional movement of the horse; from the Greek word "hippos" which means horse. Specially trained physical, occupational and speech therapists use this medical treatment for clients who have movement dysfunction. "
Over a year ago my Aunt Rita asked if I'd ever heard of Hippotherapy. I hadn't. She believed Mirielle would greatly benefit - so I told her I'd check into it. While at a homeschool bookstore only a month later, I saw a flier on their bulletin board- advertising Hippotherapy in Mount Holly, NC! I took down the number and called. What transpired next was to me a miracle! The lady who answered the phone was Melinda Kirkpatrick- the owner of Shining Hope Farms. Over 12 years ago Melinda and I carpooled our kids to Resurrection Christian School together. I also taught her 2 girls Jessie and Katie piano. Both our families ended up moving and sadly we lost touch- until I called Shining Hope Farms! It was such a joy to find out that Melinda- who passionately loves the Lord- owns and runs this horse farm! She had an opening for Mirielle to begin right away.
Jessie now works with Miri and what she has been able to accomplish amazes me! I pray you enjoy one of our mornings at Shining Hope Farms!
"Hippotherapy is a treatment that uses the multidimensional movement of the horse; from the Greek word "hippos" which means horse. Specially trained physical, occupational and speech therapists use this medical treatment for clients who have movement dysfunction. "
Over a year ago my Aunt Rita asked if I'd ever heard of Hippotherapy. I hadn't. She believed Mirielle would greatly benefit - so I told her I'd check into it. While at a homeschool bookstore only a month later, I saw a flier on their bulletin board- advertising Hippotherapy in Mount Holly, NC! I took down the number and called. What transpired next was to me a miracle! The lady who answered the phone was Melinda Kirkpatrick- the owner of Shining Hope Farms. Over 12 years ago Melinda and I carpooled our kids to Resurrection Christian School together. I also taught her 2 girls Jessie and Katie piano. Both our families ended up moving and sadly we lost touch- until I called Shining Hope Farms! It was such a joy to find out that Melinda- who passionately loves the Lord- owns and runs this horse farm! She had an opening for Mirielle to begin right away.
Jessie now works with Miri and what she has been able to accomplish amazes me! I pray you enjoy one of our mornings at Shining Hope Farms!
Did you hear? Citigroup is no more...Wells Fargo is buying Wachovia -or are they? What does this mean for jobs here in Charlotte? The Lord knows! We appreciate your prayers... Here are a few details from Bloomberg.com...
"Wells Fargo said its offer keeps Wachovia intact and needs no U.S. assistance, unlike Citigroup's offer, which relied on financial backing from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Citigroup, the biggest U.S. bank by assets at midyear, said Sept. 29 it planned to buy Wachovia's banking businesses for about $2.16 billion, leaving behind the A.G. Edwards Inc. brokerage and the Evergreen mutual-fund family.
``It provides superior value compared to the previous offer to acquire only the banking operations of the company,'' Richard Kovacevich, 64, chairman of San Francisco-based Wells Fargo, said in the statement. ``Wachovia shareholders will have a meaningful opportunity to participate in the growth and success of a combined Wachovia-Wells Fargo that will be one of the world's great financial services companies.''
"Wells Fargo said it will acquire all of Wachovia's businesses, preferred equity and banking deposits. Chief Financial Officer Howard Atkins said in the statement that the acquisition will add to earnings per share by the third year after completion and should produce an internal rate of return of at least 15 percent. "
Habakkuk
We had quite a morning this morning! Bill and I just sold our car and purchased a used car on Monday (so to get rid of car debt). Bill was on his way to the DMV early this morning to finish the paperwork when he was in an accident. Thank you Lord- though all were a shaken no one was hurt! Sadly our new/used car needs quite a bit of body work. While driving in the tow truck on the way to the body shop, Bill's boss called. Bill had the opportunity to tell her about what we learned thru Habakkuk on Sunday morning. Our pastor Nick reminded us that in the heat of the moment we need to ask ourselves... are we blaming the person or circumstances or are we choosing to trust the Lord and seek Him for wisdom even when we don't understand? Habakkuk chose to preach truth to himself in his fight for faith. Faith is an absorbing preoccupation with God not an absorbing preoccupation with our circumstances. When we live by faith we will experience peace!
Bill hung up the phone and the driver of the tow truck (who had been listening) said "Well brother Bill- you are riding with a pastor!" He then proceeded to hand Bill his card which had a verse on it from- guess where? Yes- Habakkuk! He began to further encourage Bill in the Lord as they drove.
God is reminding us that He is at work! We can trust Him!
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