Quick Trip to Central Florida

Last weekend, my aunt and uncle planned a day trip to tube down the Ichetucknee River with my parents.  They also planned to surprise my parents by having Curtis and I show up!  

 Curtis and I traveled to Gainesville the day before so that we would have a shorter trip the next morning.  This was a blessing because Curtis and I were able to spend more time with the Fields!  Jeffrey, another good friend, was even able to join us for a little bit.  Pictured above, you can see Curtis and his buds praying over each other.

Meanwhile, everything was going smoothly for the surprise until my parents ended up canceling at the last minute.  By this time, we were in Gainesville and my aunt and uncle were in Ocala prepared to head to the Ichetucknee River the following morning. We ended up spilling the beans to my parents and we worked out a compromise so that we could at least see them after we went tubing.

The tubing was really relaxing - Curtis and I were able to float down the river talking with two of my uncles, an aunt and our sweet 4 year old cousin.  Afterwards, we met my parents at Sonny's for a late lunch.  Even though our plans were changed a little bit, our trip was a lot of fun.  Great memories were made! :)

Coming in February 2013

Yes, it is true!  God has answered our prayers and we are excited to announce that we will be having a baby next year.  We praise the Lord for his faithfulness to us.  What a blessing!

Ironically, I found out that I was pregnant exactly one year later to the day that I found out that I was pregnant with Brooks.  My due date is February 27; Brooks' due date was February 23.  The challenging part is not to fear that we will lose this one also.  I am going through each month just as far along as I was with Brooks, which makes me worried about the month of September since that is when we lost him.  When I begin to fear, I am trying to spend time in prayer knowing that the Lord is in control.  Curtis and I believe that God is redeeming all the sad dates from our loss with happy ones from this new baby.  Please pray with us that our baby would be healthy.  We look forward to finally having an earthly child!

 12 Week Appointment

Cow Appreciation Day

Yes, we dressed like cows for a free Chick-Fil-A combo meal!

Vacation Bible School

This year was the first time that I was able to serve as a teacher in our church's Vacation Bible School.  I was one of the teachers for the K4 group. 

Recording the VBS music - each family receives a CD
at the end of the VBS program

The music was wonderful, I don't think a single person walked away without hiding scripture in their heart through the lyrics.  I think my little 4 and 5 year old kids know the following verses just from our songs:

"Though the grass will wither and the flowers fall, the word of our God will stand forever" - Isaiah 40:8 and "I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you." Psalm 119:11

It was so cute to see them do the little hand motions! 

We spent the week learning about the armor of God, as well as several attributes of God.  One of my responsibilities was to try to communicate to the kids different attributes about God.  A lot of my family and friends probably don't realize that God used them to teach little children about who God is.  I created this poster to help:

On Day 1, I explained that God is loving.  I depicted it by putting some pictures of our loving family.  I included a picture of me with three of my cousins (Jane, Judy, Beth).  I also included a picture of Curtis with his Nana and his aunt (Diane).

On Day 2, the children learned that God is our protector.  I tried to use a few different examples of protectors.  I put a picture of my brother, Tim, in his military uniform as he protects our country.  I put a picture of Curtis in his football attire, explaining that he protected the quarterback.  I also told them that his dad is in the picture, and he protected Curtis, just as each of the children's fathers protect them.

On Day 3, I taught them that God is faithful.  I showed this by putting up pictures of some of the faithful marriages in my family.  I put up my deceased Grandmom & Grandad, who were married for 50 years.  I also added my parents, who have been married for 28 years.  And of course, I put a picture of our wedding.

On Day 4, the children were taught that God is truth.  This one was a little tricky, but I placed pictures of Bible Studies where I have taught God's word, which is the truth.  One of them is from a RUF Freshman Bible Study that I co-taught with my good friend, Kaylen.  The other was a middle school Bible Study that I co-taught at Pinewood.  It makes me miss all those girls!

On the final day, I shared with the children that God is kind.  I explained this one by putting up pictures of some of our sweet friends that we are kind to one another.  One has two of my good college friends, Miranda & Kelly.  The other has Curtis with two of his good college friends, Sean and Joel.

It was really fun to go through old pictures and decide how I would use them for this task.  If you were one of the ones mentioned above, thanks for letting God use you in the lives of little ones.

The Adventures of RYM

I don't know if you've been able to keep up with our crazy traveling schedule, but here's how it went:

5/27-6/10: Gallivant Through Florida

6/10-6/15: Key West Anniversary Trip

6/17-6/22: General Assembly (Louisville, KY)

6/25-6/29: Middle School Camp

6/29-7/1: Jeffrey's Wedding (Melbourne, FL)

7/2-7/6: High School Camp

I was on all of the trips above except for the Middle School Camp.  I had one week to stay in Savannah while Curtis kept traveling.

So, Curtis spent his fifth and sixth week away from Savannah to take some of our students to RYM.  RYM is a summer camp in Panama City Beach, Florida.  I was able to join him as a chaperone for the high school week.

The white sand & clear waters of Panama City Beach!

Since I wasn't there for the middle school week, I will just post some of the pictures that Curtis took:

Belly Flops

Some of our students before a seminar began.

Alex (left) came as a chaperone to help.

The whole middle school gang

 In between these weeks, Curtis and I traveled to Melbourne for one of his good friends' weddings (see post here).  The next week, we traveled back to the same camp with the high school students.  Here's a few of the highlights:

Here I am with the girls laying out!

Curtis & I got to spend a little bit of time together

Here's all the boys and Curtis before the worship began

The girls, David (another chaperone) and Kenyell, a new friend

On our free night, we spent hours looking for a place to eat.  We settled on this Mexican restaurant.  Someone from our group said that it was my birthday so they gave me a sombrero to wear.  Haha! 

On Independence Day, we spent some time on the beach to see all the fireworks.  Some of the boys decided to start burying each other.  I thought this picture had a pretty cool effect as Hal threw sand in the air.

Another sand burial

 

Each group takes turns serving the other groups during meal time.  Our youth group served all the other groups by cleaning up after one of the dinners.  Look at how many people were in the cafeteria!

I think the students had a great time.  I enjoyed getting to know the girls better.  

Curtis and I were thrilled when this week was over because we were finally done traveling.  We were so happy that we didn't have to live out of a suitcase any longer!

All of Curtis' Roommates Are Now Married

Curtis had three close roommates in college - Ryan, Josh and Jeffrey.  They all took bets on who would get married first.  Everyone thought Jeffrey would be the first.

Here's how the weddings actually occurred:

6/7/2008 - Curtis and I

5/28/2011 - Josh and Alicia

10/15/2011 - Ryan and Emily

7/1/2012 - Jeffrey and Jessie

We are so happy that we were able to come to Jeffrey & Jessie's wedding!  Curtis served as an Usher.  Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures.  So, I've taken this picture from the official photographer (not trying to infringe on any copyrights) - if you want to see more pictures, please go to Valentina Glidden Photography.  It completes the roommates all getting married.

The wedding was beautiful and we enjoyed getting to meet Jessie.  Jeffrey first told us about Jessie at Josh's wedding...and by the time Ryan's wedding came around, he was ready to marry her!

We are looking forward to many years spent with all 8 of us (and their families as they increase).  I've never met such incredible, godly men before.  All four of them are very strong in their walks with the Lord.  Three of them have now graduated from seminary, two of them are pastors and the other two want to be missionaries in the future.

General Assembly 2012

One day after our anniversary trip ended, we headed to Louisville, Kentucky for our denomination's annual pastor/elder's conference.  This was my second time going (see last year's in Virginia Beach here).

Carol, Debbie & I at the Women's Luncheon

We took the church van and traveled with our Senior Pastor, Brannon, his wife, Carol & their son, Thomas; and one of our Ruling Elders, Tom, and his wife, Debbie.

It was nice to explore Louisville - I had never visited it before and it was where my dad went to seminary (Southern).  Most of the time, Curtis was in meetings and seminars so I got to spend a lot of time just relaxing and reading.  I attended all the women's events and was able to meet other women that are serving in the ministry like me.  I really enjoyed hearing from Dr. Tim Lane at our Women's Program.  I also went to a Pastor Wives Panel and was able to get some great advice for various circumstances.  

I was happy that I was able to spend time with Curtis' aunt, who works for Covenant Seminary.  She faithfully comes every year to General Assembly to be in the Covenant Theological Seminary booth in the Exhibit Hall.

I also got to visit and talk with several women that I knew from our days in seminary.  It was neat to be able to meet their new babies and catch up.  I can't believe it's already been 3 years since I had seen most of them!  It was an encouraging week.