Orange

Dan and I flew to Atlanta, GA. Sunday afternoon with our lead pastor, John and student pastor, Ryan for the orange conference. We are very excited to learn what it means to have a family ministry and how to sync up our youth and children. We are also excited about spending quality time with John and Ryan over the next few days.
We attended the pre-conference workshops today which were very insightful. It's always neat to hear what other churches and ministries are doing around the country. When I sit through different seminars I am nothing but amazed at how far God has brought Fellowship and the things he has allowed me to be a part of. I can't wait to learn more about how to keep reaching the next generation.
The only sad part of this whole conference is being away from my little Avalee. She is staying with my parents until Thursday morning. I will say, one side of me is enjoying the break and remembering what it was like to just be Dan and I... on the other hand I am sobbing inside with how much I miss her. I'll write more about our trip tomorrow.

Avalee

Avalee is now 9 months old and a very curious little girl. The past few days have been very rough for her. She woke up Monday morning with a very high fever. She wanted to cuddle with me all day. It was the first time I wasn't able to put her down at all. The only thing that made her happy was being in the bath tub (which helped bring her temperature down). She didn't nap well, woke up about 3 times in the night sweating, and I could tell she was just very uncomfortable. Tuesday came around and she still did not feel well. Her temperature kept rising through out the day. I finally called the doctor who didn't really help too much. She hasn't eaten solids since Saturday, she would only drink her formula. Last night she finally had some applesauce and would get on the floor to play. I was hoping she started feeling better. She went to bed around 8:30 and surprisingly did not wake until the next morning. When I went to get her she was completely happy, with no fever, and actually ate breakfast. She's now crawling all around looking for things to get into. I'm so happy she finally feels better. I hate when babies get sick because they can't explain to you what is wrong yet. Hopefully she remains well and we can get out of the house this afternoon and do something fun!!!

random things...

Sorry it's been a week since I last posted. It just goes to show how time flies around here for us. Last weekend we went to Maryland to visit with Dan's dad. It was a beautiful day, and a beautiful drive down. It was nice to visit with them. They got to play with Avalee, see her crawling all over. We had a wonderful meal, and we were able to celebrate birthday's as well.
We've been trying to catch up on projects for our ministry. We have some people coming in from Atlanta to help us with our kids environment this coming weekend so we are definitely looking forward to that. Dan will be going on a mission trip to Russia with our church this June. He had a meeting Thursday night for several hours. The missionary there, Buddy Thigpen, flew in to speak to the group. Dan is looking forward to going and working at the feeding centers and orphanages again.
On another note, did any of you watch Survivor last night? I know some of you are going to give me a hard time about this so please no hate mail... but I am VERY disappointed they did that to Ozzy. I actually liked him - and I thought he was going to win the whole thing. I know - I should of known better. At least Kristy Lee Cook is off American Idol now!
We are so glad it's Friday with no plans but to relax with the family.

Updates

It's been an emotional roller coaster this week. We've had some great and exciting things happen, as well as some pretty tough news to bear.
This past Monday our friends Phil and Jenna had a baby girl, Skye Raylyn. We've been praying for 9 months that Jenna would have a girl, so we are so thrilled that God blessed them with a new little miracle.
Also this week a man named James that Dan worked with at Master Locator's passed away. He was only in his 30's. He suffered a stroke, was put on life support, and within a few days we lost him. James had a fiance, Kim who has 4 children. James recently started to attend our church and turned his life over to the Lord - so that we can be thankful for. I just saw James on Sunday as happy as could be with a huge smile on his face. Things can happen so fast and we can only take things one day at a time. I'm so thankful the Lord has my life in His hands and I can trust Him no matter what. Pray for Kim and the rest of James' family.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAN!

Dan turned the big 25 on Saturday. He basically had a birthday weekend... and it's still not over. It started Friday night where we celebrated with some friends at the Melting Pot. It was a lot of fun with some good food. Saturday Dan enjoyed the day with his ATV - he went riding with Uncle Steve and Jared through the woods all afternoon. It was a gorgeous day for it, and I'm so glad Dan was able to enjoy himself. It rained all day Friday, so it was a bit muddy in the woods, but that only made it more enjoyable for Dan to ride through puddles and get real dirty. Him and I then went out together for some seafood. We enjoyed a bunch of crab legs - right up Dan's ally! Tomorrow night my parents are taking Dan out for a birthday dinner as well - it just keeps getting better. Dan is enjoying having his birthday extended over a few days.
Dan is the best husband and father anyone could ask for - I thank God for him everyday. Happy Birthday Dan!

Avalee and Rueben

Dan brought in a horse for our UpStreet theme "On the trail" to welcome our kids as they came in last Friday night. Avalee's face just lit up - she loves dogs, so she probably just thought it was a BIG dog. Of course she wanted to taste the horse, and put it's fir in her mouth - but she enjoyed petting him.

Lonely Night

Dan took a trip with the guys up to New York to take care of some "church business". Avalee and I went out with my mom for dinner, we then grabbed some dessert at Dunkin Donuts and we were home by 7:00. Avalee usually goes to bed at 7:30 or 8:00 but since Dan wasn't around I wanted her to stay up with me and keep me company. Well, after her bath and reading a few books she decided she had enough of me. I couldn't even keep her up past 8:15 - she was done! There was nothing left for me to clean, no more laundry to do, no more dishes, so I became bored. The thought of waking Avalee up crossed my mind a few times but we all know that wouldn't fly with an 8 month old. So what else is there to do but read or watch TV. I of course caught up on the show "big brother" as it's very rare I get to watch TV. I made some cookies and muffins, which I will have eaten all by tomorrow (there's nothing like hot fresh baked cookies right out of the oven!) It figures that every other night I am extremely tired and ready to go to bed by 9:00 - but not tonight, not when it's convenient to go to bed early!
After all this "boredom" I decided to work on my lesson for Sunday and read more of "Starving Jesus" (great book by the way, recommend it to everyone!) low and behold our lesson this week is on spending time with Jesus. Teaching kids on making Jesus a priority in their life. Isn't it funny how I'm trying to find things to do all night long because I'm "lonely" and the thought of spending time with God was the very last thing. I became completely convicted with my priorities and pray that everyday my relationship with God will only get stronger so I can get to know Him more and more. It's all He longs for with us - what more could we ask for!

Fun Weekend!

We had a great weekend... flew by like always. God is doing amazing things here and we are just trying to keep up with the vision. Friday Night was great at upStreet. Dan pulled out all the stops as he launched our new series "On the trail". He transformed our entire youth room into a western desert... We even had a horse out front welcoming our kids as they came. Avalee loved the horse - I'll have to post a picture of her and the horse later.
I had the great privilege of meeting Jon and Kate Gosselin from the discovery health show "Jon and Kate plus 8". If you ever watched it you'll know that these two are the nicest people - who have a great challenge of raising twins and sextuplets, but admit to only being able to do it with the Lord's strength. I have a picture of them writing on the chalkboard in the classroom behind the stage. They spoke at Elk Creek Church on Sunday. A friend of mine, my mom and I went to see them. Pastor Mike (of Elk Creek) allowed me to go back and meet them, and even ask them some questions of my own -- VERY COOL!