Home sweet home

The Russia team arrived safely home. Dan got in around 1:45 Sunday Morning. I of course waited up for him as I was so desperate to see him. when he walked down this morning and Avalee was playing, the face she had when she saw her daddy was something I wish I could have captured - too cute! She was very excited.
It sounds like it was a great trip for all of them and we are so happy to have everyone safely home.

Random things about this week

• I loved the new show "wipe out"... at first I thought it was really dumb but I totally got into it.
• Avalee and I haven't had dinner alone yet this week... we have awesome friends and family!
• I've organized every closet in our house - I'm so proud of myself
• I've organized my clothes... from "slim clothes" to "fat clothes" (maternity) it is now official that I can no longer wear my regular clothes
  
• I thought Avalee would miss Dan's silliness, so I've tried to fill in and make her laugh as much as possible... she just looks at me like I'm weird.
• I'm watching Rachel and Austin tomorrow (Avalee gets to play with them twice in one week, she's in her glory when she's around them).
• Our church is doing the OnePrayer series and It's been awesome... can't wait for our church to hear Ed Young this week because he totally brings it!
• It's a 5th Sunday this week... I better remind my volunteers
• I'm not so sure our kids are enjoying the Rock Solid series we've been doing this summer, hmmm... we need to rethink what to do.
• It's been lonely in the office... even Jeff is on vacation this week, and poor Ben I only work part time, he must really be hearing the crickets.
  
• Michele and I are planning Avalee's first birthday party. I can't believe she turns 1 in 3 weeks.
  
• 6 days down , 3 more to go - Can't wait to see Dan!
  

Volunteers

I've been sitting here at my desk writing a new manual for KidVenture workers. I've been working on this manual for 4 months now and still going strong. I've had several other children's pastors from other churches helping me with ideas and policies etc...
I just got off the phone with one pastor who oversees over 200 volunteers in his children's ministry. He expects a lot out of his leaders and volunteers. He doesn't joke around when it comes to people wanting to work with God's kids. I'm so inspired by his passion to not only lead the kids to Christ but mentor and grow his volunteers. I sometimes feel as if I'm too hard on my workers... all the rules, wearing name tags, signing in, finding subs, arriving 20 minutes early to work in our classroom, or an hour early to practice for LIVE!, the memorizing of skits etc. Then I sat here and listened to another church's policies and my first thought was WOW! Our volunteers have it easy. I began to ask him a lot of questions from how much complaining he gets to what happens when people are late... He actually said, it's rare things like that would happen around our kids ministry because our volunteers "get the vision". Hmmm...
I love the people God has placed in KidVenture to serve our kids. Fellowship kids are so blessed to have these people love on them the way they do every Sunday. I even have volunteers who want to serve EVERY SUNDAY so they can form a special relationship with the kids, otherwise they would miss them too much. I wish I could sit here and name every one of them and tell you what I love about them (and I would except it would take too long and I need to get back to working on the never ending manual... maybe someday).
I just felt a need to stop and thank my volunteers somehow... What you do goes beyond any thing I could express through words - THANK YOU! and Thank you God for sending them our way!!!

Heard from Dan

Dan called last night... very tired after the long trip to Smolensk. Apparently the bus got a speeding ticket so they weren't driving too slow. One bag is missing, but that's pretty good for one to be missing out of 66 luggages and 28 bins. Not too sure who's though. TSA at the
airport had to go through all of their luggage because the jars of peanut
butter came up on the detectors as plastic explosives. Dan had many funny stories to tell already and it's the beginning of the week - can't wait to hear more!
The weather is a bit cloudy and rainy - 64 degrees. Dan says it sounds like it will stay that way for the next couple of days. Hopefully the rain will hold off so they can build the playgrounds and fence. I'll try to keep you in the loop as I hear more.

Avalee and I have been doing great. Our friends and my parents have been taking very good care of us. I enjoyed a night out with some friends Friday night while my parents took care of Avalee. We were at the pool all day yesterday. Church went pretty well - but boy do we miss the guys. Half our team was gone and we definitely felt it. Ben and Stuart were awesome and I have no idea what I would have done without them.

Russia

Dan and the rest of the Russia team left this morning around 7:30. There are 33 people this year (which is the biggest team we've taken to Russia yet). They have a lot of traveling to do - they fly from Philly to Chicago with a 5 hour layover, then Chicago to Moscow, then a 6 hour ride from Moscow to Smolensk. Once they finally arrive I'm sure a big weight will be off their shoulders - but let's all pray they get their safely.
I miss Dan already!

Pool

Avalee has been loving the pool life. I'm so glad - it makes it a lot easier on me since I love the sun and love being outside in the summer. We've been swimming pretty much every day I'm not working. Avalee is fearless and takes lots of risks. She'll dunk her head in, try to drink the water, push away from whoever is holding her thinking she can swim, and splashing like crazy. Avalee had an opportunity to swim with two friends yesterday. David from Minnesota (Shari's nephew) enjoyed the pool with Avalee for a couple hours. David is a week older than Avalee and they were very cute together. Rachel and Austin then came over later in the afternoon. Avalee loves her Rachel - She enjoyed watching every move that Rachel made in the pool. So far we are loving the summer life. I can't wait to see what Avalee does at the beach. Here is a picture of Avalee with her mommom.

Weekend

Weeks just fly by don't they? We are heading into another weekend and I'm really looking forward to it. Last night Dan and I took Avalee to get her 1st year pictures taken. She couldn't have been in a better mood. She smiled and laughed during every single shot, which only made it harder for us to choose which ones we were going to purchase. She reached her limit when the photographer pulled out a rubber duckie to get her to laugh but all she wanted to do was chew on it and play with it. When she realized he wasn't giving it to her and he just wanted her to look at it she got pretty upset...so picture time was over.

We are having a picnic for all the people that work with our kids in KidVenture. Dan and I are really excited to honor our volunteers and spend some quality time with them since Sunday's are so rushed. We have the BEST volunteers and I wouldn't trade any of them. They work hard, they sacrifice a lot, They love the Lord and they LOVE our kids. We have a GREAT children's ministry because of them and our kids LOVE to come to church because they make it so much fun. - if any of you are reading this please know that I love you and truly appreciate you!

Sunday is Father's Day. Avalee and I having something very special in store for Dan, I'll have to post more on Monday since I can't give it away yet. We'll be having a BBQ at my parents house to spend time with my dad. What do you get for a man who has everything and wants nothing...hmmm??? Happy Father's Day to all the Fathers! Enjoy your day!!

Trip to N.C

We had a great time in North Carolina visiting Elevation church. All I have to say is Fellowship Rocks! I love our church, our people, our kids, and my job. Dan went to help them set up at 4:30 in the morning (our set up team has it easy). They run 4 services at their one campus, two at another, and are opening another campus in the fall. We walked away with a lot of insight, new ideas, and inspiration but most of all we walked away knowing we LOVE where we are.
The worst part of the trip was being delayed in the airport all night Sunday. We were supposed to be home by 9:30 and instead got home at 12:30AM. Oh well - Dan and I bonded in the airport.

These last couple days have been brutal with the heat... It was 104 in N.C. but felt like 120 with no breeze and bad humidity. It's a good thing Avalee LOVES the pool, I hate being stuck in the house with no AC. Hope you are all staying as cool as possible.

Time Flies!

I always ask myself "where did the time go". I feel like it's going by even faster than ever before. Sometimes I can't even catch my breath before another day begins. I never want to take a day for granted and hope I can always thank God for every moment He gives me. If only time would slow down a little bit so I can enjoy it more.
I can't believe Avalee is going to be a year old next month... where did this year go?
I can't believe it's summer time already...did we have a spring?
I can't believe Dan is going to Russia in two weeks!
One of my brothers just turned 34...and he's not even my oldest brother - yikes!
October will be here before we know it and we'll have another precious baby to enjoy...I need to savor every moment.

We are headed to North Carolina this weekend to check out a fast growing church called elevation church. Dan and I are excited to see how they do portable church there. We fly out Saturday morning and return Sunday night. Only sad thing is leaving Avalee - but we know she'll be in good hands!