Saturday Sanctuary Kids had its annual Talent Show. We were raising money for new puppets. I was thrilled with the amount of support we had! We are going to be able to buy more puppets than I initially thought!

WOW..

I didn't realize it had been so long since I posted! Here is a quick update.....on our life!

We started clearing land last week. So exciting!

Spring is finally here! The weather has been beautiful. We have been able to go to the beach several times. Traffic has increased and Walmart is to be avoided due to all the tourists.....which is the down side to living so close to the beach. I can live with that a few months out of the year!

In March my aunt Leta passed away. We traveled to High Point to attend the funeral. She was a mighty woman of God and will be greatly missed by all who knew her. Danny, Samuel, and Matthew are in our prayers daily!!

In February our church purchased 10 acres of land less than a mile from our current location. We are very excited about our new building. We are really growing in our current location and desperately need to move to a bigger facility. This phase will be a temporary sanctuary but the permanent children's facility. I am really excited about being a part of the design of the children's department.

We also got 4-5 inches of snow! It was beautiful coming down but it didn't stay around long. Life went on as usual!

Preview of the Christmas Production Josh and I wrote. It was a huge success! We had so much fun writing it, building the set, getting the dances together, etc..

Christmas Production

Josh and I wrote our Christmas Production this year. He rewrote all the songs and we did the script together. Its for the entire family. So if you are in the area you should check it out!!!

Our Thanksgiving was pretty quiet this year. We went to Dunn for a few hours on Thursday. It was great to see Josh's side of the family. We didn't make it to Rocky Mount this year. Every one was eating at the same time so we decided to go back to Wilmington. We had our first Thanksgiving meal with just us!! I fixed all the traditional food. We stayed in and watched movies and finished decorating the Christmas tree.

Happy Halloween

Last night we had our first annual Fall Festival. I had a great team of people that helped me put it together. We had a ton of games, candy, pony ride, inflatables. It was so much fun! We had a great turn out.

I was a tooth fairy and Piper was Minnie Mouse....Josh was.......

A tooth
Pony Ride

Hot Dog eating contest....Pastor Daniel was the winner. He ate 6 hot dogs in 1 minute.

Pastor Appreciation Video

This weekend we celebrated our Pastors! We made a few videos for the service. I thought I would share some with you!

Uneventful Weekend!

This weekend I was supposed to go home for Leah's First birthday and go to the State Fair.....that didn't happen!! I was too sick to do any thing! I had been battling a sinus infection that only got worse as the week went on. By Friday I was in the bed with a fever and lots of coughing. Josh took good care of me. He rented us movies and we hung out at the house. I am much better today! Next week we have lots going on so I will have a more interesting post!!

Trip Home

Mom fixed breakfast Saturday morning. Josh was able to join us. Leah and him had fun playing! After breakfast we had to photograph a wedding. The last one we will ever do! We just don't have time to do wedding any more!!

Mom fixed dinner Friday night. We ate and caught up on all the things I have missed since I was home last.

Leah......I believe she is going to be loads of fun, excitment, and is going to get herself in to some trouble.

Mom and Leah

We decorated pumpkins....Leah's is on top, Anna's is the one on the left, and Kara's is the one on the right.

The finished product

Decorating them wasn't as easy as you think!

Anna and I getting ready to decorate pumpkins. Friday, I picked them up after school. We went to Pizza Inn....one of my favorite places to eat. We don't have one in Wilmington. We met Dad for lunch.

Dad and Kara at Texas Steakhouse

Watch me cheer

When I came in town on Thursday I met Dad, Heath, Paige, and the girls at Texas Steakhouse. I wasn't feeling that great! I have been battling a sinus infection all weekend!

Lunch

Last Saturday I went to eat with my good friend Tina and her 4 month old Maddie. We ate at Pita Delight. One of my favorite spots in Wilmington. We had a great time catching up!

Ice Skating

Update

I am sure that every one can tell our life has been nothing but busy!! I haven't been home to visit since Father's Day! The beach life has attracted a lot of visitors this summer!!

This summer if I wasn't out at the church I could be found at the beach or the pool. Josh was rarely at the beach! I took advantage of the time he was at work and went to my special spot! I will miss that spot for the next six months! I am actually ready for fall!

We celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary a few weeks ago! It is so hard to believe we have been married for 5 years! I love Josh more today than I did the day we said "I do!" He is my best friend. I am blessed and honored that God chose me to be his soulmate! We took a mini-vacation to Myrtle Beach to celebrate! It was so nice to get away and it be just us! We are planning a cruise soon!!

Church...is going great! Where we are on the building?? Well long story short....New Hanover County would not zone the building for a commercial business. Although, we were told in the beginning (before we decided to move)that it was already zoned for commercial businesses. God has HUGE plans for us!! That being said...we are having to go to two services due to our growth. We are going to have a Saturday night and Sunday morning service! We are really excited about adding the new service and the growth of our church. Sanctuary Kids is growing each week. I have a great group of kids!! Josh has written some new songs. Did I mention that someone gave the church a baby grand piano. They didn't use it and wanted to give it to a church. Josh is in heaven! They have remodeled the sanctuary and made a place for it on stage!

I am anxious to go home for a visit!! The girls started school and love it!! Kara called and told me she did not like me living at the beach anymore!! I miss them so much!! I am going to be going home a lot in October! Leah will be 1 next month! It is so hard to believe!

I have some pictures to post...I will have to do that tomorrow!

Update

In the past two weeks we have had 26 people give their life to Christ!! Last week we had 26 Baptized and 8 will be Baptized this week. We are so excited about what God has been doing in our church and in our lives! God is so good!!

Sunday we met the Clark's for Sunday lunch. Again, I didn't bring the camera because we left as soon as we finished church. We had a great lunch and time honoring Josh's dad for Father's Day. They spent the week at Topsoil beach. They picked a beautiful week to vacation!!

Birthday Party

I forgot to bring the camera to Anna and Kara's birthday party. I was so upset!! :( They had a great time. It was at the Mini-putt. We played games, ate, and opened presents! Josh and I got the girls matching scooters. They loved them. They rode them all around the foyer at the Mini-putt.

Trip home

I went home to go to Anna and Kara's birthday party and to celebrate Father's Day. We had good food and fun fellowship. We got him a bike for Father's Day.
Dad and Leah...she sneezed as I took the picture.

We were trying to all squeeze into the picture.

Super Star

My "SuperStar" pose

Beach Pictures

Here are a few pictures we took at the beach a couple weeks ago. My favorite.
I almost fell

See............

Josh took formal pictures during Black Tie and Graduation. Jared came out to help!! I helped too but also got to play with Piper during graduation. She is our Pastors daughter. We had a great time playing together!! She is Miss personality!

NCCT Graduation

The beginning of June we attended North Carolina College of Theology graduation. Josh received his Doctorate in Music. Graduation was awesome! I loved being at graduation because it was all God centered!! Much different than our graduations from high school and college. Josh is on the second row talking! (ha ha) and Pastor Daniel is on the front row looking at the camera.
He was created to worship!

Thursday night was Black Tie night.....it was fun getting dressed up.

This was our second Black tie and Graduation. Next year it will be at Myrtle Beach!! I can't wait!

Happy One Year Anniversary!

May 26th marks 1 year Josh and I have been at the Sanctuary of Wilmington! Today they honored us with a reception. We are so thankful for where God has sent us!! We have grown and changed so much since moving to Wilmington. God has done a lot in us and through us! We are grateful for wonderful Pastors and a great church family!!

I get emotional thinking about every thing God brought us through last year!! Every part of our life was tested and stretched but God showed himself to us more than ever! I am thankful for every test and stretching experience we have gone through. It is during those times we grow to go to another level. God is faithful!!

Clark visit

Last weekend The Clark's came in for lunch to celebrate Josh's birthday, his dad's birthday, and Mother's day. Josh took them to see the new church and I went to do someone's makeup for the prom. We had a busy but fun day!