January '08

Tim and I have been in Beaufort for seven months now and the beauty of the area still takes our breath away. God is an amazing artist. We are so blessed to be in such a remarkable area with remarkable people.

After the holidays we thought things would slow down a little. Of course we were wrong. Tim's parents and his grandmother, Winnie, came to visit. This was a very exciting weekend. We enjoyed having family around and especially seeing Winnie. Tim's dad cooked breakfast for us on Monday. We had trout and oyster stew. It looked delicious which is why I made myself an egg biscuit. The weekend flew by and before we knew it they were leaving again.

Tim and I planned a ski trip for our teenagers at church. We took nine teens and headed up to Virginia. Bethel Baptist Church (my home church) let us stay in their gym while we were there. The best part was that I got to see my family in the middle of all the activities. Early Monday morning we went to the Wintergreen Resort. Most of our teens had never been skiing before, and we could tell when they went down for the first time. They had a lot of fun but were extremely tired when we went back to Bethel. Scott (our brother-in-law) is now the youth pastor there so he planned a big youth activity for the evening. It was a lot of fun mingling with another youth group.

The month wasn't over yet. Our friends Robbie and Amy Roscoe brought their family to visit for the weekend. We had a great time catching up with them and seeing the kids. Kaitlyn and Kayla are now five years old. They were reading and writing up storm all weekend. Little Blake (6 months old) had a great time watching our cats and his sisters run around the house. He laughed and laughed. We hated to see them leave.

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Looking back over this month, we have been so blessed. God is working so much in our church. We have several new families attending regularly. Liz's Bible study for the ladies is going very well. For this month’s meeting we had 23 ladies attend. What a blessing! We also had a very special service January 20th. This was the anniversary service for the church. New Hope has been established for three years now. How exciting it is to be involved in a church that is growing and following God!!

December '07

2007 is over. So much has happened. Liz finished her first year of teaching. Tim got his master’s degree. Scott & Amy (Liz’s sister) had their first child (Dekoda). Tim’s Mom & Dad moved to Florida after Dad’s retirement from the police force. We moved to Beaufort, NC and began our ministry at New Hope Baptist Church. So much in just one year!

December was a good end to a good year. We began the month by going to a Christmas light show at “Mike’s Farm.” It was great. We also had the teenagers from our church over and have a Christmas party. The Sunday before Christmas, we had our first Communion service at New Hope. It was a very special time (although Tim was extremely nervous doing this for the first time as a pastor).

Then came the Christmas vacation. It was much needed. We had the opportunity to travel up to Amherst, VA to visit Liz’s family. Christmas Eve Tim woke up early (5 a.m.) and went deer hunting. He didn’t see anything. Later, it was off to Grandma & Poppa’s house (Liz’s father’s parents) for a Christmas brunch party. Almost that whole side of the family was there. After a while it was off to Granny & Papa’s house (Liz’s mother’s parents) for more food. It seemed like we never stopped eating this whole vacation.

Christmas day was nice. We woke up early at Liz’s parent’s house and opened Christmas presents! The whole day we stayed at the house (something very unusual for Christmas in VA) while many people came to visit. Again the food seemed to increase (as well as our waists). Koda was a very happy baby during all the fun on Christmas! :-)

Wednesday was the shopping day. Before the mid-week service Tim, Scott (our bro-in-law), Nathan (Liz’s brother), and Daddy (Liz’s father) went hunting again. Tim saw a big buck but he was unable to get a clear shot (well that’s the story he’s telling). Thursday & Friday was fairly relaxing. All in all, it was a great vacation. The worst part about it was when we had to leave.

Here are a few extra pictures of our wonderful Christmas vacation. :-)

Momma and her first grandson Dekoda!

Daddy and Dekoda

Me and Dekoda on Christmas Eve

Amy and her baby Dekoda!

Scott and his baby boy!