What's New on the Home Front

So since it has been a long time since I blogged, you get the blessing of a zillion pictures! :)

We had our annual Restorathon at the beginning of March. Josiah loved going up to the radio station for an hour or so, then he drove me nuts because he was so hyper! He got to help Mike P. erase the board and he also got to sit with Daddy while he was 'On Air' but J wasn't feeling very social at that moment.

 Becky came up for a quick visit and we all loaded up and went to lunch together. We only had the little ones but they were all crazy tired that day (which means they were cranky).

Michael had the opportunity to preach the last meeting of this season of Senior Patriots. Josiah was feeling social and actually got on stage with him and 'helped' him out with a balloon.

We started using a chore chart for little man last week. He has been doing a great job at getting his chores done with a good attitude. There was one day that he didn't particularly care to clean up the floor after he made a mess. That seems to be his least favorite chore to do.

 Here Jman is holding his arms up and saying Whooo! He was pretty proud of his work and we tried to make a big deal of being excited so he knew that we were happy with his hard work.

Becky came up this past Friday during the girls' spring break so we could see them and the kids could play.

 Sweet little Emmy!

 Mom and Dad made it over for a little bit to enjoy some grand kid time.

Look what came in the mail today!!! :) Cloth diapers for Tadpole! We ordered a neutral color pack that came with a bonus diaper. Isn't is cute?! My mom helped us out by making this purchase, thanks Nana!

 We wanted to use cloth with Josiah but since we didn't have a washer of our own at the time, and we only washed clothes once a week or sometimes every two weeks, we decided against using them. Lord willing, these will work out great for our family at this time and also help save money in the long run.

Michael has already given me his solemn promise that he is "NOT TOUCHING THOSE THINGS!". So will we will not being using cloth exclusively, especially that first month, but I am hoping that this will cut costs way down! And for the record... they are incredibly soft!

The Lord sent us two HUGE blessings this weekend. Clothes for our kids! We got a giant box of clothes for Josiah and Tadpole got an armload of clothes as well. It is pretty incredible to see how God provides for our every need!

I am sure there are a handful of other things that are noteworthy but my little guy is fixing to wake up... thanks to the dudes who are drilling what I think to be a well. Anyways, its loud. So I am off to finally get that load of laundry out of the dryer! :)

Little man is noq awake and cranky...

Anniversary Sunday 2012

Yesterday we celebrated Pastor and Mrs. Carter's 41st anniversary here at Landmark! I am so grateful to have a Pastor and Pastors Wife that have given so much of their life in service to our Lord. They are a wonderful example to all of us.

I am not sure of the exact count but I believe we were only about 200 away from having 4,000 people in attendance yesterday and 411 of those precious souls came to know Christ as their Lord! Our 3rd-5th grade junior church was packed! We had over 330 kids, and 83 of them accepted Christ!

One of the things as a worker that concerns you on the big days is how the kids who have never been to church before are going to behave. The current group that we have now is not the most mature class we've had over the last few years, so we were wondering how it would go.

All the praise goes to our Lord! They behaved so well!!! We didn't have to send any kids out and that was such a huge blessing! They obeyed the rules and listened attentively to Michael as he gave the Gospel.

 Girls side- section one

Girls side- section two

Boys side- section one

 Boys side- section two

We ran out of chairs and some of our guy workers had to do a bit of scrambling to get more chairs downstairs. We even used some preschool chairs. :)

Here are some of Michael's balloons that he made for prizes. Our Eagle Eyes had cards and when they found someone really doing a great job at singing, following rules, and listening to the preaching they handed a card to the child and at the end of the service they got to choose which balloon they wanted.

"Wearable" Airplane

 Michael's personal favorite- the biplane

 One of the winners

 Winner with the motorcycle

 Winner with the "wearable" race car

Praise the Lord for such a wonderful day in Church!

VBT Pictures Post

 We had a great week of vbt! A little tired...

... but we are rested up now and looking forward to spending some family time together and doing a little bit of the touristy things. :)

-Joy

Preaching Opportunities

 Sunday Morning Michael and I were invited to be in Jared & Sami's Jr. Church class.

 Lots of singing!

 They asked Michael to do the preaching part of their service.

 I enjoyed being in there and seeing my dear friend in her ministry. I have loved watching all the young girls come up to her just to talk to her and give her a hug when she walks through the building.

Sunday Night, Michael also had another opportunity to preach in a children's service. I did not go to that one with him since he planned on coming into the main service after he got finished so I don't have any pictures of that to share.

After the services ended we went with a group out to eat. I ordered a chocolate milkshake for dessert and we all enjoyed it!

 Josiah seemed to think it was all his and had to be told to share a few times!

Tonight begins Kids VBT (Vacation Bible Time)!!! Please be praying for all the kids, workers, teachers, and bus workers! It is going to be a great week!

Joy

Greetings from Eustis

I just wanted to post a quick update while I have a little bit of internet access. We are currently in Eustis at Victory Baptist Church for their vbs. Josiah and I was able to ride up with friends yesterday, that in itself is a major praise since I didn't have to drive!

The vbs is going well, there was a bunch of rain yesterday (all afternoon and evening) which cut down on the numbers but it still turned out to be a good night. They are doing some really cute crafts, last night was a picture frame. I totally wanted to jump in and make my own, it looked like so much fun. I hope to post a bunch of pictures in a couple of days.

Josiah is getting more and more independent. They were calling all the pre-k kids for their class and Josiah looked so forlornly at them so I asked if he wanted to go to his class. He didn't even answer me he just jumped right off the pew and ran to get in line. It made me feel better when he looked back at me as he walked out of the auditorium and gave me the most excited smile and a huge wave.

Today for lunch Michael is taking me to my favorite Italian restaurant here in Eustis!!! I am really looking forward to it!

I hope everyone has a great weekend!
Joy

Swords, Boxes, and Pepsi Throwback

Michael is in Bradenten this week at Bible Baptist Church. He sent me these pictures from his phone of the awesome decorations that the church did for their vbs.

One of the church ladies has connections with a local play theatre! Michael was super impressed with the costumes and true to guy fashion... a sword. He sent me a picture of it but I couldn't get it to open.

Michael says that things are going really well and that there has been a huge attendance of over 200 every night with last night being close to 300. When I talked to him today he was in the midst of making 200 balloon swords. Any child who brings a parent or an adult with them tomorrow night will get to take home a sword.

Pray for his fingers. :)

Josiah and I have kept busy while Daddy is away. We've done a lot of playing on the floor,

and playing outside.

 (Do you like the 'fog' effect on my outside pictures? Cold camera+Hot outside=fogged up lens)

J loves to play 'night-night'. He'll snore and then 'wake up'.

 His favorite phrases this week include: Awesome, That's Awesome, Last Night, Be Riiiiiight back, and Mommy, Come Here!

 We also went to Publix this morning and grabbed a few things. Josiah was so good in the store. I saved 59% today. I didn't really have many coupons, I just wasn't feelin' it this week. It was good to see my favorite cashier again. As soon as she saw me she started asking me why I haven't been in the store much AND she still remembers Josiah's name! I love my Publix! 

Main reason I haven't really couponed lately is I've been busy packing. Here is what I've gotten done today. It really doesn't seem like a lot but it is when you've had a full day of shopping and taking care of a 2 yr old.

Amidst my packing this is my reading material for the week. A friend gave me the Once a month cooking book on Sunday and I've already fallen in love with it! :) I love to cook extra and freeze it so I'll have an easy meal I can pull out on a busy night. I am hoping this will help me understand a bit more so I can learn to put more in the freezer and avoid McDonalds.

 On a side note... Has anyone tried Pepsi Throwback? I have become addicted! It is so good! I know, I know. I talk about avoiding McDonald's and then I show a picture of pepsi. Call me a retard y'all but it is 

SO GOOD!

Tomorrow I'm taking Josiah to meet up with some friends at the library for story time and then let him play at the park till I start to sweat too much. But for now I am going to go sit down with my pepsi and read until Josiah wakes up from his nap in 30 minutes. Have a great day y'all!

                                                                                                  ~Joy