Can he get any cuter?!

Darren gets cuter every day! This morning as we were getting dressed, he insisted that "Cat in the Hat" get dressed too and wear his Buzz Light Year underwear! HA! I got SUCH a laugh out of that one!

First A.C.S. Basketball Game tonight!

GO PATRIOTS!

Ahhh...I LOVE basketball season!!

Well, our guys put up a valiant fight but lost their first home game by 11 points! We have a lot of "newbies" this year so they are just "getting their feet wet" so to speak. Hopefully we will have a decent season. I am the statistician and it is one of my FAVORITE jobs. It is great for our boys to get out their and play the game with other Christian young men from other area churches. I enjoy seeing all of my "basketball season" friends again from all different churches. I look forward to seeing how their kids of grown, what kind of teams they have this year, etc. In small schools, your team can be great one year, then you graduate some seniors and become a scary team the next season! So we certainly take turns with all the other teams.

Darren was too little to know what was going on last year, but this year he is PUMPED about basketball! Could be because Mommy and Daddy are too! (He is still a bit apprehensive about the noisy, screaming gym! Ha!)

Also had an AMAZING answer to prayer today. Unspoken request, but God is GOOD...ALL the time!!

Fun evening!

Thursdays are...DATE NIGHT! Dan had a nice fun and simple date while Grandma and Grandpa watched Darren, Faith and Liberty (Dave and Angie's girls) at our house. They grilled hotdogs and took a walk with the kids and they LOVED it! Here is a picture of "Grandpa" Callaghan with Darren and the hats that Grandma brought him! Darren is SO blessed to have 2 SETS of Christian grandparents! What a privilege! I also count it a privilege to have 2 wonderful Christian families!

LOVE soul-winning With our Teens!

Had a GREAT day out teen soul-winning today! Several kids missing today, but we still had 10 teens go out and 11 people saved!! Ever want to increase your soul-winning zeal? Just go soul-winning with a teenager! You will be MUCH less apt to knock on a door softly, shove in a tract and run! God allowed me to lead 3 people to the Lord today, Pablo and his daughter Marisol and an adult man named Lamant. NEVER gets old, watching someone bow their head to trust Christ as their hope for Heaven! Dan also got to lead a lady to the Lord, and his soul-winning partner, one of our newer teens, got to lead his FIRST SOUL to the Lord, the lady's young son!

Please be in prayer for our teens. MANY of them come to church alone, without their families. Several of our teens are struggling with serious spiritual decisions. We covet your prayers for them as they are young to be making such major decisions in their Christian lives. We have such a great group of kids, thus the reason the Devil has a target on our teen group, I suppose! We are proud of them and count it a privilege to serve with them at our church!

Also, please be in prayer for Darren...He is scared of Heffalumps and Woozles and keeps waking up all through the night! Thanks a lot, Winnie the Pooh! Ha!

BIG Blessing Today!

BIG blessing from God today! We have been a little tight on our grocery budget of late and didn't have much on which to finish the week. Today, Dan walked in the door after school with his arms full of fresh produce! One of the parents at our Christian school works at a health food store and they had some very ripe produce they were getting rid of. She brought it to the school to give to the staff! GOD IS GOOD! Everything was quite ripe, so, I cooked up the fresh tomatoes into a homemade tomato sauce with beef and noodles and lots of fresh veggies...Mmmm! I think tomorrow I will make apple pie and apple butter! We now have a bin full of fresh fruits and veggies in the fridge! Isn't it neat to see the Lord work and take care of us in the little ways? Those seem to mean the most!

Also, last night I put out our fall decorations inside and outside the house. Darren Was SO excited when Dan brought out the bucket of fall decor for us to open! He was running all over the house saying..."Look at this! and Look at that!" Christmas is going to be fun this year; he will really enjoy it!

I just LOVE the fall season!! I do miss the beautiful changing foliage in Indiana and the frosty crispness in the air. I do love CA though!

A couple pictures...

Just 'cause he is CUTE!

He built this "house for his Percy train" all by himself!

A Fun Family night! (video clips)

Monday evening is family night for us. After we ate dinner, we went to play at the park for a little while; ran to Walmart and then topped it off with an ice cream cone from McD's! FUN! I love spending time with my Babe and my Bud!

Here are a couple 20 second video clips I took of Darren Singing with his guitar today! Isn't he an exceptionally smart 2 year old?! Not that we are biased or anything! Enjoy!

Singing his ABC's...

Singing Jesus Loves me. Don't know why this one is blurry? Sorry!

The B.I.B.L.E...

Sunday Synopsis...

Had a GREAT day in our teen department with 27 in attendance on Sunday morning, 3 of whom were visitors. We also saw 17 of our teens back in church on Sunday evening! God is good! We have 25 teens signed up for our Haunted Harvest activity to Dell Osso Farms this Saturday! Looking forward to spending that time with our teens. It is almost an hour and a half drive to the HUGE farm, which the kids love anyways, so we will get to spend a lot of time with them. They have a haunted house, zipline, pumpkin blasters, corn maze, and much more. Had a great time there last year. We have so much fun doing anything with our teens; they have such a sweet spirit and heart for the Lord!

A little funny from Sunday evening service...
My niece, Faith, (Dave and Angie's oldest) is 4 so she now gets to sit in the auditorium. She is still "getting used to it." Last night, Pastor was passionately preaching away and said..."Somebody say, AMEN!" Faith thought she should obey Grandpa, so in her little voice she sweetly said..."Amen!" Ha! Angie and I were trying not to laugh out loud! Gotta love kids!

Great Service this morning!

Had a good crowd this morning! Also saw 6 salvations and 3 baptisms in the morning service! Enjoyed hearing Missionary Isaac Hunsinger to Guyana speak during the Sunday school hour to all the adults and teens. This is the last Sunday of our Missions Emphasis Month. Always love the time we get to spend fellowshipping with good Christian friends!

Short 3 minute video of Teens Singing...

No, they are not professionals and, yes, they are still learning how to sing parts, but seeming as though none of these kids, apart from Dan's sister Karen, were even in church 5 years ago, we are pretty proud of them!! Nothing blesses our hearts more than hearing our teens sing about their Saviour and knowing that they are singing from their hearts. I enjoy being able to play the piano for them. What a privilege to serve the Lord! Enjoy!!

A few recent pictures...

My 2 muscle men! If you can't read Darren's shirt it says, "I get my muscles from my Dad!" He LOVES Daddy!


Darren playing the Ukulele! He LOVES the guitar or anything like it!

Helen (the one wearing the goofy yellow pirate bandana!) doing crafts with her 5th grade girls class from Vacation Bible School in August...

God has given us SO MANY great friends!

Really enjoyed dessert at The Cheesecake Factory in SF on Thursday, September 3rd with our good friends, Jason and Mary Azzarello. God is good to give us such sweet friends in the ministry!

Aaaahhhhh....COFFEE!

Mmmm, there is nothing like morning Bible devotions with a steaming hot cup of coffee and a little something sweet to nibble! Great thought from Zechariah 10:12 this morning...God can give us the strength to stand for right and do each task He places in our path! Nothing is more rewarding than serving the Lord!

I LOVE Date Night!

Had a simple and relaxing date with my Babe tonight, my favorite kind! We went to Barnes and Noble, and had a hot tea and a scone (he had a cookie!). I looked through a cooking magazine and the ShopSmart Magazine (LOVE that thing! SO MANY cool tips!) while he enjoyed a book on interesting places in CA. What an awesome way to spend an hour and a half and unwind with my Babe! Thanks, God, for the amazing man you gave me!

Never a Dull Moment...

My husband and I work with the teens in our church youth department. It is SO much fun! There is NEVER a dull moment and never a shortage of "insults" and one-liners. Hmmm...today...they have created a new word. As opposed to "cool" they have now decided to be "ched??" WHATEVER that means! I think they make up their own words to see if they can be trend-setters! We love and are SO proud of our group of teens! They are crazy and fun, but they love the Lord and have such a great spirit. God is good! It is a privilege to serve Him!

Eating Healthy is IMPORTANT!

I believe the quality of what we put into our bodies will determine the quality of performance we get out of our bodies! Think about it...we are careful to give our car the right kind of fuel; how much MORE important are our bodies?! We should work daily to maintain a healthy body; this is done through the "fuel" or foods we put in our mouths daily. Do we mindlessly eat or do we read the ingredients? We could all (myself included) work on our health in this area a bit more, especially in today's BUSY, fast-paced lifestyle!

Portion Control!!!

My husband and I have found it too be true...you can lose weight simply by becoming conscious of your portions! Portion control is MAXED OUT in our society today. I LOVE to eat and am not a "fad diet" person. Meaning simply, I do not like to cut out any one certain type of food. I have learned to simply to measure EVERYTHING till I train my eye to a proper portion size. If I measure snacks and meal portions we soon realize how much more we DO eat than we SHOULD eat!

Isn't Life Great?!!

I am a happy wife to my awesome husband, Dan, THE MAN, and stay at home mommy to my fun man, Darren!

I have a four year Bachelor of Science degree for Secondary education, majoring in English. I LOVE to write and thus the reason for beginning my blog! (Also to stay in touch with my family and friends!) I would love to find an online position as a writer so I could work from my home and my husband would not need to work a second job.

It is a privilege to be a wife and mommy! I believe it is the highest calling for any married lady!