What a Reward!

God is so good! We just wanted to share something with you about what God is doing in the lives of the people here. Below is a link to a blog of one of the families who attend Gateway Life. They came about four weeks after we started and have been here since. This couple has grown so much that we have literally seen the transformation right before our eyes. We only wish you could have seen how far they have come. They have given God complete control of their lives and they have jumped right in to help carry the vision. To read the words in her post brought tears to our eyes. Take a few moments to read the entry in her blog. For all of you who have prayed and supported what God has called us here to do, this is just the beginning of our reward! Thank you again!

http://katyandchris.blogspot.com/2008/10/big-thanks.html

Pumpkin Patch

This weekend was a busy one for us. We had set up on Saturday morning. Then on Saturday afternoon, we had a church event at Honeysuckle Hill Farm, which is a great pumpkin patch that has some great fall activities and fun things for kids. It was about a 45 minute drive but it was well worth it. We spent the afternoon just enjoying everything they had to offer. There were two different corn mazes, one for kids and then the regular huge corn maze. There was a cow train ride, hayrides, water balloon slingshot, Hillbilly Pig Races, the small farm animals with calves, horses, goats, bunnies, donkeys, and baby chicks, there were lots of fun play structures for the kids to play on including a huge 40 foot slide, tire swings, and many others. Then at dusk, we all met for a group bonfire where we roasted hot dogs, marshmallows and made smores. We enjoyed time around the bonfire, sitting on hay bales and just having a great time together. It was a great time for the church family to bond and get to know each other.

BEWARE!!! I HAVE WAY TOO MANY PICTURES ON THIS POST! PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK!!!

My little pumpkin, Alex

Alex at the Milking Parlor

Michael at the Milking Parlor!

Roncie and Alex picking their pumpkins!

I hope Angela doesn't wring my neck for this! I thought it was such a funny picture. If you look closely, you can see Cindy's pink shirt peeking out from behind her. See the four feet! I think Cindy was hiding behind Angela so she wouldn't be in the picture!

Beautiful fall colors, pumpkins and flowers! I love this time of year.
So we ended the evening around 8:30 pm or so. It was a great time of fun and fellowship.

There was something missing though! That was our family. We always do a family outing to take the kids to the pumpkin patch every year. It's become one of those traditions that we just always made happen. It was one of our favorites, right behind our annual Christmas Tree Lane night. We missed you all, Mom, Kris, Hugo and those wonderful three kids! It wasn't the same without you there! We love and miss you guys.

Well I guess we should close this post now since it's gone on forever. Thanks for looking and we'll post again soon. Love and miss you all!

Happy Birthday to Kathy!

Today is the birthday of a very special person in our lives. Today is the birthday of Kathy Ramirez. We have known the Ramirez family for many years now. Not only did we have the awesome priveledge of working with Kathy in the office at Celebration, we were very close to their whole family. Her and Patrick are such incredible people. They are some of the most giving and generous people we have ever known. They give so much of themselves in everything they do. Kathy was always such an amazing person to work with. In the office, she always remembered everyone's birthday and always did everything she could to make it special and personal...even buying a cake herself and bringing it for everyone to share! Her and Patrick are always making sure everyone else is taken care of, putting others before themselves. They are truly an amazing family!

Kathy, today we wish you an incredible birthday! Everyone who knows Kathy, give her a call, send an email or something just to let her know how special she is! We love you girl!

UPDATE: (Ok, just to let you know how much of a help Kathy was to me, I just found out I have her birthday down wrong!!! It's Sunday!!! Kathy was the one who always kept me straight on birthdays! Kathy, I NEED YOU!!! Sorry Kathy, I was off a couple of days!)

HE'S ALIVE!!!!

And we found him in Bellevue Walmart!

Ok, this was THE most hilarious thing ever! Well, almost ever! I thought Angela was going to kill me after this! We had gone to Walmart on Saturday to pick up some things for the Children's classes and some other things. I kept getting distracted because I kept catching glimpses of this person at the end of some of the aisles we were on. I couldn't figure out at first if he was trying to be a look a-like or if he was just dressed up and happened to look like him. Well, finally we ended up near him again. So, I was just messing around and told Angela I was going to take a picture of him from afar off so he wouldn't know I was taking a picture. Well, by the time I took it and was looking down at my camera, he walked right by me, looking at me with my camera and gave me a nod and said, "Hello there". I was caught off guard so I just said (kind of loud I might add), "Hey!". He stopped and turned back around to me as if he was waiting for me to say something else, which was exactly how I said "Hey" like there was more coming. Angela had went to the other side of the freezer area, hiding. So, I just asked him, "Can she get a picture with you?" pointing to Angela hiding behind the freezer! He was more than happy to oblige! He said, "Absolutely!" as he placed his bread on our cart. Angela was shocked I think to say the least. So she walked over near us and Mr. Elvis wrapped his arms around her for a picture! By this time people were stopped near us watching. I don't know if they thought he was someone famous and didn't recognize him or if they thought we were struck by the awesomeness of this Elvis wanna-be! Really, we were just having fun! Well, Mr. Elvis didn't want to stop at one picture! Oh no, he said "One more. This time with her getting a kiss on the cheek!" That kind of freaked me out at that point, so I said, "Oh no, that's it!" as I'm handing him his bread back.

Angela was laughing so hard her sides were hurting and so was I. We kept watching Mr. Smooth-move Elvis as he's walking away and then a group of three ladies were walking up to him with a video camera as they were posing with him. I think we started something. And needless to say, he was LOVING it!

It was so funny that I told her I was sharing in on our blog! I hope it's not one of those things you read and think, "I guess you had to be there" because it really was hilarious. Come to find out, he is seen in Walmart a lot.

So there you go....our latest celebrity sighting.....well almost celebrity! Have fun!

Help Protect Christian Broadcasting!

A couple weeks ago there was an email going around about a bill that was trying to get the FCC to stop allowing Christian broadcasting by people such as Joyce Meyer, Rod Parsley, etc. It was asking for people to sign the petition and forward it on. It was returned stating the rumor was not true and that the FCC could not stop Christian broadcasting.

Well, this is actually what I believe they were referring to. There is a bill in legislation that is trying to be resurrected called the "Fairness Doctrine". This bill would require Christian programs such as Believers Voice of Victory, Creflo Dollar, Rod Parsley, Joyce Meyer, actually ANY Christian program, to provide “equal time” for opposing viewpoints. This means whatever they share as according to the Word, they would have to give the opposing viewpoint the same amount of time to share the opposite view. Can you imagine some of these great ministries sharing the Word on all the issues we face today, and then have to allow EQUAL time in their program, for the opposition to share their worldly view! As Rod Parsley's website shares, "this qualifies as a blatant violation of the right to free speech protected under the U.S. Constitution."

While we are careful about the issues and fights we involve ourselves in, I couldn't help but feel grieved as I was watching this information being shared on television. That here in America, you could actually have no choice in sharing your views on morality on a Christian program that you paid the broadcasting time for! We just felt this needed to be shared so others would know.

Our whole goal in sharing this on this blog is just to inform other Christians of the threat that exists in the passing of this bill. For more information, you can go to Rod Parsley's website, https://orders.rodparsley.com/Order_First.aspx?ostr=edCLPN0dHHE%3d.

You research the information and decide for yourself if you want to take action or not. We, more than anything, just wanted to help inform the Christian people about what is going on.

Thanks for listening!

Gray skies but happy smiles!

Just wanted to pop in and say hi to everyone today. It's been such a beautiful day here. Yesterday and today both, we've had rain, some thunder and lots of gray skies. But that is my favorite kind of weather so I'm definitely enjoying it.

We staying busy with everything. Our classes are going great. We've been having them in an actual classroom at another church here in Bellevue that has offered to let us use their resource building. It's been great because it's more of the setting we were desiring for our classes. It just brings a whole new dynamic and feel to the classroom. Everyone involved has really stuck to the classes and we've even had some new people in too. There's been a lot of growth and foundation being built.

I know this one is short but we just wanted to say a quick hello. Thank you again for your continued prayers and support. God is so good! We love you all and miss you very much!

Freaky Lookin' Things!

Ok, after reading Larena Gibbs post, I realized that I had some pictures that I wanted to share on some really creepy looking things we've seen here in Tennessee! There's been many more but these just happen to be the ones I actually stood close enough to so that I could take a picture!

I have no idea what this thing is but it is ugly. The finger "petting" it belongs to Brooklyn. We saw this when she was here visiting and she couldn't wait to touch it. Ok! Whatever!!!

And this one.....creeeepy! This guy was huge! He was crawling on the walkway outside our door. He moved on all those legs. And man did he "crunch" when Rick stepped on him!

Now those of you who know me (Sheri), know how much I dislike creepy, crawly things, so this has been a real adjustment for me. But I have to say, I'm doing okay with it all. I have grown tremendously in learning how to coexist with these little creatures. Obviously, there are many more creepy things but I'm not even getting close enough to take a picture.

So, there you go! Just a couple of our "friends" we've met since being here. Thanks Larena for making stop to appreciate all the great little creatures that live in Nashville!

Sunday Update

Yes, we're still here! Sorry it's been a while since our last post. We had a great weekend. Seems like we're saying that every week but it's true! We've got new families that are connecting with us and we're very excited about that. God is bringing in people who can help shoulder weight, carry vision and become leaders. They are coming in ready to just get to work and plow ground. That's exciting. The service this past weekend was really great in that it reached a new level in the Spirit. We're seeing people step out of their comfort zone of the chairs and come forward praising and worshipping God, not only during worship but for giving! That's amazing and a HUGE step of growth. We're seeing more than ever what we're fighting against here is traditional religious mindsets. There is so much tradition regarding church attendance. That is what we are fighting against and breaking through. We are seeing a difference...we are seeing people's mindsets change and growth come in those areas. That's amazing! We keep hearing over and over from people coming or calling, "There's nothing like that here in Bellevue!" A Spirit filled church that is strong in the Word. It seems that a lot of people are looking for that. We've even been called "extreme, intense, edgy", you know, all the things we consider a compliment! :>) We know God has a people here for this church and we are praying every day that nothing hinders those from coming in that God has called to this work! We're ready for them!

If you can't tell, we are excited! How many times can you say "excited" in one post? haha. I need to get my thesaurus out! Energized! How's that? Really, we are.

We miss all of you so much! We love you and thank you for your continued prayers.

Fall has arrived!

Well fall has arrived in Nashville! The weather is unbelievable! Breezy, cool and very nice. The change in weather has made me ready for one of my favorite seasons of the year! Fall is second only to Christmas! This spark of fall frenzy even prompted the change to the blog! I'm just waiting for the leaves to change like I've heard they do here! In the meantime, I'll leave you with pictures of our last fall...our annual family trip to the pumpkin patch! This has become a tradition that we all have come to enjoy. This year will be different and we will miss being together. That makes me appreciate these photos all the more!

I love this picture! One of my favorites! I don't even remember what happened but Brooklin was having a meltdown! The best part was Alex's reaction. So glad I had my camera ready!

These are my absolute FAVORITE kids! The best kids in the world! We miss you guys like crazy!

Unel Rick had all the kids pick out their pumpkins before we left so they all got to leave with their own. Notice the itty bitty one in front that Brooklin picked out!

Ok, these are not little kids but their my favorite BIG kids!

These two dudes are the coolest! They love to hang with each other.
We have the best family!
(Sorry, I know all of yours are wonderful too but we all feel we have the best, right!)

So, hope you enjoyed our fall post! We're just feelin' it here! Love and miss you all!