Fun With Granny & Papa

One of the blessings of sticking around Jackson after seminary is being close to family. The girls love their grandparents, and it's always a good time when we get to spend time together. Here's a cute picture with Granny & Papa.

Sittin' Pretty

A cute pick of Nana and Katie enjoying the day on our new front porch

RTS Graduation

We've been in seminary at RTS Jackson for the last four years, where Nate has been working on his Master of Divinity degree. As almost any seminary graduate will tell you, seminary is a "best of times, worst of times" experience. It is a wonderful-difficult season, where trusting God for daily needs is not just a neat Biblical idea but a reality. It's this lesson the Lord has been teaching us, even though we've been very slow to learn it! As Nate and I look back over our time at seminary, with all its joys and sorrows, we believe this is the most important lesson of all.

One of the great things about seminary is the friends you make and the memories you share together. This is a picture of all the MDiv graduates at RTS Jackson this year.

1716 Myrtle Street

This is our new house! We moved in on May 8th. We are still trying to unpack boxes, but it's looking more like a home each day. We have a guest bedroom now, so if anyone wants to come visit us, we'd love to see you!

Last Day of Work for Christy

I have been keeping little Nate for almost 3 years and the time has come to an end. (My last day was actually the end of April but I'm finally blogging about it.) I began keeping him when he was 5 weeks old. He and Rosalyn have become the best of friends. We are sad to see the time end but the good news is that we'll still see him and he and Rosalyn will still play together. His parents were in seminary just like us and now his dad will be a pastor at First Pres with Nate. Oh, and now he has a beautiful little sister, Ava! I hope her and Katie will become great friends too!

Moving!

We moved just over two weeks ago into our new home in Belhaven, just around the corner from First Pres. But before we did, we lived in a gigantic sea of boxes at our townhome in Clinton, MS, for weeks! As you know, moving is never easy, but the girls were able to find creative ways to get by. Boxes were (and still are, since we're still unpacking) some of their favorite "toys" during the move. Doesn't take much to entertain these silly girls!

Up & Running Again

Hey everyone! So sorry we haven't been able to post new pictures or updates to our blog in a while. As many of you know, we bought a house two weeks ago at the same time Nate was graduating from seminary. So, we've been in transition, and one of the things we lost for a while was the internet. Well, we're finally back up and running, and I will plan to post more regularly again.

To the right is a picture of the girls at Nate's cousin's wedding a couple of weeks back.

Just Katie

Nate and I are always so amazed at how different our girls are! They are their own girls, and all of you who know them well can vouch for it. I was uploading a few new pics, and I ran across these cute poses from Katie, who is (by the way) 19 months today!

We All Scream For Ice Cream

Ice cream is one our family's favorite desserts, and as you probably know, it always tastes better in the spring and summer. This evening after supper we whipped (no pun intended!) by our favorite ice cream place for a cool treat.




How sweet it is!

A Spring Picnic (Just Us Girls!)

Spring time is among my favorite times of the year. On top of bringing back so many childhood memories, the weather is just too nice to be inside all the time! Even when we're inside, our windows are open, so we can enjoy the temperatures and hear the birds sing their spring-time songs.

The other day we picked up some Chick-fil-A and spread a blanket on the ground for a picnic. The girls had such fun (and so did I). What could be better on a day like that?!

More Mynelle Garden Pictures

Mynelle Garden

We went to Mynelle Garden 2 weeks ago, while the azaleas were still in full bloom. It was so beautiful.

A Day at the Zoo

We went to the Jackson Zoo a few days ago and the girls loved it. Rosalyn's favorite animal was the orange flamingo! She thought they were amazing with how they stood on one leg and when they were asleep they put their heads under their feathers! I think Katie's favorite was the tiger. We were there around noon and the tiger must have been hungry because it kept roaring. Katie enjoyed "roaring" back at it!

More Easter Pictures

Happy Easter!

We hope you all had a wonderful Easter Sunday! We had a great day going to church then to our friends house for lunch and a big Easter Egg Hunt! Rosalyn and Katie loved it! Thanks Aunt Debera and Cousin Marty for the matching dresses!

Sisterly Love

A quick moment of sisterly love before we're off to church!

Backseat Riding

Running around all over town in the car with the girls can be quite an adventure. It's often the most stressful thing I do! The other day, however, the girls were being so good in their carseats that I just had to take a couple of pictures.


Trust me, it's not like this most of the time.

Spring Time in Mississippi

Like many of you, we're experiencing a beautiful spring here in Mississippi. Every chance we get to soak it up we go for it. It's during these days you have to almost lock me inside (and if it weren't for my allergies, I'd probably live out there!) This is a short time for us Mississippians, as summer will be here at least in temperature before we know it. Here's two pics of the girls enjoying the wild flowers blooming around our townhome.

Happy Birthday Daddy!

We celebrated Nate's birthday on Sunday. Rosalyn was a big help with cooking and decorating the cake for her daddy. What a special day it was!

My Lil' Helper

Ever since Katie was born she has been a child that is easily frightened. As an infant, if anyone sneezed or talked too loud she would cry in fear. She's gotten lots better, but you never know what might scare her. She used to be scared of the vacuum. Pops and Nana gave Rosalyn a play vacuum for Christmas, and it has been the miracle cure for Katie. She now loves the vacuum and pushes the pretend one all around while I clean. She's such a good helper!!!

New Car!

What a blessing it was when we were offered a great deal on a Chevrolet Impala! We sold Nate's truck for the car. It's nice to have 2 cars now that we can all ride in. The truck was so small! It's been neat to watch how God works things out in an amazing way while we've been in seminary.

Spring Break

We were able to go to Granny and Papa's the beginning of Spring Break. It was a beautiful weekend so we spent lots of time outside. The girls love to play with their Cousin Ethan while at Granny's! The end of Spring Break we went to Pops and Nana's (the Cones) and had a great time there too!

All Smiles

I was looking through some of our pictures the other day, and I couldn't help but laugh at all the pictures we've taken of Rosalyn's ear to ear smile. I thought I'd share a few of them with you!

"Cute Katie" at Snack Time

Katie was being too cute the other day during snack time, so I just had to grab the camera and take advantage of her good mood. Funny girl!

Little Ballerina

Rosalyn is a big "Angelina Ballerina" fan, and just a few weeks back, she got her own ballerina dress. Now she dances around the house just like Angelina and her friend Alice. She loves it. Isn't she cute? Who knows, maybe she'll be a famous dancer?

Minister of Young Adults

As many of you know, we've been wrestling with where the Lord wanted us to serve after seminary. Big decision! Many different opportunities came around, and we're thankful for that. But when it came down to it, we really didn't want to leave FPC Jackson just yet, and we sensed (both Nate and I) that we should remain there for a season of time after graduation. We've so enjoyed our ministry and relationships there, and I can see that Nate has grown in his knowledge and ability to minister as the Christian Ed. Intern for the last three years. It's been a real blessing.

Yes, as some of you know, it took me some time to get used to everything. It's so different from how I was raised! But, over time, it became a real home for me, as well as Nate and the girls. So, after much prayer and counsel, we are very pleased to say that we will be sticking around Jackson a little while longer. We have accepted the new "Minister of Young Adults" position at FPC Jackson. Nate will oversee college/career, young couples, and young families. He will continue to teach/preach, disciple, counsel, and est. new kinds of ministry and outreach in the wider Jackson area. I think there's huge opportunities with this position, and I can see how the Lord is already using him in these ways. Plus, I think it's exciting to lay down foundations for a new ministry in a very established church.

We know that many of you have prayed for us, and we want to thank you for doing so. In fact, please continue! Since we're going to be around a little while, we will probably buy a house, put Rosalyn in kindergarten, be purchasing a car, etc. It will be a crazy time. We hope that you who are a little ways off (our TN friends!) will come down and visit us soon. We miss you terribly, and it would be such a joy to see you! Okay, I've gone on long enough. Hope to hear from you all soon.

Before I go, here's this weeks "First Epistle" (FPC newsletter). It announces some of the new changes.

http://www.fpcjackson.org/general/first_epistle/Epistle%20Art/First%20Epistle%20Feb%20%2016%202007pdf.pdf

Happy Valentine's Day!!

We hope all of you have a wonderful Valentine's Day!

reformation21

Hey everyone! Just wanted you to know that Nate has a couple of new articles posted on reformation21, the online magazine of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. If you have time, check them out. The links are below.

http://www.reformation21.org/Window_on_the_Past/301/

http://www.reformation21.org/Shelf_Life_/Shelf_Life_/296/vobId__5234/

An Evening at Twin Lakes

This last week we spent a wonderful night at Twin Lakes eating supper and catching up on lost time with our very good friends Paula and Tuan La. We had such a good time. Here's a picture of Katie and Johnny swinging on the playground.