Jonah's Druthers

It's that time of year again for Lily's choir musical. This one, called Jonah's Druthers, was set in the wild west and told the story of Jonah's journey to Nineveh. It was so so cute.

I was excited to be able to make her prairie skirt. The machine needed to be dusted off.

 Full Choir

Lily was in an ensemble.

They even did some motions

Fun night laughing with these kids. Great job Lily!

Staff Retreat

After I got home from a weekend away with friends, I washed mine (well mostly my spitter Tres') clothes and turned around and packed bags again for staff retreat.

Each spring, the staff gets away for a time of team building, renewal, and rest. We cherish this time with fellow ministers of the gospel and as a couple.  This year, with Tres being so young, we had some family time, although it was a bit hard for JD to get around on crutches.

We rode down with the Hodges. We were able to see this awesomeness on the drive down. Happy Cinco deMayo.

Sweet Baby had his first trip to the beach.

And lots of good naps.

While we were away, the big kids were in great hands. A friend kept them on Monday and Tuesday until Mimi and Pop arrived to stay the rest of the week.

Max had this thing where he loves to sleep in "sock gloves". It makes me laugh every time I see him like this.

Mimi and Pop also kept us updated each day with how things were going. Kids were loving life!

Mrs. Lisa and Mimi were so so great to help out with school! It was a much needed break for me!

Great time away! We are now ready for time with the big kids and time with Mimi and Pop!

We Three Spies

Lily was able to participate in her first (strep free) Christmas musical at church. It was a  super cute performance. You can check it out on the church website if you missed it.

Before the show started, Max decided he wanted to help Mr. Alex run the lights.

The spies. (Lily on 2nd row from bottom, 4th from the left)

Friends. 

Change the Story: The Compassion Experience

Back in college I started sponsoring a child from Thailand through Compassion International. I loved being able to financially help provide a child with food, medical costs, schooling, but most importantly, the love of Jesus.

As a sponsor, there are many opportunities at concerts and conventions to answer questions and help others as they become sponsors. Usually I delete the emails, but this last email stood out. It was a different event--Change the Story: The Compassion Experience. It is a mobile interactive journey through the life of three different Compassion kids. It starts with their life pre-sponsorship-full of hardships, how their life changed as a result of Compassion-giving them hope only found in Christ, and what they are doing after they have graduated out of the program.

It is thinking outside of the box. Something right up JD's alley. And I thought it sounded like an incredible experience to share with others. So we jumped right in and volunteered!

Here is the traveling set up--2 rigs and a tent make up the stories.

JD and I were helping to get everyone set up with their iPod which told the stories as you walked through the rooms. After our hours were complete, Lily came up to walk through with us. Very eye opening!

One of the kids we sponsor recently left the program and we let Lily pick out who she wanted to sponsor. She was very excited to pick Aurelia.

One of the stories was about a girl named Jillian. Jillian has now graduated out of the Compassion program and recently graduated from Baylor University. And she happened to be on tour with the Compassion team and we got to meet her and hear more of her story.

If you have the opportunity to check out Change the Story: The Compassion Experience, you won't regret it! See if a tour is coming to your area HERE.  (There are some coming to Texas this spring.)

Northern Bound

Since I, KLee, am the primary writer (99.9% of the time), a lot of the focus of this blog is the happenings in my life with the kids and my friends. JD has written on occasion about his mission trips and big news in his ministry at church. So, I thought I would take a minute to write about HIS friends.

After we had lived here about 3 years and figured out (do you ever?) this ministry thing and started our family, we had some precious couples to join the church staff. It was amazing how God orchestrated the lives of all these families to meet different needs we had. Some gave us parenting advise, some ministry advise, some Fantasy Football encouragement. All of them challenged us in different ways.

One man in particular, CC challenged JD over and over. CC is a visionary and JD is a make-it-happen man. The two of them worked so well together. JD's attention to detail made it possible to do the crazy ideas that CC had.

Let's step back in time for a minute.
Prior to the two of them coming on staff, while they were in seminary, CC and another friend of ours, JH, had prayed about planting a church together.

Back to present time.
After years of ministry and as a part of our church-the time has finally come for the church plant to happen! Our family is so excited to see this desire of theirs come about and watch as the steps are being taken to open the doors in the coming year.

Before they left for training, we were able to spend some time loving on them and saying good-bye. Our kiddos are such good friends. It was hard to say "see you later".

It is hard to see friends and ministry partners leave us where we are, but we know the desires of the Lord and want to see HIS name be known to the people in Boston who are lost and in need of a Savior.

Join us in praying for them. Boston339.com

Summer Bucket List: Week 3

After two crazy weeks at home, the kids and I headed to the big city with JD and the preschool/children's team.

This fall, the preschool and children's ministries will be joining forces. Since they've already been doing a lot of stuff together for years now, there won't be very many differences at the beginning. One good thing about the combined planning has been the ability to evaluate what's been done in the past and tweak ministry to families in order to make disciples as we've been called to do.

One exciting change will occur next summer. Instead of having overnight camp like we did this summer, we will be having a day camp at the church which will allow for a broader range of ages and lower costs so that more kids can attend. We are super excited to be able to share Pine Cove with our friends here. We absolutely love what the camps are all about (Jesus, Jesus, Jesus!) and were thrilled to find out they have a traveling Base Camp. And they have agreed to come here next summer!!

Check it out!

In the big city we were able to see the camp first hand and ask questions in preparation for next year. After a few hours at camp, we headed for some post work fun at the Georgia Aquarium. We have always wanted to go and heard it is awesome. We were not disappointed!

We arrived and went to the Dolphin Tale show. It was cheesy but fun.

Max fell asleep as we pulled into the parking lot, but woke up just in time for the show.

Then we started our journey through the rest of the aquarium!

 Max's favorite was the "ray". They were huge. One measured 9 feet across.

The day we went was not crowded at all and we were able to sit and enjoy the 23' tall by 61' wide aquarium room. So peaceful and relaxing.

Touching tanks.

 Family shot in the reef.

 Great weekend away with a great team!!

Summer Bucket List: Week 2

Our second week has been planned for months and months....Summer Spectacular. JD was busy planning the week before and this week was just as busy. I didn't take any pics, but the awesome photo video boys got some.

I worked registration. Can you find me? 

Lily in worship. 

JD playing himself for the salvation talk.

Max playing.

 Jilly, Peppie, Alex, and Edwin.

Amazing week. Amazing team. Amazing kids. Amazing God!

Here are the video's from the week:

Jesus is Calling

Back in December, Lily was supposed to be in her first ever musical with the children's choir at church. Unfortunately, she can down with strep the night before and missed out.

This time she was determined to be in it and to even have a "solo". She tried out and got a part in an ensemble with some of her friends. She and the others worked hard and did a great job! I'm so proud of her for getting over her fears of being the center of attention and worshiping the Lord!

Here is about a  third of the choir.

Lily's ensemble

Lily's kept turning around to look at the screen to watch. She wondered why she could only see the back of her head. Hmm...

The kids worked on invitations one night and Lily wanted to invite Mr. R, our great neighbor across the street. He immediately said yes and even rearranged plans to come and see her. Oh how we love him! (and thanks to his daughter for moving her birthday celebration!)

If you haven't seen it, you can watch it HERE. You will have to find the "special services" link and click it.

Bodo Bash

The time has come for our sweet friends to head northwest to Alaska. We couldn't let them go without a proper send off, so a friend (KW) and I planned a night of dessert and prayer for them to see friends and supporters one last time. It was such a great night of fellowship. And the prayer time was awesome. We are so thankful for their faithfulness to the call, for ridding themselves of earthly possessions, and abandoning all for the name of Jesus! What a testimony and a great example for me personally to see lived out. We continue to pray for them and this month's long travel time coming up as well as financial support to be completed so they can begin their official work.

Here is the mingling room.

Instead of a guest book, we asked for personalized notes for the family. They will be compiled into a scrapbook to be read for years to come.

I did not get a picture of the dessert table, but we are Baptist and the Baptists did not disappoint. The table was overflowing with sweet treats by the end of the night.

Friends

Instead of having a formal prayer time, we opted to have a single room designated for people to pray. Each family member provided specific requests to be prayed over.

Before leaving the room, a candle was to be lit signifying they have been prayed over.

We continue to pray for you sweet friends! We look forward to hearing how God is at work along your journey and in the days to come as you minister to the Alaskan people. Love you all!