working at a real church.....

I have always wondered what it would be like to work at a real church,  but I sure would miss...

-working from home. I love having a home office, it enables us to be more hands on with our students. Because if you did not already know we live 2 blocks from 3 of the 4 highschools in Lethbridge, which makes it easy for the kids to drop in whenever they feel like it. Plus we are never home anyway. Our ministry is very hands on we are out and about meeting people where they are at. plus it is really nice because we are never in bed by midnight so it allows us to sleep in a tiny bit.

-wearing jeans to services. Bill, our pastor, never wears a tie. He actually only wears them at weddings and funerals. actually he wears jeans on Sundays, not blue jeans but his nicest khaki colored blue jeans. I usually wear a skirt to morning service but jeans and a hoodie to evening service and sometimes my slippers. 

-waking up every Saturday super early to work at the church. Not only to work but construction. for example today I carried bricks , shoveled sand and gravel, hung drywall, made many trips to the lumber yard, learned how to use a nail gun ( which Bill said is like God, you need to respect Him and fear Him) and many other random gofer jobs. I love helping with the new fellowship hall building because I can see something growing. It is really neat to be involved with one of God's projects. 

- fighting for space in the Sunday school room. it is like a running joke, everyone puts stuff in the original Sunday school room. actually right now everyone has been calling it the tool room because it is next to the construction and full or tools. So Sunday school is being held in a room we call the driver's training room. They rent it out twice a month or so. it is nice but I can't leave anything out and it drives me crazy.

-being the handyman at the church. if anything has to be done at the church we are called. Bill helps as much as possible and so does Connie who is the Janitor. but we paint, set up for events, fix speakers, or whatever needs to be done. Bill always laughs and says, "you mean they did not teach you all how to do this type of ministry in University"

and the list can go on, we always laugh with Bill about our Church, but is such a blessing in our lives. we love the oppurtunities that it provides. Everyday we learn more and more about serving God and working with Poeple. 

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Halloween has come and gone....

I can't believe it is already November. Time flies when we are having fun. HA. So Eric has been on me every day about how I haven't blogged in such a long time so I am going to give highlights to catch you all up:

1. Summer was crazy

June 12th- we left before summer even started up here to join the Hawkinson clan in Colorado at the cabin. Erin came with us. 

June 21st- we met up with my Mom in denver and saw my family for a few days.

June 27th - we headed down to Lubbock, Texas to Jeff and Magan's wedding. 

June 29th- we drove back up to the OKC to pick up Erin. 

July 1st- started our drive home

July 2nd- we arrived in Lethbridge late that night.

July 4th-11th Family camp 

July 12th- 18th- Jr. Teen Camp

July 24th- 27th- Eric went to Aaron and Karlee's wedding

while he was doing that

July 25th-August 1st- Sr. Teen Camp

August 13th-22th  California with a few of the Teens

August 23rd-29th Fernie Camp

It was so much fun, but I really missed being home. And it felt like we were always under prepared for the next thing. It took alot of cramming and such but everything turned out great.

 

2. September 

-was equally as busy with everything starting up again.

-September 11th we went to Glacier National Park in Montana with Barb

- we went to the camp a few times to do repairs and also because Emily came up from OK which was so much fun. 

-We also got the chance, thanks to Katie, to go to the live showing of the Canadian Idol Finals. 

-we saw Starfeild which we used as our youth kick off for the year. it was so much fun and Eric and I both really miss that type of service

-also with the youth we took them Ice Blocking. It was such a blast and something I really miss from University

-our church held a silent auction to raise money for the fellowship hall that has been under construction for over a year. but we have decided to start the work and tust the Lord. it has been awesome to see how He works. at the dinner we raised enough to lay the cement... so now every Saturday morning we are at the Tab moving forward on the room

3. I love the fall it is no doubt my favorite season. 

-fall starts early in Lethbridge  the trees were already changing in the beginning of September and by Thanksgiving Oct. 13th all the color has blown away

-Thanksgiving Camp ,October 10th-13th,  is always one of my highlights of the year. I love being in the pass that time of year 

-We then had Thanksgiving Dinner for the 2nd year in a row at the Beusekom's

- Drove 10 teens to Calgary in the van for Bec's Birthday. a day full of laser tag, Imax movie, shopping , and amazing food.

-then I ended fall in bed for a week... I hurt my back some how and couldn't do anything.

-But I did get a chance to go see Ashley play a Dwarf in the Hobbit.

5. Halloween

-we had the teens over for a really fun Halloween party we were expecting about ten maybe and ended up having almost 30 in the house. it was so full but so great. 

- November 4th was our 1st snow of the season. Erin and I were on our way to Nic's concert and got a pic but it is funny because the snow flake is right in Erin's face.

Well that is a quick catch up. I will try to stay more on top of things so you all know better what is going on up here in the Great North. oh and by the way this took me about 2 or so hours to get all the pics on. I am a dork.