we've been busy!

As you can see, we've been very busy. We've just moved into our new house over the weekend. We're so happy but things are a bit cramped right now since we have all of our stuff on the first floor only. We're waiting on the carpet for the upstairs so we can't put any furniture up there. We do have a deck closet and an attic which helps. You'd laugh, we have our mattresses plopped in the middle of the living room and the TV set up on my dresser. We just walk around and laugh. I told Gwen the other day that we'll look back on this as one of our great memories.

There's no place like home.

Gwen and I are now homeowners! We closed on our townhouse earlier this month and we immediately started working on it. Currently we are painting and as soon as we finish we'll be ready for new carpet. When the carpet is in we can move in. This has been an exciting adventure for Gwen and I. Having to take care of and be responsible for a house is totally new to us. We are working hard almost every day to get it ready. Mom and Dad came up for the weekend to help us paint and if they did not help us we would not meet our deadline. They were such a huge blessing as they served us. Thanks Mom and Dad! Gwen and I are having a blast working on this project and we both are learning a lot about home repair and maintenance. It has also given me an excuse to buy more tools! Below are some exterior pictures and we'll have some pictures of the inside soon.

Sugar Bowl!

Need I say more? Final score: 41-10. What a great season! Go Dawgs!!

Christmas in Orlando!

This year Gwen and I flew down to Orlando for a great Christmas with her family. It was my first Christmas down there and it was a huge blessing. Gwen has a large family and it was a blast spending time with them. We miss them all so much! There is no way we can cover it all in one blog but here are a few of the highlights:

Gwen's Mom and Dad

Gwen's brothers, Todd and TJ holding their ipod nanos (we shaved TJ's head a few nights earlier)

Gwen's brother TJ and his dreads

Gwen and I at the park looking at Christmas lights

The whole crew!

Todd, Dorie, and I
Gwen and her older sister, Brook

Gwen with her stocking on Christmas morning

Benett and I

Gwen's sister Brook, her grandfather, Dadad, her brother-in-law, Kent, her sister Dorie

Gwen and I with her brother Gary

07 Providence Staff Christmas Party

The Providence staff had its annual Christmas party last Thursday night at the North Raleigh Hilton. It was a blast! The food was great and it was so fun hanging out, talking, and laughing with our Providence staff family. Below is most of the youth staff.

Below is our former assistant Sarah, former intern Lori, Shelly, and Gwen.

This is Gwen and Lori. Lori was a great intern for the past couple of years. We're going to miss her!

This is Steve giving Lori her going away present. We can't believe she's gone. Congratulations on graduation Lori and we're praying for you as you move on.

Below is Blake, our middle school pastor, and I.

This is Mike, our Refinery Director.

This is Jeremy. Jeremy is a faithful intern on the youth staff.

This is our senior pastor, David, and Lori and Gwen.

Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Can you believe it is almost Christmas again...time flies by. Here are some pics of us by our Christmas tree. Our dear friends Garrett and Lara came over and Lara took these pictures for us. We had a great time hanging out with them:) We love you guys.

Joel put on all the ornaments this year, he did an awesome job, I am so blessed to have such a sweet husband.

The lights were a bit of a hassle this year, but after much patience and communication we had a fully lit tree.

Hope you all have a Merry Christmas. May God richly bless you and your family. We will be spending Christmas in Orlando with my family, so we will post more pics of Christmas after our trip. We love you all and appreciate you so much.

Youth Staff Christmas Party

We had our annual youth staff Christmas party last Wednesday at Steve and Tina's. We had plenty of food, lots of laughs, babies, white elephant gift exchange, and lots of fun as usual. Gwen and I scored a $5 Dominoe's gift certificate, some sipping chocolate, and peppermint oreos. Gwen and I are blessed to serve with such a great team. No, Gwen and I are not in any of these pictures.