Preachers Boy

Our goal for this blog has always been to share about our family as we go through life.  Every now and then a spiritual thought or random musing creeps in.  Gwen and I definitely want to keep sharing our lives with you but I've created a personal blog to share a lot of my own thoughts and how God is shaping me from day to day.  I'd love for you to check it out.  It's www.preachersboy.wordpress.com. Okay, Okay.  More baby pictures are coming soon.  I promise!

What.... EVER!

Riley Kate will NOT be doing this when she get's older! Yeah right.

Gwen's new haircut!!!

Today was a big day.  When I got home from work Gwen went and got a new haircut!  I have always loved Gwen's hair and her new hairdo is no exception.  I think it's hot and she looooooves it too.  She hasn't stopped grinning yet.  See before and after below.

Ed Stetzer

I attended a forum on church planting at Summit Church in Durham tonight with Ed Stetzer leading the discussion.  Stetzer is the guru on church planting and missiology.  He spoke about "Pitfalls in Church Planting:  What we and others do that undermine the work and how to avoid them."  It was an extremely encouraging time for those with a heart for the church.  Let's just say I'll be processing what was said for at least several days.  Here is his basic outline:

Pitfalls in Church Planting

• Lack of spiritual preparation
• Stressful family relationships
• Inadequate training
• Lack of accountability
• Unrealistic expectations
• Broken partnerships

Birthday Weekend

It's about time for a new post. Last weekend was a special weekend as my parents came up for a visit on my birthday. We saw them last at Christmas and they were dying to see their grand-baby...and their son and daughter-in-law.

A few weeks ago I was leaning on one of our vanity doors in our downstairs bathroom and it broke in half! This gave Gwen and I an excuse to do some work in this bathroom that really needs to be done. We decided to remove the entire existing vanity and replace it. But of course, work on one project leads to another two or three. Once the vanity was removed, something had to be done with the floor. So Gwen and I decided to tile it. I helped dad lay tile which lasted the entire weekend but looks great. We could not have picked a better weekend to do it. It was 80 degrees-a perfect weekend for projects and family.

about a year ago...

About a year ago, Gwen and I moved into our house.  We were painting and installing new carpet upstairs therefore, all and I mean all of our furniture and boxes had to be stored downstairs, even our bed!  Gwen and I were reminiscing the other day and laughing about how we lived for those first few weeks.  With all of our stuff scattered everywhere and stacked floor to ceiling, it's a miracle we didn't lose anything...that we know of.  

We went crazy when the carpet was finally installed and we could begin moving furniture upstairs.  It finally started looking like a home.  We never thought we would be so thankful for carpet.  Someone told us that years down the road we would look back on those days and laugh.  We certainly do!

My Valentine...