INSTALLATION:
Jake was installed a couple of weeks ago. It was such an amazing and sweet time. We had several family members come in town for the service, a friend from Huntsville came, one of his mentors from his high school days preached the service, and one of our great friends from seminary who is in the same presbytery gave such a sweet prayer of thanksgiving. The whole service was encouraging and full of emotion. We had already felt SO loved from DPC before the service, but after the night was over, we were definitely overwhelmed with the love of DPC! We are definitely feeling at home and just love our new church. Please come visit us sometime.
The Commission
Luke after the service
Mark and Tara with Jennifer
ROADTRIP:
Sadly, we had to say another goodbye in the family. We drove to Indiana this past weekend for Jake's grandmother's funeral. It was a sweet time with family. Jake's father grew up on a farm and I think it is very beautiful. The kids loved it up there. They enjoyed running around, picking corn, and just enjoyed loving on his family. And, we got to see Hays, our newest nephew, which was fun. I'm so thankful our kids (at least Laci and Luke) will have memories of their great-grandparents and remember going to the farm.
On a sidenote: the trip up there was absolutely gorgeous. We drove through Asheville, Knoxville, Lexington and loved it.
911:
If you are friends with me on facebook, you somewhat saw this story, but here is the more "lengthy" version. I ran to the grocery store before picking Laci up from school. Aubrey fell asleep in the car (I'm still trying to figure out this whole nap thing with Laci's pick up time--killer). So, in an attempt to keep her asleep in the car for the least amount of time so she would transfer into her bed, I went ahead and got in the car pick up line a little early. Of course there was already a line of cars and I knew it wouldn't be moving for another 20 minutes. So, I told Luke he could unbuckle and "roam about the cabin." The next thing I know he is on his belly, with his head under the very back seat of our van screaming that he is stuck. Now, understand that drama runs high in our family so I wasn't too concerned yet. So, I got out of my car a little frustrated and tried to talk him into scooting backwards; he cried more. I opened the very back of the van to see if he could scoot forward; more screaming. A couple of moms started to get out of their cars seeing that I may need help. I began hearing cars turn their engines on which meant the pick up was starting and cars were moving. I panicked big time. One of the moms finally said, "you need to call 911." I panicked even more. I've never called 911. Isn't this for emergencies only? At this point, I started shaking and nervously dialed 911. They sent in the firetrucks/first responders. At this point, the car pick up line was NOT moving and everyone was now late picking up their kids because of the huge FIRETRUCK in the way. A lot of the school administrators made their way out there with the AED--talk about make a mom nervous. He wasn't unconscious or not breathing, just stuck. Once the first responders got there, they were able to get Luke out pretty quickly. As soon as Luke was freed, Jake arrived on the scene (how he got through all the cars, I had no idea). I calmed down and jokingly told the teachers, "he's in kindergarten next year."
I was slightly unglued to say the least. But, when all was said and done, I was very thankful for those who helped and told similiar stories of their boys and most thankful that Luke was really fine.
I'm considering taking Jake's car from here on out to pick up Laci so no one recognizes the blue Honda Odyssey!
And, once more, my blog lives up to its name!!!
Luke in pick up line when he is not trying to crawl into trunk...
Random pics lately. They speak for themselves.
The best one I could get of all of us!
