Wow, cannot believe the end of October is almost here! We have been busy learning all that we can get our hands on and then some here in Elgin and other HBC close in the area. Some things that have happened since the last post.......
Johnathan has had is birthday and is officially 14. He enjoyed shopping for some new clothes. What a blessing that all three of the kids like to get new clothing.....able to double as a gift and making sure that we always have clothing that fits their fast growing bodies.
My parents have been here since October 21st and will not be heading home until late on Thursday. We have been having a great time. They also took Johnathan shopping for more birthday clothes....and Nattalie got new clothes since her birthday is coming up soon (Nov 1st). Today we spent the day in Chicago at the Museum of Science and Industry. What an amazing place. It will definitely take more that just one visit there to take in all that they have.
I have been a part of the Thursday morning ladies Bible study and have truly enjoyed it. What a blessing to have an additional group of women to help me as I transform into the person that God has called me to be....and to have even more sisters praying for our family as we follows God's leading in our life to plant Harvest Bible Chapel Clear Lake/Mason City. Also, as couples we have small group with Lyn and Rick every other week. I thank God for these ladies as they pray for and help to hold me accountable to grow in Spiritual disciplines, Character growth, and a Relationship in my life that needs some healing.
John has been working so hard....it was a true blessing to join him Thursday afternoon......Paul Tripp came in to speak to the training class and their wives. What an amazing, God challenging time. Other things that I have been doing with John is small group in Winnetka/North Shore with a core group of people. We are going through the 5G devotional study with this group....what a blessing.
I know that I have mentioned a lot that we have had so many blessings.....God is truly bathing us in blessing after blessing. God has surrounded us with amazing friends that are prayer warriors and truly love our family. So humbling the love that we have been shown.....thank you so much Lord for all the blessings in our lives.
Looking forward to the weekend! As a family we will be headed to Clear Lake/Mason City to meet to rest of the core group. So excited to meet the rest of the core group. Please pray for our travel to and from Clear Lake this weekend.
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Amazing Weekend!
Friday morning all the training center guys headed out for Davenport to spend the day learning more about Harvest at HBC Davenport. The kids and I headed out later that day. We had to prepare the dog for his stay with Stephanie and her family (what a blessing it was to have them watch him) and then load up the car. Before we hit the road we enjoyed some Steak and Shake....the kids love this place! Our travel went uneventful to which we are truly grateful!
John and Jamy Cochran hosted us in their home. What a blessing that was.....thank you so much for the hospitality. (John is the associate pastor at Harvest Davenport and church planting is some of his many duties.)
Friday evening we meet some of the core group from Clear Lake, IA. We enjoyed dinner together and spent some great time just sharing and getting to know each other. One funny thing that brought the room to laughter was that Johnathan introduced himself and said that he was 14. We quickly explained that he is excited for is birthday, but that it was not for two more weeks. They all knew about his excitement because in Iowa you can test for your learners permit at 14. The kids were very excited to hear that Larry Day flies amazing kites and they have an annual festival in February on the lake.....and yes the lake is froze over at that time. Check out the site www.colorthewind.org
It was a great time and which we shared about ourselves and the core team shared their heart as to why Harvest. What a blessing!
Saturday morning Jamy graciously kept the children home with her.....they enjoyed waffles, cinnamon rolls and played games together. We met with the core group for breakfast. Thank you John Cochran for having all the plans and reservations in place. We spent more time getting to know each other and talking about Harvest. We shared laughter and we shared tears. We shared excitement and we shared fears. God has orchestrated new relationships built together to bring Him glory....AWESOME!
Saturday afternoon John and Jamy knew it was time for some fun for the kids.....so we went to John Deer Pavilion. There was a ton of tractors. Daniel brought his cameras and enjoyed taking some pictures. They also had some simulated machines to show you how some of the tractors worked. One is tried to drive the tractor in a straight line to prepare the field for planting.....wow that was hard. Then the other one was an excavator. The kids would sit in this one and get a bucket of dirt and then try to empty it into the truck.....it was not that easy with each motion the handle moving part of the bucket and arm. The computer would measure what it had in it and at the end of four minutes it gave you a total of what amount of money you would have made.....I did the best!! :) Yeah mom!
Then we went to church.....HBC Davenport. What a great service. We found out that their main worship pastor came down very sick Friday night and their worship leader had to fill in at last minute. Wow....he did a fantastic job! You would have never know it was last minute.....we only knew because we were with John when he received call about the change for worship. Our great friends meet us there at church.....April and Dylan Knudsen. After church John and Jamy had planned a great time of fellowship with another church planting couple. We enjoyed great food and fellowship.
The kids were excited to find out they got to spend the night with April and Dylan at the hotel and then just have fun on Sunday morning. John and I went back to HBC Davenport.....we spent some great time with John Walters (children's pastor). He had some great wisdom to share and we enjoyed our time with him.
After church it was time for fun for everyone.......we meet up the kids. When we got to the hotel they were in the pool and having a great time playing "chicken".....it was really funny to watch. We headed to Michael's which was a great place.... Go-Karts, laser tag, bounce houses, rock wall and tons of games. We spent a handful of hours just having a great time. And for the record.....Dylan and the girls won in laser tag. That was a ton of fun!!! Then we decided to enjoy a movie together.....Courageous. What an amazing movie. If you have not seen that I would highly recommend it! All around a great day and just enjoyed being with out great friends....April and Dylan.
Monday we spent some more time just catching up with April and Dylan.....then we went to the mall. Enjoyed lunch and then spilt up to shop. The boys didn't think all the girl stores they had in that mall would be fun. We had a great time looking around. John and Dylan ended up in Barnes and Nobles.....they got the Resolution for Men and the Resolution for Women.....these are the books that go along with the Courageous movie. We are excited to go through these books together.
What an amazing weekend! We are so excited for God has in store for our future.
ENJOY SOME PICTURES..........
John and Jamy Cochran hosted us in their home. What a blessing that was.....thank you so much for the hospitality. (John is the associate pastor at Harvest Davenport and church planting is some of his many duties.)
Friday evening we meet some of the core group from Clear Lake, IA. We enjoyed dinner together and spent some great time just sharing and getting to know each other. One funny thing that brought the room to laughter was that Johnathan introduced himself and said that he was 14. We quickly explained that he is excited for is birthday, but that it was not for two more weeks. They all knew about his excitement because in Iowa you can test for your learners permit at 14. The kids were very excited to hear that Larry Day flies amazing kites and they have an annual festival in February on the lake.....and yes the lake is froze over at that time. Check out the site www.colorthewind.org
It was a great time and which we shared about ourselves and the core team shared their heart as to why Harvest. What a blessing!
Saturday morning Jamy graciously kept the children home with her.....they enjoyed waffles, cinnamon rolls and played games together. We met with the core group for breakfast. Thank you John Cochran for having all the plans and reservations in place. We spent more time getting to know each other and talking about Harvest. We shared laughter and we shared tears. We shared excitement and we shared fears. God has orchestrated new relationships built together to bring Him glory....AWESOME!
Saturday afternoon John and Jamy knew it was time for some fun for the kids.....so we went to John Deer Pavilion. There was a ton of tractors. Daniel brought his cameras and enjoyed taking some pictures. They also had some simulated machines to show you how some of the tractors worked. One is tried to drive the tractor in a straight line to prepare the field for planting.....wow that was hard. Then the other one was an excavator. The kids would sit in this one and get a bucket of dirt and then try to empty it into the truck.....it was not that easy with each motion the handle moving part of the bucket and arm. The computer would measure what it had in it and at the end of four minutes it gave you a total of what amount of money you would have made.....I did the best!! :) Yeah mom!
Then we went to church.....HBC Davenport. What a great service. We found out that their main worship pastor came down very sick Friday night and their worship leader had to fill in at last minute. Wow....he did a fantastic job! You would have never know it was last minute.....we only knew because we were with John when he received call about the change for worship. Our great friends meet us there at church.....April and Dylan Knudsen. After church John and Jamy had planned a great time of fellowship with another church planting couple. We enjoyed great food and fellowship.
The kids were excited to find out they got to spend the night with April and Dylan at the hotel and then just have fun on Sunday morning. John and I went back to HBC Davenport.....we spent some great time with John Walters (children's pastor). He had some great wisdom to share and we enjoyed our time with him.
After church it was time for fun for everyone.......we meet up the kids. When we got to the hotel they were in the pool and having a great time playing "chicken".....it was really funny to watch. We headed to Michael's which was a great place.... Go-Karts, laser tag, bounce houses, rock wall and tons of games. We spent a handful of hours just having a great time. And for the record.....Dylan and the girls won in laser tag. That was a ton of fun!!! Then we decided to enjoy a movie together.....Courageous. What an amazing movie. If you have not seen that I would highly recommend it! All around a great day and just enjoyed being with out great friends....April and Dylan.
Monday we spent some more time just catching up with April and Dylan.....then we went to the mall. Enjoyed lunch and then spilt up to shop. The boys didn't think all the girl stores they had in that mall would be fun. We had a great time looking around. John and Dylan ended up in Barnes and Nobles.....they got the Resolution for Men and the Resolution for Women.....these are the books that go along with the Courageous movie. We are excited to go through these books together.
What an amazing weekend! We are so excited for God has in store for our future.
ENJOY SOME PICTURES..........
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| Kids playing chicken with April |
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| Johnathan, John and Dylan preparing to race |
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| Core Group we met with weekend...Tank family, Larry and Kay Day, Slim and Pat Meints, and Scott Stauffacher |
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| Tank Family scooped up in a plow! |
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| Nattalie working hard at getting a full bucket with the excavator |
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| Johnathan...concentrating so hard....hopefully he doesn't bite his tongue off :) |
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| Daniel concentrating really hard to drive the tractor in a straight line |
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