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..........

Kids playing chicken with April

Johnathan, John and Dylan preparing to race

Core Group we met with weekend...Tank family,
Larry and Kay Day, Slim and Pat Meints, and Scott Stauffacher

Tank Family scooped up in a plow!

Nattalie working hard at getting a full bucket with the excavator

Johnathan...concentrating so hard....hopefully he doesn't bite his tongue off  :)

Daniel concentrating really hard to drive the tractor in a straight line