Clay's out of the house!

No we haven't gotten rid of the kids....at least not permanently! Tonight we got home from EdVenture and as we were going up the steps to our apartment, two gentlemen were coming down the steps. We went in, started a load of laundry and picked up a few things, before....knock! knock! I looked out to see the two men at our door. They were visiting us from the church we attended a few weeks ago....Shandon Baptist. They came in and about five minutes later....knock! knock! I went to the door (wondering "what?!!? we don't know anyone in Columbia to be knocking on our door this much in one night!") This time there were five kids and an adult, asking for Clay.....more visitors from Shandon! We ended up with a houseful! While we visited, Clay visited and hit it off very well.

They invited him to go for ice cream. He called about half an hour later, "I'm having an awesome time. The youth minister and a bunch more kids showed up. They're going back to one of the kids' house to hang out. Can I go?" Sure. He called again about an hour ago, "Is there a set time I need to be home? I'm having a whole lot of fun and we're about to play a game. It could be 11. Is that okay?" After ensuring he had a ride home, I agreed again (not that I minded going to pick him up, but I don't know my way around very well). I am THRILLED that he has somewhere to be tonight with church folks. He has not had much...okay almost NO interaction with kids his age since moving here. He needed this kind of fun.....and, it makes finding a church-home easier for the family if Clay has friends and wants to be a part of the youth.

Now if I can just find some adult interaction........

Church Visit

We made our first visit to a new church here in Columbia this morning. We had already heard of and seen in our driving, Shandon Baptist, but my teaching partner, Chris, is a member there and invited us. We all actually loved it! It is a huge church (both in size and attendance) with lots of opportunities.

Ron and I very much enjoyed our SS class and the boys did, too. Chris was super-helpful, introducing us to the Children's Director who took Ben to his classes (he goes to a whole group for the first hour and then small group for the 2nd hour while we are in service) and to the Middle School Minister, who Clay described as "awesome". He really took care of Clay during SS and service.

The service---- WOW! We attended the contemporary service, which was what we were looking for in a worship service. The music was terrific....very praise and worship and the minister was really good, too. He's preaching from Revelations and at lunch, Ron, Clay and I agreed we want to hear the next two sermons, as well.

It is so evident that his heart is focused on God and reaching others. He truly challenged everyone to be a part of the "solution and not the problem". And, the one thing he said that hit so home with my heart was that "history sometimes becomes identity". He was speaking from a church perspective, but how true for me (us) as well. We let what has happened, how it has always been....our history....become who we are.....we hold onto the past instead of letting God have the future. And, that is something that I am so guilty of....I find myself rationalizing every aspect of my life, especially my walk with Christ in terms of "history" and "what others think" (he touched on this, too) instead of my present and future and what Christ thinks. (At least that is my life application from the sermon today.)

It was a great experience....thanks, Chris for inviting us and helping us find our way around this morning. We'll definitely be back to visit again!

Disciple Now Weekend

We sent Clay off this weekend to Disciple Now at church with the other youth. And, Ron and I ended up helping out over the course of the weekend. What a great time!

The weekend started at 4:00 on Friday when Clay and I met with everyone else at the church to drive to the Winter Jam concert in Greenville. I drove five of the 9th grade boys and they were an awesome group. They put in their ipod earphones and I didn't hear a peep from them until we got there.....and got lost in the parking garage! We found a parking space and headed to the stairs. We took one to many flights and ended up in the basement where we couldn't find an exit to street level. Finally, Mitch found an exit for us! After the concert I drove them back to the church so they could head to their host homes and I headed to my own home for bed!

Hawk Nelson..........

Steven Curtis Chapman.....(Sanctus Real and Jeremy Camp were also there)

Jeff, Michelle, Julie, Sandy, me and Ron

On Saturday I left after Ben's birthday party to head back to the church for "The Amazing Race", which probably should have been called the "Clueless Race"......no one could decipher the clues! At first, I was supposed to drive around a group of the 7th grade boys, but, thankfully for my gas tank, that changed. I was sent with Julie and Matthew and four or five other adults to one of the clue stations. We hung out for an hour or two on the top deck of the hospital parking garage in the 20 below wind chill. Julie and I wasted a little time by stopping at Starbucks, but we still had LOTS of time to freeze. We ended up leaving before the first group got there so that she could get back to the church and I could go meet Ron at the cook out (he was grilling burgers for the dinner that night.)

Matthew found a golf ball in his car and he and the guys tried "hand golf".

Julie and I raided my car for hoodies because we were FREEZING!

Saturday night ended (for us at least!) with a cookout. Afterwards we went home to get ready for church on Sunday. I did take a few pictures on Sunday morning at the breakfast, but I haven't loaded them yet. I'll update later with those.

Clay and some of his friends at the dinner.The grillmaster and me.........

It was a really fun weekend. And, we were glad to play a small part in it.

Youth Christmas Program

Tonight the church's youth put on a special Christmas program and Clay played "grandpa" in one of the skits. It was a really sweet program with two very cute and inspirational skits and some special music. Clay did a great job as a grumpy grandpa and as usual showed his terrific theatrical skills.

One of the youth also invited all of the kids to come and gather for a reading of the Christmas story. Even though there were some microphone problems, it was really beautiful.