VBS in Nashville

I just returned from a two day trip down to Nashville,TN with a team of eight people from our church.  We drove three hours south to attend the Vacation Bible School Preview Conference.  I will be helping as an assistant director for the Preschool VBS again this summer.  This year’s theme is The Big Apple Adventure and is all about New York City: a fitting theme considering this year is the 10th anniversary of 9-11.  It was a fun time and I learned a lot, but it was also nice to return home and see Derek.

The auditorium where the main sessions were held.

The team from our church!

Michelle, Beth and I will be directing the Preschool VBS

Upward Soccer

This fall Derek and I are coaching a soccer team of 4-5 year olds through the Upward Soccer program at our church.  Every Monday evening we have practice on the field outside our church building and every Saturday morning we have a game.  We have enjoyed experiencing this together and our little players are very cute!  We are halfway finished with our season and it has been encouraging to see how the kids have improved in their soccer skills in only a matter of weeks.  On game days, Derek (as head coach) runs around the field with them assisting with throw-ins, goal kicks etc and I (as the assistant coach) man the sidelines and all substitutions.  Here are some pictures from our game this past Saturday:

Time for a goal kick!

Who is going to kick the goal kick, Coach Derek?

This is how you throw in the ball!

A Bit of History and Culture

After church this Sunday, we drove down the rode to visit the annual Harvest Festival at Farmington House.  The festival was held on the grounds of a historic home.  We toured the house, ate lunch, watched authentic period craftsmen demonstrate their trade, shopped the booths, and listened to dulcimer music.  The weather was ideal and the atmosphere pleasant.  We are so glad we went!

Take a look at our little mini-album of pictures from the event.

Praise the Lord!

* Our Condo in California Rented!

Yes, our condo has been rented. The family who will be living there moved in this week. We are so thankful for the Lord’s faithfulness and provision over this prayer request. He has given us reliable renters and lifted a burden from our shoulders. Again, He has taught us to not worry about our future because it is already in His hands and whatever His plan, it is best.

* We Found a Church We Love!

For the past month, we have been attending a church in Louisville called 9th and O Baptist Church and have determined it is where we will stay while Derek completes his studies at Southern Seminary. Every Sunday we come away both edified and convicted by the teaching we receive from the pulpit and our Adult Bible Fellowship class. Our fellowship class has been a place of encouragement for us where we have met many other couples our age. We had a fun time at our Polynesian dinner social with them last weekend and hope to build some lasting friendships there. I have joined the choir and Derek might begin playing drums in the worship service if his work schedule allows it. We are looking forward to the opportunities for service and growth the Lord has in store for us at this church.

* We are Still Enjoying Louisville!

We went to a Pond Party at our apartment complex. They provided free pizza and a concert for everyone. It was by the pond, of course, which is conveniently located next to our building.  You can see Derek sitting in the foreground waiting for me to finish taking pictures so we can eat our pizza. )

We drove to the South-West corner of Louisville to see Valley High take on Fairdale High in a game of football. It was fun to see a new part of the city and Derek got his annual fill of football playing nostalgia by watching the game.

 

Recently, I have had the privilege of attending two women’s events. One was a fashion show tea at our church and the other was at the seminary. For the event at Southern, we heard Mary Mohler (the seminary president’s wife) speak on worry and then we went to her house for dessert. We got to go down to their basement to see Al Mohler’s personal library. Yes, Derek was a little jealous when I broke this news to him at home later that night. )

This weekend we went to the Family Life Conference at Southern where we sat under excellent teaching about marriage.  We came away so encouraged and refreshed!

 

God is good!

What a month it has been! The Lord has been faithful in protecting and providing for us. There is so much to tell that I will mainly share it through a timeline and pictures.

July 10 -July 27: We moved in with my parents because our condo was all packed up.

July 24: We packed our moving truck and parked it at my parent’s house.

July 27-August 4: Survival Camp with our high school students from FBCLA

August 5-August 8: Our last Sunday in California and we drove to Louisville, Kentucky

August 9: We moved in to our new apartment.

August 10: Derek had orientation at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

August 13: Derek began his classes.

August 16-19: Amy traveled to LA for an Alumni Volleyball Game at Biola.

PICTURES:

* Our last days in California

* Our week at Survival Camp

* Our move from California to Kentucky

* Our first days in Louisville

* My birthday weekend in LA

We hope you enjoyed all of the pictures! Now that we are settled in Kentucky and have consistent access to the internet, you should be seeing some more regular updates. )

Memorial Day Weekend

Derek and I have been looking forward to this weekend for a while.  One reason is because we got an extra day off of work to spend together.  And two, we had a few fun events to be excited about.

On Friday night, we had our annual Senior Banquet with our high schoolers at church.  It is a semi-formal event where we get together for a nice dinner and honor the seniors as our version of a graduation party.  We had appetizers at a house and then the rest of the night was spent at a nice Italian restaurant.  Throughout the night we had a slideshow, gave out senior awards, the leaders had “words of wisdom” for the seniors, we had a raffle for prizes, and got to see our yearbooks.

On Sunday afternoon, we had our first Backyard Barbecue of the summer where we take the high schoolers to a park after church for burgers and ultimate frisbee.  The students love it and it is a great way to spend more time with them.

On Sunday evening, we went to see the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie with some friends.  A new AMC theater just opened 10 minutes away from us, so we went there for the movie.  We thought the movie was very entertaining and it was fun to see it in a brand new theater.

We spent our afternoon today lounging by my parents’ pool and eating a delicious steak lunch.   Well, I guess we have had enough fun and relaxing because it is time to go back to work in the morning.

Here are some pictures from the Senior Banquet.

3 in 1 Update

We have had a full week of activity so I am a little late on posting some of these pictures, but here they are!

Last Friday, May 11 we went to see the Warriors play in the Western Conference Semifinals. We realize they are now out of the playoffs, but we had a great time watching them blowout the Jazz. : ) Take a look!

Last Saturday, we spent all day at our local amusement park with the high schoolers. During the day we went on rides and enjoyed the sunshine. At 3pm, we went to the Spring Celebration concert where we saw a number of Christian bands perform. Our favorite was Jeremy Camp! Derek now has many of his songs on his iPod. : ) Here are some photos from our fun day.

On Thursday night, I had my Open House at school where all of the students bring their families to show them their classroom and all the work they have done throughout the year. Derek was unable to join me this year because he had Greek class. : ( But I took some pictures of my classroom and the event. I know some of you reading this live far away and would be interested in seeing my classroom.

Senior Retreat to Yosemite

This past weekend, Derek and I along with our friend Paul, who is also a leader in the high school group, took the seniors from our group on a retreat to Yosemite National Park. We enjoyed having a concentrated time to hang out with these special students before they leave home and go off to various colleges. We stayed in the town of Mariposa, which is where Paul grew up, and on Saturday drove in to Yosemite National Park for a day of hiking.

Derek taught on the importance of finding a good church and what to look for when finding one. This topic is essential for these students as they are anticipating leaving for college. They had many questions and are more prepared to find a solid church home while they are away at school.

At Yosemite, we hiked up to Vernal Falls via the mist trail, so called because you get pretty wet from the mist coming off the huge and powerful waterfall. It was refreshing for us to be outdoors getting exercise and seeing the wonder of God’s creation. This weekend seemed to end too soon because we had a lot of fun with this intimate group of students. We will be sad to see them graduate, but are excited for what the Lord has planned for them in the next fours years of their lives.

You can see some pictures from our retreat here.

He is risen…

He is risen indeed!  We hope you had a blessed Easter celebrating the resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ.  We enjoyed spending time with our family and our  high school students.

On Friday night, we went to our Good Friday service at church where Derek had the opportunity to do a reading from Isaiah.  Following the service, we drove up to my parent’s house for pizza and egg dying.  Ever since I can remember I have been dying eggs with my sister at Easter and now Derek has become part of the tradition.  And he has fully embraced it, too!  This year before dying, he wanted to make sure we had his special apron ready.

On Saturday night, we had “Mystery Night” with our high schoolers where we had a mystery dinner, solved word puzzles, and played Murder in the Dark.  They would have been satisfied with three hours of Murder in the Dark.   For the dinner, the students got to order four courses off a riddled menu written in code.  So, they were not sure what they would be getting during each course.  Some ended up with vegetable soup, but no spoon or all their utensils and a mint.  It was quite fun watching them figure out how to eat everything.  One student slurped up his soup and then molded his paper bowl into a scoop to eat his mash potatoes and gravy.

On Resurrection Sunday, we enjoyed Sunday School with the high schoolers and our adult choir performance during the church service.  After church, we went back up to my parent’s for Easter dinner.  We had a lot of good food, as I am sure you all did, too, and enjoyed playing board games and going on a walk after dinner.

We had a wonderful weekend and it was great to be reminded again of the power of the gospel and how amazing God’s grace is to us.  Click here to check out some pictures from our weekend.

Wee O’Movie Night

This weekend was a full one for us!

On Friday, my college roommate, Kristy, came to stay with us because she was in town for a job fair. I had not seen her since our wedding a year and a half ago, so it was great to spend some time with her again. On Saturday afternoon, we went to see a few of our high schoolers in their school musical. It was called “Crazy for You” and it was a funny show.

Following the show, we drove directly to church to begin preparations for an event with our Bible study group, which I was in charge of planning. We called the event “Wee O’Movie Night” since it was St. Patrick’s Day! We had a baked potato bar, watched “The Quiet Man” on the big screen, and enjoyed a dessert intermission. Derek provided the dinner entertainment by telling some St. Patty’s jokes in his Irish accent. And, of course, there was a lot of green! We enjoyed the company of our friends and the relaxation of watching a classic movie.

Here is a small web album of the pics I took from the evening.