Week Rundown (10/02/2011-10/08/2011)

Sunday

Woke up a bit cold... the temps were a bit chilly! I did the church vans.

Today was the start of Missions Month at church. We had Bro. Deal, veteran missionary to Africa, preach during the services. He brought a great presentation on what he's been through in over 50 years of ministry! Wow....!

For the afternoon, we stayed at the church for Moses' 18th birthday party. We ate pizza, played ping-pong, and ate cake! The kids didn't take a nap, so they ended up falling asleep during the evening services.

When we got home, we gave the kids a sandwich and we all got ready for bed.


Monday

Back to school and work. After such a long weekend, it the day wasn't so bad! I stayed busy at work. Lydia had a lot to do when she came home for the evening. When I got home, we worked on supper and had the kids clean up their rooms. We tried a new dish, which meant that supper was a little late. Lydia started into her homework while I got the kids to bed before heading to do the grocery run. (I didn't do it over the weekend)


Tuesday

Lydia attended a 'college fair' after 5. So after work, I picked up the kids and headed over to Grandma Taylor's for a visit. The kids played while we talked and then we went over to my parents' house for a bit as well. By 7pm... Mysia was already falling asleep, so we headed home.


Wednesday

Today I got to do the air-shift from 3-6pm. It was fun, and I feel more comfortable behind the board. I'm still learning, and a bit nervous... but I'm enjoying myself. I found out that I'll be on the air some more next week!

Lydia picked up the kids, ran home and made sandwiches, then came and picked me up from work. We rushed to church and made it on time.


Thursday

This afternoon I had a doctors appointment. It was a yearly check-up. I spent over an hour in the waiting room, and then over thirty minutes in the patient room before seeing the doctor! Ugh! The doctor told me to try and walk more and be more active.

Discipleship was cancelled for tonight, so we put in a movie while we ate supper. The kids then pressured us to let them watch a cartoon before showers and bed.


Friday

It was an interesting day at work... definitely the end of the work-week! We lost network and internet for the last part of the day. It's amazing how much we depend on those things!

Lydia went business communication conference around 1pm and it didn't get over until after 6. She enjoyed it, and even got a good supper as well!


After work I picked up the kids and came home. I took them for a walk around the neighborhood before making ramen noodle soup for supper. We watched a few episodes of the Andy Griffith Show before Lydia came home.


Saturday

We slept in a bit, and then started house-work. There was plenty to do... like always! ;)

I took the kids for a walk before naps, but it wasn't much of a walk for them. Mysia rode her scooter and Malachi his bike. It made our 'walk' a little longer, but it was a good family excursion!

This evening, I took Lydia to the KWFC appreciation day at the Stained Glass Theatre in Ozark. It was work-related, but still fantastic. We got to enjoy a mini-concert by the LeFevre Quartet and then the production. It was awesome!


~Matt

Week Rundown (09/25/2011-10/01/2011)

Sunday

This morning was Men's prayer breakfast at church. I was running a bit late, but I made it.

During the afternoon, Lydia made an home-made apple pies for Teacher's Appreciation Dinner after evening services.


Monday

After getting off work, we met at Rib Crib for supper. The kids were hyper, but did well. The food was great!

We came home, and Mysia worked on her homework. While Lydia was doing the laundry, she found a huge spider. I caught it and put it in an empty pickle jar. Needless to say, it was the highlight of the evening.


Tuesday

Malachi got to go on a field trip with his daycare to Jumping Joey's today. As the name suggests, it's a place that allows kids to play and jump around. A perfect place for our little monkey! Now if you think that he came home wore out... you're wrong! Nothing zaps his energy. In fact, he was hyped up!

Work was interesting for me. I got to be in the 'hot seat' at the stations' studio. It's fun, but nerve-wrecking at the same time! I'm getting more comfortable, but it's gonna take a little more time.



Wednesday

Today was pretty normal. Wednesday evening services at church went well.


Thursday

This evening we had Discipleship with the Banks. They brought us some burgers and we had a great meeting. The kids watched a movie after eating supper.


Friday

After work, Mysia and I picked up Abigail. She was our sitter for the evening while I took Lydia to the Showboat Branson Belle. It was a good date night, and we really enjoyed the time together. The food was great, walking out on the deck was awesome, and the show was entertaining.


Saturday

We slept in a bit. The kids played together nicely after the woke up. Lydia got ready and took the kids to the Pregnancy Care Center's "Walk For Life" that was held downtown. Her and the kids watched Lycia do the 5K Run, and then they participated in the walk. Unfortunately, it wore her out.

While they were gone, I got ready for our quartet's singing at Jordan Creek Nursing. They had invited us to sing at their outdoor Octoberfest. I got there with enough time to visit with the people and start setting up.

Lydia got home with the kids. Her heart was racing a bit, so she took a nap along with kids. When she woke up, it was still high, which gave her concern.

The singing went well. We even had friends show up to hear us sing! They said they want us back.

When I arrived back home, Lydia was still not doing good. She called the on-call doctor, but he never called back. We then dropped the kids off with Me-Maw, and ran to urgent care. We spent over 4 hours there as they determined that she had gotten dehydrated and had a fever (along with chills). They gave her fluids through an IV during our time of waiting. They sent her home saying she needs to drink more. During the whole thing, Lydia got a migraine!

Back at home, Lydia went to bed and I got the kids ready for bed as well. I made me a late supper, and then went to bed as well. What a long day!


~Matt

Thursday Thoughts: John Three Sixteen

It's been a busy week so far, and I'm sure today will not be any different. As I write this, I don't know what today will hold. But one thing is for sure... it won't be boring. 

Last night we had our children's services. I teach the lesson for the primary class (1st-3rd grade). Each week I bring a 'friend', a ventriloquist figure. Well, I brought Hannah for the lesson, and she helped me teach on John 3:16. A simple but profound conversation. 

I encourage you to go through each section of that verse. It's powerful, awesome, and life changing. As a Christian, my life depends on it. I can't make it on my own. It was because of the gift of the ultimate sacrifice. There's only one thing I had to do... humble myself, repent of my sins, and accept the offer! 

It's amazing that something so easy is hard for people to do. It's not something for us to earn. There's no way that we could ever live a perfect life.

 

~Matt

Week Rundown (09/18/2011-09/24/2011)

Sunday

Since I had been staying up late, I decided to give my eyes a rest and wear glasses in place of my contacts. All was going good until I tried to adjust them during Sunday School. They snapped at the nose, and I couldn't wear them. It then became a problem, because I'm basically blind! I'm so near-sighted that I can barely make out things. A good example of how I see without glasses would be to hold up a magnifying glass and try and make out a room... it's that bad!

Anyway, there went the idea of driving the vans during the afternoon. So I rode home with Lydia and the kids. Thankfully I had another pair, so I was fine for the rest of the day.

Our quartet sang a special during the evening service and we had a guest preacher who spoke about the Widow's Mite.

After services, we had family over to celebrate Malachi's 4th birthday. He's such a ham, and enjoyed all the attention. We had pizza, cupcakes, and ice cream. Malachi got some pretty cool gifts.


Monday

We woke up tired, but got up and going.

Lydia had a doctor's appointment. So afterwards, she picked Malachi up and headed home to start supper. I picked up Mysia from the Boy's and Girl's club after work and found out that there was an 'Open-House" at her school until 6. I called Lydia, and they met us at the school. We got to visit with Mysia's teacher, see how organized her desk is, and get to see some of the schoolwork she was proud of.

We ate a good supper. I rushed over for quartet practice while Lydia got the kids ready for bed. When I arrived back home, Lydia had just finished watching her favorite tv show, Castle.


Tuesday

After work and school, we met at home. We ate supper, watched some tv, and had a pretty good evening.

I had offered Mysia the chance to play my gameboy, but she opted to read a book instead!! Besides writing letters, reading is her favorite thing.

Wednesday

This evening was Master Clubs at church. We really focused on the books and verses. It turned out very well. Mysia is now in our class, she's already excited about it.


Thursday

Today was pretty normal, and nothing unusual happened. We had a nice relaxing evening after eating supper. Lydia worked on homework of course....


Friday

We came home and got supper ready. The Banks came over to do our discipleship lessons. We've been trying to meet up for the past month, but things have kept us busy!


Saturday

We woke up and got things done around the house. I mowed the lawn and did the next week's grocery run. Lydia worked on finances and homework. I took the kids for a walk and let them play outside for a bit. In the evening, Lydia and I did our "state of the family meeting', where we slip away and go over finances, parenting, and any other issues.


~Matt

You know you're a Baptist when…

Please don't get offended! I found these to be funny and mostly true! lol



You know you're a Baptist when…


You make use of all of your Bibles... one for home, one for devotions, one to keep at Church, one for the car, one for your purse (or shirt pocket if you are a guy) ,,,

Every anniversary, special meeting and conference is celebrated with a Church potluck!

You always seem to sit in the back of the church

Your pastor always goes to the back of the church at the end of the service where you can shake his hand

You need a cup of coffee before the morning service

You will park wherever there is a spot in the church parking lot

You actually want to attend Sunday school

Your church supports a lot of missionaries

Your church has missions conferences

Your church actually has a choir

Your church enjoys the 3 F's: Food, Fun, and Fellowship

You Consider Sunday lunch part of the service

You feel guilty about throwing the bulletins away

More adults sit on the front row during a children's choir concert, than do on Sunday morning

You feel the urge to say "amen" after every song- even at the Children's Choir Concert

You have never sung the third verse of any hymn.

You met your spouse at camp

Your preacher has a "Fried Chicken Belly"

Your Church's Sanctuary or Choir room smells like old books

When you were little you were afraid of one of the deacons.

You know that the words "we've never done it that way before" are the death toll to any new idea.

You know how to pledge allegiance to the Christian Flag & the Bible.

You hear "Just as I Am", "Create in me a clean heart", or any of those hymns and instantly stand up because you think it is decision time.

Your church had a Fish Fry/ Lord's Supper/ Baptismal service.

You have ever been given, or given to someone the "Right hand of Christian Fellowship"

You’re positive your preacher's books include: "1001 Illustrations" , "Greatest Collection of Church Jokes", etc.

Everything you know about illnesses & surgeries you learned in Wednesday prayer meeting.

You think God's presence is strongest on the back three pews.

You think "Amazing Grace" is the national anthem.

You honestly believe that the Apostle Paul spoke King James English.

You judge the quality of a service by its length.

You ever wake up in the middle of the night craving fried chicken and interpret that feeling as a call to preach.

You see that it's 12:05 when the invitation starts and get excited b/c you're getting out early that day.

Your church moves the Sunday evening service up two hours so they can watch the Super Bowl on the projectors.

You wonder whether you'll be singing or skipping the second to last verse in the hymnal.

Sitting in a different seat is considered “leaving your comfort zone.”

If you can't remember when you first memorized John 3:16

You consider "Victory In Jesus" the Baptist fight song.

You went directly from attending VBS to teaching it.

Your entire summer calendar revolves around church camp and VBS

You hear about a church fight, you say, "So, where's the news?"

You know at least a dozen funny things that happened during baptismal services.

You complain about the pastor's long sermons, but you would feel cheated by one under 20 minutes.

You don't like fancy, written-out public prayers, but somebody ought to help your preacher and the deacons put a little more life and freshness and thought into theirs!

You wish they wouldn't make all those announcements in the church service, but the times when they don't, you get angry because you didn't know about an important meeting.