Well, life here in Hagerstown is still going great! We're certainly not complaining about any part of it -- we love being here. We've been here for just about 5 1/2 months now, and we're beginning to look back to see what we've done in that time.
At church, we've managed to see attendance grow from an average of about 30 people each week to somewhere between 40-50 people each week. We've started, and regularly continued, a weekly Bible Study, and we're well-into our second course of study with that. We've moved from meeting in a school to meeting in a church building, where we're paying less per week for about 3 times the allowable time to be in the building. And, we've sold the acreage that the church had purchased with the original intent of building, but that a reality-check revealed might not be a real possibility, maybe ever. So, God is certainly blessing out work at the church. We will absolutely maintain that it is not of us that these things have happened, but because God is working, and His people are willing.
I finished out the school year at Grace Academy, teaching 3rd grade. This was a special privilege and challenge for me -- my background and experience is in the middle school / high school realm, and this opportunity showed me that God's grace is sufficient for whatever task He calls me to do. I really enjoyed my time with those kids, and they taught me so much about myself and about life in the short time I was with them. I was not offered a contract for the upcoming school year, "not as a reflection of you as a teacher, but because of the difficult budget cuts we had to make". That's fine -- not what I wanted or expected to hear, but it just means that God has another adventure planned for me somewhere else! And exactly a week after I turned in my keys at Grace Academy, I was officially hired as a High School English teacher at Faith Christian Academy in Martinsburg, WV. WOW!! YEA, GOD!!!!! That was not me, that was God moving me where He wants to use me!
Then, there's Katie. She's 21 months old today, and already talking in sentences, singing songs with tune and rhythm, and being amazing in so many other ways. She loves going to the park to swing and slide, and walking -- well, bring it on!!! She loves to walk and to go up and down steps! She's able to do steps by herself (but we always follow close behind -- there will be no huge tumbles down the stairs -- not yet). She loves to do puzzles, look at books, and go "shopping with mommy". She loves to tell what "doggie says" (woof, woof), or "piggy says" (oink, oink), and she can also tell that a ducky says "quack, quack", a kitty says "meow, meow", a cow says "moo", and a rooster says "cock-a-loo-ooo" (it's really cute to hear, in person). She parrots everything anyone says, so when Mema (grandma) Girdler sang "Ooo, Eee, Ooo, Ahh, Ahh, Ting-tang, walla-walla big-bang", Katie sang it too -- except it was Ooo, Eee, Ahh, Ahh, Tang, Allallalllallla bang" -- awesome!!!!!!!! She's the cutest thing ever!!!! And when daddy went to look at new glasses frames, she told him, "Dado silly goose with glasses!" And she tried on some glasses and remembered the purple glasses, and wanted them on the next time we went back there. She tells us where we are when we pull into Target, Martin's, and WalMart, and she knows what's coming when we're in the Chick-Fil-A drive through "Chicken and Fries?!?!?!?!?" These are the times to remember . . . . .
And so . . . things are going well -- we are doing God's work in God's place, in God's time, and He is blessing in amazing ways. And in all this we say, "Not to us, Oh Lord, not to us, but to You be the glory"
Monday, June 15, 2009
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Please excuse our extreme lack of blogging
Wow! I hadn't realized that it has been this long. Ghhhh! It's not that there's nothing to post, just that there's not enough GOOD time to do it. Even now, I'm sitting here wondering what else I SHOULD be doing, rather than futzing around with the computer.
Just in case any of our followers were unaware, we moved from Louisville, KY to Hagerstown, MD at the end of December. Tim took a pastor job at Real Life Community Church, and I am teaching 3rd grade at Grace Academy.
Katie is amazing. She has made the transition FAR more smoothly than we thought she might, and she is already well-acquainted with most everyone at the new church.
It is fantastic to live so much closer to all the grandparents. Tim's parents are only an hour away, and my folks are only about 5 hours away. This makes seeing them all SO much more convenient.
My sister has just had her baby, as well. Rayne Elle Perry was born on March 31st. She was little, but then, so are her mommy and daddy. Everyone is doing great, and they have made the transition to "familyhood" quite easily.
Our Katie is becoming so much more vocal -- not that she wasn't before, but she's really starting to talk well now. She talks in phrases and short sentences, and she repeats just about everything she hears us say. She knows the names of most everyone at church, and she greets them all each time she sees them! She even sits at home and runs through the list of names of people she knows -- Butch and Laura, Hi Bob, Joe, Henry, Dave and Connie, Phyllis, Gaylon, Elaine, Jesse, Mark, Stacy, the list goes on and on!
We've recently begun holding church services in a local Seventh Day Adventist church building. They have agreed to let us rent their building on Sundays and Thursdays during the week -- which is much better for us than the school building we were meeting in. There, we only had about 5 hours on Sunday mornings. Palm Sunday was our first Sunday there, and we had a remarkable turnout (about 80 people) on Easter Sunday! God is so good!! We're eagerly awaiting what He has in store for Real Life Community Church -- all we know, is that it's been 11 years for RLCC as of Palm Sunday, and He's certainly not finished with us yet!! Praise God for who He is and for all He does!! May all we do bring honor and glory to Him!!
Just in case any of our followers were unaware, we moved from Louisville, KY to Hagerstown, MD at the end of December. Tim took a pastor job at Real Life Community Church, and I am teaching 3rd grade at Grace Academy.
Katie is amazing. She has made the transition FAR more smoothly than we thought she might, and she is already well-acquainted with most everyone at the new church.
It is fantastic to live so much closer to all the grandparents. Tim's parents are only an hour away, and my folks are only about 5 hours away. This makes seeing them all SO much more convenient.
My sister has just had her baby, as well. Rayne Elle Perry was born on March 31st. She was little, but then, so are her mommy and daddy. Everyone is doing great, and they have made the transition to "familyhood" quite easily.
Our Katie is becoming so much more vocal -- not that she wasn't before, but she's really starting to talk well now. She talks in phrases and short sentences, and she repeats just about everything she hears us say. She knows the names of most everyone at church, and she greets them all each time she sees them! She even sits at home and runs through the list of names of people she knows -- Butch and Laura, Hi Bob, Joe, Henry, Dave and Connie, Phyllis, Gaylon, Elaine, Jesse, Mark, Stacy, the list goes on and on!
We've recently begun holding church services in a local Seventh Day Adventist church building. They have agreed to let us rent their building on Sundays and Thursdays during the week -- which is much better for us than the school building we were meeting in. There, we only had about 5 hours on Sunday mornings. Palm Sunday was our first Sunday there, and we had a remarkable turnout (about 80 people) on Easter Sunday! God is so good!! We're eagerly awaiting what He has in store for Real Life Community Church -- all we know, is that it's been 11 years for RLCC as of Palm Sunday, and He's certainly not finished with us yet!! Praise God for who He is and for all He does!! May all we do bring honor and glory to Him!!
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Catching You Up!
Well, well. The prodigal blogger has returned. But all joking aside, there has been so much going on, that keeping up with this blog has been the last thing on the list. This morning, though, while it's just Katie and me sitting here, trying to decide what to do with our day, I thought I should at least add SOMETHING.
We celebrated Tim's and Katie's birthdays in September. My parents were here, as well as Luke and Lucinda. Although we didn't get to spend as much time together as we would have liked, it really did turn out for the best, since that is when we had the huge windstorm that knocked out power to most of Louisville for several days. It was better for everyone that plans were changed prior to all that!!
Katie had such a good time with her cake! It was the first time she'd had sugar like that, and at first, she seemed a little skeptical, but that didn't stop her from going back for more, and more, and more!
On her actual birthday, we took her to Build-A-Bear (they actually had power). She didn't really know what to make of the whole thing. The loud sounds of the machines scared her, but she really liked her Kitty Cat we made her -- we named him Nenno (that's what she calls our cat, Fresno). The last weekend in September, we went to Hagerstown so Tim could candidate at Real Life Community Church. After he preached that morning, the congregation voted, and it ended up 100% positive for us to come! So, by February, at the latest, we'll be ministering at a small church in Hagerstown, MD! Now we just have to sell the house here . . . . But God is bigger than the housing market, and He'll take care of it perfectly, just at the right time. We also got to celebrate birthdays again that weekend with Tim's parents -- more presents and more ice cream cake, oh boy!!!
Last week, Tim and I celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary. Fortunately, it was Fall Break at school, so I wasn't even working that day! Unfortunately, I woke up feeling REALLY bad that morning, and was diagnosed with strep a few hours later. So, on antibiotics, but still dealing with a horribly sore throat, we went to The Melting Pot for dinner that night. The food was SO good, even though it hurt to swallow -- at least I didn't have a cold, or something that affected my ability to taste the food!!! Then, because I'm such a generous person, and marriage is supposed to be all about sharing, my poor husband woke up the next morning feeling as crummy as I was. So, now we have matching "His" and "Hers" bottles of antibiotics!
This weekend, Tim is in Maryland, at the University of Maryland's 100th homecoming celebration. He's getting to play in the band for their Homecoming game (you know he's loving that), and he's also getting to catch up with some of his old friends he hasn't seen in a LONG time. We miss him here, but we're glad he's having fun!
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Where did the summer go?
It's already the middle of August -- where did my summer go? Oh, I remember now! June was the Florida trip for Nick and Melissa's wedding, July was the Maryland trip for Donny and Randi's wedding (which also involved a week-long visit with Grandma and Grandpa Girdler), August took us to Lafayette Indiana for Melissa and Josh's wedding . . . . And for the past week, I've been working to get things ready for the start of a new school year -- which starts tomorrow!!!
In the midst of all this, Katie has done some amazing things! She is pulling up and walking around things she can hold on to (chairs, the pack and play), and she is learning to stand all on her own -- it's all about balance! She has also learned to identify a few of her toys by name. We can tell her to "Get the ducky" and she'll look around, pick up the ducky, and triumphantly hold it up and grin! She can also "Get the music" (a musical Baby Einstein toy that Grandma Girdler got her), and she can "Make it sing"!!
Katie also got her "big-girl" car seat -- she outgrew the infant carrier, so we bought her a big girl car seat, which she loves -- we call it her throne! Because of that, she is also riding like a big girl in the shopping cart at the grocery store, and she is sitting in a big girl highchair at restaurants. Our biggest challenges with that are 1) she likes to chew on everything (and that's gross on those carts and highchairs). We bought her a plastic cover thing-y that we put in shopping carts and high chairs so she can eat it and we don't have to worry! 2) If she's sleepy, too bad! Whereas, before, she could just sleep in her carrier, now she either has to wait, or fall asleep with her daddy or me. Sometimes that's a challenge!!
Perhaps the biggest stride Katie has made has happened in the past week. She is beginning to sleep in her crib at night. Until now, Katie has slept in her papasan seat in our room. Now that she's nearly a year old, she really needs to be sleeping in HER room, in her crib. So, last Thursday, as hard as it was, I put her in her crib at bedtime, determined that she WOULD eventually fall asleep there! 2 hours later, sure enough, she was asleep. She only slept about 3 hours there that night, but that was a start! Friday night, we reduced crying time by an hour, and added an hour of sleep time. Saturday, she cried for only half an hour, and slept 4 hours; Sunday, she fell asleep during her last bottle, so I put her down while she was sleeping. She woke up slightly, but went right back to sleep! Yeehah!! She woke up around 4, but we're getting there. Monday night, I laid her down while she was fully awake (though drowsy), and she didn't cry at all -- she was awake at 3:15, but we're getting there in small increments!! Yea, Katie!!! (insert clapping here). Now, the thing we have to overcome is getting back to sleep in the middle of the night! But we're determined -- we'll make it!!
I'll do my best to post some new pictures sometime this week. We've got some good ones -- I just need to get them together so they can be posted! Until then . . . .
In the midst of all this, Katie has done some amazing things! She is pulling up and walking around things she can hold on to (chairs, the pack and play), and she is learning to stand all on her own -- it's all about balance! She has also learned to identify a few of her toys by name. We can tell her to "Get the ducky" and she'll look around, pick up the ducky, and triumphantly hold it up and grin! She can also "Get the music" (a musical Baby Einstein toy that Grandma Girdler got her), and she can "Make it sing"!!
Katie also got her "big-girl" car seat -- she outgrew the infant carrier, so we bought her a big girl car seat, which she loves -- we call it her throne! Because of that, she is also riding like a big girl in the shopping cart at the grocery store, and she is sitting in a big girl highchair at restaurants. Our biggest challenges with that are 1) she likes to chew on everything (and that's gross on those carts and highchairs). We bought her a plastic cover thing-y that we put in shopping carts and high chairs so she can eat it and we don't have to worry! 2) If she's sleepy, too bad! Whereas, before, she could just sleep in her carrier, now she either has to wait, or fall asleep with her daddy or me. Sometimes that's a challenge!!
Perhaps the biggest stride Katie has made has happened in the past week. She is beginning to sleep in her crib at night. Until now, Katie has slept in her papasan seat in our room. Now that she's nearly a year old, she really needs to be sleeping in HER room, in her crib. So, last Thursday, as hard as it was, I put her in her crib at bedtime, determined that she WOULD eventually fall asleep there! 2 hours later, sure enough, she was asleep. She only slept about 3 hours there that night, but that was a start! Friday night, we reduced crying time by an hour, and added an hour of sleep time. Saturday, she cried for only half an hour, and slept 4 hours; Sunday, she fell asleep during her last bottle, so I put her down while she was sleeping. She woke up slightly, but went right back to sleep! Yeehah!! She woke up around 4, but we're getting there. Monday night, I laid her down while she was fully awake (though drowsy), and she didn't cry at all -- she was awake at 3:15, but we're getting there in small increments!! Yea, Katie!!! (insert clapping here). Now, the thing we have to overcome is getting back to sleep in the middle of the night! But we're determined -- we'll make it!!
I'll do my best to post some new pictures sometime this week. We've got some good ones -- I just need to get them together so they can be posted! Until then . . . .
Friday, June 20, 2008
Our Fast, Fun Florida Trip
About a week ago, we took a short trip to Florida for our friends' wedding. Katie did SO well in the car -- what must it be like? Riding for hours at a time, backward, not able to see out the windows, not able to see Mommy and Daddy, having just a few toys . . . we could go on and on. But she really does ride well in the car. We counted up the states she has been through in her short 9 months of life -- Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, West Virginia, Maryland, D.C., Tennessee, Alabama, and Florida! What a traveler!!! And she has spent the night in Kentucky, Illinois, New York, Maryland, Alabama, Florida, and Tennessee. Too bad she won't remember this stuff!!
Anyway, we stopped Thursday night in Alabama -- between Birmingham and Montgomery. Then Friday we continued down into Florida. Our condo was great! It was small, but we didn't really need a lot of space for SLEEPING the two nights we were there. It had an efficiency kitchen, and a great bathroom. Katie did a lot of crawling around on the floors there! She didn't like the travertine tile in the kitchen and bathroom, so when she crawled to those parts, she turned around and went back the other way!
Friday night we ate dinner at a place right on the water called the Crab Trap. The seafood was great, and the atmosphere was fun! We watched a storm coming in over the water -- lightning everywhere!!
Saturday, we braved the rain torrents and ate lunch in the car!! Fortunately, the rain stopped in time for the wedding!! We traveled about 10 minutes from the condo to the church -- Katie was already asleep. The wedding was beautiful, and Katie stayed asleep through nearly all of it! After the ceremony, we headed to the reception. Everything was so simple and elegant. We got to chat with some friends, old and new, and we had a great time sharing the day with the bride and groom!
That evening, we took Katie to see the Gulf of Mexico. We wanted her to have the experience of dipping her toes in the water -- she hated it!! For one thing, the water was colder than her "normal" bath water, and also, bath water doesn't rush up and get your toes -- this water did!! But we got some good pictures to show her when she gets older!!
Sunday -- Father's Day -- we gathered our things together and headed for home. We were trying to decide whether to try to make it all the way home, or to stop somewhere in Tennessee. After what seemed like an eternity in the car, we finally decided to stop. We enjoyed a leisurely dinner at Cracker Barrel, and then headed back to the hotel to collapse into bed, exhausted. (Isn't it something how much energy is sapped from your body just from traveling?)
Monday, our goal was to make it back to Louisville in time for Katie's Dr's appointment for her 9 month checkup. We drove into town and straight to the pediatrician's office! Just in time!!
All in all, it was a great trip -- quick, but a nice getaway! Just what we needed to recharge our batteries! Now, we're back into the daily routine, waiting until next month for our next quick getaway -- which will, fortunately, be just a LITTLE bit longer!
Monday, May 26, 2008
It's Been HOW Long?!?!?!?
I know, I know -- it's been almost 2 months since I've posted. Those of you with small children will completely understand and forgive me. Those of you who will one day have small children will one day understand and forgive me. Those of you who haven't had small children in a while will hopefully remember what chaos life can be, and forgive me.
Anyway, so much has happened. We have seen both sets of grandparents -- we made a trip up to western NY to see my parents and my grandma.
That was the week of April 7. As of then, Mom and Dad's new house was done, and ready to move into. They had already had the new furniture delivered, and just needed to move things from the old house on Main Street up to the new place on Messenger Street. What a beautiful house! They certainly deserve to have a brand-new, clean, in-shape, wonderful house. They have lived 33+ years at the old address, which wasn't even new, then!
And Tim's parents were here for a SHORT (too short) visit, on their way back to MD from a trip out to Illinois to see Grandma Girdler. Even though it was only a few hours they were here, it was time well-spent. Katie got to see her grandparents, and they got to love on her for a while. A fair trade!
And I am SORRY that I forgot to include the fact that my sister and Luke were here for an overnight -- much too short a time (I think that's why I forgot)! But we had a great time -- Katie got to see Aunt Ellie and Uncle Luke (she hadn't seen Uncle Luke since she was born) -- and the time went by WAY too quickly. That's why we need to do that more often!!
I am now finished with another school year, and Katie is done (for the summer) at big-girl school. She has done so well there, and it has been really good for me to have her so close. When she goes back in August, she will have only a month and a half until she moves over to the "ones" room. Can you believe it?
We went to a Louisville Bats game two weekends ago. It was Katie's first time out at an event of that magnitude. We got tickets from a friend whose brother has season tickets and wasn't using this game's. So Katie got to sit over top of the visiting team's dugout for her first baseball game!! How fun! (please forgive the VERY unflattering picture of me, but I had to include it , since it's the only one of the whole family at the game!)
Katie is really into trying to crawl. She can get up on all fours and rock back and forth -- I can't wait for her to move forward -- just a little bit, even. What an accomplishment that will be. She is definitely getting too big for her Papasan chair -- which poses slight problems, because that is the only "bed" she knows. She can sit up in it, and the other day, she even managed to get herself completely turned around in it -- feet at the top, head hanging off the bottom. Ghhhh! So we will soon be making the transition to the crib, I think. I don't know what I'll do without her sleeping in our room with us -- I've gotten so used to having her right there. It's definitely nice to all be together for at least a few hours a day. (I know, those of you experienced parents out there are saying, "There will come a day when you'll try anything to get those kids to stay out of your room!!" But that's not yet for us, so we're enjoying THIS time!!)
Well, I think those are the major updates. I'll try to be more consistent now that I'm home for the summer. We have some trips planned (all for weddings of friends), so we're praying that the gas prices don't go up any more than they already have!! Hopefully we'll have some more good pictures to post soon, too. That should help keep me motivated!!
Anyway, so much has happened. We have seen both sets of grandparents -- we made a trip up to western NY to see my parents and my grandma.
That was the week of April 7. As of then, Mom and Dad's new house was done, and ready to move into. They had already had the new furniture delivered, and just needed to move things from the old house on Main Street up to the new place on Messenger Street. What a beautiful house! They certainly deserve to have a brand-new, clean, in-shape, wonderful house. They have lived 33+ years at the old address, which wasn't even new, then!And Tim's parents were here for a SHORT (too short) visit, on their way back to MD from a trip out to Illinois to see Grandma Girdler. Even though it was only a few hours they were here, it was time well-spent. Katie got to see her grandparents, and they got to love on her for a while. A fair trade!
And I am SORRY that I forgot to include the fact that my sister and Luke were here for an overnight -- much too short a time (I think that's why I forgot)! But we had a great time -- Katie got to see Aunt Ellie and Uncle Luke (she hadn't seen Uncle Luke since she was born) -- and the time went by WAY too quickly. That's why we need to do that more often!!
I am now finished with another school year, and Katie is done (for the summer) at big-girl school. She has done so well there, and it has been really good for me to have her so close. When she goes back in August, she will have only a month and a half until she moves over to the "ones" room. Can you believe it?
We went to a Louisville Bats game two weekends ago. It was Katie's first time out at an event of that magnitude. We got tickets from a friend whose brother has season tickets and wasn't using this game's. So Katie got to sit over top of the visiting team's dugout for her first baseball game!! How fun! (please forgive the VERY unflattering picture of me, but I had to include it , since it's the only one of the whole family at the game!)
Katie is really into trying to crawl. She can get up on all fours and rock back and forth -- I can't wait for her to move forward -- just a little bit, even. What an accomplishment that will be. She is definitely getting too big for her Papasan chair -- which poses slight problems, because that is the only "bed" she knows. She can sit up in it, and the other day, she even managed to get herself completely turned around in it -- feet at the top, head hanging off the bottom. Ghhhh! So we will soon be making the transition to the crib, I think. I don't know what I'll do without her sleeping in our room with us -- I've gotten so used to having her right there. It's definitely nice to all be together for at least a few hours a day. (I know, those of you experienced parents out there are saying, "There will come a day when you'll try anything to get those kids to stay out of your room!!" But that's not yet for us, so we're enjoying THIS time!!)
Well, I think those are the major updates. I'll try to be more consistent now that I'm home for the summer. We have some trips planned (all for weddings of friends), so we're praying that the gas prices don't go up any more than they already have!! Hopefully we'll have some more good pictures to post soon, too. That should help keep me motivated!!
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