A Wonderful Thanksgiving - From Start To End!!

We have had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday - I pray you did too. Rob & Kaye were gracious once again to let us use one of their lakehouses for our family time. Mom drove to Rogers on Wednesday. Jeff's mother was suppose to come with her, but she had been sick for over a week with a virus, so decided she needed to stay home and fully recuperate. Kaye & Rob drove up on Wednesday as well from Conway. Carman had gone to Malvern and the Hot Springs area to have Thanksgiving with her family, but Andy stayed here to prepare for our Saturday church services. Mom treated us to a meal at Olive Garden Wednesday evening and then we all went to Bella Vista to the lakehouse. Thanksgiving day was a gorgeous day here........unseasonably warm and sunshiny.

This is us girls resting between cooking..........
Jeff & I were honored with the master bedroom -- so nice!

Another view of the master bedroom -- with a balcony outside those doors and the lake beyond. What a gorgeous site to get up to each morning!

Jeff & Rob enjoying the beautiful day.........

Mom and Kaye cooking!

Andy studying.......

Jeff & Rob watching football! BTW: WAY TO GO HOGS!!!

Sitting down to a delicious Thanksgiving meal
Kaye & Rob went home Thursday evening so she could cook for Rob's family and Matt & Kristin on Saturday (and Rob was going to the Hogs game in Little Rock on Friday). Rachel came up Thursday night after spending the day with Derek's family. Derek stayed in Conway so that he could spend the rest of the Thanksgiving holiday weekend deer hunting with his Dad. Erika came over Friday evening for dinner. Her sister and family had spent the holiday with her, but had just gone home. Josh was in South Africa working (for Lionel Richey). Thankfully, as I write this, he is home safe and sound.

Eating spaghetti/rigatoni's and my homemade spaghetti sauce and meatballs....
Playing canasta......

It's really hard to get pictures "in order" on this blog (very frustrating!). So the two pictures below were actually taken Thanksgiving day -- Mom, Rob, Kaye & I had taken a walk after our big dinner -- around to the dock of the lake.......


Saturday, Mom headed home and Rachel, Jeff, Andy & I headed back to Rogers. We enjoyed good services Saturday night at Metro. Andy preached another great sermon.

Sunday, we woke up to a wonderful treat - snow!! And it has snowed all day -- didn't stick to the roads, but sure was fun!


Rachel joined Jeff & I for the services at Pinnacle Hills this morning. Pastor Floyd preached on the subject of Israel today, which was so good, since we had just visited there this past Spring. They had a Jewish man post the flag with the National Anthem playing and pictures of Israel on the screens.

Then the choir did a stirring special singing, Jerusalem, Jerusalem.

Pastor spoke of the importance of America supporting Israel, and about the heavenly Jerusalem, etc.

After lunch, Rachel headed home, arriving safely this evening.

My heart is full of thanksgiving. God has been SO SO good to us this past year. Thank you, thank you Lord for your bountiful blessings.

Connection Group Pictures

These are pictures of our Tuesday night Connection Group - hosted by Reid & Donna Fairchild and facilitated by Reid. A wonderful group of folks!!

More pictures of our Sunday night Group

At Russ & Kris Heithoff's beautiful home. Wonderful folks in this group too!! We still have a couple more weeks to meet - so please join us!

Catching Up!

Life has sure gone from 0 to 10 in busy, busy, busy and my blog is one thing I have neglected greatly! But it's all good and I continue to stand in amazement at God's marvelous blessings on our lives. Besides this posting, there are a couple more below this one in trying to catch up on what has been going on the last couple of months.

This picture is of the sweet gals I work closely with every day at FBC, Springdale. From left to right: Anita Stewart, Personal Assistant and "right arm" to Pastor Floyd; Kathy McClure -- it's hard to give a title to Kathy - she does so much from organizing all the food events; decorating for many events, also the church's wedding coordinator as well as working with Women's Ministries; the next in line is Sandra McCoy, Administrative Assistant to Andy Wilson who is Executive Leader of Administration and Operations; and then May Wheeler, who assists Anita and Sandra. These girls are all very godly women and such a joy and pleasure to work with.

The next couple of pictures are our Spiritual Development Team that my boss, Clint Smith supervises. We have weekly staff meetings in the North Conference Room each Tuesday and these pictures are from our meeting last week. Clint is at the head of the table; going right around the table: Gina Franzke, Preschool and Women's Minister; Chuck Butler, Associate Minister to Students; Ashleigh Raley, Girl's Minister in the Student Department. Going left of Clint is: Jim Hyde, Minister of Married Adults, Men's Ministry, Prayer Minister and Faciliites Manager; Chris Swain, Minister of Singles and College; and Greg Westmoreland, Minister of Children. Isn't that the biggest conference table you have ever seen!!??!!

At the other end of the table is Cameron Bowman, Associate Minister to Children. On this particular day, we were missing Shawn Smith, Minister to Students and Bill Trueblood, Minister to Older Adults. This is a great team and also a pleasure to work with.


CONNECTION GROUPS

A couple of months ago, we got involved in our first Pinnacle Hills Home Group led by Reid & Donna Fairchild (their picture is to the right and this fine couple have already reached out to Jeff & I with love and friendship). I will add pictures of this Home Group soon.

Small Groups/Home Groups have always been very dear to Jeff & I's heart. The Church Planting Model that Jeff wrote while working in the Missions Office centered on small groups. Jeff led a Wednesday Night Home Group for 8 years while we lived in Conway and those folks remain close friends to this day. While pastoring FBC, Red Oak, Jeff led the church in beginning a Small Group ministry and we belonged to a wonderful group there. So we were definitely missing that "connection" when we first moved here. Once we joined Pinnacle, we immediately started visiting the Connection Groups that were offered. It didn't take long to know where we belonged - and that was in the Tuesday night Fairchild group. We have been studying the book "One Month To Live," which has been good and this group of folks are very loving and kind and have become dear to our hearts.

About a month ago, Jeff was asked by the leadership at Pinnacle to begin facilitating a Sunday night group which after prayer, Jeff gladly agreed to do. Jeff is teaching in the book of Philippians and we are loving the good folks in this group as well. Below are a couple of pictures of our Sunday night group. We appreciate so much the 3 couples who have graciously opened their beautiful homes for our group to meet: Russ & Kris Heithoff; Gary & Pat Phillips and Jeff & Carolyn Brown. These pictures were at the Phillips:



Jeff has been asked to do some writing for next year's Connection Groups' studies for both campuses (FBC and Pinnacle), so this is exciting and a major blessing! God didn't open the door for the JBU/CRE position and yes, we were disappointed for about 24 hours, but quickly was reminded that God knows best and will open the "best" door when the time is right. We are trusting Him and know He will not fail nor forsake us! For now, I'm lovin' having my husband home to keep the house cleaned, the laundry done and, many times, supper on the table -- can't beat that!!! :-)

With the recent tragic death of one of the sweetest gals I have ever met....Jill Attebery (pastor's wife to Scott and mother of 3 month old baby Bryce).....I am counting my blessings and working hard at being grateful for each and every day that God gives me and God gives each of my loved ones.

Thank you Lord for life and for each person in my life that adds love, joy, and fullness. God bless each reader and I am praying His richest blessings on your lives!

Church Families

OUR CHURCH FAMILIES......

John Roller and Jared Watson leading worship at Metro - the new church plant that our son, Andy is leading. We worship with this family on Saturday evenings. Please see the link to Metro at the side of my Home page on this blog........

This is our oldest son, Josh, playing the drums at Metro..........
This is Andy preaching.........

We am so proud of all our children
and their desire to serve the Lord.
Rachel is active at Antioch Baptist in Conway,
helping with the Youth each Wednesday night
and now serves in the church office too.

This is our church family at The Church of Pinnacle Hills where we worship on Sunday. This is Pastor Floyd preaching.........
This is Josh Stanbery leading worship..........

This is the choir...........

And I also feel very much a part of the family at First Baptist, Springdale. Thank you Lord for allowing us to be a part of several great groups of people that love you and love each other!

Fall Fun With the Family

Last weekend, Kaye & Rob and Keith & Wilda were at the lakehouse. Kaye had flown to KC earlier in the week to get Lincoln and take him back to Conway and keep him for a few days. So he was with them on the weekend in Bella Vista. We joined them on Friday night in taking Lincoln to a Fall Festival at a local church here in Bentonville. Kaye had bought him a "sock monkey" outfit - he was just too cute!!

He took off his hat and put it on Poppa's head :-)
He was Little Sock Monkey a.k.a. Scarface....he had taken a tumble that day and scratched his face - but sure didn't seem worse for wear : -)
On Sunday, Kaye, Rob, Lincoln and his momma and daddy, Mike & Adrienne (who had come down from KC for their anniversary and to pick up their little boy), and Josh & Erika and Andy & Carman all came to our home for Taco Soup and Potato Soup. It's always so enjoyable to have the family together!
As you see, it was a beautiful warm day - we even had our windows opened!
Lincoln liked Aunt Debbie's potato soup!
Carman and Andy had him for a "minute!" He's on the run here.....



Josh has lost over 60 lbs in the last 4-5 months! Way to go, Josh!

My First Week on the New Job at FBC, Springdale

It was a really good week. Typically first weeks on new jobs are tough!! But I thoroughly enjoyed my week. I did come home exhausted and totally "wiped" out in the evenings, but everyone was so kind and helpful that it made the week go great. Clint, my boss, is a super guy and the girls that I work closely with have been so sweet. Last night, Jeff & I joined a lot of the staff at a tailgating/birthday bash before the football game and had so much fun. It was wonderful to meet their spouses and their children. We enjoyed some good eatin' too! Then we attended our first Shiloh Christian football game. And YEAH, they won - which was big upset over a team who has won state several years. GO SAINTS!! As I type this, I'm watching the Hogs game -- unfortunately that game wasn't near as good :-(

I've included a couple pictures of my pretty office. Clint and I are in the Senior Pastor wing, along with Pastor Floyd and his secretary, Anita and Andy Wilson, Executive Leader of Administration & Operations, and his secretary, Sandra and Administrative Assistant, Dani.

My desk and work area:

The sitting area in my office

Even though I've been a church secretary for many, many years, I am learning lots of new and challenging stuff. But it's all good! And again, I am so very grateful God has given this job to me!!

Keep Jeff in your prayers.......he's flown to Mississippi, where he'll be speaking Sunday-Wednesday.

I pray everyone has a great time of worship this weekend!!

A New Chapter

My heart is overflowing with thanksgiving this Saturday morning with God's goodness on my life.

The crosses above stand high in the sky at The Church of Pinnacle Hills here in Rogers as a tribute to the great gift of our salvation and a reminder each time I see them of how very blessed I am! Jeff & I have attended Pinnacle often since we moved here. It is 3 miles from our house. Ronnie Floyd is the Senior Pastor (as well as at FBC, Springdale). The two churches together average between 5,000-6,000. Even though a "mega-church," they are very bibically sound with great preaching and super music. When New Community (the church, our son, Andy pastors) was meeting on Sunday, we went to Pinnacle's first service, then to the 10:30 service at New Community Church. When the Rogers school district stopped churches from using their facilities, that posed a real problem for NCC. Andy searched and searched for an affordable place to meet and finally found a small Baptist church in Springdale that would allow us to use their facilities on Saturday evenings. So beginning the first of August, we began worshipping with our New Community family on Saturday evenings and continue to do so. God is working at NCC and we ask for your continued prayers for God's leading and much wisdom for Andy and Carman as they lead this fine group of believers.

However, since NCC is mainly comprised of 20-30 somethings, Jeff and I did feel led to join The Church at Pinnacle Hills, so that we could get connected with people our age and develop friendships. So we feel we are a part of two church families (and soon that will be 3 church families as you'll understand as you read this posting). We have found a Home Group at Pinnacle and are very excited at the new friendships that are developing as well as the study we are doing from the book, "One Month To Live."

About six weeks ago, I decided to put my "feelers" out and see if God wanted me to go back to work. With Jeff not knowing yet what God would have him to do, it was difficult for me to make the courageous step of seeking employment. But I just prayed about it and left it with the Lord - begging Him for clear direction.

Consequently, I started checking the classifieds, submitting my resume to those secretarial openings listed and also mailed my resume to the three largest churches in the area. Three weeks ago, I was contacted by the Church of Pinnacle Hills here in Rogers to come for an interview. I had a good interview and was called again the next week to come a second time and be interviewed by one of the Pastors. That very same day, Fellowship Bible, here in Rogers called me for an interview as did FBC, Springdale. My second interview went well and the next week, I interviewed at Fellowship and a 3rd time at Pinnacle with another Staff member. The job at Fellowship was only part-time, so I told them I wasn't interested at this time, although they all seemed like great people (I was interviewed by 4 staff ministers and two other people). I had been put on "hold" at FBC until Pinnacle made a decision as they are the same church.....just two campuses. However this week, FBC decided to go ahead and contact me and I went for an interview on Wednesday and knew in my heart, that was where God would have me work. Pinnacle was still considering me and seemed the logical place for me to work and had been the "desire" of my heart since moving here, however after my interview with FBC, I had such a peace and assurance that First Baptist was where I was to work. The next day I was offered the position at FBC and will begin my responsibilities there on Monday!! I will be the administrative assistant to Clint Smith, Minister of Spiritual Development. I am so very excited at this opportunity and being a part of the great ministry at First Baptist. The link to both FBC and Pinnacle is to the right on my Home page of this blog.

This position is full time, Monday-Friday, 8 to 5 - so that will be an adjustment to me. I haven't worked a 40 hour a week job since 1995, and then it was for only a short time. But since God has given me an extended, WONDERFUL, 9 month vacation - I am ready!!

I will have a 12 mile drive but it's almost all interstate, so will be an easy drive. And since we are just leasing a home here in Rogers, very possibly we will move closer to Springdale in the months ahead. Josh & Erika live in Springdale and Andy & Carman live between Springdale and Rogers, so we will still be very close to the boys. It would put us 15 minutes closer to Rachel, but 15 minutes further from our Mom's. But it's all very "doable!"

Also, there is a promising ministry opportunity in NW Arkansas for Jeff as well. He has an interview the end of September. We still stand in amazement and thanksgiving that God has met our every need and even many of our wants during this time of rest and a break from 'life.' As I'm sure you've read from my blog, we have thoroughly enjoyed the special times with family and friends during these months of not working. Jeff is preaching a revival in Kansas City this weekend and will be traveling to Mississippi next weekend to preach a revival there. He has had opportunity to preach several times for Andy at New Community as well as do some pulpit supply preaching here in the area.

We again want to thank each of you who have been praying diligently for us over these last several months. What a blessing you have been to us!! Please continue to do so. I will update this blog as I have time and "news."

GO HOGS!

This was the kick-off weekend for the Razorback football season at University of Arkansas. Thanks to Rob & Kaye, we got to enjoy several of the festivities!!
Rob is a major Hog Fan, as his car indicates :-)

On Friday night, we joined Rob & Kaye, Keith & Wilda Head, Larry & Peggy Sparks and Eddie Glover at the Razorback Foundation Banquet and Inductee Ceremony into the University of Arkansas Hall of Honor. It was held here in Rogers at the John Q. Hammonds Convention Center. We were served a delicious meal and enjoyed Chris Mortenson from ESPN speak as well as each of the Inductees speak.

We also enjoyed meals, boating and fellowship at the lakehouse with everyone, then attended the Razorback game on Saturday evening. Thankfully, we pulled it out (barely), winning 28-24!

Thanks again, Rob & Kaye, for including us in all the fun!!