Arkansas Visit

Jeff and I enjoyed some time in Arkansas last week.  The BMAA Missions Symposium was held in Conway and we always enjoy attending.  It’s very encouraging to see how God is using the BMA to further His kingdom and to hear our missionaries tell about their fields.  We have some great missionaries and great leadership in our Missions Department.  Jeff presently serves on the Missions Advisory Committee and missions has always been a passion of his, having served as a missionary in years past and also working on staff in the Missions Office.

Paul and Mary Mooney normally travel with us to these types of meetings, but sadly both were sick and not able to go.  So Jeff and I couldn’t resist but to take a little detour (only about 2 miles off the interstate) to see Laine, Andy & Carman coming and going to the meeting.

Going down to Conway, we stopped in Rogers and met the kids at Chick-Fil-A.  Not only do we like their food, Lainey-Bug loves their play area:

I did take a couple of pictures with my phone during the meeting, but they are not of very good quality so won’t post them here.  Since Jeff and I lived in Conway almost 8 years, we have many good friends there.  We were thrilled to see some of those friends at the meeting as well as in other settings.  We had lunch at a delicious Mexican restaurant, Faby’s, with Jason and Toya Aultman and Paul and Glo Jensen. 

Jason & Toya were students at Jacksonville Baptist College in Jacksonville, TX when Jeff was Dean of Students at JBC.  Jason was President of the Student Council, so Jeff got to know him well.  When Jeff became Pastor of Craft Baptist Church, there in Jacksonville, he immediately thought of Jason as our part-time youth director and Jason did come alongside us in ministry there.  He and Toya married during that time, so we became good friends.  From there, our paths took different directions, with Jeff & I moving to the Dallas area to serve as Pastor at Calvary, Mesquite and Jason & Toya moving to Conway to serve as Youth Pastor at Antioch.  So in 1996 when Jeff was called on staff at the Missions Office in Little Rock, we made the decision to live in Conway and join Antioch so that our kids would have Jason as their youth director.   We have many wonderful memories of our time with the Aultmans and being a part of Antioch.  Now Jason is Senior Pastor of Antioch and doing a great job leading that church.  The Jensens and Jeff and I became close friends as well, living in the same subdivision.  We spent many a night playing games, laughing, visiting, etc.  Glo and I grew especially close as we rode together each week to Bible Study and enjoyed discussing life and spiritual matters along the way!  So thankful for these two friendships.

While we lived in Conway, Jeff became very close to Rob Harkness and Keith Head.  Their love for Arkansas Razorback football was one of the reasons (plus a whole lot more!).  They traveled many times to Fayetteville together to watch their Hogs play.  Jeff and Rob also took several Mission trips to Guatemala together.  Rob had been single for almost 20 years.  When my sister, Kaye, became a single again, I kept thinking they would make a great couple.  But with Rob in Conway and Kaye in Kansas City, that seemed an impossible task.  However, I had “hinted” at it to both of them from time to time.  Jeff was preaching a series of messages on marriage while on staff at Antioch (where Rob was an active member) and something Jeff said struck a chord in Rob’s heart that maybe it was time to think about remarrying.  And amazingly from that, a long distance relationship began that ended in marriage.  We are so very thrilled that God worked it all out and Rob is now, not only a great friend, but our brother-in-law.  Kaye & Rob married shortly AFTER Jeff and I moved away from Conway (doggone it!).  They host one of the small groups in their home each week and many of our Antioch friends attend.  So Kaye invited us to stop by and visit with everyone Wednesday night, which we did and had such a great time.  It did make us a little late to the Symposium but we sure enjoyed our time at Kaye & Rob’s.  Here is a picture of Kaye & Rob (didn’t get one Home Group night) but this is one from Christmas that I thought was really good:

 And here are some of those in attendance. 

 Steve Martin was our S.S. Class President and just as funny as the actor Steve Martin.  Jeff and Steve will always be known for their "Sissy's" commercial for one of our class events!

And one of the group!

Heading home Thursday, we again made a detour and spent several hours with Laine much to our delight!  She’s growing up so fast and talking a lot more.  Such a fun age.  

 Sportin' DeDe's glasses:

 Yep, we are a technology crazy family!

Laines loves DeDe's Ipad......

   We are anxiously awaiting grandbaby #2, Ellie Kate, the first of May!  Double fun – double love!!

  We got home from Arkansas on Thursday evening and then Friday evening, Rachel and Jonathan came for a weekend visit.  We really enjoyed spending time with them too!! 

As I’ve said many times on this blog, I’m so thankful for family and friends!!

Highlights of Christmas 2011

As pastor and wife, the Christmas season is always an extra busy one for us. 

But it’s also a very blessed season!

 

  The second weekend of the month was my Mom’s side of the family Christmas dinner.  Cousin Randy & Kimbra Brunk from Arma hosted the event for us.  It was a delicious meal and fun fellowship.  Here is a picture of my cousins & I that were present (several weren’t able to be there) Randy Brunk, Sandy Vinardi, Christie Parrish and Joseph Nicoletti.

My Mom and her remaining living brother, Uncle Harry Brunk, and wife, Aunt Betty and Mom's sister, Aunt Mildred Nicolleti:

On Sunday, December 11^th, I joined others from our church as we presented the Christmas musical, “Mary Did You Know.”  As I told the choir members the first night I showed up for practice, “I’m not here to add any musical contribution but just to add support” J.  I did receive a blessing each week joining others as we practiced and then presented it to our church family. 

On Monday, December 12^th, we got the exciting news that we are going to have another granddaughter!!  Can’t wait for Ellie Kate’s appearance around May 3^rd!

 Just had to include this cute picture of Laine and Santa.  So far, she’s not afraid of him – yeah!

Enjoyed a delicious meal and sweet fellowship on the 17^th with my S.S. class at Bill & Judy Hall’s beautiful home.

 On the 18^th, our children’s choirs sang for us in the morning and did a great job.

That evening was our Annual Family Christmas fellowship.  The theme for the night was “A Baby Changes Everything” and I was asked to share my testimony about the birth of my children as well as how Jesus changed my everything.

On the 19^th, we enjoyed a delicious dinner at Red Onion with our staff and then dessert and fellowship at our house.  We are so thankful for the staff God has given us at First Baptist! Left to right:  Kel Ryan, Youth Leader; Paul Mooney, Associate Pastor, Leigh Ryan, secretary (and so much more!) and Jeff, Pastor.

 Love these two gals!  Leigh Ryan and Mary Mooney

Jeff and I celebrated our 39^th anniversary on the 22^nd.  God has been so good to us and blessed us abundantly throughout our marriage!

We received an extra special blessing of being invited to join the Mooney family on Christmas Eve for their family Christmas.  Everyone was home which was very special for Paul and Mary.  Here is a picture of their family:

And here is a picture of Jeff and I and Paul and Mary and their kids.  Before Jeff & I even married, we started attending a little mission church in Pittsburg, Kansas, where Paul was the missionary pastor.  It was here that God got a hold of Jeff’s heart and totally changed his life. 

Paula was only about 3 or 4 when we started attending the mission and was my “first” little girl and often went home with Jeff and I on Sundays.  Now she’s all grown up and a mother and grandma!

Sunday, Christmas Day, we enjoyed a sweet celebration of Christ’s birth with our church family.  Then a delicious lunch with the Hall family.  We are so thankful for being included in their fun family meal & stocking time.

Bill and Judy Hall, along with others in our church, have been so good to us and feed us on a very regular basis.  Thank you!!

We are also so appreciative of all the sweet Christmas wishes, cards, and gifts from so many in our Church family as well as anniversary and birthday wishes and gifts.  FBC sure do know how to spoil their Pastor and wife.  Thank you!!

After lunch on Christmas day, Jeff and I packed up and headed to Bella Vista, AR to spend the week at a lakehouse that my sister and brother-in-law own.  The first of the week, we relaxed and just enjoyed some down time as our kids were all with their spouses’ families.

We didn’t intend to do this while in Arkansas, but on Tuesday, we went to a car dealership in Fayetteville and bought a new car.  So thankful how God directed our path that day and worked everything out and also provided the means to pay for it!  I had driven my Envoy for 11 years and it was 14 years old.  It had proven a good car to us but was nearing the end of its usability.  We’ve only bought a “brand” new car two other times in our marriage, so this is a major blessing…..a 2012 Chevy Traverse:

Wednesday, Carman, Laine and I drove to Alma, AR to meet Mom, Kaye, Adrienne and also meet Ad's precious new baby boy, Graham (wish I would have taken a picture but didn't think to).  We were "exchanging" Mom as she was now going back to NWA with me to spend time with my kids.  This is the first time in our family history that we didn’t all get together as an extended family at some point during Christmas.  But with our children having babies and all, it just makes it really hard for everyone to gather together.  So Mom instead booked a flight from Joplin to Tyler to spend a few days with Bev and her family and then from Tyler, flew to Little Rock to spend time with Kaye and her family.   Unfortunately on the flight from Tyler to Little Rock on Christmas afternoon, she had to change planes at DFW in Dallas.  She inadvertently thought they called her name and jumped up too quickly to see what they wanted, and fell………hard!!  Even though it really hurt, she told the airline personnel she was ok and didn’t have time to see the medical folks as it was time to board for her next flight.  However, by time she got to Little Rock, she was in a lot of pain.  So the next morning, Kaye and Rob took her to a doctor friend who did x-rays and found that she had a bone broken in her shoulder.  Dr. Martin sent her to ER at the local hospital who took more x-rays and confirmed that diagnosis; gave her pain meds and put her arm in a sling and told her to see a bone doctor as soon as she got home (which wasn’t for 8 more days).

Mom is receiving therapy as of this writing and slowly improving although still isn’t able to use her right arm so is definitely inconvenienced.  We are very thankful it wasn’t a broken hip or leg!  Thank you to many of you who have been praying for her!

Lainey-Bug got to spend the night with Papa, DeDe and Mamaw (Laine's name for Grandma) at the lakehouse Wednesday night and we loved it!  Nothing sweeter than waking up on my 58^th birthday on the 29^th to hear my granddaughter jabbering in the next room and then so excited to see us when we went in to get her up! 

 Best birthday present ever!

Andy, Carman and Rachel came out during the day and then we all joined Josh, Erika and Jonathan at P.F. Changs that evening for our traditional Christmas meal and then back to the lakehouse for our gift exchange.  A wonderful day and evening!

 

 A family picture with Mom

 And one of us with our kids

The kids were with us Friday and Friday night too.  My nephew, Matt & Kristin joined us Friday evening for tacos and fun.   The grandkids with Grandma.  Erika was home with a migraine :-(

Andy, Carman and Laine stayed with us Thursday and Friday night as well, so we got some real good “Lainey-Bug” time and loved it!  Saturday morning, we loaded up and headed home!

Other than Mom’s injury, it was a wonderful Christmas month for us!  And now a new year lies ahead.  2012!!  Wow, it just seems like yesterday, it was the year, 2000.  We are anticipating God’s leading, strength, and blessings for yet another year.   We pray that it will truly be a great year for each of you!!

A Thankful Heart!

What a wonderful Thanksgiving we had this year!!  Due to varying circumstances, it has been 7 or 8 years since all our children were in our home on Thanksgiving Day.  So what an extra special Thanksgiving it was for us, especially having a granddaughter with us as well!  And not only did we have all the kids for T.Day, we had them for several days!!  What fun!
These pictures aren't in order as they were taken and I'm too tired to try to wrestle with this blog setup to get them in order.

I wanted to get Laine in front of my tree as we will most probably go to NWA for our Christmas time with the kids (later in the week after Christmas, as they will spend Christmas with their spouse's families).  It is not easy to get a 19 month old to stand still long enough for a picture, but I thought this was a cute pose.

Mom (Grandma) joined us for the Thanksgiving Day as well.  We used Andy's camera that has a timer.  In order to do so, we had to use a tall curio cabinet I have to set the camera on as we didn't have a tripod, consequently we had to stand in a "tight" spot and didn't get everyone clearly in the picture.  Sorry, Jonathan!

It was Rachel that partially got cut out of this one :-(.  But at least we have a recent family picture :-)

Yes, I did let Lainey-Bug open one of her Christmas presents:

We got some good pictures of each family outside.  Our oldest, Josh and his wife Erika:

This was a four generation picture

Andy, Carman, Laine and grandbaby #2 (due in May)

The kids with their dog, Hondo

Rachel and her boyfriend, Jonathan

Grandma with 3 of her grandkids and one great grandbaby

DeDe and Lainey-Bug (she says DeDe and Papa all the time now and just melts our hearts!)

Sweet baby playing in the leaves

Lastly, this is a link Andy gave me to show the funny poses of Jeff and I and Laine:

http://i.picasion.com/pic46/1fa98482c0d9f6d17d6ba876c5434f9b.gif

Last year, Thanksgiving was the very hardest of any I have experienced.  We had been at M.D. Anderson in Houston for 4 days with our sweet friend & church member, Karen Meier, when she went home to be with Jesus at 7:22 a.m. on Thanksgiving morning.  I still miss her so much and grieve her loss, as do her family, friends and our church family.  I posted about Karen here:  http://jeffanddebbieswart.blogspot.com/2010/11/karens-story.html

Now we begin the "super" busy Christmas season.  I did do all my decorating the first of November since I wanted it done when the kids came.  I pray that each of my readers also had a blessed Thanksgiving and will enjoy the month ahead as we celebrate our Lord's birth and rejoice in the abundant blessings we have!