The Deputation Trail

The End

2010-03-19T19:16:00.000-07:00

We have decided to end The Deputation Trail, but don't worry we have started a new blog! We will leave The Deputation Trail up as long as we are allowed. We enjoy looking back at all the things the Lord has done to lead us to this point! We are now in Brazil. Yesterday marked two weeks since our arrival. The Lord has done so many wonderful things for us since we have been here, and we want to share as much of it as we can with you. As time permits we will be adding to our new blog Lockhart Life In Brazil. Please come over and join us!

Sending Service

2010-03-18T07:42:00.000-07:00

On February 28, 2010, Maranatha Baptist Church, our home church, had a sending service for us. We had a great evening. It was hard to say goodbye to everyone, and we are so very thankful for the sending church the Lord has given us.

Pastor Camp asked Dr. Scovill to pray a dedication prayer.
After the service we had a finger food fellowship. Below are some pictures of us saying goodbye to some of our friends at church.

Bethany and I talking with Michelle Beal.

Jeremy with Mrs. Upton and Mrs. Smith.
Us with Jennifer and Janalee Duarte.
The Deatrick family
Jennifer Duarte and I talking
Jeremy's mom holding Judah.
Jeremy talking with brother Deatrick.
Jeremy and Mrs. Rosenau
Jeremy and Dr. Scovill

All of the Lockhart family.

The Lord has certainly blessed us with many people who love us and pray for us.

Valentine's Banquet

2010-03-17T19:06:00.001-07:00

Our church had a Valentine's Banquet the week before we left. They are always such fun!

A House In Brazil

2010-03-17T19:01:00.000-07:00

This post was originally started a couple of weeks ago. Although we are already in Brazil I still wanted to put it up.

Jeremy and his dad went to Brazil for a week and a half at the end of January. Their main purpose was to get the house in order for us when we arrive.

This is the front of the house from across the street before any work was done on it.
Our living room.

This is the laundry area and the back room.
The space between our house and our neighbors. You can see our new windows.
Our water tank. It is gravity fed. The city will turn the water on every other day for a couple of hours in order to fill everyone's tank.
Our new front door.

The front of the house with the new windows.
Our covered porch.
Inside the house looking at the front door.
The bathroom.
The Lord has done so many things to provide this house for us. We were originally going to rent a house because we plan to move in a few years to a different city of the Lord's leading. The Lord provided this house at such a good price. It was cheaper for us to buy this house instead of renting a house for 2 to 3 years. The house is across the street from the church and the house of the Brazilian pastor and his family. It will be such a blessing to have a place of our own that we are able to modify however we wish and also sell when we move.

Allie's Birthday

2010-02-04T12:19:00.000-08:00

For Allie's 4th birthday she had two little parties. We had a cake for her with her Pawpaw and grandma, and then cupcakes at grandpa and grandma's house. We can't find all the pictures we took, but thought you would enjoy a few!

Bethany's Birthday

2010-01-28T09:45:00.000-08:00

I'm finally getting around to some more posts. First is Bethany's birthday. She turned 2 on November 19, 2009. We were so thankful that Jenny offered to have a party for her at their house. Since we have been running around for some final meetings on deputation we didn't have time to organize a big party. Hope you enjoy the pictures!

Exciting News

2010-01-12T06:31:00.000-08:00

Well, the deputation trail is coming to an end. We have our tickets for March 3, our visas have come through, and we are packing. We will try to update the blog some more through out this time.

Virginia

2009-12-06T11:37:00.000-08:00

The Lord blessed us with a couple of meetings in northern Virginia last month, and I just thought I'd share some of it with you!

The prophet's chamber we stayed in had a fun park for the girls to play at ...wouldn't you love to have these little firegirls rescue you?!
3, 2, 1 ...BLASTOFF
Ready for church on Sunday morning ...such a happy boy!
One Sunday we were at the Walkowiak's church. They have just started a church in Winchester, VA, and we were delighted to be their first missionaries. They were sent out from our home church in Shelby, NC, and it was neat to be able to spend some time with friends, and to see how the Lord is using them in their church!
The next week we were in a mission conference in another church in Winchester, VA. We had a great week getting to know everyone in the church. Pastor Martin is a very gracious man from whom we were challenged greatly throughout the week. I forgot to finish getting pictures of everyone before we left the church, consequently, this is the only one I have of Pastor Martin. He was holding our sweet Judah during lunch on Sunday afternoon.
Both of these churches have taken us on for support, and we are so excited to see the way the Lord continues to increase our support.

Supporting Churches

2009-11-16T10:51:00.000-08:00

At the bottom of the page I have added a map of the states in which we have supporting churches.

States We've Visited

2009-11-16T10:38:00.000-08:00

If you're curious to see where we have been, scroll down to the bottom of the page and take a look at the map I've added. We've had meetings in all but five of those states...New York, Iowa, Kentucky, Delaware and Vermont. That means we have had meetings in 22 different states over the past two years! Praise the Lord we're at the end of deputation. Only four more scheduled meetings!

Family

2009-11-09T12:45:00.000-08:00

Picture taken by Allie.Just relaxin' in the prophets chamber.
The girls in front of a cute barn painting in one of the recent nurseries.

Central Baptist Church ...Revisited

2009-11-02T13:07:00.000-08:00

It seems like lately we have been "revisiting" many of the churches we went to last year on deputation. We really enjoy it when we get to go somewhere where we know the people and have a good idea of what to expect. Central Baptist Church is no different. Last year we were only able to make it to one day of their mission conference because of a confusion in the conference dates. This year we were only able to make it to two services. Pastor Conley and his family really went out of their way to spend time with us. We were really blessed by the fellowship we had with them.

Pastor Conley and family
Mrs. Paula Joe was the lady with whom we stayed while we were in town. She was also a great blessing to us.
Allie's photography ...one of the pastor's daughters and her friend from the church.
After this meeting we had quite a drive ahead of us. We had to try to make it from New Hampshire to Tennessee in two days. This is a long trip, but even longer when you have three children and a newborn that likes to eat every three hours! The first day was a rather rough day. We tried to get over 10 hours of the trip done that day, and we succeeded. We were all VERY glad to be out of the van at the end of the day!

When we crossed over one bridge we saw this little lighthouse, which I thought was pretty neat as I've never seen a lighthouse before in person.
The Tappan Zee bridge was the bridge we crossed. We don't enjoy crossing big bridges, and we are always thankful to make it safe to the other side! :)
The second day of travel was quite a bit easier, and we even made it to our destination by 5:30 that evening. We had planned on not making it until about 8:00, so we were pleasantly surprised! We are enjoying another conference here in Tennessee and plan on being here until Wednesday. Pray for us that we can be a blessing to this church, and that we can see some fruit during these last few weeks of deputation.

The Candy Store

2009-11-02T12:41:00.001-08:00

In between meetings in New Hampshire we stayed with the Schwanke family in Wilton, NH. We had a great time of relaxation. One afternoon we went on a little trip to the candy store. This little store is known for their homemade candy canes at Christmas time. We were told they had the "best" candy canes in the world! They hadn't started making them yet, so we didn't get to try them.

We did get the girls a treat though, and we let them pick out whatever they wanted...within reason.
They're ready to go inside!
Yummy...all kinds of choices!
Judah isn't concerned about anything.
So many choices ... Can have this? Can I have that?
Finally the decision is made ...chocolate lollipops!
We also bought some for the Schwanke kids for a "thank you" to them. They all had great fun eating them!

Purgatory

2009-10-31T13:23:00.001-07:00

We had a meeting with our newest supporting church last Sunday in Rhode Island. We enjoyed the day with Narragansett Bay Baptist Church, and had fun getting to see our friends at the church. We were in their mission conference last year, and we were excited to hear that over a year later they were able to take us on for support. That church has an afternoon service, and that evening we were able to drop in at another church close by that was having a missions conference. We had a great time visiting with Tom and Christy Krampert, some friends from college. I wish I would have had pictures from our day, but it is taking me a while to get used to getting pictures everywhere we go again.

On our way back to where we were staying in New Hampshire on Monday morning we stopped by Purgatory Chasm State Park. We were very curious about it being that it had such a strange name. It is located in Sutton, Mass. and is famous for its 70 foot deep granite wall...the chasm. We didn't hike to the chasm, which was only a very short distance, we just looked at the pictures of it and went on our way.
We also took pictures of the kids (only Allie and Bethany) on some of the rocks in the park.

Pretty New England Foliage

2009-10-31T13:15:00.000-07:00

I was so excited to find out we would be going to New England again during autumn. Last year the trees were simply breath taking! This year wasn't quite as brilliant as last year, but there were still some beautiful sights!

Video of Judah at 2 Months

2009-10-31T12:54:00.000-07:00

Judah At Two Months Old

2009-10-31T12:41:00.001-07:00

We are so thankful for our happy little boy! We all just can't get enough of him.

Emmanuel Baptist Church...Revisited

2009-10-31T08:44:00.000-07:00

We were in the mission conference at this church last year. Pastor Maxwell invited us back to their conference again this year. We had a good time getting reacquainted with them, and we were able to spend a lot of time visiting with them. The Maxwell's took us in just like family. Allie and Lilla (their youngest daughter) became fast friends (even though Lilla is about 2 years older than Allie). They played and played and sat together in church, it's fun to see Allie starting to make friends with so many other little girls on deputation!
We also were with the Whetstones (director of our mission board) and the Grove family (also with our mission board) at the conference. Jeff Knudson, church planter to Staten Island, New York, was also there one night to report on what the Lord has been doing in his life and ministry.

The Grove family (plus our Judah...they held him almost the whole time!)
We also had a great time with Matt and Emily DeCosta. Anna was just a week old when we met her, what a cutie she is! One afternoon Emily and I went out to lunch with just our babies, a few people asked if they were twins. They were so cute sitting side by side in their little car seats. It's amazing to see how big Judah is compared to a newborn!
Last year when we were at this church we were supposed to stay with these folks. For some reason it didn't work out for us to stay with them. So this year they requested to have us stay with them. They had lots of toys for the girls to play with, and they even took them to the store and let them choose a special toy.
We enjoyed getting to see people we know and remembered from last year. We praise the Lord for the friends we have made on deputation!

Jeremy's Trip to California

2009-10-31T07:58:00.000-07:00

We have been back in full swing on deputation after a little bit of a summer break because of the birth of Judah. We had a few meetings throughout the summer, but now we have been away from home for about a month!

A couple of weeks ago Jeremy was invited to a meeting in Long Beach, California. The church paid for a plane ticket for him, and he had a great time while he was there.

They took the missionaries on a boat tour of the coast one afternoon. They all had a great time and someone even took pictures of Jeremy to show me some of what he did and saw while he was there!

Pastor and Mrs. Smith took good care of Jeremy while he was away...but we sure were excited to have him back home with us after almost six days of not seeing him!
Meanwhile, when Jeremy was in California we stayed at my parent's house for the few days. We had a great time as well!

The girls ready for church on Sunday morning in their matching dresses.

Pawpaw and Judah

Bethany with stickers and yogurt.
Bethany with pawpaw.
Silly Allie!

Updates Put On Hold

2009-10-17T14:19:00.000-07:00

I was planning to do some extensive updating to the blog last week while Jeremy was away in California, but my hard drive decided to die meaning that our pictures are temporarily unavailable. Please pray for us as we are in meetings in New Hampshire this week and next with a trip to Rhode Island in between. We have much traveling ahead of us during this next month and are praying for safety, good meetings, and comfortable housing. Thanks so much for keeping up with us!

The Lockhart Kids

2009-09-28T10:10:00.001-07:00

Allie At 3 1/2 Years Old

2009-09-28T10:03:00.000-07:00

Bethany At 22 Months Old

2009-09-28T09:48:00.000-07:00

Judah At One Month Old

2009-09-26T15:48:00.001-07:00

Judah At Two Weeks Old

2009-09-03T16:40:00.000-07:00

Judah Michael Lockhart

2009-08-31T12:57:00.001-07:00

Judah Michael Lockhart was born on Friday, August 14 at 11:27 pm. He weighed 7 lbs. 5 1/2 oz. and was 19 inches long.

My doctor sent me to the hospital earlier that day, the doctor on call broke my water at 4:30 pm and Judah was born 7 hours later. We praise the Lord for a relatively easy and safe delivery!

Me on the way into the hospital.

Sitting on the hospital bed waiting for the pain to begin!

Jeremy, Judah and I.

Our sweet baby boy.

The proud father!
Judah, the next morning getting ready to meet his big sisters.

Judah has long toes!

Meeting Allie and Bethany for the first time!

The girls were so excited!

Bethany didn't want to give him up after she finally got him!
Our growing family.
Holding him again.
Leaving the hospital on Sunday morning.
We've had a busy past two weeks and I've neglected the blog these past few months, but it is my intention to continue blogging as long as I can get the time to do so!

40 Weeks Pregnant

2009-08-08T09:45:00.000-07:00

For Your Listening Enjoyment...

2009-07-09T11:05:00.000-07:00

Allie has been learning many new songs lately, just thought I'd let you hear her sing some!

4th of July

2009-07-08T16:48:00.001-07:00

We had a very busy fourth of July. It started off with a parade, then off to a cook out with Jeremy's family, home for a nap, and then ended with a relaxing night at Jeremy's parent's house. We only have pictures of the parade!

Allie waiting excitedly for the parade to start!
Bethany waits with grandma.
The fun begins... too much candy was being thrown from those car windows. It didn't take long for the kids to catch on!
Everyone is watching the parade go by.
Some of the cars driving down the street.

Baby Johnathan basking in the sun.

Some of the old faithfuls... in the parade every year!

Everyone waits to see who will throw out some more candy!

Bethany is so excited. She gave up the other candy to the bag because she didn't know what it was, but when it came to the "pop pops" she didn't want to let them go!

We praise the Lord for a free country and pray that it remains that way!

Four Weeks To Go!!!

2009-07-08T16:42:00.001-07:00

We are all getting so excited to meet our new baby boy. He is due four weeks from today!

WWNTBM Family Week

2009-06-29T12:20:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago we attended the family week for our mission board. We enjoyed a time of much fellowship and preaching. Several missionaries that we had not met were home on furlough, and we were able to meet them and get to know some of them throughout the week.

Paul and Sherry Zimmer, missionaries to Yap.

Pastor Jim Bailey preaching in one of the morning sessions.

Brother Danny Whetstone

Bethany enjoying her lunch!

Tracy, Johnathan, and Allie

Allie and Bethany had lots of fun in their classes for the week, and they enjoyed all of the other boys and girls their age. It's amazing how many kids missionaries have!

Below is Omar talking with Pastor Fred Daniel. Pastor Daniel's church hosted the family week.

Pastor Daniel receiving a plaque from the mission board thanking the church for all their work during the week. Pastor Wingard is presenting it to him.

Pastor Herschenhaun making a few comments of thanks to the church for their hospitality to the mission board.

Brother O'Malley preparing to preach for the evening service.

The choir for the week made up of missionaries and church members.

We had a great week and are so thankful for the mission board that we have! There were preaching sessions in the morning and services at night. We felt very refreshed after the week was over, and are thankful for all of the new friends we made.

New Testament Baptist Church

2009-06-26T10:00:00.000-07:00

We attended a mission conference a couple of weeks ago in Kinston, NC. The church started off the conference with a great steak dinner! All of the missionaries and some of the people of the church got acquainted while we waited for the food to finish cooking.

Below is missionary Sean Quinlinn to Guam talking to Brother Dalton Heath a former missionary.

Omar talking to a couple of men from the church.

Me, Bethany, and a sick Allie talking with Megan Fetter, missonary to the Micronesian Islands.

Tracy and baby Johnathan talking with Mrs. Heath.
Emily Fetter thoroughly enjoying her dessert.

We were especially excited about this conference because we were able to be in it with the Schrocks. This hasn't happened yet on our deputation. We got a song together one night and sang for the church.
We had a great week! Pastor and Mrs. Daniel went out of their way in preparing the conference and making it a wonderful time for us missionaries. All of the missionaries in the conference were a part of the same mission board as we are, and Pastor Daniel is on the board. It was like a little reunion week for everyone.

Allie started off the conference with a fever, and she was not feeling well at all until after the service on Monday night. She really handled the conference well though in spite of being sick for most of it. She wouldn't even hear of having to stay away from the services each day because she was sick. She wanted to join right in with the other kids. We were all so glad when she finally was well again and really able to enjoy the conference.

Foot of Ten Baptist Church...Revisited

2009-06-01T15:59:00.001-07:00

Memorial day weekend found us in Duncansville, PA at the Foot of Ten Baptist Church. We were at this church a year ago for a meeting and we really enjoyed getting to know the pastor and many of the members of this church. We were in the area for a while, so we returned to give an update on our deputation travels.

We stayed with Mrs. Debbie for the weekend, and she took good care of us. She owned some horses, and the girls talked about them ALL weekend long!

We had a great meeting that Sunday, and enjoyed getting reacquainted with many of the people we had met last year.

Allie and Bethany enjoyed their pre-church snacks during choir practice.

Since Monday was Memorial Day we stayed around for the Duncansville Town Parade. Allie and Bethany thoroughly enjoyed watching the clowns, fire trucks, horses, and especially enjoyed gathering candy that was thrown to them!
In the picture below is Pastor Huston and his daugher (to the left) riding their horses in the parade.

The clowns on their tiny motorcycles.

Allie waving her American flag to all the fire trucks (hoping to get some candy)!

Jeremy and I enjoying the day as well!

Bethany found someone's seat and decided to enjoy it for a while!

Not far from where we were sitting was a billboard. Jeremy decided the girls could wait for the parade to start from there!

They thought it was great!After the parade we went to a church members home for a little picnic with several of the people from the church.

While we were there Jeremy got an opportunity to ride a horse around their farm.

And Allie did too!
We had a fun and eventful weedend and are thankful for the way the Lord directs our steps every passing day!

Packing Up the Girls!

2009-05-18T12:42:00.001-07:00

Since we pack and unpack almost everyday, I think Allie and Bethany decided it was their turn!

A Date Day!

2009-05-18T12:27:00.000-07:00

At the same time we were staying in York, PA in a prophet's chamber, David and MaryEllen (Jeremy's brother-in-law and sister) were visiting David's parents in Mechanicsburg, PA, only a short drive from where we were. On that Tuesday they watched the girls, and Jeremy and I went on a date!

We drove to Lancaster, PA, and had a great time visiting the Amish shops and driving around the countryside. We almost decided to take a train ride, but decided something like that would be so much more fun with the kids! So we just looked at it, and got our picture taken in front of it.

A Little Bit of Everywhere!

2009-05-18T11:27:00.000-07:00

We've had a full schedule of meetings throughout the month, but I have failed to take pictures and blog about them as I once did. I think it's the "only 11 weeks until baby's due" brain kicking in! We have been in several good meetings recently and have been showed much kindness!

We were part of a mission conference in Newport, NC at Grace Baptist Church. This church is where the radio station FBN originated from and has it's base. We enjoyed getting to know several missionaries at this conference, and we enjoyed getting reacquainted with Jon and Hannah Speights, missionaries to the deaf in Sao Paulo, Brazil. They also graduated from Ambassador Baptist College around the same time we did.

We stayed with a very kind family, and as always our girls really liked them. We had a great time of fellowship with them, and are so thankful for their generosity towards us while we were there.

We were only able to attend this conference Wednesday through Saturday, and then we were off to West Virginia to begin another conference on that Sunday. This time the pastor put us up in a big beautiful house all to ourselves! We enjoyed our time with the dear people of this church. Each day the pastor's wife (the lady in the middle of the group pictured below), with the help of a few ladies of the church prepared wonderful meals for us! It was so nice to have some home cooked meals!
The Brennemen's were also part of this conference. They came to Ambassador shortly after we left, and we didn't know them very well although we did recognize them. They are raising some support to help evangelize in New York City.
Each day we would arrive about 15-20 minutes before lunch was to be served, and sometimes there were some impatient children looking on, especially on the dessert table!

Below are my attempts to keep them occupied before lunch was served... a photo shoot... well, sort of! The little boy in the picture is the Brenneman's boy.
Allie checking out all of the desserts!
Each day a lady in the church brought them little gifts. On Wednesday it was lady bugs!

I thought this picture was pretty interesting... what was Bethany doing???

We had a meeting in Hamburg, PA on Mother's day, and had a good time with the people of this church. Then on Monday we travelled to York, PA and had a meeting at Calvary Baptist Church on Wednesday evening. The next Sunday (yesterday) found us in Westminister, MD for the day at a church there. We've had great meetings, and have met good friends along the way. It is amazing how quickly time goes by especially when you go from place to place!

We appreciate your prayers for us while we are on deputation. We have about a week and a half left before returning home. Right now our schedule is at a slightly slower pace during the summer months. I'm hoping to get many things taken care of at the house before our baby boy arrives!

At the Beach

2009-05-07T13:37:00.000-07:00

During our mission conference in Newport, NC last week we ended up having Friday morning off. We decided to have fun and run down to the beach which was only about 20 minutes away from where we were staying! We were so excited to see that it was basically desolate. We enjoyed a short time of playing in the sand.

At least Jeremy and Allie had a good time Bethany didn't like the sand very much!

Daddy and daughter enjoying a nice day... searching for sand crabs!

Jeremy buried Allie's feet in the sand.
Allie returned the favor!

Rinsing their hands off in the ocean when the tide comes back.

On our way back to the van. Bethany is just happy to have her shoes on again!

A short trip home, lunch, and then a good nap before the service that night. We were excited to get some family time!

A Country Store

2009-04-27T20:52:00.000-07:00

This morning we left Beaufort, SC and headed for Kinston, NC for a couple of nights. On the way we stopped at a country store and bought some treats... peach cider for the girls, muscudine cider for Jeremy and I, and rock candy to turn some little faces purple!

At the Park

2009-04-27T20:39:00.000-07:00

On Friday morning I took the girls to a nice park down the street from the church. The park wasn't really intended for three year olds and one year olds, but they had fun walking up and down the steps, and watching ALL of the squirrels running around!

A Busy Schedule

2009-04-21T18:29:00.001-07:00

We had a meeting at a church about an hour away from our home in Denver, NC a week ago Sunday. We found out before the meeting that Mr. Beal from Ambassador had just finished a revival meeting the last Wednesday night, and the church was still excited about some of the fruits they had seen because of the meetings!

The meeting went well... and quickly! The day just seemed to fly by. We drove home in the afternoon and then back for the evening service.

When we got home that night we prepared to leave the next day. We left for Georgia on Monday, and we will be gone throughout the next month.

Our next stop on the deputation trail was in Millbrook, Alabama for a mission conference. Bro. John O'Malley from our mission board had invited us just a few weeks prior to the meeting.

We had a great time at the conference. We always seem to make so many friends and at the end of the week it feels like we're leaving another "home church".
Each night after the service the pastor took all of the missionaries out for supper. On Friday night they had a special "salad supper" after the service.

We sat at this table and chatted with these folks during the meal.

Pastor Mims was a very gracious man.
Eli and Joanna are from the Philippines and are going back to plant churches.

Bro. O'Malley enjoyed his salad supper.

Allie and Bethany with another little missionary girl.

We had a great week. We had to leave early on Saturday for another meeting in South Carolina on Sunday. That meeting also went well. We were at Victory Baptist Church in Beaufort, SC with Pastor Rice. We have good friends that attended this church quite a few years back, and we were excited to be able to present our ministry at their church.

The Lord has been good in continuing to give us new support and safety on the roads during our journeys.

...To Grandmother's House We Go!

2009-04-20T18:38:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday afternoon we travelled to McDonough, Ga for a meeting. We had a good trip and a good meeting. The church voted us on for support during the service!

Jeremy's grandmother lives a few minutes away from the church, and the next morning we went to her house for a visit before heading back home. We also had a good time visiting with Jeremy's uncle Mark and aunt Karri, missionaries to Mexico. They are in the states for a furlough, and we were excited about talking with them about missions and their work in Mexico.

Below is a picture of us with Jeremy's grandmother. (Why is it that we wait until the kids are tired and messy before we take pictures? :)
Samuel Kevin
David and his pet rabbit Bethany decided she liked uncle Mark. Maybe it was because he looked like grandpa. She sat on his lap for a long time. Mark's daughter, Emily, decided that she wanted her daddy too. The two girls were a little bit jealous of each other and wanted him for themself! Allie just wanted to be in the picture. I thought we had a picture of aunt Karri, but when I reviewed my pictures I realized the only one I had was one that Allie took of her. It wouldn't have worked.

We left after lunch, and hit a little bit of the Atlanta traffic on our way. Our trip home went well... the girls took a really good nap!

We also found out that Community Baptist Church in Groton, CT voted to take us on for support. These two new supporting churhes puts our percentage to 63.93.

We praise the Lord for the new support and for a full schedule throughout the next month. We are looking forward to the many meetings we have scheduled. Please pray with us that the Lord will burden the hearts of the people at these churches to support our ministry in Brazil!

Spring Family Portraits

2009-04-18T07:50:00.003-07:00

The Monday after Easter we all got dressed up again and went to Omar and Tracy's house for family portraits. We were so excited that they all turned out so well! There were several good ones... here are some of our favorites.

On the Porch Swing

2009-04-17T11:28:00.000-07:00

Tuesday afternoon after mommy and daddy's date we visited with Grandpa and Grandma on the porch. It was another beautiful, sunny day!

Easter Sunday

2009-04-16T18:58:00.000-07:00

We had a good Easter Sunday at our home church. We managed to get a few pictures throughout the day.

We tried to get a good family picture before church on Sunday morning...this is the best we could come up with. Bethany wouldn't look at the camera!

Sunday after church we went to Stephen and Lauren's house for lunch. After lunch we all had a good time in the sunshine!

Trinity Baptist Church

2009-04-08T10:31:00.000-07:00

Sorry, no pictures... just a plain old post!

Last Sunday we travelled down to Florida for a meeting with Pastor Woody at Trinity Baptist Church in Milton, FL. It was an easy 4 hour trip down. We planned to travel during the girl's nap time... which always makes for an easier trip!

The church was very kind and generous to us. Pastor and Mrs. Woody had been missionaries to the Dominican Republic, and they were with the same mission board as we are. Consequently, we had much in common. We had a good time gleaning from their experiences as missionaries, and they asked us how deputation was these days.

Pastor Woody gave Jeremy plenty of time in the evening service to present the ministry, and we were able to show our new presentation for the first time. Not much has changed in our presentation, but if you would like to see an updated version click here.

We are thankful for the way the Lord is slowly filling up our schedule. It reminds me of the verse "For we walk by faith, and not by sight." We started off March with the month of April almost empty, and now that April is upon us our schedule is almost full. We praise the Lord for giving us good meetings, and providing for our every need!

Monkey Joe's

2009-04-03T12:26:00.001-07:00

While all of the mom's and dad's went shopping all of the missionary kids went to Monkey Joe's for the afternoon to jump around for a while. Allie and Bethany had a blast!

Clearview Baptist Church

2009-03-30T12:57:00.000-07:00

This past week we enjoyed a mission conference at Clearview Baptist Church in Douglasville, GA. We made many friends while at the church and really had a great week! Pastor Chandler and the church went out of their way to make it a very good mission conference.

Each night we were invited to go out to a restaurant with a family in the church. We really got to know some of the people in the church very well. They spoiled us greatly with lots of good meals. The ladies of the church made the lunches, and we had our pick of whatever we wanted!

Below are some of the men talking after the noon meal. In the middle is the special speaker for the week, Pastor Randy Bell. On the left is a missionary to Chile.

Daddy and Bethany enjoying a conversation after lunch.

Bethany made many friends throughout the week. She always enjoyed being held and played with by this boy.

After church each night Allie and Bethany enjoyed playing with some of the kids on the porch. Bethany really had a good time even though she didn't want to be held.

Michelle Godfrey and her daughter took us out for supper one night. We enjoyed getting to know them.

One night the church had a special service with some men from Honduras singing. During the service this lady gave a testimony. She is the author of a biography about her husband, a missionary to Nicaragua.

Below is the Holme's family, missionaries to Venezuela. On Saturday night after an international banquet all of the missionary families were called to the front, and the church gave us gifts that the individual Sunday School classes had gotten for us.

Allie and Bethany in matching outfits for the international banquet.

We're getting ready to eat some homemade Brazilian food during the international banquet!

The kids table enjoying the banquet!

People eating at the American table.

A picture of the food at the Brazilian table.

Daddy and Allie enjoying "Bible Time" before a nap at the hotel.

During the week we had morning and evening services. Allie and Bethany spent much time in the nursery. I stayed in with them during one of the morning services. We had lots of fun!

We had a great week, and I still have more pictures! On Friday afternoon the church took the missionary men shopping for suits, and the ladies shopping for a dress. Meanwhile the kids all went to Monkey Joe's to play. Stay tuned to see how much fun Allie and Bethany had!

Heritage Baptist Church

2009-03-28T13:20:00.000-07:00

Last week we had a great conference at Heritage Baptist Church in Zebulon, NC. The church took excellent care of us, and we stayed with the Poelman family who are with the same mission board as we are. There were three other missionaries involved in the conference. It's always fun to get to know other missionaries and learn about the country to which God has called them.

All of the missionary families had young children. Allie and Bethany enjoyed getting to play with them. Below you can see Allie playing with some of them at a restaurant after we finished eating.
The church took us to several restaurants during the week. One of the restaurants was a little bit of a drive from the church, and we all rode in the church bus. Allie had never been on a bus before! She looked out the window the entire time.
Poor thing still had to ride in her car seat though!

At the Poelman's house Jeremy and Allie enjoyed playing with some of the artifacts from their travel to other countries.

Silly daddy.

Allie catches on pretty quickly!

Jeremy was invited to sing with some of the men at the church. They sang "There is Power in the Blood". They did an excellent job!

Allie and Bethany really enjoyed spending time with the Poelman's.

On Friday a friend of mine drove over to visit with us for a while. Jessica and her family live in Southern Pines, NC, and we don't get to see them very often. It was a real treat to get to spend some time with them and meet the newest member of their family, Jamie. Allie and Jamie had lots of fun playing together until I put it all to an end with Allie's nap time!
The week went by quickly and we really enjoyed many people at this church. On Sunday morning after the service the church voted to take us on for support! In the past two weeks we have had three churches take us on for support!

We were surprised to find out that a church we were at over a year ago voted us on for support. Then last week we got our financial report from our mission board and saw that Maranatha Baptist Church in Columbus, GA had taken us on for support! The Lord truly has been good to us throughout our time of deputation. If you want to keep up on our current support percentage we have been updating on the sidebar of the blog. Thank you for your continued prayers for us!

A Sunny Day

2009-03-16T20:17:00.000-07:00

These pictures were taken a couple of weeks ago on a beautiful, sunny day. I'm just now getting around to putting them on the blog!

Bethany Loves Her Daddy!

2009-03-16T20:15:00.000-07:00

Needham's Grove Baptist Church

2009-03-16T19:17:00.000-07:00

Saturday evening we travelled to Asheboro, NC and stayed in a mission house for the weekend. We had a meeting in Seagrove, NC on Sunday. We drove up the road to the church, about a 35 minute drive from where we were staying. We went down several back roads and noticed several small pottery shops, some of them being in people's homes.

When we arrived at the church we asked someone about this and found out Seagrove is the pottery capitol of the world! The potters get their clay from the ground there in Seagrove. Someone said there have been counted 78 pottery shops within a ten mile radius of the church.

We had a great meeting! Pastor Cockran allowed Jeremy much time in the evening service to present our burden for Brazil. A family in the church invited us over to their farm house for lunch that afternoon. We had a great time of fellowship with them. Allie and Bethany enjoyed looking out of their windows and learning the names of their many animals.
The girls did a great job yesterday in being VERY friendly to everyone. Allie was asking the pastor questions, and they were actually going to the people on their own and talking to them... even Bethany! It's so nice when people talk about how "well adjusted" they are to everything!

The pictures below are of the girls in the mission house in which we stayed. They had a good time!

An embarrasing moment:
Allie has a favorite book about people in the church. It shows what different people do, and why they do them. It talks about the pastor, song leader, Sunday school teacher, ushers, church librarian and others.

The other day we were reading it, and she was very interested in the ushers and the offering plates that were being passed. I explained what was going on, and left it at that.

Sunday morning came and before we got out of the van she asked for money to put in the offering plate. I gave her some change, and when we got to her Sunday School class she put her money in the offering basket.

After Sunday School she stayed up in "big church" with us. Jeremy was called up to pray for the offering, and during prayer Allie was frantically asking me for some money to put in the offering plate.

Jeremy finished his prayer, the piano began to play, the ushers turned to come down the aisles, and Allie, as loud as she could muster, said "Hey, I got some too!!!" I quickly covered her mouth and thought "O, my! Everyone is going to think I haven't trained her to be quiet in church!"

She was just so excited about giving in the offering, she wanted to make sure she wasn't missed! I guess we need to teach her about "not letting you right hand know what your left hand is doing".

Bethany loves getting squirted with a spray bottle! This was a fun Sunday night after church activity back at the mission house!

Bible Baptist Church

2009-03-12T19:29:00.000-07:00

On Friday we travelled north once again. We took the 9+ hour trip and decided to get to the prophets chamber that night. We arrived in Maryland around 10:00pm and had a good night's rest! The next day...we rested! After such a long trip the girls needed play time and rest time. We had a fun day around the house and took a peek into our favorite Goodwill in the country...so far that is.

On Sunday morning we travelled about an hour to a church just outside of Lancaster, PA. Bible Baptist Church started their Mission Conference that day. We were surprised to see another missionary family we knew that morning. When we drove up we noticed a big passenger van with some of those black and white stick family pictures on the side. We began to count the number of children on the pictures...wow, eight kids. It ended up being the Rooney family, who we know from Ambassador. We had a good time getting reacquainted with them, and we were excited for them as they are hoping to be at the end of their time of deputation.

Pastor Gardner, his wife, and the church were all very kind to us. We were only able to be at the conference on Sunday and Monday, but we felt like we really had time to get to know many of the people. We met a couple in the church that were Brazilians, and they used to live in the state where we plan to work. We enjoyed hearing more about the country to which we are headed!
On Monday night we stayed with the Webb family. They were so hospitable to us, and they even thought to send us away with a sack lunch. We enjoyed hearing their testimonies, and how the LORD has been working in their lives and in their church.
On Tuesday morning Jeremy preached in the Christian school chapel, and after that we headed back home. We weren't sure if we would be able to make it back in one day being that we got such a late start. We were prepared to stop if we needed to, but we decided in the end it would just make the next day harder if we did stop. We had a smooth trip, the girls were relatively happy the whole time, and we made it home around 10:00.

We are thankful for what the Lord has done for us, and the meetings we are able to attend. He guides us each step of the way!

A Few Days In Coming

2009-03-06T09:57:00.000-08:00

I started this post sometime last week. For some reason it has taken me forever to finish!

It has been a while since I've really updated the blog. We have had several good meetings in the past couple of weeks. We travelled to Alabama a couple of weeks ago, and had a good meeting with the people of Mountainview Baptist Church in Birmingham. I was surprised to get to see a former college room mate of mine. We enjoyed some time of getting reacquainted after the service. We had quite an interesting ride on the trip to Alabama, you can read more about that in Jeremy's weekly update from that week.

We've had a few weeks to "revamp" during the month of February. Of course, as missionaries we want to have constant meetings to raise our support quickly to get to Brazil as soon as possible. However, looking back over the month we can see that it was definitely of the Lord that we were able to stay home. It was a blessing to get caught up on some paper work, house work, and to get in some good, quality family time as well.

The last week of February we had a meeting with the people of Tabernacle Baptist Church in Hickory, North Carolina. We had a great time, and Jeremy really did well in presenting the ministry! We travelled home that evening and the next morning we travelled to Townsend, Tennessee to spend a few days of vacation with Jeremy's family in a nice cabin in the mountains.

Lauren reading a book to Kylie and Kennedy.
Cousin Kade...into something???

Happy Allie enjoying her cousins for the weekend! We left a day early and travelled to Columbus, Georgia. We were invited to Maranatha Baptist Church's mission conference. We had a meeting there a year ago, and were invited back. It was at the beginning of our deputation travels when we were last there, you can read about that meeting here.

We had a great time with the people of the church. I knew many of them since I had lived in Columbus for most of my life. I had to put a snow picture on the blog, even though I know everyone else probably had snow as well! We had lots of snow on Sunday, but the roads were clear by that evening, and most of the snow melted by the next evening.
Although many people were out because of the inclimate weather, we still had a great conference! Pastor Brown had a neat idea for the conference. He had a "hut" for the missionaries to put their display boards. The featured missionary for the day put his display board in the hut, and all of the others were in the back of the auditorium. On the wall someone had printed out some pictures from off of our blog, and hung them on the sides of the hut.

They also made a wooden name thing (what are those things called???) for us. They gave us all of the things (what a fun surprise!) to take home with us!

The hut.

Bethany made a friend in the nursery. One of the nursery workers took this picture and emailed me, so I thought I'd show you!
We have now travelled up to Pennsylvania for a meeting, and hopefully now I can keep up on posting. I think baby #3 is hindering me from doing a lot. I used to post during the girl's naptime, but I now enjoy naps myself almost every afternoon!

Valentine's Day

2009-02-16T19:08:00.000-08:00

We started off the morning with some yummy heart-shaped pancakes with strawberries and cool whip.

After we were all dressed and ready we gave the girls their Valentine's present. We got them each a VERY small box of chocolates and a balloon.

They thought it was great! Allie went around singing "Happy Valentine's Day" all day!

Unchartered Waters

2009-02-11T11:58:00.000-08:00

Pregnancy Update :15 weeks

Yesterday was our second doctor's appointment. Everything went smoothly. We brought Allie and Bethany and all of the nurses and doctor did a fine job of "oohing and aahing" over them!

My doctor really likes us. I don't know how I gained her favor, but she has been my doctor for all of my children so far. I've done my best to get all my appointments scheduled with her, and hoped upon hopes that she would be able to deliver them. She delivered Allie, but not Bethany.

At our appointment yesterday she came in our room to check the baby's heart beat and measure me. When she looked to see how far along I was she asked me "Do you want to take a sneak peek, and see if we can tell if it's a boy or a girl?" Wow, at 14.6 weeks??? She said sometimes you can tell this early.

So she took me to the ultrasound room, set me up, and plain as day it's a boy!!!

We're all so excited. I wish I could scan the ultrasound pictures, but I found out our scanner is a document scanner, not a picture scanner. It would never work!

Wow...what do you do with a boy? Definitely unchartered waters!

Early Spring Pictures

2009-02-11T11:39:00.000-08:00

Allie and Bethany have really enjoyed playing outside these past few "springy" days.

Better Late Than Never

2009-02-04T11:59:00.001-08:00

Johnathan Alexander Schrock is two weeks old today. I'm a little late with this post, but I still wanted to put it on the blog.

Allie loves baby Johnathan. Her beloved baby doll "Daniel" (he's a twin baby doll to his sister "Sarah") has now been officially renamed to Johnathan.

We visited the Schrocks and their new baby in the hospital as soon as we could get home from our meeting.

I enjoyed holding him as I now officially have "baby fever". I'm 14 weeks along today!!!

I guess you could say Jeremy has baby fever too!

Congratulations Omar and Tracy! We hope you don't mind that we posted your pictures on our blog!

Fellowship Baptist Church

2009-02-04T11:25:00.000-08:00

Last week we attended a mission conference at Fellowship Baptist Church in Taylors, South Carolina. We had a great week. It was a week full of activities, yet spiritually refreshing at the same time.

Pastor and Mrs. Hager did so much to make conference go well. They made much of the food each day for lots and lots of people!

We stayed with the assistant pastor and his family during the week. They conveniently lived right next to the church, and we didn't have very far to go. Which was a great blessing when it came to the late nights after the services. I would often take the girls home and get them in bed, and Jeremy could just walk over by himself later when everyone was gone from the church.

There were several missionaries in the conference with us. We enjoyed much fellowship during the week. The guest speaker for the week was evangelist Mike Redick. We really got along well with the Redicks. We spent many meals talking with them, and they were a great blessing to us!

Allie got along well with Mrs. Redick. One night she put a shawl on her that she had gotten from India. Allie thought it was great! They had their picture taken together.

We were surprised to see a couple of people we know at this church. The True family just recently began attending. We enjoyed talking with them for a while, and Mrs. True was a help with the kids during a couple of the meals.

Also, we saw Luke Prain who had gone to church with us in Shelby. He was an Ambassador student, and his family is from this church. He was a special blessing to us. He would let Jeremy and I stand around talking to people while he would follow Allie and Bethany around the church making sure they didn't get into anything or get hurt. The girls really began liking him and getting used to him to the point where Bethany would even want him to hold her!
Below is a picture of more of the missionaries that were in the conference and also Nathan Ring. His parents are missionaries in Brazil, and he is back in the states going to school. He had lived there for most of his life, and we had many, many questions to ask. He was a help to us and even told us where we could buy Guarana (a brazilian coke) in Greenville. Jeremy loves that stuff!

We had a very blessed week! We were thankful for the short drive home (only a little over an hour) which doesn't always happen.

Meal time with Bethany...

and Allie!

The Mind of a Three-Year-Old

2009-02-03T08:28:00.000-08:00

During our morning Bible time today, we read about the boy Samuel and when his mother brought him to the temple.

We explained it further by saying the temple was kind of like a church, and Hannah had dedicated Samuel to the Lord and left him at the temple with Eli to be trained.

After Allie asked a few questions, she jumped on my lap and started crying loudly and holding onto me with all she could. She thought we were going to take her to the church and leave her there without mommy or daddy like Hannah did with Samuel.

A couple of hours after all this took place, Jeremy asked Allie "Do you want be like Samuel?" She very quickly responded "No, sir!"

Jireh Independent Baptist Church

2009-01-30T10:51:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks ago we were at Jireh Independent Baptist Church. It was a cold Sunday, but we had a great time with the church people, and had an interesting situation also.

After church started, the pastor realized that the people that were to sing that morning weren't there. During the service he asked Jeremy if we sang or anything. Jeremy said that we did, but our music was in the van still.

During a "handshaking" time Jeremy went to the van, and got our music. The pastor called us up to sing, but there was one problem. The children weren't going to be dismissed to the nursery and Sunday School classes until after the song service was over.

There was no way Bethany and Allie would just sit still while we went to sing. Allie may, but there was no question about Bethany crying or coming up to get us. The pastor told us just bring them up with us.

I took Allie to the piano with me, and sat her on the bench next to me. Jeremy took Bethany up to the pulpit. Jeremy sang a solo, and everything went fine. Actually, it turned out great. Bethany even decided to join Jeremy in the song here and there. The church people LOVED it! I was just excited that the girls behaved, and no one cried or decided to help me play the piano!

A kind couple from the church took us out for lunch that afternoon at a yummy family restaurant in Gettysburg,PA.

The next morning we headed home. We ran into quite a bit of snow in Maryland and northern Virginia. It was wonderful to see the beautiful flakes falling.

After a long Sunday, and with a long ride ahead of us, the girls and I took a nice, long nap!

Calvary Bible Church

2009-01-19T13:06:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since my last post. I guess being on the road again is a good excuse. It seems to be harder and harder to find time to write. Everyone went to bed early tonight except me, and I thought it would be a good chance to catch up a little bit!

Last Monday we traveled up to Pennsylvania. Pastor and Mrs. Gilbaugh were very kind to us, and we stayed in their mission house throughout the week. On Wednesday evening Jeremy preached and presented the ministry at the church. We really had a great week and made some new friends while we were there!

Tom and Tabitha Harris were very kind to us. They came over to the house the first night we were there and visited with us for a while. Their son, Rollin, enjoyed playing with Allie quite a bit. It was very interesting because he is absolutely all boy, and Allie is ALL girl! He came over one morning for a couple of hours and they played together. As he ran around the house playing as if he were driving snow dogs, Allie played "house". They enjoyed each others company quite a bit.
On Thursday evening we went to supper at Ben and Jennifer Haupt's home. (Sorry the picture is so dark!) They went to college at Ambassador at the same time as Jeremy, and we really enjoyed getting reacquainted with them. Allie and Bethany were thrilled because they have two little girls as well...they had a great time playing.

On Friday we were invited to a Senior lunch at the church. Jeremy was asked to give a devotional.
At the senior lunch there was a type of game mat set in the corner, and Allie and Bethany spent most of their time running, jumping, and rolling around on it.

One table of seniors enjoying their lunch.

As I said before, it was very cold! Allie needed a couple of hats to keep warm! :)

Jeremy is always on the lookout for UPS since he worked there for over five years. He grabbed the camera to take a picture of this UPSer working in the snow.

We had a good, cold time. We enjoyed meeting many of the people of the church as they had us in their homes for supper. We praise the Lord for His provision of our needs while on deputation!

Walking In A Winter Wonderland

2009-01-13T12:44:00.001-08:00

We left northern Virginia on Monday morning for the "tundra" of Pennsylvania. When driving up we saw some beautiful scenery. We noticed that the mountains were dusted with snow, and thought it was pretty neat. "Hey," we thought, "maybe we'll get to see some snow on this trip."
We took a lot of back roads to the church in PA, and we were glad we did. What fun it was to drive through the mountains and state parks. We came upon a partially frozen lake,(which is a completely foreign concept to this Georgia girl) and we had to get a picture!
I drove for a while, but got a little nervous on the icy, windy mountain roads, and was more than happy to let Jeremy get back behind the wheel!

We arrived at our destination, and were surprised to see more than just a little bit of snow. Now, I know some of you are probably going to laugh at me, but there was three or four inches of snow on the ground! It has snowed three more days, and now we probably have about five or six inches of snow.

The church we are at is on the other side of this mountain. It really is a beautiful place. The pastor told us today that the temperature dropped to 5 below last night, and this morning when he got up to go running it was 1 below. Could you imagine running in that kind of weather?!? Wow!

We are keeping cozy in this nice mission house. I hope to get some pictures of the girls out in the snow, but Allie isn't too fond of being out in it at this point in time. Of course, Bethany would love it!

The Way God Works

2009-01-13T11:50:00.000-08:00

I'm always amazed at each new thing God brings in our lives or across our paths. Life is never dull, and there is never really anything to complain about. I must give a little background to begin this little story.

Jeremy has been busy at work mailing out packets of our information, and calling pastors trying to schedule meetings for our year of deputation. We feel like we are a little behind this year. So much has been happening at the best time be contacting churches. We have been busy in mission conferences, and Jeremy has been studying hard for his ordination counsel. Our schedule is far from full, and we are hoping to be in Brazil within this next year.

We did not have a meeting this past Sunday. We were supposed to be in Pennsylvania on Monday, and we decided to spend the weekend at a supporting church in northern Virginia. On Sunday we decided to drop in a couple of churches hoping to get some contacts.

Sunday morning we decided to go to a church that our home church is helping to restart. It seems that the LORD has set many things in place, and a man from our church will be moving there in a few months to reconstitute the church, and hopefully begin to rebuild it. We really enjoyed seeing what the Lord is bringing to pass.

Someone had given us a gift card for Red Lobster for Christmas, and on Sunday afternoon we decided to have an enjoyable lunch there. When the waitress seated us, our booth was across the aisle from another booth full of obvious independent Baptists. Jeremy took one look and said he was almost sure that was the pastor of a church we had planned on going to that evening.

The family finished their meal, and got their things together to leave. As they did, we asked them what church they went to, and asked if he was the pastor of the church. Yes, indeed! We told him our intentions, and he took a prayer card and told Jeremy he could give a brief testimony in the evening service.

Shortly after they left the restaurant our waitress came to us and told us that our meal had been taken care of by them. Wow! We enjoyed a nice lunch for free, and now we still had our gift card for another meal. How fun is that!

We did get a few minutes in the evening service, and the church responded really well to our family. The pastor has invited us back to his mission conference. But that is not the end of our story.

Today Jeremy spent the morning calling several pastors to whom we had sent our information asking for meetings this next year. After calling several he was talking to a pastor at a certain church in North Carolina.

Jeremy was telling this pastor about our ministry and ended in asking for a meeting. The pastor surprised Jeremy by telling him that he had already heard part of his presentation in person and was pleased with what he heard. How? Where? Well, that pastor happened to be out of town that weekend, and also visited that same church in Virgina as we did. We didn't know he was there. He wasn't quite prepared to give us a meeting, but said that he would like to, and would see what he could do!

Whether it is another meeting or not, we were just reminded not to get discouraged! The Lord is working in our behalf, often behind the scenes. It is just so neat when you actually get to see what is going on. We are so blessed to be able to serve Him, and see His hand at work even on the "Deputation Trail"!

Get To Work Girls!

2009-01-13T11:18:00.000-08:00

Allie and Bethany love to help...with anything! Below are just a few instances in which they are busy "helping" me!

Allie modeling her Christmas present...a new apron! This girl is serious about her rolling pin!
I was wiping the floor with a rag because some things just won't come up with a mop. Allie saw me and just had to try. I gave her a rag, showed her the spots and said "Have fun!"

Bethany is making our tea for supper...doesn't she just make you want some!

Pregnancy Update: 10.5 Weeks

2009-01-07T18:00:00.000-08:00

We went to our first doctor visit last Wednesday, and forgot how long that first visit actually takes. It took us 2 1/2 hours! We really enjoyed ourselves though. We had gotten Jeremy's sister-in-law, Lauren, to watch the girls for us, and it was kind of like a date...to the doctor's office.

It was fun to get reacquainted with the nurses and doctor. We went to the same place and the same doctor for my last two pregnancies, and we've really gotten pretty well known around there. Some of the nurses even remembered our girls ages and names! We were shocked...especially knowing how many people they get through their office.

The office had a fancy new ultrasound machine, and it was so neat to see our little one! I tried so hard to get it scanned and on this post, but it just kept giving me problems...so I gave up! It was the best 10 week ultrasound I've had yet. The picture was very clear, and we could even see the little baby's toes. It was so sweet!

I am feeling well... a little bit weary at times, but that is to be expected. I've had no morning sickness. We are getting back on the road again after our short break for the holiday, and I'm hoping that my weariness ends soon. The first trimester is almost over, and usually that ends the extreme tiredness also. We'll see!

Ordained To The Ministry

2009-01-06T13:50:00.000-08:00

These past couple of weeks have been very busy for our family. On Saturday Jeremy had his ordination council. Some of the men from our church spent almost three hours asking him questions. He was prepared and did well. I was not able to go due to a sick child, but I am really looking forward to hearing the cd of it when it is done.

The next evening was the ordination service. Pastor Deatrick brought in some chairs, and as is the custom at our church for an ordination service, Jeremy and I sat front and center during the preaching!

Jeremy kneeling in front.

Dr. Comfort praying outloud, and all the men "laying hands"on Jeremy.

Pastor Deatrick presented some books to Jeremy.

Pastor Deatrick read an article John Bunyan wrote.
Jeremy's dad, a deacon in the church, presented Jeremy his ordination certificate.

Everyone came around to congratulate us after the service.

Jeremy hugging his mom as they came around to congratulate him.

Just because it was taken after the ordination service, I wanted to put this picture on this post as well as the one I posted yesterday.

It was a very exciting day for Jeremy. We praise the Lord for calling us to do the work of His ministry!

Allie's Third Birthday

2009-01-06T13:40:00.000-08:00

Here's proof that I'm VERY behind on my blog. I'm just now getting Allie's birthday pictures up! Her third birthday was December 28th, and we had her party the next day. We had great time! We invited a few girls around her age from our home church. We had the party over at Stephen and Lauren's house, and Lauren made a beautiful tea pot cake! Below is yet another slideshow.

One Year

2009-01-05T18:26:00.000-08:00

It has been one year since we started out on deputation! Time has gone by so quickly. We started off our "deputation trail" at Trinity Baptist Church in Wilson, NC this week last year. We have been thinking back with very fond memories of the many meetings and mission conferences in which God has allowed us to take part. My how the Lord has blessed! We started out with absolutely no support coming in and only $250 promised...and that would come in a month later. We have never missed a meal, and the Lord has provided every single need above and beyond that which we needed!

When we left Bethany was 6 weeks old. We weren't sure how Allie would be with a completely new life. We weren't sure how naptimes in the van would be, or how the girls would respond to a different nursery every meeting. We had a reasonably full schedule, but knew that there were still lots of dates to fill. We have absolutely nothing to complain about! The girls have done exceptionally well! We had a full schedule of meetings. We are now at 45% of our support. We have travelled over 40,000 miles. We had meetings as far west as Kansas and Nebraska, and as far north as Maine all the way down to Florida. Our longest day of driving was from Missouri to home. We had planned to stop halfway through, but when you're going home...you just want to get there!

We praise the Lord for his blessings on us! He has always provided every need whether it was monetary or physical. I remember praying specifically one time about our accomodations. We had traveled through the night from a mission's conference in Alabama, stopped halfway, woke up early, and finished the trip to North Carolina for another mission's conference. We were weary! There were several missionaries in the conference, and we were the only ones to get a motel room! Isn't the Lord good? Whenever we have needed rest, He has provided!

We have much enjoyed a few weeks off, and are ready to go at it again. Please pray that the Lord will continue to give us strength and good health. Pray that we can continue to fill our schedule for the coming year. Pray that our support will come in quickly! We are convinced that it is the prayers of God's people that moves the hand of God!

The last Sunday at our home church before hitting the road one year ago.

Our family...one year younger, and a little weepy.

Our family at our home church yesterday, one year later.

Christmas At Home

2008-12-30T13:27:00.000-08:00

We left Georgia and came home on Christmas Eve. We arrived home just in time to get ready to go to church that evening. Much to our surprise, though, we walked in the door of our home and saw a nice Christmas tree all decorated and ready for Christmas. There were stockings full of gifts for the girls and a present under it also. If you remember the title to this post I hadn't planned on doing any decorating for Christmas, because we had meetings and were supposed to be in Georgia up until Christmas Eve. There just wasn't going to be any time!

It was a very nice surprise! Jeremy's family had come over and put up the tree and decorated it on the Sunday before Christmas.

We had a very good Christmas. We woke up and opened presents, then we went to Stephen and Lauren's house for a Christmas brunch. We visited with them for a while, went home and took naps, and then we went to Jeremy's parent's house for supper and an evening of fun! They had bought a new "jungle gym" for all of the grandkids for Christmas. Allie and Bethany both enjoyed some fun on it!

Below is another slideshow...I hope you don't mind!

Christmas In Georgia

2008-12-27T18:00:00.000-08:00

We spent a couple of weeks in Georgia with my parents. We had planned on only being there about half of the time we were actually there. Because of the popular stomach bug that went around, we had to reschedule a meeting we had in Florida.

We opened presents on the eve of Christmas eve, and the next morning all of the cousins made cookies. We left for home on Christmas Eve right before lunch time! I've added a slide show of some of the pictures that were taken.

Pictures

2008-12-26T18:31:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-25T10:49:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas from the Lockhart family!

Adding To The Last Post

2008-12-20T17:38:00.000-08:00

After reading a comment on this post I realized I left out a vital part to our "fancy meal". When we left the restaurant and drove out of the parking lot, the guy who was collecting money asked "Well, what happened?" We told him what we did...he smiled and handed us our $5.00 back! I guess he understood!

A Late Anniversary Getaway

2008-12-20T08:01:00.001-08:00

Since we had a few weeks off of deputation, and are staying at my parent's house for a while, Jeremy and I decided to leave the girls with Pawpaw and Grandma for a couple of days and go on a Fifth Anniversary trip (about five months late). Jeremy reserved a very nice motel in Newnan, Georgia for us. It was wonderful to be able to relax and sleep as late as I wanted!
On Wednesday we ran around town and did some Christmas shopping! I think we're just about finished. On Thursday we went to Warm Springs, Ga and walked around the fancy little shops there oohing and aahing over the pretty Christmas things! On Friday we took it easy and went back to the house. I didn't realize how much I would miss my kids!

We had saved up a little bit of money over the past few months to go out for a fancy meal for just the two of us. We had heard of a nice restaurant called Ruth's Chris Steakhouse in the middle of Atlanta and decided to try it out on Thursday night. We weren't sure how much a meal there would cost, but we thought "We've saved up quite a bit, and even if it costs $25 each...we could probably still handle it...and ofcourse we'll get water to drink!" Well we arrived and found out we had to pay to park! Yikes...$5.00! We paid it and went into the restaurant which was in a super nice hotel! We walked in and the lady asked us if we had reservations. "Umm, no reservations? Well, that's okay."

We get to the table are handed our menus, then comes our server. He explains a little bit about the restaurant and it's founding, then proceeds to tell us a few "specials" and that everything is ala carte...meaning you have to pay for everything seperately. Wow!

He leaves to let us make our decisions. Problem 1: We have around $50 to pay for this meal...and we don't plan to go into debt to do it! Problem 2: The cheapest main course on the menu was $32 for a small steak. Problem 3: If you want anything else with it you'd have to pay for it separately!!! This means we couldn't get out of the restaurant without paying well over $100. We planned on a nice meal, but this was just a little overboard! When the server arrived back at the table to get our orders, we told him our problem, and then left for another nice restaurant. After this ordeal we learned that "fancy restaurant" is a relative term:)!

We had a great and relaxing time. We are thankful for the opportunity we had to getaway for a couple of days for some much needed rest and relaxation!

Just Because

2008-12-14T13:14:00.000-08:00

I just HAD to show everyone these blue eyes!

Headband-Mania

2008-12-14T13:09:00.000-08:00

I caught Bethany in the middle of enjoying our bag full of bows and headbands!

The Excitement Never Stops!

2008-12-11T11:22:00.001-08:00

Every day it seems there is some new adventure, something else to do...we're always keeping busy with something! On Tuesday we travelled down to Columbus, Ga...with a little bit of a detour on the way! Driving down I-85 almost to the I-185 exit our van decided to stop working...Yikes! We pulled over and called the tow truck (praise the Lord for AAA and a free 100 mile tow!). We got the van towed to Columbus, and called my dad to come pick us up. The tow truck arrived long before my dad did since he had a much longer drive. We looked like gypsy's on the side of the road while we were waiting for our ride.

Praise the LORD it was a beautiful day! We got out of the stuffy van, walked several feet away from the highway, and decided to have fun with the girls!

Jeremy unloading the van of our valuables and carseats before the tow truck arrived.

We picked up handfuls of pine straw and threw it up into the wind and watched it blow away! What fun it was for Allie and Bethany!

Allie walking down the hill to our "camp".

Curious looks from Bethany.

Allie's photography...practice while there's nothing else to do!

The tow truck getting our van.

So long...

Desolate. We set up camp...for nap time.

Better yet...playtime!

Pack n' plays are so much more fun outside!
When we got to Columbus, Jeremy went to the shop to check on the van...it was perfectly fine. The mechanic couldn't find a thing wrong with it! Sometimes we may not understand the delays God puts in our lives, but we can be assured that He always does what is right. Maybe we just needed to use our creativity to enjoy some extra time with the girls!

Naptime In The Van

2008-12-09T08:07:00.000-08:00

Emmanuel Baptist Temple

2008-12-08T10:18:00.000-08:00

On Sunday we enjoyed a day with Pastor and Mrs. Aiken at Emmanuel Baptist Temple in Hagerstown, Maryland.

We arrived at the church early in the morning for a prayer meeting before the early morning service. As we drove to church it started snowing! It probably snowed pretty hard for about 10 minutes, and stopped just in time for us to go inside the church. It was a beautiful, COLD sight! This Georgia girl just isn't used to seeing much snow. We got out of our van at the church, and Allie, not being used to the snow, slipped and fell flat on her back...poor girl, it seems like somethings always happening to her! She was perfectly fine once she was over the shock of it all.

During the Sunday school hour all of the children were in a Christmas play. They even let Allie get up on the stage! She was so cute!

They were singing a song that none of us had ever heard before, but Allie was determined that she was going to sing too. I think she was doing just as well as the other 2 and 3 year olds who knew the song! I was trying so hard not to laugh!

Below you see the shepherds...they didn't have enough boys, so they used some girls for shepherds and for wise men!

Mary and Joseph rode into Bethlehem on a wooden donkey. The play was so cute. Allie is still asking where Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus went! Sometimes she has a hard time distinguishing between real and pretend!

After the second Sunday morning service we went to eat lunch with Pastor Aiken. We had a great tme of fellowship with his family, and afterward enjoyed a nice nap at our motel room! That evening Jeremy presented our ministry to Brazil and preached. The church people were so kind and we really enjoyed getting to know them.

During the service they had a special skit to promote their Gift for Jesus Sunday the next week. The men were so silly!

We enjoyed ourselves very much with the people of this church. There were a couple of people saved in the Sunday morning service, and they had a few people baptized. It was exciting to see a growing church!

We had a good trip home yesterday, and we enjoyed a little bit of time with Jeremy's parents and Omar and Tracy before heading out again this morning. We are on the way to a couple of meetings in Florida, and then we have a break for Christmas. Please continue to pray that our support will come in quickly!

Big Sisters

2008-12-04T07:31:00.000-08:00

We are excited to announce that baby #3 is on the way!

Since I Can't Decorate My House For Christmas...

2008-12-02T07:24:00.000-08:00

...I decided to decorate Bethany!

And if Bethany has a headband on, Allie wants one too.

Allie wanted to show everyone her gummy bear!

Pretty Smiles...With Red Eyes

2008-12-02T07:22:00.001-08:00

Bethany's Birthday Party

2008-11-29T18:22:00.000-08:00

We had Bethany's birthday party tonight at Jeremy's parent's house. All of Bethany's cousins were in attendance, and we had a great evening! I thought you would enjoy another slideshow.

Below you can watch a short video of Bethany.

Our Thanksgiving

2008-11-29T17:53:00.000-08:00

We had a very nice Thanksgiving. We went to Lauren's parent's house for the day. We had many people from the church there, and the house was full.

Below you can see our food table. You'll notice my deviled eggs on the big square plate in the middle of the table. After wasting a dozen and a half, I finally got them right!

We enjoyed a nice Thanksgiving song by three of Allie's cousins. Mel and Kole
Below is Jeremy's mom enjoying some testimonies.

Jeremy enjoying testimony time also.

A picture of one of the tables after we ate dinner

The Lockhart cousins My wonderful husband and I

Jeremy's dad and JD

Stephen, MayEllen and Kole

Adalyn having fun with a hat, and Bethany admiring it!

We praise the Lord for a wonderful day together with many of our family and friends.

Waiting...

2008-11-29T11:19:00.000-08:00

...for her little sister's birthday party tonight!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-11-27T07:57:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving from the Lockharts!

(We got our camera in the mail yesterday...just in time!)

The Camera Has Been Found...Hopefully!

2008-11-21T12:23:00.001-08:00

I received an email today letting me know that someone at the church in King, North Carolina has found our camera. At least they are pretty sure it is ours. Someone is going to check it out in the next couple of days, and hopefully, we will be back in business soon! I'm very relieved!

An Overdue Update

2008-11-21T07:06:00.000-08:00

So much has happened over these past two weeks! We were in a meeting at Jeremy's uncle's church two Sundays ago, and we had a great time getting together with some of his family! I had taken pictures of Jeremy's granny with the girls, but alas they are with my camera...wherever that may be. The church decided to take us on for support, and they voted that evening.

On Monday afternoon we headed home for a couple of day's rest. We were only there for a day and a half, then we were off to a mission's conference in King, North Carolina. Jeremy had done his college internship with Pastor Broyhill when he was the pastor of Temple Baptist Church in Lenior, NC. We were invited to the conference at Calvary Baptist Church, and we had a great week!

On Thursday Jeremy went to the Christian school and talked a little about missions with some of the classes. On Friday the church gave all of the missionary wives some money, and they took us shopping for the day while the men babysat the kids! On Saturday evening the highschool put on a very good play about the life of William Carey. They did an excellent job!

After the play the church brought all of the missionary families to the platform and showered us with gifts! They had sent us a questionnaire inquiring of some of our needs and wants, and handed them out to different teams in the church. They went out and filled up a great big tote full of all kinds of goodies! What a blessing. The girls were given all kinds of baby dolls and accessories, and lots of candy. Jeremy was given a trumpet, and we were given some tires for our van, and lots of other little things including clothes for the girls, shoes, socks, books, shampoos, lotions and I'm sure I've missed some things! We can't begin to say how surprised we were!

I wish I had my camera! It's so hard to just TELL you about everything, especially after I'm so used to downloading a picture for every detail.

After our meeting in King, NC, we headed up through the snow and cold to a mission's conference in Tipton, Indiana. We caught only the last two days of the conference, but we are staying here through Sunday in their mission house. They are planning on Jeremy preaching on Sunday, and doing a junior church also. We are thankful for a little rest in their cozy mission house.

Happy 1st Birthday, Bethany!

2008-11-19T05:52:00.000-08:00

It seems almost impossible that it has been a whole year since Bethany was born! It has been such a busy year, and time has flown by super fast! We are so thankful that the LORD sent us Bethany. She has been a special blessing to our family. We love her to pieces!

She now is a very active and energetic little girl! She started walking a little less than a month ago. I thought she would probably never walk since she was in her car seat so much!

She says quite a few "things"...not all necessarily words. She loves to make animal sounds, and she's always saying "uh-oh"!

She loves Allie! She gives a squeal every morning when she first sees her!

We are currently in a mission's conference in Indiana. Each night the church hosts a supper for us. Tonight we had a small party for Bethany. I stuck a candle in a brownie, and everyone sang "Happy Birthday". Allie blew the candle out, and Bethany dove into her brownie! I couldn't choose which pictures to put up on the blog because they were all so cute! I hope you enjoy the slide show!

I am so thankful to Jillian Bashore(fellow missionary wife in the conference this week) for letting me borrow her camera for this special event!

No Pictures, No Camera!

2008-11-17T08:29:00.000-08:00

I am so sorry for our lack of posting recently. We have been terribly busy, and we have LOST our camera. I feel lost without it! Hopefully, we'll find it. I'm not sure if I left it at a church or if it is lost in the deep recesses of our van! I will post more as I get time!

Calvary Baptist Church

2008-11-10T13:58:00.000-08:00

We were privileged to be a part of the conference at Calvary Baptist Church in Loganville, Georgia last week. This church was started by Don Bernard, a mentor of our pastor back in Shelby, NC. We were privileged to get to know him and his wife a little bit during the week. We spent much time with Pastor and Mrs. Powell during the week. Quite a few years back they transitioned into the pastorate at this church, and they are doing an excellent work!October marked the one year anniversary of Josh and Alicia Appel being at this church as the assistant. We were also excited to see them. They went to Ambassador Baptist College with us, and we were students at the same time. It is neat how going to the same school can give you lots to talk about. It was good to see how well they fit into this ministry, and how God is using them to be a blessing at this church. They took us out for lunch on Sunday, and we spent a couple of hours "catching up".

Jeremy and I were privileged to teach children's church on Sunday morning. He showed the slide show and talked some of Brazil. The kids really seemed to enjoy the lesson!

Mrs. Powell found her place each night after the services "walking" Bethany and Alyssia Appel. The first night Bethany grabbed her hand and started walking around with her. After seeing her, Alyssia decided she wanted to do it too. They would walk around for quite a while each night exploring the church.

There were lots of missionary kids...all of them were boys except Allie and Bethany. Allie thought it was great!

We heard some good music during the week. Below was Mrs. Powell and Mrs. van Reijn (missionary wife to the Netherlands) playing a flute duet.

As I said before we had a good time getting reacquainted with the Appels. Allie and Jacob Appel also had a good time getting to know each other. They were almost inseperable the entire week!

We were blessed very much by being at this church. We enjoyed our time getting to know everyone, and once again, hated to say "goodbye". After the meeting we traveled on to Georgia to be with my parents for a couple of days!

Some Pretty Girls

2008-11-05T20:35:00.000-08:00

We ended a conference in Loganville, Georgia tonight, and here are a few pictures of Allie and Bethany getting ready for a fun night in the nursery!

Gateway Baptist Church

2008-10-31T08:54:00.000-07:00

After a few days at home on Wednesday we travelled to Tennessee for a meeting with Gateway Baptist Church. We were scheduled to meet the assistant pastor at the church at 5:30pm to get set up for the evening. When we arrived at the church we met a man that was cleaning the church, then he went home to get ready for the service. We thought it was kind of strange that no one was around, and the assistant pastor was late. After a few minutes we looked at a clock and realized that we had travelled into the central time zone, and we were an hour early! It actually worked out well for a few reasons, one being that our girls had extra play time in the nursery, which they love!

Pastor Dalton arrived at the church after a while, and we were able to talk with him before the rest of the people arrived. We had a great evening getting to know every one.

We enjoyed a skit and a song from the Patch Club. They did a great job singing "Tell the Truth". They were all so cute and nervous!

Jeremy talked with Pastor Dalton for a while after the service also.

Some of the ladies were practicing a song for the mission's conference that is to start on Sunday.

Allie was singing with them. Bethany was trying to get into everything!

Since the time change was an hour later, we didn't get the girls to bed on time...actually, it was about 4 hours late. They were being a little bit silly!

After the service T.J. and Hannah Philips took us out for supper. He is the assistant pastor and Hannah is the pastor's daughter. They had a lot of questions for us, and we really enjoyed fellowshipping with them for a while.
We got back to our motel room very late, had a quick night sleep, and now we are in Georgia for about a week and a half. Thanks for your prayers on our behalf. The Lord certainly has blessed our travels!

...And She Walks!

2008-10-27T11:31:00.000-07:00

When Allie started walking, she did it almost in one day. She would walk along furniture and walls, but one day all of the sudden she decided not to hold on any more. With Bethany it has been much more gradual. She started off with one step, then went to three steps, then five, and today I noticed that she hasn't crawled all day! She'll stand up, walk a little ways, fall down, get up, walk some more, and so on until her destination is reached. So I guess it's official...She walks!!!

She just recently turned 11 months old. She claps her hands, waves "bye-bye", signs "all done", and says the typical "ma ma", "da da", "dog", and sometimes says "please". Just today she started to sign "please". She never would do it before. She is a very happy baby and a joy to be around.

Below is a short video of her walking and playing.

Excited About Going to Brazil!

2008-10-24T06:30:00.000-07:00

This morning Allie and I were talking about Brazil. Very excitedly she exclaimed, "Mommy, we're going to climb up in the sky and get on the airplane and go to Brazil!"

Well, not exactly.

Emmanuel Baptist Church

2008-10-21T12:39:00.000-07:00

Our whirlwind of a month came to an end on Sunday night. We have been in services 27 out of the past 36 days. It started with Alabama and ended in New Hampshire with Pastor and Mrs. Maxwell. We were delighted to be in the mission's conference with this church. The Maxwell family is from our home church in North Carolina, and it was so neat to see the work that the Lord has done in this church over the past four years!

We stayed with Josh and Tamara Fogg. They are living in his parent's house for a few weeks while they were away on vacation. We enjoyed lots of time of fellowship with them, and enjoyed seeing the fruits of Pastor Maxwell's ministry. They were one of the first couples to join the church that first year, and they are still actively involved in the ministry and growing as Christians.

We were also excited to see Matt and Emily DeCosta and to meet their new baby, Max. We were able to spend a lot of time talking with them over the weekend, and they were a great encouragement to us! We sang a quartet together for the Sunday morning service.
The Fogg's had the DeCosta's over for supper on Saturday evening, and we had lots of fun. Max is really doing well with crawling and has started to pull himself up on things. He looks so much like Matt! On Monday on our way out of town we went by their house to visit for a few more minutes, and they showed us some pictures of Matt when he was a baby. It is amazing how identical they look.
We had a few late nights...here is a very sleepy Allie. She NEVER does this!
The house and property where we stayed were beautiful! I saw Allie looking out the window admiring everything...so sweet!

On Saturday afternoon we had a catered banquet at a hotel close by. We had a great time getting to know many of the church members. The food was great, and we had a service afterwards in another room. We watched a video the church had made 2 years ago about the work the Lord had done in their church up until that point. Brother Lynn then presented their ministry to Reno, Nevada.
On Sunday afternoon we went out to lunch with the Fogg's, DeCosta's, Lynn's, and a family in the church that are planning on starting out on deputation soon. We had a nice time and still had time to get some naps in afterwards.

After the service on Sunday night we celebrated the church's four year anniversary. I forgot to bring my camera to church all day on Sunday, and there were so many pictures that I missed! Oh well! We had a good meeting, and we are thankful for a short break at home. We travelled all day on Monday and half of the day on Tuesday. After many hours of travel, getting in a traffic jam, dealing with a woman who had road rage, some leaky diapers, and tired children...we are almost home! Thank you for your prayers in our behalf!

Central Baptist Church

2008-10-20T15:09:00.002-07:00

The Lord blessed us with a good meeting in Belmont, New Hampshire last Thursday evening. We arrived in the morning and spent the day with the pastor and his family. Jeremy enjoyed many hours of theological and ministry discussion with Pastor Conley! They have been at this church for about six years and the church is really doing well!

Their girls really liked to play with Allie and Bethany. One of them carried Bethany around all day. She enjoyed pretending to be a mother. I let her feed her and play with her as much as she wanted! They had lots of baby doll toys, which kept Allie busy for the day.

Before the evening service we met at the church for supper. Some of the homeschoolers of the church made supper for all of the missionaries. We had a good time of fellowship with some of the church members.

Jeremy presented the minstry for a while, and preached a short challenge about the salvation of Zaccheaus. Many of the people expressed how much they enjoyed having us. We wish we could have stayed for the entire conference, but one night is all we were able to attend.

We received a call this morning from Calvary Bible Church in Stratton, Maine telling us of their vote to support us! This raises our support to over 42%. We praise the Lord for this new support!

Hillsborough Baptist Church

2008-10-17T07:49:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday night we had a meeting with Hillsborough Baptist Church. We arrived early in the afternoon and got settled in their prophet's chamber. Afterwards we went to Pastor Gaylord's house for lunch. We visited with them for a short time, and then it was nap time...for everyone!

We had a good meeting with the people of the church. It flew by so quickly...as they all seem to do these days. Jeremy presented our ministry and then opened it up for questions. The people were all very kind to us, and we stayed after church for quite a while getting to know many of them a little better.

After church we went to the pastor's house for some pizza. We had a great time of fellowship with them and another family.

On the way up to the church, we once again saw some beautiful scenery. We also got lost! Yikes! Our GPS took us to a dirt road on top of a mountain and told us "You have reached your destination"...no church in sight! What do we do now??? We thank the Lord for cell phones and call the pastor for directions. This was the first time the GPS has steered us wrong when actually trying to get to a church. Good thing we weren't in a hurry!

We stopped at a small store by the side of the highway. They sold fresh maple syrup and pumpkins. The lady at the register gave Allie a free maple ice cream cone. She made quite a mess with it!
We praise the Lord for his protection and care for us! We are going to be in New Hampshire until Monday, and we look forward to meeting even more new people!

Cornerstone Baptist Church

2008-10-16T07:05:00.000-07:00

Tuesday evening we had a meeting at Cornerstone Baptist Church in Pittsfield, Massachussetts. Pastor and Mrs. Neiner are very kind folks that have been at the church for many years. They have just recently renovated much of their building, and it was neat to hear of the ways the Lord has provided the funds for it!
We were also excited to see Doug Neiner and to meet his wife and son. Doug attended Ambassador Baptist College at the same time as we did, and he is now helping his dad at this church. He does an excellent job leading and organizing the music ministry of the church.
We stayed with the Johnson's for the night. They are caretakers for a business man and his wife. They take care of the house cleaning and the grounds...
for this mansion! They were very kind and welcoming to us! They live in a house behind the mansion, and that was where we stayed also. Their home was very comfortable and inviting! Mrs. Johnson gave us a tour of the business man's antique car collection...lots and lots of beautiful restored antique cars.
The property was beautiful! Jeremy and I went for a short walk while the girls were taking their naps.

The church people were very kind to us! We were surprised to meet Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton, the parents of another graduate that we knew quite well at Ambassador. We had a great time with everyone, but the time went by too quickly! By the time we set up our display board it was almost time to take it down again. We are thankful for all of the good meetings the Lord has given us!