Memphis Children's Museum

 

While my parents and niece were visiting over Thanksgiving break, they treated us to a trip to the Children's Museum of Memphis! 

Maddie's favorite area in the entire museum... She is just like her dad.  Ha!

Care to guess who won this quiz game?

Hint:  There was a tie.

 Loading the FedEx plane:

 

Fishing the (Not-So) Mighty Mississippi: 

 

I'm pretty certain that Halle chose to listen to this water cycle thing only because she enjoys old telephones.  :) 

 

The Itty-Bitty Kroger:

 

This may look like a shopping cart that is weirdly full of bananas to you, but you need to know that Ty is my banana-guy on grocery day.  His job is always to remind me to not forget bananas.  We buy at least this many every week...

To the rescue!

 

 

 

Halle made it to the top!

 *Shudder*

I get claustrophobic just looking at these pictures.

 

Cruisin' the streets of Memphis-

 

Making out a check for (play) cash:

Mastering(?) the paper airplane launcher:

 

 Making "Rain Sticks"

 

Thanks for the memories, Nana and Papa!

MORE! (Random Phone Pictures.)

Ty: Help me!

Me:  Let go.

(^This was repeated about 12 times.)

Cate is part monkey.

Halle's open house- do you see Sunshine?

Most of the 1st grade girls wanted to be teachers or princesses. 

Not Halle:

I have no idea what Halle was asking Siri.  Any guesses??

Some things don't change.

 

Isaac's comfy chair:

And this:

 Me:  Ty... why??

Ty: (slight eye roll)  The turkey is just pooping.

Random phone pictures that make me happy.

1.  Matching glow-in-the-dark pjs = Happy.

 2.  Mustaches at church = Happy.

 3.  Looking out the back door, expecting to see them on the swing set, and instead seeing this:

= HAPPY.

on home, church, songs

This blog post might get long, I don't know.  It's one of those that's for me- the future me who looks back in a few years to see what we were doing in the fall of 2013.  So feel free to skip this one.

 

We have been in Mississippi for about 3 1/2 years now and it is our home.  Like, our right-now-home, not our "we're from here" home.  (In small town MS you're not from here unless your grandparents were born here.  Ha!)

 

HOME is a word I wrestle with.  It's one of those words that the English language does not do justice to.  It means everything from which team wears the light jerseys, to where we spend eternity.  Home is a feeling and a place and people.  It is a laden with emotion.  My home is a yellow house in Bendena.  My home is Jon David.  My home is what Grammy's back porch smells like on a summer evening, and it's the sound of my kids breathing deeply in their sleep.  My home is worshiping with other Christ-followers in spirit and in truth.   Home is a peace, deeper than contentment, on the inside.  And I long for it and am thankful for it and it's all jumbled up together.

 

For the first year we lived here our family tried out church after church that people recommend to us (and there are HUNDREDS of churches- no exaggeration.)  They are all about the same- same type music, same format, super-friendly-shake-your-hand people.  We even went to one (and really enjoyed ourselves!) that was called- I kid you not- "Christ Is Life Ministry Church Inc."  Although they were all fine churches, none of them felt like home.  While we searched, we plugged our kids into the First Baptist church right down the street that had a vibrant and extensive Wednesday night children's ministry.  Two years ago that same church began a Sunday night service called "Lighthouse."  It was supposed to be a service that reached the "unchurched" in the area- and I suppose technically we fit that description!  We went to the Lighthouse service faithfully for two years and got involved in the Wednesday evening classes- teaching and attending.  We tried to connect and fit in to the Sunday morning/Sunday School crowd, but it just wasn't for us.  

 

People at First Baptist are a little puzzled by us, I think.  They are loving and friendly, but I really think we are "that strange family that seems to love the Lord, but need prayer because they don't faithfully come to His House."  But that may just be in my paranoid head.  We felt convicted long ago that it is much better for our family to go to ONE service on a Sunday.  Anything more- religiously- is legalistic for us.  JD works most nights and every Saturday from October through March, and with Halle in school it is just unhealthy for us to spend that extra time separated and "at church."  Instead we make it a point to do our Family Church at whichever time we are not corporately worshiping.  (Basically Family Church is us setting aside time to sing and dance and worship with YouTube music, and memorizing and discussing our weekly verses.  Good, important stuff.)

 

This summer JD and I really felt like we were wrestling again with "The Church Problem" in our lives: Should we just make it official and "become a member" where we have somewhat reluctantly plugged in, or do we keep praying and waiting for God to give us peace about where we need to be?  It's a tough place to be in for three years.  JD had several conversations with the Lighthouse pastor (who we appreciate and respect) to ask about the whys and hows of certain things.  While we like First Baptist, and love many many of the members we always felt a little uneasy about the whole membership-thing.

 

Let me pause and make plain the major things that were heavy on our hearts when looking for a church:  1- Christ/Gospel centered  2- Community focused (outward not inward, as in- reaching and connecting with people outside of the church bldg, instead of just the "ya'll COME" mentality that is so common.)  3- Diversity- we live in a community where people look beautifully different from one another, but you wouldn't know it on Sunday morning.  

 

Please hear this:  First Baptist Ripley is a great church.  Those people love the Lord and love people and have a passion for Kamonoro, Africa.  They value children and honor the elderly.  They serve the community and welcome anyone.  It is a church that is straining at revival.  The youth programs are booming and real change is happening in lives- glory to God!   I enjoy every minute of the Wednesday night class I am privileged teach (the little Warrior boys) and appreciate so much the Word that is poured into Halle in her Wisdom class. 

 

We just haven't felt the peace we have prayed for.

 

So at the end of September JD happened to meet the music guy from a new church plant in New Albany (about 15 minutes away) on campus one afternoon and they struck up a conversation.  Before I knew it JD invited the pastor and his family to come eat supper at our house so "the kids can play" and we could find out more.  ("The kids can play" is code for "We have a ton of kids and not everyone can handle that so come to our house because nothing can be destroyed."  ha!)  So they did.  We were interested, but very reserved- remember we were still very very burnt out on the visiting churches thing.  We have filled out all the 'first time visitor cards' that we ever will in our lifetime.  Never again.  We don't want the postcard or the phone call or the house visit or even the free gift.  (No seriously.)

 

Anyway, we visited.  And Dan, the lead pastor, asked if he could come to JD's practices on Thursdays- not to invite anyone to church, just because he played ball in college and wanted to be around as long as JD would allow it.  (He comes every Thursday and fills water bottles, rebounds, anything he's asked without any churchy-ness.)  We visited again.  And again.  And slowly we started to feel like maybe our long waiting-on-the-Lord season wasn't just us being crazy picky.  Maybe it was God's plan all along.  Just maybe the Lord had every intention of using the 3 1/2 years we felt like the kooky people to mature us spiritually to the place where we can humbly help (in whatever little or big way) plant a church.  Is it perfect?  Good gracious NO.  But neither are we.   Only God is perfect. 

 

This morning the band played a song that made me weep.  And I felt it: HOME.     

Here is the song that got to me-

 

 

 

 

I've mentioned it once in the past, but I am a big Jimmy Needham fan.  Currently (Well, for the last couple of months.) I have been obsessed with this song:

Listen to it.  You will be too.

"Champions"

She's changed a little in two years, right??

 

Last Monday was picture night-

I don't buy picture packages anymore.  I finally added up in my head all the money I will waste if I buy one for every kid in every pee-wee sport they play... it would be a small fortune.  Plus, I can take just as good (or better) pictures- I just can't put them in those flimsy little paper frames.  Ha!

Anyway.

Halle is almost done with soccer- two more games!  Yay!

This year they play on much larger fields (7-9 yr league)- and it has been easy to see a huge improvement!  Halle even played a big part in the score that allowed us to tie against THE HURRICANES! (aka- the real champions.)

 

Ty enjoys the games more this year- the new SportsPlex has more & better room to play on the sidelines!

AND he has a buddy to play with:

Although they usually have a little trouble not getting mad at one another:

And more often than not end us being sent to time-out:

Technically, Cate could've played this year.  I wasn't too excited to start the split-field thing.  Next year is soon enough!  (She's going to be good, though.)

  

Go Champions!  :)

oh happy day!

"Jesus said, 'Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.'"

Matthew 19:14

This summer the girls asked over and over about being baptized.  Cate was adamant that she wanted her daddy to baptize her in the swimming pool at the college.  Her insistence reminded me of the Ethiopian who asked Phillip "Look, here is water.  Why shouldn't I be baptized?" (Acts 8:26-39)  The swimming pool didn't happen, but this morning JD did baptized Cate.  And she is SO happy.

JD told a little bit about Cate and her heart for the Lord- her sincere desire to follow Jesus in baptism.  She said this morning at breakfast- "Baptism is a symbol of what Jesus did for me on the cross.  He paid for my sins and washed them away!  And I want to do it because Jesus did- and the Bible tells me so." 

You'll just have to believe me when I tell you that her words are not just "Sunday School answers."  She believes it and will give examples of the sins that she has committed (lying, hitting, saying mean words to people.)  She has such a tender heart that all day long I get a tug on my shirt and some confession of something she's sorry for- ha!

We talked to both girls about being baptized and stressed that if God didn't put a burning desire in their hearts to do it, then they probably should just wait until a later time.  Cate didn't even hesitate.  She jumped up, clutching her chest, and said, "I want to do it NOW."  

She hasn't stopped smiling.

 

The edited video:

(Halle ran the camera, please excuse the shaky footage!)



 

The baptism service was beautiful.  Two adults and a teenager were baptized too.  Pastor Dan spoke a few words and they told their stories and in between the worship team sang this song- (below)  Many tears were shed.  Happy tears.  Thankful tears.