It's been a while!

Yes, we know it's been a while since we've updated our blog. Let's see, where to begin...We bought a house the end of May and worked on it through June and moved in the end of June. We love it! The second picture is the living room from the kitchen.
We loved the colors of our house in Joplin so much we decided to do pretty much the same thing in this house..with the exception of getting to find new colors for Baby Jaxson's room! :) The nursery is ready for him to arrive. The crib is put up and the clothes are washed and organized in the closet. We had a shower this past weekend at Mike's parents' house and got tons of great stuff, then we had a shower Wednesday night at the church and got more great stuff! Daddy put the swing, stroller, and vibrating seat together so Jaxson has fun toys waiting for him. We have about 6 more weeks to the due date.


Jessica and Jonathon had their baby, Caleb Douglas, born Monday, July 16. Uncle Mike and I were able to go see them Tuesday afternoon. You can see their updates here! Little Caleb is doing great and already changing so fast! He's ready for Jaxson to arrive so they can play
together! :)

At the shower this weekend my parents', Joy, and Tucker were able to stop by on their way home from Indiana after a couple days of visiting the newest addition to our family! Here is a cute picture of grandpa and Tucker playing. Tucker is growing up so fast. He has 8 teeth and loves making noises like rolling his tongue! :)

Some of you have been asking to see my belly so here you go...this is from a couple weeks ago. Jaxson is moving around quite a bit and just last Sunday I felt his hiccups for the first time during church and then daddy felt them later that evening. I haven't felt them since then, but it was kind of an emotional time, I enjoy every punch and kick, it's reassurance that our little boy is growing and will be ready to visit us soon!

That seems to be all at this point. It's crazy it's already the end of July. We've been keeping busy with work and preparing the nursery. We really love it here in Indiana and look forward to the changes that a little baby brings. Hopefully we'll get you updated in a couple more weeks and then definitely will introduce you to Jaxson as soon as he arrives. Mommy and Daddy are very anxious to meet him, too!

stage sets

I just wanted to leave a few examples of the stage sets we have had at Connection Pointe in the last couple months.



It has been amazing to be able to use the gift's that God has given me to help people worship our Savior.

lots of changes

Well I know it has been a while since my last post, it seems that the longer I wait to make a post the harder it is. So much has gone on in the last couple months I don't even know where to start......

Big news first.....

IT'S A BOY! Janese and I found out a couple weeks ago that we are having a boy. I am so excited and can't wait to wrestle with my little boy.

Our transition to IN has gone great. Janese and I both really enjoy Connection Pointe we both just seem to fit right in with the rest of the staff. We are preparing to close on our new house in Avon. We will be moving in sometime in June after we do some painting and cleaning. Next on the list will be working a nursery for our little boy who will be joining us in just a few more months.

This summer will be the first in 9 years that I won't be on the road. It is a little sad but I am really looking forward to being able to have "normal" summer you know BBQ, Fireworks, night time walks with Janese and yes even cutting the grass.

Our family is growing!!

Yep, that's right...we're pregnant! We've known for a little while, but now that we've been to the doctor we are really excited to be able to share the news with all of our family and friends! We got to hear the heartbeat on Monday and found out we're 14 weeks 5 days along. We're due September 8 and we're both extremely excited. Daddy is calling the baby by name! We don't know what we're having, but we do have the names picked out and no, we aren't going to find out! :)
The baby is growing and my stomach is starting to get bigger. We'll have pictures later as the baby continues to grow. Everything with me and the baby are great. I was nauseous mostly in the evenings and sometimes randomly throughout the day, but for the most part I'm past all of that and now can just enjoy the changes.
Not only is our family growing, but Sheila, my sister-in-law is due July 7 with a girl and Jessica, my oldest sister is due the end of July. They're not finding out what they're having either, but we're looking forward to Christmas with all of us together with the new babies. Tucker James will be 1 year old by then and won't know what to do with all the little ones around. It's going to be so exciting! That's all for now...there will be plenty more updates so check back soon!

We're Here!

Well in case you haven't heard we are here and safe!
We started the moving process on Wednesday January 31, when we left Joplin that afternoon and drove through the snow to STL to stay with my parents for the night. The next morning we got up around 4am and left for IN again driving through the snow. We arrived at the church exactly at 10am when Janese had an interview for a job with the daycare at the church. Thankfully Janese was hired on the spot! We had decided to stay with a couple friends for a couple weeks while we looked for a place of our own, so we got settled in at our friends house. I started work at the church the next Sunday @ 6:30am... boo for early morning! Well later that day the Colts won the Superbowl so they decided to close the church office on Monday in order to let us celebrate properly. The next day was my first day at the office. I did all the normal things, meet the staff, fill out forms, etc. except my day was cut short because of the next snow storm (5"). Thankfully the people up here actually know what a snow plow is and they even use them on all the roads (oh Joplin). Wednesday was a crazy busy day we got some new lighting that had to be setup and programmed before Sunday. Thursday Janese and I got back in the car and drove back to Joplin to load all of our things in a Penske truck and bring it up here. We got back Saturday unloaded in our duplex that we are renting for a couple months. Then we had church on Sunday and work on Monday. Then it happened again... SNOW (11") this storm caused the church and daycare to close for 2 days. So for those of you who are counting in the last 2 weeks the office has been closed 3 1/2 days. Then on Saturday we got another 5" of snow. Then just as the weather forecast calls for things to get back to normal something else. Last Sunday morning I was standing at the tech booth when I heard over the COM "we are going to evacuate the building now!" Apparently there was gas leak in the building, which caused us to have to cancel the rest of the services for the day. So needless to say these last 3 weeks have been a little crazy with over 17" of snow on the ground and a major gas leak at the church on Sunday morning. WOW maybe that is why I am tired.....

Check back soon for more updates....

Snowed in Again

Well we are going on day 4 that Janese and I have been stuck in the house after the 2nd major winter storm to hit the Joplin area this year. The storm hit Friday afternoon with the majority of the ice (a little over 1") then a 2nd front came through Saturday which brought some more ice and sleet, followed by the last front which came through on Sunday and into today with a little bit of snow and ice. Growing up in the St. Louis area I am used to the city or county actually plowing the streets, however here in Joplin/Webb City we are lucky if they plow the main streets. Which I guess I shouldn't complain to much except when they plow the main streets then they just leave a big pile of snow and ice at the intersections to all the other streets and entrances to any businesses.

In addition to the traffic problems this storm has caused it has left many people without power and heat. One of which was my little brother who is a freshman at Ozark this year. Andrew got a call late Friday night that the dorms were opening early to let the students return from Christmas break. Andrew decided that he had had enough of staying with his big brother and decided to head for the dorms. Great call Andrew, I bet it was fun to stay at the dorms with no electricity!

Passion 07

WOW! 22,000 people all in one place for one purpose what a cool thing. Janese and I went to Passion 07 this year in Atlanta, GA! Last year there were 18,000 in Nashville and we took over the downtown Nashville area. This year at Passion with such an increase in attendance they had to do a 2nd venue. It worked very well with two venues, they had a satellite feed with the speaker but both venues had live worship. It was such a cool exerience again this year to worship our Savior with so many brothers and sisters. This year Passion had the Do Something Now Campaign. It was an opportunity for everyone to get involved either financially, prayerfully, or vocationally. It's so incredible to not only see and hear, but to be a small part of what God is doing all over the world so that every ear will hear the Gospel and the Good News of Jesus Christ!

Here's the run down with tons more detail on the Do Something Now Campaign page...52 water wells were sponsored in Africa for communities to have fresh water for life, 6 people groups in Indonesia will receive the New Testament in their native language, 20 students through Compassion International were sponsored so they can go to college in Africa, 4,000 bibles were mailed to East Asia with people committing to pray for each person that receives one. Passion is planning to do global conferences the end of this year and next to reach out to those that don't know Jesus, that haven't heard His Word, and that possibly don't even have the Word of God in their language.

"That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Philippians 2:10-12