My Ebenezer

Did you know that Seth loves pockets and he almost always keeps a little hot wheels car in one, and a marble or bouncy ball in the other.  I usually find one of his pocket treasures in the dryer, which always makes me smile. And Seth doesn't like pajamas because they don't have pockets. Vacation Bible School is done!  Crafty J (that's me) can retire her name badge for another year.  I do love VBS, but I'm always ready for it to be over by the end.  There is a certain kind of tired that is only experienced by a VBS staff member. Am I right? Each and every one of the pictures on my camera from VBS came out blurry!  I couldn't believe it.  I think it was the lighting, but maybe it was the setting.  :( Noah lost another tooth a few nights ago and the Tooth Fairy (also me) keeps forgetting to put money under his pillow!  OOPS.  I blamed it on being VBS Tired, but that didn't make Noah feel any better.  I saw him dejectedly sittin...

Our church is in transition right now.  There is a family who, though indispensable to our ministry over the last 5 or so years, is suddenly being moved by the clear direction of God to South Carolina.  We see the hand of God in it, and so we can do nothing more than praise Him for this working in their lives and hold our hands out in expectation of how God will fill the gap.  Because there will be a gap.  This family was involved in almost every ministry; deacon, Sunday school teachers, nursery workers (as the one "in charge" of scheduling nursery workers, just ask me how much I will miss them!), music, organization, and probably a myriad of other capacities of which I am not even aware, because they didn't serve to be noticed.  And did I mention that they drove almost an hour one-way just to get to church?  We're talking dedication. But as much as I am sorry to see them go, there is also awakening in me a kind of wonder-filled excitement at what God wil...

I recently got a new camera, after my old one's lens cover was mysteriously submerged in grit and refused to open anymore.  How this happened we don't know, but I think it had something to do with the fact that we have two kids who love dirt. We debated long and hard whether we should even buy another point-and-shoot at all, or if I should just join the 21st century and buy a smartphone, which would take pictures and keep me perpetually tied to the internet, all while making calls and texts.  But the truth remains; that doesn't thrill me like it does for most people. I don't use my phone like most people do, nor do I even want to (that's another soapbox for another time), and so I was happy to purchase another point-and-shoot camera, which I will employ to do camera-like things, and not also require it to also make phone calls, keep track of my appointments, and order pizza.  Anyway. So I have this camera, and I just learned how to upload the pictures from it!  A...

This was us attempting to take a family picture while being attacked by no-see-ums.  Fun times! :) A camper I am not.  Last weekend, we had the opportunity to go camping with our church family, and while we had a great time pitching the tent, cooking over the campfire, and getting all rustic, I have to be honest and say the sleeping was The Pits.  Our air mattress went flat around midnight, which was about the same time that the people who had rented the campsite adjoining us decided that midnight would be a perfect time to show up and loudly set up their campsite.  I kid you not.  Call us wimps, but we hightailed it home to our quiet and fluffy beds.  Out of the two times I have been camping, both times I have left the campsite in the middle of the night, seeking sleep in any form.  So.  I would have to chalk up camping as For The Birds, and resolve next year to be sensible and just leave the camping business for the stouter-hearted folks. ...

This coming Tuesday marks the end of this year's 49th week!  What have the last few weeks been like for us?  Well, busy.  I've not been taking a whole lot of photos, but I've been dying to blog again.  And while my inner perfectionist cringes at the thought of missing whole weeks at a time of this 365 project and doesn't know where to begin to get back on track, I think I'll just jump in and start here. This little man turned ONE YEAR OLD on November 19! This was his cake.   This little man went swimming on Thanksgiving Day and lived to tell about it! :)  The air temp and water temp were about the same: 62ish degrees.  Brrrr!! I affectionately call this Seth's Downward-Facing Dog (that's a yoga position which looks just like this).  He does this an awful lot for reasons I can only begin to guess. I made this for a family in our church who asked me if I would.  They asked in July and I just now finished it.  *h...

"Busy" just doesn't begin to describe the last month around here.  "Crazy Busy" comes closer.  Rather than eat up my time trying to sort through my photos and get them all uploaded, maybe I'll just post one or 2 photos per week to cover the last four weeks of my absence. We bought a bike seat for Seth so now we can ride as a family. TBC hosted a week of Vacation Bible School, and I did some face-painting for that. We enjoyed spending more time with some family during the week between VBS and family camp Took the kids to the beach one evening.  Noah played in the water, Seth ate sand, Josh and I talked.  All around a good time!  We met some family and friends at Reedy River park in Greenville, SC on our way to the Wilds. Behold: the only photo I got from Family Camp at the Wilds.  I do believe only I am capable such photographic negligence.  In my defense, I did spend a fair amount of time reading while Seth took naps a...

It rained this week.  A lot.  This made for a rather cooped-up, no-soccer-games, let's-play-monopoly, bounce-off-the-walls (or couches), kind of week. :)  Fun in its own way, but we were definitely glad to see the sun again! Normally we would go outside after school, but due to the rain, it was a day to play Memory.  This particular version has Bible characters on  it.  Noah beat me! :) Have I mentioned that Seth likes things that crinkle?  He is very well-occupied if you give him a page or two from a magazine.  We had a church workday, and I busied myself organizing and cleaning the nursery... while some of the men had a more tiring job of demolition and working with plumbing under the concrete floor! Riding his bike through the puddle; the silver lining, if you will, of all the bad weather.  This is our stream/backyard after all that rain!  Just for perspective, that chair you see is in the grass, and ...

This past week on Nov 6 (Election Day!) our church closed on the purchase of a property, to be used as our future meeting place!  This was many months in the coming, and many prayers later.  There were times we were confused as to how the Lord was working, and then times of little miracles and unmistakable answers to prayer.  We rejoice in the Lord's debt-free provision of a larger, more-classroomed building (spell checker is telling me "classroomed" is not a word.  Oh well.) and can't wait to get moved over there!  But first there are quite a few renovations to be made to turn this office strip building into a functioning church.  We're excited to work on this and see the progress! Front of building.  There are 3 office units side-by-side.  The plan is to work on the far left one first (which will eventually be a fellowship hall), and then begin meeting there while work on the other 2 units takes place. Pastor Matt working on the duct s...

Truth Baptist Church of Connecticut sent some of their teen group to help us here at Truth Baptist Church of Jacksonville put on our second Vacation Bible School. From August 6-12, we housed the girls from that team and had VBS by day, and slumber parties by night. Above are some photos from VBS.