Fall Pictures

Most of you might have already seen these pictures on our Christmas cards this year. But here they are again. I am so blessed by my family. They are amazing. We had these taken out at our neighbors pond at the beginning of November. Enjoy!

Christmas Decorations and much more

Well, I figured out how to do a slide show which is good because I have plenty of pictures to load up so now I can give you one big update. The pictures of the girls with pillows on their back was a great idea of dads to be turtles.Also we decorated for Christmas and had Savannah over for a visit. All the girls happened to have purple on. Too funny. Our friends Sam and Michelle from Southwestern Seminary in Texas came for our first visit with their little girl Samantha who turns 1 on Dec 3rd. Daddy Sam has a birthday on Dec 7th and Ella's is Dec 21 and Elizabeth's is Dec 15. We were able to have a cupcake birthday time with them. It was such a joy to host them for a night. We miss them dearly and love the opportunity to visit.

The weather has been super cold and we have been really enjoying the wood burning stove in our house. We are so blessed to have such a great place to live. The girls are enjoying the decorations and the discussions of Jesus' birthday. We look forward to the entire event unfolding for them.

Snow in November

That's right it has already snowed here. Actually this is the second time this season but the first one didn't stay at all. The girls enjoyed the snow especially Ella.

Elizabeth was a little cold and preferred to watch from inside.

What will you give this Christmas?

Hello everyone. Wanted to ask you what will you give this Christmas? Since money is tight and there is so much need out there I wanted to share with you World Visions Gift Catalog. The girls and I made a Shepard's pouch to collect money to purchase something from World Vision for those in need around the world. http://www.worldvisiongifts.org/

The girls will get money for each thing they do around the house to help and then before Christmas we will collect the money and select and item from the catelog to purchase such as a duck for eggs, medicine, water, clothing. We want them to learn to serve others just as Jesus served.

Now here is a picture of my attempt at the pouch. Now you know why I don't do crafts. Ha Ha! I made it out of felt and sowed the edges. Hey I even have a snap closure.

October

Tommy went hunting this past Saturday 10/25 and killed a Cow horn deer. It was a great job and we are excited to have plenty of meat for the next month or more. I didn't get pictures of him cleaning the deer but Ella stood there and watched the entire process.

That night or the night before we decided to have a fire and we ended up roasting hot dogs and smores outside. The girls loved it and it was a great time as a family.

This past Wednesday we went to the state fair and had a great time. Ella got to milk a cow and did a good job.

Here is daddy riding with the girls. I think we will have to buy a ton more tickets next year as everyone loved the rides.

Mommy riding the train with the girls.

Then this past Sunday we were blessed to have our missionary friends from Nicaragua Mike and Joan Vilasi come and stay the night with us. We had a great time catching up with them and treating them to some good old family time in the fall. We walked out to our neighbors pond and field. Ella really enjoyed Uncle Mike/Grandpa and all the fun they had.

More Fall Pictures

Ok, Ok, I know I was supposed to be sending pictures but honestly the tree hasn't done much. It appears that the leaves are falling faster then they are turning. So here is a picture from today but I won't put anymore of this tree. There are some pretty ones around town.

The weather has gotten pretty cold now so the girls have pulled out the footie pj's. Ella hated them last year but now doesn't want to take them off. She even puts them on at quiet time.

Enjoy the pictures. More to come. We are headed to the state fair tonight and will add some pictures.

Fall is in the air

The fall season is upon us as the leaves are slowly beginning to change. I love this time of year. I am continually amazed at the handy work of Christ as I watch the process. I find it completely amazing that He paints the leaves every year in so many wonderful colors. I took a picture of the tree outside of our front door. I thought it would be cool to watch its progress over the next month.
School is going well. I can hardly believe we are just about to the halfway point. Next week is fall break and then the following week is week 8 which is half way. It is a busy semester but again Tommy is doing so well at staying on top of things. He is doing well in his classes and received an A on his math test. Math is a tough subject for him or shall I say it was a tough subject for him growing up. Funny how years can make things a little easier. Tommy has been asked to present the Gospel at our churches Fall Festival on Halloween. Please pray as he prepares for that. It is neat to see how doors are being opened to present the Gospel. It is very exciting to have our church encouraging us.

The girls are doing well. Ella and I have been doing "learning" as she calls it for about a month now and she loves it. It is a great time for the two of us. She is a good student and really enjoys the different things she is taught. Elizabeth is growing up so much. She is officially potty trained (I know old news to you) and I am amazed. I started giving her a regular cup at the table instead of a sippy. Does the second one grow up quicker??? I told Tommy last night, "You realize we don't have a baby anymore." Here are two pictures of the girls. As you can see they love one another very much but also have that sibling rivalry. I think the hug ended in a take down session.




Blessings~Melanie

Schools in

School is officially underway for us. Tommy just completed his fourth week of his fall semester. So far so good! It is a challenge for him to balance everything. The Lord really gives him and extra amount of strength during the semester. As I look at all that must be done I really wonder how he can do it but he continues to stay positive about it all. He is a strong man and impresses me continually. I am so proud of all his hard work and dedication to see this degree through. We are hoping that we are in the last three years of a five year Bachelor's degree with a minor. So pretty typical.

The girls are doing well and growing. They continue to amaze me as I see them mature. Ella is such a great helper and has grown up. We started some basic homeschooling this week and she has done great. She has such a drive to learn. Right now we are pacing it on her and do as much or little as she likes. Elizabeth is now wearing big girl panties, (see picture in previous post) and has done so well. I cannot believe we are there already. How fast time flies.
Blessings~Melanie

To My Grammy and Nanny

We miss you both so much and hope we see you soon. Grammy thank you for our new princess pj's and fun stuff in our box. It is so nice when you send us goodies. Nanny send scoobie doo treats ASAP. Mommy won't buy them for some reason.

Open air preaching in August

This month's outreach took us back to moore square in down town Raleigh. Budwiser was promoting two rock bands on this night so another brother and I felt Jesus leading us to go preach the precious Gospel of Jesus Christ. There where well over a thousand people there no matter where you set up you had a automatic crowd to talk to.
Had some really good conversations as you will be able to see in our vidoes. Thank you brothers and siters in Christ that continue to lift what we do for our King Jesus up to his throne on a daily basis.
The last time I preached at the State Captial I got run off by the police but we are working on a permit for the month of September. If the Lord is willing we will be sharing the Gospel on the State captial grounds in the end of Septmber.
I have met a gentlemen on campus that has done open air preaching for fifteen years I look forward to learning from his past experience.

What am I crazy????

Jen Bart called today to ask if we wanted to meet her at the play area at the mall. I said yes because I am always up for a good adventure. Keep in mind I am now hauling 3 kiddos around because I am watching Owen (5 1/2 months old). First of all bad idea because we weren't getting there until 11am when the rest of the crazy moms make it out. Second, Owen is new to us and on his own schedule oh and he has to eat a bottle and baby food while we are out.

Play area is too crowded so we head to eat. My girls aren't really ready but I get them food. We got to sit down and Owen is starting to cry because it is bottle time. Hook him up while Jen gets the girls food ready. Neither of them eat much and Owen is pretty interested in his bottle but also what others are doing. Oh wait we have to go potty. Did I mention that Elizabeth is pretty much potty trained and prefers (insists) the potty over her perfectly nice diaper she has on. The four of us head to the potty for dry bottoms and a diaper for Owen. Go to play area it looks like a concert it is so crowded. Play on the car things with no money. Owen gets fussy and girls want to go potty......the story continues with more of the same. I finally throw in the towel and head out to find another potty for Ella. Owen is asleep (it is not nap time) I think all the noise did him in. We head home Elizabeth falls asleep about 15 minutes from the house. Transition seems to go well with her but Owen isn't having it.

Owen took a 40 minute afternoon nap. Elizabeth woke up an hour early. Ella went down almost an hour late and work up after an hour. Nap time didn't go well. So trips to the mall or anywhere else for that matter are not on our agenda anytime soon. Thanks Jen Bart for the invite and helping us out but that's all she wrote for now.

Did I mention I had to take my 2 to Walmart that afternoon to get all our groceries on limited naps. By the grace of God we survived. Praise the Lord!!! He is Good!!! ~melanie

Wow, a month has gone by already

Ok, so I guess I am not as good as I used to be at keeping up with things on the computer. I have had a few good laughs lately at the fact that I actually have a degree in computers. I bet my parents are happy they didn't pay for that degree! Oh well it is so funny how life can change so much in 6 years since I graduated college. Wow, imagine how much it will change in 6 more years. My baby girl will be almost 10 and Elizabeth will be almost 8. Wow talk about change. We will be gearing up for their hormones not that we aren't already dealing with that drama. Oh the life of girls.

Ok, ok... so that was a weird way to start. Here is an update. Tommy started his 4 classes last week. It looks like it is going to be a fast semester with little time for air. Math seems to be the challenge. Please pray for him there and his confidence. He is such a great student and I know he can do it. I started keeping Owen last week. He is going on 6 months old and is such a cool addition to our family. The girls absolutely love having a real life baby around the house. I think they like him more since he isn't theirs and he goes home everyday. I guess this is preparing us for another in our family some time down the road.

We have been blessed with a few scholarships this semester that paid for school and more which was totally cool because we lost one scholarship before we knew about the others and were a little discouraged and then in a day the Lord brought in even more through another resource. Man he is faithful and gives us so much more than we deserve. How can we ever doubt you.

Here are some pictures of the girls and the toys we have for Owen. If you notice the exersaucer is broken down for storage and still Elizabeth managed to get herself in there. Oh and yes they do have morning hair. Check older posts for some other morning hair shots.

Enjoy~Melanie

Mowing the lawn should be easy!

Thought some of you would enjoy my lawn mowing experience. Last week Tommy set me up to mow the lawn while he did the other stuff in the yard (riding mower). We have had a ton of rain and a day or so Tommy commented on the need to mow again. I thought this would be a great way to serve my busy husband so I decided to get mowing today while the girls were asleep and then finish it off when he got home. The girls wanted to ride the mower later in the day and daddy still wasn't home. Elizabeth went first and she was super calm so I thought hey I bet I could finish the riding mower parts before Tommy gets home to make his day. So I but Elizabeth on my lap and drove with my right hand and Ella on the back straddling me. It was great and I just kept encouraging them that we were serving Daddy.

Tommy made it home after 7pm and I offered to do the push mower stuff so he could spend time with the girls. He went out to set us up and a few minutes later the girls and I headed outside. Tommy is smiling big and laughing. He says, "Did you notice you weren't cutting much grass?" I said, "I wondered about that it didn't seem to be as much trimmed off as I would have expected but I checked all and it was cutting some." Apparently I had the blade down but there are varying levels and I had it on the highest level 6 instead of 1. So guess what we did a power mow and the girls and I got to cut the entire lawn together while Tommy push mowed areas we couldn't mow and used the weed eater. It was great fun!!! I guess this is how you learn these things. What a funny story we now have as a great family memory in the yard.

Pictures of the mowing.

july outreach part 2 north hills

I talked waith a young man named john he says he is going to heaven because he is a good person so I took the time to unpack what scripture says about God and true salvation. John is not unusual person a large percentage of people who would call themselves Christian think they are going to enter heaven on their own goodness.

This is what Jesus says about our goodness," Isaiah 64:6 For all of us has become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment: And all of us wither like a leaf, And our iniquities, " sin" like the wind, take us away." John has been deceived into believing by our culture and our pagan Christianity in America that he is not going to face judgement for his sin this is not Biblical truth.

Quote from paper on regenerate church membership," Let’s look at how Jesus handled evangelism from the beginning of His earthly ministry. Jesus makes a very clear statement on evangelism, Matthew 5: 17 “From that time Jesus began to preach and say, Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand.” The word repent is a word that has vanished from a majority of Southern Baptist pulpits as well as a lot of others. This word does not mean to pray a sinner’s prayer and join a church in order to go to heaven. This word means grievances over the sin that is polluting your life. Your sin has offended the Holy God that has made you and God has showed you this sin and wants you to turn away because you now hate it. You see for the first time that if you where to die right now that God would be just in punishing a sinner like you in Hell because He is not only merciful but He is also just in every way. And for the first time you see you are helpless to the sin that engulfs your life and you want to cry out to Jesus and place your trust in him alone for salvation. This is the repentance that Jesus is speaking of.
This is the Gospel that must be preached again with a passion and zeal. This blessed truth must sound again from the pulpits like the church bell chiming from its tower on Sunday mornings. We must blow our voices like trumpets once again from the pulpits of our forefathers with a boldness of a lion and the gentleness of a lamb.
What about John the Baptist? His words are almost identical to the words of Jesus in Matthew 4:17. John says in Matthew 3:2 “Repent for the kingdom of Heaven is at hand” this is the very same phrase that Jesus started with in his preaching ministry. But in verse eight of that chapter John adds something that has been forgotten that has lead to our need for regenerate church membership again. John states in Matthew 3: 8 “Therefore bear fruit in keeping with repentance.” In other words our life must be consistent with our confession to follow Christ. We will live a different way than we used to live. Not only has repentance been lost but the fruit that comes from that repentance has been lost. But the first response that comes up when a person brings this subject up is “you are being judgmental”. If we can’t be judgmental about the fruit we see or don’t see in someone’s life than the lost church member will continue on the path that they are on. People use this statement in trying to escape their conscience and their accountability to God, for this is as useless as trying to run from the sun it’s always there and eventually you will have to face it."

Tommy

July outreach in Raleigh north hills part 1

John and Erin said they where Christians I challenged theme to examine themeselves according to scripture. As we talked with John he gave the correct answers on how to be saved so may we pray for him that it is a true confession of faith in Christ Jesus.I will include a paper that was written on regenrate church membership. Which touches on the subject of true salvation which I think every Christian should be concerned about.

Elizabeth's Crazy Morning Hair

This was too cute not to share. Ella, Tommy and I were all up before Elizabeth Saturday morning and we decide to wake her up because we were going to go out to eat. She greeted us with the craziest hair ever and we all got a wonderful laugh. Elizabeth is usually good for a laugh as she is full of smiles and joy most of the time. Enjoy! Melanie

We moved

We are moved. Oh wait you didn't know we were moving! The Lord blessed us with an amazing opportunity to rent a great house 12 minutes away from the Seminary about 2 1/2 weeks ago and we did it. The move went great thanks to all the wonderful family and friends who were able to help us. We are so thankful to everyone for their help.

Here is a link to some pictures of the new place. Just copy and past the address.
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=xsgxsoz.5caom3pv&x=0&h=1&y=swvcdd&localeid=en_US

We now have enough room to entertain and have company come over night. The best part is the owners are super wonderful and love the Lord.

The Lord is so good! Blessings~Tommy and Melanie

Tea Room

Ella and I went to the Tea Room here in Wake Forest about 2 weeks ago. It was a time for her and I to have some girl talk. She was so cute. They have a box of hats, gloves, and necklaces that they can wear. She is growing into a little lady.

We are moving

Guess what???? The Lord has blessed us with an amazing opportunity to rent a house. A home! I am so excited and it is nearly double the square footage and on 2 acres of land. We have a play set and a place for a garden. How wonderful for our family. We are moving June 28th and are preparing.

Tommy is still praying about taking his summer class starting June 30th. He is leaning more towards yes. Please pray as we balance the move, preparing the course work and the transition of our home for the girls. I included a picture or two.

Blessings~Melanie

open air preaching at Raleigh Art Festival May 2008

We did some open air preaching on May 18th in Down Town Raleigh at a Art Festival. We talked with several people about the hope of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I have put two pictures of some of the people we talked with about the Gospel. A majority of the people I talked with think that they will be ushered into Gods presences after death because of their good life on earth. But when they are confronted with Gods commandments they can not escape even if they want to. When people including ourselves see who we are compared to Gods Holiness if we are honest we see we don't measure up. Our goodness can not get us into heaven only placing our faith in Jesus Christ and repenting from our sins brings about this marvelous transaction. We are in a society that drinks down sin like water.We must ask ourselves: Do we hate the sin in our life, does it grieve us? Do we weep over our sin because it has offended God? This rebellion is in every human heart I ask you to evaluate your life today. Please don't forget to pray that the truth Oliver, Alain and Robert heard that Gods Word would bring them to repentance. Hopefully through Gods grace their will be a blog posting every month I hope you are encouraged and challenged in your walk with our Great God. For those reading this that are not sure of your salvation I would ask you to contact me are some other person you trust who is in the faith to walk you through Gods Word.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all the mother's out there. Wow, motherhood is an amazing thing. In a single moment of a birth of a child your heart is forever tied to that person. This simple fact continues to amaze me every day as I watch my daughters grow and learn new things. Children are a blessing of the Lord. This verse is taking on new meaning everyday as I look at my daughters in a new light. They are a blessing given to me for a short amount of time compared to the grand scheme of things. It is my job to instill in them the knowledge of Jesus so they will grow to love him more every day. I think the blessing comes in seeing that job lived out as they love Jesus and choose to serve him with their lives. That is my desire for them.

Praying your children are a blessing from the Lord as you walk in each day with them.

Happy Mother's Day~Melanie

Here is a picture of my awesome Mother's Day present. My husband has blessed me so much!

April 2008 Family Photos Taken By Jessica Moody

my wife is beautiful !

Wow, we are bloggin

Well, looks like we are catching up with the times. We wanted a way to keep everyone up to date with our family and ministry. So here it is. Instead of waiting for a quarterly mailout you can now check our blog anytime to see what is new. We will still plan to mail out letter quarterly as well for those of you who aren't into the computer era. :)