Catching Up

There are 6 days left in October.  But my fridge thinks it's September.

I'm not gonna lie and pretend that this hasn't happened before.  Sometimes, I've even two months behind.  But normally I have the wherewithal to at least switch out the month.  So at quick glance I look somewhat organized.

Halloween school celebrations are on Friday.  Kayla wants to be Velma from Scooby Doo.  I am just learning now that bright orange turtlenecks are hard to come by in life.  Our amazing San Francisco Giants made it to the World Series.  Game 1 is on Wednesday.  I'm hoping this fact will send a surplus of orange apparel into the area and help my chances.  And we need glasses that match Velma's "exactly."  This should be fun.

10.10.10 post and pics will be up soon.  And a few recipes.  And our rainy but super fun trip to Newport.

Before I switch my calendar to November.

Promise.

Launch Week

Life has been busy.  A good busy.  A crazy, no-time-to-blog busy.  We concluded our second Sunday service at Sunnybrae this morning, so I figure it's fine time to finish documenting the first.

And the amazing week that led up to it.

On Tuesday night, October 5th we met at our house to finalize the schedule for the Masters Team who were due to arrive the next day.

And of course there was no question as to the fine cuisine that would be served.

That's Ashlyn's little mit.  Stealing someone else's burrito.  She loves her Chipotle.

We then went to the school and performed a signage trial run.  Late at night.  For no good reason.  Because we are weird like that.

Then, on Wednesday night, the sweet angels arrived.  We had dinner at Grandma Jean's (no pics... sorry).  And some of us (me, not being one) were up super early the next day for worship and prayer at an awesome San Mateo overlook.  Kim documented, as usual and sent pics.  So I got to pretend I was there.  But sleep in.  Win.  Win.

Later that day, we handed out postcards to our neighbors.  We invited them to our first service on the 10th and to a Kids Club and BBQ we were having the Saturday before.  Which scared me to death.  Not a fan of the door-to-door thing.  But I felt it wrong to ask them to do something that I wasn't willing to do.  So I went.  And secretly prayed no one would be home.  And left lots of cards under windshield wipers.  And ran if I heard voices.  Sad, sad excuse for a pastor's wife, I know.

After we were all out of postcards, Dave took the kids into the city for the afternoon.  Some had never been before.  Here is the team at the top of Twin Peaks.  It was windy.

The next day they went into Oakland to serve at City Team Ministries.  They painted a large portion of the shelter which, I know, was a huge blessing for that organization.  Poor Janell, the ASL queen, still had paint in her hair when they left on Sunday.

Later that night, we headed back to our house for tacos and to watch the Giants game.  A very ugly game, indeed.   Mid-ugliness, Dave, a few Hope peeps and the Masters kids went out into the streets of downtown San Mateo to talk with people and invite them to church on Sunday.  I stayed home with my sleeping children and watched the Giants blow a 4-0 lead.

On Saturday, the 9th, we had our Kids Club and BBQ at Sunnybrae Park.  Beautiful, perfect weather.  And another great time of fellowship and getting to know one another.  And those in our neighborhood.  Those we would soon be ministering to.  And I'm just realizing now that my pictures are kind of sad.  And I'm not exactly sure why.  It think it was also a too-crazy-to-take-great pictures kind of week.

Later than night, back to our house for pizza and a sign-making extravaganza.  We printed programs, letterhead, kids' coloring pages, statements of faith, etc.  My Cricut was taken out of semi-retirement and burned some serious midnight oil.  For those of you who are not scrapbooking geeks, a Cricut is a dye-cut machine.  For those of you who still have no idea what I'm talking about, I'm afraid we can no longer be friends.  We also spent time in worship, prayer and read through the Sermon on the Mount.

Precious, sweet time together.  And definitely the calm before the beautiful storm.

Masters is my new Favorite School

Los Angeles.  The City of Angels.

I've always found this name to be slightly ironic.  Had I been the Spanish governor in 1781, I may have chosen otherwise.

Niebla Tóxica.  Smog.

Demasiadas Personas en un Espacio Demasiado Pequeño.  Too Many People in Too Small a Place.

Mayor Cantidad de Agua Horrible que he Probado.  Most Horrible Water I've Ever Tasted.

Lucky for L.A., I was not in charge.

And lucky for us, the city truly lived up to its' name by sending us the most wonderful team of young people from The Masters College to help launch Hope's Sunday morning service.

And yes, I know there is no such thing as "luck" and God sent them, not L.A.  There are times, however, I slightly deviate from sound theology for the sake of clever writing.  Demandame.  Sue me.

Oh, this team of angels. Where to start?

First, Janelle.  Fluent in ASL and the one I wanted to kidnap most.  She signed to Ashlyn the ENTIRE time and had such patience and love for our little girl.  Such a beautiful gift.  Then, Kimberli (with an "i").  Total spark plug.  So excited about life and Jesus.  Lydia, quiet but bold.  And her mom makes a MEAN bean salad.  Ellie, from Panama with a sweet and gentle spirit, fluent in Spanish and, if she reads this, probably cringing at my translation attempts.  And, of course, Jesse, the coordinator of all this amazingness.  Who encouraged and loved her little church in ways she doesn't even realize.

Then there were the boys.  Lee, Robert, Edward (aka "E") and Nathan.  Polite and hard-working young men that love Jesus.  True, selfless servants.  "E" said the King James version of the bible "had his heart."  Grandmums and Grandma Jean LOVED "E."

Here they are with Pam (Jesse's mom) at Saturday's BBQ in the park.  And is that a halo above his head?  I think yes.  My favorite picture, BY FAR.

‎"Two are better then one.  Because they have a good return for their work.    If one falls down, his friend can help him up.  But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!"  Ecclesiastes 4:9-10

Estoy muy agradecida e mis amigos nuevos.  So thankful for my new friends.

Dear Hope

Dear sweet church,

As we move out of the house up on the hill and into the heart of our community I have many prayers for you.

I pray that we always remain true to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  That we always preach Him, and Him alone.  Never ourselves.

I pray that we would be continue to be a church who cares for one another.  A church that sacrifices for one another.  A church that is unified through Christ.  And has patience for one another even and especially when it is difficult. A church that truly LOVES one another.  Not because we are supposed to.  But because we WANT to.

I pray that we grow.  Not for our own glory but so that Christ's name can be preached to more people.

I pray for my husband, your pastor.  I pray that he always stands firm in God's Word and continues to peach Jesus.  I thank you for his conviction.  I pray that you would give him courage, boldness and confidence but never make him calloused to the needs around him.  I love him so much, church.  I thank you for loving him, too.

I pray for our worship team and our children's ministry.  I pray you would use them both to draw people and families to Jesus.  I thank you for the many talents you have bestowed to those leading.  I pray you would use this body of believers to encourage them.

I pray that you would continue to raise up leaders, elders, missionaries and preachers.  I pray that we would be a church that recognizes God-given gifts in our body, cultivates them and equips those with them to be sent out for His glory.  Shame on us if we ever pridefully or selfishly hinder that process.

I am thankful for all those you drew to yourself during this time.  Thankful for their support, patience, long suffering and endurance.  Thankful for the love showed to my family.  I will never forget how you provided through them.

Church, you are growing up.  And I can't wait to watch.

So much love,

Your Pastor's Wife

The Last Week (or Two...) in Pictures

Church planting is TOUGH work.

In other news, my mom's crazy 1st cousin Barbara was in town from New York with her not-so-crazy, VERY-patient-with-children-that-follow-her-everywhere daughter, April.  We had a great time shopping in the city and eating pop-overs at Neiman's.  Kayla ate caviar.

She also saved a fish egg in her pocket "so it could hatch later..."

Facetime with Margaret.  New addition to the bedtime routine.

These spiders are taking over our land.  And they are HUGE.  With webs as big as my kitchen.  With lots of relatives.  I had hoped the few days of 100+ degree heat would make them all spontaneously combust.  But no such luck.

My birthday was on October 1st.  So was Matt Cain's, the starting pitcher for the Giants.  Would have been a GREAT night to win the division, right?  RiiiiiiiGHT?  Wrong.  AND we sat next to 4 Padres fans.

Well, actually, we made Brian sit next to 4 Padres fans.

My beautiful friend Tonita celebrated her 40th birthday.

We were so happy to be there to celebrate with her.  For a variety of reasons.

KK on the day the Giants did, in fact, clinch their division.  In Tina's hand-me-down jersey.

Which she will be wearing tonight for good luck.

Birthday dinner with the girls and rough lighting was an uninvited guest.  LOVE Krissie's boots, Ashley's scarf and Oreo pizookie.  DO NOT LOVE Sears portrait studio pose (what exactly was I thinking with the hand cross-over?) or red-eye.

The End.

Face Lift

Our blog's getting one.  Courtesy of this amazingly talented woman.

I'm really excited.  But also worried she may jump through her T1 and strangle me before the whole process is over.

I'm kind of high maintenance in the design department.

P.S. Someone else got a face lift, too.  A REAL one.  A WAY more expensive one.

But I'm not sure I'm supposed to talk about it yet.  Hi mom! :)

Here's a picture of our disaster of a family (minus the kiddos) taken at my brother's engagement party last weekend.  Me, still portly.  Kennah, still ridiculous.  But doesn't my mom look great?  Even though her eyes are closed and she is mid-sentence, reprimanding my 30 year-old brother.

And don't the rest of us look horrific?  Worst family pic EVER.

Eat. Pray. Love. And a Sketch Van.

I made my dear friend Krissie's amazing mac and cheese recipe a few weeks ago, took pictures and figured I'd save it for a time when I didn't have much to blog about.  Or a time (like now) when I feel like I have TOO much to blog about and just want to sit in a corner somewhere and eat lots of cheesy, yummy comfort goodness.

Yesterday, Hope Church received final approval from Sunnybrae Elementary School to meet there on Sunday mornings.  Which means our little church will be moving out of Grandmums house and into a good-sized multi-purpose room with a second room for our children's program.  Our first service there will be on 10/10/10 @ 10 AM.  (Dave's always been a geek about numbers so he is especially thrilled...) THREE weeks from today.  Which means  a ridiculous amount of work to be done in a very short amount of time.

The guys left at 5:45 this morning and headed up to a certain white trash region of our state to purchase a super sketchy van which will act as our church storage unit.  A van that will remain parked somewhere FAR away from our house.  This van that my husband just texted me a picture of with "Bam" as the subject.

A super creative and talented friend is in the process of creating our logo and website design.  We'll then have banner signs and flyers to be printed and sandwich boards to be made.  There are details to be finalized for our children's program.  Tote bags to be made for those children.  Insurance, instruments and sound equipment to purchase.  Books to order.  Communion sets and a pulpit to decide on.

And I'm sure a zillion other things I can't remember or we haven't thought of yet.

Also, Jesse Sloan is bringing 10 students up from Masters College to help with the launch.  They arrive on October 6th and will stay until Sunday night, October 10.  We're super excited to welcome and meet them, pray with them and fellowship with them.  And more than thrilled to have the extra support because there is so much work to be done.  And I'm hoping, for their sake, that none of it involves driving in the sketch van.  Because that would just be mean.

We've been "planning" for quite some time.  But now it's all SO very real.  And the work that is ahead of us can only be completed with much prayer for God's help and provision.  He has been SO faithful so far that we are able to proceed with confidence that it will remain so.  And for that reason, this  is a very exciting time for us.   And one that makes me want to eat lots of mac and cheese.  Because cheesy carb amazingness makes exciting times all the better.

Ingredients: salt, 1 lb elbow macaroni, 6 tbs. unsalted butter, 1/4 cup flour, 3 cups milk (heated to simmering), 1/2 lb. sharp cheddar cheese (shredded), 1/2 lb. jack cheese (shredded), Tapatio hot sauce, 3/4 cup Italian style bread crumbs

Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Lightly butter a glass baking dish.    Bring a large pot three-fourths full of salted water to boil.  Add the macaroni.  Stir well and cook for about 6 minutes.  The macaroni will still be quite al dente; it will cook further in the oven.  DO NOT overcook.  Drain thoroughly.

While the pasta is draining, return the pot to the stove.  Add 4 tablespoons of the butter and melt over medium heat.  Whisk in the flour and reduce the heat to low.  Let the flour mixture bubble, whisking occasionally, without browning, for 2 minutes.  Gradually whisk in hot milk, raise the heat to medium and bring to a boil.  Remove from the heat, add the cheeses and stir until cheese are melted.  Return the macaroni to the pot with the melted cheese sauce and mix together.  Season to taste with salt and hot pepper sauce.

In a small saucepan, melt the remaining 2 tablespoons butter over medium heat.  Spread the macaroni evenly in the prepared baking dish.  Sprinkle the top with bread crumbs.  Drizzle the melted butter evenly over the bread crumbs and macaroni.  Bake about 40 minutes, until the sauce is bubbling and the top is browned.

Serve hot, directly from the baking dish.

Enjoy!  And pray for us while you eat it.