We had a great time yesterday at Midlands Church's fall festival! We have had it at Stone River the last few years, which is a beautiful venue on the river and overlooks the city, and even though it was a rainy day, it was a lot of fun! There are lots of pumpkin games for the kids and a chili cook off (which Hart won last year) ... we had to give the others a shot this year, so we left ours out of the running (JK!)

 Cai was Ezra from Disney Star Wars for Halloween. We had already dressed up 3 days prior for a number of Halloween business so this isn't his complete costume, but he wanted to wear it again!

 Waiting to Pumpkin Bowl!

 Pumpkin Tic Tac Toe

 Judah picked out this awesome prize from the prize box....

 Sporting those purple shades like a boss!!! I tell you this kid has two adjectives that describe him best: stubborn and silly! Hahaha! That's a fun combo!

We feel really blessed because yesterday was November 1st and Hart's first full-time day working for Midlands Church! By God's grace, we reached right past 50% of our support raising mark and are so grateful that God always always provides exactly what we need exactly when we need it! While there is still a support raising road ahead of us, we are grateful to have the amount needed to begin working full-time in ministry! If you would like to support our family in prayer and financially, please visit our support page for more details!

Hope yall had a great Halloween weekend!  

Fall Decorations

I love Fall and decorating! I love that God lays out the gospel in things like the seasons of the year. The Fall reminds me of sin and the first fall (away from God) to ever happen. Winter reminds me of brokenness, barrenness and Christ's death on the cross, and then there is Spring that reminds me of victory in Jesus and new life everlasting with him. It's just so beautiful to be physically reminded by God of his loving good news! Are you the same?

I'm not really sure how I aquired so many fall type decorations, but with both of my mothers (Jane and Linelle) in life, I have, and this year, I put more effort into making things look "pretty" and I didn't spend anything.

The Living Room, Over the TV:

I'm loving these shelves, because I can change them out constantly!

I should have cropped these...sorry I wasn't in a photo editing mood!

Other shelf in Living Room:

This year, I kept things simple with a leaf here and there and some rope that was in our utility room.

The  dining table:

My mom went to NC and brought home these beautiful gourdes!

And a simple wicker placesetting, wooden napkin ring and a leaf dress up these yellow napkins for Fall!

Do you like decorating for Fall or do you think it is tacky/purposeless? We kind of get into Fall/Christmas around here!

Looking forward to FALL!

My wonderful friend, Elizabeth, posted this fun blog on what she is looking forward to about FALL! Well, I've got my list, too! Here are a few things:

• Learning to be a mommy
• Throwing on my nice comfy cords with a comfy long sleeve tee aka NOT wearing maternity clothes!!!
• Cool weather
• Dressing Micaiah up for Halloween
• Watching the leaves fall from my porch
• Getting back in shape with the hubby
• Eating all the fall related foods... pumpkin this, pumpkin that!
• Thanksgiving with family with a baby -Cai will be the first in a long while on my side!

Oh... and the list could go on til Christmas time, when Micaiah (and Hart and I) will get to meet Naomi for the first time! Can't Wait!!!

New Season in Our Lives

Autumn has come upon us with chilly weather and all the thoughts that Christmas will be here before we know it! The planner that I am, I am already thinking about gifts for family (and how we will afford it). At the close of this year, Hart and I will celebrate our 1 year anniversary of marriage and so far it has been 10 months of newlywed bliss and it is only getting better. We love it! As we have been going through a time of adjusting, well, EVERYTHING, life could not be more blessed! Thank you Jesus!

I was raking our yard this morning, which is no easy task due to our huge hardwood trees in our yard, while Hart mowed and all I could think about was how I love to work beside him as a partner. It just satisfies my soul. We really make a great team together and it is no wonder God put us together! It seems that this first year really has been a year of firsts for us. Our first house, first dog, first jobs, first.... well, you get the picture. We have made goals financially, physically, as we have started a new exercise program that we have actually stuck to, and spiritually, with the Lord, which brings me to the next topic of church.

I have been dying to blog about this, but being wise we decided it would be best to give it a little more time. However, the past few weeks, God has made it abundantly clear that we have been called to start going to a new church, Columbia Crossroads Downtown with Pastor Brad Bird. Our souls have been awakened from the numb tired stupor that we allowed ourselves to fall into, to a now most blessed revival in our hearts only possible because of Christ Jesus. Allow me to explain...

When Hart and I met, we attended my church Lexington Presbyterian Church for about 1 year or so. During that time, Hart started to think that maybe we should try out some Columbia Downtown churches, so we visited First Presbyterian, and then Christ Church of the Carolinas. Christ Church became our home church and we were hooked on the depth of teaching and the very clear calling to live holy lives. Hart was blessed to begin working there and for 2 1/2 years he was called there. There were so many blessings and joys, too. We joined this past year and it was not until this past August that the calling to work there was removed and God allowed for Hart and Charlie to start their new real estate company, The Mather Company. When Hart stopped working for the church we still felt led to attend our church, but we were excited about a few things that neither of us could deny and that was FREEDOM!

There was freedom to sit together as a couple, freedom to serve in the nursery together, and freedom to have the option to attend a different church if the Holy Spirit called us that way, as well as, freedom to go out of town and go to church there if we visited family, etc. Hart no long had Sunday duties and this made that longed for freedom possible. If I remember correctly, I think it was the second Sunday that he no longer worked for our church when this happened.

We were driving to church (I still was teaching the 3 yr old Sunday School at the time) and I asked so when does Columbia Crossroads start their service? (We had heard about Crossroads because some of our friends went there and had always been interested to try it out). Hart replied, "Eleven, I think." Totally fired up, I was like, "So, we could actually leave and have enough time to go to their church after I finished teaching?" We started praying about where God wanted us to go and it was evident that we were supposed to visit there THAT day. In between Sunday school and Church we drove to St. Andrews Crossroads and thats where the awakening began in our souls. The sermon was on spiritual driftedness from Hebrews and I can tell you that the Holy Spirit was speaking directly to us through it. We were so amazed that God was being so direct and how perfect the timing was, that we started to consider if God was not only calling Hart from working at the church, but if also He was calling us to a new church as well.

While we enjoyed the time at the St. Andrews campus, we really prayed and knew that we were not being called to worship with that particular body. So we decided to go back to Christ Church the following Sunday to see how we felt. Well, through the particular sermon that was preached and among other things, God affirmed for us to go to Crossroads Downtown the next week just to see how it was.

We traveled way out Monticello Rd in the middle of nowhere to the most beautiful house I have ever seen to go to church. They are meeting in a house right now because they are currently renovating a building on Sumter St. downtown. I rounded up my brother to go and his girlfriend, and my 89 yr old grandmother (who loved it so much she came back with us the next week).

It was absolutely amazing. The sermon, the music, the love of Christ, EVERYTHING, we enjoyed and worshiped God. Christ was preached so clearly and abundantly and his name lifted up so high, that we couldn't help, but catch the fire of it in our own hearts! It felt like we had found our first love again! How had we fallen asleep? How could we even not pay close enough attention to the gospel we have heard and fall away from it? Hebrews 2:1 We decided to go back a for a second week and it was just as good, if not better.

Here is a list of things that we like about the church:

1)Christ is lifted up high in song and in teaching (it still has all the depth and meatiness that we long for)

2)They just started a brand new series on Hebrews and provide an at home study book with in depth questions that help you dive right into the book of Hebrews (which I have benefited GREATLY from in knowledge; I finally feel like I can LEARN what the Bible says)

3)There is A LOT of grace that is preached throughout the sermons

4)There are a lot of young couples in our stage of life

5)It is a combination of traditional/contemporary-a good mix (just what we have been praying for/longing for)

6)There are a lot of ways to get involved i.e. community groups (bible studies), potluck events, helping the homeless, etc.

Personally, I have needed this type of church for a long while, but I just prayed to the Lord that he would do it in his timing and he did!! And while we are going to miss the people at Christ Church and will still visit at night occasionally, I think both of us needed this new season to help us grow into people that look more like Christ and who knew that better than the One that loves us most, Jesus. Soli deo gloria!