What a year…

With 2008 coming to an end, I couldn’t help but reflect back on all that has happened to us over this past year. It was filled with both excitement and sadness as we moved and relocated to a new ministry. It provided lots of opportunities for our family to laugh and play. And it gave us much to be thankful for. Here are some highlights…

• Week-long family vacation in Florida
• Experienced Disney World and Animal Kingdom with the kids
• Worked a day as an extra in a new Ricky Gervais/Jennifer Garner movie
• Harbor of Hope participated in One Prayer with thousands of other churches
• With Lynda, had the opportunity to baptize her co-worker & friend, Robin
• Went to NYC with the kids — love to play in the city!
• Attended the Whiteboard Sessions in Reston, VA – got to hear and meet some great pastors
• Aubrey’s pre-school graduation
• Took the ferry out to the Boston Harbor Islands for the kids to play
• Reconnected with a good friend
• Got to lead worship with my great friends, John & Billy, one last time
• Said good-bye to our friends at Harbor of Hope with two great send-off parties
• Said good-bye to our home where we brought all four of our newborn children home to
• Attended my 20th high school reunion
• Drove from Lowell to Rochester with Lynda and our dog Sadie
• Saw Niagara Falls for the first time
• Began new job at RCC – Sr Associate Minister
• Packed all of our belongings in a storage unit
• Flew back to Boston for a Sojourn Collegiate board meeting
• Sold our house in Lowell
• Bought a house in Rochester
• Unpacked all of our belonging from the storage unit
• Kids started 2nd grade & kindergarten in a new school
• Our good friend Karen came to visit us from MA
• Saw Little Big Town & Carrie Underwood in concert
• Traveled to Louisville KY for meetings — got to hang with Brent Storms & Toney Salva
• More friends from MA (Amanda & Caroline) came to visit
• Joined a great small group
• Ate Thanksgiving lunch with Colin at school
• Went to Joplin MO for Thanksgiving — first time at Lynda’s parents in several years
• Still using my $50 Circle K gift card given from my Harbor of Hope friends for 69¢ diet coke purchases
• Staff Christmas party at our house
• Staff “elfing-yourself” for the weekend service
• Christmas in our new home and with almost all of our family (Eddie couldn’t come home)

I’m filled with gratitude as I write these words…and I look forward to what God has in store for us in ‘09.

(Thanks to Mark Batterson for this idea!)

Gotta love the fruit punch ’stache!

This was snapped after Aubrey’s Kindergarten holiday show…complete with cookies and punch!

after the big show...

Christmas reviewed…

We had a great Christmas… Lynda’s mom and dad came from Joplin. Had a great evening with two services for Christmas Eve. The kids awoke to some fun Santa gifts. Enjoyed the afternoon at my brother’s house with the Bortmess family. Spent the evening with kids enjoying their new toys. All in all, it was a great day.

Colin’s iPod Shuffle

Aubrey & her American Girl doll

We ARE in farmland now!

My kids are from New England!

Tonight Aubrey was to have her Kindergarten Holiday program. We were getting ready, Aubrey was all ready and dressed in her fun Christmas outfit…even let her mom pull her hair back. And then we got a phone call… the school program was cancelled. Cancelled due to the weather.

The weather.

So instead of going to the concert, Lynda ran an errand, and Aubrey and Colin went with her.

In the car, Colin says, “Mom, they canceled the program? There’s only about an inch of snow on the ground.” Aubrey then chimes in, “Yeah, why would they cancel the program with only one inch of snow on the ground?!”

And that’s when we realized, our kids are from New England. It’s going to take two feet of snow to slow them down!

We’re not in New England anymore…

O Come All Ye Faithful

It has to be my most favorite song to sing at Christmas. Igniter Media just posted a video of the song… love it! Enjoy.

more about "O Come All Ye Faithful", posted with vodpod

who I am…

Heard about this site from another blog I read… You type in your blog address and then it analyzes what kind of person/blogger you are… here’s what it says about me. I think it’s pretty accurate, except I don’t carry a mixed drink in my hand all day…just a diet Coke!

ESFP – The Performers

The entertaining and friendly type. They are especially attuned to pleasure and beauty and like to fill their surroundings with soft fabrics, bright colors and sweet smells. They live in the present moment and don´t like to plan ahead – they are always in risk of exhausting themselves.

The enjoy work that makes them able to help other people in a concrete and visible way. They tend to avoid conflicts and rarely initiate confrontation – qualities that can make it hard for them in management positions.

Matthew’s Begats

Just a fun video we put together last week to introduce our Christmas series.

more about “Matthew’s Begats on Vimeo“, posted with vodpod

Colin turns 8!

We celebrated Colin’s 8th birthday yesterday. It’s hard to believe that he’s already 8… He’s a great kid and I’m really proud of him. He enjoyed his special day…with Chinese food for lunch and a family party in the evening. He’s already putting his new Legos and K’Nex together…

some great music

Ok, so this post is a shameless plug for my friend Amy Petty. I was driving up to IKEA today to get some stuff for church, and I popped in her cd. Can I say, I love Amy Petty? Her voice is like butter (to steal a phrase from Linda Richman). What a great talent…you need to give her stuff a listen. Check her out on iTunes. I think you’ll enjoy the music!

YouVersion.com

Have you checked out YouVersion.com? It’s a collaborative Bible site… you look up your scripture and then you can find study notes, devotionals, messages, videos…things that people have contributed to the wiki. It’s a great little gem… a nice way to shake up your daily devotional time.

This morning, I spent some time reading Matthew 1, the geneology of Jesus, in prep for our weekend services. In YouVersion, I found a daily reading that gave some good insight and then I found a lifechurch.tv message on Christmas. There is countless other stuff on there… Good stuff that I just wanted to pass along.