Breaking News - Rome Church Plant

(brian writing) This morning, I had a twenty minute conversation with a guy named Bryan Pierce. Who is Bryan Pierce? He is currently on staff at Perimeter Church , where Jenny and I have been members since we got married back in 2001. Perimeter is known for many things, most of them good, but the two things for which it is most widely known are its pastor Randy Pope (who is on my personal Mount Rushmore), and church planting. Perimeter has planted over a dozen churches in the Atlanta metro area, which are all PCA churches (our denomination). Their technique, tried and true, is to recruit a young buck not far out of seminary, put him on staff and through boot camp for around two years, and shove him out the door to a strategic location, predetermined by the North Georgia Presbytery, to plant a church. That brings me back to Bryan Pierce - he and his family are moving to Rome in two weeks to do that very thing here in our community. The Rome Church Plant from Perimeter is their most far reaching plant to date.

Jenny and I are pumped. Some of you know that we were inches away from moving to Berkeley, CA last year to assist a PCA church plant out there. Circumstances (i.e., MK on the way) changed that, and we came to the small town to raise her and focus on being a family. We wanted to be involved in a church plant, but just couldn't get any peace about going to CA. So, we made the decision to come to Rome.

Imagine my shock when soon thereafter I'm minding my own business at a nonprofit board meeting in Duluth GA and Randy Schlichting (on Perimeter's pastoral staff) casually mentions to me that Perimeter is sending a plant to Rome within the next few years. That was a moment like you see in the cartoons, when an exclamation point pops up over somebody's head...okay back to this morning.

The Pierce's will be in Rome in mid-July, and will hit the ground running, laying the groundwork for the plant. Projected start date for Sunday morning services is September 2007, with the development of a core group (via discipleship groups, home fellowships, etc) in the meantime. Jenny and I visited First Presbyterian Church in Rome last Sunday, and enjoyed it very much. We will likely continue to attend there until the plant gets off of the ground.

The only issue we have is when to get MK baptized...Bob Carter at Perimeter told us to wait until we get established in a church in Rome, but with the plant not starting services until '07...we might do the private ceremony thing at our house, invite family and close friends...we'll prayerfully consider our options and decide later.

We will keep everyone updated on the status of the plant, since it will be a big part of our lives, and, well, that's the purpose of the blog.........

New Toy!

Mary Kate turned nine months old today. In honor of her nine-month birthday, we bought her a riding toy at walmart. She loves it!

Visitors

We have had several people come and visit our new house. If you are not one who has visited, you have an open invitation to come. Here are some pictures of our visitors. Our friends Leslie and Richard didn't make it into any pictures, so they will have to come back again so we can take a picture of their whole family.



My parents and my sister. If they look a little tired it is because they had helped us move twice in one month. They were troopers!



The Mitchell boys, Josiah and Caleb, and Mary Kate. They all had a good time playing together.



Rebeckah, Aunt Chris, and a boy named Connor came to see us. Mary Kate would not stop pulling Rebekah's pig tails. She was a good sport about it!

I will post pictures of our new house later this week for those of you who can't come visit us!

Thank God!

Well, we moved into our new house. It was hard work. We have accumulated alot of stuff in our almost five years of marriage. It took two truck loads and some extra car loads to get it all here, but it is here!

Here is a picture of Brian at home at 5:30 on his first day back at work. Two hours earlier than usual. :)




Mary Kate is everywhere and getting into everything. She tries to eat Aggie's food and anything else that she can. Here she is just crawling around. I tried to capture her looking out the window with the sun shining through, but she was too fast for me.

Homeowners Again

We officially closed on our new house in Rome on Friday. We are very excited and we move on Saturday. If you have any free hands on Saturday, we would love your help. :)

Mary Kate is crawling! She is also loving the pool and Aggie. She says "Aggie." At first we weren't sure if she was saying "Aggie" for real, but whenever Aggie enters the room, she says her name. I guess the dog is more important than Mommy or Daddy.

Quick Hits

I realize it's been a week since we posted on our blog, and I (brian) see the need to make it a little more masculine after that last post...here are some quick pieces of news:

1. We closed on our house in Rome last Friday, after much blood, sweat & tears. We're now official Rome homeowners (any ideas for another name for our blog?)

2. Click here for my sister's big news.

3. Mary Kate is crawling now...I swear tomorrow she'll be in college.

More soon, with pictures of our stay at the lovely Chateau La Hosch in Dacula, Georgia.

Beauty Tip for You Girls!

I found this great stuff that makes your hair shiny and feel great. It is called Shine Happy by Clairol. It is a clear glaze that conditions and makes your hair look shiny and great in just ten minutes. I used to go to the salon and pay 90 bucks for the same thing. (Yes, that was before I was married.) It is around 8 bucks and it does the same thing that I paid for in the salon. I just wanted to share!

Long Time, No Blog

Sorry that I have been such a slacker and have not updated the blog recently. Things have been busy and we don't have internet access on our computer.

We have moved and we are living with my parents for a few more weeks. We will close on our new house on June 9th but we are still not sure when we can move in. Things have been going well here. I have actually been taking some classes for my Masters Degree in Housekeeping. I have taken Lettuce Washing 101 and Car Washing for Beginners. I was taking Principles of Rag Usage, but I dropped that class because it was too difficult! (Just kidding Mom and Dad.) Really, things have gone quite smoothly with all of our stuff shoved into my parents basement and garage. I will post pictures of that later!

In other news, Mary Kate is almost crawling. She is getting more and more mobile. My parents also have a pool in their backyard and she has loved going swimming. Here she is with her "Aunt Maddie."

Packing

We have been packing up a storm lately. Almost everthing is boxed and ready. Even Mary Kate is in a box and ready to go. The sale was final last Friday. We are technically living in someone elses' house until Saturday. We will be staying with my parents for about a month. I will try to blog but I don't know how it will all work.

Shopping with a Baby

Gone are the days when I would zip into a store to shop. Here are a few observations about shopping with a baby.

1. It will take 5 plus minutes to get out of the car and get everything ready.

2. If you time it right, you can get behind a person entering the store so that they will feel compelled to hold the door open for you and all your baby gear keeping you from tripping over the stroller while trying to hold the door yourself.

3. You have exactly 30 seconds to shop before the first fuss. GO!

4. The store personnel purposefully makes the aisles too small for you to fit through with a stroller. They watch at a distance and laugh at your poor driving skills.

5. The store personel also purposefully make displays too short for you to see when you are pushing the car seat atop the shopping cart. Hazard!

6. If you attempt to bring in many toys to keep baby occupied, be prepared to pick them up 200 plus times.

7. It is possible to push a stroller, carry a bag, purse, and baby all the while tallking on your cell phone.

8. If you think it will be smart to put your purse in the bottom of the stoller to condense all of the gear you are carrying, rest assured that you cell phone will ring. You will find it as soon as it goes to voice mail.

9. It will take you longer than 5 minutes to get back into the car. Remember- you now have shopping bags too.

10. Babies do not like shopping! :)

Just a quick venting. I know many of you can relate to several of these.

Bathing Beauty

Mary Kate went swimming for the first time on Monday. Well, it was actually like taking a bath in a giant,luke-warm tub with your bathing suit on. She wasn't sure about it at first but she ended up splashing and loving it! Here she is before we left.

Contract Take Two!

Yea! We have a contract on our house. We are so excited! A very nice couple put a contract on it on Saturday. They made an offer last Wednesday but everything wasn't signed, sealed, and delivered until Saturday. We were about to pull our hair out until it was finalized. At one point on Saturday Brian said, "Jenny, why don't you go for a run. You are driving me crazy!" I guess I had so much anxiety because of what happened last time. We are set to close either May 5th or the following Monday. We have to be out on Mother's Day. We don't close on our other house until June 15th so we will be stuffing all of our stuff into my parents house and staying with them for about a month. Thanks to all of the family and friends who have prayed for 380 days for our house to sell. Rome, here we come!

New Outfit

I know that I mostly put pictures of Mary Kate and her clothing on the blog but she doesn't do much but look cute these days. Anything else that she does could only be showcased appropriately with a video camera. Nana and Pops (Brian's parents) went on a trip to Texas over spring break to visit the Starr family. They brought Mary Kate a very cute outfit and some sandals. Here she is admiring the sandals and wearing the outfit. She found the tags on the shoes immediately and pulled them off to eat. She loves tags. My parents gave her a "taggie blanket" for Easter and she loves it. Crazy kid!





(Brian typing) Since Jenny is humble and never puts herself on the blog, I will sneak in a shot of her and her daughter, and post it before she comes in the room and figures out what I'm doing (I got the shot with the trusty old "I need a pic for my desk at work" line):

Creamsicle

I bought this dress last summer before MK was born. It was a really good deal and I thought it was so cute. Brian said that she looked like a Creamsicle.

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter Everyone! We had a wonderful Easter day. We went to church this morning and then Brian came home with Mary Kate and I taught Sunday School. Brian successfully put Mary Kate down for a nap. Bravo! After church we went over to my parents house for an Easter Feast! We had wonderful food including Aunt Chris' squash dressing and Jennifer's Asian salad. Both were a hit! Here are some pictures of Mary Kate.








Mary Kate's Easter was bigger than Christmas. She got clothes and diapers from Nana and Pops. She got clothes and toys from Grammy and Granddaddy and she just got a book from Brian and I. We wanted to start an Easter tradition but everything we thought of we will do when she is older.

I found myself having a hard time grasping what Christ did for us on the cross and how He rose again. I have heard the story all my life and sometimes it is easy to just take it for granted. Today, I really tried to think of the Resurrection like it was the first time I heard the story. It refreshed me!

Enough Already!

Geez...all we need to do is mention Dairy Queen, and we get 10 comments. Jenny and I are starting to learn what makes our friends tick...if you really are gaining weight and need a distraction, visit my running blog for inspiration to exercise and burn off those blizzards. Maybe you could lace up the shoes, run to your local DQ, and run home....not a bad idea....

The Grump

Mary Kate is teething and she is trying to transition from three naps to two naps. She is pretty cranky and grouchy. I am still trying to get things done, but it is taking me alot longer. I give her Motrin at night to ease the discomfort and the numbing cream for her gums during the day. I have never done this nap transition thing before so any advice would be welcomed!

Here are some happy moments!

New at Dairy Queen

I have discovered a new vice- Cream Pie Blizzards at Dairy Queen. They are soooo good! I have tasted the Banana Cream Pie and the Coconut Cream Pie. I think they are only out for a limited time, which is good for me. I might weigh 300 pounds if they stayed for very long. If you don't like cream pies then you won't like the Blizzards which just leaves more for me!

P.S. No pictures of these wonderful things because I inhale it as soon as I get one.

Standing Up

We opened the windows last night to let in the nice, cool breeze. MK and I were in her room and I took her over to the window to have a look outside. She grabbed the windowsill and just stood there. Here are the pictures to prove it.

Back from Costa Rica

My sister Madelyn just got back from a week long missions trip to Costa Rica. She worked in a nursing home helping repair and paint the building. She had a blast and learned alot. Yes, she came back with a tan while the rest of us are still pasty-white. Here she is with Mary Kate.