Special Sunday

Today was a special Sunday because we became members of Mark Baptist Church in Bloomfield, IA.  It's going to be a bit of a drive for us (almost an hour!), but we're excited to get to be involved in leading the youth group there!  The church is growing and vibrant and we are thrilled about being a part of it!  

At the end of the service, Pastor Gary had us come up as a family so he could introduce us as new members and Jordan as the new youth leader.  He talked for quite a few minutes while we stood up there.  About 3 or 4 minutes in, Serena told me she had to go potty!  This was our first Sunday in undies, so I really wanted her to have a successful day.  I asked her if she could wait until Pastor was done talking.  She was quiet for a bit, though I felt her do something weird with her tummy.  Not even 30 seconds later, she said she had to go potty again.  I didn't dare take a chance at getting peed on in front of the entire church, so I escaped out a side door and hurried her to the bathroom!  We still made it back before Pastor was done talking, and it really worked out perfectly because we ended up standing there for another 10 or 15 minutes while people came by to greet us!  

Serena & Bret seemed so comfortable with everyone at the church and let lots of different strangers hold them!  I think it helped that everyone was so happy and receptive toward us.  Countless people told us how they've been praying for someone to come help their youth group, and how excited they are that God has finally answered their prayer!  Jordan & I felt a little overwhelmed by their enthusiasm and confidence that God is going to do some great work through us.  Please pray with us!  Not only that God really would do a great work through us, but that our faith would be strengthened through this experience!  We know that we are nothing special, but that the Holy Spirit will have to be the One to do a work in the hearts of the teens in that community.

A couple weeks ago, I decided that I wanted Serena to stay in the worship service with us rather than letting her come with me whenever I need to take Bret out.  It's been difficult to get her into a consistent routine at church since we haven't attended the same church twice in a row yet.  A lot of times, Bret falls asleep once I get him out of the service and I think I could sneak back in at that point if it weren't for Serena.  She just has such a hard time remembering to use a quiet voice in church.  She's not loud, she just speaks in her regular voice. Plus it's hard to keep her and Bret both quietly entertained.  So, I did a little creative brainstorming and a little pinteresting.  I'm going to have several little packets of quiet activities that I can rotate through each week.  This past week was an "I Spy" book, a sensory pad (cheap hair gel & a couple drops of food coloring dumped into a gallon zip-lock bag and taped to a binder), some pipe cleaners, and some wood shapes and string (for lacing; I picked it up for a couple dollars at Target).  It turned out to be a huge success!  Our original plan had been for Serena to play in Jordan's lap so I would be free to come and go with Bret as needed.  However, Bret took a nap on the drive to church, so he was happy to stay with Jordan through the whole service.  Serena played quietly in my lap and we didn't have any problems at all!  We spent the second service with the youth group, and Serena played with the packet in my lap once again.  I'm SO happy!  :D  

And, since I once again failed to get pictures of them all dressed up for church (it really is a shame, because they looked SO cute!), here's a couple pictures of silliness from this morning right after breakfast: