Busy Busy Barre

Over the last 10 days, we have all been very busy.  Brian is putting together a children's ministry program at the church... basically starting from the babies up.  Since his last meeting, he has helped put together a six week nursery rotation and has created some guidelines and info sheets for the kids that have been received well.  He's working on VBS and Backyard Bible Clubs for the summer (mission teams will help to staff these) not to mention preparing a sermon for this Sunday, too!  Oh, and he's taking care of Nathanael Mondays and Fridays and carting him to the babysitter's the other three days. 

Allison spent last week at work without her preceptor as she was off camping and having a blast on vacation!  She stayed really busy seeing a ton of patients and asking lots of questions to whoever would lend an ear.  She did enjoy her first Memorial Day off in six years!!  We all went to a friend's house for a barbecue (not involving eating pig, but grilling outdoors).  What fun!

Nathanael went to another friend's house this week because our babysitter's little boy has a really bad ear infection and had to go to the hospital over the weekend.  He got to help get his friends off the school bus and played in the mud!  Every night, though, during our family worship time, he remembers to pray for Zander (our babysitter's son).  He has missed Zander this week, but has had fun at the Cambio's.  Thanks Kaye!!

Last weekend, Nathanael also stayed home without Mommy and Daddy and played with Katie and Tawney (friends from church).  He got to eat pasta, pizza, waffles, bacon, eggs and sausage and even drank a little soda while Mommy and Daddy were gone.  He had a great time playing with these girls! He also participated in a Skype session with our friends from OMV in NC.  He got to get out of bed on Sunday night to talk to Gary, Debbie, Kyle, Caroline, Aaron, Sarah, and Daniel.  Although he spent most of the time running around playing with his trucks, he talked about seeing them on the computer all week!! He really misses you all!

Mommy and Daddy went to Maine for the weekend to be assessed by the NAMB to receive church planter funding.  We drove through the White Mountains in New Hampshire, which we both agree was one of the most beautiful things we have ever seen!  We meet with an assessor from NAMB who is also a church planter in Augusta, Maine.  We spent about 4 hours talking with him on Saturday about our calling to Vermont and church planting, how we handle situations, our flexibility and motivation.  We had a great time... we also learned about a church planter retreat for the Baptist Convention of New England in late June in Connecticut.  We received our official invitation this week and have cleared it with my boss at work to have a few days off to go.  We are looking forward to meeting some more church planters who have a heart for New England.  

I also need to add that our heat is still on in our apartment... yes, the end of May and the high today was 53.  We had a frost on Monday night.  It makes me think I'll really love summer here and not miss the triple digit Carolina days!  Please continue to pray for wisdom in where we will plant a church in the next year and even for the community, too, that hearts will be open to the gospel.  

A view of the White Mountains

Mt. Washington and the Mt. Washington Hotel

He loves to smile!

Nathanael's new PJs

getting a bit warmer...

This week was a bit warmer than the one before, and we are hoping that trend continues.  On Monday, Mommy met Daddy and Nathanael for a picnic lunch at Barre Town Elementary.  We enjoyed seeing each other during the workday!! Mommy likes driving around for her job.  We had a nice Mother's Day, although it was very chilly here.  We went to Burlington and drove over to Lake Champlain.  Regretfully, we left the camera at home... it is beautiful!  Nathanael and Daddy made a nice card for Mommy and she also got cards daily through Wed wishing her Happy Mother's Day.  A friend of ours from Atlanta also sent Mommy a video of a news report declaring Allison Conyers as Mother of the Year.  Movie stars and even the President were congratulating me!! It was so cute! Thanks Amy!  

Daddy made good progress in setting up guidelines for the nursery and children's ministries. We met with a couple who serves with the children right now, he helped out with two youth events this week and played the drums with the youth band today.  Yesterday he traveled with our friends, The Killoughs to Bennington, VT for an associational meeting.  He met many of the pastors and other missionaries across the state.  Today, we also met with a couple from Windsor who are interested in being a part of a church plant there.  Please continue to pray for us as we seek the place where God would have us start a church.  He also rode his bike to work this week.  He dropped Nathanael and the cart off at the babysitter's house before heading to the church.    

Nathanael is excited that CC will be coming up on an airplane in a few weeks.  Daddy has to travel to VA in June and will bring CC back with him.  He's also thrilled about going to VA, NC, and SC in August and he gets to be in his first wedding in September!!  In the meantime, he is talking quite a bit, is learning to say yes ma'am and yes sir, and continues to go to bed without any problems!  He loved seeing a rainbow outside this past weekend!

Daddy on Public Television

Daddy at his church office

The view from our Monday lunch

Rainbow

Learning

A few things we have learned:

God sold our home

Our house went on the market Feb 21, an offer was made to buy it March 21 and the closing went smoothly, with pretty much no effort on our part on April 28.  Very surprising to us, especially in the buyers market when our subdivision had about 12 other houses on the market, too.  Oh, and it really helps to have a great realtor, and a discounted one at that!

The home that God sold!

There really are beautiful homes in Barre and we can live in 750 square feet

No surprise that we moved into our apartment, sight unseen.  Well, here it is... 750 square feet, 2 BR, 1 Bath at the top of a really pothole filled road. However, I do know there are some really nice places around here with beautiful views!  I have travelled to a few of those while visiting patients.  I've only gotten lost about 5 times in the last two weeks!

We live on the top floor  :)

You can travel by air to Texas and not bring back the swine flu

I didn't post last weekend because I was headed to San Antonio, Texas, for the Oncology Nursing Society Congress.  I had a great time learning, eating at really nice restaurants courtesy of pharmaceutical companies, and catching up with some NC and VA friends.  

The Alamo

We love Duke

The best part of my trip is that most of the money I spent will be reimbursed!  I submitted an abstract for a poster presentation that was accepted for display at ONS. Duke has an education stipend that thankfully wasn't totally cut this year!! 

The poster 

We love the babysitter and the friends Nathanael has made

Our friends, the Cambios, had us over for dinner a few weeks ago... homemade pizza!  It was great.  These are their kids: Christopher, Nico, Misha and Naomi.  They introduced us to Nathanael's babysitter, Dawn.  On Wednesday when Brian went to pick him up, he cried for quite some time because he did not want to leave.  What a blessing!!  We are all planning to go to NH to celebrate the boys' birthdays and ride on the real Thomas!!  It's going to be a total surprise for Nathanael!

The kids playing outside

Misha and Naomi helping Nathanael wash up before dinner

Preaching to the chairs really helps

Brian preached his first sermon here two weeks ago.  I think the pressure of being taped and replayed on Public Television made him want to make the presentation even better.  We spent the Sat night before he preached at the church until almost 10pm listening to Brian preach to the chairs!  Nathanael got a bit restless during the second go-round, but it really helped Daddy! He preaches again this week.  I don't think we'll have to listen along with the chairs this time...

Nathanael after Daddy's sermon

Having missionary friends when you are headed that way is essential

We have met some dear friends who are missionaries through NAMB here, Dwain and Sarah Killough.  They are Texans who have been here in Vermont just over a year.  They have taken to Nathanael, and he to them, which is an answer to our prayers.  They are also full of godly wisdom in so many different areas!

Mrs. Killough and Nathanael

We will be meeting with a family who'd like to be part of a church plant in Vermont next Sunday.  The  following weekend (May 22-23) we will be traveling to Maine to be assessed by the NAMB to be approved as church planters.  Thank you for prayers!!  

Tire Swing