More Stuff

Wasn't this past weekend beautiful? The change in the weather got me thinking. Spring time is like a renewal. In the winter the weather is dreary, the trees are leafless & most of us seem like we are barely ticking along but then all of a sudden the sun is out, it warms us inside & out, the trees start to bloom, we have a little hop in our step & it seems a little excitement too. Makes me think of God. We are in the dark, lonely, no fruit, just barely making it but then God knocks on a sinners heart and a change begins... it is a fresh new start, just like spring.

I wonder how many of y'all are watching the Bible? My family is really enjoying it. We rarely watch tv as a family because the twins live in their room and are addicted to video games but the Bible series brings us all together. The boys enjoy it & so do Jami & I. I love the conversation that it sparks. Like I said before, I do not know if all parts of all the stories are exact but I do know that it is sparking conversation & that is a great thing! Last night was amazing! I can't wait for the next 2 Sundays. I think it will end with the cruxifiction & Resurrection of Jesus Easter night. I am so excited for that! I would love to hear others view points on the Bible series.

I love Easter! It is such an exciting time in the life of a Christian. I  really want our church kids to understand that Easter is much more than eggs & bunnies, so this Wed. night the children will be learning all they can about Easter & all the important days that go with it like, Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday & Good Friday. The children will also be doing a little cooking that night. They will be making a delicious treat called  "Empty Tomb" marshmallow delights. I know that night is the revival at Riverbend & our regular Wed. night service will be held at Riverbend, but the kids & nursery will still be at the church, 6-7 or whenever y'all make it back from the revival to pick up your children. Next Wed. night will be during spring break week so we will just play some games. The Easter egg hunt will be March 30 @ 4pm ( please notice the time change, not 2 pm). For babies - 5th grade. We will meet at the church for lite snacks, meet the Easter Bunny & take some photos, then head down the road to the McGlaughns for the hunt. PLEASE invite kids!! I have goody bags with the Easter Story theme and I would love for us to have the chance to share that wonderful story with some children who do not know about Jesus!! Just invite them...God always handles the rest! Also, some of our church member's, Jami, Scott & Dan,  are performing with Southside Baptist this Friday, Saturday & Sunday night in the "Battle". If you get a chance to go see it, you should hop on it! It is fabulous! A great way to kick off spring break with your family & get ready for the big Easter week! Alright, I know I will have a few upset kiddies but the Lock In is post poned until summer, probably June. I had less than 10 kids who could come this Friday night & only 3 parents who could help so I am going to wait until I can find a better day for the most kids. I reassured some of our 5th grade girls yesterday in SS that we will definitely have it. They were afraid they would move up to youth & not get their lock in! lol I love those girls! Remember for those of you who ordered T shirts I need your money by Wed. night. I think they might be at church to pass out that night too. Chattanooga trip heads out at 7 am March 25 and will arrive back by noon on March 26. You need to bring lunch money, sleeping bag & pillow & a change of clothing. Please keep our safety in your prayers & mom goes to the cancer dr Wed. so please pray for good report of no cancer spotted!!! Thank you!!!Whew..I think that is it! I hope y'all have the best week, get your mind & heart focused on Easter and what it really means to us Christians! Spread the word & invite someone to church!

March Maddness

I woke up yesterday morning to the realization I had set the clocks backwards instead of forwards. I was like a crazy woman trying to get everyone up & ready. Jami was originally suppose to get up extra early so he could go to church earlier than normal to do the bulletin & the words for the screen. He was called out to work before he ever made it from the bed to the shower. Now he would be even further behind. I was moaning, groaning & complaining about my back as I was still runny around frantically( I think you can envision 5 of us going crazy & what the house must have looked like), then my phone rang. It was Joey with the very sad news about the death of a sweet young lady. She was someone who grew up just down the road from me. Visited my house as a child & her cousin was one of my best friends as a teenager. The call just put everything else into perspective. All my family was home safe, my Sunday morning troubles were nothing compared to what others were dealing with. I can't imagine the pain her family is feeling right now & in the days to come. I think Joey said it all yesterday. You better know Christ & I mean really know him....have a personal relationship with Him because we never know what tomorrow will hold. I hope you & those important to you have that relationship!

God definitely blessed us Saturday at the yard sale. Is still can't believe we raised $1620.00. It was amazing! I am so thankful for those who worked & donated to make it all possible. Besides making a huge amount of money, I enjoyed the day being around the parents, talking & getting to know each other better. We also had the nicest shoppers. I even had a elderly lady come in, prob in her 80's, that said she attended the church when she was a child. The day was truly a blessing for me!

March is a busy month so let's get to it. this Wed. night Katie Smith will teach upstairs in the green SS room on missions.  Sunday I need to meet with all of the parents who are going on the trip or who have children going to fill out some paper work & go over behaviour requirements from the aquarium. (Sounds like we are planning on going to boot camp or something) Wed. night March 20, we will be learning the Easter story & cooking an Easter dessert. It will be a pastry that resembles the tomb being empty after Jesus arose. We did it last year during Sunday school & the kids enjoyed it so this yr I thought we would do it on Wed. night where more kids would get to take part. They actually do the work themselves so it is hands on. March 22 will be the lock in. 7-7. I will still need parents to help so please let me know if you are free. I can not do it with just 2 or 3 moms. March 25 will be the Chattanooga trip. I'll have all the information on that during our meeting Sunday. I am planning on ordering tshirts for the trip. As soon as I know a price I'll let you know, should be today or tomorrow.  I do have room for a few more children for the Chatt. trip. It would be about $70.00 a person if someone is interested in going. Must be at least 6 yrs. old per the aquarium. If there is any coupon book money out I need to get that asap. Wed. March 27 falls on spring break so we will play games & hopefully enjoy some nice outside weather. The Easter egg hunt will be March 30 @ 2 pm. Rain or shine. There will be no children's church Easter Sunday, March 31.

Bunch of Stuff

Did you wake up exhausted this morning like me? Seems like there is never enough time to do all we need to do. Never enough time for rest. Thankfully, one day, when we get to heaven, we will not have to worry about getting everything done or how tired we are. For now we just have to keep on keeping on! I hope you had a great weekend. My family was very busy but we got to sit down together last night & watch "The Bible", a new series on the History Channel. Factually, I don't know if everything is correct. I do know it brought us all to the living room, piled up on the couch together, boys off videos games & Jami & I off the computers. We discussed different events & how if we thought things happened close to what the show was revealing. It was 2 hours long & neither teen moved off the couch. It was a great end to a Sunday. I hope you and your family will try & watch it next Sunday night. I think you will enjoy it.

Big thank you to the WBBC family for the spaghetti lunch donations. Thank you to those parents who worked so hard in the kitchen & Amy Martin for her noodle expertise. One more week of hard work & we should be finished raising money for the Chattanooga trip. Parents please remember to get with Ashley Fortenberry to let her know how you can help with the yard sale. It is this Saturday from 7-12. Please spread the word because we need to clear the gym out! Post on facebook & tell your co workers! I need to get all coupon money in by Sunday  if you have any extra books, please let me know. I have people who are wanting some. Reminders for the kids. Wed. night they will spend their Big City bucks in the store so make sure they bring them. This is a one night event so if they child can't make it make sure they save their bucks until the next lesson series (3 months) is over & we will have the store again. This is a busy month for the kids. Lock In March 22, Chattanooga trip  and March 25 & 26 then the Easter Egg hunt on March 30. Pray that these events lead us to unchurched families. We had several families visit yesterday & that just gets me so excited. I am thankful that after all these years God continues to renew that excitement! Y'all have a great week & keep God the focus!

THANK YOU

I want to give a big ole THANKS to God before I ever get started here. Almost 2 months ago mom was faced with radiation in Bham every day. We didn't know how we would swing getting her there every day but we knew we would. We didn't want daddy & Joey taking off every other day because that would eventually effect Joey's business & put daddy in a bind at work. As usual God has the things figured out long before we do! I am blessed to keep a child of a wonderful Christian momma who said do whatever you need to thru this whole cancer process. I was able to take every Friday off to take mom. Joey & Daddy missed only a few days because of the generosity of others. We were blessed with spouses, Aunt Debbie, church family & mom's close friend who offered to take momma. I can't tell you how many people offered to help that we never even had to take them up on the offer. For the past 3 weeks my mother n law has taken mom almost every day and her & mom have enjoyed some great lunches in the "Magic City". Mother & Debbie even got to enjoy a ride along & lunch with their brother. Time together they all needed. We have been blessed with lots of help! I know God had each one of you hand picked to help take care of  momma. I wanted to thank each of you who helped drive mom, who offered to help in anyway and to those who have prayed & offered encouraging words. Wednesday will be her last day of radiation. THANK YOU GOD!! She goes back to see her cancer Dr. March 20. Please pray for a good report & that there is no sign of cancer. Now to get to the kids stuff!

Sorry about rescheduling the lock in. It just made more sense to plan for a time when more kids are available to come. This Wed. night will be Big City Studio. We will cover the last lesson on creation & review what we have learned these past months. I will be passing out lots of "money" for questions answered. The following Wed. the kids will shop in the "Big City Store". Moms, get to looking for those bucks the kids bring home every Wed. night. Remember this  Sunday is the spaghetti dinner & for those of you going on the Chattanooga trip you should have received a text from me telling you what to bring. If you didn't please let me know. The yard sale is March 9. We need to get as much yard sale items brought in this week as possible. Ask your family to clean out the closets & the garage! If anyone needs to get in & drop off items in the gym other than Wed. or Sunday let me know & Ashley will come open the door. We need lots of help organizing starting March 5. If you can help with that please let Ashley know at 256-490-4544. Thank you so much for the way you all support our children's dept! Have a blessed week & I hope to see all my kids Wed. night!

This Is It

This is it.....the lock in weekend! This the most exhausting night but I have so much fun! It also brings back so many memories for me and those memories help me remember where WBBC was & where we have came too. I am so thankful to God at how He has moved and worked in our church. My mom taught the children when we had our 1st lock in. My boys were in kindergarten. We held it in the fellowship hall. We made no plans just brought some board games. Lesson learned! You have to keep the kids busy! Each year it has grown & finally we got to have one in the new gym. That night, in the middle of the night, we heard a child throwing up. It was black in the gym & Allison was stumbling around trying to find that poor child in the dark. First throw up on the new carpet definitely not the last! I have memories with so many parents who have moved on too youth & I look forward to building memories with parents whose kids have just started out in the children's dept. I am not going to lie, the lock in is a long, tiring,exciting, fun filled night but I want to urge you to participate. You will get some sleep, you will still feel like you have been hit by a bus come Saturday but you will make memories with your child & church family that you will never forget! Here comes the details for the children's dept.

Wed. Night Big City Studio

Friday night Lock in: 7 pm & pick up 7am. Please DO NOT just drop you child off. They must be signed in that way if we need to reach you incase of an emergency we can. They need to bring a sleeping bag or some cover, pillow & appropriate pjs. Any adults who plan on staying I am going to suggest an inflatable air mattress or you can be like Allison & just bring a real mattress! Haha we will eat pizza supper around 7:30 & the kids will have a very light breakfast before pick up. The evening will consist of lots of games, dancing, skits, some messy food games, a science experiment, a lesson about God & we wind it down about 12:00 with movies on the big screen. We do not stop until we lay down. We do not leave the buildings & the doors remain locked all night. The weather did say a possibility of storms Friday night, so if I think we could be in danger or have scared children I will cancel byThursday afternoon & reschedule for the Friday night March 22 which kicks off spring break.  Check face book & texts for any changes

Meeting right after church Sunday about the spring break trip. March 3 will be a spagetti lunch & March 9 will be the yard sale. Money from these goes towards the trip. Ashley Fortenberry will head up the yard sale so please let her know if you can help Sat or anytime the week prior setting up.

I hope everyone has a blessed week and I look forward to seeing you Friday night! If you have questions call me.

Great Weekend

I had such a great weekend at church. So thankful for the parents and children we have at WBBC. I really enjoyed seeing our littlest kids play on the inflatables Saturday. I enjoyed spending time with their parents & grandparents too. Yesterday the children had a Valentine's party during preaching. There is nothing like hearing children sing Jesus Loves Me! It just melted my heart. We learned about the greatest love of all....God sending Jesus to die on the cross for our sins. I hope come Thursday, when everyone is running around passing out Valentine cards, or trying to give the perfect gifts, that these children remember the best gift has already been given & it is up to us to accept it. Keep our church family in prayer as we go thru the week. There is so many hurting & we just need to lift them up.

This Wed. night the 5th grade girls will go to the mall food court & Katie will teach missions upstairs in the green classroom. Feb. 22 will be the lock in. I need lots of adult participation for the night to be a success so please let me know if you can help. It will start at 7 pm on Friday night & end at 7 am Saturday morning.  Sunday, March 3 will be a spaghetti lunch for donations, still trying to raise money or the spring break trip. March 9 will be the yard sale. Please start bringing in yard sale items and place them in the gym. I appreciate all who have already donated to us. I wanted to give  a big thank you to Leslie McGlaughn for helping me Sat morning, Teresa Coley for teaching Sunday school while I prepared for the party and Courtney Jones for her help during the party. Thank you to all those who offered to help too. Y'all have a great week & try to keep your focus on the "big guy in the sky".

Wonderful Men

I just love WBBC! It is a blessing to come to church and love the church family & the staff. Randy does a fabulous job with the music! Who knew a men's choir would be so good? I sat in the pew in awe at how great they sounded and then I started thinking......and in my mind I went man after man & I was able to think of something or some way each of those men have done one thing for me. Ok, I know you are thinking what is she talking about. Every man in that choir has touched my life, whether it be a family member,  someone saying a kind or encouraging word, helping me w children's stuff at church, inviting us to their home for kids stuff, helping me move things at church, participating in church activities like trunk or treat, bell ringers & fund raisers  or a leader of the church who really encouraged me & made sure I had whatever was needed when I first started working w the children. Our church is so blessed to have men willing to serve our Lord in so many ways.  As a mom of all boys, I am so pleased to have so many wonderful male role models in our church! I pray God blesses each man in our church & uses them to lead others to our Lord!

Lots of kids stuff coming up! Wed. night is Big City Studio. Saturday from 10-12, toddlers, preschoolers & kindergardeners will be "Jumping For Jesus". We'll have inflatables, balloons & pizza in the gym  for our littlest blessings. If you know someone who might fall into this category, step out & invite the parent & child... Offer to come with them. Sunday, during preaching , the kids will be in the gym for the entire service having a Valentines celebration. I could use some bags of candy if anyone would like to donate a bag & bring it this Wed. night. Continue to bring yard sale items & leave them in the gym. The date has been changed to March 9. Keep in mind the lock in is coming up on Feb.22. It will be a long night & will not be possible w/o parent participation. There will be all kinds of help needed so be thinking if it will be possible for you to stay. Y'all have a great week. I pray you feel God working & moving in your life all week!!