A Weekend to Remember...

What a weekend!!! It was really fun to get away and just have girly girl time with so many of the sweet ladies from EMC. I enjoyed getting to know all the nitty gritty stuff about you guys. Some of you I thought I knew pretty well (the Haired's-you know who you are!!!). Others I got to know for the first time. It was so good to laugh, cry and just have lots of fun with you. It was no problem....you thought I was gonna say it, didn't you? The stories were too funny and endless.

I especially enjoyed my van mates. We loved the roller coaster ride to get there. Bubba Gump's was quite the experience for lunch on the last day even if we did have to walk through a monsoon to get back to the van. I also enjoyed the sidetrip through NC...oops. I got to know more about each of you personally and spiritually during that little detour towards home. We made it and we didn't have to stand on the side of the road and flag down traffic to bring us gas...believe it or not.

I can't wait until our next excursion. I can't wait to see what God is going to do for EMC AND I can't wait to see what each of you are going to do with God. You all are a great group of women.

Last night...

I think a lot of you know that last night Ken and I were scheduled to meet with the youth council at EMC regarding the Youth Ministry Position that will be open this summer. The meeting went very well. Many of them shared their hearts with us and we were able to share our hearts with them. They will be praying over the next few days about their decision. Please keep them in mind as you're seeking God this week. Ken told them(and I agree) that whatever they decide is fine with us. We want God's will. If they came back and said they were looking for something different or someone else, we would take that as a shut door from God. That has been our prayer. If this is not where He would have us serve, then please, close the door. We certainly don't want to just fill a vacancy. Dewey did send us a very encouraging email this morning.
I just wanted to keep you guys informed of where we are in the process. I love my buddies!!!

I probably won't be at church tonight as Will is still sick. Pray for him this week, too. He has some kinda wild virus that is hanging on....just a fever-nothing else. He was negative for Strep on Monday, but we just can't get this stinking fever to leave. Oh and I put up a few pics from our fishing extravaganza on Sunday.
Love you guys,
Terri

Thinking about Thursday...

Yesterday, the Richmond's had a great day. I will admit I was grumpy at first, but who could stay that way with the awesome weather, great friends, and great scenery. I struggle with moodiness at times, but my husband is so sweet to always point it out and encourage me(sarcasm is dripping right now) out of my mood.
We met some friends, the Kubins at a park in Collegedale. I hadn't ever been there but it was a great park. The kids loved it and it was covered in caterpillars. Erin and Jay were especially loving the caterpillars.

For some reason, in my 96 pics from the day-I only have a picture of David and Kiersten-actually there are six Kubins. David, Julie, Daniel, Kaitlyn, Kiersten, and Nate. Sorry, I can't believe that I don't have more pics of everybody. David and I have been friends since childhood. Julie and I since we were teenagers and Ken met them through me when we met-so we go waaaaaay back. David and Ken now teach fifth grade together at DGE and they both have been and hopefully will be again...LOL...youth ministers on the side. They have a lot in common.

After we left the park, the Richmond's grabbed happy hour slushies at Sonic(the only way we get to get them...who can afford anything anymore-If we didn't go at happy hour, we would be spending $15 on just slushies) . We then decided to head to Rock City. We bought family season passes last year so that we could go see the lights at Christmas. It's just more economical to buy the season passes(again because there are so many of us). Since we have the passes, we now get in free(if you wanna call it that).
Here's some pics from Rock City-it was a beautiful, clear day. GORGEOUS! The views were really awesome! The kids thought they had to pose in everyone of those picture story boards. No wonder, I took 96 pics.
All in all- a RED LETTER DAY!!!!

Poker Night at the Richmond's

Well, I hesitate to post this, because my EMC friends may no longer be interested in the family that squanders goods for cards...hope you guys see the fun in this and don't see the dirty, sinful side...LOL. (PS. for a later post, but we heard from God-all you that are waiting to hear from us).
About a year ago, Ken and I introduced poker to our older two children (11, and 10). They loved it as much as we did and actually picked it up pretty quickly. Texas Hold 'Em. Easy, fun, and quick to play. If you don't know how, just bring your child over and we'll teach you both how it goes. Erin's even starting to understand it now. She's her Dad's biggest cheerleader. Anyway, usually we just use regular poker chips, but Ken decided we needed to make it a little more meaningful...candy was going to be what we used this time. He carefully made the trip to Wally World to purchase a variety of mini candy bars, m&m's, and other assorted poker worthy candy.
The excitement was WILD. Mention candy and their little mouths start to water. The candy was divided up evenly. M&M's were equal to 50's, kit kats, mounds, and milky way's were 100's and the grand reece's was worth 500. I think Ken was more excited than the kids.

Well, after many rounds Will and Bryn both decided to drop out on the same round with only one candy bar left. They decided they better keep the small mini candy bar they had rather than risk losing all they had left.

Dad and I knew that what's his is mine and mine is his so we didn't continue any further. Ken had more than me so I guess he was the real winner.

Here's the great DAD kissing his winnings.

AND Will frowning over his concessions.

What spiritual lesson are we teaching our children? You got me but we sure have fun just hanging out and having fun. Will went to spend the night with a friend Monday night and actually thought twice about going because he thought we might be playing "candy" poker on Monday night. When we told him we'd wait 'till Tuesday, he decided to go ahead and accept the friend's invitation. I must say that we enjoyed that. To know that our almost twelve year old was going to choose us the old fogey's over his friend-did make us smile.

Didn't want to leave out the recovering Bryn(10)(she had strep Sunday PM/Monday) and the gruesome twosome Erin(7) and Jay(3). They were having a blast on the trampoline this afternoon. Aren't they the cutest things you've ever seen?

To my dear friends at EMC...

This post has been a long time in coming. I've thought it many times over the past few months. I love each and everyone of you so much. Every Sunday as I enter into worship, I'm so overwhelmed with the love of Jesus. Sometimes, (I'm being honest here) getting to church is a HUGE battle-actually most times it's a huge battle at our house. No one's clothes ever seem to work like we planned or shoes go missing at the last minute or socks are misplaced-anyway the grumpiest of grumpy moods begins to take over and you wonder, "why bother?" Well, I must say week after week once I get there, I am able to relax and rest in Jesus. Each week I am overcome with the love and grace of Jesus. Each of you play a HUGE role in this. You may not realize it, but you do. I look around and see people filled to capacity with that Jesus water I was talking about a few posts back. That Jesus water that you are drinking IS spilling over to others and I think Dewey was right this morning. He referenced EMC(maybe in the bulletin-can't remember if I read it or he said it) as being on the brink of something BIG for Jesus. I agree with that. There is life at EMC and it is abundant. It comes from Jesus, but you guys are open to receive it and share it. That's a great thing and I don't think it will go unnoticed in the kingdom of God. Your labor is paying off. Hang on tight for the ride. You are just beginning to race downhill on that roller coaster.
Anyway, my whole point behind this is a GREAT, BIG, HUGE thank you for making church enjoyable and an actual renewal after a long week. I always feel refreshed and recharged after that morning service. Each of you play a different role in the service, but all of you are needed and used.
I love you guys!!!
Terri

More....

Hi guys, funny story from last night.
Our family (with the exception of Ken) loves to watch Jon and Kate plus 8. The girls and I especially love it. Usually we'll DVR it for them to watch later since it comes on so late at night. Last night as it was coming on we were getting ready for bed just listening to the intro. Ya' know the part where it says, "Jon and I decided to try for just one more...and we got 6" I laughed and said, "Do you think Mommy and Daddy should try for just one more- and then get 6?" Bryn jumped on that without missing a beat and said, "yea, cool- Terri and Ken plus TEN!" I busted out laughing and Ken said, "Not in a million years-real funny, Bryn, real funny." I personally thought it was a great idea. However, Ken did not think so at ALL.
love you guys,
Terri

Wow! There's a lot of new blogging friends. I really enjoy checking up on everyone's posts. God usually speaks to me through one or more of them. You guys are awesome. I also feel like it's our little online accountability and cheer group. You're accountable because you wanna post what God is doing in your life...He has to be doing something for you to post something. Also, we get to cheer each other along in our struggles. All the struggles differ, but they all have the same solution-the cross.
Lately, I've been thinking about pouring more of Jesus into my life. More than I currently do-it's never enough.
Shana responded to one of my posts the other day about a Beth Moore quote about "our cup should be empty of us so it can be full of HIM." It reminded me of a Bible study that I did with the High School girls at our last church. It was called "Wild About You". Angela Thomas was the main person on the CD that accompanied it. Anyway, she did an illustration with a glass of water. Every time we spend time loving on Jesus and in His word-we add "Jesus Water" to our glass. Every time, we face struggles in our everyday walk-we take a drink of that "Jesus Water". "Did that person really just say that to me? I think I need a sip of Jesus." "I have to pay how much? Give me a BIG drink of Jesus." "You lost my paperwork. I think I need A WHOLE LOT of that drink, now!" You get the idea. As the day goes on, your cup gets less and less full. But when you are totally in sync with Him, your cup of Jesus is spilling and overflowing on everybody else without even saying-"I need a drink of that." They get the benefits of it, too.
I want my water to be splashing on everybody. They need to feel the cool,refreshing, love and peace that only He can give us.
So, I think I'm gonna go work on filling up that glass to overflowing right now.
Love you guys!!!!
Sorry, no pics lately----I need to pull out the camera and dust it off.