Church Picnic

We had our kick off to summer church picnic on Sunday evening. The weather was great! Just warm enough to enjoy it but not hot and humid yet! I always enjoy watching all the different generations interacting with each other at church functions. We have babies up to those in their 9th decade enjoying the North Carolina evening together. 

Sarah had a good time, but I just had to snap this shot of her mad at her daddy. She wanted cookies and mama. And all daddy wanted to do was sit down and talk!

Mr. David and Mrs. Betty. They are our hospitality committee extraordinaries. I will cry if they ever decide not to serve in this way. They do such a great job. 

Mr. Herman and Mrs. Margaret. She is a big favorite right now in the Mullis household because her strawberry patch has been keeping them in fruit the past few weeks. :)

Hamburgers and hot dogs with all the fixing

Little Miss Sarah Faith

Abby, Sarah, Deanna, Will and Charley.... being goofy

I am looking forward to many more summer memories being made in the next few months. I love our church. :)

Quick question..

Why is it that when my goal is hair like this....

 It ends up closer to this....

Let the Summer Humidity Games Begin. And may the odds be EVER in your favor!

Our Night With The Dash

Every once in a while God just gives you a super special night. It is not something you can plan or even buy and not something you deserve..just something that you know God just gave it to you to enjoy. We had one of those nights tonight.

It started yesterday, Nathan and I were out running errands and I checked my emails and there was one from the head AAU coach for the league Abby plays in. His message was that he had 17 Winston-Salem Dash tickets and the first ones to email him would get them for free. Well, I mentally went over our Thursday night schedule and remembered that Abby's basketball practice had been canceled this week so I emailed Coach R back (without even checking with Greg..something I usually would not do) and asked for 7 tickets. He emailed me right back to say they were mine! Yes!! 

I knew it was going to be a good night right from the beginning. Dinner went smooth, everyone helped clean up and we were all dressed and in the van by 6:15. What? That never happens?

When we got there to park, the man said $10 for vans. But then he asked if we were a 15 or 12 passenger van. When Greg said 12, he changed our parking fee to $5. Shweet. 

We got our tickets at Will Call. No problem. 

Ready for some baseball! 

B B & T field

 The public schools in our area are testing right now so we knew there would not be a big crowd there and it wasn't... Plenty of room to spread out and even let Sarah run a little. The temps were around 70 and low humidity. I don't think I could have requested better weather. It was so nice!

Nate, Micah, Esther and Abby

We got to our seats right at 7:00 and the game started right on time. We had great seats. Behind first base. 

Sarah liked the big screen

My boys...cheering on the home team. 

I love that man :) 

Sarah wouldn't keep her glasses on.

Micah was asked to participate in one of the races they had for kids at the bottom of the third inning. He didn't win, but he did get a Dash ball and was on the big screen tv and got to be on the field....pretty cool! It was a bit surreal for me to think that this time last year he was waiting in an orphanage in Ethiopia for us to clear Embassy and come and get him. Now here, 11 months later racing around the ball field! 

We saw a friend from church there with some of her family and she had an extra wristband for the all you can eat burger, hot dog, mac and cheese and drink buffet.  AND She gave it to us. For free. Awesomeness.

Micah also tried cotton candy for the first time ever. He liked it but could only eat a few bites. He said it was too sweet!

This would be after the cotton candy kicked in. :)

Sarah LOVED Bolt , the Dash Mascot. She bonked his nose, pulled his ears and gave him a high five. 

Essie, Micah and Nate wanted a Bolt picture too! 

It has just been a great night. Everyone was  having fun and enjoying the game. No fighting. No almost 2 year old meltdowns. Just  enjoying a family night out.

And then....

at the 8th inning they have this contest where they will show three picture/videos of the night on the screen and the one everyone cheers for the most is named the "Fan of the Game" and wins a prize pack. Well, all 5 of the kids had been on the screen flexing their muscles and dancing at different times, but whoever chooses picked Sarah as shot # 3. The called her shot "Baby Face" and she won by a landslide of cheers!  She was soooo cute up on the big screen! 

Then they showed her on the big screen for a long time with Nathan holding her! She won 2 hats, 2 tee shirts, a baseball and an autographed picture of Bolt.


It was just one of those nights that makes you thankful for your God, your family and all your blessings. I think  we will all remember it for a long time.

Thanks Coach R for the tickets and Sandy for the wristband and the Winston-Salem Dash for a GREAT family night!

Kombolcha Ethiopia.....Africa 2012

Abigail and Greg were able to go to Kombolcha Ethiopia in April for 10 days. They had an amazing trip and came back so excited for what God is doing through Children's Hope Chest and One Child Campaign in Ethiopia. After looking at over 2500 pictures from different team members on the trip.. I picked out a few of my favorite ones to share with you guys. You can also go HERE and watch the video I made for their presentation in church.

The Goodwill Group. Up early to make their flight to DC

Abby and a sweet little one

One of my favorite photos of Derek and two of the girls from the care point

Greg with some of the boys.

I think he was quite the fan favorite among the older boys. :) 

Abby was so excited that she got to see our dear friend, Yonas at America World on Sunday.

The Goodwill teen group made care packages and sent pictures in them. Here are the kids opening their care package and showing the pictures. They were excited to see Abby in the photos. 

Mrs. Sandy and one of the boys..

My very favorite picture of the whole trip :) 

The whole group that went.. Kombolcha team 2012

The church sign that greeted our peeps back to Kernersville.



So glad that they had a safe wonderful trip. It was an amazing week from all that we heard. Another amazing thing is that once the 2013 dates were set for next March the trip is over 75% full...and 8 of those team members are from our church!! How cool is that??!! 

Happy Mother's Day 2012

I am so thankful for my mom and my mother in laws, for the Micah and Sarah Faith's first mommies and for my five blessings from above that have made me a mother.

Happy Mother's Day to all!

Love ,

Jackie

The Bible... In 90 days!

I have just finished reading the Bible in 90 days. I had a friend who encouraged me to begin this back in January. She spoke of how life changing it was to saturate yourself in the Word like this. I decided that I would " try" to do it. Honestly, I didn't tell anyone I was going to do it..not even Greg for about the first 10 days because I was afraid I couldn't keep up. I am happy to tell you that I began February 2 and ended on May 2! I have read the entire Bible in 90 days.

Let me tell you, it has been so good. So very very good. No, not just good it has been marvelous.  I would encourage everyone to try it. I promise you won't regret it. Reading it in this narrative way made me connect so many characters to each other and how they fit into the entire story of the Bible. Verses popped out at me that I don't believe I have ever read before. God's Word became sweeter and more alive in the past 90 days than it ever had been before. Here are a few things I discovered about reading it this way.

* Read whatever version you feel more comfortable with. That way the translation itself  isn't a distraction to you. I prefer the ESV. 


* It took me around 25-35 min a day. But it is OK to break it up during your day. Don't stress about not getting it all in first thing in the morning.  Like Day 1 is Genesis chapter 1-chapter 16. That is a lot of reading! But if you do a little in the morning, maybe a little at lunch and then finish it up a bedtime. Saturation in the Word.. all through your day is a very good thing.


*  Don't get behind! If one day is 16 chapters and you get behind, ummm your pretty much in trouble unless you can carve out a lot of time to catch up. I never would let myself get behind. We went to Florida for 10 days of my 90 days and I woke up early or stayed up late to keep on track.


* I used a notebook to jot down interesting facts and people that I would read about each day. A few days later you might come across the same person and a light bulb go off about that character. I found it helpful to have that notebook for thoughts and verses that jumped out at me. I didn't write in it every day, but it was just good to be able to if I wanted it.


* Oddly enough, the hardest part for me to read that much of each day was the Gospels. The Old Testament was fascinating ...like a novel, but trying to read that much of Jesus' teachings every day felt a bit like drinking from a fire hydrant. I would suggest planning extra time to read on the Gospel days just so you can soak it all in. 


I finished one week ago today and I already miss my readings. I am going to commit to the challenge again through the summer, starting tomorrow.... Anyone want to join me? 
I promise it would be a great way to spend your summer. Everyday soaking in God's Word.

Here is the Bookmark you can print out.  

Please leave me a comment if you would like to join me. I think it would be so fun and encouraging to read it together. 

Spring, Baby!

Just enjoying our spring in NC.