Ministry News

On the home front, we've been experiencing some awesome growth in our church. It seems every Sunday in all three services, new families are joining us. In the month of August, typically one of the more sparse attendance months, we averaged over 2000 in worship which is up from approx. 1600 a year ago! Woo Hoo! If you want to see what our church is like, you can go to fbcba.org and click on the videos on the left.

Last Sunday night, we had a missions focused service where 11 different groups that have been out 'in the field' presented testimonies, videos and pictures of the work our church is doing around the world. We had set a goal of 1000 salvations through the different teams this year, and God is already at work in answering that prayer. I'm not sure what our total number is at this point in time, but I think I can say confidently that we are over halfway there.

Sept. 20, we'll have block parties all over the city in the neighborhoods of our Sunday School class members. Pray for lots of new beginnings of friendships that will lead to opportunities to share Christ and invite them to become part of our church family.

Kevin is still working on finalizing his plans for his trip to Central Asia in October. The plan is to have 3 teams in place in 3 different countries, then for him to spend a few days in each country seeing the work there. These are places that we have ongoing relationships with and continually support with funds and volunteers. I'll keep you updated as things develop. As always when traveling to this area of the world, it is illegal to be a missionary and we'll appreciate your prayers for his safety and effectiveness while he is there.

Finally, please pray for our fellow believers in India. In the state that we have adopted, they are experiencing major flooding and many villages have no access to clean water or food, and there is no hope of getting any supplies to them until the water recedes. In the neighboring state, there have been many uprisings against the believers there and numerous horrific acts against believers and their families. It's easy to forget that Christians still die for their faith when we are complacent here in the US. But, it happens every day in the rest of the world. Please continue to lift up the persecuted Christians and to be thankful for your freedoms every day.

Project Fly Reflector

So we just moved into our new house and with all the doors standing wide open for several days, we got a house full of flies. Kevin was grilling a few days ago and was getting swarmed by flies outside too and does this....

He says in Mexico that everyone hangs up water bottles to get rid of flies. The villagers tell him that the flies see their reflection, get scared and fly away. Personally, I'm still seeing lots of flies in the backyard, but that could be because I have a dog who leaves presents in my yard. So here's what I need you to do so I can be convinced this gimmick does/doesn't work because as of right now I'm leaning toward the 'doesn't' side of the hypothesis. Just follow Kevin's example and hang a water bottle in a fly infested area then come back here and report to us if you think it helped. Don't worry about your neighbors thinking you're crazy; they probably already do.

Distractions

Last weekend, we had Katie's 12th birthday party at our new house. I frantically hung pictures and unpacked or hid the miscellaneous boxes that I'd been procrastinating dealing with. We had 8 girls for pizza, Hello Kitty cupcakes, and Nancy Drew.

When the movie was over the girls all went outside to jump on the trampoline which I should have been taking really cool pictures of them in the air.

Instead, I got distracted by the way the moon looked and how I could actually take a picture of it with my new camera. No way my old one would have captured this...

And just think how awesome this would look if I had some cool photo editing software, like say, Photoshop elements. (Hint for anyone wondering what to buy me for Christmas. Yeah, I can wait that long.)

Blockbuster Deal

I'm always looking for a bargain and this week, I managed to purchase two movies from Blockbuster for $1.64. How? Blockbuster.com has tons of previously viewed movies for $3.99-$5.99. Just click on 'buy', then 'DVD deals'. Choose a couple, then go to checkout and enter 'augappreciation'. This code takes $10 off your order and they're offering free shipping. You do have to log in to an account to take advantage of the deal, but you can set up an account without subscribing to their online service. Now go pick yourself out some cheap movies and think about me every time you watch them!

Questions I have about life

Why does Sonic have a drive thru?

Why does Sonic ask me if my order is for here or to go? One time I was feeling a little rebellious and said it was 'for here' even though it wasn't. I couldn't tell the difference.

Why do people drive slower than the speed limit? Unfortunately, a common occurrence in the state of Oklahoma.

Why do people not know when it's their turn at a 4-way stop?

Why do people drive slow in the left lane? (Are you noticing a theme here?)

Why do the 12 gray hairs that I have grow in my bangs so that everyone can see them? Why can't they be in the back of my head where I could be oblivious to their existence?

How do I convince the email world I do not want a replica Rolex or need an online pharmacy for prescriptions I am the wrong gender for?

What relative did Alyssa inherit naturally curly hair from?

How did 2 parents with straight teeth have 4 children without, requiring orthodontic care equivalent to the cost of a really nice car?

Please enlighten me if you can help with any of these quandaries of my life. Google was no help.

(artwork by Nathan)
Our family has become obsessed with watching the 'olipycs' every night. I don't remember ever being glued to the tv before during the olipycs, at least not like this. I remember the monumental moments like everyone else--Kristi Yamaguchi winning gold, Keri Strug vaulting on a hurt ankle, etc.. But for some reason this year, we are captivated by it, rendered helpless to accomplish anything else. Maybe it's the record setting gold medals being won by Michael Phelps or maybe it's because we can watch it as a family. I do know it's the reason:
a)My house is still not unpacked even though Katie's 12th birthday party is here tomorrow night.
b)I've been slackinoff in front of the tv instead of here.
c)School lesson plans aren't done yet. My last box of books showed up yesterday, finally, so I think I'm going to let that be my excuse--sounds better than 'I was an olipyc couch potato.'

We've had some fun family moments while watching. There was much discussion on what the outfits the men's gymnastics team wears are called. Kevin said they looked like a onesie; Alyssa has officially dubbed it a "mantard".

We DVR each nights' broadcast. We start watching around 8 so we can fast forward through commercials or things we don't want to watch like men in speedos or beach volleyball. Unfortunately, the kids think it's big fun to rewind when someone falls and even though it really is devastating to that athlete, it becomes quite funny when you replay it over and over and over again. Are we terrible or what? I'll console myself with the knowledge that the Olympian will never know we were entertained by their mistakes.

I must go unpack 6 boxes of china in the dining room now so that I can be mesmerized by the women's gymnastics all-around tonight, guilt-free.

Eureka!

Yea! We have internet again. Getting our technology transferred to the new house has been more difficult than we planned. The first Dish guy couldn't find the cable lines, gave up and left with plans to send a more experienced installer on Wed. Dish guy #2 shows up, looking all of 14, but was successful after hanging around my house for 3 hours which was a really good thing. Alyssa and I might have had to storm the Dish office if we hadn't been able to watch the finale of "So you think you can dance" and the newest episode of "Project Runway" on Wed. night.

We finally got our phones turned on Thursday, but our excitement was short lived since the internet was still not working. We're on day 6 at this point with no facebook in a house almost full of teenagers. This is getting serious. Internet guy is here on Thurs. morning and decides we need a new modem. He goes out to his truck to get it and realizes he has locked his keys in the truck! He finally got our old modem to work, but after giving him the 2nd wire hanger I had to leave for work so I have no idea how long he was stuck in front of my house, locked out of his truck.

Otherwise the move is going well. I'm hoping to be able to hang pictures by tomorrow which is the true sign that you're settling in. This morning I'm doing a walk through at the rent house and turning those keys in. Woo hoo! Stay tuned for pix of the house and No, I'm not done with the NYC posts yet! I just got interrupted with all this moving business.

More Blog Filler

Today while I'm at work, Kevin, the kids, and a few people from church will load up the furniture at the old house and unload at the new house. We took all the boxes and little stuff yesterday. (Actually I'm assuming this has happened at this point because I'm typing this on Friday morning.) So while I'm busy working and rearranging the furniture that got put in random places since I wasn't there to direct traffic, you can enjoy some more NYC scenery.

NY Cityscapes

While I'm packing, loading, unpacking, painting, dying from exhaustion, You can enjoy these cityscapes from our NYC trip.