Fry Road VBS

The first Vacation Bible School in our new building was GREAT!  We had so many kids and so much fun!  Now, I'll be honest. VBS is not my favorite church event!  It's the one thing I show up to each year out of sheer obligation as a pastor's wife.  It just seems like I should be there, but the number of kids in one space is overwhelming to me!  So, I am always honest with the organizers.  I am willing to work wherever they need me, BUT if they have a spot that does not require following the kids around for 3 hours every day, that would be my preference!  

And they always have a place for me -- great lesson!  Some years I've helped with snacks, and some years I've been the storyteller! This year, I was in charge of overseeing the 5th grade boys count the money the kids were raising for our mission in Haiti!  I really enjoyed that!  

And the kids were pumped about raising money for the mission!  We had a lemonade stand with some of our friends one day!  It was super hot, but they were able to raise money and donate to a good cause - another great lesson/learning experience!

I love our God!

Marcus the Intern

This summer, we will be sharing our home with Foundry's summer intern.  Marcus is a student at Stephen F. Austin, and he will be the student body President for the upcoming school year.  So, Ray C. has informed the kids they should refer to him as Mr. President!  

We are looking forward to having Marcus.  He comes from a different background than we do.  So, we are excited about sharing stories and learning from each other.  The kids are looking forward to having a big brother! 

Marcus' favorite time in our house is dinner time!  I'm not sure our budget is going to survive feeding a growing college boy, but I love cooking for people that appreciate it!

Denim and Diamonds Gala

Dewberry Farms

Jessica and I took some of the teenagers to Dewberry Farms last week to run through the corn maze and act like teenagers.

 We had a great time, but we did cheat in the corn maze!  Some of the boys figured it out, but the rest of us were just wondering around!

 Sweet girls!  We have a great group of girls!

 Madi is fun no matter what she's doing!  

 Had to snap this silly picture of Tabor and Ashley.  Tabor was making fun of the girls.  Now whose laughing? :)

 Jessica and I had fun rolling the kids around in this tube.  They were all over the place!

Volunteering

Mary Frances was very excited to be helping with this year's Judy Dierker Holiday Market at church.  It is our annual "Craft fair" and holiday market at Foundry that raises thousands of dollars for missions. Cy-Hope greatly profits from the funds, and Mary Frances was thrilled to be a part of it.  So, she volunteered to make Sugar Cookies and Pecan Pie!  The pies we made were gorgeous, too!  

Then, she signed up for a shift working the Treat Shoppe at the market.  So, while she volunteered, I shopped....which also benefited missions! :)

I love her servant's heart!

Squirm...the Musical

Chase and Mary Frances performed in a musical at church tonight.  Miss Whitney and all the the other volunteers did a wonderful job directing and preparing for it!

The kids were great, too!  I think every child had a part.

 

 The kids in gray were bats.  The ones in green were snakes, and the pink were earthworms!

 Look at my little earthworm!  Pretty cute, huh!?!

• 

My bat is pretty cute, too!  

"Mom stays in the picture!"

Church in a Movie Theatre

Here's what we do, from a child's perspective...

Missions Minded

The Sky is the limit this week

 The kids are learning to trust God...no matter what during VBS this week! We have somewhere around 800 kids in VBS at Foundry this week.  It has been so much fun to see them all over the place.

The most exciting part for me has been watching them serve God at the Hope Centers, within our groups, and at home as they have been raising money for our Mission Project in Haiti...Jacob's Well.  

As of today, the kids had raised over $3000 for the project!  Mary Frances had a lemonade stand with the help of one of our 8th graders, Sydney!

Chase wanted to wash cars, but because we are in a drought, we decided to clean windshields instead.

They have both had a wonderful time raising the money and being generous!  Thanks be to God!

Ground Breaking

Today, we broke ground at our property on Fry Road!  Foundry UMC will be in Bridgeland SOON!

 Only 10 days shy of our arrival in Texas for this very purpose...

 What an exciting moment for so many of us who have prayed for this day and the days to come...

 the people of Foundry...

 our District Superintendent, Rev. Morris Mathis, gave the sermon at our service this morning and then led us as we asked God to bless this place...

 the first official breaking of the ground!!!!

 look at all those kids!  (Yes, that is my daughter right out there in front!)

God called us all!

Building Approved

This past Sunday, our faithful Foundry members gathered at the Bridgeland Activity Center to hear the details about the new church property, proposed building, and financing.  The project was approved by an overwhelming majority.  Only one person objected -- the preacher's kids, Chase!  Everyone got a good laugh out of it, and our District Superintendent made sure that it was recorded officially for years to come!

We are so excited that all has been approved and the building is about to get started.  The projection is that it will take 8 months to complete.  So, it looks like we could be in the building in March!!  YAY!!!  This is what we moved here for!!  God is good!

Church in the Park

We held our December 18th church service at Festival Park in Bridgeland rather than in the movie theatre as usual. It was a perfect day to be outside, and a wonderful time to usher in Christmas! Of course, we've never been a congregation stuck on meeting in a building, since our typical Sunday is filled with the smell of popcorn and lyrics on the big screen. As usual, so many of our volunteers took part in the planning, setup, and teardown for the service. We had a beautiful Christmas tree as the backdrop for our service that we plan to put in the building next year!! Woohoo!
Nicholas, our youth pastor, and his wife, Lianne, led worship along with our amazing band!!
Moments like this always serve as a reminder of why we are here and how God is using us in this place.
Several of our teenagers read scripture. Austin is one of our seniors who has been working with Ray C. as he pursues a call into ministry. It has been such a joy for us to watch him grow and embrace his calling.
The children's sermon was great. The children usually have their own service, so it was fun to share a few moments with them and see how they responded! It's always fun to get kids up in front of everyone, and there were A LOT of them!! They had all kinds of things to share.
We ended the morning with lunch and hayrides on the property that will soon hold our building! God is so good. We continue to enjoy the journey he has placed us on!

Here it is...well, almost

It's the church property!! They've been leveling it this week -- getting it ready for 18 inches of fill dirt before we start building in just a few months!! We are so excited!
Tonight, we walked around the property talking about what is to come and praying God's blessings on it all! (We also saw a few coyotes while we were out there!:)

Last preschool payment

I gladly paid my last month of preschool today! I will greatly miss Foundry Faith Academy, but I am looking forward to having all my babies at one FREE school!!

FRYday Celebration

(This is Ray C. with two men who work very hard on our campus - Gary and Paul!)

We celebrated the pending purchase of the land for our new church last Friday. We called it FRYday since our land is on Fry Rd. and we call our campus the Fry Road Campus!

Anyway...We had a fun time tailgating, hanging out with friends from church and even walking out around the property!
Ray C. thanking everyone for coming out!

This is us in front of the new property! It feels like we've made it to the promised land - well, we can only look at it right now, but it should be ours very soon!

Praying over the new land.

It truly has been an amazing experience to walk out to the land with all of these faithful people and to remember what God has called us to! He is faithful!

A sketch of our 20 acre site!

Ray C. prepares everyone for our walk on the land.

Godfrey joined us fresh off the plane from his summer-long sabbatical in Hawaii! Can you tell? He asked everyone to please not abandon his discovery of a long-long theology that he has now embraced - "hang loose"!

On the church bus...going to visit the property!

Ray C. thanks Larry Dierker for his support of Foundry after a day of golfing at the annual Foundry/Dierker Golf Classic.