Sunday Worship at Royal Heights

Sunday morning at Royal Heights was worship Wedgwood style. The service was very meaningful, especially the message by Pastor Alan, who talked about God's power and sovereignty. There were several opportunities during the service where some of our team were able to minister to church members and one lady accepted Christ, which was fantastic. It was a new experience to lead in worship from the piano instead of the choir. I was pretty nervous about the whole thing, but I think it went well.

Who Wants to Be a Canadian?

Our first orientation came on Saturday night with Pastor Alan from Royal Heights. He set up the game, Who Wants to Be a Canadian, just like Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. Overall the Wedgies did pretty well with their knowledge of Canada. Sheila, the missions coordinator, served a delicious meal of corn chowder and hot tea.

Angel, Paige, Nancy and James Norwine

Serious discussions with Pastor Alan

Great advertising!

We are in for a great week. Be in prayer for the basketball and music camps.

We've Arrived

We are here! I am so excited that our team arrived with very little trouble. I believe all luggage and people are accounted for, except one. (luggage, that is) While it was a hassle to go through each checkpoint without a passport, I did go through! God has given me what I needed, not necessarily what I wanted and that's o.k.

I have two fantastic roomies -- Shea and Channing Buchanan, who just performed a fabulous mother-daughter duet for me. We're on the way to Royal Heights Baptist Church for our evening meal and to scope out our accommodations for the rest of the week.

Hope to get some pics to share soon. (The hydrangeas here are incredible!!!!)

Oh, Canada!

Tomorrow morning, at the lovely hour of 4:00 a.m., our group will depart for Vancouver, BC. We will be working in conjunction with Royal Heights Baptist Church in Surrey. We have four different teams that will be in place next week: Prayer, Servant Evangelism, Basketball and Music. I am heading up the Kids Music Camp team. We have a wonderful week of music, games and fun planned for the 22 kids (Preschool - 3rd Grade) who have registered. I hope to update my blog from "the field" each day, as Jeff has outfitted me with a laptop for the trip.

Please be in prayer for:
1. safe travel, with all luggage and people arriving together
2. my paperwork to be in order to enter/exit Canada without a passport
3. Wayne, myself and praise team leading worship Sunday morning
3. plans to come together for all teams for the Mon-Fri camps
4. FLEXIBILITY!

Our Theme Verse: Isaiah 54:17
"No weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and this is their vindication from me," declares the LORD.

Take My Poll

I've added a new feature to my blog this week -- a poll. Scroll down to see the question on the bottom right. As you can see from the question, it has to do with pertinent things going on in my life right now. Those of you I've talked to this week -- betcha can't guess what is currently driving me crazy! Yes, 14 weeks and counting...

GA Camp '07

Rebecca with April, the camp missionary

Whee.....Rebecca coming down the zip line!

Brittany Welch, Abigail & Friends
Cute!

GA Camp is cool!! Peace...

Crazy 6th graders

The girls had a wonderful week at camp. Rebecca was sad that it was her last year. They enjoyed all the camp activities, but were glad to get home to their own beds. We haven't developed Abigail's pics yet, but hope to have them done soon. Abigail hopped off the bus, immediately donned her soccer shirt and played the last 10 minutes of her soccer game in progress in the gym. Hope to have some pics of that next week as well.

Dive In Movie

My mother and niece, Ashlee, visited us last week. We spent lots of time shopping, as I have decided the entire lower floor of my house needs a minor facelift. I love shopping with my mother because she has fabulous taste. We ended the week celebrating the return of Rebecca and Abigail from GA Camp. On Saturday night we had a "Dive In" movie. The girls hop in the pool, Jeff sets up the projector and we watch movies and eat popcorn. Fun! (Although Katherine doesn't look like she enjoyed the dive in.)

Off to Camp

Yesterday we saw two of the girls off to camp at Riverbend Retreat Center in Glen Rose. You know it's time for GA Camp when the temperatures rise. It always seems to be really hot in Texas the second week of July. Jeff and I tried to get Katherine to go as a CIT (Counselor in Training) so we could fly off to say, Hawaii, but she wasn't having it. As soon as the bus left the church, Katherine and I went to the public library and stocked up on a week's worth of reading materials. Our big plans for the week include a visit from my mother and my niece, Ashlee. There's probably some shopping and scrapbooking in our near future.

Carrie Zirbas, Rebecca
Off to GA Camp for the final time

Abigail, Claire Kemner, Brittany Welch
Three Amigos

Rebekah Barks, Katherine

Holmes Family Reunion

The Group

Our annual Holmes Family Reunion was held at Kevin and Allyson Krengle's house in Baytown. Kevin slaved over a giant barbeque smoker and served up some of the best meat we've ever tasted: brisket, chicken, sausage, and ribs. Everyone else filled in with side dishes and desserts. Needless to say, we ALL ate too much.

After lunch, activities varied from resting, talking, coloring, Play-Doh, and Gary's idea of a game -- "Make Your Daddy a Mummy!" Kahner wanted PaPa and Katherine to be wrapped up, too!

The girls enjoyed pony rides on Cletus and Marley -- just kidding! Seriously, those are the biggest dogs I've ever seen.

After everyone left, we drove over to Gary and Lisa's where Jeff and the girls rode in the kayaks and looked for frogs and alligators. Surprisingly, everyone decided they were hungry and we went to dinner at Baytown Seafood. Yum! I had the most delicious grilled redsnapper and shrimp. (Thanks for the suggestion, Gary.)

Unbelievably, we ate a huge breakfast this morning. Kevin apparently loves to serve food to his guests. Thanks Kevin, Allyson and Kahner for the wonderful hospitality. See ya'll next year!

At Last!

I thought it best to go back to the beginning...when was that -- a mere eleven days ago? Below are the BEFORE and AFTER pictures of our room. I am so excited. It really looks better than I thought it would. One of these days I'll believe Jeff when he says, "Hey, why don't we score the floor and stain it to look like wood?"

BEFORE


AFTER


Close up to see the natural beauty of the wood,
I mean, concrete!

What a relief to have this project finished. Now we can all put our focus on other things. Jeff can return to the computer, I can return to the laundry, etc.