Dunkage

Today was a really awesome day at LifePoint!!! We had the first ever baptisms and about 20 people were baptized. Something that made it even more special was that only about 12 of those people were planned. It was simply amazing to see God's glory through the entire process! Currently, LifePoint has no "official" place to "dunk" people, so we used a blow up swimming pool. As crazy as some people may think we are, it took away nothing from the importance and significance of the commitment that was made by all of these people! I wish all of you could have been there to experience this celebration!!
This is most of the group...just wanted you to see some of the faces of our new church!


This is one of our youth, Jake.

Bob had the amazing opportunity to baptize his daughter, Emmy. Super cool.

When Bob made an open invitation, this woman, who was visiting to watch her daughter and son-in-law get baptized, stepped foward first. God did some cool things...go figure!

Travels End....WOOHOO

We have finally ended our world travels!
Since mid-May we have been to...
Maryland
Washington DC
Oklahoma
Las Vegas
Florida (twice)
Puerto Rico (twice)
St. Maarten
Haiti
Arkansas
And of course, Illinois, Missouri, and Texas
All our trips have been a blast but it is so very nice to be back in one place for awhile. Once we get settled in maybe I can post some pictures of what this place looks like. :)

LifePoint

Ok...so I am constantly trying to figure out how to describe what our new church, LifePoint, is all about. Well, Bob has been doing a series on "The Table" and it basically is about our skills as hosts for the Kingdom of God. His lesson this past Sunday described exactly what I have been trying to organize into words for so long! So...here is what our church is striving to be about: (basically all the key points I wrote down!!)

The church is the table.
The table is where people come to get fed.
We need to be strategic about it.

There are 3 chairs we speak to:
1- Those that need to KNOW God. (still investigating)
2- Those that need to GROW in God. (new to the game)
3- Those that need to SHOW God. (mature in their faith)

Our focus should be on quality, not quantity. (3 GREAT programs vs. 120 mediocre programs)
If it is the ultimate meal, then doesn't it deserve the ultimate presentation?
We strive to present in an innovative and creative way.

Your approach, your meal needs to be balanced.
Do it in a compact & applicable way.
- attaching something with it that helps you remember (requires creativity)
- take spiritual concepts and relate them to things in the world you already know

The nourishment you get from the table allows you to push away and share with others.
You have to diet & exercise.
If you only diet you become spiritually obese. You just want to go deeper and deeper & the church to serve your "growing" needs. You HAVE to exercise.

The table is in a constant state of expansion. Don't come because you like it now. It has to change. We have to do what it takes.

Cruise

We finally went on a cruise!! It was great. Super fun. Relaxing. Beautiful. We had a wonderful time hanging out with Kyle's side of the family and enjoying the Liberty of the Seas. (the newest ship....and one of the biggest...basically a replica of the Freedom of the Seas which we went on last year for our honeymoon) I guess that means next summer when Royal Caribbean comes out with the Independence (also in the Freedom class) that we have to go on it. We can't break our inaugural season streak. I put a slideshow below of some of our pictures. I would strongly suggest a cruise for a vacation. You can't beat the service of the crew members. The entire ship experience is amazing.

The 3 coolest things I discovered on our cruise:
1 - If you date a crew member, you can go on a cruise anytime for $10 a day. That is right...TEN DOLLARS a day...$70 a week. We met a girl that was dating someone and she told us...she met him approx. 2 months ago while on a cruise...and this is her 6th cruise since then. That is 7 cruises in 2 months. Kyle and I decided we would find mates...we can hang out with each other while our new mates are working. $10 a day....
2 - The Anaheim Ducks won the Stanley cup this year!!! We had a few players and the manager on our cruise...that's how I found out. I don't keep up much with hockey.
3 - We had the same cruise director as last year. Not that interesting...but it was cool for us. And the same head chef.
Actually 4 cool things...
4 - If you stay in a family suite...you get a full size shower. Simply amazing.

Fireworks

We discovered this week that one of the perks to moving to somewhere near a big city is that the firework shows are much bigger and better! Don't get me wrong...I love hanging out with the family and watching shows in Plainview and Tulia. But, I haven't seen fireworks like this in awhile!

On Sunday night we watched fireworks in Edwardsville. We were sitting so close...I thought they were going to land on top of us. It was great.

Then, Tuesday (last night) we went into St. Louis to the arch. Lifehouse and GooGoo Dolls were playing live and then fireworks were shot from the Mississippi River right behind the arch. We had awesome seats! (not so much for the concert...but the fireworks) We were sitting directly below the very middle of the arch. That was pretty cool! It was awesome to experience such new things! I tried to take pictures of the fireworks...but apparently you have to keep the camera really still. Instead, I just put a picture of the arch and Lifehouse.

For today, the actual 4th, we went to a lake about 45 minutes from here. A family from the church had us out at their amazing lake cabin to go boating and watch the fireworks from the water. It was super neat! Kyle and Bob learned to wakeboard...so I posted pictures of them below! :)

Basically, celebrating the 4th is much better when done several days in a row!

AND....Friday we leave for Miami to attempt the whole cruise thing again. WOOHOO!

Our New Home

Today was our first Sunday at LifePoint and everyone was so nice and made us feel so welcome. We are excited about getting things kicked off with the youth! The truck finally made it last Friday afternoon and with the help of some wonderful LifePoint people we were able to unload it and get things to storage. For those of you that don't know, Kyle and I decided to stay with Bob & Martha in their basement for awhile until I get a job and everything settles down. Almost every house in this area comes with a finished or unfinished basement and they are usually huge. The Robbins' basement has almost the same square footage as the rest of their house. So...while some of you may think living in a basement would not be fun at all...our little area is quite impressive! I posted pictures below...but they really don't do it justice. It looks really cool and is great for us! We are using about half of the basement and have a living area, bedroom, walk-in closet, and a huge storage area. Very cool.

Our bedroom is big enough for our loveseat and chair!

This is our walk-in closet. It is kind of a mess right now...but you get the idea! I love the beams in the basement...I have never had so much room to hang up clothes to dry in my life!! It's wonderful!

Here is our living room and JoJo's house. Kyle's office is also located in the living room. I let the boys keep playing to prove that the youth like us so far...or atleast our PlayStation2.