A Sneak Peak!

We had such a wonderful trip! We wanted to share just a few quick pictures with you. Thank you so much to everyone who prayed for us while we were away!

Where Jacob Wrestled with God

Mt. Nebo, looking into the Promised Land

Bet you don't want this Milstone around your neck!

My husband not some Jordanian man.

The Temple of Doom!

Playing around at Petra

The Garden Tomb: He has Risen!

Steve the Cowboy

In Jerome's home where he translated the Latin Vulgate

Playing in the ocean

Riding on the Sea of Galilee

At the Jordan River

Egypt

Steve and a camel

Riding on the Nile

Playing

Steve and I found ourselves doing a little "playing" during December and by playing I mean we went to see two plays!

The first was "The Glass Menagerie" By Mississippi's very own  Tennessee Williams. Our local theater was giving a ministers discount so we were able to go with some of Steve's church staff to enjoy an evening out together. Steve and I even somehow lucked out and got upgraded tickets near the front of the stage. We were over all quite impressed by the performance and we are planning to go back for their next production in the spring.

Our second play was the Broadway musical "Bring it On." Being a former high school cheerleader Steve though this would be a fun one for us to go see. We got a little Christmas money from my Grandma and we were able to splurge on a really nice evening out together. Steve made reservations for us at a Brazilian BBQ place near the theater. If you have never been to a Brazilian BBQ it is truly a treat. They come around to your table and offer you all sorts of expensive meat like steak until you cannot eat anymore. They are also famous for having a huge salad bar which is more like a buffet if you ask me. We left feeling stuffed and pampered.

After a short walk to encourage our food to digest we hit the famous Orpheum Theater. The show was wonderful. You don't even have to take my word for it (a girl former cheerleader) Steve loved it too! The show was filled with tumbling, stunting, dancing, and of course singing. It was tons of fun.

We had such a good night we plan on trying to go again next summer to see another play there. We hope you had a wonderful December and were able to get out and play a little too!

"Thanksmas"

Finals are officially over and now we get to do the fun stuff like updating everyone on what we have been doing!

 Over our Thanksgiving break we were able to go up and visit some more West Coast Reynolds in Seattle. Steve's parents hosted us, his sister and kids, and his brother and wife for a big Christmas/Thanksgiving extravaganza. We coined the word "Thanksmas" to cover both holidays that we were celebrating.

Our first day in town we enjoyed a trip to the city. We were pretty lucky as you can tell from the sky because it didn't Rain while we were out of the car!

 This is our beautiful neice Alexa. We enjoyed learning about how babies work over our trip. Our conclutinos are: They wake up early, their always able to find the things you dropped on the floor, the baby gate is another word for jail, and they are super fun!!!

 This a picture of the girls (missing Kayla) in front of a really cold water fall in down town. No one wanted to take this picture but I think they'll be glad they did now. It turned out pretty cute!

 This is our other beautiful niece Hailey. We loved learning about preteen culture with her. What we learned: The Disney Chanel is still cool, Justice is the new Limited Too, ipads iphones and ipods are the coolest Christmas presents around and they want them, Starbucks is very cool, seeing Santa is not cool, and they still are still super fun!!!

 Can you see how big Lilly's smile is in this picture. She LOVED Alexa. Alexa was pretty brave if you ask me because Lilly is 5 times her size. All week Alexa called Lilly a kitty cat.

Our week was also filled with lots of cards and games which we loved!! These are a few pictures of a new board game I had never heard of before called quelf. It was so much fun! If you're looking to give a board game to someone this Christmas I highly recommend this one. It comes in a Jr. version too for kids.

Thanksmas morning was filled with food, presents and of course Dallas Cowboys football. This is a picture of Steve opening his new Kindle Fire.

Steve Feeding Alexa Apple Jacks

The only thing that we didn't get pictures of was the black Friday Shopping that Dad R. and I did at Walmart and Target. It is really too bad because it was a sight to see.

We had such a good time in Seattle it was so hard to say goodbye. We look forward to our next trip which will hopefully be sooner than later!

Mississippi Party

We are so blessed to have 5 other friends from Mississippi here at Golden Gate with us. This past Thursday marked the first of many official Mississippi parities. I (Laura) must admit that this has been one of my better ideas since moving here. You just can't beat potluck home cooked southern food (BBQ pulled pork, mashed potato's, Homemade mac and cheese, and sweet tea) friends, and thick southern accents. We wanted to share a few pictures and moments from the party!

Decorations:

The goodie bags!

Southern Miss to the Top!

Mississippi Girls

At some point in the night Carlena decided that we should all take a group picture. Even though many objected Carlena can be pretty persuasive and got her way. (I'm so glad she did!) We ended up taking about 20 and these were my favorite of the bunch.

For the Baptist Record :)

Crazy Picture

Crazy Picture #2

Tea Bags!

We love Grits!

Some how we ended up talking about planking. None of us understand it and none of us had ever done one before. Carlena decided that she must give it a try. This was the attempt she did before she knew that she was not supposed to look at the camera.

She quickly got the hang of it.

Steve's plank. Can you figure out what's wrong with this picture??

I hope this blog encourages any Mississippians who might be thinking about coming to GGBTS but are nervous about being so far from home. We'll be your family away from home. Y'all come now!

Q. & A. Steve's New Job

It seams as if we have done a bad job at updating everyone on what's going on in our life. This is partly due to our change in life recently. We felt this blog would be a good one for Q. & A.

Did Steve get a new job?

YES!!! Steve just accepted the position (about a month ago) of part time Youth Minister at a local church Tiburon Baptist Church about five minutes from our house. We are so thankful for this opportunity to serve in our local community.


Didn't Steve have like four jobs already?

Yes which is why this was so huge. About the time our church in the city began a transition period Steve felt that the Lord was calling him to serve again on a church staff. This was a difficult decision to leave or friends and college students but we knew that it was what the Lord wanted for us. Once leaving almost immediately doors began to open for us to serve in this new capacity. Taking this new job allowed him to quit his others and focus just on ministry. Here is Steve's Bio.


What's your new Church like?

Our pastor likes to refer to our church as "classical." In other words it's more on the traditional side. We are one of the only churches in California that have an organ. That being said don't let that fool you we are loving being a part of a very missions minded, evangelistic congregation. We also adore the youth here who have been so welcoming.

What does Steve do?

Steve is in charge of the administration and planning of all things youth. He also rotates teaching with four of his interns. They meet Wednesday nights to play hand bells and games as well as Sunday mornings and Sunday nights for bible study. On top of that He plans monthly outside the church activities.

What does Laura do?

Laura is mostly being the supportive wife. Since there are two girl interns it has left Laura to simply enjoy building relationships with youth and pray. This has allowed Laura to have the time to join the Women's Prayer Shawl Ministry. She has never knitted before but is enjoying the challenge. Pictures will be coming soon.

How Many Youth do you have?

We have a strong core ten and about 10 others who are irregular. We're excited that already God has been growing our numbers and building our relationships with the students.

 How do you get work done with an office overlooking San Francisco?

It's not easy.

Remind me who I am

I (Laura) have lately fallen into the trap (as most of us do from time to time) of not remembering how truly special I am. Beloved of God is a very high title indeed. I was blessed by this song today and wanted to share it with you, to remind you who you are too!

Remind Me Who I Am

By: Jason Gray

When Pinterest Goes Wrong

I (Laura) have been spending the week with my best friend from college Maxy Keller (Who will be married in just two days!!) Being engulfed in wedding culture I felt the need to blog on it.

I have decided there are four types of gifts one will receive for their wedding day.

The first type of gift is: the registered gift

For every bride the wedding registry is high on the priority list. These gifts will fill her home for years to come and reflect the brides personal since of style. She will spend long hours looking at, using, and enjoying these gifts in her daily life. She is grateful for all those who will buy things off of her registry.

The second type of gift is: the knock off gift

These gifts are still highly appreciated by the bride. If they are not exactly right they can be exchanged for something more practical or in a different color. She is grateful for the thought and will enjoy them.

The third type of gift is: the regift

The Bride may or may not know. If you plan on giving this gift to a bride be sure that you hide your tracts well. If she finds out she will be disappointed and maybe even offended.

Maxy received a regift this week. The partially ripped box was the give away for her. Unfortunately the original owner forgot to clean the dirt and dust out of the bottom of the bowl...

The fourth type of gift is: the homemade gift

This is the most risky type of gift to give a bride. She will love it or she will hate it, but either way she is stuck with it. With the development of the new website Pinterest I feel that there are many people getting into the DIY gifts. While these things can be great fun to make a person, one should think wisely of their abilities before giving a homemade gift to a bride. She maybe smiling on the outside when she receives this gift but on the inside she is thinking "I know just what I'm bringing to my next White Elephant/Dirty Santa party!"

Poor Maxy receivd two homemade gifts this week that were less than desirable. They were just too good (and by good I mean awful) to not show you...

For those of you who are married I would love to hear about your worst unasked for gift! Just leave us a comment.