Trip to Texas Part I

Our first flight without daddy started off as a disaster. When I got on the plane to sit down in my seat, Karis started screaming and throwing a fit. I didn't know what to do because the other two times we flew, she was fine. I prayed and thankfully the Lord answered my prayer in a another woman who reminded Karis of her grandma. Karis spent the first half of the flight in this wonderful lady's arm taking a nap. She was a God send. My good friend Martha and her husband, Ross, picked us up from the airport in Houston. We ate dinner at Taco Bell and witnessed Karis being hard headed and causing pintos and cheese to catapult on her face. It was a sight! Karis and I arrived at Laura's to spend the night. We let the girls play a while and stayed up late talking. It was so much fun to be with Laura and Ashley.
Sunday we went to church at FBC Beaumont. We saw many of our friends and Karis was excited to see her old teachers.


Karis really enjoyed sitting with Aunt Courtney at Pop Pop and Grammie's house on Sunday afternoon. As you can see, in almost all the pictures Karis is wearing the same outfit. She really does own more clothes than that, but I just really like the outfit! Aunt Courtney took Karis and I to lunch to eat some REAL mexican food. It was good!!:)

Papou, Justin's grandpa, played ball with Karis. She was the center of attention and enjoyed every minute of it.

After dinner, everyone left and Karis decided to watch her new Hermie movie, from Aunt Courtney, sitting on Pop Pop's lap. We spent Sunday night at Pop Pop and Grammie's. Monday, Pop Pop took Karis and I back to Laura's for lunch. My mom and Memaw met us there for lunch and to take us to Magnolia.

Karis and Beth had fun playing on the piano and in the play room. They also enjoyed playing on Karis' old swing set, until Karis decided not to share anymore!

This is not the best picture, but it is all of us girls; Karis, Beth, Sarah Jane, Laura and me. The Lord is good and our visit was sweet. Karis and I were so blessed to be with friends and family.

Trip to Texas Part II

Disclaimer: The pictures were taking so long to load that I had to put part II of our trip first. I was planning on putting all the pictures on the same entry, but my patience was wearing thin. I will do part I tomorrow or Wed. I am still learning this blog thing, so I am sorry to have to do things backwards.


Karis really loves her cousin, Madison. Madi, as Karis calls her, is seven, and I think Karis thinks Madison is an adult. She doesn't mind sharing with her, and she always wants Madi to hold her. We had a great day playing with her and riding the four wheeler.

Madi, Karis, and my dad(Papa John) rode the four wheeler together. I took Karis and Madi on the four wheeler, and Karis had a fun time screaming when I went faster. I let Madi drive some and Karis thought it was funny!

Brooklynn, Madi's sister, and Karis finally playing well together our last day at my parents. Karis has a hard time sharing Papa John and her toys when Brooklynn. They did however have fun chasing each other and hugging for the camera. Brooklynn is doing very well. She got her results from the CAT scan, and the doctor is confident that the cancer is gone. Praise the Lord!

Memaw, my dad's mom, and Karis are doing her very favorite thing, reading books. I think Memaw read each book about 10 times each. She finally said enough, and Karis went on to her next book reading victim, my dad!

The last thing Karis did with my parents was read books. Grandma and Papa John were sad to see her leave, but we will be back to see them in six weeks for Christmas. It was a great visit. I really was sad to go, but I was ready to get home to Justin. Every morning when Karis woke up she would say, "Daddy-O," her name for daddy. When we got off the airplane and headed to baggage claim, I kept telling Karis that we were going to see daddy. Going down the elevator, I could see Justin's shoes. As soon as Karis saw him, she ran and did her backwards hug and kissed him. She was so excited!

Going to Texas

Texas, here we come!

Eight weeks after moving to North Carolina, Karis and I are flying home to Texas to see our family and friends. Justin is going to a church plant boot camp all next week, so we decided it would be a great time for Karis and I to go back home to Texas. I have to keep reminding myself that home is now North Carolina, and I am sure it will feel more like home once we get settled into our house.
I cannot wait to see my mom and dad! I also am very excited about Karis getting to see her Mamou, Papou, Aunt Courtney, Grammie, and PopPop. (Justin's family). Karis and I will fly into Houston on Saturday and be picked up by one of my friends from Beaumont. Martha will take Karis and me to Laura's house where we will spend the night and go to FBC Beaumont on Sunday morning. Sunday after church, Courtney, Justin's sister, will take us to Orange to see his family and spend Sunday night. We will then meet my parents in Beaumont on Monday to eat lunch and head to Magnolia for the rest of the trip. We will fly home on Friday, back to Justin who I am sure we will miss very much. I will have lots of pictures and details of our fun trip. I pray Karis and I will be safe on the plane and that she will obey me in the airport and on the plane.

Beautiful Karis

On Wednesday morning when I was taking a shower, I heard Karis get really quiet for a few minutes. Usually when I am in the shower, she is playing in the bathroom or watching BOZ. I looked out of the shower and didn't see her, so I called her name. A few seconds later she crawled into the bathroom from our room (the room at the Dale's house where Justin and I sleep). When she turned her head towards me, I saw a mark on her head. I immediately told her to stay right there until I finished my shower (so much for shaving my legs, but I did have to rinse my hair). After my shower, Karis and I went into my room to find what she had used to mark on her head. She had unzipped my small makeup bag that I put my lip liner and lipstick in. The mark on her head was from my lip liner. I think she was trying to do what mommy does; however, she got her forehead confused with her lips!! I now know that my daughter is becoming too curious to leave alone while showering. So it begins!

Trip to the Wilson Fair

Karis and I are having a snack before we head to the fair.
(Notice her bow, Aunt Laura will be so proud!)


Karis enjoyed riding the elephants!


Spongebob sure is cute in this picture!


Daddy and Karis are feeding the baby goats.















Karis thought is was funny when the baby goats licked
her hands for the food. She kept holding her hand up
to them even when she was out of food.

In late September, one Friday night, Justin and I took Karis to her first fair. We thought she would be so excited, but she was kind of blah! We let her ride two rides, along with one of us, and she enjoyed them. We also ate corn dogs, fries, and a funnel cake. Karis wasn't very interested in any of our food, thank goodness I brought her some snacks. We went to the petting zoo, and she feed the animals. It was an all around fun trip, except when Mommy rode a ride by herself. Karis cried for me until the ride started and then she got to see Mommy spin around and around! Justin was glad he got to stay with Karis!

WMitLC Chapter 3: The Motive

"Every Christian would have his church enclosed within his heart, and be affected with its maladies, as it they were his own, -sympathize with its sorrows, and bewail its sins.
-John Calvin
Do we really feel that way about our church? Do we hurt when other members of your church body hurt? Do we grieve over the sin in others lives? Good questions to ponder this week. I would love some feed back!
A women's ministry is important because its displays God's glory in the local church.
Our ultimate motivation behind any service to God must be to glory if Him in the grace that He provides because "the very people we are called to serve will break our hearts." We must soley serve in ministry because of Christ's love and not rely on our love for people or we will burn out.
Christ gives us the ability to love others, we cannot muster this up ourselves.
The letter to Timothy from Paul is used to explain how we should serve in the local church.
1 Timothy 3:14-16
I hope to come to you soon, but I am writing these things to you so that, if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God; a pillar and buttress of truth. Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness; he was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory.

Three truths from the passage:
1. The Bible-
a. it is have a controlling influence in our lives and our ministry in the local church
b. we should encourage our ministers to be true to Scripture, even to the hard areas
c. we should use it as our guide for ministry
2. The Church-
a. "the household of God"- glorious people that God has offered His grace
b. "church of the living God"- He is present with us when we meet together
c. "a pillar and buttress of truth" - we, as the local church, must influence culture, we do not need to become like the culture to reach others for Christ
3. Christ-
a. we are to be gracious, truth-loving, Christ-loving, distinct disciples growing in God's grace
b. we are to share the gospel with the lost and disciple and grow the saved

"Falling in love with Christ means falling in love with His church."
This last quote really hits the mark. If we are not in love with the local church, then maybe we really aren't in love with Christ! Ponder that for awhile and tell me what you think.

We Bought a House!

Praise the Lord, we finally bought a house. The Lord is so gracious to us. The house we bought is actually the first house we looked at when we first moved here. God obviously didn't want us to like it then, but we do now. There are only a few changes, painting and other things we will have to do. After all this is complete, I will post pictures so you can see our new home. It is bigger and much more than we could have hoped for, and I am so thankful, IT DOES HAVE A TUB IN EACH BATHROOM. The only thing that will be hard to get used to is the size of the bathrooms. Compared to our former bathroom, it is probably only 1/3 the size. I can't complain because at least there is a tub!!:)
It is a 3 bedroom 2 bath with a formal living room and formal dining room. The kitchen and den are connected, and there is what is called a bonus room. It is a big room that was added on that has a window unit that does air and heat. We are extremely excited, and I can't wait to see how the Lord is going to use our house to minister to my family, our church family, and the community. Thanks for all your prayers.
I can't wait until we are in our home and I can post pictures more often.

7 Year Anniversary!!

On October 2, Justin and I celebrated our 7th anniversary. I sometimes have a hard time remembering what life was like without him. He is my best friend, my spiritual leader, an outstanding father, and most of all, a man who desires Christ above all things. I am so blessed to be married to him. I was trying to think of a way to tell explain how much he means to me, so I thought I would share our love story briefly with you.
In 1998, Justin and I met at FOCUS, a weekend college retreat in Texas. We were both attending Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas. We later realized that we had Spanish class together. I started tutoring Justin in Spanish and we spent time together at the BSM sharing Jesus with others on campus. After spending a few weeks with Justin and listening to his heart for Jesus and the lost, I remember going home and telling my mom that I met the kind of man I wanted to marry. Since junior high, I had always known I was going to marry a minister. We continued to study Spanish and teach his youth kids about Christ. Over the Christmas break, we both realized that God had put us together for a reason and that no matter how hard we tried to fight it, we really liked each other.
In Feb. of 1999, Justin told me that he loved me, and in April he asked me to marry him. On October 2, 1999 I kissed my husband for the first time and became Mrs. Justin Childers. Our first few years were rough, but God is faithful and I honestly fall more in love with my husband everyday.
Justin, thank you for always pointing me to Christ. Thank you for always reminding me that Christ is the only one that can complete me. I love you Justin and can't wait to see what the next 7 years holds for us.
"Glorify the Lord with me, let us exalt His name together." Psalm 34:3