BOYS AND THEIR TOYS

JP loves toys and electronics it is in his blood or something. This week was his week let me tell you. We went to Wal-Mart and I was silly to point out that if you spend $20 on Hasbro toys you get a free $10 toy. Well Hasbro sells transformers so we just bought 3 transformers so we can get his free toy (he has wanted a transformer for a while) Just to clarify he is 25. JP has also had the TV itch for a while and he has been working to save money for it. Well since this week is the super bowl and TV’s go on sale. He has been really antsy. Monday night we usually both go home but since we were going to have a crazy ice storm I thought it best to stay the night in cbus. So I sent him a text and told him he should go TV shopping…his response was “does shopping mean buying?”  Well my bargain hunter husband knew what he wanted and we had a budget. He got the exact one he wanted for $100 less than budget!! Yea!! So we now have a 46in TV oh how boys love their toys!!

Happy New Year! We are excited to see all that God has planned for the Bridge in 2011. The winter weather did however delay the return of Clubhouse, when school was canceled. But we are now back in the swing of things with a few extra volunteers from some of the other community churches. We are working with the school to increase the number of student that attend our Clubhouse After School Program. Clubhouse is not the only thing growing this month; we have begun our new members’ class. This class is designed to teach what biblical membership is, what the requirements are and the importance.



The East Asia team returned home safely and forever changed. We thank you for your prayers and support as we went and shared, God is amazing and we are blessed to be a part of His mission. Our next mission as a church is Spring Break: Baltimore. We will be taking a team of students to Baltimore to do a variety of ministry and service projects. Please pray for the students as they contemplating going or not going on this trip. Please pray that there will be no hindrance that would prevent them from following God's call.

Please also in prayer for the upcoming summer as we work to figure out a plan for summer Clubhouse and Vacation Bible School. We will need many volunteers, please pray that God will provide the workers that we need and that they have a heart for the children.

EAST ASIA PERFORMANCE AT THE BRIDGE

Oh how fun to watch the kids talk about how God moved and changes each of their lives over this trip. Then to see them perform, Fun night!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ADAM AND THE BLUE VELVET CAKE

We had a pretty lazy weekend until Saturday. We did dinner with momma Lynn and then headed to Laser Web to play some Laser Tag. Kristen invited us all to Adam birthday surprise party. We played a couple games then headed back to our house for the CAKE, Doug and Games. Let’s start with the cake, this was not any normal cake as you can see below, it was a 2 tier present shaped cake. With Blue and Red velvet cake…yes Blue. It was very pretty. Then we played Scategories while the others watched Doug. Happy Birthday Adam! And the weekend went on!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GWYN

 A baby born yesterday and Cupcakes today. Gwyn is all set. Mamaw took the kids to school today since their parents were still at the hospital with baby Sam. Dawn had gotten cupcakes from work for Gwyn’s class, these were high class cupcakes: red velvet, triple chocolate and strawberry filled, oh my. We were worried the kids would not like them…but they did. Happy Birthday Gwyn!

SAM

Born this morning at 11:30ish 7lbs 10oz 20.5in Samantha Morgan T.

DINNER A MOVIE AND FLAT TIRE

Need we say more? We went out to dinner with Ricky and Christina. Red Robin has a Lettuce Bun Amazing!!! So Good!! Well dinner was good. Then we went and saw Tron. Great movie! We all enjoyed it and it was very clean! Then as we went to leave daunt daunt da another flat tire, this time there was a piece of metal in the tire so we had to get a new tire. L

BACK IN THE FLOW

Birthday is over and I am finally resettled in at work and back to my normal drive routine.

MY DAY…NOT MY DAY

Today is my birthday, I don’t feel older. It is however strange to say I am 25, really I don’t think I ever got used to saying 24. The ladies at work brought in fruit and donuts for me and another guy whose birthday was during the weekend it was nice. However the rest of my work day was crazy my computer crashed, my server kept going soooo slow, the document I was trying to create decided to close a few times and never save. I had forgotten that I needed to renew my license so I figured I needed to go ASAP. I walked 4 blocks in the crazy cold and snow. When I got there the lady preceded to tell me that their systems were down statewide and she did not know when they would be back up. So I ventured back to the office. I called later and the systems were up so I headed back out into the now blizzard like weather. Oh the fun times we have as we turn older.

Well the Night ended well! Josh and I headed out to dinner. We went to Chilis I had the RIBS YUM!! Josh got chicken...the only let down was they no longer have the white molten lava cake :( 

CHRISTMAS WITH THE PARSON CREW

After the Birthday Party and Pictures we headed home. Sunday we visited First Baptist to say hello and then had Lunch and Christmas with the Parson crew.

Amanda: Popcorn with some super cool seasoning containers, GF Mixes, 2 sets to go with my Little People Nativity (wise men and the inn), Rain boots and liners(so warm!),  Despicable ME, nail polish, earrings, movie gift card, and a water bottle with dots J

Josh: Xbox points, how to train a dragon, ITunes, crazy scarf hat thing, fleece jacket, Super muchking and the expansion pack, card microscope thing, movie gift card, and a water bottle without dots J

It was fun! Thanks guys!

Happy Birthday Gwyn and Me!

This year is a little crazy…yes so was last year lol. Since Sam is due to be born at any moment we decided it would be best to combine my birthday and Gwyn’s birthday together to avoid having during labor. So Gwyn (Turning 8) decided to have it at the bowling alley. Which we all thought was great. We had the private room, pizza ice cream cake, a guitar cupcake cake and bowling for 1 hour it was pretty cool. Yes the theme (also picked by Gwyn) was Taylor Swift. But still lots of fun I got Laptop, I was so shocked!! Lots of work clothes which I needed, black flats super cute, stationary, a cinnamon roll candle yum! Perfume, wallet, and gift card. Thanks All!!

JET LAG?

No not really, I get a little sleepy around 7:30pm but I fight to stay awake until 10pm at least. Josh had more trouble than I did. But that will happen when you have 3 days of vacation and take naps!

MOMS SURGERY

Well we have returned home but there are a few things to adjust to, like being told you mother is having surgery in two day, and you sister through her back out. Oh my! My family is falling apart at the seams. Well Dawn is Fine and Mom is doing great!!

East Asia

DAWNS TONSILS, BACK AND I AM SURE THERE IS MORE

 While we were gone Dawn through her back out while bowling with the family. She did it the first frame of the first game…but she bowled 3 games…crazy. She had to go the chiropractor. Then the next week she had her tonsils and adenoids taken out. So when I got home she was still on the couch, poor thing. 

HOME SWEET HOME

We have arrived back in the states here is the letter we sent out to our supporters:

Dear Friends and Family,

God is Amazing! Josh and I have returned home safely, a little sleep deprived, but that is what a day on a plane will do to you. There are so many wonderful and exciting things that happened on this trip. We are so thankful for this opportunity to go and share. We would love to sit down and share stories and pictures, all 2,500 of them. J

We worked with the Zhuang people. There are approximately 17 million Zhuang, less than 1% are believers and less than 5% have ever heard the Gospel. We were able to share the story of the first Christmas: Christ's Birth with over 5,000 Jr High, High School, and college students as well as their teachers in English and Chinese. It really broke my heart to see the faces of the children and their reactions when we asked if they knew who Jesus was or what Christmas was about. The fact is so many of them have never heard His name and have never been told the stories of His love and sacrifice. They have no hope. It constantly reminded us how blessed we are, and how we often take our accessibility to the Gospel of Christ for granted.

 I remember the week before the trip, rushing to get packed, attempting to get everything caught up at work, and being just plain busy. One thing this trip has taught me is to not be so busy, to slow down and cherish the moments we have. So often we, I, get caught up in the details that I miss God’s still soft voice. Every moment of this trip was a time to share God's love and the Gospel with those who have never heard. It was a great reminder to us that we must be bolder in our faith, step outside of our comfort zone and let a dying world know that without Christ there is no hope.

We are so blessed to share what God has done in and through us in East Asia. Thank you so much for your prayers and support during this trip. Please continue to pray for the Zhuang people, East Asia and us as we continue serve in Oxford with the Bridge Church.

December Newsletter

December is a short month for Miami, but a full month for the Bridge. We started the month off with Christmas Caroling in the Dorms, snow and all! Our East Asia team preformed Christmas Songs and told the true meaning of Christmas to the ClubHouse Kids (Tuesday Night Kids Worship time). There was Christmas Coffee House, Children's Choir Night and ClubHouse Christmas Party. All this was crammed into one week, the second was full of studying and finals!

Well as you read this the East Asia team is on the other side of the globe preparing to come home and share the stories of God's Glory to us all. Staff members and students are preparing for January 10th as Winter Semester begins and many new adventures come our way.

Please be in prayer for all the traveling that is going on with students and staff returning to Oxford with this lovely winter weather. Pray for our hearts that they will be prepared to share God's Love with this campus and pray for the campus and community, that God will soften their hearts and allow their eyes to be opened to his truth. Thank you for your prayers.