A little Holiday treat.....

This is a little holiday treat for all of our family and friends who stay in touch through our blog.

This photo is one on the many photos from our current session with close friend and photographer, Becky Abernathy. Becky is not only an awesome photographer but also an awesome friend! You can check out Becky's work @ www.abernathyphotographics.com. Her blog is www.abernathyphotographics.typepad.com.
Watch for more photos...... they will be posted on our blog in a few days.
Merry Christmas to our family and friends!

Happy Holidays!

King of the Jungle

This picture gives you a good idea of what our ministry here in Birmingham has been doing for the past 5 months. During the summer I picked out this musical. The only issue was I didn't have a music director! Weeks following God put together an awesome team that worked hard to see our goal fulfilled. This set was the biggest set that I have ever created.... and the greatest part of if all was that the kids loved it!
Our monkies and lions were great... their make-up was a true creative art!
One of the selling points to my directors was that I would play the part of the dad.... which was suppose to take stress off them.... As you should guess the kids loved having their Children's Pastor in the musical.

Our little artist.....

Ella and I have been working on some Christmas gifts... she has a new interest... painting! She loved every moment spent with the paint brush!

Looks like we might have a little aspiring artist on our hands!

Thanksgiving with the Pink Piggie

During our Thanksgiving in Atlanta, Chrissy and I took the kids to ride the Pink Pig @ Lenox Mall with Glo Glo. Chrissy, having an obsession with pigs, loved the entire enviroment. Ella wanted to ride it over and over again... much to our dismay this was not possible.... since it cost us 12 dollars for all four of us to ride!

Please note: The pink is not for big guys.. especially me... I almost go stuck in the train car! My legs were wedged so tight that I could hardly move! I felt like I was trying to ride in Ella's powerwheels beetle!

A Season of Giving Back......

3 months ago our church here in Birmingham had a special emphasis on "Giving Back to the Community". On a selected Sunday the church took up an offering to use in creating projects that would give to the community. One of the many projects that was giving back a renovated children's ministry space to a small church 1 1/2 hrs from Birmingham. The photos below give you a little insight into what type of project we did. I had to pretty much start from ground up with the entire facility. The walls were white and the ministry need a new name and theme. I meet with the children's pastor the church and discussed things such as:

1. The church's current programming

2. The community cultural elements... for the community it was hunting, fishing and things that people do in central Alabama.

3. Space Allocation and evaluation was a central element

4. The Children's Pastor desires were alot like the needs of a previous remodel done in Atlanta.

In the end..... I came up with... "Camp Discovery- The children's ministry of Buhl Church of God". Camp Discovery is a place where children discover God in all of his creations.

These type projects are the highlight of ministry for me. I can't tell you how much joy this project brought me..... and hopefully will bring kids for years to come.

Little boy blue......

This photo captures to true personality of our son. Hudson... almost 7 months old.... is one of the most laid back babies you could ever meet. He is always happy... especially when his little sister is around. Ella loves her brother... she spends a majority of her time trying to entertain him by saying... "Hudson, I get you... Hudson, I get you"... following up with kisses all over his face.

Seeing such love for our kids makes us so happy to have them so close together!

Our Fashionista.....

Last Thursday Ella arrived @ school wearing her new boots. Ella's teacher, Ms. Jan, greeted us saying.... "Please look Susan...... look @ what our fashionista has on today!" Susan and Jan are Ella's teachers @ Briarwood Church. Chrissy and I are thanking God for placing these ladies in Ella's life. We are so thankful for both of them.

Highwaters

Not really sure if I spelled this title correctly but you get the idea.... Hudson is growing so quickly that all of his pants look like........ highwaters! Everytime we put pants on him... he seems to have grown! We have this feeling that he might carry the same gene as his dad.... Chrissy seems to think that I also wear highwaters @ times... go figure. I pray that I am not still growing...

Minnie and Little Moo

This Halloween Ella was Minnie Mouse... courtesy of Glo Glo and Papa Randy. Ella had ears but they were just two big for her little head. Hudson was Little Moo..... a cow costume that we found @ Gap Kids. Our neighborhood had a professional face painter come to paint the kid's faces before trick or treating. We took Ella... hoping that we could make her look like Minnie Mouse without having to wear those complicated mouse ears. This painter did ok.... she had never done Minnie before... I had to take Ella home and add wiskers.... Ella loved getting her face painted (you can see photos below)

This year we had our close friends from ATL, Ed and Tracey, in town to trick or treat with us. We had so much fun walking Ella house to house as Minnie Mouse. Ella thought that the candy idea was the greatest thing.