Church Nursery Work....

We wanted a tree in the nursery and Kami talked me into painting it...the things husbands get talked into!  I'll just let the pics speak for themselves...

Noteworthy News...

We have been steadily working on the renovations to the church building and things are coming along nicely.  We have been painting, tiling and remodeling the bathrooms and we will post pictures at a later date.  My father-in-law provided us with the antique car memorabilia that we have used as decorations in the men's bathroom and we love how it turned out!  Thanks Dad!!!

Our printed literature has finally arrived and we are in the process of scheduling folks to come out and help us to canvass the area with our promotional material for our Grand Opening day.  We praise the Lord that there are willing folks from our supporting churches who will help us in the great task of distributing the materials!

 

On the home front, a lot has been happening as well!

The girls have always wanted a horse and we told them that we would try to help them get their horse after we had purchased our foreclosed home on 5 acres.  However, the money that we borrowed was quickly used up in the renovations to the house.  We told the girls that we would have to save up some more money before we could put up a fenced paddock and a horse stall and then eventually get a horse. 

After much collaboration, the girls asked us if they could use some of the money that they have in their stock funds...money that we put aside for them when their great grandmother passed away.  After some thought and prayer, we decided that this was a great idea and the work eagerly began! 

We decided that the old sheds covered in plastic would make a great place for our chicken coop and horse stall.

We love how it turned out! And the kids love gathering the eggs from the chickens every day!

(don't mind the horse in the stall, I'll get to that later in the post!)

 

Then there was the putting up of the fencing.  Our whole family pitched in and we had it completed in short order! 

 

 

 

And finally, it was the horse.  We searched and searched for a horse.  Every day we would search through the Craigslist ads looking for that perfect horse in a very small budget.  Then she appeared with the listing title, "Dead Broke Mare"!!! 

 

Our whole family fell in love with this gentle girl.  Sugar Rose is her name and she is fully trained for riding and loves the kids. 

 

She is so gently around the little ones always making sure not to step on them.  It is neat to see her bend her head down to have her nose rubbed by the little ones!  The girls had a saddle given to them but it is needing some repairs.  It is at a saddle shop now but we aren't quite sure if it is even repairable.  A child's saddle was also given to us which means that Silas, Callie and Micah will have plenty of riding in before their older sisters!

We are excited that things are coming together quite quickly as the March 22nd Grand Opening draws near.  Josh, my brother Marc and myself were able to take a quick trip to be a part of the Men's For Christ meeting this past weekend in Alabama.  I was able to speak at one of the sessions and we thoroughly enjoyed all of the preaching and the fellowship with so many dear friends that we have not seen in such a long time.

Another dear preacher friend met us at the meeting with a U-Haul.  I was able to drive the U-Haul back to High Springs and we unloaded it this afternoon.  He had given us several plastic tables, a piano, 20 songs books, lots of Sunday school materials, an assortment of chairs, some decorations, a couple of lecterns, and Junior church supplies.  This will be a great help in getting us set up for the various ministries of the church!

Some of the chairs we purchased!

I was also able to purchase brand-new metal church chairs with all of the upgrades.  These are the kind of chairs that hook together to form a "pew".  As I was searching Craigslist for chairs for the auditorium, I saw an ad for new chairs for $19/ea.  These chairs sell for almost $50/ea. with all of the upgrades.  An independent Baptist church about 1 1/2 hours away had purchased more chairs than they needed and had kept these in storage.  We are excited because these are the exact chairs that we were trying to find for the church.  We just didn't expect to be able to get brand new ones!


Please pray along with us as we are still needing the necessary funds to work on the renovations to the building.  The Grand Opening is soon approaching and we want to get the renovation work done quickly to be able to start the blitzing campaigns. 

A Building and Grand Opening Date!

Our Grand Opening will be on March 22, 2015 @ 10:45 A.M. !

 

We finally got the building leased this morning and switched over the electricity.  There is so much to be done and so many 'financial' hurdles to overcome with the startup of the church.  We were able to get the lease and security deposit taken care of due to the love gifts of several folks from our home church.  We are truly thankful!

 

Because the building has 2 electric meters, I had to give two deposits...let's just say that I wasn't expecting such hefty deposits!  The next hurdle is getting the approved fire extinguishers and having them certified and then I will also need to get a few signs to meet the Fire Inspection codes. 

 

The building is right on the main highway leading in/out of town.  The location is advertising in itself!  We love the fact that it is a stand alone building and has a yard for some activities.

 

 

The front room is about 1300 sq ft.  It's last occupant was a motorcycle shop and we will need to do some minor work to get it ready as the main auditorium.

 

The small room in the back right corner will be the nursery.  It's a small business office as of now but will be great for a couple of babies/toddlers.

This is looking from the corner office room out to the front doors. 

 

The back of the building needs a bit more work in order to turn it into a Sunday school area/Junior church area.  It is the garage/repair shop right now.  But that will come soon enough.  Our main goal for now is getting the literature printed, some renovations done, passing the fire inspection so that we can get the Occupancy License and getting the supplies needed for an actual service...ie: chairs, etc.

 

Thank you all who have prayed for our family!  We truly are "together serving Him!"