White Flowers

Hello everyone! I hope all of you have had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. Ours was unexpected and difficult, but we're doing fine. It was nice to see SO many family and friends although under tragic circumstances. The praise is that my Granddaddy lived a long, joyful, beautiful and full life. I want to thank each of you for thinking about and praying for us over the past week. It was very thoughtful of you guys to send a flower arrangement to the funeral and just again confirmed what an amazing group of friends we have. I was told you guys had sent a flower arrangement, but I didn't know which one was yours. Last night my mother called to say that they were sitting down and going through all of the cards from the flowers and they found one that was addressed from "More than Sunday." She asked if I remembered the arrangement of all white flowers because that was the one from you guys. I then realized that I was standing close to the arrangement made of all white flowers during the graveside service. It was the arrangement I pulled a flower from to say a prayer over and place on the casket of my granddaddy. I could say that it was an awesome coincidence, but I believe it was a kiss from God, because it really touched my heart. Thank you guys for everything.

Kathy

Wonderful!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hey everyone. I hope you are having a great holiday week. This is just a reminder that we will not be meeting this Sunday for Life Group. We will be in contact for the Christmas party we will have on Dec. 7th.

Here are some prayer requests for the week:

Marco and Kathy---peace over Kathy's family for the loss of her granddaddy
Eric and Ranae--safe travels for family coming to Abilene
Craig and Brooke--safe travels for family coming to Abilene
Nick and Reyna--safe travels for family coming to Abilene
Will and Ros--safety while in TN.
Webb and Kristi---Webb's mother's health
Abbye and Tate---Tate's safety while away from home this Holiday and Abbye for safety while Tate is away

**Please let me know if there is anything else I have forgotten.

**Also, Don't forget to attend the 9:40 service this Sunday to see Ranae baptised.

Choices

Today's sermon was great, & so was LifeGroup. I was looking at the notes & discussion questions, & 2 of them really made me think. #5 is, "What are some important decisions you either are thankful you made or regret?" In 2001 I made a decision to leave Eastern New Mexico University. It was hard & I had lots of reasons not to. I was there on a football scholarship, had some great teammates & friends, & was 1 year from graduation. However, I was buried deep in sin, & knew I had to do something to help myself. I didn't know it at the time, but God was pouring out so much grace & love for me. His plans are always perfect & good. My mother invited me back into her home, despite of all I had done. I went to McMurry, played football again & graduated. I turned my will & life over to Jesus Christ, and became a new creation. I've been blessed by countless people. I was given a great job, fell in love with a Proverbs 31 woman & married her, and we have a beautiful baby boy. I don't deserve any of this, but God is so good. Everyday we make a lot of choices. Most of them we don't even realize. I learned to trust God, & chose Him in 2002. He chose me long before I was even born. Question #6 is, "Have any of the choices you've made to follow God produced regrets?" This one just makes me smile. There's been times when I'm fearful, doubtful, or flat-out disobiedient, but God is good, & He knows the plans. Jeremiah 29:11


-Webb

Baptism

Hey everyone!

Hope you are all having a wonderful week. We missed you all on Sunday, but it was nice to spend time with Eric's dad and step-mom too.
I was just writing to let everyone know that I am going to be baptized on the Sunday after Thanksgiving at the 9:40 service, there will be no 8:10 service that week since it is the weekend of the Thanksgiving holiday. My parents will be in town from PA and they are so excited to be able to be there for it and to meet everyone in our life group.
Being baptized is something I've wanted to do for a long time. I grew up in a Christian home and was saved when I was 6 or 7 years old. There were several times when I was younger when I asked my parents if I could get baptized, but they wanted me to wait until I was older and could really understand the significance of that decision. Yet when I was a teenager during my high school years I wasn't really at a place in my walk with the Lord where I wanted to get baptized. It wasn't until college when I rededicated my life to the Lord and made the decision as an adult to be a true follower of Christ. At that time I was ready to be baptized and make that statement of my faith, but the church I attended during college rarely if ever did baptisms. So now that we are at Beltway and baptism is such a huge part of what our church stands for, it is the perfect timing. I know some of you might be out of town for the weekend because of the holiday, but if not it would be awesome to have you all there!

- Ranae

Let's Give Thanks

We pray each of you is having a very blessed week. This Sunday we will have regular Life Group and will be meeting at our house at 5:00. With Thanksgiving only being a week away we are going to make this week about "giving thanks". Please be prepared to not only voice what you are thankful for but also to bring something that shows what you are thankful for. (I am leaving that to each of your creative minds to come up with something.)

**Also please bring your favorite snack for Sunday night and Nick and I will provide the drinks and paper goods.

Pics from Fall Bash

Hey guys we had so much fun tonight! Here are some pics I took from this evening. Feel free to add your as well! We missed you Eric and Ranae!






The Murphy's



The Girls



Will and Bella playing football



Kathy and Ros



Brooke and Craig



Tate serenading us.



The corn trough was a BIG hit!


Thank you Tate and Abbye for letting us come enjoy the evening with you guys. Your home is beautiful and it was a wonderful time with good friends!

Thank You

It's been an extremely busy week. I'm sorry to just now get this posted, but I want to thank you guys so much for praying for my "walk" and then coming on Sunday evening for the closing ceremony. I had an AMAZING weekend, and there are no words that adequately describe it. Just know that it was life-changing and AMAZING, just as God's grace is amazing. I cannot express how appreciative I am that Reyna and Kristi sponsored me. I felt their love and prayers all weekend, and it really touches my heart that Marco and I have a group of friends that can be at our home at a moments notice to pray over us. It is so powerful to know that so many people care about you and are praying for you. You guys are all an answered prayer (seriously), and I know God has put each of us together in this LIFE group. I can't imagine having a better group of friends and brothers and sisters in Christ to navigate through life with.

Update on Marco: We still really don't know much at this point. He still has some issues and problems that haven't been addressed or understood with the tests he has had so far. He is scheduled for a consultation with a specialty doctor on Wednesday. From there they will decide how to proceed, and schedule the other tests and things that he needs.

Fall Bash at the Ellison's

Hey everyone. This week Life Group will be held at Tate and Abbye's Ranch. Check your e-mail for the e-vite and to sign up for food. (also check your e-mail for the map out there)
We hope you all are having a great week!

-Reyna

Veterans Day

Thank you to all of you who serve us SO bravely!

Prayer Requests

**Abbye had a root canal not long ago and the dentist "left" something inside her and she is now in a lot of pain. The dentist will not give her anything for pain and she thinks she is going to have to pay for it to be corrected. She and her dad are going to talk to the office manager tomorrow to see what can be done. Please pray that these people are willing to work with her and that she does not spend another dime to get this fixed.

**Marco's CT scan results should be in by Tuesday or Wednesday of this week...please continue that they find NOTHING!!

Change of Plans

We have decided to CANCEL Life Group tonight so everyone can go pick up Kathy from her walk. We are leaving our house at 3:00 this afternoon and may not be back until around 6:30 this evening. Thanks and sorry for the late notice everyone!
-Reyna

Do you see her???.......

The girl in the middle??? Yeah...Kristi and I just dropped her off for her "Walk to Emmaus" Look very closely at her because on Sunday she will not come back the SAME!!!



















Please Pray for Kathy as she is experiencing the amazing Power of Christ on her journey. Pray she would have peace about being away from Marco and Noah and pray that the Lord will show her amazing things this weekend.

Life Group---this week 11/9

Hey everyone. Change of plans! We are going to meet the 16th at Tate and Abbye's (I promise!) because there are going to be many of us who can't be there this week. This Sunday we will be meeting at our house...5:00 for Life Group as usual.

Here are the prayer needs for the week:
Tate---safety while away
Abbye--safety while Tate is away and PEACE!
Marco--CT scan on Friday
Kathy--walk to emmaus this weekend!!!
Craig and Brooke--traveling out of town this weekend
Will--safety while out of town
Roz--safety while Will is gone


**Let me know if there is anything I am forgetting. Have a GREAT rest of the week!-Reyna

Please Pray

Marco has been having stomach issues lately and has visited the doctor about it. The doctor sent him to get a sonogram on Monday to see what was going on. The doctor called today and said they found "something" in his abdomen and want to do a CT scan on Friday to see what is going on. This is really freaking me out especially since I'm going on my "walk" this weekend and won't be able to talk to Marco about it on Friday. Of course, I immediately thought of all the horrible things it could be. It's never a good thing when the doctor says he found "something" and wants to take a closer look. Please pray for Marco. Pray that whatever it is, it's not something serious. Pray for God to have mercy on him and to heal whatever is going on inside of him.

Kathy

PRAISE!!!!

I have two praises to report:

1. Wyatt's EEG came back normal...Dr. doesn't think there is a thing wrong!

2. Nick and Kristi's dad went to the eye Dr. this morning and the Dr. thinks there is less scar tissue than last week there. He has been told to resume normal activities and to start opening his eye more.

PRAISE the LORD...we serve a mighty and wonderful Savior!

Quiet time when a 3 year old is around?

Every morning I get up a little earlier than my little ones should be getting up. I sneak out of bed, turn on the coffee, let my dog out to do his business, fix my coffee with the right amount of creamer, sit down with my prayer books and Bible ready to spend some quiet and much needed time with my Father. Usually my first prayer when I go to bed is "Lord, please let my children sleep through the night, and let them sleep late enough in the morning that I can spend time with you".

I think God has sense of humor. I can almost time when my 3 year old precious son will wake up, right as I say "Good morning Lord!" I can hear his sweet little voice screaming my name in his bedroom, "Mommy!!!!!!!! I want UP!!!!!!!!" I try not to sigh, roll my eyes or groan in frustration. After all, I am praying for patience, kindness and long suffering. I try to ignore him and pray my heartfelt, desperate prayers. Can the Lord hear me through the screams? Is He laughing? (I might be if it weren't me). Finally, I tell my 3 year old son he can get up and sit on the couch only if he is QUIET. Did I say 3 year old and quiet in the same sentence? Ha! I keep reminding him "Mommy is talking to Jesus", "Mommy needs to spend time with Jesus", "Mommy needs this time with Jesus so she can be happy". He says "I'll be quiet Mommy...... but I want yogurt!", and "Mommy, I want my colors!", "Mommy, whatcha doin?", "I need to go tee-tee!", "why is the sun still sleeping?", "why is the moon white?", " I tooted!!!!"......................

I ask for forgiveness as my eyes involuntarily roll into the back of my head, close my books and Bible and ask the Lord to give me huge amounts of grace. I'll have to be happy with my little tidbits of time with Him through the day.

I try to remind myself that this time with my children will pass all too quickly, and once it has passed, I will have all the quiet time I want in the mornings. So I pray that I find joy and humor in my interupted quiet times. But I find myself praying again that the Lord will wake me up even earlier (can I possibly get up any earlier...5:00 Lord?), so I can have maybe 5 minutes of "quiet time" with Him.

~Abbye

United We Stand

"United We Stand" is a City-Wide Prayer Event for the 2008 Election. Please join us as we pray for our nation and the Presidential Election.

Monday evening from 6:30-8:30 at New Hope Church...right next door to Logan's!

**Let me know if you guys can come and we can sit together.

Fall back

Hey everyone. Don't forget to set your clocks BACK an hour tonight!!! I would just hate to see some of you walk in the middle of the service tomorrow morning. :-)
Also, Don't forget it is commitment Sunday tomorrow!
-Reyna