On a rainy day ...

if all else fails, make cupcakes ...

then pray for sunshine so you can send them outside once the sugar kicks in...

the kids who ate them, not the cupcakes.

PC by numbers (a year in review)

17 Students

16 Wives & 1 Friend/Girlfriend/Fiance/Almost Wife (Congrats Mr & Mrs Shea married Sat June 19th!!)

8 Babies Born in Maryland - half of our class! The 1st was a girl, then 7 boys followed.

80+ inches of snow (A Historical Record)!

38 weeks of class comprised of:

4 weeks of New Testament courses

3 weeks of Old Testament

8 weeks of Systematic Theology

1 week of Biblical theology

3 weeks of church history

2 weeks on Preaching

2 weeks on Biblical counseling

1 week each of Hermeneutics and Apologetics

3 weeks of Pastoral Ministry and Leadership

1 week on Missiology and Church Planting

1 week on Evangelism

1 week on Worship

1 week on Marriage, 1 on Parenting

Taught by a mix of seasoned pastors and world-class theologians/Bible scholars.

10,013 pages assigned to read

And on top of this, throughout the year—every Friday afternoon— was spent on New Testament Greek— equivalent to one year’s worth of seminary-level Greek (the language of the New Testament). Then 17 of those Friday's each student took turns presenting a sermon for Preaching Lab, which would be critiqued by Jeff and the class afterwards.

Totaling over 900 hours of lectures and an additional 1100+ hours of outside work, reading, papers, and exams.

12 States Represented

17 churches in 17 cities

10,205 Total Number of people in our churches on Sunday mornings, whom we get to play a small part in serving.

AMAZING GRACE.

Nate & Jeff Purwell

CJ Mahaney, Nate & Gary Ricucci

Julie Purswell, Me, Betsy Ricucci & Carolyn Mahaney

Nate & I

Packing Obstacles

And this is what Nate & I were up against as we tried to pack the house to move back to MN ...

that's our son, crazy as can be! If you haven't seen the pic of him scaling our car in my post "Chason" in April, or the infamous "What keeps me busy" video posted back in March, you should check them out... and Cal is right behind him, oh what to expect with these boys just 16 and a half mos apart ... maybe Cal will temper Chason a bit ... I can dream :).

The Journey Home

Saturday June 12th, we loaded up the 26ft Penske - after a 3 hour wait for the Penske guys to show up to open the Penske store to give us the truck, kids in tow and all - I realized that this was God's grace to me saying "see, you don't want to be on a 2 day car ride with these guys." LOL!). So that got done around 1:30 thanks to an AMAZING crew, we finished cleaning most of the house, grabbed a shower before Nate, myself and Cal had to head to the airport at 3:30 to pick up his dad (who was driving the truck) and drop off Cal and I to catch a 7:10 flight to MN. Our neighbors the Lowe's kept Sophie and Chason while we packed the truck and volunteered to keep them while we did the airport run to Baltimore - what a blessing that was Helen, thank you! So rather than spend more time in the car, they got to run in the sprinklers and play outside with their buddies - perfect way to spend their last day in the hood :).

Cal did great on the flights (we had a layover in ATL), not perfect, but anything was better than 20+ hours in the car with him! Our friends Becky & Emily were at the airport to greet us and Cal and I stayed with them until Nate, his dad and the kids got in on Monday evening.

Back at home (in MD), Nate and his dad did any last minute cleaning & picking up needed and crashed in the empty house with only bedding & the kids to pack up the next day. Phil Dufrin, our good friend & classmate who lived across the street, insisted on making a big breakfast for everyone before they hit the road at 6:30am, so they all went over there around 5:30am and had the works with the Dufrins and the Nelsons - classmates from WA state who were leaving that day too and crashed at the Dufrins (their 5 kids and the Dufrin's 6!). After a wonderful breakfast and goodbyes, they were off!

Dad was in the Penske and Nate in the car with the kids, manned with lot's of snacks and DVD's. That first leg was about 12 or 13 hours (I think) and they stayed near Columbus, OH. The second day they made it home in really good time - not without many melt downs, especially Chason who only slept a total of 15 minutes that 1st leg! All the while I was enjoying getting reacquainted with my girlfriends Becky & Emily and enjoying their very peaceful home with Calvin - napping when he napped ... ahhh, it had been a while, and re-cooping from the crazy whirlwind we had just experienced the past 2 weeks.

Really good to be back to our home of 7 yrs, it's a lot smaller than the house in MD, but it truly is home. Our renters were WONDERFUL! The house was in the same condition we left it, if not better. The boxes are unpacked and pictures are hung - took a couple weeks, but it happened :). The kids are still adjusting to their new sleeping arrangements (Chason is in a big boy bed now and he and Sophie share a room ... Cal is in with us and is not sleeping through the night, again! Though he is officially cutting teeth, so I think that may be a lot of it), but have fallen right back into place here with the neighbors & neighborhood dogs, making sure to pay everyone visits when we are outback on the patio.

Thanks everyone for your prayers in regards to our journey back home. God is so kind and gracious. How precious each one of you are to us, near or far, whether we've seen you last week or it's been years, you are all God's good gifts to us!

Goodbye Maryland!

Last photo shoot to capture our little family in this very special season of our lives - only 3 days before our final farewell. I pray that even though the kids are small, that this season of God's abundant faithfulness, kindness & grace is etched on their little hearts too...

*Special Thanks to Ellie Berry for taking these photo's, and even more for loving our kids as you served our family by babysitting this year - we will miss you!

PC Graduation - TOMORROW!!

Tomorrow night, Nate will graduate from Sovereign Grace Pastor's College ...

I am in COMPLETE amazement at how quickly this 10 months has gone by. But even more than that, amazed at ALL that has taken place in the midst of this 10 months. It seems like 10 years of growth happened while we were here in Maryland. I have said this many times, but this TRULY has been one of the most challenging, but also one of the sweetest years of my life! In fact, I would even go as far as to say possibly the best year of my life so far.

There is so much that I want to write right now, so many things I want to testify of, but I don't even know how to articulate them all at this point. Maybe I will have to do some flashbacks when I get home and settled back in to our little house on North Bay Drive :).

Thank you Oasis Church for sending us here ... tears ... I am overwhelmed by your generosity and selflessness. That you would allow us to have a year such as this ... my marriage will never be the same ... the way I parent and love my children will never be the same ... by God's grace I pray that I will be a better friend and servant to you all through what I have learned and observed in the lives and teachings of these precious saints & brothers and sisters here. I have learned to trust Jesus more, seeing his sovereign plans for us and this SPECIFIC year. How at the beginning it didn't make sense, sending me, 7 months pregnant with 2 very small children to the other side of the US, to make a new/temporary home for 10 months. To give Nate to a rigorous school schedule during one of the most intense seasons of my motherhood. But I now see. My faith has been strengthened and I have seen afresh God's kindness and goodness, the PERFECT plans that he has for his children. Plans for good and not evil. The scripture from Ephesians 3 just came to mind and I think I shared this the Sunday we left. And 10 months later it holds so much more weight than it did then. My affection and desire to be with you all is greater and my view of the vastness of God and ALL that is provided for us through His Son and the gospel is even deeper. So I will leave you with that, because who can say it better than God Himself? :)

Ephesians 3:14-21 "14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, 16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith--that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. 20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen."

Big Boy with the Big Blue's

Some recent pics I shot of Cal. at 7 and a half months old, he is wearing Chason's 12 month clothes, even some clothes that Chason was wearing when we first moved here to MD!

As you can see, he's not a big chub, just really long and sturdy. He is FINALLY sleeping through the night and he's been army crawling around the house for about a month now - the other kids weren't mobile till 10 mos! He's a fun dude. Pretty demanding still, loves his mommy that's for sure, but I am learning to savor that a bit more knowing that soon he won't want me holding him, he'll just want to be running around with big-little bro, lol, and sissy.

Strawberry Picking @ Larriland Farms

Strawberry picking ON Memorial Day in 90 degree heat! Needless to say, our visit only lasted about 20 minutes before Chason started to loose it, but we did get a couple cute pics :).

Sophie turns 4!!

Look who turned 4!!!

These pictures are random since I STILL don't have the hang of posting pictures on the blog and moving them around without loosing them ...

So because Nate graduates on Sophie's birthday and it's our farewell morning at Covenant Life Church, we decided to have a birthday day for her today. We started off with donuts. Then we dropped off the boys and she and I headed out on a shopping extravaganza! It was a blast! We tried on lots of clothes, went into fun accessory stores, played at the park in the mall, ate McDonalds for lunch, got candy out of the candy machines and played the quarter games in the food court - and even won a plastic dinosaur (which she is sleeping with at this moment). Then we came home and had pizza for dinner and cupcakes that she picked out for dessert. After that she headed out with daddy for some time at the park.

What a special, special girl she is. It is tremendous the changes that have taken place in her even from age 3 to 4. We stopped for a potty break before we headed out of the mall and as we were exiting a woman saw us and said "ohhh, she reminds me of my daughter when she was that age ... now she's 13 and doesn't like me very much." That made my heart so sad. Lord by your grace, let each year bring more affection and fondness in my daughters heart for me, and I for her. Most of all, let that affection and fondness be rooted and overflowing from a deep affection and love for your son Jesus.