:Mercy Hill Retreat:

It was AMAZING! I think we all walked away from the weekend saying it couldn't have gone any better. What a blessing! I am amazed at the team that the Lord has already put together. I feel so overwhelmed at times just thinking of all that the Lord has in store for us! It is crazy to think that 5 years ago we had someone in SC telling us that we should visit the Summit when we moved to seminary, now we have been here and are being sent out by them to take the Gospel to Greensboro. What a joy!
So we spent the weekend walking through the statement for our church, "the Gospel changes EVERYTHING." I feel like that statement has truly rocked me lately.
We had 4 sessions where Andrew taught through what these 4 statements mean for Mercy Hill Church: The Gospel saves, the Gospel sanctifies, the Gospel gathers, and the Gospel sends. It was awesome! You check out the website for more on those 4 statements as well. www.mercyhillgso.com. On Sunday morning Andrew laid out goals for the next 5 years for our church and then we prayed through each goal. It's so neat to think how apart from Christ we are nothing and can do nothing, but in Christ we have EVERYTHING that we need to do all that he has called us to do and so we pray expecting great things for Greensboro. We pray that the Lord will, even now as we prepare to go, break our hearts for the people of that city.

On Saturday we had just a day of doing whatever, except we weren't allowed to nap; Bobby declared him and Andrew the "no sleep police." The weather was gorgeous! So we all just hung around playing games, hiking, chatting, playing football(a2hour game that had all the boys walking funny on Sunday!), volleyball, and some KanJam. Here are some pictures from our time.

Here was our view from one of the porches of the house we stayed in:**More to come tomorrow!**

:storytime:

I LOVE reading books to the kids! HJ asks every night lately for me to read her princess books to her. They were a birthday gift from the CollinsFive and she loves them!

.Mercy Hill Church.

Two Sunday's ago we got together as a team to have a "letter packing party." The whole team minus 3 came over to our house to grill out, stuff support letters, and then we had a bonfire. It was so much fun! i am so thankful for the team the Lord is forming of people to go to Greensboro with us...it has been so neat to watch friendships form and grow.
This weekend we are headed out to the mountains as a team for a retreat!!! I am SO EXCITED for this time to get away from the busyness of life to just spend time in the Word with these people. Please pray for us that the Lord would continue to build unity among our team, break our hearts for the lost in Gboro, give us vision for taking the Gospel to the city, and that this weekend would be a refreshing and challenging time in the Word.
Also, check out some information about the vision day we will be hosting at the Summit by using this link: http://www.summitrdu.com/gboro

:we got mail:

. i love getting mail. except bills of course!. So here lately we have been getting a lot of FUN mail. here is what has come lately-
a big box of goodies from gigi and poppa:My awesome creative mother in law made this pumpkin! i love it because its not real and i can use it for years to come!! HJ loved her pj's and halloween outfit! she also got some m&m's(her favorite) and a fun scarecrow lady!AP's excited face about all his goodies:Then Bon Bon(my parents back door neighbor sent the kids some books- They loved them!My parents, gmama and gdaddy, had given them some halloween clothes when we were down there and they sent cards with stickers this week. HJ loved making pictures with the stickers. She was so creative!The Collins Five also sent the kids cards! Here is HJ saying to me, "it says happy halloween. i love my ryry and dylan and tyler and eddie(erin) and mike." it was so cute!

Wordless Wednesday: MELT.MY.HEART.

.hopper halloween.

We spent Halloween afternoon hanging out at home before we headed to bobby and allie's house for pizza with them and the dagers! the weather was cold and wet, so we just helped them pass out candy to trick or treaters... HJ enjoyed that! She was a cute cowgirl that didn't want any part in wearing her cute boots! AP sported a shirt that said, "this is my costume!"

.carving time.

She was so excited that is was pumpkin carving time... until Andrew asked her to get the guts out! haha Notice the hands behind her back in the next picture:Then once she saw her daddy do it she gave it a try and immediately said, "that yucky mommy, i not like it."The finished product, "Jack the Jack-o-lantern":