December 20 - Last Sunday of Advent

Toddler Sunday School Class

The Preschool Choir waits to sing in Big Church

Go Tell It on the Mountain...

Over the hills and everywhere

This is the way the wise men came

This is the way the stars shone bright

John and Will in the nursery

Our attempt at a group photo

Welcome God's Miracle, Sam Perkins

Sam Perkins, Parkway's newest and smallest member was born on Tuesday, November 17 at 4:07am. He weighed 7 pounds and 4 ounces. I was able to visit Sam on Wednesday and I'm happy to report that he is very cute, mom and dad are doing great, and big brother Christopher is very proud.

Sam, everyone at Parkway is looking forward to loving you and caring for you as you grow both physically and spiritually with us.

I also took our yard sign to his house to welcome him home from his Parkway family. When I pulled up to the Perkins home, a man pulled up in their driveway ahead of me. He stepped out of the car and had a basket of goodies to deliver to the Perkins. He told me that he would leave it on their doorstep since they weren't home. As he was making his way back from the doorstep, I pulled the yard sign out of my car and began to walk it up the driveway to place it in the yard. The man asked to see it so I showed it to him and explained that I was the Children's Minister at their church. He absolutely loved the sign and told me that he thought it was a wonderful way to welcome a baby home. Then he said, "You know what's weird? That's my name." No way! Sam Perkins delivered a present to baby Sam Perkins. Best story of my week.

Sam and his proud big brother, Christopher

Trunk or Treat - October 28, 2009

Trunk or Treat has no spiritual significance except to show people that as brothers and sisters in Christ we can just have a really good time together:)

The Kennedy Family and their Sponge Bob Trunk

Each person at the Andrews/Miller/Tuck trunk had a detailed schedule thanks to Alexis

Caroline and Nancy on their "trunk" rotation

John and I as Thing 1 and Thing 2 with our Cat in the Hat trunk

Amy and Nate the snuggly bear

If you come to Parkway, you are guaranteed to have a cute baby as evidenced by the picture below:

Ariel and Bride Ariel (Savannah and Kelly)

Savannah

The tourist Neals and their Travelocity Gnome

Wolverine Colin

Ninja Brendan and Wolverine Colin

King Bob and Queen Paula the judges for our costume contest

Lynda

Cade and Lindsey and their Christmas trunk

Toy Story

Sergeant Barron

Woody Harris

Harris and the awesome guitar that his mom made

The cutest Buzz Lightyear you've ever seen - Carlton

The Wallace's Toy Story trunk

Ayuko and Ayano

Ayano - more proof that if you come to Parkway you'll have a cute baby

Thomas the Tank Engine - James:)

Mario Johnny

Kaelie as Wendy with Tinkerbelle

Jodie and Kaelie

Dave and Jane

Pirate Akins and their trunk

Russ - Pirate? or Milli Vanilli?

Witch Marie and Pirate Maddie

Kristen and Peacock Ally

Emperor Caleb (who won the costume contest) and Brandy

The Great Swami

Louise's Children's Choir trunk

Jumpie

the best part of my week

I arrived home late on Wednesday night, tired and exhausted as usual. On my way into our complex, I stopped to check our mail and found two of the cutest pieces of mail I have EVER received. They totally made my week and reminded me why I love my job.

Carlton is a very special baby:) Because I love him so much, I gave him a birthday present and this is what I got in return:

James had surgery recently and I visited him at the hospital. If you don't know James, you should because he is one of the cutest and smartest 2 year olds I've ever met (he knew his ABCs at 18 months).

One of my favorite things to learn about a child is what he or she loves the most about life. For James, that's trains and specifically Thomas the Tank Engine. So when I visited James in the hospital I took him the biggest Thomas balloon that I could find!

And he sent me this: