New Friends

Since we've been at the Pastor's College we have made
lots of new friends. We are so thankful for the opportunity
to meet and share our lives with these wonderful folks. It is
also encouraging to hear their stories of how God brought them
here. Thought I'd share a few pictures of some of them.


Morgan and her friend Danielle Setzu from El Paso, Texas.




My girls here with Adele Wegert who is from Germany
and Aiden Kurth who is from Brooklyn, NY. (and Danielle again)



The girls with their new friend Emma Lowe. The Lowe's
are not in the Pastor's College but go Covenant Life Church
and are our neighbors. Their family has been a huge blessing
to ours in many ways.



This is Aaron with his girlfriend Faith Delage. The Delages
are from Virginia and are now our neighbors and have become
our fast friends. Their 2 oldest boys are our girls ages and it is
fun to have them play together.



Aaron with his buddy who is also known as "AJ". AJ Ross
and family are from Reading, PA.

Lunch time

Who knew that eating prunes could be so fun?!?!

Who knew?

So apparently the whole world (except me) knew that if you carve
pumpkins they will quickly rot. After we brought our pumpkins
home from PA, I had numerous neighbor boys ask me how
I planned on keeping my pumpkins from rotting. I guess I just
thought they would stay cute and carved on my front porch
until Thanksgiving. You can see what happened after only
one week!

Hanging Out

So this is Aaron's new favorite place to hang out:

More PA pictures

Carving pumpkins with Grandpa


Ok, I'm not smart enough to figure out how to flip this picture,
but thought it was so cute of my bro holding Aaron.





Me and my boy


Typical Morgan stance

Cousins

Last weekend the kiddos and I headed back to Lancaster for a few days visit. My brother and his family were there and the following is my attempt at getting a cute photo of my kids and their cousin Avery.
-Lori

PC Fall Picnic

Last Saturday was the Fall Picnic for the Pastors College. An incredible amount of work went into it all, and we had a blast. There were goats to pet, a horse to ride, and family games that we all got to participate in. The picture at left was for a race where one person had to be wrapped up completely in toilet paper, and then run to a cone and back, mummy-style (arms extended, stiff-legged). Claudia was the mummy for our team (and a very, very eager volunteer). She did a great job, and was actually the first one down and back; but the judges decided that we had not wrapped her up well enough, so we didn't get the victory. We're not sore losers; we just think that the judging was rigged. It was a very fun day for our family, and especially for the girls to get to ride the horse a number of times.
-Steve

PC Update 10.15.07

It's been some weeks since I've posted an update on the Pastors College, so this is probably as good a time as ever. I've chosen the picture at right to give an indication of the level of brainpower necessary to take this all in. In short, it's impossible to process everything that we're getting, which I suppose is to be expected. And I'm not complaining mind you. One of the results of having a clear hamartiology (doctrine of sin) is knowing that we live in a fallen world. There was a reason, after all, that the Apostle Paul said that "Now we see in a mirror dimly," even while we anticipate the "face to face."
I am so grateful for the Pastors College, and so
thankful for the folks back at Lancaster for sending us here. We've received excellent and helpful teaching on biblical fellowship, the Gospels, the Pentateuch (Gen-Deut) & Hermeneutics (how to study the Bible), and that's just the past four weeks. I'm seeing the storyline of the Bible more clearly than I ever have; and just as importantly, we're experiencing the grace of God in our lives in new ways.
To that end, I think that it would be appropriate here to inform your prayers. We know that many of you are praying for us, and we are very grateful for that. The one recurring need I see is for humility: humility to recognize God's grace toward me as a desperate sinner, humility to bring others into our lives and to allow them to speak to our sins, and humility to appreciate God's richness toward me in my wife and children. Thank you for your ongoing care and kindness towards us, and for your prayers.
-Steve

A Bargain Hunter's Dream

So I heard through the grapevine that the Pier 1 Kids store that is closeby was going out of business and the whole store was 90% off. Those who know me well knew that was on opportunity too good to be missed. So I loaded up all the kiddos and off we headed. I think almost every other stay-at-home mom in Gaithersburg had the same idea that morning. It was a mad house rush, people everywhere, grabbing everything. The prices were insanely cheap, better than most garage sales. We waited in line for an hour and a half, but it was worth it. The girls had a blast, I hardly ever let them pick out and buy things when we go shopping but today was their day! We came away with some super cute decor. A crazy day, but a fun and memorable one.
-Lori

Big Scare

The other day Aaron was eating lunch in his high chair and I was at the sink doing dishes. All of a sudden I heard a huge crash and turned around to see Aaron face first on the floor, still strapped in his high chair with the chair flipped on top of him. He was screaming, I was freaking out, trying to figure out how to get him out. Claudia all of a sudden screams, "BLOOD!" I see it dripping onto the floor and still have not seen his face. When I finally get the chair flipped around and get him out his face is just covered in blood. Once I got him all cleaned up I see that it's a bloody nose and a cut lip. Poor little guy was pretty scared. The floor in the kitchen is ceramic so it was no light crash!! For sure a scary mommy moment!!
-Lori