Our Evening in the Cellar

We are very thankful that we are okay after the tornadoes and severe storms that came through KY! We spent a few hours in our cellar and waited for it all to pass. We heard there were even storm chasers from Texas in Kentucky for today's storms.

We are praying for all of those that were harmed and for the family's that lost loved ones.

Here are a few pics from earlier:

Holly's 10th Birthday!!!

Today we celebrate Holly's 10th birthday! Wow!

We pulled out some pics from each of her b-day celebrations:

I'll add another one from tonight when she blows out her candles! We already celebrate some last week with a trip to laser tag/skating/shopping trip. :o)

(I couldn't find one of her 3rd b-day, but I'm still looking!)

We are so blessed to have this precious girly in our lives. God has blessed us beyond measure and we praise Him for her!!!

Happy 10th Birthday baby girl!!!!

Monumental Movie - Plymouth, MA - Post from September 2010

I've copied this post from September 2010 when we visited Plymouth, MA for the filming of the new "Monumental Movie" and I wanted to share it again with a little more info at the end:

On Saturday morning we were all excited to be a part of something that we believe in and that we hold dear to our hearts. Yes, it may have been part of a documentary that Kirk Cameron is involved with, but more important than even the scene for the movie was the message involved. Our founding fathers knew that in order for this to be a great nation it must be built on God's principles. They lived, loved, and died fighting for this nation and it's Providential Foundation! God really opened our hearts a few years ago when Bro. Don Pinson (http://heritageministriesky.com/tours/forefathersmonument/) did an American Christian Heritage seminar at our church. He taught about the Pilgrims journey to this new land and the sacrifices that they made. The incredible way that God's hand and provision was in everything that they endured. It is the true history and a message that America needs to hear again and RUN back to!

What is so exciting is now that Kirk Cameron has heard this Truth about our history and sees God's hand in the birth of this nation, he is doing this documentary/movie to help get this message out! Not that it is only going to take this one man to accomplish this, but I believe that God is defintely going to use him to help spread this message.

This is the National Monument to the Forefathers and it is where the movie gets it's title from: Monumental Movie

This monument was finished in 1889. It was built as a memorial to the founding fathers so that it would never be misunderstood that this nation was built on a Christian foundation! There is so much symbolism in this one statue that it would take hours to go through each detail! (I'll hit a few in a minute.)

This scene that they were shooting was really a worship service. There was a praise band playing and as people started arriving you could just feel the presence of the Lord all around us. Kirk Cameron and Dr. Paul Jehle both spoke along with some other special things during the program.

Kirk as he was preparing for his speech.

If you want to hear his speech you can go to this link: http://www.blip.tv/file/4166927

Dr. Paul Jehle and Kirk

Paul who is the Senior Pastor at The New Testament Church has helped Kirk quite a bit with this movie. Paul has been studying and preaching this message for years and has more knowledge about this topic than anyone I have ever known!

We never got to personally meet him, but you could just tell this guy was genuine and so sincere. He was so much a part of this worship service and it was obviously not just for the movie shoot! You can tell he loves the Lord! It was suprisingly warm that morning and this picture was of him taking off a long sleeve shirt and sweater! He left shortly after this for a flight for another appointment.

Now I'll tell you a little more about the monument.

The week before we left Don came to our church and did a message/virtual tour of this monument. The following is just part of what he spoke about that night and also what his son, Joel taught us last year when we came to Plymouth with him.

The statue at the top is Faith. She is pointing her right hand toward heaven to the One True God. In her left hand is the Geneva Bible, this translation led to the Reformation and allowed God's Word to be placed in the hands of common people. If you look closely there are some pages that look like they are being blown by the wind. The wind represents the Holy Spirit. Her left foot is placed upon a Rock - Jesus of course! There is a star on her forehead and it represents wisdom, that can only truly come from God.

There are four statues below Faith and each one has it's own message. Education is one of our favorites. She is looking up and out to God and out to the next generation. She is also pointing to the Book of Knowledge.

On the front of each of the four statues is also a scene that is significant to the founders. The one in front of Education is of the Pilgrims signing the Mayflower Compact. The first and one of the most important document in America's history.

Morality, the basis of government, is also looking toward Heaven. She is holding the 10 Commandments in her left hand for we must have these commandments from God as a basis for what morality is in the first place. She is also holding a scroll that is Revelation in her right hand. She is wearing a priest's breastplate signifying that because of Jesus and His sacrifice we are able to be priests as believers. Praise God we can approach the Throne of God because Jesus is the High Priest and made the way for us.

Liberty is a soldier with a dead lion underneath him with it's paw laying over his shoulder. The lion is a symbol of the enemy, because he is roaming about the earth seeking whom he may devour. But he will always be defeated by the One that is stronger!!! The chains on Libery's wrist and foot are broken - Liberty is produced when we walk with Jesus! The sword laying in his left hand is still in it's sheath and not being drawn. Liberty has to be protected by the sword, but never drawn to take other's liberties away.

Law has his hand extended to the criminal saying come and have justice. A person should have internal self-government, but if not then external government must be in place.

On each side of the statues there are smaller statues that have more symbolism and messages. It is truly the most important monument that we have in America. But it has been hidden and not taken care of for many years. In his speech, Kirk said that when he first saw this monument all he could think about was "how can this not be illegal, because it was so blatantly Christian!"

If you ever plan on taking a trip to New England please - please - please visit Plymouth and see this monument for yourself!

Our family after the service.

For more information about Monumental Movie and to buy tickets for the special live event on Tuesday, March 27th please visit the website:

http://www.monumentalmovie.com/

Our Valentine's Day

We've had a pretty good Valentine's Day! It's been busy, but a big blessing! :)

We started out our morning by journeying to Jackson Co. to have our taxes done.

And on our way there our van's mileage rolled over to 100,000! It's been a great traveling van and we just hope it'll last us for a while longer. :) Especially since we paid it off this past fall!

Brian got his sweet valentine's a little something from us and he even got me a little something too!

:D (We usually don't go all out for V-day:)

The girls made us all cards!

To: Mommy

From: Holly

To: Daddy

From: Holly

To: Daddy

From: Anna

To: Anna

From: Holly

To: Holly

From: Anna

To: Mommy

From: Anna

After getting our taxes finished we made a quick trip to Lowe's so Brian could pick up some lumber for his man cave.

Then he treated us to lunch at Frisch's so we could see Nana and take her a little valentine. She is the asst. manager there. :)

Next up - working on the man cave!

The girls joined us so that they could write on a few boards.

Oh look - they already wrote on this one for Brian.... :o) Hehehe!

Anna drew each of our family members ^^that's Brian in his toboggan!

This is me! :)

Anna

And Holly!

We've had this stain glass light for YEARS and Brian hung it up for extra light in his garage and I thought this section on it looked like a heart! So fitting for the day!

We rounded out our day with a little dessert!

1 John 4:10
"In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins."