Flying with children.

Ben keeps telling me that it's my turn to post...now that naptime is here, I think that it will be my last chance for awhile because tomorrow....We fly to Washington! Everyone in our house is Very excited...well, maybe not Carter so much...but he would be if he understood. The kids are good travelers. I drove the kids to my parents house a few weeks ago. It was a 9 and a half hour trip and the kids were champs! We didn't even have a dvd player! So, I feel like they will do well on the plane trip too! Ben and I can both give the kids full attention, and I am going to pack some fun little activity bags for each of them. Of course, you know, they will probably end up just playing with napkins or a package of peanuts or something anyway. =) I read the list of annoying flyers from a flight attendant's point of view. (on the yahoo home page yesterday). The only thing I saw that I learned from was "leave the dry cereal at home". Hmm...are goldfish and animal crackers ok? We'll be sure to pick up the ones that don't make it in their mouths. Of course, if they fall on the floor and get stepped on...I guess that would call for a dustbuster....So do any of our readers have tips on flying with children?
Hmm...not so sure why this is all underlined. I thought I would post a few pics of the kids, and finish up my packing!

Bike riding!

"Tinkerbell"

Kate Loves dress up! Here she is leaning in to give her "prince" a kiss.

The Verge

Since we last wrote Cathy and the kids took a trip to PA for about a week to visit family, I flew to CT for a wedding, we joined the minivan club, we helped someone move, we had a community outreach cookout in a neighborhood of Belmont, NC, etc, etc, etc. Probably not much different then many of your lives (at least the busy pace). Things for friends, family and church ... but what about me and God. As Christians we often always think the gospel and its power are for others and focus mainly on how we can (or should) share the gospel with others (which is very important) but do we spend time remembering the power of the gospel in our own lives. Do we spend our time thinking about the transforming power and grace shown to us through the gospel in our own lives (Romans 5:8) or do we spend our time thinking about NBA playoff's, work, school, material possesions?

What or who do you make disciples of? I thought this was an odd question when my pastor asked it, but think about it for awhile. If you like a football team you read about them, talk about them, have friends over and watch them on TV, wear their clothes and try to convince everyone around you that they are the best. You might do the same thing with a different sports team, a TV show or even the Apple vs. PC saga. Whatever thing is your thing you without even knowing it are making disciples of these people or things. Do you do the same for Jesus? (Matthew 6:21)

Our Cookout went well. We had about 5 families from the neighborhood come, we grilled and played games and hopefully started building relationships that God can use to transform lives. Please pray that these relationships will grow and that some of them would feel comfortable joining our community group and/or church.

Our church is on the verge of our official launch with weekly services, 5 active community groups, service activities, a cool logo and a rockin website ( http://www.theexoduschurch.org/beta/ ), etc, etc, etc. all great things. Many people would measure the success of a church ministy by earlthy measures of attendance or giving statements but we must pray that more importantly the gospel is communicated in a way that changes lives. That it is not another part of someone's schedule but that it can point people to Jesus. Please help us through prayer for the following things.

The facility we are hoping to Up-Fit for our church
Our lives to continue being shaped by the gospel
Others who join Exodus to be changed by the gospel
More help with our church (Matthew 9:37-38)
Our Pastor and leadership team

Thank you all for your prayers and interest in this. Please let us know your thoughts or questions and of course please share this with others we know that may not have seen it yet.

Love,

The Hoersch's