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Tomorrow, the carpet will be installed in our new building. We are getting very close to having all the painting done (except for the murals in the preschool area). Now, the details are having to be finalized and the move planned from the old building. It is truly amazing how much work has been done. Our volunteers have put in many hours and several have been there just as much as the staff. I can’t wait for April 5. We’re going to make it but there may be a few projects that are left until after the first service. ‘
Please continue to pray for us as we are all getting weary and want to save some energy for next week and the final push. Check out Thayer’s blog if you haven’t to see his pictures. I don’t know many pastors who have ever had so much to do with the physical building of their churches. He loves it and even though he puts in 12-14 hour days, he wouldn’t be anywhere else!
I meant to post these pictures on Friday night. But, after Avery’s party, I started to feel like I was having a bad allergy attack. I worked at church until 8 and by then I was beginning to feel bad. By the time I got home, I crawled into bed and didn’t get up until late Saturday afternoon. The best we can figure, I have the flu. Sneezing, runny nose (but stuffy at the same time), fever, chills, a horrible cough, and the worst body aches ever. I couldn’t even open a can drink because my fingers were too sore. I felt some better today. I did not get to go to church. It really almost killed me to not be at the building yesterday, but to then have to miss church today…I hated it! Thayer has done an amazing job with the girls especially considering that they have been working at the church, going to church and still made it to Ashlee Boyd’s birthday party. I had told him that he could leave the younger three at home this morning because they were still asleep when he and Julia were about to leave. Bailey woke up and came running in saying she needed to be at church because she is on the Praise Team (I had forgotten about that!) and she was supposed to be “a leader.” Pretty impressive! Then, when Bailey got her clothes, Madi woke up and decided she would much rather go to church too! How cool is that?! I hope they will always be that anxious to go to church!
By tonight, I had to go see the work that had been done at the new building. Thayer took me just long enough to walk through one time. Lots got done…but there is lots still to go, especially before Thursday when the guys come to lay the carpet.
Anyway, Avery’s party was so cute. The 12 little girls that came all had a great time and it was so nice to not have to clean, decorate, or entertain. I don’t think I will ever have another kids’ party at my house when you can pay someone else to do it for you at their place! By the way, there is a bruise on Avery’s forehead…she and Lauren ran into each other at church the Sunday before and it was still visible on Friday!
(Good thing it happened to two staff children!)
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I need to ask a favor…please pray for me. I am running on fumes and we have two more weeks of renovations. The work seems to multiply but the workers do not. We will make it but I’m getting tired. In addition to the church, we are still having to do normal life. We made it to all dance and piano lessons and we made dinner twice at home this week. The girls homework is getting done, but they all still have a little primer in their hair! The house is suffering…I am typically a neat freak, but after a quick survey when we got home tonight, there isn’t one room (especially upstairs!) that I would not be so embarrassed if someone else saw it. Tomorrow immediately after school is Avery’s birthday party (nothing like having it 2 1/2 weeks after your birthday!) so I still have to do a few things to get ready for that. Thayer is folding the clothes that we washed last weekend because my floor was getting too full! To top it off, two friends with daughters just older than Julia gave us heaps of clothes this week. I’m very thankful for them, but not her floor is covered too! You can barely walk in Avery and Bailey/Madi’s rooms and although the downstairs is decently straight, it is not clean. I guess I need Merry Maids…but I don’t think they’d even step foot in my upstairs.
I know God grants us strength, but I’ll be so glad to finish up the work at church so I can get back to my normal life…that one is chaotic enough as it is!
We’ve been so busy since we got back from the beach that I haven’t had time to write much. The new church building is coming along well, but there is still so much to be done. God truly blessed us with kids that can handle all that our life throws at us. They have been real troopers this week, especially today. They got to help paint some in the elementary school rooms, so that helped, but I can’t complain about their behavior at all even after being at the building for several hours a day all week and over 8 hours today.
Julia attended the Spring Ball, the final dance for the ‘08-’09 Goldsboro Cotillion, Friday night. A friend that teaches with me gave us a dress her daughter wore two years ago and it was really pretty…much fancier than what I had gotten her to wear to the Holly Ball in December. I helped her with her hair and make-up and she had some pretty jewelry and sparkly shoes to match. We even remembered to do her nails this time. (At Christmas, she got all dressed up and got her hair done at my hairdressers and right when it was time to leave, we noticed how bad her nails looked and didn’t have time to fix it!) I went in to the country club with her so I could pay the photographer. I was in total shock and disbelief over what I saw. You wouldn’t believe some of the dresses those middle school girls had on! And, no telling how much money was spent on them and the fancy hair-dos. I didn’t even look that made-up at my Senior Prom! It was totally ridiculous and I was fuming at the parents that allow this when I walked out the door…I didn’t even notice the lady standing right on the other side until I banged the door into her. She was filming her child and her friends as they stepped out of the limo that brought them. Yes, a limo! I was in shock by this point and was seriously considering that this was the last Cotillion the Stamper children would ever attend. When I picked her up, I realized that there wasn’t just one limo, but two! I don’t know what those kids ever have to look forward to by the time they have their Junior/Senior Prom.
I talked to all the girls about how ridiculous all of that was. Julia had a wonderful time and it is still a great experience, but she understands that we will not participate in the outlandish behavior that some of the other families exhibit. Bailey is already looking forward to joining the 5th grade version of it next year, but she also understands about what we will and will not allow. Madi is truly a girl after my own heart: when she saw the limo, she said, “what a huge waste of money!”
It is truly amazing to see the progress at our new church building since last Tuesday. We actually didn’t close on the building until Wednesday, but were allowed to do a few things on Tuesday. As of tonight, all the brick walls have now been primed and painted. All of the old carpet has been ripped out except in the auditorium and hallway where it is serving as a dropcloth. Priming is beginning in the elementary age rooms and a wall has been knocked down to make two small rooms a big room for preschool. But, there is still so much to be done.
I am trying not to disrupt our kids’ lives totally during the renovations again (we just did this 2 1/2 years ago at our current building), but already this week, they’ve missed piano lessons and we’ve eaten fast food in our car two nights in a row. Hopefully after this weekend, they can get back to a more normal life.
I’ll try to post a few pictures soon! In the meantime, pray for our volunteers and that God will multiply our time and our resources to make this a truly amazing place where people can come to know and worship Him!
We got home from our long weekend beach trip tonight about 8:30. Today was a beautiful day at Myrtle Beach. The previous days, the highs weren’t even as high as the temperatures in Goldsboro. Saturday was a high of 60, Sunday was a high of 68 or so, and today’s high was about 75. I did my training for the 8K we are doing on the beach Saturday and today. And, today we were able to play in the sand and play in the lazy river at the resort. I even got sunburned…after you apply sunscreen to four others, you don’t always do such a good job on yourself! We had planned to leave by 2pm, but it was nice that we stayed until almost 4. We had a great time (except for Madi’s 12 hour virus–thank goodness most of those hours were through the night) and we want to thank my mom and dad for inviting us!
The mini-vacation helped us rest from the stress of the weeks leading up to GCC buying its new building and recharge so we are ready to tackle the renovations head on! We stopped in tonight on the way home
and were amazed at all that got done over the four days we were gone! Our volunteers rock! There is still much to be done though. It will look amazing by April 5!
Here are a few pictures from our trrip:
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We are having a great time at the beach. It was a beautiful day, although not as warm as it was in Goldsboro. The high was only in the low 60s and the wind was pumping. But, still…its the beach! I ran my four miles for my 8K training on the beach this morning. If only the race was on the beach, I’d be fine. We had Bailey and Avery’s birthday with my parents and brother, sister-in-law and my nephew. They had both already had a regular birthday cake, so Bailey asked if we could have strawberry shortcake, which I thought was a great idea. It was way too cold to do any swimming except in the indoor pool, so we took the girls down to swim for about an hour. We got to eat at California Dreaming tonight which is a rare treat. Tomorrow, we are going shopping at Broadway at the Beach and hopefully it will be warm enough to do a little more on the beach. I’ll post a few pictures tomorrow.
We just finished a very busy week. Avery’s birthday was celebrated three times…on the actual day and on Wednesday and Thursday at preschool with her two classes. The church closed on our new building Wednesday, so we pretty much lived there for the last two and a half days. So much work already has been done (you can keep up with the progress on Thayer’s blog) but there is so much more to be do! It is so exciting to see the volunteer spirit we have at GCC. We can’t wait to start worshipping in OUR building…shooting for April 5.
We are at Myrtle Beach with my family until Monday afternoon. Michael and Vanessa and Matthan will be coming just for the day tomorrow and we will celebrate Bailey and Avery’s birthdays…again! I’ll thnk about you while we out on the beach in the 80 degree weather!
Today is Avery’s birthday and she is 4! We have a 2 hour delay today so we all slept in until she woke up and started calling us. We all went in and sang “happy birthday” which scared her to death. She’s not used to the whole family coming in to get her. Once she calmed down, we had birthday cake for breakfast! She loved blowing out the candles. She has been confused about whether or not it is really her birthday because her party is not for 2 1/2 more weeks. She got to open 1 gift this morning and we’ll do the rest tonight after her birthday dinner. She got to pick where she wants to go out to eat so we will be feasting at McDonalds tonight! We put her birthday outfit on and took her picture outside in the snow under the birthday flag. When Bailey turned 5 it snowed on her birthday too!
Its not much snow, but it counts! It caused a 2 hour delay even!
This is cake #1. She’ll have some with both preschool classes and again at the beach this weekend and again at her party in a few weeks.
She’s been asking for a watch so she got a Tinkerbell watch this morning.
Julia participated in the 30 Hour Famine over Friday and Saturday. It is sponsored by World Vision and entails fasting for 30 hours and raising money to feed hungry children. 26,000 children die everyday from hunger related causes. The 12 kids from Gateway that participated began at 9 am Friday morning. Julia got home after school and was doing fine even though one of her classes had cake for finishing up a course they were taking. She said the kids were taunting her with the cake, but she resisted. They were able to drink juice and water, so she carried 2 juice boxes for lunch. They all met at church at 4 pm to finish out the last 23 hours together. They had Bible studies, saw videos, built a cardboard village, and did 2 hours of community service in the rain on Saturday. They made several videos that are on the Gateway page of Facebook chronicling their journey. Some of them are pretty silly…you never know what you’re going to see when you are sleep and food deprived! At 3 pm Saturday, all the parents carried food for them to have. They were never so glad to see their parents! I’m really proud of her for being able to do it. She’s so tiny that I was a little concerned. The worst thing that happened to her was due to her silliness rather than not eating. They were playing hide-and-seek and she ran into a low beam in the attic and had a swollen nose. We don’t have an exact total, but they raised about $1000.
When we got home, she wanted some of Bailey’s birthday cake. I told her she had to have a little protein first, so she ate a handful of cashews.
