Redeeming Grace and YMCA partner for a family fun night

Prayer team setting out to prayer walk in preparation for the Community Event at the YMCA

Sharing stories of the people we talked with, even familiar faces in the neighborhood that we were able to snag a hug and catch up on life.

As soon as chairs hit the floor during set up, we had people to hang out with around the tables.

Kids filled up the basketball court during set up

The kids "warmed up" the games during set up. Nothing like bashing people for Jesus!

preparing (lots of) popcorn

Playing street hockey with the kids

The art tables stayed very busy throughout the night.

We were so thankful to have Debbie and Tom (Billy's parents here)

By the end of the evening the tree was filled with handmade ornaments

Sack races were a hit! plenty of laughter, plenty of falls and thankfully everybody got up!

Do you hear the laughter? OH wait, my ears are still ringing! 

Shawn organized the kids with a few competitions.

Ready, set......GO!

hula hoop contest!

Family picture time! pictures were taken, printed and handed out

We had a great time talking to folks one on one, and seeing lots of smiling faces.

Two of our volunteer helpers for the night.  So glad to have some friends stop by to participate. 

What a fun family this is, so enjoyed getting to know them and looking forward in hanging out more soon!

Some of the kids are sporting their new stocking caps donated through Appalachain Regional Ministries.  Great friends and partners in the Gospel.

We made some new friends tonight and the cool thing is we don't have to say goodbyes....

We are thankful for the partnership with the Camp Curtin YMCA. We have enjoyed working together to have this community family outreach party. We are also thankful for the Baptist Resource Center where we rented the block party trailer for the event. All in all the night was great, the Lord provided enough hands (could always use more) for the people that came. At times it is overwhelming when you have a warm, talkative crowd and you just wish you had more people around to love on them. However even in the midst of it God has a way of reminding me this is His gig. God has been so faithful in placing us in the middle of the culture here, we learn more everyday.

Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’^{[a] 38} This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹ And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself Matthew 22:37-40

A weekend packed with fun

Breanna had a friend over to make some cookies, good time for sure. Having a kitchen full of laughter is a sweet sound.

We had some guys from Faith join us for a few days. They explored the city, spent time with us and the Shays and hung out around Harrisburg.

We headed out Saturday to the Harrisburg Christmas Parade. The parade was originally canceled due to the city of Harrisburg running out of money but the local businesses pulled together to organize the parade.  

It was a bit chilly when the sun went behind the clouds but overall it was a very nice day for a parade.

We went to Midtown Harrisburg for lunch and to get a few things at the Broad Street Market.

We stopped at the Midtown Scholar bookstore (the best coffee around). The kids enjoy this bookstore and I do believe they would sit for hours...tucked away reading books. (see Maddy's pink boots peeking out of the chair, this chair is great...would love to find one or three for the kids to hide out and have quiet time)

Billy and I spent a lot of time raking leaves and the kids spent a lot of time spreading the leaves.

ohh the joys of rolling, tossing and spreading the piles of leaves everywhere....until your itchy with leaves in your hair and stuck in your clothes.

Here are some of the football boys. We finished off the season with a banquet.  A nice dinner and time to hang out with the team once again.

 

 Here is Logan's buddy from football and our friend Coach Archie.

Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’^{[a] 38} This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹ And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself Matthew 22:37-40

Faith Vision team

Our sending church Faith Baptist Church in Youngsville NC brought a team up last weekend for a vision trip. The group looked at many cites in PA for possible places for the next work to begin. Here are just a few pictures...........

The team's first night in PA was spent at our house sharing stories, shedding a few tears, praying and being completely overwhelmed with God's plan. It was an emotional moment to hear and see how the Lord has woven and continues to weave people people into the work in PA and beyond.  It was certainly a sweet time.

The team split up between the Shay's street and ours to prayer walk. We were overwhelmed seeing yet another group walking through our streets praying. It is humbling, it is powerful, it is where all the work begins. We are quickly reminded of the sweet celebration of our new brother in Christ across the street that accepted the Lord this week. We are thankful the results are not in our hands and we thank God for allowing us to see  His faithfulness of prayers.

Here is a picture of the group after driving many miles here and many more miles in PA visiting different cities. We anticipate the stories of how the Lord is moving in many of the hearts and getting a small glimpse of the plan unfolding.

The team is heading out, Thank you Faith Baptist for your support, visits, encouragement and prayers. It is always a welcome visit when that white van from Youngsville pulls up in the driveway.

O Lord, you are my God; I will exalt you and praise your name, for in perfect faithfulness you have done marvelous things, things planned long ago. Isaiah 25:1

Your love, O Lord, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies. Psalm 36:5

It is good to praise the Lord and make music to your name, O Most High, to proclaim your love in the morning and your faithfulness at night, Psalm 92:1-2

Free Coffee and Lots of Sugar

We enjoyed our first Halloween trick-or-treating in the our neighborhood.  I did think about our years in the Brewers Glynn neighborhood in Wake Forest and had a knot in my throat thinking about my friend Lana. We would work together... or rather she would help my kids with all the missing costume pieces. In my flurry of activity yesterday curling hair and locating things I thought about her and the fun memories we had sitting around a fire pit sharing stories after the kids went trick-or-treating in the neighborhood.
This year, rather than our traditional s'mores afterward, we decided to give out free coffee to the adults as the kiddos came by to get candy. It was nice to have a few meaningful conversations with people as they fixed their coffee.
Here are a few pictures from the evening. ( I didn't get any pictures of Breanna, she left early with friends to hang out and spend time with them.)

The kiddos are ready to roll....

A cowgirl, a princess and a ninja.

All set up and ready as we wonder...are we going to have any kids in this neighborhood out trick-or-treating?? Did we make too much coffee?

Yep! They came. Swarms of people and not enough hands to keep up until Lesa and Brennan showed up!  

5 bags of candy and 6 pots of coffee.

Coffee was a huge hit, we recognized a few familiar faces from the backpack event and prayer walking and we met some new folks too.

And look who we ran into out on the street, the Shays! Its so good to have the Shay boys roaming the neighborhood with our kids

We love our community and neighborhood.  We do all we can to take advantage of the community events in order to meet people and build relationships.  Last night was a ton of fun and we had the chance to have some great conversations, meet new people and deepen existing relationships.  Giving out coffee was a great opportunity for conversation.  Some people were puzzled that anyone would do something like that while others were excited and jumped right in.  We are looking forward to see how The Lord will use a simple cup of coffee and a few pieces of candy to allow us to share His truth with our neighbors.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. ³¹ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

Mark 12:30-31