A Christmas Down Under!

First I (Deana) want to say that Cheryl, Michael, Kevin and I could not be more proud of you guys and the job you did on Sunday! Wow!!! From lights/sound, props/backdrops, and acting, the whole thing was perfect!!! You remembered your lines and got to where you were suppose to be with such precision...way to go!!! I have heard from more than one person that it was the best they have ever seen you do! You guys just keep getting better and better! Wait until they see NEXT YEAR.....okay, never mind, let's wait awhile before we go there. :-) Anyway, enjoy some of the pics we took!!

Creation Festival!!!

Where should you have been Friday if you wanted to hear/see/feel 4 hours of Christian rock groups and 1000 teenagers praising the Lord? Well DUH!!! With US, of course at Creation Festival!! I could totally still feel the BASS thumping in my chest even AFTER we left! Crazy! But where else could we have heard Kutless,Thousand Foot Crutch, Pillar, KJ-52, Fireflight, Worth Dying For, Run Kid Run, Esterlyn, and Capitol Lights in ONE PLACE and on ONE NIGHT?

Run Kid Run got things started....

....then KJ busted out with his "Mountain Dew" song....

Imo shows why he's a ladies' man...

Worth Dying For led us in some amazing choruses of praise....

Thousand Foot Crutch

Kutless

Did we have fun? I dunno....you tell ME!

An evening with Lindsey Kane!

You girls loved Lindsey Kane so much at the "Virtue En Vogue' conference that we invited her back to our church to have a great evening of worship and a much needed reminder that God is aware of EACH one of us and our individual needs. She was a great sport even though she had just come off four days of fighting the flu!! It was great to meet Jenny, Lindsey's "bum drum" player! She sounded great!

Many of you, like Livvy, stocked up on LK t-shirts and CDs!!

Thanks Lindsey! Hope to have you back soon!!

Progressive Dinner!

For the uninformed, a "progressive dinner" is one during which you travel from place to place, having a single portion of the meal at each stop. It's always a blast and this year was the best one yet! We had a huge turnout and couldn't have done it without the gracious help of Vanessa Willie and Cheryl Katrenick to help us drive and get everyone to the destinations! We started out at the Moser home with some of the most amazing breads, spreads, and appetizers! After some games and a little football watching, we moved the herd to the Bentley's home for some delicious soups and some frogwatching, all followed by some praise and worship, led by Parker, Nick, and Livvy! That was awesome! Along the way we gave Shelby a call and took a card to her house to let her know we were thinking about her after her shoulder surgery. Then it was off to the Crawford estate for a romantic candlelit dinner for 30 or so and some incredible lasagna!! Tom had a fire going for us which felt amazing in the chilly air, and we stood around it and gave some thanks and praise to God for all He's done (hope the neighborhood association didn't mind, even though it was 10:00 p.m.!) ! And finally, having sneakily and covertly led all of you to believe that it was OVER at that point, we rounded everyone up and headed to the Teen House for one last moment of prayer, only to have dessert and some surprise birthday cupcakes waiting for Parker! These were the biggest cupcakes ever seen by mankind!! The Teen group salutes you Mosers, Bentleys, Crawfords, and Crystal for your generosity and hospitality!! We love you!
The Mosers were our first destination!!


Singing at the Bentley's...Dude! They already have their Christmas tree up!!

No matter how wide he opened up, P-Diddy was not able to get one of those cupcakes down in a single bite. Props on the attempt, though.

Natural habitats

Deana and I get sooooo tired of seeing you guys in the Teen House, sitting in the same ol' seats on the same ol' couch! :-) So we like to get out to where you play and check you out in your natural habitats!! Here are some highlights from those visits!! If you have not done so already, please make sure we have your game/performance/competition schedules so we can observe YOU, too, in your natural habitat!

Cole makes a helpless tailback wish he'd stayed home with his momma!!

Kendall turns heads as she is escorted by her daddy to her place on the Homecoming Court...




...and then cheers on the sidelines for the big Homecoming game!!!!

























Sergio makes the sax look easy on the 30 yard line...
























Livvy brings home the trophy for Color Guard!!

Somewhere in this sea of people is Alex and Parker!!! (Believe me...they are MUCH better looking from this distance!)

And this is Nick....at least I'm pretty SURE it's Nick.
























Sierra and her band play for the Founder's Day 10K run in Dripping Springs....

Shelby takes one for the team!!!

Rebekah sizzles a winner over the net!!


Alison and her fellow LT trainers pose between taping and bandaging injured players...

...then Alison takes in the action from the sideline!
Brandon leaves the competition behind in a blur of speed!!!

Owen and his band of zombies perform at halftime!!!

Broomball!!!! (i.e. Nazarenes on ice!!)

Another successful Sunday Funday, wouldn't you say?!! 45 of us, including our guests from Real Life Church of the Nazarene in Kyle, had a fantastic time at the Northcross Mall ice rink playing Broomball!! We had the whole place to ourselves!!!! For the uninformed, here's a little snippet to show ya what it looks like:


Only it's BETTER than that, with bodies bouncing off the ice, sisters 'checking' brothers into the wall, and Music Leaders creating havoc in their wake!!!!


It was a great night of fellowship and physically abusing each other!! What could be better than that?!! Out of all of the action I am proud to announce the winners of this week's "Most Likely To..." Awards!

Most Likely To Eat The Ice Off Her Broomstick

Most Likely To Be The Next Janitor At His School























Most Like A Teenager Without Actually Being One























Most Likely To Freeze To Death
Don't get me wrong. It wasn't ALL roses...an ugly fight broke out between Sergio and Rebekah. You can see her here as she prepared to dodge his attack in Matrix-like fashion, followed immediately by a blow that sent him sliding unconscious across the ice. Impressive....

And if you think SERGIO'S face is scary, do NOT watch this video!! You have been warned!

Beauty from the ashes

Yesterday at church it took one of you using your incredible talent to remind me of something that I am ashamed that I had forgotten...... the fact that God can take a situation that seems hopeless, full of despair and loss, and fill it with Himself, make all things new, and bring "beauty from the ashes". Wow! Amber's interpretive dance during the worship service was an incredible depiction of the desperation of a woman we are told about in the Bible who had been bleeding for most of her life. This woman knew that if she could somehow touch even the CLOTHES that Jesus was wearing she might be healed, and it was certainly worth the risk of being trampled by the crowd that followed Him to try it. What a beautiful Message!! And what a beautiful messenger!

In case you missed it, here is a shot of Amber's beautiful presentation!

You can also see a quick clip of her dance here:

I was also proud to watch Nick, Hunter, and Parker play their guitars in leading the congregation to worship! And last but not least, Allison did a fantastic job in narrating (along with Mark) the journey on which we have come as a church!! What a great day of worship!!!