our small group

I've seemed to carry a "4-some" theme in my life since elementary school. Then it was me, Mary Marshall, Mandy, and Angela. In high school it was me, Anna, Molly, and Heather. In college, it was me, Libby, Katie, and Betsy. And I think I've found another 4-some, well, "8-some" I guess since at this stage in life we're all married. That "8-some" is our small group - us, Craig & Nikki, Josh & Elizabeth, and Caleb & Michelle.

Since September we have been meeting with this fantastic and godly group of guys and gals. Daniel and I had begun getting to know Craig & Nikki, our leaders, this past year. We really fell in love with their hearts for the Lord and with the ways that in the few visits we had with them, we left our time with them feeling drawn to know Jesus more. In July after we learned that we wouldn't be moving to Turkey, our hearts really longed to somehow be in community with them rather than just seeing them occasionally.



Well, as the Lord would have it, He orchestrated circumstances such that Nikki and Craig would become the leaders of our small group. we had previously been in a great small group, and our church was beginning a new "push" for building community in small groups. We weren't looking to change small groups, but in conversation with Josh, Daniel's brother, and his wife, Elizabeth, and Caleb and Michelle, a couple we'd been discipling for about a year who were also newlyweds, the six of us began having dialogue about trying to get together more regularly. This eventually developed into conversation about becoming our own small group. And so we went for it, but...we were leaderless...until in a phone conversation with Nikki, she said that she and Craig had been praying about leading a small group and that whether they led our small group or not, they wanted to really be more purposeful about getting together with Daniel and me. Well, as God had ordained it, they became our leaders. Over the past 3 months the Lord has begun birthing in all of us a deep desire for growing in Him and learning to live the abundant and joyful life that He has called us to as believers. Our group has a blast together as we are challenged in the Lord. There is both laughter and tears almost every night. The eight of us meet together for a time of worship and a brief time in the Word together, but the majority of the time is spent separated - guys with guys, girls with girls. And it's in those girl times that the tears come. After all, who ever heard of 4 guys getting together and crying!?!?! ;-) The Lord is digging deep in us to grow us and draw us into His image. It's super fun! And we really love these couples - lots!

Cheers to:
Caleb&Michelle.

Josh&Elizabeth.

Craig&Nikki.

Meredith turns ONE - belated post.

Meredith celebrated her first birthday with a hayride at Mom and Dad's. She had quite the turn out of guests - Brian's family from Baton Rouge drove up, old friends of ours from Shreveport drove over, we came in from Fort Worth, Jenny's best friend and her little boy came down from Little Rock, and a host of family and friends came from Ruston!

RUMBA!!

So, we took our first lesson in the RUMBA tonight! And it was so fun! Our friend Amanda told us about dance lessons that a man at her church gives. He just takes a couple of dollars donation - can't beat that!

For a girl who deals with issues of control and trying to lead in our marriage at times, I'm thinking these dance lessons will prove to be helpful in learning to let Daniel lead me in marriage as I learn to physically let Daniel lead me around the dance floor. Oh, God, teach me. Make me. Mold me - even through learning these latin dance moves!

Glow-in-the-Dark Festival

Our church had a glow-in-the-dark festival on October 31. We invited a family we love to come to this feast of games, candy, hot dogs, 3-legged races, and more! All the kids went home with at least half of their sacks filled with candy and big smiles all over their faces! One of the girls even asked as we were leaving, "Can I go tell your pastor 'thank you'?" ....a big step for a little girl of different faith.

birthday celebration

Our newest friend, Brendon, celebrated his birthday a couple of weekends ago. A couple of his friends he knows from India are currently students at SWBTS and we picked them up for the party. Here we are!

another relaxing weekend for the Audis

After our whirl-wind of a month in September when we were only in Fort Worth 1 of 5 weekends, we've really enjoyed the rest that we've had so far this month!! This weekend has been relaxing as well!

Who of you are fans of the Lion King? If you're a fan at all and you're in the DFW area, I highly recommend going to the broadway presentation of the Lion King at the Music Hall in Dallas. We went last night with the other Audis and with the Dulocks. The performance is absolutely phenominal! The costuming is mind-boggling. The singing is dynamic. The story has just a few tweeks and it's full of points of laughter. Little Simba is cute as he can be!

That was last night.

In the early afternoon I had a small reunion with some girls from seminary - it was actually a baby shower for Leila and George. They will welcome little Elijah into the world at the beginning of December! It was great to catch up with these girls who I haven't seen in almost a year.



Later in the afternoon we played tennis. I played on the tennis team at RHS my freshman and sophomore years. I was the last seed on the team, but I had a good time and even won some games! Daniel. However, we're both quite rusty in our skills. I've never had a strong serve. Daniel does, though, and sometimes the ball gets in the right box when he's serving. If we took advantage of the courts at the seminary more often, we might get better, but our playing is so incredibly sporadic that we pretty much stay the same in our skill levels. Today's score: Kim - 7; Daniel - 5.

Grillin' Out at the Park

How do you spend your autumn weekends?

This fall Daniel and I have travelled to Ruston, made weekend plans with friends, and found absolutely senseless things to do to be lazy at our house.

This weekend we were itching to get outside. Yesterday the weather was too beautiful to be inside!



So, we don't actually own a grill of our own... (well, we have an electric one, but it doesn't give the smoky taste and the black charcoaled lines on the meat)... but we do have a big park a couple of blocks from our house. And at the park, there are grills.



So yesterday we went to the park. We grilled hot dogs - mmmm...mmmm...that smoky taste with black charcoal lines on the meat! We threw the football, lay on a quilted blanket, and played backgammon. Might I add that we played until I won. Do you know how many games that took???? I think it wasn't until our 9th game that I actually won. Needless to say, I need some practice. Daniel may not be the artist in our family (see previous post), but he is the backgammon player, that's for sure. It was a nice way to spend the afternoon/evening.

Wanna join us next time?

Pumpkin Princess

Daniel here. I just wanted to take a minute to brag on my wife. A few weeks ago, Kim and I went to Creative Hands in Arlington for our date night. At Creative Hands, you buy ceramic plates, coasters, figurines, etc. Then you paint them and the Creative Hands people fire them in the kiln. Pretty cool stuff. So I painted a coaster. Um, yes, I painted a coaster. Let's just say the Lord was pleased to bestow painting talent on others of His servants, not I. So I won't post a picture of my coaster. Seriously, you'd probably vomit all over your keyboard.

My lovely wife Kim, on the other hand, is a fantastic painter. Here, check out the pumpkin plate she painted... just in time for autumn. Ain't it perty?! She should be a professional plate painter and make us some big bucks. Love ya, hon!

Dreams, Visions, God, and Muslims

I discovered a great website yesterday, thanks to someone at my church. You see, we are in the month of Ramadan, the holy month for Muslims. This week is the "Night of Power" for Muslims. It is a night in which they basically believe that worship offered on this night has the value of one thousand months of worship. One of their books of Traditions adds that "Whoever established prayers on the Night of Qadr out of sincere faith and hoping for a reward from Allah, then all his previous sins will be forgiven..." (Sahih Bukhari 31.125) Since it is on this night that Muslims believe Allah has come closest to humanity by sending down His Word, they believe that they have greater access to Allah on this night and that He is more likely to bless and respond to their petitions.

Because of this, my response as a believer should be to pray with and for Muslims worldwide, especially in this focused week when many of them are seeking God more than they do throughout an entire year. God is at work, bringing His kingdom here on earth. And His word says that He is not slow at keeping His promises as some would consider slowness, but He is patient, not wishing that ANY man should perish but that all would have eternal life!!! One way we see Him at work in Muslims lives is through dreams and visions. When they are seeking Truth, God often gives them dreams and visions of a Man in white, offering for them to come with Him. There are five of these stories from former Muslims from Turkey, Iran, Indonesia, Egypt, and Nigeria at the following website about dreams and visions that former Muslims had which led them to follow Christ! You can either read the stories or watch them on your windows media player.

Please be praying especially this week for God to send revelation through dreams and visions as 1.4 billion Muslims worldwide are intensely seeking God!

apart for the weekend.

This past weekend was our 2nd time to be apart in the past 14 months - the first time was only for one night; this time it was for two nights. I went to Ruston for Vanna and Seth's engagement announce- ment party, and Daniel stayed here for a short personal retreat weekend. There were other perks in the weekend as well - seeing Molly, and being with my sister, parents, and my niece.


Molly's little girl will be 7 weeks tomorrow. Her name is Audrey. She's so cute!



Jenny and Meredith came to Ruston this weekend as well. It was really nice to be with family! We had a Saturday afternoon picnic at Granny's. Meredith enjoyed licking on the top of the root beer bottle, getting that nice, sweet taste of an IBC!


After probably 5 or so years of dating, Vanna and Seth will be married on December 29. She's great and already feels like family! I have 7 cousins on our Hood side of the family. Vanna will make 8. It's been a while since we've all been together, so it was so nice to catch up with them as well at the party.

And the best part about the weekend....
COMING HOME!!!

When I got home on Sunday afternoon, I came home to these scrambled up letters on the floor.
And this is what I came up with...although the "tons" and "Kimmie" are in the wrong order!!! And that's not it! Then, I looked up and saw on the table these AMAZINGLY HUGE and BEAUTIFUL flowers!!!

Hmmm...maybe being apart for the weekend isn't so bad afterall!! :-)