My church is growing up!

As a mom, I relate everything to my kids, because that is what mom's do. So here is my attempt to relate my kids to my church, The Brook, which is celebrating its 10th birthday this weekend. As with every birthday (OK, two) Levi has had (since Kara hasn't had one yet!), it is a time to pause and reflect. While you are SO excited that they are getting older (and can do more things), it is also a time to celebrate how far they have come. It can also be a little emotional.

That is exactly how I feel about my church. I am SO excited about what is in our future. We have had a couple of rocky years, but I see the light at the end of the tunnel and I know we have so many amazing things to come. At the same time, it is so refreshing (do I get extra points for using that word?) to look back and see how far we have come.

While The Brook is celebrating 10 years, Garet and I have only been attending for 8 of those years. We missed some at the beginning, but we have been fortunate to be a part of most of the Brook's history. Our very first visit was to the store front. We came because we had been invited by (of all people) our mattress salesman. If that isn't a God thing, I don't know what is!

So, we show up, just graduated from Auburn, and married for all of two weeks and were immediately invited to the youth group by the youth pastor at the time. People think I'm 18 now, so 8 years ago, I looked about 12. (I'm told I'll appreciate this one day!) Anyway, over the next few months, we felt the Brook was our church and we jumped in.

I'm on staff now (which I never would have guessed is where I would be), and since Life Groups are my thing, I'm going to leave you with pictures of my 8 years in Life Groups. Despite the hard times of late, I know I am exactly where I am supposed to be. I am blessed (to be a blessing...OK, I'll stop trying to win points here!). While the services are fantastic, our Life Groups over the years are where we have really connected with others. I couldn't imagine not having all of these people in my life!

If you are in town (or anywhere close) this Sunday, we would love to have you join us for our Birthday Bash! It is going to be one (yes, one) amazing service at 10 AM. Come hungry - there is going to be a picnic following! See you then!

2001 (this is the only picture I could find of anyone in our group! Our leaders & hosts):

2002 (minus the guys):

2003:

2004:
2005:

2006:2007:2008:

Wow - what a trip down memory lane. Tear. I should take a picture of all the kids we've produced over the years - that would be funny. To read more from my co-workers, check out these blogs: Jan1, Jan2, Jan3, Josh, Richard (Guess who blogs the most on our staff)