John 4:8

Look at the little character on the left-hand side of the paper, above. Do you see the smiley face, hair and legs? I love how Katy's drawings have evolved from scribbles, to faces and now "people" with limbs and hair. :-)

"God Is Love," John 4:8

Katy got a good report in Sunday School, today. Her teacher specifically told Ted that Katy was so good that she got to get two prizes from the prize box! One for being the first to line up and the second for saying her Bible verse out loud. Saying her Bible Verse is a BIG win for Lil' Miss because she is typically resistant to doing so. YAYAY!

Kinetic Church- Life Groups Olympics

Love our Life Group!

Frozen T-shirt challenge- We Won!

This afternoon was the first Small Group Olympics for our church, Kinetic-Church-Soon-To-Be-Renamed. For our not-so-competitive group, we held our own, even managing to win the "Frozen T-shirt" challenge (frozen t-shirt, must thaw enough to wear- first one to do so, wins). Mostly, though, the Olympics was a chance for our church to get together and have some fun.

We did have fun and I have to say, I love spending time with our church family- serious, funny, friendly competition, we run the gamete!

"Twas the Night Before Christmas..." 2012

"We had a busy Christmas Eve, this year!"

"First, we went to Kinetic Church for their Family Christmas Eve service."

"Then, we feasted on a traditional Italian Christmas Eve smorgasbord of shrimp cocktail, lobster bisque, clam linguine, crab cakes, salmon/bagel/lox and fish caught by Pop-Pop. DELISH!!"

"After dinner, I got to open one gift- Christmas PJs!!"

"Finally, the night wouldn't be complete without reading the 'The Night Before Christmas.'"

"Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!"

Kinetic Kids Sing

Kinetic Kids sang in the service, today! While Katy didn't exactly participate in the singing, she didn't cry and she didn't try to run out into the audience to find us. So, I guess that was a good thing :-). 

Mostly, Katy and her little friend, Jael, watched the other children singing and doing the hand motions that went along with the song. At one point, Katy covered her ears because the music was a little to loud for her liking- it was cute- trust me!

Best Buds!

Savannah and Katy, August 2011

Savannah and Katy, August 2012

The Woolard Family- Chris, Lindsey, Silas and Savannah- came into our lives one year ago. Chris came to Kinetic Church to be a Leadership Resident and learn more about church planting before he left to plant a church of his own in Wilmington, NC.

In the twelve months that they've been at Kinetic, we've become friends. We've had play dates and library dates. We've shared allergy-free recipes and advice (Savannah is allergic to dairy and gluten). We've worked side-by-side at various Kinetic events and we've really gotten to know them as a family.

We will miss them as they embark on this next journey of life. However, we know that God has great things planned for them and we are excited to see how He uses them as a new church. Katy will miss Miss Lindsey as her Sunday School teacher and she will miss her best bud, Savannah.

Of course, Wilmington is only four hours away.. and oh, so close to the beach!

Girly-girl Mani

Manicure, anybody?

As if we needed further proof that our Lil' Miss is a girly-girl, Katy came home from Sunday School today with the above picture. Do you see the traced hand? Do you see the blue smudges on each finger? Katy informed her Sunday School teacher that it was "nail polish." Hahahaha! Even through the two-year old tantrums and the late nights/early mornings- that girl makes me laugh!

Sentence of the Day- Mister Dave

Katy was a bit of a toddler, today, insisting on attending "big people church" with Mommy and Daddy rather than going to her age-appropriate Sunday School. She was dancing and boogie-ing in the aisles to the worship music and was *relatively* interested in all that was going on, on stage. Tonight, while Ted was giving Katy a bath, she informed him,

"Mr. Dave (pastor) good speaker. I watch in big kids' (church)."

Happy Birthday, Kinetic Church!

Ted and Katy rocking the Limbo 

(He went even lower than this picture- I never knew that my hubby was so good at the Limbo!)!

Kinetic Church turned seven years old, this month and we celebrated today with a birthday party! While Ted and I haven't been their since the very beginning, we have called it our home church for the past five years and to us, it is family. It took use almost a year to find Kinetic but once we did, we knew that it was the church for us (we did find out about it from a flyer on a community bulletin board at TCBY- how appropriate is that?!) Through small groups, nursery and general fellowship, we have grown to love and work and play and care for the people that make Kinetic Church, Kinetic. Happy Birthday Kinetic- here's to many more!

Katy's Got Talent

Click here to view this video

Last Sunday, Katy made her stage debut along with the rest of the Kinetic Kids, as they sang Christmas songs for the congregation. Ted and I knew that the kids were slated to sing on Sunday but we just didn't realize that the Toddlers were going up on stage, too (we thought they were too young). So, we found ourselves without a camera of any kind (yikes!) and had to treasure the moment in our minds. Thanks to our friend, Lindsey for taking this video so that we could share it with you! This video is from the first service where Katy was a little more tame. During the second service, Katy clapped and danced along to the music like she was born to move to the music!!

Small Group Christmas Party

"Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!"

Evelyn, Kylie and Katy hanging out at the party.

Last night, we hosted a Christmas party for our Small Group and the Perkins' Small Group. Everybody brought a dish to share and we enjoyed a casual night together with friends during this busy holiday season. It was a great way to end the fall season of small groups with laughter, conversation with friends and good food!

Happy Halloween 2011!

Cutest little Cookie Monster!

"Me want COOKIES!"

What's a Cookie Monster without her Cookie?

Today was the annual Downtown Concord Candy Crawl. We not only went around trick-or-treating to all of the downtown merchants, but we also helped out at our church's booth. This year, our church, Kinetic Church, participated in the Candy Crawl by having a booth and hosting games, a giveaway and of course, handing out candy.

We had fun walking around with our friends, Savannah, Silas, Evelyn and Caleb so that their parents could help out at the Kinetic booth. It took Katy a little bit to catch onto the concept of trick-or-treating. Our usually outgoing, boisterous child, suddenly became very shy going up to store owners and trick-or-treating. However, almost every time she received a piece of candy, Katy did remember to say, "Thank you!" The crowds were plentiful and we ended up receiving a lot of treats (and our church ended up handing out lots of candy, too!) While the weather was a bit on the chilly side, it was just right for a little Cookie Monster to be bundled up in her costume!

After the Candy Crawl, about a dozen of our church friends joined us for dinner at our house. Downtown Concord is less than half a mile from our house, so it was the perfect location to reconvene after a fun afternoon. Warm soup, good friends, laughter- a perfect fall evening!

Welcome, John Baty!

Meeting John Baty for the first time!

The Kinetic Church Baby Boom of 2011 has begun! All of the pregnant ladies at our church have started having their babies and with the babies comes the "meal train." We took dinner to the Charltons on Monday in celebration of the birth of their daughter, Kylie and tonight, we took dinner to our friends, the Batys.


They just had a baby boy, last week. Katy, you loved sitting with me as I held the baby and you kept trying to give John his pacifier (whether or not he wanted it), and giving him sweet, gentle kisses. Every time I would say, "Be gentle, Katy," you would give the baby a kiss on the forehead. I think that you associate being gentle with giving a kiss.


Welcome to the world, John Baty!

Hippity Hoppity- Kinetic Kids Easter Egg Hunt

Daddy helps you find an egg.

"Hmm... which egg to choose?"

"Look, Ma! I found an orange egg!"

Put the eggs in, take the eggs out...

"This blue plastic egg taste yummy!"

Katy looks over her "stash"

For a more pictures, please view the album at: https://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=647947&id=771535393&l=4fde1b4b15

Yesterday was the annual Kinetic Kids Easter Egg Hunt. This year, the hunt was held at Pharr Mill Road Park. The weather was sunny and mild- the perfect weather to go find some eggs! This was the first year that you were able to participate in the egg hunt, Katy, as last year you were just six weeks old.

We handed you the adorable bunny basket that your great-great-Aunt Phyllis made you, showed you how to "find" the eggs and put them in your basket and off you went! There were LOTS of eggs to find (since there wasn't a huge turnout, there were enough eggs for each toddler to find almost 80 eggs if they were so adventurous!!) and they were pretty much left out in the open for the toddlers to "find."

You had no problem holding your basket like a purse and walking around in the grass with all of the other toddlers. You would find an egg, pick it up, inspect it and then carefully place it in your basket. Every once in awhile you liked to shake the eggs because they rattled with the candy that was inside of them. Once you found out that the eggs actually OPENED and had treats inside, you were all done finding new eggs and just wanted to look over your stash of half a dozen eggs.

Movin' on up!!

Today, you went into the toddler class at church. We weren't sure how you would do since you are on the younger side of the toddler age-range (kids don't usually start in the toddler room until they are around 15 months or so). Daddy dropped you off and you were happy as a clam- he said you barely noticed that he had left the room. When I came to pick you up after the service, you were busy pushing around a baby doll stroller. You saw me, waved and then went back to pushing your stroller. Ms. Laura and Ms. Brianna said you did GREAT (not one tear!!)!! According to the teachers, the only time that you were upset was when they tried to change your diaper (and that's no surprise since you are squirmy wormy all the time at home!). Good job, Katy!

Kinetic Baby Dedication

Kinetic Baby Dedication, March 20, 2011

Today, we had you dedicated at Kinetic Church, Katy. Even though we had you baptized last Easter Sunday by Pop-Pop Tinkey, we felt that it was important to have you dedicated in front of our church family, Kinetic Church. There were ten babies/toddlers dedicated, today, so you were in good company, Katy. The dedication occurred at the beginning of the second service (smart planning for fussy babies!) and you got a little pink Bible with your name on it.

Our faith is important to us and it is important to Daddy and I to stand up in front of our friends and promise that we are going to bring you up in the church.

Small Group Cookie Exchange

Ted, "sampling" the cookies.

Katy and Caleb Smilie playing together.

Last night, we had our Small Group over for a Christmas Cookie Exchange. We had buttermilk cookies, gingerbread cookies, shortbread and Oreo truffles- YUM! It was a fun, relaxing evening with friends spent listening to holiday music and eating (too many!) sweets. Luckily, we FINALLY got some decorations up. Let the Christmas festivities begin!

Bon Voyage, Jared and Bethany!

Hail, Hail, the Gang's All here!

Enjoying some good ol' American grub at Five Guys

Today, we said (temporary) good-bye to our good friends, Jared and Bethany Reeves. They will be leaving us for six months and we will miss them! We wish them the best of luck in their endeavors and can't wait to hear all about their adventures when they return!

Kinetic Kids Sundays

Two Great Kates (Don't they look like they are conspiring together?)

No holding hands until you are older, Katy and Henry!

Every Sunday, Daddy and I now help with Kinetic Kids during the second service. We attend the first service and then I watch over the little ones in the nursery (including you, Katy) and Daddy plays "bouncer" -slash- check-in at the entrance of Kinetic Kids. You have fun playing with all of your friends, Katy!

Kinetic Kids

We parked in the Kinetic Kids parking lot for the first time, today!

Friends Daniel and Megan Charlton help us enter you into the Kinetic Kids system and check you into the nursery for the first time.

Today we went to church and it was the first time we checked you into Kinetic Kids, Katy (aka, the church nursery). We went to the early service and ended up arriving at church BEFORE we would normally arrive- not just running in the door as the first song is starting! According to the helpers in the nursery, you slept through the whole service only waking once to be rocked and held. Of course, all of our church friends wanted to meet you and you soaked in all the attention by sleeping soundly. What a good girl!

Kinetic Church Snowday!

Due to the snowy weather and icy roads, even church was canceled, today! The last time I remember church being canceled was when I was a little girl and it was the blizzard of 1996. I guess Daddy and I will curl up to the computer and watch Northland online for church.