November 23, 2007
Happy Holidays to All,
I know I have been awful about keeping everyone up to date on us lately…please forgive me! Now that Thanksgiving is over and Christmas is on the way, I look back and I realize we have so much to be thankful for this year. Let me recap just a few wonderful moments for you.
January - Matthew turned 8 and played his 1st season of basketball thru the Upward program that the area churches do. Kevin helped coach his team.
February – Michael told our pastor on Valentine’s Day that he wanted to get (in his words) bab-a-tized. (Baptized)! We are so thankful that both of our boys received Christ as their Lord and Savior at such a young age.
March – March 4th we borrowed First Free Will’s Baptistery and Michael was baptized. That was the best birthday present that Kevin could have ever received. Kevin turned 34, started his usual “traveling season”, and we spent spring break at the Lake. Oh, I almost forgot, like Kevin’s usual traveling, I had my usual spring asthma/bronchitis fits. This time it was only for about 3 months. The doctors finally figured out (after many visits to my general physician, lung specialist and allergy doctor) that we needed to increase my reflux medicine. It worked and I haven’t been sick since this spring! Praise the Lord! That is a major accomplishment for me!
April – Matthew was in baseball full force… His team placed 2nd in district. They were in several tournaments and were always 1st or 2nd place. I learned to “watch” the game instead of TALK! You know that was hard for me, but I kept the stats and official book while Kevin was coaching. Michael played in the dirt many hours! We had so much fun. The best of April was April 22ndwhen Kevin surrendered to preach. We have always been active in church and tried to do as God wanted us to, but I think we both knew this was a decision Kevin had delayed for a while. We have been amazed at how much better things have been since he did this. Life was never bad, but it falls into place so much more wonderfully when you totally give your life to Him and do His will. The funniest I guess, was when everyone that loves us so much pointed out that we had “preachers kids” now! Michael has probably filled those stereo-typed shoes very well. He is our little comedian. I wish I had enough time and pages to tell you all of his funny moments and comments, but you would be reading for a while.
May – Kevin preached is first sermon and did very well. “Thanks” to all of you who were able to attend… and “sorry” to all I forgot to tell. At this point I was a little stressed at the idea of being a “preacher’s wife” and what the future held. Anyway, it meant so much to Kevin to see you there or to know you were praying for him. Please continue to keep us in your prayers. Mother’s day was eventful; Michael decided to draw my grandmother a pretty picture for the special day. The problem was that he chose to use a rock as a writing utensil and her car as a piece of paper. He decorated the whole passenger side very well. (Waylan Deen…I know you are dying right now, do you want him to draw you a picture?) That is the wonderful thing about Grandmothers (their hearts are huge)…she asked the next day if any of us knew what happened and Michael told us all about it. She forgave him, of course, and didn’t think he should be punished because of his honesty. Well, needless to say, he did not get out of trouble, but we told him we were proud of him for telling the truth. Then Matthew had to have his turn at acting like a heathen. He and 6 other kids decided to play dodge ball with rocks at recess! I about had a heart attack when the principal called requesting permission to paddle him. I totally freaked out. We discovered that we think he will be a “crowd follower – wanting to fit in” and Michael will be the “instigator” in events. I learned that boys do not behave like girls and will most likely cut up at school sometime. I’m still a little clueless about raising boys from time to time.
June – Kevin preached his 2nd sermon. He was surprised to find out that our pastor was going to be out of town and he even had to do our communion services. We do them the 1st Sunday of each quarter. He was nervous but it went great.
July – Michael turned 5. We spent 10 days at the lake for vacation. Michael learned to ski and Matthew improved his skills. At this point Kevin was only having the opportunity to preach about 1 time per month, so he was really missing getting to do it. He wanted more experience so badly that he drove home from our vacation for the day to fill in for our pastor. Five hours on the road to preach for 20-30 minutes. He is so dedicated and excited. I am so proud of him and blessed to call him my husband. I finally got a new cell phone… I shopped around for months and found just what I wanted. My old phone was so worn out that I had rubbed all the numbers off of it and some quit working. I know it is hard to believe I could wear out a cell phone, I hardly ever talk! - Just joking! Anyway, I was so proud of it, had it 2 days and ran over it! I guess God taught me a lesson about material things! After I cried over it, Kevin replaced it! We started going to the public library weekly and Michael learned to read. We decided he was ready for school, we just prayed school was ready for Him!
August – God continued to bless us. We had our 13th wedding anniversary. We had a wonderful gift. Our anniversary was during Vacation Bible School. Our church was running is the mid 30’s and we had over 60 each night of Bible school and 93 the last night! We were so excited. Kevin had the wonderful opportunity to preach at Bro. Dale Blackwell’s church in Bono while he was away. He is really looking forward to being the pastor of a church one day. Michael spent Sunday School under the table because girls were in the class. We did some serious praying because school started the next week. At the end of August, it was a little unusual, but Kevin was ordained as a Deacon. I say unusual, because he was set aside to be ordained last August, but surrendered to preach after he was asked to be a deacon. Being a small church we only had 1 deacon (Kevin’s Dad) so they wanted him to go ahead and get ordained and serve as one until he completes the ordination and licensure process for pastor.
September - Matthew still gets stressed out very easily. He wants everything to be as perfect as possible and is always concerned about what is going on. The school year brought out more of his uncontrollable desire for perfectionism and stress trying to achieve it. (I think he and Stephanie Deen are brother and sister some how!) After several weeks of headaches, he was diagnosed with Migraines. We can’t say much about his personality, because he is a lot like Kevin and I. Thankfully, Michael is laid back and doesn’t fret over much. He pretty much laughs his troubles away.
October – Once again full of blessings. Our pastor and church board met with Kevin and asked him to talk and pray with me and the boys about becoming associate pastor! Parent/teacher conferences informed us that that both boys had wonderful grades. Michael’s kindergarten teacher taught Matthew and Kevin also. She told us that Michael was an excellent student, but he was definitely a rambunctious little boy and nothing like Matthew! Like I said, they are different from one another.
November – Kevin accepted the church’s offer and was appointed as Associate Pastor. Everyone is so supportive. Our pastor is in his 70’s and is planning to retire a few years down the road, so this will be a wonderful way for Kevin to learn and get experience. That was a wonderful 32nd birthday gift for me. Our church has grown from the 12 that were there when we started going in 2006 to averaging in the 50’s. We had 9 people join last month! We are praying to have more come that are out of church in the community. I know this was a long letter, but I told you we have so much to be thankful for this Holiday Season.
December 16th at 5pm we are having our Christmas Program. Matthew still takes piano lessons and will be playing the music in the play while the rest of the kids sing! Michael told me last night that he is ready to start taking piano. We will see if Matthew’s teacher is brave enough to conquer two Barnett Boys!
We love each of you and wish we could see you more often. Maybe I will be able to keep in touch better in 2008. Please keep our family in your prayers as we continue to try to do God’s will. We hope you have a wonderful Holiday Season and hope to see you soon.
Love,
Kevin, Jennifer, Matthew and Michael
