because I just hafta share....

Our church is just awesome. Plain and simple. :-) We love it there. We've been on a 3 year building campaign that will end next April. (was suppose to end this fall, but they extended it). Anyways, we got a whole new awesome addition, because of our rapid growth in numbers the last few years. So we added lots new classrooms, a new bigger kitchen, a bistro/coffee shop. It's way cool. Anyways, that part is complete now, so then they started working on the old section of the building, to remodel and update it to match the new building.

So they totally redid the whole nursery area (0-5 yrs/pre K). It looks awesome. I'm so excited about it. And now, I get to go thru all the cute little classrooms again, with my Baby Girl!!! :-)

They went with the whole water/sea theme. And the coolest part (which of course, I totally forgot to take a pic of) is the new saltwater aquarium they put in with lots of fish in it. I will have to take a picture and show you. I love it. Anyways........the big "grand opening" for the new nursery was Friday night, so today was the first official Sunday in our new rooms. And I happen to have nursery duty tonight, so I had to snap a few pics..... :-)

Above: this is the entrance - telling you which way to go to which rooms...

There are 6 classrooms and 1 play room

Above: This was Bubby's room tonight. On Sunday nights, they put the 3s, 4s and 5s together. Can you find my Bubbs?

On Sunday mornings, Bubb's goes in the "Dolphins" room :-)

Baby Girl is an "angel fish" :-)

Here is Miss Gwen holding Baby Girl....she was the only infant tonight, so she got her full attention :-)

HUGE infant room........

i love it!

another class....

Hope ya'll had a great weekend!

Here's to another great week!!!

Mommys Proud Moment

Ok, so I had a very proud moment of my son today. And let's just be real, those seem to be few and far between lately, so it just made it even that more special. I know, it's sad. But all his um, not-so-good-vices seem to outweigh his good or cute moments sometimes. Just being honest!

So let me start at the beginning, and paraphrase (otherwise this could be a very lengthy post)! :)

Today was THE day at our church. The day our church has waited on......like forever, it seems like. It was the Grand Opening of our new addition to our current church building. did that make sense? And lemme tell you..........it looks AMAZING! I will definately be taking pictures and posting them later. It looks incredible. Our sanctuary is good size, seats over 1,000, but our christian adult education and kids' class rooms were definately bulging at the seams. So we added 7 adult education classes, a new fellowship hall, a huge kitchen, a coffee shop/bistro, a new kids check in area, a game room, 10 kids' classrooms and a new kids church room. Anywho, back to my proud moment. ( I tend to get off track....) :)

So to make a long story short, today was the big day of the grand opening, when we all have access to the new rooms. So the service this morning was of course, all dedicated to that. Pastor Jason had a great sermon, that brought many of us back down memory lane as he revisited the journey Evangel Temple took the past 2+ years.

At the end of the sermon, there was a special song, by our worship team and our music pastor, Pastor Ryan. During that time, we had what is known as "cardboard testimony". If any of you have never heard of that, it is where one by one, certain people walk across the stage, holding a sign........it could say, I was a sinner.........I was an alcoholic.........Did not want to go to church.......Abandoned........Lost..........you get the idea. They would hold it up for a couple seconds, then flip the sign over, and on the other side it would say something like .....now I am found........Found Jesus!..........Back in church.........and so forth. It is a very powerful time, as many people go up there and flip their sign over, showing their life before, and their life with Christ now. Well my family had the priveledge and opportunity to be the last ones today at church to flip their signs over.

It all started with Grandpa Haines (Jer's Grandpa). His sign said........"No time for God". Then Jerry came out (Jeremy's dad) and stood next to Grandpa and his sign said, "Raised in church", then Jer came out and his sign also said "Raised in church", then out came Isaiah and his sign said "That's my Great Grandpa, Grandpa, Dad". Then, all 4 of them flipped their signs over and here's what they said..........

Grandpas: Accepted Christ in 1955

Jerrys: Still in Love with God

Jeremys: Still in Love with God

Isaiahs: The Legacy Continues

It was very powerful and very emotional. I don't think there was a dry eye on my pew! (my sister and parents were sitting next to me). I was so proud of Isaiah......he walked right out there on the platform and flipped his sign and stood out there so good. I was a very proud mommy! Now for pictures......:)

Sonya helping Isaiah with his sign and helping him flip it over :)

Standing next to Grandpa

Isaiah got preoccupied with the musicians after a while when Pastor Jason started talking... :)




And of course, I was so focused on getting a clear picture of Isaiah, I didn't think to get one of all 4 of them holding their signs, until they turned around to walk off the stage.

to the far left is Jeremy, then his Grandpa, then his dad :)

What an awesome, amazing legacy the Haines family has. My children are blessed. As are we.

Our Sunday Celebration

Our church loves parties, and loves to have celebration times. (and if you know our pastors wife at all, you know most of this starts with her excitement over having parties!) Today was no exception. We walked in the foyer of church this morning, to lots and lots of red balloons, sitting in bundles scattered throughout the foyer. (750 balloons, to be exact). We were celebrating the fact that the new building is coming along, and we (actually the construction crew) was putting up the last 2 beams to the new building today. The 2 beams that are a part of the new building and the old. Pastor Jason let out about 11:30, and gave everyone 15 min to gather up their children, and head outside with a balloon and stand on the new "pad" that will serve as our new kidz church area, to watch them place the last 2 beams. After which we would all have our "balloon release". I wish I could say I saw it all happen, but unfortunately, I missed it.

To make a long story short.....Lilly and I were standing back a ways, in the parking lot, because I wanted a good view of all the balloons going up in the sky. Not too long after we got out there, I saw my bro-in-law, Gerald. He was standing on the edge of the pad, and was looking for the kidz from childrens church. (He was working childrens church today, and was suppose to help gather them all together). He was looking out in to the parking lot, at the people coming over, and misjudged his distance from the edge of the pad, and took a step and fell right off there, landing roughly on his left side and banging up his left hand pretty good, on some small beams that were laying there. I seriously thought he broke his arm at first. It did not look like a nice fall at all! Another guy and I helped him in the shuttle bus, and we took him back to the church. His lip was bleeding, and his left hand/wrist up to his elbow was scratched up and bleeding some. After looking at it, he was moving it, and it did not appear to be anything other than scratches and soreness. He sat in the foyer, and I ran to the nursery to get wet paper towels and as I was passing around the back doors, I saw all the red balloons going up in the sky. We missed the big balloon release, but at least Gerald is okay, other than being sore and embarrassed. Here are the 2 photos I managed to take before "the fall"

In the photo above, Gerald was standing at the far right on top of the "pad" and fell down on to those few beams that are laying on the ground. Thankfully, the pad was not any farther from the ground than it was.

My son is up from his Sunday afternoon nap, so I must end this now, as he is jabbering on my lap. :D Will write more later.....

Random Ramblings

Yes, it has been a few days since I've been here last. Well, life happens, and I haven't had much time to blog. Weekends are always crazy over here. But now it is exactly 12:00- midnight, on Sunday night, and as everyone else in my home sleeps, I can finally get on here to visit with you! It was a fun, but busy weekend. Went to a wedding on Saturday, and mom and dad watched the kids. (um, yea, if we had to take the kids to a wedding, we might as well have stayed home! So, thanks for watching them, mom and dad!) Afterwards, Jer and I went to eat at my fave italian place- Zio's. We had a gift card to there that we hadn't used yet. So we only had to pay like $5 of the bill -- even better. =)



Church was really good today. Our pastor and youth pastor co-preached- which was a lot of fun, and we got to hear from/see some of the youth participating in service more today. We like to mix things up a little. Other than church, today was a day of rest and relaxation at home. We all napped today- which was wonderful. (which is also probably why I'm still up at midnight- haha)



Ok, so I've made the decision that I can't let what other people say/do to me dictate my mood and whether I have a good day or a bad day. Yes, some of you are probably like, 'why does she do that anyways?' Well, I do. or used to. I'll try not to from here on out. With God's help- I will overcome! I know who I am, and my thoughts, morals, intentions ...yada....yada....yada. Yes, I have become more laid back since meeting and marrying Jer. He is the most easy-going, laid back person you would meet. And some of that has rubbed off on me. Unfortunately, some of my old sensitive, moody self tends to seep back in. Not that being sensitive is bad, mind you. There's just got to be a good balance. Moving on.....



We have one more full day until my little girl gets on the bus to her first day of preschool! We are ready......backpack, supplies and all......I'll let you know how it turns out! We were talking to Lilly about it tonight, about her first day, and getting to play at school, and reminding her of her teacher that we met last week, and Isaiah said, 'I want to go too'! We told him it was just for Lilly, and he would get to stay home and play with mommy. He got this really bummed out look on his face. ha! Poor thing.....we'll have to do something fun this week. Just me and my bubba.

I'm off to get some zzz's....the kiddos will be awake again before I know it......

Hugs~ ShEiLa