The Bridge

Good News!

We visited a church yesterday that we LOVED!

It's kind of a weird story how we found it:
Our last sunday at Kingsland First was the first sunday of a new staff member. She had heard about us and wanted to meet us. when she came up to introduce herself to us, she said that she wanted to talk to us about some stuff... and we sadly informed her that it was our last week there. She asked what we were looking for and told us about the church her brother went to - "the Bridge" in Yulee, FL. She emailed us the website, and when we checked it out, we got really excited about sunday. we were seriously giddy with anticipation yesterday morning before we went.
And we loved it. How awesome is that?
It isn't too big, and isn't too small. a Spirit-filled non-denominational church. only one service every week - so no rushing to get done so another service can start on time, and it's about an hour and a half long.

Bella went to the nursery, and although she cried at first, she settled in nicely. They teach even the littlest ones a lesson every week. this week they learned about the Isrealites crossing the Red Sea.

We loved worship - you could just tell that the congregation as a whole had a genuine desire to worship our Lord. We were able to worship freely, and didn't feel the slightest bit out of place in that. The message was good and challenging.
The people were so friendly and eager to introduce themselves to us, tell us about the church, and answer any questions that we had.
There is a young married couples small group that meets every other week, as well as both a mens service, and a women's service.
They do a lot of outreach to the community, which Neil really liked, and they pour themselves into missions at every level - from local to the nations.

And one of the key good things about it - it's only 20 min. away, which isn't bad at all! There are some places in town that could take 20 min. to get to. and our former church took us about 10 min....

Needless to say, we will be going back next week. It's been a while since I've been this excited to go to church. Neil said on the way home yesterday "I want to go out and invite everyone I know to come to church with us!!"
That says so, so much!

We'll keep you posted on church and everything going on.... in the meantime - check out where we went!
http://www.thebridgeflorida.com/

Changes

It's weird that Neil and I are going to be looking for a new church.

So many changes in one God-directed decision. It's so hard to change. to move on. It's bittersweet. We're excited about the future - what God has ahead for us, but it's so hard to leave the place we have been. The place we have poured ourselves out in every way imaginable.
But we must move on. We've been praying hard about this for the past couple of months, and God finally gave us peace in the answer "go". And so, just as Abraham went, though he didn't know what was ahead, we go. We don't know where God wants us. We don't know what's in store. We just know that we are following down the path that God wants us to follow.

So we go...

The other night we were looking back over the past year. what have we learned? Where are we individually and as a family compared to a year ago? God has done some amazing stuff.
God has taught us so much - grown us up so much - and molded Neil and I together so much over the past year - but mainly just in the past couple of months.
We have become stronger in what we believe.

We have also discovered that we are very "counter-culture", and we see it as an amazing encouragement. Romans 12:2 says "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind."
The Church is way too conformed to the world today. We are supposed to be different than the world. And the ironic thing is that those who don't know Christ are much more attracted to a body of Believers who are DIFFERENT than the world. Yet the Church today is getting farther and farther away from this. They believe that they are attracting those who don't know Christ by conforming. or justifying. or watering down the truth. Instead, we are pushing those who don't know Christ away, because they don't see believers as any different than themselves. (I've heard this come out of the mouths of SO many people) At the same time, we are making a generation of watered-down Christians.

Who do we hurt when we conform to the world? So, so many. ourselves, our God, our young brothers and sisters in Christ, and our friends and family who don't know the Saving Truth of Jesus Christ.

Who do we offend when we are not conformed to the world? sadly, I've seen that it's primarily other believers.

As I told Neil.... "I'm so tired of mediocrity."
Mediocre - adj. - of only ordinary or moderate quality; barely adequate.

However, there are many exceptions to this rule today. Those that want to live out loud and be different. Who live out the Word of God, no matter how much the world we live in contradicts it. These are the ones that live out the scripture "As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another." (Proverbs 27:17)

For all of you that have sharpened Neil and I - who have held us accountable, encouraged us to dig deeper in the Word, Challenged us to step up and live out loud, and helped us to therefore grow in the Lord, we are truly thankful. Keep kicking our butts! It's because of this that we love you so dearly. May we be to you what you have been to us!

Somersaults

This was the same day we went to the zoo, after we got home... a pretty big day - first day at the zoo, then turning "somersaults" at home for the first time. Nobody showed Bella how to do a somersault...she just did it - we thought it was really funny. Hope you enjoy!

Success!!

Bella has had TWO days in a row of COMPLETE dryness - INCLUDING naps! (not at night yet...I think that will take a while...)

The big difference: Her being able to feel when she needs to go BEFORE she goes and telling us by saying "Ti-ti". Yes, it may be every 10 minutes that she tells us, but at least she's telling us most of the time now.

Yesterday we bought som BIG big girl panties. not just the Gerber trainers that she's been in for a while, but some "My Little Pony" and "Tinkerbell" panties. Not that she knows what any of that is, but she picked them out because she thought they were fun or pretty or whatever. so today is her first day in REAL panties...and Bella is excited...we'll see how it goes!

So here is Bella in her "pony panties"... I wanted to cry when I put them on her... is she really a big girl already??

I can imagine Bella saying in this picture "Big girl panties are SOOO comfortable..."

First Trip to the Zoo!

Friday, we went on our first family trip to the Jacksonville Zoo!

Here's Neil and Bella with the Elephants - Bella's favorite animal noise to make right now...


we stopped for lunch in the "gardens"



Bella chillin' out in the stroller, eating lunch.


No, this is not a real elephant.


We stopped for snowcones, and gave some to Bella.


...I think she liked it.




And our Family Photo...in the traditional Jones way... self-portrait!

Pools, slides, and smiles

It's been a pretty eventful week at the Jones house...especially for Bella.

Bella and I have been meeting up with some of my girlfriends and their kids (Bella's friends) to go swimming, and she has loved the pool! She likes to splash, and for me to hold her by her armpits and float her around on her tummy as she kicks, moves her arms, and attmepts to blow bubbles in the pool (really, she just drinks the water...)

Here's Bella and I...

Here's Bella on her new float. It's supposed to be a dolphin and the head squeeks. :) At home it's the equivilant of a bean-bag chair for her. she loves to sit in it!



Sunday, Bella and I met Neil at a park on base for lunch, since he had to study most of the day. Neil took her down the big spiral slide - she had so much fun!
Then, of course, is the everyday Bella that most of you don't get to see. And here's my attempt at capturing it...

Potty Time