Reveal

I just posted a new blog site that for those of us in church work, but even for those of you that aren't in church work, but attend and participate in the work of the church should take a good look at. A couple of months ago I went to the Willow Creek Leadership Summit and was affected by what went on there. It was well worth it, but they presented some things there that were very eye opening for me, or may be not so much eye opening as much as I just didn't want to see it, about the local church. Bill Hybels did a quick sermon that is linked here and I think that it is well worth your time just to take a look at it. There is also a commercial on there by Greg Hawkins, who is heading up the research that you can take a look at and it is linked here. I believe that these topics are things that we as the church really need to start looking at. Well enough with the serious stuff, I'll let Jess get back to posting pictures of the kids. Have a good day!

Grammy and P-Pop!

Garrett, P-Pop and Olivia building in the sand. Surprisingly, the "houses" lasted a long time. Olivia gave Esther the "OK" to knock them over about an hour after building them.
Grammy and Esther enjoying the beach.
P-Pop dug a hole with O and G earlier and it had filled back up from the kids jumping in it. He thought it looked like a good spot to make a lounge chair. It must have been comfortable b/c he laid there for a while. Garrett was DYING to get his hands on the soccer ball under his head. When P-Pop gave it up, G only kicked it twice before he was done. I think G just wanted to make sure it was still a soccer ball after it was used as a pillow.
The crew at the beach. Olivia was being a super-hero, can you tell??
And lastly, my 30 week belly - only 10 weeks to go!!!!


We had a great time with my mom and dad this past week. There are lost of other pictures mom took with her camera, but today we went to the beach. I know what you must be thinking, "The beach, in September, in Michigan!!!!" But it was really nice. The kids swam, a lot and we enjoyed the warm sun. I haven't heard officially what the high was, but it was suppose to get up to 87 today! If it wasn't for the constant breeze, we probably would have been sweating. It was a great day to the end of a great week. It's so nice to have help with the kids. Like right now, Josh isn't at home waiting impatiently for me b/c the ratio is 3 to 3! Anyway, I'm so glad they were able to be here for the service Sunday and for the week! I love you guys!

Rev. Joshua Crisp

For some pictures from the night's events you can checkout Josh's mom and dad's blog (link on the side). John got some good shots and a video of the worship and prayer time. It was a great night!

Proud Moments

Daddy and newborn Olivia. So young, so proud to be a daddy!
The Crazy Crisp Clan - gaining numbers by the minute! Not as young, proud daddy of two, almost three.
More kids = more love. A little bit older, wiser, and a proud daddy of three.
Over the last 6 years we've had a lot of "moments." Good, lots of them. Bad, lots of those too. Ugly, some. Proud, absolutely! This weekend will mark one of the proudest moments for me as Josh's wife, best friend, and help-mate. Josh is being ordained this Sunday night as a pastor into the Wesleyan church. I think I am more proud in this moment than I was the day he, or I graduated college. There are a couple of reasons for that. One, we wasted time at college. I know I can speak for us both when I say we didn't use our full potential at IWU. Two, he worked really hard to get all his requirements done for this day. He had to complete 6 FLAME classes, which he did with enthusiasm and skill. He really did glean knowledge from those classes. And three, he completed the 300 pages (I'm exaggerating, but it was really long) of questions from the board who would interview, approve or deny his ordination. As of last December there where 23 people from the West Michigan District who were on paper to be ordained. This Sunday Josh will be on of 11 who actually will be. I think that's something to be proud of - and I am! I will stand proudly next to my husband as he's commissioned by the Wesleyan church. Remembering all the proud and not so proud moments along this journey we've been on to get to this moment. I am proud to grow, learn and love next to you, here's to the next 50+ proud years!

Incredibles

First coat of the logo on the wall. I think Josh did a great job on it - his hand was much steadier than he thought it would be.
Quotes from the movie on the wall. The red says, "It's a whole family of supers!" To the left the bottom saying is, "That was totally wicked!" And over the top of that it says, "Super-duper Dad!"
Quote #4 over the closet.

On Sunday I was home with two sick kids and got the urge to paint some sort of table for Garrett to have in his room. I remembered that this was down stairs not being used so I brought it up and painted it - I think it looks pretty cool!

Kids at 20 months

Olivia and Garrett on a tractor. I think she may be a little older than 20 months here - but you get the idea.
Garrett painting pumpkins. He must have just gotten in trouble, b/c he looks like he's been crying. What a sad boo-boo face!
Esther, a little younger than 20 months. The next picture is Olivia at the same age, in the same cover-up. Esther was ready for Lake Michigan, Olivia was ready for the Jersey Shore.

Because I have no recent pictures to blog, I thought I would take a stroll down memory lane with each of the kids at around 20 months. I think they look like siblings, but not like carbon copies of each other, like a lot of people say. Do you think they look alike?

Hopefully in the next weeks or so we will have pictures to blog. We went back to film until we can get the camera. We've taken a lot of pictures of Garrett's room in progress and some of the kids. They still don't get that they can't see the picture after it's taken, they keep asking, "Can we see?" right after we take the picture. It makes me feel old. I can't believe there are things that my kids expect that I would have never dreamed about, even 10 years ago. Who'd a thought you'd be able to see you pictures right after you take them? Don't you just love technology?