Not as unique as we thought

I was working in the store the other evening and you won't believe the conversation I had with a customer. In order for our computer system to allow us to make a sale, we have to have the customer's name in our database. So, I was checking in a group of ladies who were there for a card class and I had to ask each one of them their names. I got the first couple of ladies entered and the third lady said her name was Donita. The next ladies' name was Bonita and I commented that their names were so similar. Bonita said, "Yes, we're twins." I looked up and noticed that they did look alike. By the way, these were all Red Hat Society ladies - they are a group of women over the age of fifty and they join local clubs across the country and do social stuff. Anyway, I made the statement that my sisters and I had rhyming names also. Bonita said, "Really? We grew up with friends who had rhyming names. It must have been the thing to do. Our friends names were Marlene, Darlene, and Sharlene" My mouth dropped and I said, "No way! That's our names!" She asked me if our last name was Kaiser and, of course, it wasn't. So, somewhere in the midwest are three sisters that share our same names. I couldn't believe it! We aren't as unique as we thought. What a coincidence. BTW - I didn't have the courage to ask what their first names were:)

Faircreek's Family Ministry Center

We officially opened our new Family Ministry Center in January and we haven't looked back. God is bringing new families every week. It's exciting to watch God at work. I took a ton of pictures but here are just a few for you to see. You really need to come and visit to appreciate everything. We'd love to have you! By the way, these pictures are in no particular order. I didn't take the time to organize them - just another reason why you need to come and see it in person.
A shot of the cafe - one of a couple of "adult" spaces for small groups.
The concourse - that's Dan to the right.
Another pic of the cafe. I got to decorate all the adult spaces. It truly was fun.
An alcove for small group meetings or a place just to hang out.
Entrance to the Play Place.
Here are my kids enjoying the play place

Pastor Greg with Kinzie and Alanna - he is such a kid at heart.
The hallway going to classrooms and the theater.
All the walls are covered with a 1st century scene and 3D artwork done by the artist who designed the Heroes Bible for kids.
Signage to classrooms
The Arcade - a place for the older kids to hang out
More artwork
Notice "Faircreek" on the wall to the entrance of the arcade
The Marquee to the Theater
One of the nurseries
The Arcade - the game on the floor is great - everyone wants to play on it
Inside the theater
Ribbon cutting


Entrance to Kids Street
Theater
Reading the Bible through before the opening Sunday

More pics to follow on another day

Happy Birthday Eli

This isn't a great scan of this picture because I cropped it to fit in a scrapbook. You'll have to click on it to make it bigger, but I couldn't refuse to post this of Eli. I took it at Myrtle Beach the summer of 2004 when we met the Farcin clan for vacation. I was scrapbooking these pictures yesterday - I'm a little behind - and this was my favorite. So, happy birthday Eli. I love this picture of you sitting in your own little "pool" at the beach. I'm sure you are over your fear of the waves now!

Belated Christmas Pics

Life is hectic but I'm sure you are tired of hearing that from the Trout's. I am just now getting to post our Christmas pictures. We are definitely on-the-go more than ever. The opening to our new building this past weekend was - to quote Dana Carvey in "The Benchwarmers" (I'm not exactly proud to say we saw that movie but there were a couple of funny lines) - ama-za-zing! I'll post those pictures soon. I took dozens so I'll need to weed through them. God is at work in our church and the atmosphere in worship was incredible. Please come and see us soon because the pictures will not do it justice. Anyway, more of that later. Here are some snapshots of our celebration over the Christmas season. Our annual in front of the tree shot. Dan can now officially join us in family pictures.
Save August 29th at 7:30pm for the wedding of Dan and Lauren.
More info for that special
event will follow. Micah was in the Muse Machine production of "Me and My Girl." It was really funny. As always, he did a great job and we are proud of him. He works hard, makes good grades, and sings A LOT! On my birthday, we had to go to Sam's after dinner and these characters tried out the furniture. This is Karley (I think I spelled her name right). This is Chris and Marissa's little girl. I actually got a picture of her being still. You sure can't tell she was a premature baby! Colton is the youngest Clarke. He was tired by the end of our visit. Karley could bounce all over the house on her princess hoppity thing (I can't remember what it's called:) Karley and Colton were engrossed with Barney on TV. I love this picture. At first Colton thought this was funny, but that was short lived. He wanted down. Philip was with Nanna and Pappa when we went to Huntington. He warmed up to us pretty quickly. I think he looks a lot like Kiera in this picture. We went to spend some time with Timothy while he was having part of his treatment in the hospital. Can you tell he hasn't bothered shaving for awhile:) What a cute couple! Kiera, we enjoyed playing with Philip. What a cutie! Here is the Collier clan - at least part of them. My purse is almost as big as Philip. He was so proud of himself when he "played" a song. Philip enjoys everything immensely. Two baby's of the family - can you tell who is who? Greg can make anybody laugh. I had two really cute videos of Greg teaching Philip things that Kiera probably would sigh about! I'm trying to upload them but so far I haven't had any success. Keep watching for them. Greg got batman pj's for Christmas. He may be 46, but he loves his super hero. Jenny, Ben will never outgrow that obsession if he takes after his uncle Greg. Lauren, Dan, and Micah on Christmas morning Kim and Nathaniel on Christmas morning. Nathaniel didn't have to go to work until midnight so they got to spend the day with us. Nathaniel is an expert at Guitar Hero. All toys came out on Christmas! We had several funny things happen this Christmas. We got Dan his shirt, Kim and Nathaniel got Greg his - notice they are the same! We got Kim a Sam's membership, but she already got one and she used it to get Dan's shirt. Life is funny! I think I got the videos to work. In the first one, Philip is blowing out the "hot decorations". At least that's what he was told so he wouldn't touch them. In the second one, Uncle Greg is teaching him the "proper" way to drink.

She's Engaged!

It's official. Lauren and Dan are engaged. We are very excited for them. I knew from the start that they were going to get serious and I tried to prepare Greg along the way. Dan approached Greg last week about his intentions. He answered the hard questions and said all the right things. Greg gave our blessing and Saturday evening Dan proposed much to Lauren's surprise. One of her first questions was, "Did you ask my Dad?!" Dan and Lauren are both sincere about their walk with God, their commitments, and their future. Dan fits into our family as does Lauren with his. We know his family well and he comes from a great Christian heritage. What more could parents ask for their only daughter. Details will be forthcoming - we'll keep in touch.