Baxter Family

Avery's 1st Day of Soccer - Foot Skills

2009-03-07T14:29:00.004-05:00

Avery told us she wanted to play soccer. So, I called around trying to find out where 4 year olds are able to play. Since our local Rec Dept only does soccer for the little ones in July and August and if you know anything about GA in the dead of summer you will understand why we are taking her to Camp Jordan. Camp Jordan is in Tennessee but they offer spring and fall soccer for the little ones. I wasn't sure we could still get her on a team since registration was in February (and it is now March), so I didn't tell her we were trying to get her signed up. I received an email yesterday telling me that if we showed up today with a check and a registration form she could still play. We were also informed she would need soccer shoes, shin guards, a size 3 ball, and a water bottle.

When I woke Avery up yesterday morning with the news that we would be taking her to soccer practice and we would need to buy her some shoes, etc she said excitedly, "I want glitter shoes! And a glitter water bottle to match!" I explained that they may not have "glitter" shoes to which she replied, "That's ok. I can just have black." You may be thinking, "how very sensible" but I know my daughter and I'm sure she was envisioning shiny black patent leather! Anyway, we went shopping last night and she settled for pink shoes with a little sparkle and pink shin guards. We also had to buy her some shorts and this shirt she just had to have. The only thing that wasn't pink was the size 3 ball and that was only because they were out of pink balls. When we got home she just HAD to put on her new stuff and go outside to play soccer with daddy despite the fact that it was well past bedtime. Anyway, she was so excited she wanted to sleep in her new shirt and shorts.

This morning she was so excited about soccer that she got up 2, yes I said TWO, hours early! This is a child that will sleep until 11 am if I let her. She normally gets up at 9 am but today it was 7! She got up before Titus which is definitely a record event.

We had to do breakfast and then get the gear on before we could head out. Here's a shot of the shin guards since we were told to put the socks over them they probably won't be seen much.

Here's the entire ensemble.

She had a blast! I must say that she is one awesome little soccer player. She dribbles like a 4 year old pro! You should have seen those other kids. They've got nothing on her!

I'm not biased in the least, the coach actually told Matt that she had great foot skills. This is the only picture I got of the foot skills coach and Avery together. He let her go first on one of the drills because she finished first at one of the other drills.

This is classic Avery. "Hey! My name is Avery, what's your name?" She is always making new friends everywhere she goes. She was excited about it too. Last night one of the clerks at the store asked if she was playing soccer with her friends and she stated matter of factly, "I don't know anybody there but I'll make new friends."

When we were all done and in the car headed home we told her how proud we were of her for listening to her coach and that she had done an awesome job. She said, "I did my best. I'm proud of me too!" She's one awesome little girl!

Avery Quote

2009-02-27T18:42:00.001-05:00

Just a little quotable quote from our Avery B. I'm currently listening to Avery and Daddy talking in Avery's room.

Daddy says, "What are you doing, Avery?"
Avery says, "I'm making a list for my camping trip, daddy." To which daddy replies, "a list? You sound just like your mommy."

I am laughing and holler from Titus' room, "that's just what I was thinking. Who goes anywhere without a list?"

Catching up...

2008-10-09T15:51:00.008-04:00

Ok, so it's been a while and I haven't been keeping up with posting. I have been a horrible mother and have not had Titus' picture taken professionally since he was 3 months old. I rationalize this by saying that when he was six months we were in the middle of relocating to Dalton but at nine months I have no excuse. When I started investigating photography studios I found that for some reason all the studios in this po-dunk town are WAY out of my price range so Matt and I decided to take some pictures ourselves. We took the kids to Chickamauga Battlefield this past Monday. After two hours on a hot day trying to pose two sleep deprived (no naps) kids, here's the fruit of our labor. You judge for yourselves but I think I'll take my $150 sitting fee and spend it on groceries and gas....

Avery & Titus in the tower

Avery peeking at Titus, who's peeking at Avery...

Titus peeking at Avery, peeking at Titus...

Sweet girl

I love these kids.....

This is really fun!

I promise I wasn't just crying like two seconds ago...

It's been a while...

2008-09-03T16:08:00.001-04:00

Well, it's been a while since my last post. We have been extremely busy this summer. We packed up our clothes and the kids toys (left all furniture, etc in the house in Indiana) and moved to Georgia! We moved in with Matt's parents for a couple of weeks and then moved into a house that the church owns. They have been gracious enough to allow us to live in this house (and furnish it for us) until our house sells or for up to a year (I sure pray it doesn't take that long to sell the house). Anyway, I just unpacked the computer and got it set up last week so I hope to be more faithful to posting updates. Please keep us in prayer as we need to sell our house and during this huge transition.

Prayer Requests

2008-06-09T15:38:00.000-04:00

So, I promised in my last update to post some prayer requests, well here they are.....

Matt is on his way to camp in Laguna Beach, FL with the kids at Grove Level. Please be in prayer for safety as they travel, that kids lives would be changed during camp, and that this would be a productive time for Matt as he gets to know the kids and the leaders that are chaperones as well.
Pray for Matt's mom this week. This is my last week at work and she is watching the kids while Matt is away. Pray for her strength, endurance, patience, health, etc, etc.
Pray for me this week. Matt's gone, his mom is here, this is my last week at work. There is just so much to do that I don't even know where to start with the requests (or where to start with all the work that needs to be done). We need to pack our clothes, kids toys, pictures, etc. All the furniture and large items will be left in the house until it sells or until we can move into the house the church owns. This would just be a temporary living situation until our house sells but they will allow us to live there rent free for a time.
We have a lot of "little" paint jobs to do around the house (trim, hall, ceilings in 2 rooms, 1 bedroom) and we have to clean out the basement, which in my mind is a monstrous job. Pray however you feel led on this stuff - we just have to get it done.
We need to sell our house, and FAST! I know that God already knows who and when so I just need to trust Him in the details. I can easily get lost in the details and forget just how big my God is. I really would like to move just once but I'm not so sure that is going to happen unless someone makes us an offer in the next week. I have sent a notice out in the Daily memo at work and have had a couple of people contact me so we'll see. If no one seems serious, we will list the house with an agent before we head to GA.

I think that just about covers it, so please just pray, pray, pray however and whenever you feel led.

God is Awesome!

2008-06-06T10:09:00.000-04:00

Well, it's been a few weeks and I haven't been able to keep eveyone up to date on what's been happening with the Baxters. The short version is.....

God is Awesome!

The long version starts the week before Graduation so I'll travel back in time to May 8th.

May 8th was a Thursday night. We have youth group on Thursday nights so we don't get home until about 9pm. Around 9:30 Matt's cell phone rings and it's his academic advisor at Moody. He told Matt a church in Arkansas had contacted him looking for a Youth Pastor, explained what they were looking for, and wanted to know if he knew anyone he'd recommend. He and the head of the Youth department discussed who they thought would be a good fit and they both thought of Matt. So he was calling to see if it would be OK to forward Matt's resume to the church in AR. Both of these men knew that Matt had interviewed at Grove Level in Dalton so they weren't sure if he'd be willing to check out this other church. Well, at that time it had been a few weeks since we'd been to Grove Level and we hadn't heard anything back from them. We thought it had gone well and were quite disappointed but knew we needed to press on and keep looking for the church where God wanted Matt (us) to serve. Matt got off the phone and told me and my first gut reaction was (and I was screaming internally) "NO! NO! NO! God, I want to go HOME! I DO NOT WANT TO GO TO ARKANSAS!!" Just imagine a child pitchin' a fit in the floor - kicking and screaming. That's what I was doing on the inside. Externally, I just got really quiet and left the room to wash bottles for the next day. I just needed something to do to keep my hands busy. I wanted to be by myself and think this over, but Matt followed me to the kitchen and kept asking what was wrong. I kept telling him, "nothing" but was really just trying to get him to go away until I was ready to talk. But he persisted. It took me about 15 minutes of internally wrestling with God, while Matt hovered nearby asking again and again what was wrong and what I was thinking. I finally looked up from washing the bottles and said, "you know, I really can't say I love Jesus and will follow Him anywhere unless I am willing to go where He wants me to go. Call him back and tell him it's OK to send your resume to that church."

The next few days were a whirl wind. Friday, Matt's advisor contacted the church. Monday the church contacted Matt. They talked on the phone for a couple of hours and scheduled another phone interview with the youth pastor at the church for Tuesday. Tuesday Matt talked to the current Youth Pastor for over an hour and by Wednesday they had booked him a flight to Little Rock for the following Saturday through Thursday! It was crazy! There are many, many details and little things that really led us to believe that we'd be heading to Arkansas. I told several people that I wouldn't be surprised if he came back with a job offer but we both were wrong. Just wait for the rest of the story. On a side note, thank goodness Matt didn't have to do any finals because he was in Arkansas the entire week of finals!

When I would ask him how it was going and whether he felt this was "the one" he was evasive. Matt's response was, "I felt indifferent. It's a great church with great people and great things going on but I don't 'feel' anything here. I don't feel excited about what I can do for God here. I just can't explain it..." So he returned on Thursday feeling like he'd wasted a week of their time (as well as his) and their money. He asked me to start searching for more youth pastor openings, so I did. By that afternoon, I had about 10 possibilities to present to him. Keep in mind it had been about 5 or 6 weeks since we'd heard from Grove Level. Before I left work for the day, I checked Matt's email to see if he needed to take care of anything before Graduation rehearsal on Friday, etc and lo and behold what do I find there? It was an email from the head of the search committee at Grove Level. It was short but basically said, "Sorry we haven't contacted you before now and that we are taking so long to come to a decision. Please don't be discouraged." We did not know what to think of this email. This was Thursday the 15th.

Graduation was Saturday the 17th. It was a crazy day! We almost didn't make it in time because of the crazy traffic here. They had the stinkin' interstate down to 1 lane on the Express lanes of the Dan Ryan. Now, mind you, we had been listening to traffic updates for about 30 minutes since we had left the house and they NEVER said a word about those lanes being shut down. All the while we sat there watching the traffic on the Local lanes zip by while we were stuck - separated by a huge concrete wall which prevented us from getting on the Locals. What a helpless feeling! I kept telling Matt to put his emergency flashers on and drive up the median until he could merge onto the Locals. Patience is not one of my virtues nor is it a spiritual gift I have. Well, we did make it with just enough time for Matt to get lined up and us to find seats. Anyway, during the ceremony Matt texted me and said "CBridges just texted me." I wrote back, "what did he say?" and all I got was "I'll tell you later." Well, excuse me! If he was going to tell me later, why didn't he just wait until after the ceremony? Now, I had to sit there through the rest of the ceremony wondering what in the world "CBridges" had to say. For those of you who don't know, "CBridges" is the Senior Pastor of Grove Level. Let me also say that Chip Ingram spoke at Matt's graduation and it was great and all but someone should have told him to keep it short - like under 15 minutes because there were over 500 graduates, Moody Church was packed, it was hot as blazes in that balcony, and I had a 3 year old and a 5 month old with me. I know it's not all about me but have you ever tried to keep a 3 year old and a 5 month old entertained for 2 and a half hours during a graduation ceremony? Avery was great until the very end. She watched DVD's with headphones contently until her snacks ran out and then she kept telling me she was hungry and wanted lunch. Rather loudly I might add. Titus was amazing. We brought our friend Jessica to help out with the kids and she took him down by an open door where there was a nice breeze blowing in and he fell asleep. When he woke up we fed him and he just sat contentedly watching his sister watching her DVDs. Praise God for such a laid back little guy! He cried a little before he fell asleep and after he woke up because he was hungry but other than that he was great. By the time they both started to get fussy, the whole thing was almost over and I didn't care anymore if they were quiet. I was feeling fussy too! We ended the afternoon with lunch at Maggiano's. It was delicious! Oh, and the text message said, "Congratulations! We'll talk next week."

Now, on to Sunday the 18th. When Matt got to church to do his usuall "intern" duties like bringing donuts, setting up chairs, etc, the youth pastor pulled him aside and informed him that someone from Grove Level had contacted him the previous week to get a reference on Matt. You really have to know Pastor Jim to understand just how funny these next statements are so let me try to give you a mental image of him. He is a martial arts expert, he is a big man from Philly that always speaks his mind, and is not afraid of confrontation so all around he can be an intimidating person. He just has this presence, even when you are talking with him on the phone. He is also pretty funny and has a somewhat boyishness when he thinks he's done something sneaky, etc. He'll just grin this funny grin and bob his head up and down. So, he told Matt that he gave him an outstanding recommendation and, I quote, "you guys should know that he's had several churches looking at him very seriously so if you want him then you need to do something quickly." He said this while he was just nodding and grinning at Matt. When Matt told me this, I laughed out loud and then we both said that this explained the email and text message he got.

Monday, May 19th, Matt got a call from Pastor Bridges. Basically, they felt that God had confirmed that Matt was the one for their church and wanted him to come back to Grove Level to be presented to the congregation and allow the congregation to vote. WOW! When Matt told me everything that had been said all I could do was sit in amazement (while I was rocking and feeding Titus before bedtime) and ask, "Really, God? Are you going to allow us to go home?" I cried, I prayed, I sang "Bless the Lord! Oh my soul and all that is within me bless is holy name!" in my head over and over while I cried and prayed. It was unbelievable to me. It looked like we were actually going HOME! All that was left was a vote! Well, it turned out not to be just a vote. Bear with me we are on the home stretch now.

Thursday May 29th we loaded up a rental mini-van with ourselves, our luggage, two kids, and a bulldog and headed down to good ol' Rocky Face, GA. Almost sounds like an episode of the Beverly Hillbillies! On Friday, Matt met with the church staff and other pastors, etc. all day long. Saturday we both had to be at the church. He met with the Deacons, then we had dinner with some of the parent/leaders and people from the search committee. We then met some parents of the kids and had a time for questions, etc from parents. Then Matt had to give a 15 to 20 minute message and have an activity for some kids. He had no idea how many kids would be there he was just told anywhere from 7 to 30 kids. We were there about 5 hours. It was exhausting and we still had Sunday to go. On Sunday, Matt had to be at the first Sunday School at 8 am. The 2nd Sunday School and 1st Service are at 9:30 and we had to be at both so I got there at 9 to drop the kids off in their respective classes. Avery had a melt down and would not go into the 3 yr old class. I'm just thinking to myself, please not today, Avery. This is such an important day we need to at least appear to be good parents with good kids. Avery NEVER refuses to go to class (but she's always been with the same people for 3 years. Everyone at Bethel knows Avery Baxter - she's the life of the party) but this day she refused and I had to take her to the 2 year old class. Oh it was so stressful. We were introduced to the kids during the second sunday school and were then taken to the 1st service where Matt had to give his testimony to the congregation, we were both introduced, the Pastor prayed and then the congregation voted by ballot. Then we went back to the Sunday school class (back to our element with the kids) for question and answer time. Then we had to repeat the whole thing in the 2nd Service. It was nerve racking. Did I tell you it was pouring down rain? Oh my had the flood gates been opened. To top it all off, not only did have to get myself and 2 kids ready for church on my own but I also had to worry about how in the world I was going to get 2 kids and myself into the church during a monsoon without looking like a drowned rat on the day the church is to vote on hiring my husband. I could just hear the comments in my head, "yeah he seemed nice but did you see his wife...?" Anyway, we persevered and made it through the meetings and the vote.... and Matt is now the new Minister of Middle School students at Grove Level Baptist Church!!!

We are so excited about this new time in our lives. This is something we have been waiting for for such a long time. We now have many, many new and exciting things to keep praying about so because this has been such a long post, I'll save the prayer requests for tomorrow!

Thank you to everyone who has been praying for us! Praise God! It never ceases to amaze me just how much He cares about the things that I care about. I was so excited to come home for the last part of this interview process because the first time in 4 years we got to go to Matt's niece's birthday party! It was a blast! That seems like such a small thing but now He's arranged for us to be HOME!

Bless the Lord! OH my soul, and all that is within me BLESS His Holy name!

Catching Up

2008-04-25T10:43:00.000-04:00

Here are a few pictures since it's been a while since I've placed any updated pictures for your enjoyment.

There must be something wrong with a place when you have to dress like this to hunt Easter eggs. It was too cold for Titus outside so we just put him down for his nap and took Avery out to hunt eggs. We're pretty wimpy because we only let her hunt twice for the eggs - she wanted us to hide them some more.

Titus is so stinkin' cute!

Titus and Avery.

This was Titus's first road trip to GA. He was an excellent boy in the car.

We went to Sydney & Sami's soccer game. You can tell that he thought it was exciting.

Just 22 Days and counting!

2008-04-25T10:23:00.001-04:00

Well, there are only 22 days left until Graduation Day! It is crazy but also a strange feeling to know that Matt will soon be done with school. So, now it's down to crunch time and there are still no "job" offers. We have found several promising youth pastor positions open that Matt's applied for . Which leads me to the reason for this post...

We just got home from a trip to Dalton, GA for an interview with Grove Level Baptist Church. We met with the Senior Pastor, his wife, the search committee and their spouses on Saturday morning for breakfast. This was just a fellowship time to get to know one another. I have to say that this was a fun group of people. Matt and I enjoyed our time with them. They made us feel welcome but more than anything we felt comfortable with all of them. After breakfast, Matt went to the church for his interview. It lasted 3 hours! He was spent after that. When I asked him what they asked, he couldn't remember and made the comment that it was better to ask what they hadn't asked. He felt it went well so now we just need to continue to pray for God's guidance for us as well as for Grove Level. We pray that God will provide the right man for their church (whether he be Matt or not) in his perfect timing. It was really nice to be home and visit family but also to have the opportunity to visit Grove Level to see if this is where God would have Matt and I to serve Him. Please continue to pray for the Lord's continued guidance in this process and for us to be patient and wait upon Him as it says in Psalm 37:7, "Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him."

Youth Pastor Job Search

2008-02-15T15:07:00.001-05:00

So, as most of you know, Matt will be graduating from Moody Bible Institute this May. We began sending his resume out to churches back in October and November of 2007. Well, when I was out shopping for Avery's birthday presents I found 5 or 6 resumes in the trunk of the car that never got mailed. At first I was truly angry, livid even. I just kept hearing Matt saying, "I wonder why no one has called." Well, they aren't mind readers and with the resumes in the trunk and not in the hands (or on the desks) of the people making the decisions it will be pretty difficult to get a youth pastor position. So, needless to say, but I'll say it anyway, we had to do a little investigation work to see if the positions were still open and we had to re-print cover letters and get those things mailed out this past Monday. I have to say that I do realize that God knew the resumes were in the trunk the whole time and because He is Sovereign I will trust Him to provide the perfect place for Matt to serve Him in fulltime ministry.

Please continue to pray for us while we are in the midst of a job search and preparing to put our house up for sale. Pray for Matt to have patience and to not get discouraged. Pray that the Lord will provide a buyer for our house and that we will be out and moving to a new job and new home by June of this year. It is our desire to be within a 5 hour radius of "home" but we would prefer to be less than 2. We serve an amazing and powerful God who is able to do all these things if He is willing. Pray above all else for us to seek His will and for the wisdom to know what it is He would have us to do and where He would have us to go.

Three Years & Nine Weeks

2008-02-15T13:21:00.000-05:00

Wow, how time has flown! Where did it go?

I can't believe that Avery just turned three and that Titus is nine weeks old already. Avery's birthday was Friday, Feb. 8th and we were blessed to have Nana and Popsy in town to celebrate the day with us. It seems that Avery has been able to celebrate her birthday everyday for a week. We started Friday after Matt and I got home from Chicago. Popsy and Matt had a "great" time Thursday afternoon shopping for presents at the American Girl Place in Chicago. Matt said that he "felt dirty" when he left that place and that "it is everything that is wrong with America today." I've been in there before and quite frankly, the place scares me. It's too "girlie" for me. It was Popsy's job to take Avery out to pick up dinner so that Matt, Nana, and I could bring the cake in and put balloons and presents out.

Saturday we continued celebrating Avery's birthday by having lunch at Chuck E. Cheese's. Wow. What an experience. I truly do not want to do that again, however Avery had a great time.

Avery raked in the presents. She received several on her actual birthday from me and Daddy, Nana & Popsy, Wendy, Bryon & the girls, and our friend Jessica. She also received stuff in the mail the following week from her Nana Hicks and our friends Kellie, Keith, & Nora. Valentine's Day also came this week so between her birthday & Valentine's it seems she was opening presents everyday for a week.

On Monday, Titus was 9 weeks old. I can't believe how much he's grown in such a short amount of time. We have been truly blessed with two beautiful and wonderful children.

Peer Pressure

2008-02-05T13:23:00.000-05:00

So, I've finally succumbed to peer pressure and started a blog. I'm not sure how long I'll be able to keep this up with being a fulltime mom and working fulltime too but I'll give it my best shot. This blog is mainly to keep our friends and family up to date on what's happening with our family.

Yesterday, Titus turned 8 weeks old and Avery will be 3 this Friday! I can't believe how the time has flown by. Matt has a little over 3 months of school left before graduation day (his time in school seems to have crawled by) and we are currently sending his resume out to churches that are within a 5 hour radius of "home." It is our hearts' desire to move closer to our families and friends and, Lord willing, He will provide just such a place for us. Please be in prayer for us during this time of transition. Pray that we will be open to what the Lord has planned for us, that we will have wisdom to see the open doors He provides, and the courage to walk through them.