The Drummer's Wife

Hey all. Christian wrote a couple weeks ago about our church. We are really loving our church. A couple weeks ago the music director called Chris and told him he was really hoping Chris and I would go to choir practice on Wednesdays because they were starting the new Easter music. So we thought it seemed like a good starting point and we went. We got there and I settled into the back row, alto side of the choir. I made fast friends with the other back row altos and had a great time with those ladies before practice started. I have been singing for a while so I was comfortable with the music and quite honestly, was just At my church in Houston we had a great choir. They made CD's and put on Christmas and Easter pageants that were amazing. They ran about 150-200 on Sunday mornings. On my 18th birthday I was there. From pageant practices to great music to even catching my hair on fire at a rehearsal one year I have so many wonderful memories of singing in the choir. I am looking forward to making new memories with my new church choir!

The real story, however, is my superstar husband. Most churches have at least one drummer, many can have several they rotate Sunday to Sunday. Much to our surprise, Pitts Baptist didn't really have one. They had a guy who played okay just on request but no regular drummer. Chris didn't waste anytime letting everyone know he would be happy to play when coaching season came to an end and they seemed excited about that! He showed up to practice with me and they set him at the drum set and he practiced with us. He hadn't seen any music prior to practice but did very well. We got to practice early to settle in, so no one saw us come in together, therefore, no one knew we were together. Throughout practice I could hear people around me talking about the new drummer. They loved him! They kept saying he's so good and how much they love what the drum beat adds to the music and so on. I was quite proud! After rehearsal our director, Jonathan, announced us as new members and immediately several people turned around and kept saying, "that's your husband?!" I smiled and said yes, that the rockin' drummer belonged to me. They all told me how wonderful he did and they went on and on. Well, last night at practice everyone kept calling me "drummer's wife." It was very cool. Christian did a great job and looked great doing it. He would look at me and wink or smile throughout rehearsal and all the ladies thought it was sweet and that we were so cute. I felt like I was back in high school and had landed the hot popular guy.

Already I have a fun memory!

Our Church

I guess it's been quite awhile since I've last written here. Life has been really busy the past few weeks (or months). School has been going about 100 mph. We have just started the new semester and classes seem to be settling down. Basketball has been absolutely insane. Needless to say, coaching girls is quite different than coaching boys. But our season just ended and it ended on a positive note with a win (only lost four games all year).

Enough rambling. I wanted to take some time and write about our church. It has been our place to connect with other believers and regroup with God. We have found a strong refuge that we have come to enjoy more and more each week we attend.

We absolutely love it. Our Sunday School class consists of about 12 or so young couples just like us. They share many of the same burdens and joys that we have and they have been kind and welcoming to us. They have been very quick to recognize Kelly's sense of humor and quick wit and my knowledge and teaching ability. In fact I will be teaching in two weeks (on what I don't know yet!)

The church service itself is perfect for Kelly and I. Average attendance is about 700 and it is a mixture of contemporary and traditional styles of worship. We sing about three or four traditional hymns (Green Brook Baptist style!) and one or two contemporary songs. There is a good-sized choir which Kelly is about to join, and some instrumental opportunities for me.

But perhaps the best part about the church is our pastor, Scott Davis. He has been there for about ten years and knows the Bible thoroughly inside and out. When we joined the church he willingly spent about three hours with us in his office and didn't mind that we were there until the late hours of the night. He delivers sermons with authority and conviction and speaks to our hearts each and every week. Currently he is doing a series on Psalm 23 and is doing one verse a week. Now this might seem ridiculous but he finds a way to pull a thousand points out of a few words. He has an incredible expository mind.

Being at Pitts has made me think a lot about the purpose of church. I've come to understand how important the body of believers that you surround yourself with is. If you don't have that support and fellowship, your Christian walk could be very lonely and difficult. Maybe that's why there were twelve disciples and not one or two. Maybe that's why Paul made it a point to visit the believers in every town he arrived in. The Bible says we need only Jesus, but of course, so does everyone else.

Happy Birthday Steven!

Today is my baby brother's 23rd birthday! Wow! Happy birthday Steven. I know a lot of big sisters probably say this but I have the best brother a girl could ever ask for. Steven is 3 years my junior and one of my best friends. Unlike a lot of siblings Steven and I have rarely ever fought. We have always been close and had a good relationship. When Steven and I were kids our family would go on one big family vacation a year. Now, you have to understand something about my parents. They wanted our vacations to be educational and every year, without fail, we would end up somewhere that required A LOT of reading. We never flew anywhere either. It was up at 4 a.m. and loading our sleepy, tired bodies into the car and we hit the road. Steven and I always slept in the back for the first couple hours, at least until the sun would wake us up. Once we were up, the fun started. The moment Mad Libs made its appearance Mom and Dad would not get a moment of peace and quiet until we arrived at our final destination. For anyone who doesn't know, Mad Libs is a game where words from a story are deleted and you get to fill in your own words. What makes the game fun is that one player fills in the blanks and the other doesn't know anything about the story except that it needs 5 verbs, 3 nouns and so on. Steven and I would spend hours taking turns and laughing so hard sometimes we would barely be able to read the completed story. Even Mom and Daddy would get a kick out it, although Mom says the reason she was laughing was not because what we wrote was funny, but because Steven and I were utterly hysterical with each other.

The best thing about my brother is that we never drifted apart. We are as close as always and I am so thankful for him. He is one of the funniest, most kind-hearted people I have ever known. Even to this day we still play Mad Libs and cut up just like we did when we were kids. It's like I am 10 and he's 7 all over again. Although I miss my family living here in North Carolina, it's my brother I miss most. The day before Chris and I got married I called him and told him that Christian and I had decided to elope and would be getting married the next day. I remember Steven got really quiet and then asked to talk to Chris. I was a bit nervous but handed the phone to Christian and held my breath. Chris kept saying thinigs like, "I do" and "I will" and "thank you." Christian handed the phone back to me and Steven was crying and told me how much he loved me and how happy he was for me. Christian told me that Steven had told him that I was his big sister and he wanted the best for me. He wanted Christian to promise that he would take care of me and love me more than anything. He welcomed Christian to the family and through tears told him how much he loved me and would miss me.

This picture was taken right after Chris and got married. Steven and I were goofing off and wanted to take an "artsy" picture. It took about 30 minutes to get a shot where we could hold a strait face. Now he's 23 years old and has a fiance Chris and I adore. I can hardly believe he's 23. Anyway, happy birthday Steven and I love you more than you can possibly know!