Madison's First Game!

Madison had a blast at her first game! Emma loved the game because there were stairs and poles to climb on at the stadium. Although the Levittown Red Devils did not have a victory, we had a great time watching Madison cheer!

Curious Emma!

Emma is fascinated by the fact that God made everything. There are certain things she has learned and is confident God made. Things like the sky, trees, flowers, and people. Then there are other things she loves to question us about. Things like her baby doll, special toys, our house. She is always very serious when she is questioning us about such matters. Very precious and so innocent. Today was one of the most precious (and funniest) questions yet. I was cleaning the bathroom this morning, while she was playing barbies in her room. She walked in just as I was finishing. Curious as always, she climbed up on the toilet seat lid, with her knees facing the tank. She looked at me very seriously, while pointing to the gold writing behind the toilet seat lid. (the toilet companies name) She said "Did God make this?" I laughed and realized that in her mind, God made everything....including our toilet. And so naturally she wondered if God was the one who wrote on it as well! I explained to her that God made the person who made the toilet, and the people who made it put there name on it. "She said "Oh!" and then she went on to ask me about all the other fixtures in the bathroom. :) She always make me laugh.....but more than anything... it thrilled my heart for Emma to be so curious about my God. God is good.

An Adorable Moment!

Emma and I love to walk to pick Madison up from school. Yesterday, as we were just turning the corner onto our street, we saw the school bus dropping off some kids. A few seconds later we heard someone yell "Madison!". I looked across the street, and there stood a young boy wearing a Red Devils Football jersey. (Which is the team Madison cheers for) He was making a silly face with his hands on each cheek. The young boy then looked back over and waved at Madison with this bashful like grin. Madison smiled and waved back quickly.....a little embarrassed her mom had just seen that. :) It was adorable! She then told me his name was Hunter and their desks were in the same group in class. I could not help but just smile and think to myself what it will be like when Madison no longer sees boys as something yucky!

You Are Our Mission!

Last Sunday night I saw the movie "World Trade Center." I saw it with my good friend Carl Novian, who was in New York visiting us last weekend. The movie was intense. I liked it.
There was one part of the movie that has stayed in my mind everyday this week. When the two Marines hear the sounds coming from the rubble and make contact with our two main characters; one of the soldiers says: "We are the United States Marines, you will be okay; you are our mission."
I know that it sounds so cliche to say that "our life is a mission trip". But, this week I am constantly aware that as I go out and as I meet people, "they" are our mission.
It's easy to get caught up the fact that we are trying to start a church. It's easy to get bogged down in details. It's hard some days to stay focused. Sometimes, we want to see more progress being made. Sometimes, we question if we are doing things right. Sometimes, we wonder if we should be doing more. Other times, we wonder if we should be doing less. But, the fact of the matter is that Jesus was all about people. "They" were His mission. That is what I really want to be about.
At our Bible study this past Monday night, we talked about the simplicity of the gospel. Love the Lord God with all of your heart and love your neighbor as yourself. It sounds so simple. Why do I make it so complicated? I'm not sure why. But, I want to focus on THE Mission.

Sterling

Believable!

Madison loves listening to people who have a strong New York accent. She is already a New Yorker at heart. She especially loves greeting people with a kiss on each cheek. She would love for her friends accent to rub off on her eventually. Who knows? As hard as she tries to copy them, it just might. :) But as for now, she still speaks like a Texan. Madison's favorite friend so far is Jessica. She spends the most time with Jessica because their desks are in the same group. She was telling me all about Jessica last night before bed, and how much Jessica makes her laugh. She went on to tell me the cutest thing Jessica said to her yesterday. Madison was talking and as a true southerner, she kept saying "ya'll". Jessica looked at her and said "I just love the way you say ya'll". Madison then told her "I have to quit saying that", but must have said it again, because Jessica said "you just said it again!" Madison thought it was the funniest thing. Although it was very cute & funny, to me it was so very precious & sweet. Such a simple exchange of words between friends touched my heart in such a big way. But, that is exactly why........my baby has a special friend! God is good just doesn't say enough. God gives us so much more than we could ever hope for or imagine. HE is unbelievable! I like the way my friend Steve Pierson says it better, "He is BELIEVABLE!" God IS who HE says HE IS and HE Can do what HE says HE can do through us who BELIEVE! Thank you to those who have been praying for a special friend for Madison. Thank you God for continuing to make yourself known. Thank you for answering our prayers. Madison and Emma are Yours! Thank you for allowing me the most precious gift of being their mommy. You are amazing and believable! I love you!

The Final Story

Madison brought home a letter from school today. Apparently a lady threatened the principal yesterday morning with physical harm. Police were called and she was forbidden to enter the school until further notice. The school went into lock down because of that threat alone. Back to School Night was cancelled because at the time they thought there might be a relation between that incident and the boy seen with a rifle. As for the boy seen with a rifle on school grounds......it was actually reported to police as 3 boys with rifles. :) But police soon learn there was no relation between the two incidents. I decided to call the police station myself, after reading the letter. The police informed me that the report was completely false. No guns were on property. Maybe they were lacrosse sticks. Maybe not. Police did not say. But, there were definitely no guns. Obviously someone upset over the previous incident got confused with what she saw. And all is safe at Northside Elementary once again!

Update on Madison's School

Our friend Helen is one of the crossing guards for the high school. She called us this morning and informed us that apparently the boy was carrying a lacrosse stick. Who knows at this point. Madison went to school. I am sure we will get a note from school about it. The mother having a big fight with the principal probably got things started. Anyway, as for now, all is safe again. It is never fun when things get blown out of proportion. However, I am glad the school and the police take all matters so seriously. This has been a huge lesson for me that we can never quit praying for our children and for safety at our schools. It is so sad that it is even an issue.....but it is. Thanks for all who prayed last night. Prayer is so powerful! Even when things are not as bad as they seem, God can still teach us wonderful lessons.

PLEASE PRAY!

I just went to Madison's school for Back to School Night, and when I got there, everyone was outside with police everywhere. Back to School Night was called off. Apparently, someone saw a teenage boy with a gun outside the school grounds today. Supposedly he was also inside at one point. A mother also had a huge fight with the principal this morning. No relationship at this point. The school was in lock down all day today. Of course, I did not know that until tonight. Madison said they had a lock down drill all day today, but we all assumed it was just that....a drill. The superintendent said if the suspect was not apprehended by morning, the police would decide whether or not to call off school tomorrow! THIS IS CRAZY! Wonderful things are happening every day. But this is a great reminder of how much we need to always pray for this community and please pray specifically for our family......my girls. Please pray the police will have wisdom to make the right call, and for all the children to be safe. Pray for the young boy who is deeply troubled. Please pray for Madison! We will update you when me know more.

I WON THE LOTTERY!

Can you believe it?! Like our good friend Jeff Newpher said, "who would have ever thought we'd be praying for me to win the lottery! ":). I am so excited! Mrs. Leung sent me a note home with Madison saying that I had won the lottery. I am officially one of two class parents for Madison's 2nd grade class. Thank you so much to those who pray for great opportunities like this one, to come along! I will be able to meet and get to know moms in a much greater way! Not to mention the fact that I get to be apart of Madison's class in a special way. Madison is very excited that I am class parent. More time together! Seems so silly to be so excited over being chosen Class Room Mother, as I remember it being called. I feel like I just won an award or something really big. But, I am just that.......Excited....Thrilled....Happy! God is good.

Ballerina Emma Grace!

Emma went to dance class this morning! She absolutely loved every second! Her teacher is Miss Regina. There are three other little girls in her class. They are all age 3, but Emma is the very youngest by at least 6 months. I got to watch her dance from a downstairs room with the other mothers. (lots of talk time) A video projected the class onto a big wall. So, we could see the girls, but they could not see us. I did not say anything to Emma before class about behaving or listening to the teacher, because I thought she would be nervous and quiet. Oh no! Just the opposite. She was all over the place. She loved tapping those tap shoes and that is just what she did. The teacher had drawn circles with chalk on the floor for each child to stand in. Emma could not stand still! :) She was always scooting over by the girl next to her. Miss Regina said tap and point, and Emma jumped and turned around in circles. Several times she ran across the room and Miss Regina had to go and bring her back. Emma was very sweet at all times, and always did what she was asked when Miss Regina spoke to her, but the minute she lost focus, she was on the move again. For the first time ever, I was the parent in the room holding my breath with her every move! Of course, everyone got a kick out of her. The other 3 girls attend nursery school and did as 2 year olds as well, so the mothers were impressed Emma did as well as she did for never being in a structured class before. So, that made me feel a little better :). Half way through, I found myself laughing and enjoying her sweet ways! Because she is just that......Sweet and Adorable!! Emma brings a smile to your face the moment you look at her. Her enthusiasm is contagious!
Afterwards her teacher reassured me Emma's behavior was completely normal and she would figure it all out within a few weeks! Miss Regina is the owner of Levittown Dance, and is so wonderful with the girls. Very patient, sweet, fun, and beautiful! Pray for good girl talk among moms each week!
When we came home, Sterling was there for lunch. She told daddy at lunch that she had friends and a teacher! (Just like her Big Sister) She was so precious, and those few words made it very clear to me that she belonged in dance!

Houston Chronicle Story About First Baptist Katy and Crossroads Church Of Long Island

Katy News

First Baptist Church of Katy at 600 Pin Oak Road held a special service at 10:30 a.m. September 10 commemorating 9/11 and kicking off its partnership with Crossroads Church of Long Island, New York. The event included special music by soloist Jenna Edwards of Crossroads Church. Edwards, wife of Reverend Sterling Edwards, sings "Everything to Me."
Suzanne Rehak: For the Chronicle

Signing the covenant is Sterling Edwards, pastor of Crossroads, seated. Standing from left, Brad Veitch, director of church planting, Baptist Convention of Syracuse, New York, Richard Harris, vice president of church planting, North America Mission Board in Atlantic City, Georgia and Dr. Randy White, senior pastor, First Baptist Church.
Suzanne Rehak: For the Chronicle

9/11 service ushers in new agreementKaty officials sign covenant with New York church
By KIMBERLY PIÑAChronicle Correspondent

Hamburgers, hot dogs and a group of strangers sitting around a picnic table on Labor Day is how Sterling Edwards and his family will remember the beginning of Crossroads Church of Long Island.
"Labor Day was a really big deal," said Edwards, 33, pastor of the new church in New York. "It was really encouraging to us."

With the help of First Baptist Church of Katy, Edwards, his wife, Jenna, and their two daughters, Madison and Emma, moved to Levittown, N.Y., in July to start the church.
About 20 First Baptist members traveled with Edwards as part of a weeklong mission trip.
Members went door-to-door, to a local beach and to a train station, passing out Frisbees, water bottles and information about Crossroads. They also invited residents to attend home Bible studies.
Before returning to Katy, church members gave Edwards and his family a picnic table for their backyard.
It turned out to be a gift with a greater purpose for the nine people at the Edwardses' Labor Day cookout, the new church's largest gathering so far.
"We didn't know any of these people two months ago, and none of the people who came knew each other," Edwards said. "We knew that picnic table would come in handy."
The new church is a partnership between First Baptist-Katy and the North American Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention.
To coincide with the five-year anniversary of 9/11, First Baptist held a special service Sunday to mark the church's partnership with Crossroads. Church and mission board leaders signed a formal covenant acknowledging First Baptist's support of the new church.
"What's exciting about this is that we sent out a calling for churches to partner with us, and Katy stepped up," said Richard Harris, vice president of church planting for the North American Mission Board.
The summer mission trip was the first phase of First Baptist's three-year project to build and support the church in New York, said Randy White, First Baptist's senior pastor. The trip exceeded First Baptist's expectations, White said.
"They have worked very diligently to get a core group of people together," said White, who has led First Baptist's 2,500 members for more than three years. "We're slightly ahead of schedule."
Steve Pierson, a church member who went on the mission trip, said it was difficult work but productive. Pierson and other members passed out more than 300 free bottles of water, which New Yorkers especially enjoyed receiving during a summer heat wave.
"We made a lot of contacts with a lot of folks, and it was an interesting trip," Pierson said. "I loved it. I want to go back right now."
First Baptist partnered with the North American Mission board about 18 months ago to set up the new church. The Katy church is investing about $250,000, which the mission board will match. Funding comes from the church's missions budget.
Crossroads is one of more than 40 churches starting in the New York area as part of New Hope New York, an initiative created three years ago by the mission board. Churches are being formed in other metropolitan cities like Chicago, Phoenix and Las Vegas.
First Baptist will serve as the sponsor and mentor to Crossroads, with hopes that the New York church will be self-sufficient in the next three years and eventually start other churches in the area.
Since the First Baptist members left New York, Edwards and his family have continued meeting people in their community and telling them about Crossroads. They have met people at area stores, the post office and even online.
"We're just really looking to build some relationships," said Edwards, adding that he looks forward to the new people he's going to meet each day. "It's just been really pretty amazing for us to see how this unfolds and how much we're not in control."

Emma At The Park!

 

Emma the Ballerina!

Emma enjoyed time at the park this morning. She met a little 3 year old girl from India. Her family spent the entire summer visiting relatives in India. Her mother told me they get very lonely here because all of their family lives in India. We hope to run into them again sometime! We are blessed to see our families as often as we do. Emma is going to begin dance lessons in a few weeks at Levittown Dance Studio. She will have a 55 minute combination class of ballet and tap every Wednesday morning at 10:15. She is very excited to go to her very own dance school! I hope to meet many new moms through the class. Also, I volunteerd today to be a Class Parent for Madison's Class. Only 2 are chosen in a lottery. If not, I will be a helper as needed. I pray that either one of these opportunities will give me chance to reach out to more people. Please continue to pray in that direction!

Jenna

Madison's First Day Of School In New York!

 

Madison's Big Day!

This morning Madison woke up and came and got in my bed. She sat in front of me so sweetly, and told me how nervous she was. She said she could feel the nervousness in the tops of her arms :). We talked about how wonderful the day would be and how she could ask God to help her at any point during her day. After a filling bowl of oatmeal and fixing of the hair, we headed out the door. Parents were not allowed to walk their child to class. We were supposed to drop them off at a certain door and teachers would help them find their class. I did not like that one bit! But, I knew I needed to follow the rules. When we pulled up to the school, many parents were in the line to walk their child to class, regardless of the rules. I wanted so badly to walk her in, but I dropped her off the way I was supposed to. (I did sit parked in my van up ahead to make sure she got in the door). All day long I thought about her and wondered what she was doing at that moment, which was wonderful, because it constantly led me to lift her up in prayer. Emma and I walked to pick her up. It is 0.66 mile to the school. We stood at the 2nd grade exit door anxiously awaiting her arrival. When I first saw her smiling face calling "mommy" through the glass door, I was relieved! She came running out and talked our ears off the entire way home. She gave us every detail from the moment she walked in the school until the end of her day. She likes her teacher, Mrs. Leung. She said she already made 3 new girlfriends, of which only one name she can remember. Marissa is her name and she also has a younger sister. She said one girl teased her about being from Houston, but she said she told her that everyone else is from somewhere to! (so she handled herself just fine! Without her mommy's help! So Proud!) She is excited about going back tomorrow! She is also excited about having NO homework tonight! We told her she could have anything she wanted for dinner tonight for her special day, and she asked Daddy to grill some steaks. So, Madison and Emma are outside right now, helping daddy grill the steaks! Thank you to everyone who is praying for Madison! Prayers are being answered in wonderful ways! Thank you Cindy and Abigail for the special love you sent our way! God is good!

Investments

Mary Winkler, the pastors wife from Tennessee, accused of shooting her husband, is a topic for discussion on every news station. I remember when it first happened, many news reporters talked with friends and neighbors about how difficult it is for a ministers wife to have close friends. One neighbor commented, "What would cause a godly woman to do such a thing?" From personal experience, I can tell you that anyone, even a Christian, can be deceived and pretend to be something they are not. I know how hard it is to be a ministers wife. There are expectations too high to reach, if not from others, in our own minds. You never quite feel like you can fully let down your guard and be REAL. The fear of what someone might think is too great. Then there are those times when someone befriends you and takes you in, and you begin to open up....and then something happens in the church they do not agree with, and you are suddenly the enemy. It is no wonder churches get such a bad rap today. We can't even love each other unconditionally, much less the people on the street. I believe Mary and her husband were trying so hard to be what others expected, that it caused built up frustrations in their home, and with no one else to confide in, the enemy came in, and like she said "I snapped". My heart feels deeply for her, and what roller coaster she must have been on to take her to such a dark place. But because of God's amazing grace, it is not too late for her.
Please, do not misunderstand me. I am not saying their church or all other churches have those kinds of problems. But, far too many do. This morning, we went back to Farmingdale Baptist Church. I am sure they are not a perfect church. I am sure they have had their issues in the past. All churches do at some point. But, I will say that I have never felt more welcome and more loved in a church before. It is very evident that they are truly a family of God. They love each other. They care about each other. And they remain strong together without a pastor, because of their great love for each other and God's kingdom. I long to be a part of a church, a people, that is authentic and truly devoted to each others lives and the lives of those who are still lost. I long to be a part of a people who are there for each other at every turn, every valley, every mountain top. A people that accept your every flaw and still love you and help you reach your full potential in Christ. I will never forget when I was running from the Lord, my dear friend Dale Ann managed to get me in her house and actually locked me inside with no way out, so that she could try and knock some sense in me. Her and Carl went through the valley with me because they truly loved me.....despite my sin. Hate the sin, love the sinner. I am forever grateful for their investment in my life and they could never know just how much they mean to me. I long for a group of people to invest in each others lives that way. I pray God will build such a people at Crossroads Church of Long Island. Reach out to your brothers and sisters in Christ. You never know what is truly going on in their hearts and what they need and long for, if you do not invest yourself in their lives. It will be worth it! It saved my life.

Jenna