Privatizing the Blog

Okay, so 3 of my nearest and dearest bloggers have secured their blog sites from unknown searchers. It's making me a bit nervous and I've decided to do the same. So, if you'd like access to our blog, please email your address to stiverville@gmail.com. I'll give it a week or so for your response.

P.S. We're headed south for the week...yippee!!! Joel's first trip to Florida:)

A Big Week!!!

It was a roller coaster week for our little Joel. It started with a bang, with holding a rattle for the first time...such an exciting milestone!!! Then he had his two month appointment, which was rather traumatic for him and me. I couldn't help but cry with him after his 4 shots and 1 oral. He now weighs 13 lbs, 14 oz and 23 inches long. I can't believe we're about to use size 2 diapers! How can they grow that fast?

Doug Fields National Youth Conference

Wow!!! What an awesome weekend we experienced. We were in Cincinnati from Friday through Monday for a youth conference and it definitely exceeded my expectations and more!!! The worship, speakers and workshops were fantastic. We each had 8 hours(divided up) of training on a particular topic. Brian chose "Making Your Messages Stick", I chose "Thriving as a Youth Workers Spouse" and our volunteers chose "Helping Hurting Kids". It was well worth the time and money. I'm pumped up to use it in our ministry!

The speakers included Doug Fields, Tony Dungy and Greg Stier. All of them had excellent messages and wisdom to share. My class was led by Doug Fields' wife and she cleared up so many questions and concerns I have regarding my role and our life in ministry. The Fields have been in ministry for 25 years...whew!!! That's a long time. She has so much wisdom to share regarding balance in the world of ministry and how important it is to put your marriage and family first. There are so many war stories of pastor's kids and families. The Fields are all about boundaries in ministry, which is something Brian and I have not given much thought to. Thanks to this conference, we are going to put some boundaries in place. Many marriages and families suffer without them. I'm so thankful to have this insight.

Here are a few pics from the weekend...

Refreshment in the midst of Winter Blues...

Yesterday I was feeling a little depressed. That isn't like me and I didn't enjoy it. I think the cold wintery days are finally on my last nerve. I'm ready to take the baby for a stroll through the neighborhood or go to the grocery without being concerned about bundling us both up.

This morning I went to our old church and joined a woman's bible study. Currently they are doing "A Heart Like His" by Beth Moore. It's a study on David's life. It couldn't have come at a better time. I left feeling rejuvenated and refreshed! God is so good and his word is alive and active. Today the discussion was about exhaustion and the need to retreat with God and not to weary yourself with service that does not fall under his authority...great reminder for a youth pastor's wife!!! Sometimes we need to just get away with God and enjoy his quiet covering.

Brian and I are headed to a National Youth Ministry conference tomorrow (Fri-Mon) hosted by Doug Fields for youth pastors and leaders. I'm hoping we will learn lots and get pumped up to mininster to our kids:) Have a blessed weekend!

Another Great & Busy Week!!!

The week flew by! It's hard to believe tomorrow is Monday already. Well, we celebrated Brian's 30th Birthday this week. For those of you that don't know, he's a Valentine's baby. We went to Fort Wayne and celebrated with Brian's parents, brother and wife, and sister and husband. Pop Stiver took us to an awesome restaurant in Ft Wayne called Cork and Cleaver. Brian had Lobster and I had a filet. It was excellent! We had a wonderful time:)







The weekend was good. Mom and Dad Stiver came down and stayed Saturday night. I left my baby with them, as we had a church event with our young married's group on Sat night. It was the first time we've left him. It felt a little weird, but they managed just fine:) I guess they're pros by now with 3 kids and 7 grandkids!!!


Brian's Aunt, Uncle and cousins came down for church on Sunday. Brian preached and his cousin led worship, as our pastor is on a fabulous trip to Hawaii for two weeks!! We all came back to the house for a yummy lunch and hung out for a while.

After everyone left, Brian played paintball with the guys from our young marrieds group to celebrate one of their bdays, while I hung out with the wives and babies. Whew!!! It's a busy, crazy life, but somebody has to lead it:)

Restful Weekend

Finally, a weekend with not a lot going on. We spent Friday night, all day Saturday and Sunday afternoon/evening at home. That's a rarity for us!

Joel has his first cold:( We were out with our Pastor & family for lunch on Sunday and Joel got a bloody nose in one nostril. I was totally freaked!! Thankfully Nana Jill(pastor's wife) was there to wipe him up and calm me down. She graciously gave me a Vicks steamer. Hopefully it helps the dryness and congestion he's having. It's so sad to hear little babies coughing...breaks my heart.

Here are a few pics from our naps this weekend...

6 Weeks Old

Our chunky litte boy turned 6 weeks on Monday! He's been giving his daddy smiles for the last week or so. I finally got one this morning during diaper duty:)

Youth Party!!!

When we got home Saturday night from Michigan, we had a birthday party for one of our youth girls who turned "sweet 16" on Sunday. Most of the kids were waiting for us when we got home Saturday night. We had a good time and a few girls spent the night. They were a big help with Joel in the morning before church. Thanks Amber!!!

Whirlwind Mini Vacation

Brian and I went to Boyne Mountain (Boyne City, MI) & Traverse City this past Wednesday night through Saturday. We met our friends, Fred and Mariah, at their time share. We had a good time, although the drive up was horrible. We decided to drive through the night Wednesday and it took 9 hours to get there because of the roads(should have taken 6)!!!!!!!! We arrived exhausted at 7am Thursday. Even though that was bad, we had a great time hanging with the Labs. We shopped, Brian played tennis and we went to the Indoor Waterpark at the Great Wolf Lodge where we stayed in Traverse City. Joel did really well with the traveling. If only he would sleep as well at home as he does in the car!