Some Thanksgving Photos

Lerin loved playing with Uncle Cliff on the playground. She is talking up a storm these days!

We had a recommitment service for Mimi and Bipaw's 50th wedding anniversary that will be Februrary 1, 2008. It was a special time for the family.

This is the Hancock family, Lynne, Dom, Phoebe, Bobby, Ginger (with baby in tummy) and Chuck.
This is my family. Dad is hidden behind us! Trish has a baby on the way. We are so happy that our family is growing and growing!

This is Robbyn. She is three months old now and o so sweet!! She was so fun to hold this week. Robbyn loves kisses and giggles alot. :) She is prescious!

Busy Busy

Well it is Jessica's fault that we have not updated in awhile. With that said things have been going really good but busy. It seems like we are busy all the time now. Over the past two weeks I have had at least 6 days that I have worked 12 hours or more. We just have so many things going on.

One of the biggest was our Daddy-Daughter Banquet that was held last Saturday night we had 105 dads and daughters, it was a great time. All of the girls dressed up so pretty and their dads just loves it. We had a slide show before dinner with funny questions for them to talk about and then someone playing the piano during dinner. Each girl received a rose and a picture frame with a bible verse and then had their picture taken with their dad. For my first big event here I think it was a huge success. You can check out the pictures below.

Jessica and I both are getting excited about Thanksgiving and being able to see family and friends (and do a little hunting). I hope everyone is doing well and we hope to see you soon!

in Him,

Cliff Cary

These two cute girls were baptized on Sunday evening.
The one on the right is our Preschool Minister's daughter, Bethany.
What a blessing it is to work with the children of God!

Anniversary weekend in Ruidoso

We had a great time in Ruidoso for our anniversary. Mimi and Bipaw took great care of us and spoiled us a ton! The weather was beautiful and the trees were just starting to change colors. Mimi and Bipaw took us up to the top of the mountain for a picnic Friday night. We watched the sun set at the very top on a ledge of boulders.

While we were picnicking (sp?) this crazy chipmunk raced between us almost running over Cliff's foot. He raced up this tree and perched there so still. He must have smelled the food or something.

I am so proud to be married to Cliff!! He takes very very good care of me and I try my best to take care of him. I cannot believe the things that we have accomplished over this past year. I sure pray that this year is a little bit slower than the last, although, I don't think that is our way. :) We are very blessed to be here in Amarillo. God is good and we are thankful everyday for his provision and grace!

I miss you everyone! Come visit soon. :)

Mom, Dad and Lerin visit Amarillo

These are pics of the inside of the Family Life Center at the church. Lerin had a BLAST! It's really nice to have this for the children's ministry.

After much begging by me to Cliff we stopped at the Pumpkin Patch!! It was so fun! We took some pictures and bought pumpkins. I have two pumpkins sitting outside of our front door. We hope no one grabs them and smashes them. :)

It was so fun to share our life here with family. Robbie had to be in the hopsital the week before having his appendix taken out. There were complications so he had to stay in the hopsital for an extended period of time. Lerin came with Mom and Dad since Leigh was having to stay up at the hospital. As I type this today Bubba is back in the hospital. He should get to go home tomorrow. We are praying for his recovery.

Neices in Action

Robbyn is so adorable! She is coming out of her infant cacoon. She doesn't have much control of her little arms and legs so they move like crazy. She only likes to be unwrapped for a little while then wants to be cuddled again. This video was taken at my parents house a couple of weekend ago. We all had a slumber party together with Leigh and the girls.

Lerin didn't know that I was videoing at first because I used my camera. She was saying hi to Uncle Cliff. Hasn't she grown!! Her birthday is this weekend. She'll be two on October 28.

GREAT Weekend!!

Jessica and I had a wonderful weekend in Ruidoso. We had a great time being able to relax and enjoy the mountains. I truly love it up there. I also love my amazing wife to whom I have now been married for 1 year. It has truly been a blessing.

I hope everyone had a great weekend. Below I am posting pictures of our two first grade Sunday school classes. These pictures are from the day that they received their Bibles. It was a great time for me to have fun with the kids and get to know their parents.

Have a good one!!

The Work Never Ends

Jessica and I had a great weekend with her mom and dad as well as our niece Lerin. I have a feeling she will post pictures before too long. It was a great time to spend with family, and be able to show them around our new home.

Things are going well this week so far. There is just so much going on. I am trying to followup from my big camp meeting last week, and plan an upcoming event as well as do day to day work. I have a dinner tonight at Olive Garden with the directors of Childrens Choir. Olive Garden sounds good, but 2 hours of sitting with eight women talking about musical stuff does not. Oh the things we do in ministry.

We are looking forward to getting out of town at the end of the week! Greatest find today in our new town: ESPN Radio, complete greatness!!

Wed. Morning Already??

Well it is Wednesday morning, it is amazing how the week flies by sometimes. Being Wednesday at 8:20 a.m. there are some things that I can already state for the day. #1 even though it is 8:20 I have already been at the church for a little over 2 hours. Sounds crazy? Well it is, I have been attending a men's Bible/topic study. I have enjoyed the time getting to meet with the men there but boy 5:30 sure does come early on Wednesdays. #2 thing I know for sure about today, is that I will be here at least another 12 hours. OHH HOW I LOVE WEDNESDAYS!!

Things are still going well for Jess and I. We both had a great weekend getting to see family. Jessica went to see her family in Dallas. She was able to spend a lot of time with our adorable nieces. I think they had a good time together, but I know in the back of there minds they really missed their uncle Cliff. I was able to go meet my mom and dad at our land outside of Santa Anna. We are working on building a house out there. Although I had a great time, I wish I could have stayed a little longer. The major conclusion that Jessica and I both came to this weekend is that driving 5 1/2 hours can get a little old. I thinkI must have listened to 15 different talk shows on the way out of town.

This week has also been a little busier than others because I have started taking classes again from B.H. Carroll Theological Institute (wow that sounds like a smart school). I am taking an introductory course, which I think I am going to really enjoy. I am also taking Philosophy of Religion. Boy do I need prayer for that one, I sat down to answer some questions last night and I had to read them at least 4 times before I knew what they were saying. It should be fun.

To top it off I had to prepare to help teach a class last night at the Wayland University branch here in Amarillo. The people in the class were all older than me and probably further along in there masters degree. I enjoyed in though, and hope they gained something about children's ministry from it. I have my first big children;s camp meeting tomorrow. Hopefully I will be wise in choosing the important things that need to be changed out of the list of about 500 I have.

I pray that you have a blessed day!

Jessica's Perspective :)

Hi Family and Friends! I miss each of you a whole lot! Amarillo, is not a bad city. I am enjoying the church and school a whole lot. I am not leading GA's on Wednesday nights for the 6th grade class. Below you'll see a pic of our GA group. They are really fun to hang out with each week. I have about 12 girls on a regular basis and up until last week I was in there by myself. The regular teacher has to be out this semester because she is taking a class at West TX A&M. I now have the help of a sweet parent named Kami.



I was really disappointed in the weekend in Glorietta. I had really wished that we would instantly meet a couple with whome we would become fast friends. We didn't...but it sure did teach me something! Relationships take alot of time...I know we'll make friends eventually. We have been invited to two couples' homes over the past couple of weeks. The first one was the children's minister who served two ministers ago for 10 years. She became very ill and had to resign her position, but is well now. She and her husband, Linda and Clay, were very kind to us. We stayed from 6:30 to 10pm! I think they will be a good support for us. Another couple invited us over. Cliff said yes and we had no clue who they were! I was a bit freaked out by this, but it turned out great. We looked them up in the directory so at least we'd know what they looked like. They were a prescious couple...both licensed social workers! They have two grown children, one who is a missionary. I guess they knew we'd be lonely and would enjoy some company. I hope we get to know them a little better.



School at WT is going great. I really don't like my Research class that I go to 3 times a week, but my two night classes are very interesting. I have a ton of reading to do each week. This weekend I have more work than I have yet...a 3-5 page paper, case presentation and two other papers to write before the beginning of the week. Don't worry, I've already got 1/2 of it done!! I haven't procrastinated too badly yet.



I am so proud of Cliff! I wish you all could see how great he is doing here. There are definitely some challenges to overcome with the way things have ALWAYS been done, but he is being veyr patient and diplomatic. He's so good at buttering up those older ladies! It is fun to watch him enjoy his days at the church. We are so thankful for God's faithfulness to us.



O! And we sold our house yesterday...it's all final! Praise the Lord!!! I mourn for that place more than I ever thought I would. I think it will be a while before I'm over that loss! ;) I still am in wonder at why God would have given us such an amazing home right off the bat! I guess His goodness doesn't end there though, more great stuff to come!

Tues Night in Amarillo

Well I promise to try and make these blogs a little more often. Once a week just is not cutting it. Besides that when I get ready to type so much has happened since last time.

We had a pretty good weekend in Glorietta, NM. FBC Amarillo has an amazing lodge out there. Jess and I definitely want to plan a trip out there with family and friends. One of the "perks" to being on staff is that we can use it whenever we would like as long as there is not a church group there. The cabin has a big room that can be used for conferences but is set up with couches and tables for food. There is a side room with 2 ping pong tables, and a great big kitchen. There are probably 20 individual rooms that are nicer than some hotels that I have stayed in. There are also two rooms full of bunks that you can sleep over 100 people in. All that to say it is stinkin amazing and you have got to see it.

As far as the weekend we were a little out of place since everyone else there have been married for at least 5 years and are having there second child if not there third or fourth. We did have a great time Saturday walking around downtown Santa Fe, that is one crazy place.

To top everything off we finished the weekend with a Sunday evening organ concert at church. Don't get me wrong, I love the organ and I think it is really cool that people can play it, but after about 2 or 3 songs I start checking out. The only thing that got me through is watching other people, either dying or totally into it. My favorite person was the lady that was about 10 seats over from me in the balcony. She spent most of her time watching the organist through a pair of BINOCULARS. I am telling you I could spit and hit the guy in the back of the head, but the lady used binoculars.

Well I am wrapping up another night at the coffee shop. I hope everyone is well, and I PROMISE to update soon!

Sunday Night

We had a "Get to know Cliff and Jessica Party" last night. We had a great time with the kids playing games and eating A banana split. We had almost 70 kids come out. I count it a great success, that it unless we all come down with the same disease!!








This is my friend Sarah, she accepted Christ at camp this past year and was baptized last night.









All in all it was a GREAT day!

Its a Monday

Well today has been crazy from start to finish. I was in meetings all but about 2 1/2 hours today. They were all good and felt productive, but I really did not get anything thing else done. I am looking forward to tomorrow so that I can get some more things done.

Overall the weekend was pretty good. We had a good time at the football game Friday night. There were a lot of people there, but it still did not compare to the complete craziness of Brownwood football. We wasted about an hour of our lives waiting to get out. From now on we will be leaving early or waiting for everyone else to leave.

The training on Saturday was, well it was...yeah just like that. The highlight of the time was when an older lady from another church started describing this amazing game that she plays with her kids at church. She went on and on about it before she told us it was the game "spoons." Many of my Sunday School teachers got a good kick out of it. In fact so much that I started laughing in the back and another Children's Minister in the group came back and apologized for her worker and her crazy talk. It was a good connecting point for me and some of my workers, except they all want to adapt it to play forks.

God continues to help us settle in here. I had a fourth grade Sunday School class yesterday that within the group of 20 children there were 5 different nationalities represented. God is so awesome. We actually had one little girl in the class that could not speak or understand English. She just sat there and listened. She smiled at me and I smiled back.

Just to let you know it is about 53 degrees right now and it is suppose to drop to 50 for the night. This weather may be interesting!

Another Busy Week

Well although Jess and I were both off on Monday, it seems like that has been forever ago. There have been so many thing going on this week. I have been so busy at the office. There are still so many things that I want to know.

As I am learning more I am able to see some small problems that can be fixed rather easily. Thiat week I realized that as a children's ministry we send out at least 4 or 5 postcards a week to the kids. Just the idea of that drives me crazy, but apparently everyone is use to it. I am in the process of gathering parents emails so that we can do a monthly newsletter and hopefully cut down on those things. Who knows how much money we waste on that alone.

Today I am getting ready for a Sunday School training that we have at the church in the morning. I hope it goes well. I am concerned since I do not really know the lady that is leading the children's area. Hopefully nothing too crazy will be said or done.

On another note if the rain holds off today Jessica and I are going to take in our first panhandle football game tonight. Most of the staff at the church are going to go, so it is going to be a really good time.

Well I look forward to talking to you soon, I hope you have a blessed day!

Relaxing Weekend

It really has been a nice and relaxing weekend. There really has not been too much going on. Today we have just been relaxing and running some errands. Last night we went over to the youth ministers house for ice cream and some wii (video game).

Friday I made the greatest discovery about living in a bigger town. There is nothing better than the dollar theater. I took an official oath to never go and pay outrageous prices at the regular theater again. I will forever more be out of the loop for a couple of months so I can go to the dollar theater. Sounds cheap I know but nothing beats the greatness of cheap prices, sticky floors, and only three other people in the theater.

The scripture reading and prayer went well yesterday. We had a total of thirteen people join the church, it truly was an amazing day. God is so good!

Jessica and I pray that you all have a blessed week!

Baptism

This is Michael Mosier and Phone Tip Phoumy

They were both baptized last Sunday night,

it was such a blessing to be a part of this special time

for them and their family.

I am CPR certified can I help you?

So Jessica and I spent about 5 hours yesterday getting CPR and First Aid certified. It has probably been 4 or 5 years since I have had the training. There have been some things that have changed since then, but the complete beating it feels like has not. Although I know this is so important to have it also felt like a complete waste of a day. I have so many things I am trying to learn and figure out right now so to spend a whole day doing this felt very counterproductive.

We do not have too many weekend plans, we are hoping to relax tomorrow and go over to the Lowrie's house tomorrow night. (Kalie, Jess cannot wait for you to get here.)

My second Sunday I am getting thrown in the fire. I have to read scripture in both morning services and do the welcome in the evening. Although I have done this hundreds of times in the services there is still a little fear. I will have to give an update on Monday if I say anything crazy.

Have a blessed day!

Cozy Apt!

The apartment is slowly coming together. Here are a few pics that I took on Monday. We are calling it COZY instead of small. It's really kind of nice to live in a small place...less to clean, forces you to live without clutter, and who knows, maybe living in such a cozy environment will grow our marriage!

Something I thought I would never do!

I have to say that blogging is something that I have never really had a desire to do, but here we are. This will be a great way for everyone to keep in touch with us and all that is going on in our lives.

Most of the blogs I read are from friends that live overseas and work in the mission field. I have to say that to most of you Amarillo might as well be overseas, but we do have an amazing mission field.

It has been a really busy but good week so far. Sunday was truly amazing, we had two children except Christ in the morning services and then two more get baptized Sunday night. The Lord is truly blessing the ministries here. I hope to post pictures of some of the children soon. Jessica is also working on posting pictures of our new "cozy" apartment.

I pray that you have a blessed day!