Jessica's Birthday

For my birthday this year my two main presents from Chad were tickets to see Dead Sara on my birthday and at the end of the month we are going to Virginia to visit Joel Salatin's Polyface Farm.  We also had dinner at the Cheesecake Factory the week of my birthday.  Originally I was supposed to work on my birthday, but thankfully a wonderful co-worker switched weekends with me so I could be off on my birthday.  So, Chad and I were able to spend the whole day together.

There was a Self Reliance Expo in Hickory, NC on my birthday weekend that Chad was really interested in going to, so we did that in the morning and went to the Dead Sara concert that night.  At the Self Reliance Expo Chad got to meet Jack Spirko who is one of his favorite podcasters.  Chad has been listening to Jack for the past few years so it was really cool for him to get to meet Jack in person.  I kind of had to twist Chad's arm to get him to ask for a picture with Jack, so here it is:

For the past few years there have been some really good concerts around my birthday, so I was super excited when I found out Dead Sara was playing in Charlotte on my birthday!  When I first heard Dead Sara on the radio I KNEW I would love their music and bought their CD within a week or two of first hearing them on the radio.  Chad isn't always as excited about going to concerts as I am and he hadn't really listened to the Dead Sara CD much before we went to the show.  But, as soon as they started playing he leaned over and said "Holy S#*% this girl can sing!" and he loved every minute of the show as much as I did.  They really put on an incredible show too - they REALLY rocked out.  I was VERY impressed!  They even did a cover of "Bulls on Parade" by Rage Against the Machine which was super impressive.  I would love to see them again - they just killed it.  I loved the CD and it barely does justice to how good the band is live.  It was definitely one of the best concerts I have EVER been to (and I've been to a LOT of concerts)!  Here are my pictures from the Dead Sara show:

Family Visit

My Dad usually comes to visit us in the summer to celebrate birthdays - my brother and Chad's birthdays are in July and my Dad and my birthdays are in September.  This year for the birthday celebrations my Dad and my Grandmother were able to come visit us so they could see our new house.  Unfortunately I forgot to take any pictures when we went out for the birthday dinner with all of us, but I did get a picture of me, my Dad, and my Grandmother in front of our new house.

Updating Our New House

Our new house already had quite a few updates done before we purchased it, but we recently painted the main bathroom and laundry area and made a few other changes.  I got the idea for the laundry room from something I saw on Pinterest and it turned out great!  Here are the before and after pictures of the main bathroom and laundry room updates:

Matthews Alive 2012

Since I grew up in the Matthews area I've always loved going to the Matthews Alive parade and festival (when I was a kid it was called Stumptown).  This year Chad & I were able to go to the parade, which seemed a little shorter this year.  After the parade we stopped by the Matthews Library to see one of my friends and former co-workers Debi.  Debi gave us the grand tour of the Matthews Library and I really miss working with her so it was great to see her again.  Unfortunately it was SO hot and humid that we didn't really stay too long at the festival area.  But, I still always enjoy going whenever I can.  Here are some pictures from the parade:

August 2012 Cat Pictures

Sandy & Roxy snuggling - they look like a heart!

Roxy was enthralled with this lizard on our deck.

Sandy enjoying one of our new chairs.

C&J Services 5 Year Anniversary

On August 27, 2007 Chad started his own business C&J Services.  Since Chad did all the work himself in the beginning I helped him on Labor Day in 2007 and 2008.  In 2011 Chad hired his first employee, but unfortunately he wasn't really cut out for this type of work and Chad had to let him go after 2 months.  Then in the fall of 2011 Chad hired his cousin Jarren as a sub-contractor and in 2012 he hired James as another sub-contractor.  In 2012 we celebrated 5 years of C&J Services being in business!  Starting this business was a leap of faith for us and we give God all the credit with the success of Chad's business.  Not long after Chad started his business the economy crashed and the housing market fell apart (which was a BIG part of Chad's work) and Chad's work dropped down to hardly anything, but he pursued more handyman stuff and we pulled through.  Now he has more work than all 3 of them can get done!  Here are some pictures from the early days of C&J Services and from our 5 Year Anniversary Celebration:

Some of the Reasons Why I Love My Church

This is a picture I took with my phone of some of the 358 stocked backpacks that members at my church Mecklenburg Community Church donated to A Child's Place.  A Child's Place is a local organization that helps homeless children prepare for school.  Last year was the first year that our church partnered with A Child's Place, so I was very excited to buy and stock 2 backpacks for this year!  This is just one of the many reasons why I love my church - we don't just talk about helping people in need we actually DO it.

For the past 6 months or so our church has been undergoing an expansion project with our building.  We have now doubled the seating capacity at our main campus by adding a balcony level with stadium style seating.  Over the summer while the auditorium was being worked on Meck members were asked to attend another campus so Chad & I got to check out both the Lake Norman and Mountain Island Lake campuses. Since Chad led worship at the first Lake Norman satellite campus, it was cool for us to be able to see how Meck has grown from that first satellite campus experience.  This past Sunday was the first weekend that the balcony was open and we were able to sit up there where I took this picture with my phone during the worship time.  I'm so thankful to be a part of a church that is growing so much that we've had to expand our physical spaces at all our locations!

Some other stats about our church:

One of our goals is to grow 15% each year which is a REALLY big goal when many churches are rapidly losing people instead of growing.  Between 2011-12 Meck grew by 18.56%!

Of that growth this year between 61-77% of those people were unchurched before attending Meck.

Baptisms since Meck began:

1993-97 - 164

1998-02 - 319

2003-07 - 502

2008-12(ytd) - 985