First day of church

This past weekend we ventured to church. It was Elijah's first time.  Let's just say the whole morning went well then right before we walked in the door he threw up on me TWICE!  Unbelievable.  We decided to dress he and daddy just alike. It's amazing how fast he is growing.

Caralyn Dee is here

On Monday afternoon my niece and Eli's first cousin arrived. Caralyn Dee Schlampp. She was 7lbs. 12oz.  YEAH!! Congrats to Spencer and Misty. She is beautiful! 

Mom, dad and baby are all doing well. 

Proud Auntie!

Brother and sister each with their first kids, only a month apart.

5 weeks and counting

Elijah is now 5 weeks old.  It sure does go by fast.  He is so precious and so much fun.  Here are some pictures of him over the past month.

  Proud Dad!

Proud Papa (Bryan's dad)
one of our favorites...so precious!

Elijah's nursery

I just realized I never posted any pictures of Eli's room...here it is. Dinosaurs, per his daddy's request. For those of you who know Bryan, know that is typical. 

This cradle was made by his PaPa Cliff.  What a wonderful gift that can be passed down in the family. Thank you Papa Cliff. We love it!

Elijah's first cousin

My sister in law Misty is having their little girl tomorrow. YEAH!!!!        

CARALYN DEE SCHLAMPP   We are so excited to have another little one in the homes of our family.  Elijah will have his first cousin and they are a month apart.  That will be so much fun growing up.   

Congrats Spencer and Misty. We can not wait to meet our little Caralyn.

7/7/08 8 lbs. 10 oz. and 20.7 inches long

Just before giving birth....37 weeks

Well, so much for me keeping you posted... one week after my last post I was in the hospital delivering our little Elijah!!!  As most of you mom's know babies take up a lot of time, especially newborns.  

At 37 weeks the doctor decided she wanted to induce me so we went into the hospital Sunday night the 6th to start the induction.  Monday morning they broke my water and to spare you the details, we had him Monday August 7th at 7:40 p.m.  

ELIJAH GRAYSON BARTON   

Bryan and I are doing well and adjusting to parenthood.  Missing out on sleep but loving every moment of it.  What a blessing.  God is so good. 

37 weeks...

I went to the doctor this past Friday and Elijah is doing great, a bit crowded. Although, the doctor did not like what she saw in my sonogram.  She was checking my fluids and they were LOW!  So, I am now on bed rest until Tuesday to hopefully bring my fluids back up. If they are not where she wants them, then we will be having baby Eli Tuesday night. :)  I will keep you all posted.

College and Young Singles Ministry

The college and young singles ministry is going well.  We are staying steady and running around 35 students a week in our home.  Bryan has done a great job as college and young singles pastor.  You can tell this is his heart and what he loves doing.    There are a lot of things going on within the ministry, and finding time to balance it has been a bit tough, but we have great leaders within our group to help out.  Right now we meet on Thursday nights at our home. We serve the students dinner before the study, what college student doesn’t want free food??? Then afterwards they usually stay and play video games and most recently Catch Phrase has been the big hit.  Outside of Thursday’s we have a Robyn Lane Project, where the students go into the community and help server the elderly and widowed in any way they can.  That has been a great success and rewarding for the students to see the impact they have on the community.   We also just started a once a month college and young singles worship service. Please continue to pray for the ministry and that students continue to feel a place of comfort and growth here.

 

"Crazy Love" by Francis Chan

If you have not read this book, Crazy Love, I suggest you pick it up and read it.  Talk about convicting in our own lives.  If you have not heard of Francis Chan, he is a pastor in California who I think is an incredible speaker and now writer.  (If you have heard him speak, he writes like he speaks, which is great and entertaining).

Chris Tomlin quotes in this book,

 “As Francis Chan so brilliantly illustrates, the life that Jesus calls us to is absolute craziness to the world.  Sure, it’s fine and politically correct to believe in God, but to really love

Him is a whole different story. “

I would recommend this book to anyone who thinks they are living a life IN LOVE with Jesus.  

"Nesting"

I looked up the word ‘nesting’ and this is what I got: 

            nest |nest|

noun

1 a structure or place made or chosen by a bird for laying eggs and sheltering its young.

• a place where an animal or insect breeds or shelters : an ants' nest.

• a person's snug or secluded retreat or shelter. 

• a bowl-shaped object likened to a bird's nest : arrange in nests of lettuce leaves.

• a place filled with or frequented by undesirable people or things : a nest of spies.

2 a set of similar objects of graduated sizes, made so that each smaller one fits into the next in size for storage : a nest of tables.

verb

1 [ intrans. ] (of a bird or other animal) use or build a nest : the owls often nest in barns | [as adj. ] ( nesting) do not disturb nesting birds.

2 [ trans. ] (often be nested) fit (an object or objects) inside a larger one : the town is nested inside a large crater on the flanks of a volcano.

• [ intrans. ] (of a set of objects) fit inside one another : Russian dolls that nest inside one another.

• (esp. in computing and linguistics) place (an object or element) in a hierarchical arrangement, typically in a subordinate position : [as adj. ] ( nested) organisms classified in a series of nested sets | a nested relative clause

I am not sure where the term “nesting” comes from when you are pregnant…I think I should call mine an OCD with cleaning.   I can’t stop thinking of all the things I need to get done and organized…some things don’t even make sense but I feel better when it is done.   Poor Bryan, constantly shakes his head and I am sure he is ready for my OCD stage to be over.  We have roughly 5 weeks to go before our little man is here.  Above is a picture of me at 33 weeks (7 1/2 months).  We went to the beach with Bryan’s family for my last little adventure before Elijah is here.   We had a great time a relaxed, as I needed to.  I took lots of naps, spent time with God, ate good Ree-Ree (Bryan’s grandmother) cooking, and hung out at the beach.

 

6 month update

Here I am at 6 months... the belly is continuing to get bigger and bigger!  We are getting excited as Elijah continues to let us know he is there by kicking and moving around.  I think he is going to be a very active boy.  

I personally have been feeling great.  I can't seem to sit still, which drives Bryan crazy. :)

More to come! 

It's a BOY!!!

Well, here we are in our 5th month. We found out on Valentine's day that we are having a BOY! We are very excited.  His  name is Elijah Grayson.  We can not wait to welcome him into this world. :)  

We are starting to get busy planning the nursery and getting the house ready since I am half way there (my nesting has begun).

*this is his last sonogram... he turned to us just as we woke him up to find out he was a boy and "smiled"... at least I think he is smiling at us. 

 

1 month

4 months

4 months down and 5 more to go...

I just wanted to update everyone on the baby development.  I am working on getting pictures posted of the growing belly.  Mommy and baby are doing well, the morning sickness (or all day sickness as I would call it) is gone.  At this stage I have felt the baby move slightly but nothing dramatic yet. Bryan is anxiously waiting to feel him/her kick.  

We are hoping to find out the gender this week, I will be going to the doctor for a minor surgery...no worries the baby will be fine, so we will let you know. :)  

(for the record, we think it's a boy)

serv*ant |'sərvənt|

noun

a person who performs duties for others, esp. a person employed in a house on domestic duties or as a personal attendant.• a person employed in the service of a government. See also civil servant , public servant .• a devoted and helpful follower or supporter : a tireless servant of God.

DERIVATIVES serv*ant*hood |-ˌhoŏd| noun

Do you ever stop and wonder if you are a servant? What does servant mean to you? Who do you serve? 

When Bryan proposed to me he said to me, after getting down on one knee, "Will you allow  me to serve  you for the rest of our lives?"  WOW..."serve" me! What does he mean by that? Will he follow through with that forever? What happened to 'Will you marry me?'... I started wondering what he meant by serving me...I had no doubt he would take care of me, love me, protect me, comfort me; is that what he meant by serving me?

One month after we were married Bryan came to our bedroom and asked me to sit on the edge of the bed and hang my feet over and close my eyes...I was quite confused but figured I would cooperate. :)  After opening my eyes I found him on his knees washing my feet as I looked at him he said to me; "we have been married for one month and I still want to serve you for the rest of our lives..."  - is he real? who is this  man washing my feet?

When I think of this moment and Bryan's servanthood, I can't help but think of Jesus in John 13:4.

4so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. 5After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples' feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

This week we had been married a year and one month...guess what happened? You got it...Bryan came to our room (after telling me he was going down stairs to get something to eat, I believed him...I mean, what would make one think he would wash my feet again?)  When he returned to our room he had a bowl of water and a towel...he again, washed my feet and told me "after a year and one month of marriage, to the day, I still want to serve you for the rest of our lives."

I must say, I have one perfect husband.  He leaves me speechless on so many occasions, this being one of many. 

I love you honey...thank you for continuing to serve me in our lives and as the spiritual leader of our household.  You truly are an example of Christ.

2+1=3

(listening to O.A.R)

I hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Years...sadly nothing was posted during those day. Between running from home to home visiting family and resting, we neglected to fill you in.

For Bryan and I Christmas was filled with lots of family time and down time with each other. It was relaxing and fun! We always enjoy time with our families. Bryan got a fun Wii for Christmas...which we all love playing. He can be found trying to sneak a game or two in before bed. And then Bryan and his family got me a new Nikon camera. I am excited to use it and start taking more pictures again. Also my dad got us a video camera... Hopefully pictures and videos will get posted onto the blog.

Since the last blog, life has been busy, as usual around here. For starters, one thing that has kept us busy is the third addition to our family...or soon to be. Yes, we found out that I am pregnant! This is our first and well as you can tell from above, the family loaded us up with cameras of all sorts so we don't miss a beat. We have been trying to prepare and get settled and read all we can. This is a new and exciting season for us. Right now I am 3 months along and beginning to slightly show.
Bryan has been taking pictures of my progression so as soon as we get those pictures and the ultra sounds uploaded we will post pictures of my growing belly....

Many blessings to you all this new year.
Lots of love!

blogging nelgected for 8 months!

I have neglected to post anything in several months...more like 8 months, but who's counting?! RIDICULOUS! I am finding it a lot harder to blog when I don't stay on top of my "blogging". You would think that after several months of not blogging I would have plenty to say. The reality of that is, I do...I just can't gather all my thoughts to even know where to begin. I am sitting here thinking of all the reasons I have not updated my blog...

1. too busy ...likely excuse
2. facebook is my addiction...it is distracting
3. still unpacking and getting settled (good try Lee Ann)
4. hip-hop class takes up a lot of time....okay, so I do take a hip-hop class but no it does not take up time
5. learning to play Xbox 360...NOT, that is Bryan's liesure time
6. traveling...even more of a reason to update the blog
7. learning to cook for two
8. too tired when I get home
9. attending toga parties...ok, only attended ONE and it was in my own home with my family

...and none of them are even close to a good excuse.

I feel like lately I have putting more and more things off...procrastination if you will and then when it comes down to it I wonder why I am getting a bit overwhelmed. Why is it, we (I) can not find the time or make the time to sit down and write? American life in my opinon is so busy. We are always on the GO GO GO! That is one thing I miss about the European life, taking my time. I never really felt like I was on a time clock there. I tried to tell myself that I would put that into practice here...and well, that has been extremely difficult. When you do slow down you can't keep up with the people around you or even attempt to.

Over the past several months our lives have taken a few changes, besideds full speed ahead...We have both gone on staff with North Star church. I am a Campus Connector, which means I hang out with kids (mainly high school) and serve the community and help bridge the students back to a church, and Bryan is now our College Pastor. We are both really excited about our jobs and feel these are doors the Lord is opening in our lives during this season. While Bryan is still at his FT job at the airport (we can't affort to lose the insurance yet) I have been trying to help him with college as well. I have really enjoyed being with all these students.
Since Bryan has taken this job, we have also moved out of our flat and into my parents old house. We are renting for them in the interim while we try to find our own place. It works out for everyone. Not only that, the house is set up perfectly for our ministries...to bad we are not staying here. We have a huge meeting room on the lower level and a seperate apartment attached to the house so that we can rent it out to college students...it really is a great deal.

Our season of life since I have been in the states

Here are images of what has happened in my life since I returned to the states....
( I know I have been promising to post pictures...so here they are)


PASSION conference in Atlanta:






OUR FLAT in Acworth, Georgia: (we are the middle floor)

Our flat

When I got back to the states I was living at home...which I would recomend to anyone. For some of us that may be difficult but in the long run, well worth it.

Around October Bryan and I decided to start looking for a flat. We knew we needed to find someplace to call "home" after we were married. "Home"...what is HOME, humm??? (another post for another day)
After much searching we came across some nice flats and really felt like the Lord gave us the okay. It was in our price range and in a good location...EXACTLY 10 min from both of our parents. Once we decded to take it, I moved in during the month of October. We were so excited to begin making OUR home. Funny how God can make any situation amazing....when I moved in all I had was my bed, computer and desk...not much. But that was okay for us. Whenever Bryan would come visit me, we would make dinner (with the 2 pots we had) and put out our pic-nic blanket and eat on the floor. It was great. We came to the conclusion that we could not afford furniture and that if we had to buy big pillows to sit on then that would be all we had.

Around the end of November, just weeks before the wedding, we got a phone call from a family friend. She said that the Lord laid it upon her heart to get rid of the furniture she had in her condo and that if we wanted it we could come and get it. What a blessing. Not expecting too much, Bryan and I went down to her place and to our surprise there was much more than we expected....MUCH MUCH MORE! We left her place with a truck load of furniture...our entire apartment is furnished now. What a blessing that was.

We are enjoying our little place. I do not have pictures to post at the moment but I will try and describe it to you...we have a little one bedroom flat with an office (that we use as a spare bedroom), kitchen and living room. There is a laundry closet but we do not have a washer and dryer so we use our laundry mat. Which we are actually enjoying at times because we have had interesting conversations with folks waiting on their clothes.

Life has been and adventure and everyday we live it with the Lord excited to see what He has in store for us.

PASSION 07

Dear friend and family,

This year I am thankful to be part of a movement of God here in the states that will spread through Slovakia. JaJa and Anka, two college Slovaks have been given the opportunity to come to the states for Passion 07.


This is Anka and JaJa

This past summer I had the privledge to work with Anka all summer and also get to know Jaja quite a bit. They are amazing women that are passionate about the Lord. They will be arriving on December 30th and staying until January 7th. They will be living with me and Bryan (when they get here he will be my new husband of 3 weeks!) during their time here. We are excited to have them and be part of this journey with them.

I would like to ask you to prayerfully consider partnering with me to help sponsor them. Your commitment would be to pray for JaJa and Anka and help cover their costs of $1,500 each. That cost covers their plane tickets, meals, and a few minor expenses during their time in the states. In addition, they are raising funds to help obtain their visas and cover their travel expenses inside of Slovakia.

If you are interested in sponsoring Anka and JaJa, here is how you can contribute:

1. Please send a check made out to JosiahVenture, by Oct. 30

2. Please write on the memo line: Passion Project #36070.

3. Please include a note in the envelope with your and Anka and JaJa's names. (We have one project number for the 12 raising funds, so this information is important.)

4. Please send an email to me and let me know the following:

a. The check number you sent
b. The total amount
c. Date you mailed the check

Please send the check and note to:

JosiahVenture
P.O. Box 4317
Wheaton, IL 60189-4317

All contributions are tax-deductible.

Please let me know if you have any questions. In the meantime, thank you for your continued partnership as we reach the youth in Eastern Europe for Christ.