More Christmas Pictures

Jason opening his stocking!!!! with help of course!!!!

Christmas Morning

This is more for Leah, but feel free to see our Christmas morning fun. We opened stockings till 10:00 then had a huge brunch as normal... then Aidan and Michael just about went crazy so we comenced opening gifts one by one till 2:00. It was a lot of fun to watch the boys open their toys, and then open clothes and toss them aside. We missed the Mcneill family a lot. Love you guys, Merry Christmas.

I Said "IGNITE" and thats exactly what happened!!!!!

Last night we had our Jr. High Christmas party at Ignite (our name for Youth Group) bad weather and all. It was snowing for a cople of hours in the afternoon and I almost cancelled, but in typical Left Coast weather it was raining and washed all the snow away. It was raining so hard that even the Youth Portable couldn't keep the rain out. We had three buckets in the youth room in order to keep the carpet damp instead of soaking. That was the start of our adventure...

We ordered pizza for the party because whats a party for Jr. Highers without pizza. I was in Costco and I had some little appitizers and thought to myself, If I were a Jr. High kid (its not to much of a stretch) would I want a little mozza stick or a piece of pizza. Needless to say we went with pizza. Well the pizza's arrived and one of my leaders dicided to put them in the oven until they were ready to be served. Well 7 pizza boxes wouldn't fit in the oven so this person (Not me) took out the oven racks and then put the pizza boxes in the oven.

Then I hear "fire.... Fire..... FIRE...." from Kristin and I see smoke pooring out of the stove top. Sure enough we had a good fire going. One of my leaders grabs the top 5 pizzas and get them out. Then the 6th one.... I am trying to put the fire out with a cloth.... not working... so I grabbed the flaming box and threw it out the window into the rain. Then I ran outside to stomp out the fire...... AHHHHHHH.... meanwhile Kristin is organizing a crew to prevent the sprinklers from going off. Well on the bright side of things the sprinklers did not go off. I guess when I decided to call youth group Ignite I didn't think anyone would take it literally.... especially one of my leaders. We had a pretty good laugh afterwards though. Its a good thing I am an easy going guy.....The joys of being a youth pastor.... this will make a good sermon illustration some day.... and a might good story to tell.
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YOUTH MINISTRY AND DOUBLE CHINS

Well, I have officially settled in as the new Youth Pastor at First Baptist. It's at a perfect time too as the new building upgrade a couple of weeks away from being completed. As you can see our new youth room is now completed and we look forward to getting into it in the new year. Everyone is very excited to move into it. With moving into the church we also hope that it will bring the youth closer to the church family as well. We want to see the youth become more apart of the church and get involved as an integral part of the church body, rather than a seperate entity. It seems that so many youth ministries takes what culture does with youth and throws them into a world all their own. We don't want to do the same thing in the church. We want them to see the importance of being apart of a church family and what that means for their lives. We just hope that we can be a conduit to that and not a hindrance. The Lord has already been faithful to the vision that he has given us and has started to break down some of the barriers between generations. Kristin and I are so excited for what the rest of this year has in store for the Youth at FBC Nanaimo. We have fallen in love with the youth there and are really starting to see progress in the relationships we have been building. Your continued prayers are very much appreciated and needed.

Jamie & Kristin

Snowing in Nanaimo

Well Kristin and I have started a few long journeys here in Nanaimo. The first being decorating for Christmas... I seem to think each year that it will only take a few hours and then 4 days later when our house is still in shambles i'm reminded that no project for Kristin and I takes a few hours. Especially when you live with Martha Stewarts protege.

The Second is Christmas shopping... my favorite... shopping... ok not really but Kristin sure loves shopping. She just got back from her shopping trip in Minnesota, oh yeah and I think she saw her parents in between shopping trips, but I can't complain because I am always more stylin when Kristin comes home. Kristin had a great time going back to MN with her friends and family.. little did she know she would be coming home to -5 weather and a foot of snow. I love it!!!

The third is the longest and most exciting journey. I am now Pastor Jamie... yup thats right im a Pastor now. It is so amazing to see the hand of God work in our lives. God has been so patient with me. I feel that he has been preparing me for a long time specifically to this job. Its funny how people in the church still see me as the immature teenager, and maybe some of that is still there but God has brought me a long way in so many ways. i only hope that I can be faithful to the journey that God has set me on. Thank you to all my family and friends for helping me along and shaping me into the man that I am today... you have all had a profound effect on my journey to this day....

Life is full of journeys that are always going on.... may the journey that God is taking you on bless you as he has blessed Kristin and I

Grace and Peace,
Jamie & Kristin