Preschool Graduation

Carissa is forever done with preschool. We had a great experience with the First Methodist Preschool. Carissa has learned and developed so much in the past two years. We will miss them dearly and can't wait until Noah is three and can attend.

Carissa with her teachers this past year, Ms. Tammy and Mr. Ben.

Noah Turns One

Noah's first birthday was a blast. Of course, we can't believe he's one already but that is how it goes.

He started slow on the cake...

But quickly dug right in.

A few more photos can be found HERE.

2013 Dance Recital

Carissa wrapped up her third year in dance class with a recital last month. Here are a few shots:

You can view more photos from the night HERE.

Rend Collective

Early on in March we had the opportunity to see Rend Collective Experiment at New Harmony Church in Salem, MO. They are a really great group of writers and worshippers from Northern Ireland and I was excited to see they were playing a show in Salem!

They had some technical difficulties with their guitars and they ended up doing a few songs sans-sound system. Best songs of the night.

Daddy/Daughter Dance

Back in February, I had the opportunity to take Carissa to a daddy/daughter dance. She was so excited to dress up and have some time with just me.

Being silly for the camera :)

She loved her roses, too.

2013 St. Pat's

This year Carissa was in the St. Pat's Parade with here dance studio. She was so excited to actually be in the parade this year.

She had some fun while we waited in line for the parade to start...

The parade was long and crowed. 

March Snow

Trying to do a little catch-up here...

Our best snow this winter happened in late March.

Easter Recap

Here are a few shots from Easter. The kids a getting bigger and growing up so fast.

The incredible, disappearing egg trick (two different instances). 

Noah's Crawling

Noah's been crawling for a bit but we finally recorded it.

2012 Reading List

Happy New Year! I had a goal for 2012 to read two books a month; one around following Jesus and another just for fun. Here's the list I completed (not in order though):

• The Pastor, Eugene Peterson
• Saving God's Green Earth, Tri Robinson
• UnChristian, Kinnaman & Lyons
• The Power of Ugly, Jamie Stilson
• Empowered Evangelicals, Rich Nathan and Ken Wilson
• Spiritual Leadership, J. Oswald Sanders
• Speaking of Jesus, Carl Medearis
• Simply Christian, N.T. Wright
• The Cost of Discipleship, Dietrich Bonhoeffer
• Buck Naked Faith, Eric Sandras
• Discerning the Spirits, Plantinga and Rozeboom
• The Millennials, Rainer and Rainer
• Revolutionary Leadership, Tri Robinson
• Power Healing, John Wimber
• Winning on Purpose, John Kaiser
• The 5 Levels of Leadership, John C. Maxwell
• The Contemplative Pastor, Eugene Peterson
• The Art of Neighboring, Jay Pathak and Dave Runyon 
• The Good and Beautiful Life, James Bryan Smith
• Sustainable Youth Ministry, Mark DeVries
• The Good and Beautiful God, James Bryan Smith
• Posers, Fakers & Wannabes, Brennan Manning
• Destiny of the Republic, Candice Millard
• The River of Doubt, Candice Millard
• The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins
• Catching Fire, Suzanne Collins
• Mockingjay, Suzanne Collins
• Harry Potter and the Scorcers Stone, J.K. Rowling
• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
• Lord of the Flies, William Golding

*bolded denotes my favorites

Merry Christmas!

We loved spending time with family this Christmas. Here are a couple shots with the grandparents.

Here are Grandma and Grandpa Ayres (along with cousin Mary):

And here are Mimi and Papa Welch:

Santa Baby

Christina played dress up with Noah and I took pictures.

And my favorite pose...

Carissa's Christmas Program

Carissa's preschool has an annual Christmas program. They sing nursery rhymes and holiday songs.

With her teacher, Ms. Tammy.

Fall 2012 Video Update

Here is a glimpse of fall life in the Ayres family.

A New Season

Yesterday, a letter was sent out to our church highlighting some upcoming changes. It will also be discussed during this weekend's services.

In short, I will no longer be on staff at Vineyard Church after December.

I have been on staff just over five years and it has been a wonderful time for me and my family. Over a year ago, the leadership (including me) began to discuss and put into place a new, more fitting leadership structure for our church. As this new structure began to take shape this past summer, it became clearer that as some point in the future, my role would change drastically. In prayer with Matt, the Lead Pastor, and other leaders, we felt like the end of the year was it.

Let me be clear, this was no easy decision. There has been much heart break and tears shed through this process. I, and my family, have invested so much into this church family we so dearly love. As hard as it is, we have felt peace that this is what God is doing.

Moving forward, we are making the transition from leadership to members. Just normal people. We aren't moving anywhere. We aren't going to another church. Vineyard is still our home.

I have a chance to now utilize my education that I spent so much time and money on. We would appreciate your thoughts and prayers as we make this transition and I look for a new job.

With love,
Nathan, Christina, Carissa, and Noah

#roadtrip Part 2

Outside of Moab, UT we visited Arches National Park and then traveled to Colorado National Monument. Here are a few photos but more are posted on Flickr.

Arches National Park:

Colorado National Monument:

#roadtrip Home with Grant

Grant has finished his service in the Marines and is coming home! I flew out to him to ride home and have some fun along the way.

We drove to Page, AZ on Tuesday night. This morning we toured Antelope Canyon, Horseshoe Bend, and traveled to Moab, UT.

More photos are posted on Flickr.

New Clothes, New Smiles

Noah got some new clothes but we needed him to try them on first. He enjoyed it :)

Thanksgiving with Cousin Mary

We got to see my sister's family for the first time since they moved to KS earlier this summer. The three grandkids got to play together for the first time.

Decorating for Christmas

A week late with this, but we had our decorations up last weekend. It was nice to relax and recover from traveling for Thanksgiving this weekend.

Carissa had one major request. That she would get to put the star on.