Holidays!

The FIRST Holiday Season for the D'Attoma's!!

Journey Fall Retreat (High School)

I realized I never posted pictures from the High School Retreat! Here's just a taste... for more go to the northside student website!!



(SO COLD!)




(Duck tape/balloon game)



(Ready to do the SWING SHOT!)






(Me and the hubbser)

HOME OWNERS! AH!

We searched and searched....



(on a busy road)



(too small...)



(sold!)



(TACKY homemade garage)



(Absolutely LOVED this house...but... wrong neighborhood...)



(Brand new... and...too expensive...)

Now...

DRUM ROLL PLEASE....

We ended with this home.... one we BOTH loved, and actually could afford!! Jesus knew this one was waiting for us because it came up for sale just this past week... and we jumped!! It'll be ours officially on December 17th!

Well... after the 360 payments and interest and...

let's not think about that....

DRUM ROLL!!

The Pursuit!

The Middle School Retreat (The Pursuit) was this past weekend in Sunset, South Carolina. We ended up taking 39 students and around 12 leaders. Our speaker for the week was one of Mike's good friends; Clint Wyllie. He flew in from Livingston, Texas to join us for the retreat and speak from God's Word. The theme for the weekend was: SPEAK. We learned from Jeremiah that God has formed us, set us aside for a specific purpose, and that God is always with us. What a powerful and relevant message for these kids!

We began the weekend with a 3 hour drive up through the mountains to Camp McCall. After the kids got settled in the dorms (dragging their leapherd printed suitcases up the hill) we had our first session in the chapel. It was a beautiful setting on the top of the mountain and the kids were excited to be there. Our first late night activity was called the "Russian KGB" where the leaders act like they have taken over camp, and the students must find clues to "destroy” them. Even in the middle of pouring down rain, we managed to get them excited about this late night camp adventure!! Leigh and I watched over the tiny innocent 6th grade girls who would scream at any sight of trouble. We had a great time running around camp with them and ended up getting 3rd place – They were very proud of themselves!

Saturday we woke up to a gorgeous day. It was filled with games, worship, 2 messages from Clint, the zipline, the pole climb, the human swingshot, and the high ropes course over the waterfall! The bright leaves were out in all their glory and the fall colors were simply unbelievable. Many of the students had never been in the mountains, and they really appreciated the beauty of the creation around us.

Romans 1:20 says
For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

Saturday evening was a challenging time for our students. Many were faced with the opportunity to make commitments to Lord; whether rededicating their lives or for the firs time. I personally had the privilege to pray with 3 girls who made a first time commitment to Christ. It was incredibly exciting as I watched their child-like faith come alive. I learned big lessons from them that night.

After spending some time in their life groups we had the traditional smore-making, hot chocolate drinking, camp song-singing fun around the camp fire. The night got colder and colder and not too many slept through the frigid night. Many were bundled in sweatshirts and blankets for our last session on Sunday morning and eagerly jumped on the warm bus for the ride home. Despite the conditions, however, I could tell their lives had been touched and that they have hopefully embraced the challenge to SPEAK in their schools and to be intentional about telling their friends about Jesus.

The word of the LORD came to me, saying,

"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
before you were born I set you apart;
I appointed you as a prophet to the nations."

"Ah, Sovereign LORD," I said, "I do not know how to speak; I am only a child."

But the LORD said to me, "Do not say, 'I am only a child.' You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you," declares the LORD.

JEREMIAH 1:4-8

My beloved

Just stumbled on a new artist: Kari Jobe.
Check her out!!

Beloved:
You're My Beloved
You're My Bride
To sing over you is My delight
Come away with Me My love

You're Beautiful to Me
So beautiful to Me

Under My mercy
Come and wait
Till we are standing face to face
I see no stain on you
My child

You're Beautiful to Me
So Beautiful to Me

I sing over you My song of peace
Cast all your *cares* down at My feet

Come and find your rest in Me

I'll breathe My life inside of you
I'll bear you up on eagle's wings
And hide you in the shadow of My strength
I'll take you to My quiet waters
I'll restore your soul
Come rest in Me and be made whole

You're My beloved
You're My Bride
To sing over you is my delight
Come away with me my love

Anchor of the soul.

“So when God desired to show more convincingly to^A)"> the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope^E)"> set before us. We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into^F)"> the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf,^H)"> having become a high priest forever…”

Hebrews 6:17-20

Birthdays!

This past wednesday was Mike's 24th birthday! It was so fun being able to celebrate for him as a married couple... but a little difficult to buy presents with the JOINT CHECKING! ah! It was actually a nightmere trying to be sneaky and had to give up some of my hopes of doing that well.... I gave hjm a new Buckyes Jersey and a brand new pink collared shirt from express. The BIG gift that i really wanted to get for him was a home theater system, but the store I went to only carried them online... I found that out the day before his birthday. SO i told him about it and let him decide something else he might want. He chose an itrip for the car so he can listen to sermons while driving around... and maybe i can borrow that too sometimes!!!

We actually did pull off a pretty decent surprise party for him for his birthday.... It was on the same night as middle school youth group so all the leaders brought him his favorite food and decorated with tons of balloons, which i spent all day blowing up....it was fun :)

My parents came to visit this weekend and it was my mom's birthday as well! We went out to eat in a cute diner downtown and it was a pleasant surprise... the food was AMAZING. :) We will go back! :)

We are looking forward to another crazy weekend coming up -- our middle school fall retreat! We will take lots of pictures, i'm sure! :)

Love, Sarah