Florida!!!

We had a blast when we went to Florida over MEA. We got to visit Disney Land, Universal Studios and the Beach! It was so fun!

Briggs!

We thought the Drury blog needed something new. What could be newer than a newborn? Here are a few photos of our little guy. Bert likes to give him a shower, but if I'm not in the bathroom to grab Briggs when he's done, Bert wraps him in a towel and places him in the sink! Poor guy---he'll be too big for it before long!

Shirley Kate LOVES her new baby!

Briggs' 1st Sunday going to church. It was also Mother's Day---he was 5 days old.

Brotherly love.

New Layout

What's this? White! And pink... on the family blog!
Why the new layout, may I ask?
And why the very PINK colors?! It rather reminds one of an Easter Bunny party.
Does everyone else like this new Barbie-approved theme?

Slumber Party at the Turners!

We got to go to the Turner's house on Sat. for a slumber party! We had so much fun! Here are some pictures of our time with the Olivia, Ava and Lucia.

The last of the snow...maybe

Last week we thought we would enjoy the snowmobiles for (maybe) the last time. We decided to skip naps on Sunday and play. Shirley Kate fell asleep while we were cruising around. (No, they don't have whisper-quiet engines---she was just tired!)

Mama, Papa and Bear drive their own, and Bronwen and Mac take turns on the "kitty-cat". (Otherwise they hitch a ride with one of us.)

Shirley was a bit disoriented when she woke up---not real happy to still be on the snowmobile!

Fun times...

Clay Daniel at 6 Months Old

New Blog

Hey, I am taking a class on weblogs and wikis this semester, and one of the course requirements is that I set up a blog. If anyone is interested in reading or commenting on it, they are welcome.

http://nightengale8.wordpress.com

A few pics from our New Year's Cruise

Our cruise left from Port Canaveral, Florida and
we made stops at Nassau, Bahamas, St. Thomas,
and St. Maarten with a few days at sea inbetween.
We had a wonderful and relaxing time. Enjoy!

Panorama of St. Thomas

Andy ridin' the waterslide on the ship

Ham Family Christmas

Goin' Green?

Remember the Drury Reunion this summer? I thought we could all use a little reminder of warmer days...actually, I was cleaning out my files and found these pictures that I had meant to post this summer! There they are: the Fantastic Five in all their glory.

More Pics

Christmas Pictures

Thank you to all who made the Martin Christmas gathering possible...and to all who made it there! : ) We all had a great time!

Cancun photos..finally!

Yes, here we are 1 month later, and we are FINALLY getting around to posting a few pictures. As you can see, we did a whole lotta nothin'! (So we did not have too many exciting things to photograph.) One day on the beach was pretty much the same as last and the next. (Except different swimsuits!) It was just marvelous to have nothing to do all week. Ahhhhhh...good times!

The Bixby's Christmas

Christmas at Parkers Lake

Church Discussion - Part 1

As Stacy and I have been going through the church search process, a few issues have come forward as we seek to evaluate whether or not a particular church is “right” for us.

Issue #1: In all church ministries should the leader be a member of the church? Why? Are there any scriptural references to support your answer? Ministries being defined as Sunday School, VBS, youth group, small groups, nursery, hospitality, etc.

Issue #2: I think in our family circle it’s safe to assume that we would not support a church having a female pastor, but where do you draw the line for women having a leadership role in the church? Should a woman be allowed to teach an adult Sunday School class containing both men and women? How important is this to you; would you leave (or not join) a church that does this? Again, are there any scriptural references to support your answer?

I’ll stop there and let the discussion be on those two issues. I have more and, Lord willing, I will post them in the future. Let’s see how this goes first. Thank you for your thoughts.

Joel Ham

P.S. We were given a book (What is A Healthy Church by Mark Dever) as a gift from one of our elders at Eden Baptist before moving to Kentucky. This book has served as a good reminder of the essential marks and important marks of a healthy church and helped put us in the right mindset to assess each church. I highly recommend it.

Fall is finishin'

...at least in Minnesota. But we've had fun, and I thought you'd enjoy some pictures the kids took the other day. It was all fun and games until Elise lost her head:

First Vote

Yesterday was my first time to vote!!! Although it is tempting to think that my vote really didn't do much in the way of contributing to the cause I was voting for, I am still grateful for the opportunity to be involved with national politics and to have a voice, however small, in choosing my country's leaders.
Being on a very liberal campus has made me thoroughly sick of politics, and I must say I am glad that all the campaign ads and candidate endorsements by professors are (hopefully) ended. I can't help feeling melancholic about the results of the election though.
With a vague sense of despondency, I wonder, "What America will be like by the next time I vote?"

Ham Halloween

My Surprise Party!

My mom and church friends surprised me last Friday for my 14th birthday. I came home from school and they were all (15 girls total) at my house! I was so surprised I almost started crying. Almost all of them spent the night. We did some crazy things like going to McDonald's in this green facemask as you can see in one of the pictures. I think my mom went crazy but we had loads of fun!