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!

Istanbul, Turkey

I am back from Istanbul, and glad to be home with the family. I didn't get many pictures, but the trip went well.

Clay Daniel is 2 months old!

 

I took Clay to his two month appointment. He is a healthy, growing boy! He is now 14 pounds 3 ounces and he is 23 1/2 inches long! That makes him at the 95th percentile for his weight and 75th percentile for his height....needless to say, I think he is eating enough and we may have another basketball player on our hands! :) Oh, and of course football player too!!! :)

We have puppies - only one left!

Daisy's puppies - Isabelle needs one!

End of summer pictures

Labor Day Weekend on Lake Michigan and kids first day of school.

Isa's haircut

Andy's Surprise 30th Birthday Party!

We had a great time surprising Andy for
his 30th birthday. Enjoy the photos!

Here's a little video of the surprise. We

had to drag him kicking and screaming to

the Antoine's house. (He was not happy

about coming over to move furniture on

a Saturday night!). Enjoy!

Shirley Kathryn & Shirley Kathryn!

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Bath time

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Blogger Mobile Feature

As you can see from the test post below, you can now post photos and videos to The Drury Report via your cell phone or e-mail.

Simply e-mail your photos or videos to joelandstacyham.druryreport@blogger.com

Unfortunately, I could not figure out how to set it up so you could each use your respective usernames. So your content will be posted under our username.

Give it a try when you have time. I know I'll be using it.

Joel

Blogger Mobile Test

Test test Test test Test test Test test

This is only a test.

Bixby's Bass Lake Pics

Here are our pictures of Bass Lake. I hope you enjoy them!

Bass Lake. Anyone? Anyone?

I know that a few representatives from the "Shirley clan" went to Bass Lake this year, I've seen the proof (thank you Facebook)!

So, does anybody have some pictures? A story to tell? Maybe some video footage?

Please share with those of us who were unable to attend due to "extenuating" circumstances. ;-)

Thanks.

Joel

I Smell Houses. Ha ha ha ha.

As you may notice, I added a link to our House Hunting Hams blog to the Blog List on the right side of the page. That’s because we may soon be selling our home in MN (Praise God!); which means house hunting season in KY is about to open. So, keep an eye out for updates and feel free to weigh in with your comments, questions, and/or suggestions.

Joel

Lennon's New Pics

a little over a month ago Becky and I took Lennon to get her pictures taken. Here is the sneak peek we got today!

At the Beach

New Feature

Hello family. I've added a new "Page Element" that Blogger just released. It's called Blog List; you'll see it on the right hand side of the page. What it does is it receives an automatic feed from the blogs listed and displays the most recently updated blog at the top, along with the title of the most recent post. This may save you a little time, if you check in here first, you will be able to see if any of the other blogs you may visit have been updated and are worth looking at. Please let me know if you have any other blogs you'd like to see added to this section of the page. As always, let me know if you encounter any problems and/or have any questions. Thanks and have a great week.

Joel

Edith - Walkin' & Talkin'

To see another video and a slideshow of photos, visit Ham Huddle.

Ham Baby Update

Hello Family! The blog has been sitting unchanged for too long, so I figured I'd post some baby news.

Stacy, Edith, and I went to see the doctor yesterday for a routine appointment. At the previous visit, the doctor had us schedule an ultrasound, because Stacy was measuring larger than "normal." So, we had the ultrasound first and got to see Clay up close and personal. He looked a little squished in there and, if you've seen Stacy lately, you know why. After the ultrasound we met with Stacy's doctor and talked baby/delivery. Stacy is between 36 1/2 weeks and 37 weeks, but Clay is measuring at 40 weeks, so he's a big boy. We had already talked to the doctor about inducing Stacy earlier than her due date. He confirmed that that would be a wise thing to do; especially if we want to have Clay naturally vs. C section. So, we talked dates and settled on Sunday, July 20th. Yeah, I know, that's less than 2 weeks away! We will go into the hospital Sunday afternoon or evening and they will administer medication to "soften" Stacy's cervix. By Monday morning we should be rockin and rollin and having ourselves a baby! Needless to say, we're pretty excited that he'll be here a little early!

Stacy's parents, Gordon and Ruth Leeman, will be coming down that weekend, so they have the grueling task of taking care of Edith. ;) We get their help for the whole week and following weekend. Then Grandma Ham (and maybe Grandpa) will be coming down and staying with us to help until we kick them out. ;) I'll take a little bit of time off from work, here and there, when Gordon and Ruth and Mom and Dad are here. Then, when the grandparents have left, I'll take a few days off so we can spend time together on our own. I can't wait!

So, that's the news so far. I'll try to keep you posted on any further developments. I'm sure I've left out some vital information, so please feel free to ask any questions you may have. I'll do my best to answer them or make something up. :P

As they say in Kentucky, "We love y'all."

Joel

Drury Family Reunion 2008

To view a larger version of this slideshow, go to Ham Huddle.



Click on the link to be taken to an album containing all of these photos.

http://picasaweb.google.com/joelandstacyham/DruryFamilyReunion2008

Another Test!

I'm testing out my new blogging capabilities - wow - I'm actually posting a picture!  I don't have my pictures from the Drury reunion on the computer yet - so I'm posting an older picture from Feb. when I took the boys to Disney World.  I feel really high tech now!

This is a test!

Thanks,  Daniel for the tutorial!  I hope I FINALLY have this figured out!  It was so good to see all of the Drury clan!

Elise is Back from Colorado!

We are so glad to have Elise back from Colorado.

I'm not going to type too much, since I'm using this to train, but it is sooooooo good to have our daughter back with us!

Yumm....

Yes. I ate two.

Not that bad, really.

Bambi visits the Bouwman's!

You just never know what might happen at our house! I mean, it's a zoo around our place, but usually the animals only have 2 legs! The other day , Papa surprised us by bringing home a baby deer! (Whatever happened to a puppy or a kitten...or even a pony?) The kids enjoyed "playing" with the poor thing, but could not convince Mama to keep it. Too bad. (We think the mother was the dead doe on the highway, but you never know...) It would not take a bottle, much to the kids disappointment, but it did manage to pee and poop all over Papa's shirt, that's why he's shirtless. ;) Never a dull moment around our home!

P.S. Can we say "pee" and "poop"?

Kristyn Getty - When Trials Come (Irish Hymn)

Keith & Kristyn Getty - My Heart Is Filled With Thankfulness

Keith & Kristyn Getty - The Power of the Cross

Keith & Kristyn Getty - Come, People of the Risen King

Keith & Kristyn Getty - Hear the Call of the Kingdom

Keith & Kristyn Getty - Ribbon Roads

Edie's 1st Birthday

 

We celebrated last night with a cake, which Edith loved. She thought it was pretty great to dig into her own piece. :) Today we went to the pool. She is getting pretty comfortable with it. She let us let go while she was in her tube. And this afternoon, we are going to the store to pick out her gift from Mommy and Daddy and get some ice cream. We have had a great time celebrating with her! She has been such a blessing to us this past year and we look forward to the years ahead.

Vote for Lennon

We have entered Lennon Adele into a Cover Model Search for Parents Magazine!!! If you want to help her out go to THIS link and RATE AND RECOMMEND her photo!!! Thanks so much! We hope everyone is doing well!!!!!

Fun @ G&G Ham's

On our move down to Bowling Green, KY we took advantage of stopping halfway at Grandma & Grandpa Ham's. We thoroughly enjoyed our time with everybody and can't wait for the Lord to bring us together again.

Joel

Mother's Day 2008

I was SPOILED ROTTEN!

Wacky Hair Day

Today at school it was Wacky Hair Day....Isa got into it!!! :-) Sorry, couldn't figure out how to delete the 2nd picture!!!

Have ya'll "gone country"?

Okay, we are not afraid to admit we enjoy a bit of country twang every once in awhile. Not too long ago, we were listening to Joe Soucheray, and he was sharing a list of funny country music song titles. We got such a kick out of it, we thought you might enjoy it, too! ( We "edited" out a few. They were hysterical, but we thought this is a family blog, so it must maintain at least a "PG" rating... )

"Her teeth was stained, but her heart was pure"
"How can I miss you if you won't go away?"
"I changed her oil, she changed my life"
"I fell in a pile of love and got you all over me"
"I liked you better before I knew you so well"
"I still miss you baby, but my aims gettin' better"
"If I can't be #1 in your life, than #2 on you!"
"If you can't live without me, why aren't you dead?"
"I'm so miserable without you, it's like havin' you here"
"My wife ran off with my best friend and I sure do miss him"
"Thank God and Greyhound she's gone"
"I would'nt take you to a dog fight (even if I thought you could win!)"

So... have we converted any of you to country? :) Believe it or not these are real songs!

Lennon's Day Out!

Its hard to believe that our lil' Lennon Adele is now a few days short of being 20 months old! Here are some pics of her first trip to the park of the year!!!!!!!!

Lori's 40th

The pictures say it all!