Make a Smilebox invite

Christmas Party!

Don't Forget!!

Duke Class Christmas Social

Saturday December 12th

12 Noon - until

at Jimmy & Amy's

2914 Trawick Rd

Bring a Dirty Santa gift per person

(a re-gift from home is encouraged)

** note - Adults only

Can't wait to see you there!

Christmas Party

Just wanted you all to know that we set the Christmas Party for Saturday December 12th at 12 noon. This seemed to work best for most everyone. We will be hosting it at our new home on Trawick Rd. Let me know if you need directions. I will decide on menu over the weekend and let you all know. We are looking forward to it. Hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Christmas Party

Christmas is rapidly approaching and we need to set a date for the Christmas Party. We are so excited to be hosting this year! I need each of you to reply to this message and let me know what works best for you. Hopefully we will find a date that everyone can attend. If not, we will choose the date with the least amount of conflicts. Right now we are looking at Dec 11th, 12th, 18th or 19th. Another option would be Monday the 21st - I figured this might work since school would be out.

This will be adults only and I will figure out the menu in the near future. As usual, bring a dirty Santa gift - one per person and be sure to keep it under $10.00. This always proves to be a fun time for all!

We absolutely can't wait to the party. Please let me know what works or better yet it there is any date that does not work for you. We want to get this nailed down before Sunday. Hope the rest of your week is wonderful!

Prayer Request and Reminder

I hope everyone is having a great week. Stacey gave me a prayer request at the end of class last Sunday, so I am forwarding it to everyone. Steve Clayton is waiting on a lung transplant at UAB. He works at SAMC. Please lift him up in prayer.

Three other things.
1. Don't forget that this Sunday I will show pictures and give testimony about the crusade to Malawi, Africa.

2. I don't want us to give up on fellowshipping together. We need to nail down a time and place for our Christmas Party. We also need to make sure and invite the mature women of God we have adopted.

3. It is my heart that we develop a plan to reach the lost in our area. This is becoming more and more pressing on me as I realize the amount of effort we spend doing things that will never impact the Kingdom of God. Please be in prayer and thought about this.

Love all of you,
Will

Prayer Request / Christmas Party

I hope everyone is having a wonderful week, but I already know a few of you have not been feeling well, thus one reason for this post. The Dukes have had the stomach bug hit everyone in their house over the past week and a half. I pray you guys are doing so much better! Also, Brandon is going to have his wisdom teeth out on Monday. He has been in a lot of pain, so please pray that all would go well!

We also need to nail down a date for our Christmas party, so get out your calendars and be prepared to discuss it in class on Sunday! Hope you all have a great weekend. See you on Sunday!

Prayer Request

I just wanted to ask all of you to pray for precious baby Thomas who was born earlier this week 7 weeks premature. His dad works with J. He is doing well other than his breathing and he is not improving. They are moving him to a NICU about an hour and a half from here - according to their blog. They will be able to treat him there and expect to see improvement soon. Please pray that his lungs will respond to the treatments. Also pray for strenght for Thomas' mommy - who is recovering from the emergency c-section. Her blood count is still low and she is weak. They are releasing her from the hospital so she can travel up to be with him.

If you missed today's lunch social you missed a treat! The suspense was about to kill us as we waited for the gender of the next Duke baby to be revealed! Well if you haven't already heard the results, here are the pictures to tell the story!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

It's a GIRL!

Congratulations Will and Elizabeth! We can't wait to meet her!

Class Lunch this Sunday!

Don't forget that this Sunday, October 4th is our class luncheon in the Family Life Center. Please bring 2 side dishes. We will collect money for the meat and rolls.

We will have a special treat during lunch. Will and Elizabeth will find out the gender of their new baby during lunch. They had an ultrasound this week and got the ultrasound tech to put the results in an envelope without telling them. The envelope is being given to someone who will bake a cake which will be pink for a girl or blue for a boy. They won't know which it is until they cut the cake at lunch on Sunday! So you don't want to miss this as it will be a fun time of rejoicing with the Dukes!

Also let me mention, if you missed Sunday Morning's worship service.. you missed a treat. I highly recommend you listen to it on the church website..www.mntgilead.com. The entire service was focused on Authentic Corporate Worship. There were all types of music, responsive readings, Puritan prayers and Bro. Bradley tied it all together at the end. Wow! I was so blessed by it all.

Sunday School Lesson for 9/20/09

I hope everyone is doing well this week. This week's lesson is on Psalms 105 and Psalms 106. We don't know who wrote the two Psalms, but they are a picture of God's faithfullness in spite of Israel being unfaithful. The lesson reminded me of 2nd Timothy 2:11-13
"The saying is trustworthy, for:
If we have died with him, we will also live with him;
if we endure, we will also reign with him;
if we deny him, he also will deny us;
if we are faithless, he remains faithful - for he cannot deny himself."

Isn't that great that God's promises of salvation remain true even if we mess up. God's character is such that He keeps His word even when we don't.

Lamentations 3:22-23
"The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness."

I look foward to seeing everyone Sunday!
Will

Happy Monday!

Thanks everyone for a great Sunday Lunch. I'm sure everyone has had just as an enjoyable Monday as myself. My first appointment of the day started out as lady brought in a puppy for a recheck visit from last week. The appointment ended up with our office staff trying to keep her in the clinic while the police were on their way to arrest her for stolen property - the puppy! That was a wasted first two hours of work. This is too long of a story to get into the details with a blog. Doesn't it seem that the world comes at us so fast that sometimes we can't breath. During these times it is good to step back to see the big picture: We have a God that is all powerful and loves us immensely. Our Sunday School Lesson starts out this way.

Psalm 19:1-6
The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky proclaims the work of His hands.
Day after day they pour out speech; night after night they communicate knowledge.
There is no speech; there are no words; their voice is not heard.
Their message has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the inhabited world. In the heavens He has pitched a tent for the sun.
It is like a groom coming from the bridal chamber; it rejoices like an athlete running a course.
It rises from one end of the heavens and circles to the other end; nothing is hidden from its heat.

Isn't it wonderful that the God who created the heavens cares for us! Praise God!

Sunday School Class Lunch

Just a reminder that our class will have lunch together in the FLC on Sunday, August 23rd. We will take up money to purchase chicken and rolls. Please bring 2 side dishes or a side and a dessert. We will be inviting our "widow / single" moms to join us! Be sure to add this to your calendar!

Elizabeth's aunt

Just wanted to let you all know that Elizabeth's aunt passed away today. Please keep them in your prayers as they all will be traveling to Kansas for her funeral.

New Discipleship Classes

Just wanted to make everyone aware that some new Discipleship Classes are coming up. You should have recieved a mailout this week with detailed info. You can also check it out on the church web site! Have a great rest of the week!

July Social

Here are some pictures from the social! Thanks Andy & Renae!

Sunday School

I want to thank everyone for coming to class this Sunday. Next Sunday continues in James (1:19-27) and looks at how we should control our reactions and live out our freedom in Christ.




We had a great party last night and I hope we can have one monthly. Maybe we can post some pics on this blog. This will bring us closer together and make it easier for us to invite our friends to the class. Renae Ward is helping to set these up so if you are able to host a party, let her know.





This is one of the things I would like us to focus on, fellowship. Hebrews 10:25 "Let us not give up meeting together, as some (me) are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another - and all the more as you see the Day approaching."



The other thing is prayer. Acts 1:14 "They (Jesus' disciples soon after His ascension) all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers."



If anyone has any thoughts or comments, please email me at wlduke@centurytel.net or call me at 671-0182. Looking foward to next Sunday!



Will

OUR FAMILY CANNOT EXPRESS THE THANKS THAT WE FEEL TO HAVE SUCH WONDERFUL FAMILY AND FRIENDS, YOU GUYS HAVE ALL BEEN SUCH A BLESSING TO US AND HAVE CERTAINLY PROVIDED ABOVE AND BEYOND CHRISTIAN FRIENDSHIP. PLEASE CONTIUE TO PRAY THAT WE OVERCOME HURTLES TO RECOVERY, AS I WILL NOT BE ABLE TO DRIVE FOR 6 MONTHS. I REALLY CANT WRAP MY MIND AROUND NOT BEING ABLE TO GO AND DO LIKE I NEED TO ON MY OWN TERMS. THIS TOO SHALL PASS, WE HAVE SO MUCH TO BE THANKFUL FOR. THANKS FOR ALL THE PRAYERS, MEALS, PHONE CALLS AND VISITS, WE LOVE ALL OF YOU.

Care Calendar set up

I have set up a Care Calendar for providing meals to the LaFiore family.

Go to http://www.carecalendar.org/.
Log In - 15940
Security Code - 3163.

Click on the day you want to provide a meal and fill in the information.

For now, we don't need to go in and visit with them when we deliver the meals. Stacey still needs to rest and visits may tire her out. Just take them to the door and leave it there. Michael said we could come through the garage if it was open; otherwise go to the front door.

There address is 2908 Trawick Rd. Go past the church and take a right onto Trawick. It is about 1/2 mile on right- dark red brick that sits way off road down a dirt drive.

Just a note - Anna is a picky eater. She likes turkey sandwiches and chicken fingers mostly. I think I will get some turkey meat and bread so that they have something she will eat in case she doesn't like the meal that is provided. Stacey is a diabetic, so we should definately limit the sweets.

Stacey's Home!

Michael just called and said that they just got home from the hospital. We will co-ordinate meals for this week. I am taking something for this week. He did say that she didn't need alot of visitors so we will just take the food to the door and leave for now. I will let you all know about meals later today or tommorrow.

Thursday Update

I spoke to Stacey's mom this afternoon. She said other than being slightly sick to her stomach, Stacey was doing well. Her blood pressure, etc was good and no seizures. They plan to keep her in CCU until Saturday. I am working on planning meals for them when they get to come home. I have found an online calendar that we can use and everyone can just log into it and see what the needs are and sign up online. I should have it set up in the next couple of days. I feel like there will be several outside our class... possibly outside our church who will want to help as well, so this calendar should help co-ordinate it all.

Sugery Progress... Updated

Talked to Stacey's mom around 11 am. Surgery went fine. They were getting her set up in CCU, where she will spend the next couple of days. Pray that she will not be nauseated. She was really dreading the nausea after waking up.

Earlier today....Just spoke to Stacey's sister, she is still in surgery. They have repaired the hole and are putting in a drainage tube now. She will spend the next couple of days in CCU. Keep praying.

Stacey' Surgery

Talked with Stacey's sister and surgery is supposed to be around 7:15 am on Wednesday morning.

Talked to Stacey

I talked to Stacey tonight. She sounded tired but said everything was ok. She said she is about to go stir crazy. Michael was gone to Anna's ballgame and a friend was with her, so I didn't bug her about lots of details or keep her on the phone long. Surgery is still scheduled for Wednesday and she is ready for it to get here.

Update on Stacey

The last word I have on Stacey is that she has been moved back to a regular room. They are asking to limit visits to 5 minutes and only 2 visitors at a time as not to tire her out. Surgery is still scheduled for Wednesday. Please continue to lift her up in prayer.

Welcome to our class blog!

This blog exist to keep our class informed of class events, prayer needs, etc.