So these days around the Van Hook household it is a constant battle royal for top princess in Miss Kennedy’s life! The past two weeks from the minute she woke up until the third time we put her to bed at night all we heard was “Little Mermaid?” or “ARIEL!!!” or the princess in training singing the award winning song from The Little Mermaid that goes something like this…”Ahhhhhh-Ah-Ah-Ahhhhhh-Ah-Ah-Ahhhhhhh-Ah-Ah-Ahhhhhh-Ah-Ah”. However this week it seems as though Ariel has been casted aside and Princess Tiana has taken over the top spot on the Power Rankings for this week.

Today I had the great privilege to partake in Princess Tiana & Princess Kennedy’s “Gumbo Night”! Rachel and Kennedy spent all day in the kitchen cookin’ up Princess Tiana’s famous gumbo recipe, choppin’, mincin’, stirrin’ & mixin’! I came home to a ginormous Princess Tiana coloring page taped up on the door that read “Welcome To Gumbo Night” and a little 3 foot Sleeping Beauty princess costume wearing waitress ready to take my order! She is getting so big it is ridiculous!

Kennedy took everyone’s orders, sat us at the table and helped Rachel dish out their creation. It was delish! But I noticed that there was way too many “brightly colored” elements aka vegetables in this dish for Kennedy’s liking, and of course after one bite she let out the infamous phrase, “I don’t like it anymore!” I think she ended up eating about one and a half pieces of sausage and a bite of bread.

All in all dinner was great, I can’t believe my baby girl is big enough to help mommy cook already! Life goes by so fast & so many times I catch myself letting it slip through my fingers while I sit back and watch Baseball or ESPN while the girls play on the living room floor. Its time to change that.

Outie Five

I guess the sketches thing didn’t work out too well. Whoops. Truth be told, its pretty tough to keep up with a blog when you don’t gots no internet at mi casa. So until we catch up with the 21st century or whatever century we are in now and install that fancy new internet thing at our home you will have to deal with sporadic blog posts…sorry.

Any who this past week we had a pretty bangorang Easter-esk Wednesday night service. I spoke on Matthew 9:9-13 (Go Check it Out). The band played an awesome song with a powerful video playing behind them & Brotha Andrew Rup gave his first ever invitation. Using this sweet video…

The Result? We had 11 students give their lives to Christ! Praise God. Wednesday was followed up with a stinkin’ incredible Easter Sunday Service upstairs where somewhere around 300 people got saved! It don’t get much better than that.

Be Blessed. Keep Raising HIM Up!

Outie 5

Here is a little Christmas video I saw at Morethandodgeball.com These guys always come up with good stuff. Enjoy and Merry Christmas to everyone!

Outie 5

It’s Rachel’s PREGO BELLY, don’t be scurred!

I figured since I have not posted in forever why not throw something up that is fun and a tad bit disturbing. So here is the announcement video from tonight’s service made by some of the Sr. High Girls at a recent sleepover with Rachel and Angela. Enjoy and leave some fun comments.

Outie Five Thousand.

So I have some emotional expressing to do tonight. As I sit here with my sister watching a movie, I’ve got a few things on my mind. So, I figure what better way for a woman to be able to vent, than on her husband’s blog for the whole world to see. I know for a fact that practically the whole world does read Chuck’s blog for several reasons.

1)      He is HILARIOUS! Enough said.

2)      God has blessed him with the remarkable ability to write. Encourage him on that. A book is in his future!

3)      He has the most wanted, looked at blog I know of and everyone wishes theirs was as cool as his. GOOD LUCK WITH THAT GUYS!! Haha J

Anyway, I just came from the new building. Words cannot express how amazing it looks. Every day, it seems as about a month’s worth of work is done to that crazy property! Really, only God could do something so incredible. If you haven’t seen it in a while you will not BELIEVE! Awesome! My poor sister is here for her spring break, (most college kids go party at the beach, my beautiful sister came here!) and bless her heart, I conned her into scrubbing concrete stairs with me at the new building! Ha. She’s the best. So yea, I got to see Chuck for just a few brief moments, but just knowing that I was at least near him, made a world of difference to me.

However, I do have some things I need to vent about. So here it goes! I would first off, like to give much honor and praise to all of the single mothers, widows, and military wives such as my mom and Chuck’s. HOW DO YOU DO IT? You guys all deserve HUGE pats on the back. Lately I’ve been finding myself wondering if I could ever… And I honestly don’t know how I would or could. God’s good grace is all I know! So for all of you wonderful Superwomen who are doing it alone, many many thanks and be proud of yourself. I mean that.

It’s been tough lately. Some of you know how I feel. Tough not knowing when the boys will get home. Tough talking to only an infant all day. Tough missing your best friend. Tough cooking for just me and Kennedy. Tough being lonely. You guys know. So basically, life’s been a little bit hectic lately. A whole new meaning has been attached to the word FLEXIBLE! If I want to see Chuck, I go to the new building and scrub concrete stairs. That’s how our life is right now. BUT…Here’s where God has really turned some things around for me.

First of all, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. A beautiful, radiant light. That which is of our Jesus who all of this hard work is for. It will all be over soon. We can look at it as a pain in our HIND ENDS, OR we can look at it with the attitude of Christ and see it as an exciting time and an honor to be a part of. This is a once in a lifetime chance for most of us. We can do this!

Secondly, it is my calling to support my husband. As Pastor Warren said not so long ago, our marriage is our ministry. And our ministry sometimes is our marriage. They go hand in hand. I know that God has called me to be a submissive wife, keep the house clean, cook dinner when needed, be hospitable, raise the family, and at the end of the day, freshen up and tack on a huge smile to support my man when he walks through the door like he just did… lol. (AND go on wild goose chases around Sevierville with the insane Jr. High crew which by the way, I DID NOT CHEAT. I thought they said go. But anyway, that’s beside the point!) That is what we as Godly women and wives are called to do. Hard as it may be at times 

Finally, a MUCHAS GRACIAS goes out to Pastor for the sermon he had a couple of weeks ago about the sacrificial steps that Christ took down for us. He came all the way from His royal throne next to God Himself to death on a cross like a criminal. WOW! WHO AM I TO COMPLAIN ABOUT MY HUNK GETTING HOME LATE??!! Are you kidding Rach? GET REAL! There’s millions upon millions around the world who haven’t eaten in days, don’t have spouses, parents, children or even friends, don’t have a place to live, no money, no nothing, and I want my husband to get home at a decent hour. Someone oughta slap me huh!! Lol. No I’m kidding. Family is definitely important. But, there are more positive ways that God is showing me to look at all of this.

Some of you guys are in my shoes. For all of us, here’s what I’m learning. CHIN UP! May our attitudes be like that of Christ.  May we constantly be reminded of the sacrifices Christ made for us. May we always remember to be the backbone of our men. They need us just like we need them.  May we look at it as a privilege to be a part of something so big and exciting. May we be covering our boys with prayer all throughout the day. They need it. And for anyone reading this, us gals need it too!

As always, I’ve written way too much. Hope no one stopped reading in the middle. I’m going to go watch this movie with my fantastic sister and assure Chuck that this is not a divorce letter that I’m writing. Lol. He’s weird. And by the way, please don’t let Howard Walker sell my husband into slavery. I know he is a hard worker and all but I need him!!  Be filled with LOVE, JOY AND PEACE!~~rach

1.  Cars were lined up like the Daytona 500 for our Launch.  It was chaos with 25 cars trying to pull onto Chapman Hwy @ one time, but there were no accidents and everyone is safe.

2.  McDonald’s in Sevier County and Knox County don’t have ball pits anymore.  One woman told us someone was bit by a snake in a Micky D’s ball pit and as a result all ball bits are now outlawed.   

3.  That McDonald’s lady was a liar because Brian H’s team went to Chik-a-fil-a (I know it is spelled wrong but that is how I say it) and his team got a Chik-a-fil-a ball from their ball pit, and some how they got credit for it!  Bogus!

4.  Our team went dumpster diving at the local dump.  They were closed, but the little Jr. High students squeezed between the fences.  They were all very comfortable with it and seemed as if this was not their first dumpster adventure.  We found nothing of use to our list in the dump, but it was fun.

5.  There was a Santa Clause and Mrs. Clause sighting in Sevierville tonight.  They were not on the list, just awesome to see them on the road in a mini-van, in mid-March.

6.  Two Jr. High students running down a hill @ a busy elementary baseball complex, one caught in a thorn bush, the other tripped up by a thorn bush and face planting on the pavement in front of 30 baseball parents, popping up to his feet as if nothing happened then requesting a peanut in the shell and an empty popcorn tub.  No luck, a little blood, and funny as crap!

7.  Rachel tried to jump the gun and leave with her team 5 minutes early, forgetting that her clock in her car is 6 minutes fast.  Of course she tried to play it off, but I wasn’t buying it.

8.  The looks on people faces while watching Jr. High students running ramped all over Sevier County looking and asking for random stuff, especially when they asked for a single white jelly bean.

9.  One team driving 30 minutes from the church out by I-40 to a student’s house because they stated “I have all of this stuff at my house!”  Then finding out they really only had 2 things and had wasted one third of their allotted time.  They still ended up finding almost everything on the list, impressive.

10.  Building relationships with the students outside of regular services during the week and watching the students in their element having a great time with other students and leaders is a great way to spend an evening.  God is good.

Bed time.

This past week was a stupendous week.  Our students were finally in school all week with no snow days, cold days or rain days, though they will most likely be out again until Friday on account of we got an inch of snow this morning.  Crazyness.  Some other notables from this past week include:

-The Bachelor finally voted off that crazy dentist chick who basically picked every booger out of her nose from the past 3 years right in front of him last week.

-Rachel began watching a little 5 month old girl named Leilani, the first day was terrible!  I received numerous text messages with the phrase “Dear God please save me.” from my wife throughout the day.

-Tuesday night Kennedy and I got to hang out at the house while momma got away for a while after long days with two babies all day at home.

-Johnson Bible College Men’s basketball team won their first game of the year defeating Crown College on Tuesday night.  yay

-Wednesday night we had an awesome service with our Jr. High students.  We were in week three of our What If? series with our focus being on iLive.  Living a life that reflects the life of Christ in every aspect of our own lives.  God brought 53 Jr. High students on Wednesday night and we had a great service.

-Thursday Rachel and Kennedy left me and went to Jackson to visit with family.  So I packed up my things and moved back in with my old roommate Ben over at Johnson Bible College.  When we roomed together Ben got this awesome green couch straight from That 70’s Show that we nicknamed “The Green Monster”, and let me just tell you, even though that thing is held together by cender blocks and twine it is by far the most awesome couch on this planet, and when it engulfs you, you cannot escape its powerful grasp causing you to sleep like a baby kangaroo in a snugly pouch.

-All weekend I crashed with Ben and a bunch of the other guys at Johnson, good times.

-Saturday Night at Word Up! our Jr. High Bible Study we had 22 students and we discussed Respect, fun topic with Jr. Highers

-Sunday we had awesome weekend services at The Gathering and we kicked off our Men’s Bible Study with a Super Bowl Party.  We had 166 men show up, fellowship and get real with God.  God is about to do something great in our church and I believe it is going to begin with our men.  Look out Sevier County God is on the move, and He is moving quick.

-The week ended with a security night shift out at the new building, good times, this building is awesome and it is so cool to know all the incredible things God will be doing in this building for years to come.

-SNOW DAY!!  A pic of my snow girls.

I’m Out

Okay, so this past Friday on my day off I decided it would be a nice day to throw on the ol’ waders and get my fishin’ line a little wet down in the French Broad River by Johnson Bible College.  All was going well, except for the fact that I hadn’t caught one fish, let alone seen one in the first hour and a half I was out there.  So, I decided it was time to cross through the current to this random island and fish on the other side of the river.  After about twenty minutes I finally arrived on the island, out of breath and soaked from the condensation of sweat building up inside my rubber waders a took little break.  Following my time out I quickly discovered that this here island was inhabited with bushels and bushels of thorns and low branches that seemed to be attracted to my hair. 

While standing in the middle of this island trying to untangle my hair from the thorns and twigs I heard some russeling in the distant bushes, I quickly realized I was not alone on this island and that made me feel a tad bit uncomfortable.  Eventually I loosened the thorns grasp on my hair and continued my trek to the other side of the island.  About five seconds later I heard the what sounded like a stampede coming right at me, I glanced up and directly in my line of sight running straight at me is this huge four point buck.  I promise on everything I made eye contact with that dude and almost dropped one in my under-waders.  The deer veered to right and kept sprinting down the island probably just as scared as I was.  I quickly took off in the other direction running as fast as my over-sized rubber waders would allow me.  When the deer discovered the end of the island and realized he was surrounded by water and trapped on an island with a half caveman half michelin-man he turned around and darted back up the island.  This deer was freakin’ out and continued running up and down this island like he was participating in the Presidential Physical Fitness Test from Elementary school. 

Upon arriving on the other side of the island I was welcomed  with about an eight foot drop off to the muddy shore below, I contemplated looking for an easier way until I heard that Jackie Joyner Kersee deer making its third trip around the island.  I didn’t really care for jumping of that cliff but then I remembered  this guy  and I sure as crap didn’t want to end up like him, so, I took the leap of faith and got the heck off that chaotic thorn infested psycho deer roamin’ island.

Needless to say I survived my stay on deer island and made it back to the real world with no fish, but without any pain inflicted by a rabid deer. 

Join me next time as I present the story of the Great Opening Day Fiasco of 2008.

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This past week our campus was full of Volunteers running to and fro all over the place, the campus reminded me of the sets of ABC’s Extreme Makeover Home Edition, which, by the way is an tremendous show.  I especially enjoy watching it while laughing with/at my exceedingly pregnant wife whom cries uncontrollably at every heartbreaking, joyful, thrilling or amusing moment on the show without reason.  Emotional women are great, especially pregnant ones.  I love my wife so much its sick.

Anyways, returning from the land of ADD and back to the week of Easter, I am truly astonished and blown away by the things that the volunteers here at the Gathering do week in and week out around here.  You all show up immensely when the big event is cresting on the horizon but even more impressive than that is the fact that you are here each and every week making things happen no matter what the project.  I know from my experiences that I could not do half the things God is allowing me to do in this ministry without the amazing volunteers He has placed here along side of me to impact these kids lives.  Children’s Ministry is a blast and I pray that everyone that volunteers here in KIDZPLAYCE expeiriences as much enjoyment as I do, I pray we all continue to be REAL with these kids, they see through fakeness, I pray these kids see the love and joy of Christ in all of us who have the privilege of impacting the lives of God’s children on a weekly basis.  I pray I am always over flowing with the Joy of the Lord and that the kids as well as the volunteers perceive the love of Christ flowing out of me every time their eyes fix on me.

I know I say thank you a lot, but each time the words are uttered from my lips, sketched on a card or typed in an e-mail I mean them with everything that is in me.  We could not do this without those of you who see a need, step up, take ownership and get InVOLved.

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About a week and a half ago I had the great pleasure of going to the Ripley’s Aquarium of the Smokies with my beautiful wife Rachel.  The closest I had ever come to an aquarium before this event in my life was the fish section of the local Pet’s Mart.  It was an awesome experience, one that I will never forget, mainly because the beauty of the aquatic species but also because there were thirty-two 1st thru 5th graders accompanying myself and Prego. 

This was the first time we have ever taken the KIDZPLAYCE kids outside the church for an activity, and it was an amaz-zi-zing event.  After the aquarium closed down for the night we had the entire place to ourselves, we did late night scavenger huts, got to touch the sting rays (R.I.P. Croc Man), and even had a late night snack filled with pizza, kool-aid and rice krispy treats.  That part was brilliant…..except for the fact that it was at like 11:00 P.M. and then lights out was an hour later right as the sugar was beginning to flow through the veins of these kids who were already wound up because they got a chance to be away from mom and dad for a night. (Moms, Dads, your welcome)

As the time of actually sleeping with the sharks approached, the kids gained more and more energy and excitement.  Once we had camp set up in the Shark Tunnel their bladders somehow became the size of peas, no pun intended.  I don’t know if it was the laying under the ten billion gallons of water or what, but I have never seen a group of kids take that many  trips to the restroom in my entire life.  Once the potty breaks finally began to slow down, the fake flatchulent noises began roll as well as pillow fights and the sweet sounds of the KIDZPLAYCE ladies choir singing Round Up echoed through the entire tunnel from their distant camp site set up on the opposite end of the tunnel.  Somewhere around the 1 o’clock or 2 o’clock hour the rowdiness began to subside and all the days activities began to latch onto the kids and drag them into their dreaded slumber.  Of course there were the select few who decided to stay up all night, or said they were staying up all night to try and prove their inferiority over the younger children and the adults that needed their precious sleep. 

All in all it was a great evening, no shark bites, no one got lost in the aquarium, no on was stung by or bitten by any kind of venomous creature and no one fell in the parana tank, all good things in my eyes.  Also my pregnant wife made it through the entire night without giving birth or wetting her air mattress and all of the wonderful volunteers who went survived with many a story to tell I’m sure.  It was great to see the kids come together and build relationships with other kids that they may not have known. This trip was great and it was so cool to see the kids from all 5 services come together and hang out as one big group.  

Our next KIDZPLAYCE trip is scheduled for June 30 -July 3, (Camp KidJam) this one will be a little further from home, none the less it will be a great experience for the kids, with great teaching and activities to draw them closer to Christ while having a blast!

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