Anthony Courter Family

more from the SoS Conference

noreply@blogger.com ({ jessica }) — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 12:09:00 +0000

Once again, Audri shared some of her pictures with me for the blog :)

Mr. Washer

Mr. Brown

The Sufficiency of Scripture Mens Choral

Mr. Phillips

on Saturday evening they premiered The Mysterious Islands

signing posters

Sufficiency of Scripure [misc pictures]

noreply@blogger.com ({ jessica }) — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 11:57:00 +0000

the boys - smiling, hiding or staring :]

we also met up with the Konvalin Family

Mr. Baucham

Lincoln taking notes

Joel V.

Sufficiency of Scripture Conference

noreply@blogger.com ({ jessica }) — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 11:28:00 +0000

The Conference started on Thursday evening - it was packed. They were estimating around 1,200 participants, but the final estimate ended up around 2,500!

Mr. Baucham speaking

Part of the "courter" row

Jeff Pollard speaking on Biblical Femininity

Mother and Daughter

Olivia and Rebekah

the up and coming photographer :]

Before the crowds started to arrive after a supper break

Mr. Phillips speaking

We were able to meet up with lots of friends, including the Castilles

more pictures...

noreply@blogger.com ({ jessica }) — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 13:01:00 +0000

from the Verniers visit - thanks to Audri for these pictures!

no comment...

Esther and Natasha

The boys - Back: Joel, Josiah, Justice, Caleb

Front: Lincoln, Elijah

Cincinnatti, Ohio (SOS part 1)

noreply@blogger.com ({ jessica }) — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 03:46:00 +0000

December 10-12th The National Center for Family Integrated Churches held their first conference in Cincinnatti, OH - The Sufficiency of Scripture. I know this was a super long time ago, but I've received a few requests for pictures, so here they are :) The conference was absolutely amazing!

We were blessed enough to have the Verniers come up to spend a few days with us before heading to the Conference together. They also brought John Moore in tow (plus a few Botkins at first) so we had a marvelous house-full for a few days.

Wednesday morning Us, the Verniers, Botkins and Noors all caravaned up to Covington, KY, which is on the outskirts of Cincinnatti. It was cold - very cold - with snow on the ground.

Then we invaded this hotel :]

Thursday morning we tramped outside to just look around. It was quickly decided that that wasn't the smartest idea as the wind was blowing pretty nicely.

However, not to give up easily, we trudged down to the little "warf" beside the water, and then headed back inside.

Gathering our little group together, we waited on others to arrive, before heading out to the Creation Museum.

Creation Museum

waiting in line

the two Daniels conversing together

Ben and Lincoln carrying on an important conversation of some sort

pretty creatures - big...

... and small

I think he's smiling... but I'm not quite sure on that ;]

going through the Bible

Moses

The plaques were beautiful. They did a wonderful job on the whole thing!

and eventually leading up into the dark ages of today

miniatures of the ark

and of course, there were great discussions going on everywhere...!

Part 2 coming soon, Lord willing!

The Mysterious Islands Premeir

noreply@blogger.com ({ jessica }) — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 18:03:00 +0000

December 3rd our family gathered with other fellow believers to witness the debut of the Mysterious Islands film that was being shown at a theater in Franklin.

waiting for the doors to open

Seating everyone...

Mr. Botkin introducing the producer - Mr. Phillips

After the film, Mr. Phillips interviewed several of the men who helped with the film.

For more photos, go to Doug's Blog

Handels Messiah

noreply@blogger.com ({ jessica }) — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 18:28:00 +0000

Friday and Saturday, Jenifer Duarte was performing with her college choir the Messiah. We had promised her a long time ago that we would try and come for it, but it did look like we weren't going to be able to make it at one point, so she thought we weren't going to be coming... However, Friday morning we drove over to NC to surprise her and Jana :)

Saturday we took the girls out to do some shopping...

Caleb and Jana

Rebekah, Jana, Jeni and I

The choir was performing both Friday night and Saturday night. These are from Saturday nights performance.

Jenifer and Janalee after the concert

then all of us girls together <3

We stayed for church Sunday morning service and then drove straight home right after that. We'll be home for a while now... well, around a week or so, that is :) During that time the Vernier family will be coming up and staying with us and then we leave for the Sufficiency of Scripture conference in Cincinnati, OH! We are *so* excited!

Working on Josh's house

noreply@blogger.com ({ jessica }) — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 17:43:00 +0000

Here's the front of the house before we started working.

Aaron hard at work removing one of the skylights :)

Daniel and Joshua working on the other one

Meanwhile, inside Lincoln and Caleb started ripping up some old flooring.

Anna contentedly sucking her fingers while surveying the mess before it was cleaned up :)

Bekah and the journalist

Aaron preparing the door trim for paint

Dad preparing the walls for paint by applying joint compound

In between the miscellaneous jobs for the little ones, they took up their own form of painting

Bekah and Anna

it's called lunch for a crowd :)

nap time for Anna

We were there working for a week working and by the time we left the outside was completely finished, all the trim and ceilings were painted, half the inside rooms were painted, the skylights removed and the roofing fixed, as well as a few other misc. things.

Unfortunately, I don't have any before and after photos, but I hope to round up a few soon....
Until then, you can go to Joshua Steele's blog for more pictures.

Workin'... sort of

noreply@blogger.com ({ jessica }) — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 17:10:00 +0000

Our reasons for coming to Texas this trip was to go to Nathans Wedding and also to help Joshua Steele remodel a house.

We checked out the house Sunday evening (the 8th) and prepared to start to work on Monday morning. Unfortunately some kind of sickness had been going around during the wedding and Josh got it Sunday night, so he wasn't able to come... but being without a key to the house didn't really stop us :)

we just climbed on the roof...

lifted a skylight that was being removed anyways...

used a little brother...

and lowered him down...

...down...

...down

so he could unlock the doors :)

Day/Rebsch Wedding

noreply@blogger.com ({ jessica }) — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 17:08:00 +0000

Saturday (Nov. 7th) we attended Nathan Day and Katelin Rebsch's wedding in Houston.

seating everyone

a bit of prelude music

We're almost ready!

Seating the Grandparents

the parents of the Groom

and parents of the Bride

and then in comes the Groom!

Katrina, Katelins sister

Mrs. Steele

is it my turn yet?

and then comes the Bride :)

Pastor giving a word of exhortation

Saying their vows

Exchanging rings

a special song

Mr. and Mrs. Nathan Day

Gathering outside after the reception

It was a Rebsch tradition to bang on pots and pans to celebrate special moments - so we were all equipped with the necessary tools and folks started banging away :)

it was quite loud, as you can imagine!

Here they come!

and away, away they went

the end :)

For more posts on the wedding you can go to:

Living for Jesus (Katelyn's sister)

Daughters of Vision...: A Joyful Celebration!

San Jacinto Monument

noreply@blogger.com ({ jessica }) — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 17:02:00 +0000

Saturday Morning (the 7th) just before the wedding, we went to go visit the San Jacinto Monument.

For those of you who are unaware, San Jacinto is where Sam Houston captured and defeated Mexican General Santa Anna shortly after his victory at the Alamo.

The Monument stands 567.31 feet tall and is the world tallest monumental column (the Washington memorial stands 555' 5")

Reading the walls

a quick family portrait

It is topped with a 220-ton lone star standing 34 feet tall!

[ Texas Trip Intro ]

noreply@blogger.com ({ jessica }) — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 17:01:00 +0000

Some of you knew that we took a trip to Texas not to long ago - well I'm just getting around to blogging about it here... my apologies! We went so that we could attend the Nathan Day/Katelyn Rebsch wedding on Nov. 7th and also to help Joshua Steele remodel his house.

and so our adventure begins.... more posts to follow soon :)

Corn Maze

noreply@blogger.com ({ jessica }) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 14:53:00 +0000

Last Saturday (the 24th) we went with the Powells and the Welches to a corn maze in Spring Hill. While we were waiting on the Welches to arrive, we decided to get a few group shots.

Do you know how hard it is to get a group of boys all paying attention? hard. very hard.

the boys making a pyramid :)

and then all the kids!

Unfortunately, I didn't get a group shot once the Welches got there, but here's a picture of us girls

You can read a bit more about the corn maze night over HERE

how they came tumbling down

noreply@blogger.com ({ jessica }) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 23:23:00 +0000

Ice Skating

noreply@blogger.com ({ jessica }) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 16:24:00 +0000

Wednesday (the 21st) we got together a group of families and all went ice skating in Nashville! We had quite a blast :) Unfortunately, I don't have that many pictures, but here's a few.

Mallory skating with Caleb and Lincoln

Joshua

Tori and Bekah

Lauren was so cute skating :)

Grant and Josiah

Mrs. Powell holding Christina while talking to Mrs. Pine

Tori and Bekah

Elise's Bridal Shower

noreply@blogger.com ({ jessica }) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 02:46:00 +0000

Sunday, October 19th, Rachel Stokes hosted a bridal shower for Elise Draper, which we were invited to.

the food spread

Amelia Mathews made this beautiful cake!

a group of dear friends! Laurel, Rachel, Rebekah, Peyton (sitting in front of Rachel and Bekah), Victoria, Hannah, Jessica, Abigail, Mallory and Amelia

Elise opening some gifts

before we were done, some of the men arrived to pick up their wives. They decided to come early because even if it wasn't over they could at least eat the leftovers :D

You can see more pictures from the shower and read about Elise and Gabriel (her fiance) at the Draper family blog.

Jed Flies Home

noreply@blogger.com ({ jessica }) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 02:18:00 +0000

October 5th Jed flew back home to Brazil. We managed to get both Jeni and Jana off of work (they work at the collage campus) so we all went to do some last minute shopping for Jed and then take him to the airport in Charlotte.

Group shot - L to R: Esther, Jenifer, Rebekah, Janalee, Jedidiah, Daniel, Aaron and Josiah

Jeni writing notes to friends and family back in Brazil

And he's off!

It's hard to believe that he was with us for nearly 6 weeks! We had a wonderful time with him and many memories were made :) We miss you Jed!

Gun Shootin'

noreply@blogger.com ({ jessica }) — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 16:01:00 +0000

Lots has been going on, so much in fact that there is no way of writing about it all! Jedidiah had been wanting to go shooting before he left for Brazil and since part of the Vernier family was up visiting we decided to take a morning off and go target practicing. So off to the Chert pit we went :)

The little boys shooting with their BB guns while the big boys set up their targets

Lincoln the little cowboy

(photo courtesy of Mallory Powell)

Jedidiah

Meanwhile the girls... waited and took pictures :)

all set up and firing away

L to R: Charles, Daniel, Jed, Mr. Vernier and Aaron

the on lookers

L to R: Mallory, Mr. Powell, Mrs. Powell, Anna, Mom, Rebekah, Ellen, and Esther

Ellen and I (she's trying out a new scarf style...)

and then we borrowed a few nice guns... We took a few others, but they remain highly classified :)

Jedidiah trying out the big one

Esther shooting a .22

Dad

Mr. Powell

Mrs. Powell

Brett

The Boys: Jed, Aaron, Josiah, Eric, Daniel, Brett, and Charles

Ellen

My kind of gun!

After we were all done all the kids jumped into the back of Mr. Verniers pickup and went home for lunch and volleyball.

Ropes Course

noreply@blogger.com ({ jessica }) — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 14:07:00 +0000

September 18th was Aarons 16th Birthday. To celebrate, the Powells helped arrange for us to go out to the ropes course at Camp Linden! We were able to keep it a surprise from Aaron and invited the Welch's, Pines, and Swanks (Mom's Sister's family) to go with us.

Here's a picture to try and help you picture how everything works: There are 3 levels and 2 sectons to each level.

part of the line-up!

All rigged up and ready to go

We separated into three teams and all started on different levels and sections.

Team 1 consisted of Dad, Uncle Dan, Josiah, Brett, Eric and Mr. Welch

Team 2 was the girls team of Tori, Rebekah, Mallory, Amber and I

Daniel, Jarret, Aaron, Jedi

diah, Grant and Dylan made up Team 3. Here they are starting on "the matrix" or the first section of level 2. They have to get everyone across as a team without holding onto anything (like their safety straps, etc) but just using each other to keep their balance.

believe me, it's harder then it looks! If someone starts shaking, the entire line can become unstable.

Mr. Welch and Dad from team 1 working on getting everyone across. This is from the first level. You have get your entire team to the other side by walking on a tight rope.

There are a few ropes hanging down to help you get from one side to the other, but you have to figure out how to make them work!

Almost across! Technically, if someone falls off, you have to start that section again :)

Team 3 working on section 2 of level two. Here there are two tightropes and support ropes in an X - once again, you have to get your team across and figure out how to use the ropes to balance you. Since your support ropes are also in an X once you get to the middle, you have to step over the rope twice, which is quite a balancing act!

The girls start on Level one section 2. The object is to get everyone across without letting the board touch the ground and anyone fall off - the only thing you could hold on to were the ropes holding the sections up. If this course had been higher off the ground, this would have been the most challenging section to do. But since you were close to the ground, you felt like you could risk more :)

I think each team had someone fall off at least once on this section - one team had a couple folks ;)

The boys (team 3) finishing up level 2 section 2. Here Dylan is trying to assist Grant by holding the ropes steady as he steps over the X.

The Girls making progress

Team 1 starting on the Matrix.

team work - if one falls, they all fall :)

Here's a picture put into perspective! The boys (team 3) are starting on level 3 section 2. Here there are only a few vertical poles that you can hold on to and they are space a *long* way apart!

The Girls starting on level 1 section 1

This picture was taken from the other side of the last vertical picture. You can see the boys (group 3) are still up on the vertical poles, team 1 is on level 2 finishing up the matrix and team 2 is working on level 1.

The girls are almost across!

Dad working on crossing the X on level 2

The Girls headed up to level 2!

The boys finished up with the verticle poles and started on the last course on level 3. There are 2 pully systems with ropes hanging down and you have to evenly balance your team on each side so they will pull against each other and keep their balance.

Team 1 finishing up the X

The boys are finished with both level 2 and 3 so they take the zip line to the bottom.

Jed and Aaron

Daniel and Jerrit

Dylan and Grant

Jed all geared up

The girls working their way across the Matrix

Team 1 starts on the verticle poles while the boys start on level 1

balance :)

Team 1 now working on the last secton on level 3! The pully system...

This is what happens when you get all your safety lines confused!

Team 1 now working on level one

The girls working on level 3

Bekah and Tori taking the zip line down

We had a *blast* doing this :) The main feeling what that the vertical poles (level 3) were the hardest to do though a few folks thought it was the matrix on level 2

August in Review [part two]

noreply@blogger.com ({ jessica }) — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 18:14:00 +0000

Daniel comes home from Ukraine! - August 12

August 12th we drove back home and picked Daniel up at the Nashville airport.

Here he comes...

hugs all around

driving the '55 for the first time :)

South/North Carolina Trip - August 20th through the 28th

After 6 busy days at home, during which we had the Boyle family from Romania staying with us, we packed up again, but this time to the Carolinas. The Duarte kids were flying in from Brazil so the girls could go to Ambassador College in North Carolina - Jedidiah chaperoned them here and then was able to extend his stay to stay with us for 5 weeks! So we headed over there to spend a few days with the girls before school started and to pick Jed up.

Walking some trails at the Cowpens battlefield

Touring the North Carlina capitol. This is supposed to be a statue of George Washington in Roman garb - it was carved by an Italian who had never seen a picture of Washington, but he wanted to honor the General. It doesn't look *anything* like George Washington!

Dinner with the Hellwigs

Wednesday night the Hellwig family had us over for dinner. Mr. Hellwig is our Programmer for Pathfinder and it was great to finally be able to meet them!

Playing volleyball

Gabrielle and Christianna

Tobias, Anna and Lincoln

Though I don't have pictures, Thursday morning we went and visited the Sterling family for a little bit. Then we headed home....

Starlight Symphony - August 29th

We got home on Friday morning and Saturday night we went to the Starlight Symphony put on by the Jackson Symphony Orchestra along with the Powells and the Pierce family. Unfortunently, some of the Pierces got sick and only half of them were able to come.

The boys by the cannon that are fired off during the 1812 Overture.

Miss Adorable and I

Jacquelyn, Rebekah, Me, Mallory, and Victoria

Esther took the above photo for me, so I got one for her as well.

Jacquelyn, Rebekah, Esther, Mallory, and Victoria

For the 1812 Overture we went down to watch the cannons go off.

And now we're caught up on blogging! Wohoo!

August in Review [part one]

noreply@blogger.com ({ jessica }) — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 17:34:00 +0000

This month has flown by so fast! I've decided to do a couple quick "catch up" posts instead of lots of little posts - so hang on for the ride :)

National Street Rod Assoc. Show in Louisville, KY - August 6th
We needed to make a trip up to Indiana to help our grandparents on their farm as well as run over to Ohio to pick up a few things for business, so Dad carefully timed our trip so that we would be going through Louisville the same time as this show... :) If you recall, we were at this show last year {Our Trip Home}.

another reflection picture - similar to the one from last year.

queen of the show

I loved this one below!

Indiana State Fair - August 11th

While in Indiana, we took a day and went to the state fair with Grandma and Grandpa.

a picture before heading out

Grandpa: we always knew there was something special about him :)

Lincoln, my handsome little man

Lincoln

Elijah

Bekah Dear

Dad posing with the O-fishull Ve-hikkel of Possum Holler

Kash 4 Klunkers - ask about our new helth plan. I just had to get a picture!

Needlework

watching a coppersmith

Grandpa and I

Daniel is Home!

noreply@blogger.com ({ jessica }) — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 10:50:00 +0000

(photo taken with the iPhone)

He made it in safe and sound last night... We've got a lot of catching up to do!

untitled post

noreply@blogger.com ({ jessica }) — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 10:57:00 +0000

{photo courtesy of Josiah}

Our New Old Car

noreply@blogger.com ({ jessica }) — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 15:34:00 +0000

Black Convertible 55' Chevy with Red and Tan interior.

Beautiful, isn't she? You can see more pictures here.

Over load on posts?

noreply@blogger.com ({ jessica }) — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 01:54:00 +0000

I'm sure you've been wondering where the Courter family has been lately... Well, we have decided to not post on an open blog when we're traveling so for the past three weeks I have been updating a private, secured blog. However, now that we're home I have moved all the posts over here.... I think there was a total of 22 posts in all!

If you would like to be included in the group to read our secured traveling blog please send me an email. You can do this by using the Contact Me button that is located on the bottom of the right hand column.