Tuesday, August 29, 2006

Spiders!

Ok, so I don't like spiders, they scare me big time. But...I can't not look at them when I find one...I get curious, what kind is it? THe kids and I were enjoying the backyard and as I was feeding Levi I glanced at the fence and saw a rather large egg sac and spider. Turns out it was a black widow. I got brave and sprayed it with ant spray (while holding Levi). We watched her dance around and die and then I squished her. We tried to open her egg sac, but ended up just squishing it. The kids wanted to know what baby black widows look like so I went to the great world wide web to get more info. I found this GREAT site where people send in photos they took of spiders in their homes, yards, ect and this guy identifies them. I should have taken a pic. The kids and I spent quite awhile looking at all the photos and going, "ooohhh, wow, that's crazy!" If you have time and are curious, it's a great site. Caution, the brown recluse spider bite pics are graphic!
www.spiderzrule.com
~Rose

Two Months Old!






August 26th marked 2 months for Levi! He's sleeping much better, usually one feeding in the middle of the night, and sometimes he sleeps all the way through. We'll move him into Owen's room soon. Levi is still pretty cranky during the day, but has started to smile and coo at us. He really loves his siblings faces and reacts in such a cute way with them. He's gaining weight...look at those thighs! Thanks Kameron for the "shoe" socks, they fit great and are so cute! We love you all! Love, Rose

Ancient Paths Church Update

-Ancient Paths Church
Desi & Rose Starr -Inner City Urban Missionaries

Changes are afoot at APC! First of all, our good friends Dwayne and Aimee Dokes have left our leadership. Over the past few months the Dokes and us have been praying about whether they were a good fit for the ministry at APC. The direction we have been moving in is more non-traditional, flexible, informal and relational. With much prayer and discussion, they felt that God was leading them in another direction and we are fully supportive of them in their moving on. It came down to a difference of philosophy of ministry. They feel called to be a part of a more traditional church that is tied to a particular location while we are feeling God drawing us to be the church in a more informal and flexible way (more details to follow). There are no sin issues and no hard feelings. We are blessed to have them as friends, and excited to see where God leads the Dokes and what He does with and through them. Please pray for them as they go out on their own and seek the ministry He has for them.

It’s interesting how God moves...usually not when we expect it! Most of our leadership has been on vacation or taking kids to camp for the month of July. Desi has been able to spend more time at home to help Rose adjust to Levi, sort of a paternity leave! During the past few months, Desi has been praying a lot about how God would have us “be” the church in such a way that we could best glorify God, live as a community, and reach the lost. This past month he read a book called Organic Church, by Neil Cole and felt a light turn on. It’s about being the church rather than going to church and our worship gatherings being reduced down to their most simple form so that they can be easily reproduced, especially among the lost where they live. Neil Cole puts it this way, “We want to lower the bar of how church is done and raise the bar of what it means to be a disciple.” When we talk about lowering the bar of how church is done this doesn’t mean compromise in our worship gatherings but going back to the simplicity that we see in the early church’s gatherings (Acts 2:42-47). What does this all mean for Ancient Paths Church? We believe God has been working in us and preparing us to start a network of small, family-like simple churches (vibrant families of Jesus who are following Him together on His mission) all over Denver’s inner city, that are focused on, and believing God in prayer for the transformation of our neighborhoods. These churches are to be beacons of hope to the hopeless and a community of lighthouses shining forth God’s life transforming truth into the night. Many lost people are turned off by traditional church for various reasons but believe in God and want to know who He is. We believe that God is drawing such people to Himself. Jesus told us, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.” (Luke 10:2) We are trying to take Jesus at His word and believe Him that the harvest is plentiful but that urban Denver needs more workers for the harvest. How do we find these workers? Jesus says to pray to the Lord of the harvest and so we are praying daily that He would raise up the workers for His ministry here. Please join us in prayer.

Prayer Requests:
• Wisdom and direction for the Dokes Family
• Laborers for the harvest in N.E. Denver
• Fruitful Gathering Events
• Develop deeper relationships with non-believing friends and neighbors
• Direction for APC
• Meet the needs of those around us
• Regular family & couple devotions
• Home-schooling Hope for 1st grade. We begin Sept. 7th.
• Consistency in raising our children God’s way
• Levi to sleep through the night!
• Consistency for Rose in reading the Bible
• Owen to be totally potty trained!
~Desi & Rose Starr

Monday, August 28, 2006

Free Zoo Night











Every year Jefferson County Public School employees get to go to the zoo for free for a few hours one night. Since my mom and Lori's dad both work for the county, we get to go! My brother Jason joined us as well, but the grandparents couldn't make it. It's been awhile since we've been to the zoo (our passes ran out last Dec) and Emma was so excited to see all the animals. We had a great time and ended the night with a carosel ride. Note the great pic of the mullet...they still exsist!
~Rose

Friday, August 25, 2006

All My Children

Can you spot the "real" doll?

Momma Jr. loves her baby!

All My Children!

~Rose

Thursday, August 24, 2006

F.U.N.

"F" IS FOR FRIENDS WHO DO THINGS TOGETHER, "U" IS FOR YOU AND ME, "N" IS FOR ANYTHING, ANYTIME AT ALL, DOWN HERE IN THE DEEP BLUE SEA... ~SpongeBob

Emma strung these shapes all by herself!

Owen loves to work on patterns!

We posed just like the puzzle pieces!



Kids can be so much fun! ~Rose

Wednesday, August 23, 2006

Budding Photographer?

Hope took this shot of Levi today. Beautiful.

~Rose

10 Commandments In Ebonics

Friends of ours in CA sent this to us awhile back. We think you might enjoy it. -Desi and Rose
1.* I'm God. Don't play me.* (I am the Lord thy God, thou shalt not have any other gods before me.)
2.* Don't be makin no hood ornaments and charms outta me, or like me.* (Thou shalt not have any graven images)
3. *Don't be callin' me for no reason.* (Thou shalt not use the name of the Lord thy God in vain)
4. *Y'all betta be in church on Sunday, and not just the Sundays when it's Mother's day, Easter and Christmas* (Remember to keep the Sabbath day holy)
5. *Don't dis or cuss out yo momma...and if you know who ya daddy is, don't dis him neither.* (Honor thy father and thy mother)
6. *Don 't be goin' on no drive bys.* (Thou shalt not kill)
7. *Stick to ya own Boo.* (Thou shalt not commit adultery)
8. *Don't be borrow'n stuff and don't give it back.* (Thou shalt not steal)
9. *Don't be snitchin' on the otha' man to save your behind.* (Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy brother)
10. *Don't be eyein' (skeeming) yo homie's crib, ride, woman, or nuffin.* (Thou shalt not covet anything that belongs to thy brother).

Friday, August 18, 2006

RED!

Hope has been asking me about coloring her hair red...like Ariel in the Little Mermaid. I have put her off for a few weeks until I saw some temporary hair dye at Target for about $5. We asked Desi and his response, "Why not?" So, yesterday we colored Hope's hair and boy was she excited! As you can see, it's pretty bright! We must be pretty cool parents to let our 5yr dye her hair! Ha Ha!

We were over at the Duell's house today to take some family pictures for them. Karen kindly took some family shots for us. These are a couple of the better ones.

Make a silly face!

~Rose

Tuesday, August 15, 2006

Mama Jr.


It's nice to have Mama Jr. around, although I doubt Levi really likes to be held by her...Just look at his expression! For all you worriers out there, Hope is very proficient with holding him and is very careful...Even then, the worst that could happen is she drops him and he falls 2 feet and cries a lot. Hope fell off our bed twice as a baby and is o.k. In fact, she's one of the smartest almost 6yr olds around! Don't know why I am going on about this...Must be the sever exhaustion! Ha Ha!

Worms, Worms, and More Worms

What's more fun than fishing for worms in puddles after a big rain storm? According to these kids nothing is!



~Rose

Monday, August 14, 2006

Thank You Aunt Nina!


We love the beautiful blanket you made for Levi! Thank you! I used it today to shield him from that hail!
Love you, Rose

HAIL!

We have been having April thunderstorms in August lately. This afternoon, we were out on the porch and quickly it became overcast and it started raining and hailing with BIG lightning and thunder! We had to run it the house because the wind was blowing the rain and hail sideways! Enjoy the pics!




-Rose

Friday, August 11, 2006

Owen Turns 4 Today!













Owen! Our second born turned 4 today! Time really does fly by! We had a "Race Car" party for him. Owen said the house looked so wonderful...(race car decorations...checkered flags). A few friends and family came to celebrate. The kids raced matchbox cars down the sidewalk for prizes, colored with sidewalk chalk, and played with bubbles. We could even hear the Grand Prix downtown...It runs for 3 days this weekend...nice background noise for the party. We had pizza and Desi's now famous collard greens. The race car cake was a hit...but the kids liked the popsicles and gogurts even better. Owen took the time to open his cards before tearing apart the gifts. He loved the new toys, especially the nurf guns and new matchbox cars. Thank you to all who came and to those who missed it, we missed you too! Thank you for all the great gifts! We are truly blessed to have such great friends and family!
~Rose
P.S. Click on a picture to see it full page.

VBS at Carrie's House

This week we had a church come out to do a VBS at Carrie's House. Carrie's neighborhood kids showed up for 3 days of fun, sun and Bible! It was a great chance to build relationships and share the love of God. Click on a photo to see it full page.






~Rose