(School) Year in Review

The Poteats have had a great school year.

Lisa Reagan(bottom right) and I have completely enjoyed co-leading a group of six juniors and seniors.

Our little girl has been growing up, and let’s be honest.  That has been the most significant and joyful consumption for our lives this year.

She is 18 months old, now, and full of personality.  She gets funnier everyday, and she asserts her independence on a regular basis.

We spend lots of time across the street with her friend Annie Reagan.

And since it started to hint of warmth outside, we have been loving the park.

But, in case you are wondering, we mid-westerners throw ‘em out in the winter, too!

I took those pictures yesterday (just kidding), we are actually into spring at this point.

Our family is doing well, and Maddux is loving our life, engulfed in college students.  She has become quite the extrovert.  However, we have noticed a very clear pattern of her gravitating toward the guys.  I have actually seen her flirting!!  We will be addressing this problem as soon as possible.  This picture is from our recent Leader’s Retreat.

We will be leaving for Summer Training Project May 19th and returning to the Land of 10,000 Lakes at the beginning of August.

Love you all, thanks for asking for updates and pictures.

Back in Minneapolis

We got back home in August and took as many opportunities as we could to enjoy the sunny weather.

Trips to the park.

Of course, we had to visit the new stadium for the first home game.

We took a number of stops around the city to take pictures with Flat Stanley.

We even found ourselves at the Mall of America so that Flat Stanley could visit Legoland.

We have also made plenty of time to play with friends.

Annie Reagan lives across the street, so we see her pretty often. We try to have play dates every week or so with Ellie Jane Williamson (in the white) and Cally Brooks (in the blue).

Some of you think that I am joking when I say that we had to take advantage of the warm weather.

This is a picture out of our back window on October 8th!!

October 25th was our baby girl’s first birthday!!

Annie had her birthday 6 days earlier, so we had a joint celebration.

The girls were double-fisting their pumpkin cake…mmmmmm.

They have been able to share all of their birthday goodies, including Annie’s new wagon.

It has been a great fall.  Maddux loves being around the college students and has already picked a few favorites.

We love parenting in this new stage of her life.

The rest of summer…

…went really well and was full of great time with friends and family in the south.  We survived having a 8 and 9 month old there in a hotel with 120 college students.

Mimi and Pop came to visit Maddux (and her parents?) at the beach

Aunt Parker  and Uncle Adam were a hit when they visited us in Johnson City

 

We stayed with Grandmommy and Poppy in Spartanburg

and got to see cousins Thomas and Sarah in Greenville

We got to see a lot of other family, too, but if you think I am bad at blogging,

you can only imagine how terrible Maddux’s mother is at documenting important things in her life.

Summer News

This summer has been quite eventful for us, leaving Minneapolis at the end of May to spend all of June at the Summer Beach Project. At the time, we had a toothless, barely mobile, stoic child, who would only crack a smile for a handful of people.

She really blossomed at Beach Project.  She did amazingly with so many students and staff holding her.  Erin Martin is the best at making her laugh.

There were a lot of “firsts” this summer.

First time in the baby pool.

Maddux got her first tooth, and we found that gumming her Daddy’s favorite summer time treat, Freezie pops, was a great way to soothe the pain.

Maddux is crawling and pulling up on everything she can get to.  She loves walking while we hold her hands.  She had her first trip to the beach, and experienced her first taste of sand.

We left beach project at the end of June and are traveling to see family and friends until we return on July 23 to close up the project.   Maddux is just over 8 months old, and has been an increasing delight as she gets older. We thank the Lord for this privilege of parenthood.  We are learning a lot.

Maddux’s Latest

Well, our darling little 6 1/2 month old has been up to alot since I last blogged.  For future reference, my friend Lisa Reagan is an amazing blogger and usually has plenty of pics and info about Maddux on their website if you would like to check up on her there when you haven’t heard from me.

We just came back from a retreat with all of our leaders for our summer projects.  With this many leaders, you can imagine that we are preparing for a pretty big beach project this year!  Maddux seemed to enjoy it, and I loved being there with her.  We are learning what it is like to integrate our lives in ministry with our calling as parents.  Hope this learning curve is a steep one.  One thing is for sure, it has seemed to be a good thing for the students we spend time with to watch us “figuring this out.”

It is never easy to be so far away from family and so many of our friends, and the holidays can be pretty tough when I am used the the traditions in Tennessee.  However, it has been such amazing fun to spend time with our staff team (extended family)!  We went with the Reagans and Brooks for Easter.  Maddux is on the right, then little Cally in the middle and Annie on the right.

This curious look is Maddux’s most common expression so far.

I have been trying to pick up the camera more often…

Lisa and I took the girls to the pool.  For those of you in the south, the only pool up here that is open in May is the indoor pool at the YWCA.

I have some fun videos that I have no idea how to get from iMovie to the blog.  I will be working on that one.  Luckily, I will be spending much of the summer on our Beach Project in Myrtle Beach, and there are a number of students computer savvy enough to tutor me.

The only hope for suffering college students

I sat at one of our Wednesday night meetings in awe at the suffering of students around me. The girl to my right has been “excommunicated” from her family’s denomination and cut off from her family’s financial aid by her dad when she shared with them that she has given her life to Jesus Christ in college and has been going to church with us. The girl on my left has come through the ringer of a legalistic family life (to the point that they followed her through the house to see what she was doing wrong), then escaped into alcohol and sex before trusting in Jesus to give her freedom from her past. One of the girls in front of me has had her family ravaged by a decision that they made for the good of others. Another girl has been to 12 funerals in the past 2 years of significant people in her life, including her 23 year old sister, who died slowly of cancer. As the meeting got started (the first in our semester series on suffering), I couldn’t help but think of the girl that was babysitting Maddux. As a sophomore in high school, she listened to her mother shoot herself in the head after they exchanged sharp words.
It is interesting to think that so many shutter at the thought that we tell these students that there is a God who is both sovereign (in control) and good. He cares, he weeps with them, he calls us to weep with them, and he asks them to trust him. Every one of these women is learning what it means to trust in Jesus Christ, the man who was God, and suffered death and punishment so that they won’t have to. He has redeemed them from their pasts and promises to restore them to the source of all joy.  There is no other message of hope.

The once a month update…

The Poteats have had a great month, particularly because we have seen the sun for the first time in months!

Spring Break took us to South Carolina, where we got to visit with cousins, Sarah and Thomas

and Uncle Tony and Aunt Elizabeth

Maddux got her first dose of bonafide Vitamin D sunlight

I promise she is not picking her nose.  She hasn’t figured that out yet.

I am so much happier when I have seen sunlight!

When we got back, Maddux had to catch up with friend, Annie Reagan.

Maddux was far more amused with my behind the camera antics than Annie was.

And, yes, I did clip a bow to my child’s two strands of hair.  There have been too many questions about how old “he” is.  We are just waiting for those long locks to start growing.

So many friends…

Maddux has been so busy playing with all of her friends that her mommy has not updated the post (I warned y’all that I would be terrible with this).  So, since all anyone really wants to see is pics of the little girl:

when we were in the south, Maddux visited with

Mommy’s best friend, Mary Craig

fun little friends, Annie and Buddy

Maddux got to meet some of her family for the first time (of course the grandmothers had already loved on her when they came up here.)

Grandmommy, Aunt Corrie, and lots of cousins in South Carolina

It was fun to have four generations of Maddux girls together.  This is Granny Maddux with us and Mom.

Aunt Ali, and Uncle Thomas came into town to meet Maddux.

And when we came back to Minnesota, we had to meet Baby Callie Brooks, two months younger than Maddux.

And of course the Saaris, Caleb and Lucy (for those of you who have heard, these are the friends that sent out the fake announcement that their baby born 3 weeks before ours was named Maddux – ha,ha)

Our friend, Josiah, calls her “my Maddux.”  Could it get any cuter?

As you can see, Maddux’s “rosy apple” outfit is her favorite. Thanks MC! I can’t believe that she is wearing the same outfit in most of these pictures taken over a 3 week period.  I promise that I bathe and change my child.

And if you are wondering how you bundle a small child BEFORE you put them in an insulated car seat, piled with blankets, in a pre-heated car, in -18 degree weather…

Can’t wait for the Minnesota to warm up this summer – August.

On the medical front

I am so thankful for all of the prayers and inquiries about my health.  I am free from infection and thankful to be nursing our little one with greater ease.

Maddux’s Firsts

While you have not been hearing very much from us, Maddux has been busy with alot of firsts…

Maddux went to her first Christmas Conference

She dressed up to go to her first wedding (Jim and Brie, a couple on staff with us)

She also took her first plane ride to the south (and introduced so many air travelers to the definition of “major diaper blowout” – we are so proud of our little girl)

I will post more in the next day or so, but Paul promised pictures tonight, and we know that everyone just wants to see what she looks like at week 12!