Yesterday, along with the Thurmans, Lauren and I had the pleasure of getting to tour the forthcoming home for Buckhead Church. Like any other North Point/Buckhead event, the polish and attention to detail on the event itself was top notch. We got to see each of the four floors of the building, as well as the main worship area.

Some interesting tidbits:

Below the 1st floor is a parking lot that holds as many spots as the current main parking lot holds — this lot is reserved for Waumba Land / KidStuff families.

Better still, to get to this special parking lot, you actually drive your car/VAN through a tunnel that cuts into building for easy child drop-off. (It is very cool).

There’s an escalator system and stairwells & elevators designed just for children (to ensure their safety, etc.)

The building is 200,000 Sq. ft. That means it is really big.

The worship auditorium holds 3-4 times as many attendees as the current one does. The “upper-deck” seating area alone holds as many as the current in itself.

Beyond these, I can’t remember all the other really creative ways they solved certain problems with trying to fit a church in such a place and meet the needs of various groups.

Finally, what is more impressive to me was Jeff Henderson’s (Pastor) 15min. talk he gave to us at the end of the tour. What stuck out is that in all the planning and fund raising that has gone into the church, they remain cognizant (as we must be) of the fact that the building remains temporal. He noted that “every church has a closing day” and that one day in the future the building will be sold, abandoned or demoed. So with that in mind, we must use the space in a great way and to the best of our ability through Jesus. I thought this was all really forward thinking and very wise. It made Lauren and I extremely proud of what Buckhead church is doing and how the vision that God has given the leaders there remains laser focused on reaching unbelievers. Sidenote: Jeff also remarked how well the Atlantic Station service went earlier in the day — this is where they’ve rented a Regal Cinema screen for the morning to beam the service to. Apparently they packed out every seat (even having to turn away 50 people). But next week they’re going to reserve TWO theater screens for the same thing. Pretty exciting. Below are some photos of the worship auditorium in construction.

Above: A view from the upper seating level.

Above: A lateral view across the upper seating level. Curves rule this building’s design to beautiful effect.

Lauren and I from the top level.

When we started this blog over a year (!) ago, we used the first post to thank people for everything they had been doing for us and our engagement. Tonight as we ate a delicious dinner prepared by Josh, we talked about all the amazing things we’ve done and people we’ve met during our first year of marriage.

This year was a busy, crazy year! We joined up with our awesome community group, I started my first job, and I only threatened to quit my first job twice. Josh threatened to quit his first job and actually followed through. Thus sending him off to grad school while I move into a second year of teaching that is supposed to be easier than the first. (Prayers accepted.) Josh got his wedding ring resized- twice.

Josh won his first design award, complete with a trip to Paris, we went to four weddings of friends of ours, welcomed a new niece, and the first of our friends had a baby boy. We celebrated Silas’s first birthday, moved Annie into her freshman dorm, had two sets of friends get engaged, and went on our first helicopter ride. And saw Mount Rushmore and the Eiffel Tower. Not to mention the Anna Ruby Falls we visited just yesterday.

We thank Jesus for his blessings and faithfulness in our marriage this year.

We could go on, but pictures are worth so many more words. So here’s about 50,000 words summed up into little moments captured on film. Err — on digital screens from the past year. Some you’ll remember, some are new. Enjoy them all!

In case you don’t already know, Lauren and I have a new beautiful little niece named Caroline. God has blessed John and Katie with yet another little girl. Lauren’s sister Mandy took these photos on her first day and we thought you might enjoy them. So… enjoy getting to know Baby Caroline.

We’re home! Here’s some photos from Paris, and from Limoges, where the 24hr design competition was. They didn’t win but had a great time just enjoying where they ended up. Hope you enjoy these photos — complete with captions since we made you wait a little while. =)

We made it! Here we are at the Eiffel Tower . . . we will visit this amazing place again tomorrow to get some day-time shots. We are also going to hit up the Louvre tomorrow as well.