destination .

I’m not a frequent poster on my blog…but Carrie is

destinationadventure — Thu, 19 May 2011 22:54:27 +0000

I will update from time to time but Carrie started a blog if you want more current updates on what the Mahaffie’s are up to.

Her blog is…

http://www.carriemahaffie.blogspot.com/

Spurgeon

destinationadventure — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 21:41:16 +0000

I am writing a paper on Equipping through Mentoring and came across this quote from C.H. Spurgeon’s book Soul Winner. Sit and think about this for a while, are the things that keep us from this life worth it?

Give me a man not only with a great object in his soul, but thoroughly possessed by it, his powers all concentrated, and himself on fire with vehement zeal for his supreme object, and you have put before me one of the greatest sources of power which the world can produce. Give me a man engrossed with holy love in his heart, and filled with some masterly celestial thought as to his brain, and such a man will be known wherever his lot may be cast, and I venture to prophesy that his name will be remembered long after the place of his speulchre shall be forgotten.

Speulchre – tomb, grave, burial place (I had to look it up!!)

What’s new…

destinationadventure — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 22:39:25 +0000

   As usual I begin a post with the words “it has been a while” but I guess that is to be expected.
   The familia is doing well, sorry no pictures I am in between classes at school, Taylor is having a great time making friends at church and she is quite the little gymnist during her gymnastics class. Cameron has almost caught on to the crawling thing, he can scoot backwards but he wants to go forward, needless to say he gets frustrated that his toys keep getting further and further away.
   I have been enjoying Golden Gate and am learning quite a bit. It is on to Greek next semester and I am really excited to get going on that. I am also coaching the freshmen girls softball team this season. We have a really good team and it has been a fun experience.
   Well just wanted to drop a quick note to update you. If you are in the area give us a call, or even if you are not give us a call.

The Latest

destinationadventure — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 21:56:56 +0000

Well if you have not heard the latest the Mahaffie’s are back in California, Manteca to be exact. Dan is the youth pastor at Sequoia Heights Baptist Church in Manteca and will transfer to Golden Gate Seminary in Mill Valley to finish up the remaining classes for the MDiv. Carrie, Taylor, and Cameron are all doing very well, Cam just had his first tooth break (cut) through. For you dental people he got tooth “o” since baby teeth are letters.

While waiting for our house to sell in IN Dan’s parents have graciously let us take over their house. Here is one of our Christmas pics in the “forest” in their backyard. We had a Backyard Light Trist and decorated the trees and yard with lights, it was a blast.

We have a great group of students and are enjoying getting to know them. We are excited about what the Lord has for us here and look forward to putting down some roots and ministering to the community here and throughout the world.

Thank you to all who have been praying for us during this transition. As always the Lord has been faithful and we know He will continue to lead us in the days to come!!

Cameron

destinationadventure — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 18:57:11 +0000

Here he is all 8lbs 3oz of him. He was born on June 22 at about 11:30 am. Praise the Lord that it was an uneventful birth and everyone is healthy!

Cameron Kingston Mahaffie

While we were waiting for Cameron to come Taylor was helping Grandpa with some drywall.

She was very excited to see her little brother!

Tickeling Cameron

When she was not at the hospital she was either at the park, McDonald’s, the tree slide, or here at the “animal park” with Grandma and Grandpa.

Giving Snow White a hug

More tickeling

Giving kisses

Helping burp her bro

Helping Gma and Gpa make a sign for us

And some donuts with grandpa!

It was a great experience for us and Taylor had a blast with Grandma and Grandpa.
I am also able to take some time off work to be home which has been wonderful. We are enjoying some time together as a family for the next week or so and then we will learn how to adjust.

Thank you for you prayers for us we really appreciate them. God has been extremely good to us and we look forward to whatever He has in store.

Still here…

destinationadventure — Tue, 26 May 2009 19:09:59 +0000

Yes it has been since February…deal with it!!

I will try to update you by topics (western systematic mind).

Family———
Taylor is a strong 2.5 yrs old. She is an absolute joy. She has personality for days (which she gets from her mother) and has developed a bit of sassyness(which she also gets from her mother)! She is a counter, semi-speller, fast talker, and unashamed singer of all tunes (whether she knows them or not). She is the sweetest most gentle and kind girl you can imagine but she is not afraid to ‘hammer time’ (not MC but wrestle) when someone needs to be taken down a couple notches! This is our daily ritual when I get home from work. She enjoys story time at the library, reading books, watching movies (care bears, strawberry shortcake, busby the bee, and super readers) and playing catch which is working out better now with the Velcro glove and ball! She likes to be the helper with anything from cooking to carrying things to helping dad with his sermon and email.

Kite day with Georgia!

Let's go fly a kite

Waiting for candy at the parade

Daddy's girl

Study group

My new big girl bed, thanks Georgia

Carrie is doing well. She loves being at home with Taylor and having some adventures. As is expected she does like some time without Taylor from time to time too. You will probably notice in the picture below that Taylor is going to be a big sister in a couple weeks. We are having a boy and he should be out and about in the middle of June! We are excited! Carrie is doing well and the baby is healthy so we are thankful for that. Carrie is having fun with Pampered Chef stuff and is teaching Taylor about planting and watering flowers and strawberries. She did let her creative talents flow getting the room ready for our son (I say son and boy because we still are not solid on a name, better hustle). She teaches the children’s Sunday school (which consists of Taylor) and they have a great time studying the Bible.

The Mahaffie's

Organizing the classroom

The ladies

Expecting?

Dan—–
School is out for the summer and I am not taking any summer classes. It was a great semester but the hardest semester of my life by a long shot. I took 12 units (Ethics, World Religions, Church History, Systematic Theology) and was assigned over 5,000 pages to read (needless to say all of the pages did not get completed but I did get more than I expect to read). For the first part of the semester I worked at Target, as an English tutor, and filled in as a pastor. This only lasted for a little over a month and then I dropped the tutoring when the part time pastor position was officially offered to me. Ethics class was by far my favorite. It was extremely challenging and the reading was steep but it was one of those classes that excites you every time you go to think deeper about issues and disciplines the mind to think in light of Scripture about every day events. World Religions was my “sleeper class” not in the asleep way but in that I was not excited about it when I signed up for it but it turned out to be a perspective shaping class that I can say I learned something new every class. Church History was quite relevant. My instructor did a great job of relating the historical events to practical ministry and it turned out to be a very helpful course. Systematic is the nuts and bolts of what the Bible teaches about all aspects of life and practice and was outstanding, but I knew it would be going into it so it wasn’t a big shock.
   I have changed positions with Target and am in the process of learning my new position. It will be enjoyable for the most part but I was used to getting up at 3:15am and now I work when normal people work so that is an adjustment.
   As I mentioned above we have accepted a position with a small church near our house as the part time pastor. It has been a growing experience and we have enjoyed our time so far.
   Taylor and I still work out when we get the chance and she is the first member of my band, she plays the harmonica(s). She is getting good and we have a great time!!

Making of the band

Can you hear it?

We store out weights together

Love the pain!

Big Dan Marshman helped us get our counters on, thanks Dan!

That is the very nutshell. God is teaching us a ton and we look forward to the day if/when I can work one job and not have to go to school, but it may be a while. God is sufficient and doesn’t waste any experience (good or bad) so even in the struggles we are grateful for what He sees fit to give us. Thanks for checking in on us!

The Ice Storm

destinationadventure — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 00:34:03 +0000

January 27th and 28th of this year Kentuckiana (Kentucky and Indiana) had the worst natural disaster in their (its) history. Following a few inches of snow there was a freezing rain (yes CA it can rain and freeze at the same time, we didn’t know until we moved here) which tore down trees, power lines, and put a thick coat of ice on absolutely everything. 500,000 to 600,000 people we without power for 10 days in the warm (20-40 degree) weather. We were fortunate to only be without power for about 8 to 10 hours. The Lord in his sovereign providence saved what could have been a week or more without power by allowing our silver maple tree branch to land like a “T” supporting itself and not completely ripping the electrical box off the side of the house. On top of that God did not let our house catch on fire though the neutral line coming from the power pole was severed. God is certainly not obligated to take care of us in such a way, and he would still be good if our power were off for a week, yet in his grace he saw fit to keep us warm for which we are thankful. Between the hurricane winds (70-85mph) in September which knocked power out to over 350,000 homes and this weeks (70mph) gusts that knocked out over 30,000 it has been quite an interesting five months. Here are some pictures of the Ice Storm.

Our house in the snow

Taylor and I shoveling snow

Ice beginning to coat everything

Flower pot

Normally the branches are above the roof, ice is heavy!!

A small look at the wreckage, usually I can't jump and touch the branches

Just a bit scary, this happened at 3:15am. It is even more scary to cut the branch off the line with a sawsall!

Where did my gate go?

Refreshing work!!

The lumberjack at work

Watching a branch break off and fall a couple trees over!

If you put the limbs near the street the city takes care of them for you!

This is how all the berries on the trees were! We still have some in our freezer!

Fred and I tearing down a branch that was blocking traffic. Fred let me borrow the heavy duty sawsall and a big blade, thanks Fred!!

The most memorable part was Carrie and I laying awake most of the night hearing absolute silence and then a limb breaking off and crashing to the ground, then absolute silence and another limb smashing to the ground wondering each time if one would land on us, scary but kinda neat!! Praise be to God it could have been a whole lot worse. Another positive is during all these natural disasters we get a lot of time to hang out with the neighbors so that has been nice!!

It’s a boy!!!

destinationadventure — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 18:41:38 +0000

Well I guess that is clear enough. Taylor told the ultra sound tech this morning that “she” (how Taylor refers to the baby) is either going to be a boy or a girl. She (Taylor) is very excited to have a little brother. The tough part we were talking about at lunch today is that I don’t have 100 freshmen who can offer potential names for the baby so I guess we will have to shake the rust off the wheels and think of something.

Quick summary…

destinationadventure — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 00:03:38 +0000

I finished classes about a month or more ago, only for the semester, and have been spending as much time as possible with Carrie and Taylor. We are having a great time. Taylor is learning to throw the squishy baseball, she has a pretty good arm (accurate like her dad), with a little long toss regimine she should be ready for tee ball in 4 years.
    I have had the opportunity to speak a couple times at a church in the area filling in while they do not have a pastor and have been able to lead the bible study for our sunday school class while our teacher was speaking at another church. I did help with the offering this past sunday (we have the plates) and I dropped the red felt circle that goes in the bottom as I was walking to the front, the few that saw got a kick out of it, that’s the last time they will let me do that!!
    The house fixins are slowly getting completed the kitched is the last thing that is not electical. It will be 5 degrees on Thursday so that is always exciting!
    Carrie’s mom came out for a couple weeks during Christmas and we had a wonderful time with her. My mom is coming out in another week and we look forward to that.  Carrie’s mom brought us some burrito’s from Miguel’s Jr. (potato, rice, and cheese) we have been rationing them and they are wonderful.
     If you didn’t know Carrie is pregnant and we will find out tomorrow if she is having a girl or a boy!!!
    Life is stretching and when we look back on things we find that it is good. We are blessed to serve a faithful God who meets our needs and displays his loving providence daily. I am blessed to be able to learn about who God is from some truly gifted teachers who though they are definately highly qualified in the academic arena many are helpfully practical. Though seminary has been rough (not so much the classes but the classes on top of life) it is truly a refining experience. Thank you for praying for us and we hope to see some of you soon. Looking forward to graduation but not holding my breath yet!!

Some of the latest happenings…

destinationadventure — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 23:46:00 +0000

We forgot to take Thanksgiving pics when people were here but this is the table

Yours truly cutting the turkey, Carrie made me put this one on here because I am wearing her apron

That's right

The ladies...

sanding down the cabinets

Play-doh!!

Making some cookies

Measuring

Brushing the teeth

She gets this from her mom

Gotee's with Nana

Gymnastics

Going for a walk in the park

Quick work out

Working on the computer with mommy...

...and with daddy

This is what we have been up to…sort of.