Christmas 2007

News from the Jennings Family
Christmas 2007

Blessings to all of our loved ones near and far!

Here is a brief update on our family:

Joey continues to pastor Christ Wesleyan Church. This will be our 16th year here in Winston-Salem. He is also active in our district and enjoys leading an LDJ mentoring group of pastors. After much time, effort and prayer, he received his Doctor of Ministry degree from Gordon-Conwell in May of 2006. His project was "Preparing the Church for Revival."

Maribeth is active at the church in the areas of prayer, music, and women’s ministry. She has also run a taxi service for our busy family (until the past few weeks). She is enjoying being the mother of three active kids, but focuses much of her day working on school with Jesse.

Jesse is working at home to achieve his high school diploma on-line with Keystone National High School. He is also taking classes at the local community college. He is an avid photographer, which is an appropriate skill for his knack for seeing the world with a unique perspective. He also occasionally works on a horse farm for a man in our church.

Hannah is a junior at Reynolds High School and just received her driver’s license a few weeks ago. It is a good thing because she is a busy girl! She is excelling in school, is a gifted artist and is always doing something with the youth group or her service club. She also spends lots of time babysitting (gas money!)

Ben is 10 and is in his final year of elementary school. Ben is a cheerful and social (talkative) boy who loves tractors, particularly anything John Deere. We have not been able to explain this phenomenon, but nevertheless he has loved mowers since age one. He will be receiving his Arrow of Light for Cub Scouts at the end of this month and plays Upward Basketball at our church.

Thanks to all of you for your love and prayers through the years. God has been so faithful to bless us with such wonderful family and friends. May your Christmas truly shine with the light of Jesus’ love for you!

Love,
Joey, Maribeth, Jesse, Hannah and Ben

Anniversary Cruise

For our 20th anniversary we decided to celebrate big and share the fun with friends. In August we went on our first cruise. We went to the Bahamas and the Virgin Islands. We enjoyed the sun, the relaxation, the great food and the adventure of the Carribean. And most of all we enjoyed being with six of our closest friends: Gary & Rhonda, George & Angelyn, Joel & Kath!

What a memory!

Joey's Graduation

On Saturday, May 13, 2006, Joey graduated from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary with the degree of Doctor of Ministry. He had been working on the degree since January of 2000. His thesis was entitled, "Preparing the Church for Revival" and can be found on the Christ Wesleyan web site (www.ChristWesleyan.org). In picture above, are family and firends who attended the graduation at the Charlotte campus: Jesse, Hannah, Gary & Rhonda Clodfelter, Phil & Marsha Flinchum, Ben, Joey, Maribeth, and Ted & Barbara Jennings.

Central Christmas Party

We got together with the Jennings side of the family a couple of days before Christmas in Central SC. In the picture are (front row) Kevin, Ben, and Patrick; (second row) Maribeth, Jessica, Ted ("dad", "PawPaw"), Barbara ("mom", "MawMaw"), Laurel, Jesse; (Back row) Joey, Jay, Hannah, Dan, Jill, Elizabeth, and Jeff.

Fall 2005 Camping Trip

This is our adventure in cool weather camping October 31-November 2 to New River State Park in Virginia. The days were pleasant, but the nights were chilly! We camped right next to the river and biked a 13 mile section of a railroad track that has been turned into a horse and bike trail.

This is our family photo from Christmas 2003 

Our First WeBlog

This is new for us, but we wanted a place for our friends and family to check in on us and keep up with what is going on with our family. We (Joey & Maribeth) have both turned 40 this year and enjoyed our birthday celebrations. Joey surprised Maribeth with a trip with some friends on Lake Gaston in Virginia. Maribeth gave Joey a trip on a hot air balloon. Some families in our church also gave our entire family a trip to Seattle for Joey's 4oth birthday, which we took in July.

Jesse is 14 and has entered High School this year although he is doing it at home on the internet. You can look up www. keystonehighschool.com to check it out. He is also playing the String bass with a private school orchestra and enjoying the youth group at church.

Hannah turned 13 in August and celebrated her birthday in California with Joey. We are continuing a tradition of Joey taking each kid on a special trip of their choosing on their 13th birthday. We went to San Francisco and Yosemite National Park. Hannah is in 8th Grade at Hanes Middle School and has lots of friends.

Ben is 7 and in the 2nd Grade at Sedge Garden Elementary. His passion continues to be mowing the yard. "Mow" was his first word and has always been his favorite thing to do, although it usually entails sitting on his dad's lap while dad mows.

We continue to enjoy our work at Christ Wesleyan Church, where Joey has served as Pastor for 12 years. Maribeth plays the piano/keyboard and teaches occasionally. The church is doing well and we are preparing to transition to two worship services within the year. Joey is still working on his doctoral thesis, just not enough to get it done any time soon. Maribeth is keeping busy helping Jesse get used to this new form of home-schooling.