Hey everybody! The new blog is up and running. Go to www.chadcottle.com. See you there!

Hey yall! You may have noticed that I have been pretty blog-silent for the past while. I’ve been working hard on getting a new blog up and running before I leave for a mission trip next week. Keep checking back, and when it is ready to go, I will give you the new address. Thanks y’all!

Last week (March 1), we had a ton of snow here in LaGrange. We started our contemporary service, no snow. When we let out an hour later, 6 inches. It was wild! Charlie loved playing in the snow, and we got it on video. Check out Charlie’s Snow Day Adventures!

Hey everybody! First off, I just wanted to share with you Charlie’s “Top 5″ funniest things he said/did today.
#1- When I dropped him off at Sunday School, his class was singing “Zacchaeus Was A Wee Little Man.” This is one of his favorite songs. We sing it every night before he goes to bed. I asked him to tell the class what Jesus told Zacchaeus. Charlie responded, “Zacchaeus, you come down. I want to eat you.” Yep, he’s a preacher’s kid.
#2- His teacher told me after class that he then spent the first ten minutes of class wandering around the classroom telling everybody that he was a bear, he was hungry, and looking for things to eat.
#3- This afternoon, it was windy and Charlie and I were flying kites in the front yard. He asked to hold the handle part. He promptly gave it back to me and said, “Here, you fly it. I’ll stand here and be in charge.” I’m still laughing about that one.
#4- Charlie wanted to bust out our metal detector this afternoon and look for buried treasure. HIs idea of treasure and mine are different, however. I asked him what kind of treasure he wanted to find, and he said, “Worms, snakes, and slimy things.”
#5- While we were in the backyard, Charlie and I were running. He faceplanted and started really crying. I picked him up and asked him what hurt, and he said, “Nothing hurts” as he was squalling.

-Today was a great day at church. Our set list was All Because of Jesus by Fee, How Great Thou Art by Charlie Hall, Mighty to Save by Hillsong United, Everlasting God by Brenton Brown (performed by Tomlin), Stronger by Hillsong, and How He Loves by John Mark McMillan (performed by Kim Walker and Jesus Culture). Casey Darnell, who led worship for our Disciple Now, really turned me on to Stronger. It is a great song. Thanks Case!

-This past weekend, my wife was in Douglasville taking care of her mom, who recently had surgery. She’s doing great, by the way! While she was gone, my parents were here to help take care of Charlie. I decided to surprise Katie by painting the bathroom while she was gone. Thanks Mama and Daddy for all the help! Here’s some pics of the new and improved bath:

My parents were here helping take care of Charlie while Katie was in Douglasville taking care of her mom. Karen is doing great by the way. Sore, but great. For lunch on Thursday, I met my parents and Charlie at Happy Hoppers. Happy Hoppers is like a local version of Monkey Joes. Its a big open space with tons of inflatables for the kids to play on. Charlie had a great time…he calls it Baby Hoppers by the way. While we were there, he asked for a treat they sold called “Wormz N’ Dirt.” It was a cup of crushed Oreos with gummy worms in it. 100% boy! Here’s a picture of us at Happy Hoppers:

This past weekend we hosted the third Disciple Now since I’ve been here. It was absolutely incredible (check my blog later this week for a D-Now follow-up). God did amazing things in our minstry, and is continuing to do so. In fact, we are happy to announce the addition of a staff member to our student ministry team. Frank Vaughn will be joining First Baptist Church as a student ministry associate. His main roles will be speaking on Wednesday nights and hanging out with students at their schools. Frank is a full time student evangelist, so he is gone most weekends. He will be here during the week to minster to our students and give fresh and life-changing teaching.
You may be wondering why I will not be speaking every Wednesday. Don’t worry- I’m still minister to students and I’ll still be on the 4th floor. However, as our new contemporary service is expanding, my preaching resposibilities at the new service (and other services) has expanded. I’ll now be speaking on most Sunday mornings somewhere on campus. So in order to make sure the Sunday message is getting what it needs, and to make sure the Wednesday message is getting what it needs, as a staff we felt this was a great investment to make.
Frank will be speaking for the first time tomorrow evening (Wed., February 11) at our student service. We’ll have a little reception after the service for you to get to meet him. Please feel free to send him an email and welcome him to LaGrange. His email address is: frankvaughn1@gmail.com. See y’all tomorrow night!

Hey yall! We went to Katie’s doctor today and got some 18 week ultrasound pics of Molly Kate. Here’s the first one:

This is a profile picture. Notice how Molly Kate has her foot above her head! I wonder where she got that agility from? I can’t walk ad chew gum at the same time.

Here’s our favorite picture:

This is a “head-on” shot. Notice how she has her thumb in her mouth and her index finger over her nose. The great thing about that is Charlie STILL does the same thing, haha. When he sucks his thumb, he curls his index finger over his nose. It must be a family tradition. Maybe Hank Williams Jr will write a song about that.

Keep praying for a safe and healthy pregnancy. God is good!

Hey y’all! Just wanted to show you Charlie’s Christmas list. He wrote and illustrated this whole thing all by himself.) The funniest thing to me was that Charlie wanted “sticks” and “dirt” for Christmas. He is such a boy! Hey, in this economy, I think Santa can still do sticks and dirt. I can’t wait for next year. He’ll probably ask for warty frogs and slimy snakes.

Tonight, Charlie and I had lots of fun by going to the LaGrange Mall to have milk and cookies with Santa. Charlie had a great time. And it was sort of a big biy milestone for him because, for the first time, he let Santa pick him up (and be happy about it!). Once we got there, we could sit anywhere with an open seat. Then, the nice staff came by and gave each kid a glass of milk and three cookies. I would like to note that the cookies were really good- I had to taste them and make sure they were okay for Charlie to eat. Then, Santa made a grand appearance and stopped by each table and had his picture made with each child. After that, he read “Twas The Night Before Christmas” to all the children. Without further ado, here’s some pictures of Charlie’s experience at Milk and Cookies With Santa:

Yummy!

Charlie showing off the candy cane full of M and M’s (His favorite candy) that he got.

Charlie and Santa #1

Charlie and Santa#2

Santa reading Twas The Night Before Christmas

Fascinated by Santa

Santa’s neck was sweaty. That suit must be hot.

Hey yall! Charlie wanted to send you some special Christmas carols. Enjoy, and have a merry Christmas!