happy to be so

new life

2008-09-25T15:01:00.002-04:00

Grant and I live in Maryland now...check me out on facebook for more updates! I'm under Amy Cooper Heckman.

:-)

Might start updating this puppy in the near future...we'll see :-)

"Somebody's Praying Me Through"

2008-06-04T21:48:00.001-04:00

"Somebody's Praying Me Through"
Originally uploaded by amylynnheckman.

Spring Musical, Sunday, June 1, 2008

Me and my hubby

2008-06-04T21:46:00.001-04:00

Me and my hubby
Originally uploaded by amylynnheckman.

Grant and me at the church picnic last Sunday.

LUO

2008-05-22T16:24:00.001-04:00

the story behind LUO, the organization we sponsor Katlego through...

Check this out

2008-05-22T16:16:00.007-04:00

so grant and i have been wanting to sponsor a child for a while now. if you have been thinking about that too, check out Luo, a new organization dedicated to setting children free from poverty. we are excited to be sponsoring Katlego, a precious boy you see pictured here.

something funny happened on the way to June...

2008-05-09T15:00:00.005-04:00

hey so it's been a while anything was posted on here, as usual. sooo, here's a heckman update.

life keeps on going and i keep on flowing...sometimes it seems like spring took forever to get here and other times i think Christmas was only a few days ago. well, like it or not in a few weeks summer will begin and we have a lot of craziness going on. good craziness, though! campouts, summer musicals, family activities, VBS, and trying to keep my house organized, clean and ready for friends and family to visit. staying in shape is also a goal, albeit one that hasn't worked too well recently. aerobics classes at the church died a slow death, so we are moving on to other plans - walking groups, perhaps. with my fancy new ipod and nike plus system, running is wickedly cool.

our small group for our young adult ministry has gone well, we meet again in a few days and i have a few chapters of our book to read this weekend (pausing while i write this on my calendar). grant is preaching in morgantown this sunday so YAM will be led by a small group member, and i think we are watching a rob bell dvd. though i am not blind to the fact that their is disagreement among some christians regarding his theology and influence, i am appreciative of rob bell and his gifted teaching. i have never heard anyone drive a point home better than he - and velvet elvis should be on your summer reading list.

last week was baby day, we had 20 babies represented - quite the boom for waynesburg naz. our future kid and youth programs are hereby established for the 2010's through 2020's.

i drew jury selection duty for several days a week ago. it was rather crazy. the court case was a murder trial, so the selection process was laborious and long. i basically sat in a courtroom for 4 days reading books and watching office episodes on my new ipod (thanks mom!). i wasn't selected to be interviewed, and i doubt i would have made the jury anyways - being a kids pastor, they probably wouldn't have wanted me on a jury dealing with a child's murder. oh, and the jury they picked came back with a guilty verdict yesterday.

grant got to attend the orange conference in atlanta and learn all about family ministry. fascinating and obvious statistic from the conference: kids spend only an average of 40 hours in church a year, and thousands of hours (i think it was 3000 but i'm not going to make it up) at home with their parents. who do you think has more influence? i'm really glad that churches like northpoint are leading the way to unite the family in church again.

my sisters are having babies. i get to be an aunt! baby boer is coming in july. gettin' pretty excited about that. might try for a heckman baby sometime in the coming year. baby heckman just doesn't have the same ring as baby boer, though. we'll need a synonym for baby that starts with H.

i gave a speech yesterday at our local high school at the National Honor Society induction. pretty low-key, talked about the need for us to commit to a live of service and selflessness. being a public school, couldn't really play the God-card, but got pretty close to the line. i'm not really aware of anyone who is selfless on their own abilities without divine inspiration/sanctification, but just couldn't quite put it that way...but did get to use mother teresa as an example of selfless living. anyways, apparently it is just shocking to find someone who can read/write/speak english, since an attendee came up to me and with an awe-filled expression asked if i had been an english major. when i said no, he replied "well i teach at carnegie mellon university and i hear a lot of speeches and that one was fabulous, and i am just so impressed by your abilities!". i told him it was because my dad made us play "find the typo" at the dinner table when we were kids. thanks, dad.

our puppy is growing up. recent email from mom regarding Leo:

PS Did I tell you he chewed up a certificate Josh got last week for winning 2nd place in the Song Writing Competition at church? We think he got it off the kitchen table one morning after Dad went to work. No problem--Ken will get him another one...We think he was just mad that Josh didn't get the 1st place award...

PPS Leo is becoming quite good at chasing squirrels and since he is faster than Sam, he is getting a lot of respect from them and they are staying away more. He is also getting very good at catching the frisbee--we are thinking of entering him in some competitions...

So we are proud parents (well, not about the certificate chewing). i did observe the frisbee catching on a trip home recently and was impressed. didn't think he had the eye-paw-mouth coordination!

grant and i celebrated birthdays in march and april - we are a year older and hopefully a year wiser. quickly approaching the end of my 3rd decade in the world, which isn't as exciting as it sounds.

i think that's all. i planted a lot of bulbs and flowers this year in "our" garden and looking forward to them coming up. also getting excited for a summer musical theater group forming at church and the end of other regular activities. i love summer.

peace out, all! :-)

Homeschooling Ruling in CA

2008-03-13T19:44:00.003-04:00

So for those who don't know, I was home schooled my entire life. I might not be the brightest person out there, but I did graduate from college with a high GPA and have had steady employment since. I can read fluently and express myself through the written word. I can find anything I don't know in a library or online. I don't think anyone could say that my education did not match that of a child in either private or public school. So my interest was piqued by the situation of homeschoolers out in CA facing the possibility of choosing whether to leave the state or become certified teachers in order to avoid prosecution. It all stems from a recent decision by an appellate court that found that all children in CA must be taught by a certified teacher. Now there has been a TON of discussion regarding this issue, and Gov. Arnold has promised to change the legislation should it be required to keep homeschooling legal. The decision itself stemmed from a child abuse case and the judge has interpreted the current CA education law in a stricter way than ever before...and there are a lot of nuances there I don't want to go into or discuss here. I think it will all turn out ok, so I'm not trying to jump on the frantic 'freaking out' bandwagon that some have started. But you can find more out yourself by googling the topic.

I simply want to post an editorial published in the LA Times today. I'd rather not comment on it, so I'll let you make up your own mind.

Regulating home schoolers
A court ruling is right to examine the seemingly elitist and illiberal practice.
By Walter P. Coombs and Ralph E. Shaffer March 13, 2008

A California appellate court has struck terror in the ranks of home schooling advocates by ruling that their children can't be taught at home without at least some oversight. Public education foes see this as an all-out attack on the concept of home schooling. That is not the case. And members of The Times editorial board didn't get it right either.

In the decision (pdf) in question, the parents did not meet even the meager requirements for home schooling that California has established. While enrollment in a public school is required by state law, the Education Code permits an exception for those attending private schools or those taught at home by a credentialed teacher.

Though the parents had technically enrolled their eight children in an existing private school, the court found that the children were not attending it. In fact, they were schooled at home by parents not qualified to teach the kids in subjects appropriate to their age and grade level.

The decision has caused anguish among families who fear that they may now be required to demonstrate that home schooling is an adequate replacement for their children's attendance at a public institution. The court's decision means that home schoolers must be given some substantive instruction in social studies and not simply spend their time watching Fox with its strange assortment of oddballs pontificating on current events.

It's time Californians realized that there are few regulations regarding home schooling and virtually no safeguards to make certain that subjects appropriate to the age group are taught. On the other hand, there is a formidable cottage industry run by conservative evangelicals that provides "suitable" materials for home schoolers. For-profit charter schools specializing in "home schooling" -- and collecting your tax dollars while doing it -- have not only cast a cloud over the concept of home schooling but have rankled teachers who see the state's limited education dollars being diverted from traditional schools.

If home schooling forums on the Web are indicative of the views held by parents of learn-at-home kids, their offspring are getting an extremely warped lesson in civics. Typical of the shrill screed now running on the Internet are these comments: "This [ruling] is a good example of bureaucratic tyranny! Kiss liberty good-bye, people." Another wrote: "Perhaps the judge could be impeached for incompetence. Else Christian families need to flee California." And: "This is another example of how socialist mentality destroys our God-given rights as parents."

It's evident that the vast majority who teach their offspring in front of the television do so because they don't want their children to be subjected to such dangerous doctrines as evolution, abortion, global warming, equal rights and other ideas abhorrent to the evangelical mantra. Weighing in on the side of home schoolers and their fundamentalist spokesman, James Dobson of Focus on the Family, is Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, that self-proclaimed expert on education whose latest action has been to recommend steep cuts for K-12 schools. The governor denounced the ruling as outrageous and vowed to overturn it. He must believe that the state's policy of providing no control over home schooling is just fine.

The Times editorial board misunderstood the ruling too. To start, we find no place in the ruling where the court "noted that the state Education Code appears to express distaste for home schooling." Then, the editorial goes on to say, "Private school teachers do not need a credential to instruct a class of 20 or 30 students. Why should parents need one to teach a few children at home?" That's a good question. But the court offered an equally good answer: In an earlier case, the court held that it is "unreasonably difficult and expensive for a state to supervise parents who instruct children in their homes" but that oversight of teachers in organized private schools is less difficult and expensive. Furthermore, the court noted that teachers in private schools would be supervised by the people who run the schools, and those administrators would want to make sure that their instructors were competent so that their private schools would qualify under the state Education Code.

The board also claims that the courts "tossed out" the option of public and private school independent study programs to help home schoolers. Not so! What the court said was that the Education Code provides for independent study through a school district or a county office of education, but the purpose is to provide students with educational opportunities during travel or in subjects not offered in the school curriculum. The court said this clause clearly did not apply to a mother's home schooling of her kids.The Times' editorial refers to the wonderful accomplishments of home schooling: "There are rare cases of parents who use home schooling to hide abuse or neglect. Far more common are the stories of responsible parents providing a good education." One anecdotal case of a home schooled teen writing a bestselling novel is cited, with the implication that such a remarkable achievement could not possibly have been attained because of the demanding homework assignments given by our public schools. Sounds like the board believes our traditional schools are overworking the kids -- which is not what most critics say. Isn't a major argument for home schooling based on the belief that the public schools aren't demanding enough?

Finally, in its call for the Legislature to enact laws providing for home schooling, apparently without credentialed teachers, the editorial wants "reasonable regulations," citing as examples required lesson plans or a student portfolio of work. Those regulations might be acceptable to some of the learn-at-home parents, but the Internet will be full of angry letters from home schoolers saying all that bureaucratic regulation is what they wanted to escape by teaching their children at home.

There has always been something decidedly elitist and anti-democratic in home schooling. It smacks of a belief that privileged children should not have to associate with the other kids in the neighborhood and that by staying home, they would not be subjected to the leavening effect of democracy.

Moreover, it is apparent from the cries of the far right that there has been a specific policy in home schooling -- to teach only the ideas acceptable to ideologues who fear the contaminating influence of what is commonly known as a liberal education.

Walter P. Coombs and Ralph E. Shaffer are professors emeriti at Cal Poly Pomona.

NOEL

2007-12-18T13:55:00.000-05:00

This past weekend our choir and drama team put on "NOEL - a Celebration of Christmas Moments". This was the first time we had done drama in a while, the first time we did two performances, and the first time we did a costumed nativity (no animals, but a live baby Jesus!). Thanks to ebay for the great costumes! :-) I am on cloud nine about how everything went - the first night we had a few small glitches and a small crowd (maybe 150 or so) but the second night was AMAZING. the Lord was there, the choir sang wonderfully, no one missed a single line in the skits, the tech guys were on the ball, we had around 300 in attendance and it was just a glorious experience. I have never had a performance like that at this church...and what a blessing it was. I've kinda chilled for a day and a half, but tonight we clean up the stage and I move on toward planning the Christmas Eve service! Pictures of NOEL still to come...Merry Christmas, everyone.

Christmas 2007 Staff and Families

2007-12-07T21:39:00.001-05:00

Christmas 2007 Staff and Families
Originally uploaded by amylynnheckman.

Here are the Polings, Zinks and Heckmans lookin' pretty for our 2007 Staff Christmas Photo. The only reason the little boy (AJ) was smiling is that someone is jumping up and down behind the photographer with great zeal. And see, it made us all smile!

what a month

2007-12-07T21:25:00.000-05:00

i just worked for almost 13 hours straight. welcome to the week before a christmas production! 3 of those were spent searching for and downloading video backgrounds. such fun (but not for my back, shoulders or eyesight)! anyways, this next week will just be more of the same, but i'm both exhausted and excited thinking about it. NOEL is on it's way...7 days and counting. pray for me, the choirs, nativity cast, soloists, techies - God's blessings are greatly needed! updates as time allows...and hopefully an update on the Heckmans and our various going-ons. life is good, but probably busier than it should be. warm advent and christmas wishes to all! now it's home for pizza and crashing :-)

Leo, ever watchful

2007-11-17T16:59:00.001-05:00

Leo, ever watchful
Originally uploaded by amylynnheckman.

We are in Maryland this weekend and it has been great seeing all the family. As an update, Leo is living down here now and he is all settled in to a new routine. It's better for us and him - but still not sure if it's better for Mom and Dad or Sam. The Jury is still out on that...

:-)

kirsten

2007-08-30T17:14:00.003-04:00

kirsten
Originally uploaded by amylynnheckman.

i love this picture. kirsten is manning the waterslide for me :-)

August 25

2007-08-30T17:14:00.001-04:00

me and my hubby2
Originally uploaded by amylynnheckman.

At Kevin and Lisa's Wedding...

the staff

2007-08-30T17:13:00.003-04:00

the staff
Originally uploaded by amylynnheckman.

Martin and Heather and Kaden leave for Indiana...I miss 'em.

in San Diego

2007-08-30T17:13:00.001-04:00

in San Diego
Originally uploaded by amylynnheckman.

we took a trip in June back to the San Diego area. someday we'll move there, i'm sure...

"How Great is Our God"

2007-06-26T16:48:00.001-04:00

"How Great is Our God"
Originally uploaded by amylynnheckman.

some of my kiddos

"How Great is Our God"

2007-06-26T16:47:00.001-04:00

"How Great is Our God"
Originally uploaded by amylynnheckman.

The full cast of our spring musical.

2 musicals down, 1 VBS to go (oh and a preteen camping trip too)

2007-06-06T09:58:00.000-04:00

yes yes, let's applaud for finishing another spring musical! biggest cheers for having almost 70 people participating!! "How Great is Our God" was a huge success, and my hubby thinks the music was incredibly picked, organized and presented. no thanks to me, i just bought the complete package. but kudos to Word Music for another great multimedia presentation. one day i'll have a live band but until then...this works great.

i was especially proud of several newbie singers who joined us for the first time. i think i talked them plus several of their friends into doing it again, too.

this week is 'crazy insane VBS prep week' with a preteen trip on saturday thrown in for some extra spice. i bought 200 feet of sand-colored paper yesterday for the sanctuary walls. fun stuff. i also get to cut out like 30 cactuses...cacti...whatever. you get the point.

we are hoping to run around 120 kids this year...and brandon and martin and i made our video on monday and it was fantastic. props to those guys for helping out so much.

alright too much to do to blab on here. peace.

please take this off of me!

2007-05-21T13:07:00.001-04:00

P5170006
Originally uploaded by amylynnheckman.

Leo's bad week

2007-05-21T13:06:00.001-04:00

P5170007
Originally uploaded by amylynnheckman.

Poor Leo

2007-05-17T11:38:00.000-04:00

its been a rough week in the heckman household. our boy dog is now an 'it', as dan put it. and the whole recovery-cone-on-the-head thing just isn't working too well. leo is miserable...and keeping him from running around doesn't work too well. i will post a picture of my sad little puppy soon.

Melinda Doolittle Final 9 I've Got Rhythm

2007-05-17T11:35:00.001-04:00

I LOVE this version...and who wouldn't kill to hear her sing "Summertime?"

Melinda Doolitte Audition

2007-05-17T11:29:00.001-04:00

no, no, no, say it ain't so!

2007-05-17T11:19:00.000-04:00

Mindy Doo is gone...proving that America has no ears. Ok either that or the 13 year olds with cell phones who vote religiously just couldn't care less about a 29 year old diva. Let's have a moment of silence for probably the best singer on AI ever...and all this junk about her having no personality - WHAT!? The girl was adorable, funny, sweet and solidly centered. Forget it...I could care so little about Jordin or Blake...they are flash in the pans compared to the immense talent that is Melinda. As I already told Grant -the instant a CD or tickets to a concert of hers goes on sale - I am there.

I just can't help myself...gotta post a video of my gal tearing down the house. Enjoy!

please, please don't bore a hole in my skull!!

2007-05-01T12:43:00.000-04:00

i had a great weekend at home celebrating my 27th birthday. we took leo to the dog park, kept him from impregnating a pug who was apparently in heat, tried to keep him and sam (my parents lab) separate as sam decidedly hates leo, and enjoyed a lot of good family times.

the best part (or scariest, you decide) of the day was our meal at Macaroni Grill, only the best italian chain restaurant known to mankind. we were all together except ken (we missed you ken!) and rachael and i were sitting across from each other. my mom spilled the beans that we were celebrating birthdays (rae's was april 15th) and so we knew a waitress would come and sing happy birthday to us in italian, b/c that's what they do there. so sure enough, here comes a lady at the end of the meal and she says "i would like to sing happy birthday to you in italian, don't worry i'm not that really loud girl you heard before" (which was good b/c that girl was crazy insane loud and 'pitchy' - as randy jackson loves to say). we were relieved. loud girl would have been bad, but soft girl - she looked sweet and this could be nice.

FAMOUS LAST THOUGHTS.

soft girl began to sing...and immediately morphed into 'fiercely intense staring girl' who sang the slowest version of happy birthday i have ever heard (Taaaaannntiii Auguuuuuurrrriiiii Aaaaa Teeeeeee....) while boring holes into our skulls - one phrase she would stare at me, the next phrase, stare at rae. it was like she was trying to read our minds. you couldn't break eye contact it was so intense and really you were just very afraid. the only way i could deal with this overwhelming fear of fiercely intense staring girl was to crack up hysterically - but how could you laugh during her song?!?!?! i think that song went on for about 14 minutes. every time she turned and locked eyes with rachael i almost fell to pieces. my husband tried his best to elbow me into non-laughter, but it wasn't working. in the middle of the song that doesn't end, i decided i wouldn't laugh if i wasn't staring at her. so i tried her forehead. didn't work. next phrase, i tried to study my chocolate cake. again, didn't work.

i have no idea how i didn't just burst out laughing. must have been the holy spirit or something b/c i probably would have ruined her self esteem forever. but the second she walked away rachael and i looked at each other and just lost it. i was crying from laughing so hard. or maybe i was crying b/c my eyes and soul felt violated. either way, it was a memorable experience.

i am never telling them its my birthday again.

Malaria No More

2007-04-26T09:35:00.001-04:00

watch this...

The Fight Against Malaria

2007-04-26T09:33:00.000-04:00

http://www.malarianomore.org

Watch the video above for information on the fight to prevent and treat malaria. Our YAM group is going to be working with this charity this summer to purchase bed nets. Only $10 will buy a bed net to protect an entire family or buy enough drugs to treat 22 infected children. There's no reason to not be involved.

First Action Heroes Musical

2007-04-24T11:16:00.001-04:00

First Action Heroes Musical
Originally uploaded by amylynnheckman.

The Cast

First Action Heroes Musical

2007-04-24T11:15:00.001-04:00

First Action Heroes Musical
Originally uploaded by amylynnheckman.

Captain Super and Bible Girl Wonder!

Kids Musical: Complete!

2007-04-24T09:42:00.000-04:00

this past weekend was crazy as it was finally time to present the kids musical we've been working on for four months. The prior week we poured hours into painting the set and i spent a lot of time running around town picking up our rentals - microphones, set pieces and a fog machine (which never worked - don't even get me started on the stupid fog machine!). all in all, it was a great show, but there were some really rough moments - like when a costume change didn't work correctly and the kids stayed frozen on stage for what seemed like HOURS waiting for a character to come out. i finally stood up and announced this was a commercial break, trying to break the tension! if you look on my flickr account http://www.flickr.com/photos/amylynnheckman you will see pics from the show - the change was from the park ranger to the superhero...but when our 'Captain Super' finally came out - there was so much applause and laughter...it was great. we had a really rough time with the wireless mics (20 in all) which upset me, but what can you do? the kids had a great time, everyone loved it and that's all that matters. i was so impressed by their professional demeanor as all these rough spots were occuring - they took it all in stride. i was really brought to tears several times just thinking of how proud of these kids i am, how much i love them and just feel so blessed to have known each one of them. i never knew when i moved here that God would allow me the joy of serving with kids but it has been absolutely the most rewarding part of this job. if we ever leave here i know i will miss the kids more than anything!

so i'll put one or two pictures up on here but the rest are on the flickr account.

this week the goals are: clean office, write a bunch of thank you notes, start work on creating a children's ministry council, and cook my hubby some real meals again (too much eating out last week!)

if you read this blog regularly please pray about a very important decision that Grant and I need to make soon - we need God's guidance and your prayers. thanks!

quote of the day

2007-04-19T18:14:00.000-04:00

From The Weight of Glory by C. S. Lewis :

“...there are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations—those are mortal and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit—immortal horrors and everlasting splendours…Next to the Blessed Sacrament itself, our neighbor is the holiest object presented to your senses.”

woke up on easter...

2007-04-10T17:46:00.000-04:00

and thought it was christmas.

let me be clear here. i hate snow, winter and cold. i think snow is pretty for about 3 days and then i am so over it. i hate cold weather because my body is consistently set at about 60 degrees and i am ALWAYS shivering (as my husband can attest). do not be surprised when you find out i've migrated down south eventually. i will not survive old age with this frigid body :-). all of that to say...yes, it was cold. yes, i wore my white pants and white sandals in defiance of the weather. and yes, it was a glorious day celebrating our Risen Lord.

He is Risen...He is Risen Indeed! One of my favorite phrases of all time.

the crowd was down a bit at church, but we still packed out the sanctuary for our extended service. we worked hard this year to make the service flow well, plan out all transitions, and make sure we stuck to a timed schedule. the choir sang two songs and i thought they were fabulous. then there were two videos taken from www.sermonspice.com (i love this site) to help drive home some points, and two duets (The Glory by Avalon and Redeemer by Nicole C. Mullen - both FABULOUS easter songs) that i had made ppt slides for - and both very effective, I think. the Lord's Spirit was absolutely present and it was great to spend an entire morning upstairs (no kids' rehearsal!). the service concluded with a baptism service where 8 people shared testimonies and got dunked. i can't think of a better day to baptize people than easter - what a beautiful demonstration of the gospel. after the service we shared an easter dinner with friends - i brought the carbs!

so all in all, it was a great day.

this week is all about working towards the kids' musical. that deserves its own post later.
till then, here's an interesting blog i found...nothing like some emergent nazarene controversy!
http://emergentnazarenes.blogspot.com/

Sean Michel American Idol Performance

2007-03-23T08:51:00.001-04:00

This guy is AMAZING. He has a great story of living faith, doing music and being Christ's hands and feet. check out his myspace page: http://www.myspace.com/seanmichel yeah i know, he's on american idol - but the word on the net is that he got cut b/c he wouldn't cut his hair...more power to ya dude.

yam group

2007-03-20T16:58:00.000-04:00

this past week we kicked off a new Young Adult Ministry (affectionately titled "yam" or "the sweet potato class"!) for our church. we will be having two Bible studies, one on Sunday and one on Wednesday, and a host of other activities and outreach events. there were 23 attendees to the first meeting, which was very exciting. grant and i are thrilled about the response and looking forward to seeing spiritual and numerical growth among the participants. if you think about it, pray for the 'yam' group and for grant as he works hard to find time to balance work and leading this ministry. thanks!

leo at his best

2007-03-14T12:23:00.003-04:00

leo at his best
Originally uploaded by amylynnheckman.

my cute puppy

leo

2007-03-14T12:23:00.001-04:00

leo
Originally uploaded by amylynnheckman.

i don't think he would do this anymore - he used to fall asleep so easily - now he would probably bite grant's pants :-)

leo

2007-03-14T12:22:00.001-04:00

leo
Originally uploaded by amylynnheckman.

coming in after a successful 'elimination' session outside

LEO!

2007-03-14T12:21:00.003-04:00

LEO!
Originally uploaded by amylynnheckman.

this is our baby, leo. here i am saving him from the big spay and neuter truck about to run us over. just kidding. we took him home exactly one month ago, when we was about 11 weeks old. he was adorable for about a week (he would fall asleep everywhere but especially on us!) and had no issues. now as he's a little older we have some classic puppy issues (biting and jumping while on a leash) to deal with - but he's also very smart and has learned sit, stay, down and go to your bed! i'm quite proud.

my adorable husband

2007-03-14T12:15:00.001-04:00

my adorable husband
Originally uploaded by amylynnheckman.

i love my hubby b/c he puts things together like our really nice new sleigh bed, while i annoy him by taking pictures and generally getting in the way. :-)

new life, new blog

2007-03-14T11:10:00.000-04:00

welcome to my new home on the web. i start this blog with the understanding that it won't be updated that frequently, and when it is, it probably won't be that exciting. but hopefully it will serve to help keep people connected with new goings-on in the life of the heckmans. i will post some starter musings about married life and ministry soon - but until then i am glad to say that while definitely not a walk through the tulips, marriage is full of deep blessings and fulfillment - AND sanctification sure happens faster when you live with someone day in and out! i love my husband so very much and want to thank God for putting him in my life. life is an adventure, and i will chronicle much of what i experience while on this journey here. until then, peace.