Family Swim

We had a great time swimming in Montgomery while on vacation. My mother and brother both have pools so the kids had a blast---built in entertainment. Mallory learned to jump off the diving board and swim to the other end of the pool so that was really awesome!

Promotion Sunday

Mallory got promoted from the preschool class to the elementary class at church last Sunday. Here Miss Angela is talking about Mallory and giving her her certificate of promotion. So sweet.

Breaking News

The Matte family is moving to East Prairie MO, population 3227, to pastor the First Church of God there. We are excited to go but will miss our friends in Frankfort. These pictures were taken during our recent visit to the area. It's 18 miles to Dorena MO where you can drive your car on to the ferry to cross the Mississippi to Hickman KY. It's pretty interesting as this is one of only a few riverboat ferries in the US and the only one crossing the Miss River between MO and KY. Anyway, much more on the move to Missouri to come. We're excited to get there and begin the ministry and work the Lord has laid before us with His call. Praise be to Him for his surpassing greatness!

How we got Mallory's name

When Paul and I were dating (we might have been engaged by this time) I was working as my pastor's secretary at Evangel in Montgomery. I would always get the visitor cards so I could send out a letter from him. One came across my desk with Mallory St in the address line. I emailed Paul and asked how he liked the name Mallory Matte. He said he liked it and we would call our yet to be born daughter Mallory every time we talked about having kids. The day we found out we were having a girl little Mal was finally going to be. We stopped by the street while we were in Montgomery on vacation last month. There's a Michael Blvd here in Frankfort. I need to get Michael's picture by that sign! Incidentally, he was named after Paul's grandfather, not the road!

Birthday Sneak

The kids, and Makayla from the church, helped me surprise my friend Kimberly on her birthday recently. I made her a little cake and we picked up some balloons and flowers at Kroger. Then we drove to her house the kids walked up to the front door a la Publisher's Clearing House to surprise her. It was sweet.

Here are Kimberly and her daugter Sutton with Makayla, Mallory and Michael.

Grandpa Billy

Billy Franks is a long time pastor friend of Paul's and was his best man in our wedding. He has been sort of a mentor and father figure to Paul throughout his years in the ministry. We always get to spend the week with him at the Church of God convention and it really is one of the best parts of the trip. The kids call him Grandpa Billy. We love him dearly and consider it a real privilege to get to have so much quality time with him during camp meeting. I think he has the best smile!

The Lemon Drop

We discovered this fun little restaurant in Anderson this year while at Camp Meeting. It's been around for years but Paul had never been there. I always sniff out the new places to try and had seen it on the internet before we left for the convention. It had the best burgers and we ate there two or three times it was so good. There are only about 5 booths and 10 counter seats and is always packed. There's a neat train that goes around a track at the top of the walls. Try it if you are ever near Anderson IN!

!