ChristopherHaughery

noreply@blogger.com (Christopher) — Mon, 04 Dec 2006 02:19:00 +0000

I hope all of you have enjoyed this blog as much as I have. I want to just let all of you know how much I appreciate your comments. Thank you for posting them. This is going to be my last post for the foreseeable future. These photo's are a recap of the last few weeks. Thanks again for all your prayers and comments.

noreply@blogger.com (Christopher) — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 22:59:00 +0000

The last two days have been so much fun. Since I am not doing electrical work any more and I probably won't find a job for these last four weeks, I have been doing work around the Buckley's house. Monday and Tuesday I cut, split and stacked wood! It feels so good to earn your dinner like that. These are some pictures of my work. And for all you purist out there, the wood was split by hand with an 8 lb maul.
Thank you to my caregroup for sending me such an excellent "care" package, in the CozyCare ultra thin diapers box. Well done.

noreply@blogger.com (Christopher) — Thu, 09 Nov 2006 04:04:00 +0000

The first photo is of King of Grace Church on a sunday. The second photo is of me and Caleb Buckley in Boston.

noreply@blogger.com (Christopher) — Wed, 08 Nov 2006 02:42:00 +0000

On Sunday we had the harvest party and it went great! The whole day progressed smoothly and without any complications. The moon bounce got mauled and the kids got a kick out of the ponies. There were a lot of people from the church that came and also a number of guests. The day was fairly cool but the bonfire, knitted sweaters, and hot cider kept things toasty.
I learned so much about planning in the last few weeks. Even though it was not a very big event it was still a great experience. It was really cool to see people having a good time at an event that I had organized.
On Monday I went with the Buckleys to the Museum of Science in Boston. It was a excellent museum. While we were there we saw the Body Worlds exhibit. It was incredible. I mean, the bodies were all at one point in time alive, moving around, breathing, and...and know they are an exhibit in a museum! Anyways, you can't bring cameras in because you could just take pictures of the bodies and distribute the photos and then nobody would pay to see the exhibit.
I am not working for the electrical contractor anymore. He does not have enough work for me right now. I am going to be looking into getting a job at the Fantini Bakery which is Peggy Buckley's families business. The Bakery has been around for four generations. It is a really cool place. Right now, when I am not doing stuff for the church, I am working on some projects at the Buckleys house. These are projects that Paul needs to get done before winter, like cutting and splitting a wood pile to burn throughout the cold months. With me doing these odd jobs Paul is freed up to do more important things. I am glad I can help in this way. I feel like an farm hand earning his room and board. It's great.

noreply@blogger.com (Christopher) — Fri, 03 Nov 2006 03:02:00 +0000

Lately I have been preparing for the harvest party that the church is having. It will be a fun time, especially for the kids, because there will be a moon bounce, pony rides, candy, prizes, scavenger hunt, potato sack races and other family fun.

Prayer Requests:
That the harvest party would run smoothly.
That I would not forget anything in the planning process.
That God would speak to me while I am up here.
Remember to pray for my niece Alivia and also for Ian.

noreply@blogger.com (Christopher) — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 01:55:00 +0000

noreply@blogger.com (Christopher) — Mon, 23 Oct 2006 22:26:00 +0000

This past Sunday King of Grace Church and Crossway Church of Plainville Ma, had a joint picnic/hike. It was cool meeting people from Crossway. I met some families that had come up on the church plant from Fairfax Va. They know people that I know from Fairfax. We hiked to an observation tower. Luke, Daniel and Michael. Luke and Michael are from Fairfax and they are cool dudes.

noreply@blogger.com (Christopher) — Sat, 21 Oct 2006 00:14:00 +0000

I am enjoying life in the Merrimack Valley. God is teaching me a lot about faith, trust and dependence on him. Time seems to be going by very fast. It's been 1 month and 6 days since I left Lancaster. These last two weeks have sped by and now its Friday. My days have been filled with electrical work all day Monday and Tuesday and half a day Wensday. After my half day on Wednesday I meet with Paul and we talk about how things are going. We plan out the week and he gives me tasks to accomplish. The big project that I am working on now is a harvest party for the church. I made up invitations and I am also coordinating food, games, moon bounce and pony rides. It's going to be festive. I do a lot of administrative tasks for the church.
Last Sunday I went to The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston with Daniel Buckley. It was an excellent museum. There was so much to see we couldn't see it all. Some of the highlights of my experience was a lion from the time of Nebuchadrezzar II, an Assyrian stone etching, and a Jackson Pollock painting. It was great spending time with Daniel in Boston. He is a great guy and Boston is a great city.
I played racket ball for the first time a week ago. It was great! It's a really fun game once you get the feel of it. I am going to have to get good and then challenge Bron to a game when I return.
I am doing well. I miss everyone in Lancaster and I miss Lancaster and it's ways. But I have faith that God wants me here. It's been such a great experience thus far!

noreply@blogger.com (Christopher) — Fri, 13 Oct 2006 14:04:00 +0000

noreply@blogger.com (Christopher) — Thu, 12 Oct 2006 21:08:00 +0000

noreply@blogger.com (Christopher) — Sun, 08 Oct 2006 23:23:00 +0000

noreply@blogger.com (Christopher) — Sun, 08 Oct 2006 23:14:00 +0000

noreply@blogger.com (Christopher) — Sun, 08 Oct 2006 23:04:00 +0000

noreply@blogger.com (Christopher) — Sun, 08 Oct 2006 21:24:00 +0000

A lot has happened in the last twelve days. I feel like I have learned so much in those days, about myself, life, and other people. God has made me aware of things that I wasn't aware of before. For instance how fragile life is and how unimportant so many things are.
Last weekend I went to the desiring God conference. It was a very rich time. The teaching was rich and my interactions with Quaay, Steve and my Dad were rich. It was great being at a non-Sovereign Grace conference. Not that I have anything against Sovereign Grace conferences. It was just good to experience our God in a different fashion. On Monday, after the conference I worked my first day for the electrical contractor. It went well. If he continues to need my help I will work for him. I am going to be working about twenty hours a week for him and about twenty hours a week for the church. After working electrical for two and a half days I took Thursday off. On my day off I drove to the coast and spent time at Gloucester and Rockport. Both of these towns are really cool. Gloucester is very fish industry oriented and Rockport is more tourist oriented. That night I went down to Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and spent the evening with Phil and Pam a young couple in the church. Phil is getting his masters in theology there. It was cool being at the seminary were my grandfather earned his masters in theology. Then I woke up on Friday and got a call from Paul Buckley asking me if I wanted to come up to the White Mountains and spend the weekend with him, his family, and his wife's extended family. I accepted and of course had an excellent time. The mountain house looks out over a valley and the view is exquisite. We spent our time hanging out at the mountain house and hiking. There was also a golf excursion that was quite interesting. All of Mrs. Buckley's brothers (six of them), her mother, two nephews and Paul played nine holes of golf while the rest of the family and me (there were about ten of us in all) followed them around the golf course. Now it needs to be said that we were not all in one big group, we were in about three different groups spread across the golf course. But it was still a very funny experience because we basically took over the whole course. It was a fun weekend. The Buckleys were so kind to include me in there holiday weekend.
Church went really good today and we had a luncheon afterwards. Everybody in the church has been so kind to me and thankful that I am here. I really feel their support. A lot of people have invited me to hang out and everyone is including me in on church life. It has been great to get to know the people in the church.

Prayer Requests:
That I would make time to get into the word each day.
That I would be productive with my time.
That Alivia's spleen would reduce in size.
That the perfect donor would be found for Alivia.
That Ian Murphy would be healed.
That his family and girlfriend would be given peace and faith.

noreply@blogger.com (Christopher) — Thu, 28 Sep 2006 23:42:00 +0000

Yesterday was the first time I felt comfortable in this place. It feels nice to be settling into to life here in Massachusetts. By now I have met most of the people in the church. It has been great getting to know them. We have had one care group meeting so far, which everyone in the church attends. This group is going to split into two groups soon. The meeting I attended was really good. We ended up spending the whole time lifting up prayer request. I also helped out with the youth meeting which was last Sunday night. There are four or five families that attend with kids ranging from sixteen to twelve. Phil and Pam, a young couple in the church, are helping to head up the meeting. It was an enjoyable time getting to know people better. We also played a game of ultimate frisbee, but it was nothing like frisbee back home.
Life has been good here I have been busy doing office work and running errands for the church. I have also been helping a women who used to go to the church, but doesn't now because she has to work on Sunday, move into her new house, her previous house burned down. It has been nice to be able to help her out. She keeps saying that her two oldest sons are going to steal my car because they like it so much. On Monday I went on a hike with the Buckleys. We went hiked out to Crystal Lake which is a reservoir that feeds the area around where I live. It was incredible! The sky was beautiful and the water was like glass. I forgot my camera. But that was probably a good thing because I would have had to smash it into a million peaces, because it wasn't worthy enough to capture such beauty. I did find work though. A guy in the church who has his own electrical business needs help with a job he has coming up next week. Its not the kind of job I was looking for but its work and I'm grateful to him for throwing it my way. If he continues to need help I will probably work for him but if not I will send more applications out. I talked to the companies that I applied to at first and they are all looking for work on nights and weekends, which is not what I want.
I am going to Minneapolis this weekend to the Desiring God 2006 National Conference. The theme of the conference is the supremacy of Christ in a postmodern world. It is going to be really great. Plus, I get to spend time with one of the wisest men I know, William Gerard Haughery, my father.

Prayer requests:
That I would make time each day to pray.
That I would trust in God and not in myself.
That they would find the perfect bone marrow match for Alivia.
That James would be given strength to stand up underneath this incredible load he is carrying.
That Emily would be given peace and fearlessness.

noreply@blogger.com (Christopher) — Fri, 22 Sep 2006 14:20:00 +0000

I feel I have direction for what I am doing here in Methuen. On Tuesday, Paul and I talked about the next three months and his vision for my time here. I am going to be helping with outreach. This involves thinking of ways to reach the community, developing materials to put into the the hands of people in the church, to empower them for outreach, and being involved in direct evangelism. There is a man in the church who goes out every Friday to talk with people about the gospel at different locations around town. I will be going out with him today and as much as possible. I am also going to be helping with office work. This will involve tasks such as updating the church web site, filing, and working with Quickbooks. I will also be endeavoring to be an example to the people in the church by serving on Sunday and wherever I am needed and by building relationships.
I still have not found a job yet. I have filled out applications to many different retail stores but have not heard back from them. I have faith that God will bring a job soon and in the mean time I am going to be busy with church work.

Prayer Requests:
That God would give me wisdom in all I do.
That God would provide the perfect job.
Healing for my niece Alivia.
Strength, faith, and hope for my brother James and my sister-in-law Emily.
Wisdom for every Doctor that comes in contact with Alivia.

These are pictures of my room.

noreply@blogger.com (Christopher) — Tue, 19 Sep 2006 13:45:00 +0000

I am now living in Methuen, Ma and so far it has been great. My trip north on Sat. Was without incident. The only thing that happened was that I drove trough a toll booth without paying the fare. It was an unmanned booth, the kind you throw change at, and I didn't have any change and it didn't take bills and there was a big line behind me and everyone was honking their horn, but I stood my ground and looked for change but I didn't have any so I kept driving even though I saw a sign that said "failure to pay toll may result in a $200.00 fine".
But I made it to MA and I met the Buckleys, the family that I am staying with. Paul Buckley is the senior pastor at the church. Paul and Peggy have four children, Daniel 18, Caleb 15, John 13, and Mary 11. The whole family is great, I feel at home.
On Sunday I went early with the Buckleys to set up for church. There were also a few other folks who came and set up. I set up sound. The meeting went well, we had worship and communion, I helped pass out the elements, then anouncments and offering, I helped collect the offering, finally the message and tear-down. After the meeting about thirty of the fifty people in the church went back to the Buckleys for lunch. Lunch was great. I got to meet a lot of people. At about three pm, around twenty of the thirty went to the beach. It was really beautiful and the water was freezing but these crazy New Englanders were just jumping in and frolicking. It was insane!
On Monday I drove around Haverhill to get a feel for where I was. Haverhill is the town just above Methuen and it is also where the Bucklys live. The locals pronounce it "Ha-vril". I also got my computer "online".
Today I am going to apply for jobs at places like Homedepot and Starbucks. I need to find a part time job so if you think of it you could pray for me. I am also going to talk to Paul today and plan out the next three months.

noreply@blogger.com (Christopher) — Thu, 14 Sep 2006 21:19:00 +0000

This is my new El Camino. As many of you know I had been looking for a car to bring with me up to Methuen and God has blessed me with this most bodacious ride. Thank you God.

Monday 8/21/06 First Blog Post

noreply@blogger.com (Christopher) — Tue, 22 Aug 2006 00:53:00 +0000

This blog is intended to keep my family and friends updated and informed about my stay in Methuen, MA.