Gluttons for Punishment

As many of you know, our cockatoo Peeperz has been plucking severely since Abby's birth and is showing no signs of stopping. We've tried almost everything we can think of to eliminate this dangerous behavior, but we still have a bald little chicken with bleeding sores. We're trying our last possible shot at curing Peeperz' insanity... love.
For a couple of days, we are borrowing a female goffin cockatoo from a guy we met to see if Peeperz will be happier with a mate. Yes, I know. We are crazy. Crazy pet people.

Peeperz' first date with "Nemo" was last night. So far so good. Nemo is very, very calm and seems to make Peeperz chill out as well. Nemo is incredibly friendly, even with Abby, so maybe that will reassure Peeperz that Abby is o.k. too. Here's a photo of what last night looked like, so you can enjoy the humor of the situation.

Bryan was chaperoning. Nemo is on the left and Peeperz is on the right.

Something You Should Listen to!

This past Sunday Bryan preached an incredibly challenging message to Cambridge about possessions and the church. You should listen to it. I teased him when we got home and told him if this sermon didn't get him fired- nothing will! Money is such a sensitive topic, and I am proud of how boldly and powerfully he handled the topic using Scripture. If you click on the link below, it'll take you to our church website and the sermon can be found either on the front page this week or under the sermon page later on. The title is, "Church? Possessions." Enjoy!

http://cambridgebaptist.net/

PD Mailout

Things have been going well for Peripety Design so far this year. We have built a total of 4 sites and are currently working on 2 more. We are excited about our business and hope for more soon. Here's a copy of a letter we are sending out to all of the local churches in the Jackson County Baptist Association this week.

Dear Church,

We would like to introduce ourselves as a new ministry on the Coast that is created to help serve you! We are a web and graphic design business that is dedicated to promoting your church's identity online and along the Gulf Coast. We are a husband-wife pastoral team at a church in Gautier doing what we love and helping you succeed in your ministry at a price you can afford. We build content-management sites that work within your budget and function
at an optimal level. Best yet, we customize everything to match your ministry perfectly. If you are too busy to maintain a site, we'd love nothing more than to manage it for you.

Our recent clients have asked why we price everything so affordably, and the answer is simple. We believe that great websites are a necessity to reach people for Jesus, not a luxury for megachurches. While similarly built sites cost at least two thousand dollars or more, we price sites according to what you can afford and trust the rest to God. We believe reaching this current generation for Jesus is priceless. When you hire us, you support a ministerial family, feed our super cute kid, and allow us to continue ministering in a small church.

While websites are one of our most popular services, we also specialize in logo design and branding, graphic design for prints, special event graphics, and many others. You can see our recent clients, our portfolio, and a detailed list of our services online at our website: http://www.peripetydesigns.com.

Here a few testimonials about us:

We are so pleased with the website. It looks great! The website looks
very professional and it is easy to navigate. Thank you Peripety
Designs for the great job on our site. We will recommend Peripety to
all our friends!

Jennifer Williams, Club Meth to Christ

Wow! Peripety went beyond our expectations and created us a unique, elegant, and user friendly site focusing on the central
purpose and theme of our church. Peripety listened to our ideas and tailor designed each area to fit the needs of our staff.
If you enjoy prompt customer service, attention to detail, and reasonable pricing, you will not be disappointed with Peripety.

Mitch Osborne, Minister of Music/Facilities, Ridglea Heights Baptist Church

When planning a local community-wide youth rally, Peripety Designs created one-of-a-kind graphics to suit our needs. They
did an amazing job creating a theme design that was used throughout the advertising, planning, and production of the event.
Peripety worked with our church very professionally with our event budget in mind. Thank You Peripety Designs!

Ryan Ogborn, Minister of Youth, Eastlawn Baptist Church

We would love to be your turning point in creative outreach. After all, it's all about Jesus. We'd love to help you point more people to Him. Let us bring your church online with a website that explains to your community who you are and what you offer as a ministry. It's our dream to bring the Jackson County Baptist Association to the web, so that we can reach out to the lost and bring them to Christ. We'd love for you join us in this mission. We look forward to hearing from you!

In His grace,
Anna Cirlot
Owner & Graphic Designer, Peripety Designs
contactus@peripetydesigns.com
http://www.peripetydesigns.com

Divine Interruption

Well, it turns out that the reason I was uncomfortable the night before last was because I was developing a sinus infection. Apparently, a sinus infection plus an almost healed nose fracture equals misery. Conveniently, exactly where I fractured my nose is where the infection is the worst. Thanks to my local doctor who called in antibiotics for me, I can already tell after 3 doses that I will survive (I know you were worried).

Besides the facial pain, the worst part is not having the energy I need to keep up with Abby. As always, God times everything perfectly. Since Bryan is preaching a revival here in Memphis, I have had plenty of help during the day in between his times of studying. Since we are not at home, I don't have to feel guilty about resting for most of the day when I can. We may not be sightseeing as I had originally planned, but I am thankful for a time of unexpected rest and for a great husband who practices what he preaches.

How Easy Is Your Life?

It's 3:15 in the morning, and I can't sleep. I have been up since 2:30. My nose is hurting around my fracture site (for those of you who don't know, I broke my nose being clumsy on Valentine's day). I'm miserable. After trying to go back to sleep in vain, I decided to come into the living room and begin reading through the Gospels.

God begins to hammer me once again with His truth. The Word begins to cut out my heart of stone and replace it with His heart of flesh. Everything I am reading is lining up perfectly with where I am struggling right now and with what Bryan has been preaching this week at the revival here in Memphis.

You see, I am unquestionably selfish. My ambition is far too often worldly, and once again, I am convicted that I have taken my eyes of Jesus as being my ultimate treasure. For the past few days, I have been in culture shock. It's easy to forget how poor the Coast is until you go into a more educated place like where we are staying- Cordova.

The houses here are perfect. Absolutely beautiful. Every single person within sight appears to be living out the American dream. Nice houses. Super nice neighborhoods. New cars. Even fancy gas stations with great architecture. It's easy to get sucked into this kind of world and only want that. It's way too easy.

That's where Matthew 7:13-14 struck me tonight. "Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few."

Let those words sink in and meditate on them. How easy is your life? If everything is always going your way, it may mean that you are walking through the wide gate. Scary.

My prayer is that you will join me tonight and ask yourself. Which gate am I walking through? The verses that follow in Matthew 7:21-23 are the most terrifying verses to me found in all of the Gospels.

Jesus taught saying, "Not everyone who says to me, "Lord, Lord," will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, "Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name? And then will I declare to them, I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness."

May we never hear those words.

How easy is your life?