New Church...

We have been praying a lot as a family about what church the Lord is leading us to... and we have visited a few.
We made our criterea based on prayers and personal needs and preferences. 
They were:
   Worship- musically sound, Spirit led, modern and contemporary but with a respect of the older hymns and such.
   Little Kids- a ministry that taught kids the value of the Word, fellowship, and GOOD solid friendships, and also knows that kids are powerpacked little prayer warriors and evangelists given the right tools.
   Youth- a solid youth ministry for middle school and high school that has fun, Christ-centered events and has astrong emphasis on worship, prayer, and evangelism.
   One other thing that we really wanted was a church that could minister to any special needs kids that could come into our family.  We knew that was a long shot and probably not something that we would find, but something to look for anyways.
   And of course, good solid, bible-based, spirit-led, Christ-centered preaching!! Oh, and not to big, not to small.  We like the 250-400 member churches.
This past Sunday, we went to http://www.worshipcenter.org/  and really enjoyed it.  It is a large church... I think the average weekly attendance for 3 services is about 2,000... huge to us! 
But, the worship was amazing.  Oh my goodness... it sounded like it could have been a recording.. the quality was awesome!  And it was definitly spirit-led and it felt good.  Do you know what I mean?  Just being in the congregation, letting the music wash over you, Jesus soak into you... relaxing, refreshing, and intimate.  It felt good!! :o)  And the Word was good!  Not at all boring, the pastor was funny... and real.  I had one of those light bulb moments when we was explaining his one point.  I love those... and admittedly, I haven't had one in a while... it was so good to have one and go home and read more about it and then share it with Mike and the kids!!
Jay and Madi went to children's church, called Faith Factory, and LOVED it!! They had so many stories to tell and they were so excited to tell us that they sang songs that we sing at home, and they made friends and played games, and just had FUN!
We took Kiki to the middle school level youth group tonight called Go180, and Mike said she talked the entire ride home about how much she loved it!! She made a friend, got some tasty ice cream, got a reallly cool dry erase/magnetic board (pink, of course, in the shape of a cat), and wants to go back asap!!  She asked me to sign her up for the girls spa night they are having Friday!! I had to send her to bed, but I'm going to ask her about the worship and teaching too. 
To sign Kiki up for the spa night, I had to go to the church's website where I found out about a program in tandem with the Faith Factory called One2One.  As I read this, tears formed in my eyes (directly from the website):
One2One Ministry allows special needs children to attend their age-specific classroom along with a special buddy during our weekend services. This includes children from birth through 5th grade. All buddies (6th grade and older) go through the FAITH Factory application process and then are matched with a child. Both buddy and child attend the child's class together, enabling their parents to freely attend the adult service. The buddy's sole responsibility is to involve and assist the child in the classroom activities. Buddies serve one service per month.

One2One also offers PawPals, a group setting where therapeutic dogs are brought in to interact with the children and help teach the lesson. This is offered one service every other month. Fun activities for the children, families, and buddies are also planned throughout the year.
Holy Hannah!!  How much more of a "special needs" program could we get!?!?!???
I told Mike that I wanted a big flashing neon sign that said "HOME" when we walked into the "right" church.  Well... it wasnt when we walked in... but it seems that maybe it was when I needed to read it the most.
We will go where you send us Jesus.. and it seems that maybe this huge church is it?
The kids say it is.  They want to "go there forever mom".