Xroads Spotlight-Penny Spray

Where are you from?  
NASHVILLE, TN, currently live about 10 minutes from downtown Nashville.
Your favorite restaurant is?   
​Sakura's Japanese Hibachi Grill
​What do you do for fun?   I love camping and watching the Titan's Games with family and friends (esp. when all of the kids come over to watch with us!)  I enjoy hangin out with Maggie and pampering ourselves with manicures (and sometimes shopping, shhh, don't tell Mike.  Just kidding.)
 

Tell us about your family I am married to my amazing husband, Pastor Mike Spray, who is our provider, protector, and a passionate man of God.  Mike takes his role as head of the home seriously with compassion, respect and grace.
We have adult twin boys, Ryan and Patrick. Maggie (who most of you know from the Worship Team) married to Brian Heisler, Hailey (who is very well known for her obsession with "Tattoos"!)  Logan, who was our first foster child.  Logan aged out of the system and is living in Columbia, TN now, however, we talk to him on a weekly basis and still see him.  Olivia has lived with us going on four years and we obtained full custody of her about a year ago.  And, Skylynn, was our second foster child and we adopted her a year ago this past August.
What is your life verse?   Philippians 4:12-13 "I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty.  I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength.
What's a funny story from your childhood? When I was very young my mom was taking a trip to Miami, she told me I would be staying with my grandmother.  I asked my mom who her "ami" was and told her I wanted to meet her, (of course as a child I heard it as,
"My Ami."
What do you want to do for a career?   ​I am doing exactly what I’ve always wanted to do; be a stay at home mom and work in the children's ministry!
What do you love about Xroads? ​ There is so much about Crossroads that I love, the fellowship and family is outstanding and I am so blessed and thankful for the godly examples that have been lived out through our Pastors, staff, and church family.  Several of you may or may not know Flo Irish.  When Flo attended Crossroads (before moving out of state) her example of stepping up and beginning a class for special needs kids was an incredible gift.  You see, Hailey was a challenge for the regular Sunday school class and very challenging sitting in the sanctuary with me.  Flo saw the need and took it by the reins.  She was an incredible blessing for me, being a single mother at that time who was lost and emotionally drained, and just needed Jesus!  And even though Flo would be pouring sweat and just plain worn out from dealing with Hailey (a lot of you do not know or maybe do not remember the "Tasmanian devil", the seek and destroy child who never stopped moving that she was!) Flo did not give up and allowed me the precious, much needed and desired Worship, Praise, and teachings of God's Word!  She is an amazing woman and I think back and wonder if Flo had not been obedient to God's calling, where would I be now? Would I still be involved in church? Would I have met Mike? Would I have been a foster parent? Most importantly, would I know JESUS as my Lord and Savior?  She set the example and now Mike and I strive to do the same in the children's ministry.  We want the parents of the Little Kingdom Kids to be able to hear God's Word and to carry it home and live it out with their kids and others.  We also want our parents to feel good knowing that their children are safe, loved, "taught up" and cared for as we teach the Word of God to them. 
How long have you been at Xroads?​       
14 years
If you could go anywhere, where would you go?​     
​I would go to Israel
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Thank you Penny for sharing some of your life with us!