Counting Our Blessings: Part One

This blog post has been a long time in coming, but I just haven't found the time to sit down and write a post! I wanted to get this written and published before our move so that once we moved I could focus on those updates, but I feel like this has been the first time I've had a chance to sit down and breathe for a couple of weeks now! For now, suffice it to say: We arrived in Volga, Iowa, last Wednesday (5/27) and have been working on trying to balance unpacking, meeting people in the community, and normal family activities (like feeding the children/husband). I will write a more extensive update (along with pictures!!!) hopefully in the next week; without further ado, let me share a little bit about what our last couple of weeks have looked like...

As I was thinking about this post, I just kept coming back to thinking about it as a list of joys and blessings from the Lord.

Charis is ONE!
Charis turned ONE on May 7 (was that really almost a month ago?!). Josiah gladly blew out her birthday candle, and she devoured her cupcake - once she finally figured out how to get it in her mouth!

She's cute, and she knows it!

Fort Wayne "Vacation"
Per Village Missions guidelines, we were asked to take a week-long vacation before our move to our new field, because during the first year we will not have a vacation as we will be busy getting to know the church and community. We chose to use our vacation to stay in Fort Wayne and say goodbye to friends and family members before our move. We were so thankful that we were able to see many people who have been such a huge part of our lives and who have enabled us to get to where we are today.

We were blessed to be able to spend time with people from each of the churches that have built us up:
We were again graciously given the opportunity to share with an adult Sunday School class at Grace Point (where we grew up) in Fort Wayne;
we enjoyed spending an evening with and receiving some last words of wisdom from one of our previous pastors, Bill Keen, and his wife, Lana, from New Harvest (Warsaw, IN) where we spent most of our college years;
and Chris was again given the opportunity to preach at Centro Internacional de Alabanza Renovacion (CIAR) in Fort Wayne. We enjoyed spending some extra time with the pastor there, Alex Ortiz, and his wife, Lucy; as well as being able to visit some with some other cherished friends from that congregation.

Chris preaching at CIAR

Date Night
Also while we were in Fort Wayne, Chris and I enjoyed our first date night (alone! Sans kids!) in over a year (since before Charis' birth). Previously, any date nights that we had had to include Charis since she was still nursing. Before moving to Crawfordsville, we had enjoyed a date night almost weekly since we lived so near to family (a.k.a. free babysitters [very appreciated!]), so this was a wonderful and much-needed break. Chris surprised me with a trip after dinner to see what may well be one of the coolest and most obscure, underrated locations in Fort Wayne. What other guy takes his wife to a rock quarry for a date? I think I picked a winner. ;)

While we were sad to leave Fort Wayne, at the same time we were anxious to return to C-ville as we knew that left us with only a week to pack up a whole house and be ready to move.

Liberty Chapel Discipleship Group Blessings/Goodbyes
During our time at Liberty Chapel, we made it a point to visit each of the small group Bible studies several times and we enjoyed each of them; but there were a few that we made the decision to commit to attending regularly during our internship. Chris met with the men's group on Monday nights; I met with (and, for most of the internship, led) the ladies' Bible study on Wednesday mornings; and our family together attended the Thursday night dinner and Bible study hosted by a wonderfully gracious and hospitable family from Liberty Chapel. We so appreciated the fellowship in each of these groups, and the last couple of weeks were all the sweeter. Many of the people in those small groups have been to Volga in the past for mission/work trips, and are therefore familiar with many people in the the church there. It was so sweet for these people, who have become cherished friends and brothers/sisters to us during the past year, to gather around us during these last couple of Bible studies and give us last words of instruction/advice/wisdom and to pray specifically for us and for the church/community in Volga. During our last Thursday night Bible study, the members wrote down the names of families and individuals that they knew from the church/community, passed out the names, and during the prayer time each of the names was read by different members of our group - realizing that without additional commentary God knew the situations in each home and in His wisdom is able to meet their needs. I felt the tenderness of those moments as these people who had loved and poured into us read the names of people they knew but whom we had never met (but would shortly be meeting), and in whose community with the Lord's help we were being sent to preach the Word and love the people.

Faithful ladies from the Women's Bible Study

Well, it's midnight here and I still had more I wanted to write, so I think I'll just have to add a "Counting Our Blessings: Part Two" sometime in the next couple of days... Hopefully sooner rather than later. Thanks for reading!