In a few days, we will be in September... September already?!? It's hard to believe! This summer has been pretty nonstop for us, and we are thankful to be entering fall and anticipating a more relaxed pace without any extensive trips planned. We are looking forward to being able to focus more on building relationships and sharing Christ in the context of those relationships as we exit the survival mode that this summer required: Candidate School, vacation, moving out of one house and into another completely new community, adjusting from "interns" to "pastor/pastor's wife", figuring out how/where/when to grocery shop when going to the grocery requires half a day's trip, Indiana visit/preaching, Michigan mission trip, VM staff conference. Whew! It makes me tired just looking at that list! Can I just say once again how THANKFUL we are to know that we are home for awhile now and can try to figure out some sort of a routine... and hopefully fit some relaxing in there somewhere too!
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| Our reuniting with the kids after VM staff conference <3 |
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| Happy to be back together again! |
I realized the other day that so much has happened that I haven't written about, and it's hard to even know where to start. Going through pictures helps me remember what happened and when, so that's what we're going to do here...
Visit in Nappanee, IN / Preaching at Living Gospel
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| Chris' Grandpa Soliday introducing him to their church |
The first Sunday in July, we traveled to Nappanee, IN, because Chris had been asked to preach one Sunday at
Living Gospel Church (where his maternal grandfather serves on the pastoral team) while their pastor was on sabbatical. (They had asked him months in advance, and with the permission of our DR he had agreed as at that time we were still under the assumption that we would be wrapping up our internship in June/July and moving mid-summer. Even though we ended up being placed sooner than anticipated, we and VM still considered it important to keep that prior commitment - and our church here in Volga was very gracious in understanding and supporting that as well.) It was a short trip (Fri-Mon), but so good to be able to visit with family and share with them a little bit about our new home. We were also wonderfully encouraged by the people that make up the Church there and by the interest they have taken in our work with Village Missions.
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Family Time: Chris' Grandma Soliday, mom Denise, and sister Anna,
holding Josiah, Deliliah (Anna's daughter), and Charis (respectively) |
Community
Even between all of the travel and figuring out how to survive (and thrive!) in rural Iowa, we have been working hard to try to get to know the Church and community here. Chris shared with the elders that he had challenged himself to meet at least one person from each house in town (60-something houses) by the end of August, and told them that they could test him on that when his deadline came around, so he's been pretty busy lately trying to make sure he meets that deadline. He has a couple days left and only a couple houses left - I think he'll make it! :) I haven't been going door-to-door, but have mostly been trying to meet people by going on walks with the kids and going to community events: the summer library programs, the Clayton County Fair, etc.
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| Clayton County Fair: Don't let Josiah's face fool you, he had a blast on this thing! |
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| Clayton County Fair: Josiah was sure this ride would be fun; Charis, not so much. |
Michigan Mission Trip / Gideon Family Visit
The last week of July, Chris went with some guys who attend our church's youth group on a mission-work trip to Cedar River, MI (in the Upper Peninsula). I will try to talk/beg/bribe him into writing a blog post detailing his trip sometime in the next couple of days. ;)
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| All packed and ready to go! |
Since Chris was going to be gone for the week, I asked my sister Rachel if she'd like to stay with me and help with the kids since she had been talking about coming for a visit anyway. Well, the next thing I know, not only was Rachel coming, but also my mom, her two foster daughters C. and A., my youngest brother Reece, and their dog... LOL! Needless to say, I had plenty of help for the week - and a full house!
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| All my helpers! |
While I had all the extra help here, we decided to go ahead and throw a birthday party for Josiah, inviting the kids from our community. It was so neat to see so many families there!
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| Bet you can't guess the theme... |
Our boy is THREE! When did that happen?!?!
Friends Near and Far
In between all of our traveling, we've been blessed to have had special visits from a few beloved friends this summer...and I've forgotten to get pictures of most of them. :( Steve and Julie from our Bible study group in Crawfordsville came for a weekend to visit in July; Dawn and Charlie, also from Crawfordsville, also came to visit for a weekend; after staff conference we had a visit from our DR's just checking in and visiting the church; and that week we also had a visit from our dear friends from Grace College, Will and Elizabeth.
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| Will & Elizabeth's visit |
When I think of how full our summer has been, I feel like it sounds exhausting; but when I think back to each month, I realize that even though our schedule was full to the brim, we have been so blessed by an abundance of encouragement from every side -- family, old friends from Indiana, new friends and church family here in Volga, and old/new friends at the VM staff conference. We're not under any illusion that things will always be easy or that life will always be smooth - the cycle of this fallen world promises that hard and discouraging times will come - but right now, I am cherishing and treasuring all of the ways that the Lord has encouraged us through His love and through His people, so that when hard times come memories of these days will bring us the promise and encouragement we need.
It's past midnight here, and the famous
Volga City Truck Cruise begins in the morning, so tomorrow promises to be a full day. Adios, amigos!
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