Praising Our Sovereign God

This may be the longest stretch we've had between blog posts in a long time. In our last post (May 31) we briefly mentioned our transition from Iowa to Ohio.

Enjoying the Sparks' generous hospitality and friendship on our way to OH

We have received such a warm welcome here from VCC!

"New House" Cookies

Our family has been moved into our new home in New Franklin since early June. We have begun ministry alongside Mark and Donna Archer, our mentors for the time that we're in northeastern Ohio, and we have been busy becoming acquainted with the folks at Valley Community Church where we now minister.

Mark and Donna's "Have fun storming the castle!" look (Princess Bride)

Valley Community Church

On July 12, Ronae gave birth to our third child, a son: Sovereign Judah (the first home birth for us). He weighed in at 7 lbs even and was 21 inches in length. He has reddish hair and looks very similar to what Josiah did when he was born. Ronae did a great job even though the contractions didn't seem to follow a normal progressive pattern and lasted a couple of days. All in all it was a great day with many things to be thankful to God for.

Sovereign Judah

We chose to name our child Sovereign as a reminder to us that God is in control, and Judah which means "praise" because God has allowed us to praise Him in the midst of changing seasons of life. It's a lesson to keep close, even during such times as these.


On July 31, Chris and Mark biked together about 30 miles (plus a little due to getting lost for a short time) to raise money for Pregnancy Solutions and Services, which is the only pregnancy medical center in Summit County. Together, they raised over $1,000 for the organization. A huge THANK YOU to all who donated to this cause!!

The first week of August, we attended Village Missions' Midwest District Conference in Illinois and were greatly encouraged by our time there. It was wonderful to get together with so many of our VM friends and their families; we are so thankful for our "Village Missions Family".

Women's Panel on Hospitality

Celebrating our DR for his birthday

Silly shenanigans by Phil Rownd and his sons on Family Night at conference

It was such a good - but tiring! - week!

The whole family got good naps that week ;) 

August 10th, our Josiah turned 4! This boy, "Fire of the Lord", has been a fiery little one pretty much since birth. He's been one of our greatest challenges, but without a doubt also one of our greatest blessings. We are thankful for his life and pray that as the Lord continues growing him, He will use Josiah's fire to bring glory to Himself. We are so proud of this boy and excited to see how he will continue to grow in the coming year!

Although we plan to homeschool, we decided to enroll Josiah in preschool this school year because he has struggled with a lot of sadness about leaving his friends from Iowa, and we hoped that being in school would enable him to make some new friends. So far, he is absolutely LOVING it!

Chris has been preaching at least once a month at church, as well as leading a devotional for Wednesday night prayer meetings. He and Mark have had opportunities to pass out Gospel tracks and have meaningful conversations with people at a few metropolis areas during community events, and have also gone door-to-door together to meet people and share Christ.

Chris at an Outreach Event in a nearby city

Mark sharing with someone at an Outreach Event

Recently both of us have started helping out two women who head up a Good News Club (by Child Evangelism Fellowship) at a local primary school. It's a once-weekly after-school Bible club for kids at the permission of their parents. It seems to be very relevant and effective material for kids those ages.

At church Chris has preached so far on four characteristics of Scripture. The audio recording of the messages can be listened to at the following links: Authority, Clarity, Necessity, and Sufficiency.

Labor Day weekend/week, we decided to travel to Pennsylvania to attend a family reunion that Chris' maternal grandmother's family holds annually, and to visit other family members while we were in the area. We camped for the week and kept plenty busy! We are so thankful for the generous hospitality shown us by so many of Chris' Great Aunts and Uncles: Linda and Lorna and Grandma Great, Dick and Joyce, Donna and Erv, and Bruce and RuthAnn. We so appreciated the time spent with each of them!

I'll never get over the beauty of PA

She wanted someone to push her on the swing...Just not Josiah. :/
It's hard being two!

Visiting Chris' Great Aunt Joyce and Uncle Dick, along with Chris' mom, sister, and niece 

The White House!

"Show me your sad face - this is jail!" 

Lorna and  Linda with Charis and Sovereign

More PA beauty

On August 28, Chris' dad, Dave, passed away unexpectedly from diabetic complications. He was 58 years old. He was married to Chris' stepmom, Carol, and he was also the father of one of Chris' older brothers, Sean. Please pray for his family during this time as they feel the absence in their family. Although Chris didn't see his dad as often as he would have liked while growing up, he always felt affirmed, cared for, and loved whenever they spent time together. A memorial in his remembrance will be held near Fort Wayne this Saturday, September 24 (feel free to ask if you would like more details).