A New Stage of Ministry

Well, I apologize as this is my first post since October. I was never really good at keeping a journal or diary. Although this time, I think I just needed time to heal, and have something good to say. Many of you have encouraged me to update. So, let me give you life in fast forward...

In October, I busied myself with ministry: I began teaching a class for our Women's Bible Study on faith through adversity (just a side note, I had volunteered to teach the class in summer, before I even knew I was pregnant). I was leading worship 3 days a week, and kept myself running as fast as possible. In November, I went away for a week to a Women's conference, it was good; I played worship for chapel retreat, and had time away for Thanksgiving. Did I mention that more hormones were really out of balance during this season, and I did not feel normal. We came home to some unfortunate drama in our community, and left for the states two weeks later. It is all a blur.

Upon returning home, we took the opportunity to take life in slow motion, visit with friends and family, enjoy downtime, exercise, and spend time reflecting. We enjoyed eating mexican, and sweet tea, late morning breakfasts with family, going to the movies, and being apart of the lives that are so dear to us. It was fun to go to church with all our friends and see what God is doing nearly 5,000 miles across the ocean from us. During this time, I realized that the busy-ness I had involved myself in was really nothing more than a distraction from the hurt I had in my heart. Feeling safe at home, it was time to let my heart heal. I had a realization that many of my responses over the last couple of months came out of the hurt I had in my heart; and then I wondered how many people around me were responding out of their own built up hurts. I began to take notice and talk about it with Chris and my family.

December was also a joyous month. Officially in December, Chris defended his entire dissertation and became Dr. Howard! Yea, praise God! We were glad to have this journey come to an end. Chris has finished up all of the editing in January and is feeling free as a bird, now that this project is off of his plate (and his mind).

Hunter has been busy growing, learning, and playing. He is a very happy kid who loves to play and imagine. In January, he became the most talkative kid we have ever met. He talks non-stop, pick your language. He is full of stories and excitement. He has discovered superheros and really like Superman right now. Lately, he has been trying to perfect "flying" off the bed. In January, Nana and Pops (Chris's parents) came to visit and stay with Hunter for a week, while we went to a conference. We have been home for two weeks today, and I am still trying to catch up.

So now, we have stepped into a new stage of ministry. We have really been struggling with our High School club this school year; it never really took off, and got all the way down to 5 kids. We have made some transitions and I have become Chris's intern. (Over our 3 years here, I have really stepped back from the direct teen ministry to be more of a support and spend more of my time with Hunter.) Now we have found the need to transformed our High School Club into a youth discipleship group for the chapel kids. We are doing in depth Bible study in which I am teaching. Chris continues to thrive with outreach and the Middle School portion of our ministry. We really feel a sense of moving in the right direction, and that we are being led by the Holy Spirit. This new stage requires some adjustment for our family and our normal weekly schedule, as most events are in the evening and on various weekends. This weekend we are preparing to take 15 kids on ski retreat, and we are excited to share the love of God with these kids and minister to them as a family.

Please continue to pray for us as we are in this transition. We rejoice at what God has brought us through and what He is doing in and through us. We are excited to see what may come of this change in our ministry and look forward to the what this semester may look like.