What the chuch can learn from Halloween...

I will probably expand on this later, but I wanted to get some thoughts in before I went to bed.

Tonight I went trick-or-treating with my oldest son (18 months) and a few friends. We didn't go to too many houses and we didn't stay out more than 30 minutes. I did make some conclusions on what I think the Church can learn (or be reminded of) during Halloween.

1. A lot of "little things" can add up to a lot
2. Most people walk around with "masks" on every day
3. We should be welcoming of our neighbors
4. If it involves candy/food, then people will show up :) (this is more for the youth workers)

just a few thoughts...

Proud new papa

What a day (or was it two). Yesterday morning my wife and I went to the hospital to have our second child. She was induced and things were moving smoothly, until she hit the 1/2way mark. Then she didn't go any farther. So after 16 hours of contractions and not seeing any progress the last 5 or 6 hours, we went in to have a c-section.

The good news is that our little boy (Wesley) was born this morning at 1:14 am. The bad news is that I don't have a picture to share b/c I left the camera at the hospital. Thankfully, everyone is doing great. Still trying to recover and rest, but overall doing great.

It is a huge praise that Wes is here. Throughout the labor nothing went the way we had planned. But (because God knows that is better) everything went well and turned out the best.

many many many pictures to come :) (oh, I am so proud to be a dad of two)

Baby arrival

In less than 12 hours we will be going to the hospital to have our second son enter the world. :) I am so happy.

I will try to update when I am back to normal - yeah, like that's going to happen.

I cannot put into words how excited I am for this new little guy to show up in this world.

I have to try to get some sleep...

Stay-At-Home Dad

I have been able to due so much with my 18 month old son since I've been able to stay at home. I consider myself blessed to have this time at home. Now, I have really begun to miss being a full-time youth minister. I don't miss going to the office and doing paperwork. But I do miss teaching, spending time with the students and just being a part of a church body.

I have been able to spend some time with a few of the students and a few families, so that has helped us both. It is more difficult to not be at a church than I thought it would be. I am beginning to really be ready to get back to work. I love to be at home (and will surely miss the time with my family), but I know I have to go back to work sometime.

Why is it not possible to stay at home and yet have a full time job? But I could try to work from home, but then again I would probably never get anything done. I don't see how people can work from home and still get a lot of work done. I would never be able to take the time to do work, I would want to spend time with my boys (when #2 gets here any day) that I would never work.

Speaking of boys - we are hoping that anyday Wes will come (that is our baby to be). I am very thankful that God has allowed me the opportunity to be at home for the first "who knows how long" weeks of my second sons life.

Back to playing with my son :)

Update

Its been just over three weeks now that I've been on my Sabbatical. It has been very refreshing.

I have been able to enjoy a lot of time with my wife and son. We've done a lot of work on our house, so it is ready to sell (whenever we get to that point - more on that later). We continue to wait and prepare for the birth of our second son. Our search goes on. I have been learning a lot about trust and reliance.

It has been almost 4 months since we began the search for a new ministry and we are still waiting to find out where we are going. It seems like it has been forever, but as I have been reading through Genesis I am constantly reminded that it is no where close to forever. Throughout Genesis people wait for years to hear or know what to do. I have been able to know God's blessings firsthand as He has taken care of us throughout this process. He is everywhere. He is in the timing of things happening, in our finances, our health. Everywhere we turn we see God at work - taking care of us even though we don't know what is going to happen next.

More update to come, after some sleep...

Sabbatical

I'm in week 2 of my Sabbatical :)

It is great to have the time to rest and relax. This past week has been a great chance to draw closer to God and to my family.

We are still waiting on final word on where we will be going next, but we trust God in it all.

Less than a month til baby #2 is here :) Now things are starting to get really interesting - so much to do and so little facts. (where will we go? what will it be like to have two kids? and on and on)