Helping

As I was folding towels a few minutes ago Jack started pulling out all his bibs and wash clothes and carrying them to the kitchen. When I got finished I noticed where he was putting them all "away."

Then I carried a pile of towels to the bathroom to put them away as I was leaving he came in carrying another stack of wash clothes and then again with the hand towels. I guess it is never too early to show them how to help around the house.

Act Like You're Sleeping

This is what Jack does when we tell him to act like he is sleeping.

I wonder if he could ever fool us?

My Journey To NYC- Part 3

The details of the next month or so are not necessarily important (they are important, just not for my purposes now), and really too much to share right now, but there were a few significant times I'll mention.

1) Freddy T. and I spent lots and lots of time talking and praying over this decision. There were some key questions Freddy T. had for Aaron in which his answers would be significant for us to keep praying about this opportunity. They were answered the way we needed them to be.

2) Carmen, Aaron's wife, made a special trip to Clarksville to visit with me and Jack. It was helpful for me to get to speak very honestly with her and ask her a lot of questions and here her perspective and encouragement along the way. There was no pressure, just a good listening ear and a prayerful spirit toward us.

As we continued to pray we felt like it was of the Lord for us to make the move to NYC. The only red flag for me was they wanted us there in October. All along I was thinking, and so was Freddy T., that the move would happen after the twins were born. It scared me to think it would happen sooner than that. What would I do? Who would help me with Jack if I went on bed rest? How will I get acquainted with the city and be prepared to set up a home and play with Jack and be ready to bring the twins home? All these questions consumed me.

Freddy T. sought counsel from a few men. One in particular, who I have deep respect for, said "When God is calling you somewhere, he is usually calling you now." Wow. At the time I don't know if I understood that, but as we get closer to the move date I'm feeling the weight of that. Our calling is now to go to New York. Freddy shared with me some of his conversations and his heart about it, he allowed me some time, and God reshaped my mind and heart and opened it to the idea of moving in October. I know this is of the Lord. The peace that is in my heart about the timing of our move is "perfect peace." I also know it's of the Lord because as we have shared with family and friends and church family, the Lord has given me unbelievable strength and faith. Those few weeks of sharing one on one with different family and friends was the hardest two weeks of my life. I wanted to share our excitement with them, but it came with great sadness in my heart that our news would be devastating to them. The Lord was so faithful and steady with us over that time. Under other circumstances, some of the questions and concerns and comments we have gotten would have shaken me to the core. I've not once been shaken. Understand, pregnant girl with twins (double the hormones and emotions), with an active 1 1/2 year old, trying to pack a house, sell belongings, move to a huge, new city, away from family, wanting to settle before the twins come, tired all at the same time, raising our own salary, and preparing for our family to have a new experience unlike anything we've ever known before, and I'm 100% confident and excited and unshaken in my faith that we are doing the right thing. Sure I have concerns of my own. There is nothing anyone has shared with us that we have not considered. I don't know how we will do it. I don't know where the money will come from exactly. I don't know a lot of things, but I do know that God has not called us to go and leave us to figure this out on our own. I'll share soon of all the ways so far God has shown his faithfulness and provision. He is going to provide our needs. Our little girls name is going to be Lillie. I looked that word up in the Bible a few months ago and went straight to Matthew where it talks about the beauty and splendor of how the lilies are clothed and yet our Father cares more about us than the lilies, surely he will provide our needs. I know he will!

I hope you are encouraged. We need your prayers. There is still so much to do between now and October, especially in the next few weeks. We are excited and very busy! I can't wait to share in the next post of how the Lord has provided for us so far.

My Journey To NYC- Part 2

*Be sure to read the edit at the bottom of the last post.

It was in October of last year, 2007, that the Lord began to change my heart. I can't pin point exactly what it was, nothing magical, just through prayer and time with the Lord I felt a peace in my heart that if I didn't get to spend a lot more time in Clarksville it would be ok. Not only ok, but good. Not good because anything was bad, but good because if the Lord had other plans for our family it would be good.

I was on the phone with one of my best friends one day and shared this with her. At this point I had held this to myself, not even sharing it with Freddy T.

Freddy T. was in the trenches with Hebrew (the language). It was his last class before graduation from seminary and it was by far the most challenging seminary experience we've had. A few days after my conversation with Ellie, maybe a week, one evening Freddy T. became consumed with the idea of planting in the Northeast. He brought it up to me again and for the first time in years I was not disappointed with the idea... I was actually positive and excited. I shared with him what the Lord had been doing in my heart over the past few weeks, I think he was shocked, excited, and relieved.

Through a series of events over the next several months the Lord began really stirring our hearts, again there was no real open door at this point. I want you to understand. When I say the Lord began stirring our hearts it really was OUR hearts. At no point have I moved a step forward just because I was Freddy T.'s wife and that is what I am "supposed" to do. This whole journey has been 110% a together journey. I certainly support Freddy T. 100% in his call to ministry, but the calling we have to go to NYC is a calling God has confirmed in each of us.

You should know at this point I can't say the exact dates and months of how things have come together. So it will all be a general time frame.

In early spring Aaron sent Freddy an email asking him to preach at The Gallery for him one weekend this summer. We put July 20th on the calendar and looked forward to the opportunity and a fun weekend in the city.

It was maybe a month after this, Freddy was at a conference in Orlando, FL that I called him to say that we were having twins. I was shocked, Freddy was absolutely thrilled and I was glad again to be so close to family... I was going to need them.

It's getting late, so I'll stop here and try to pick back up tomorrow.

My Journey To NYC- Part 1

As promised I'm going to share my thoughts on our calling to New York City. I don't know if I'll be able to make it short enough for one post, but it will at least get me started and motivate me to keep posting. I feel like I need to share a little background first, just so you'll understand my perspective.

Freddy T. and I spent our first 13 weeks as a married couple in New Brunswick, NJ. It was the last 13 weeks of my 1 year committment to a program called The Leadership Journey. Freddy T. met and spent time in those weeks working with Aaron Coe, who at the time was the head of my program and working for NAMB with their strategic emphasis on NYC and who is now the lead pastor of The Gallery Church, and while I had already heard of the vision for church planting in the city and believed in it, Freddy T. heard it for the first time was was captivated.

We spent time in prayer and talked about whether or not we wanted to stay in the area once our time was up. While we didn't feel like the time was right then, the vision for the city has never left our hearts. We then moved to Louisville, KY where Freddy T. continued on with seminary classes while I taught 8th grade at Whitefield Academy. We got an apartment in Old Louisville with the vision to plant a church down there out of the church Freddy T. attended before we got married. He had a strong vision for this plant, however, the church was not at a place to send us out so we never moved forward. All the while, I enjoyed Louisville, but never loved living there. After living there 6 months we were asked by First Baptist Clarksville to take over preaching for the Friday night contempary service. This began our 1 1/2 year stint of traveling every weekend to Clarksville to preach for that service that later was moved to Sunday morning DOXA. At the time this seemed crazy to most people because we lived and worked in Louisville, but went to church 3 hours away. This was part of the reason I didn't come to love Louisville. I didn't have time to make and cultivate really good friendships since I worked through the day and traveled on the weekends. By night time I was tired and ready to be home with Freddy T.


All during this time, 2 years since we lived in New Jersey, Freddy T. and Aaron continued to have conversations about us joining them in NYC and at least once a month Freddy mentioned the idea. The timing was never right for us or the church, but the desire and belief of the vision never left our hearts.

Now let me insert something here. While I believed in the vision to reach NYC and plant churches there, and even thought we'd end up there someday, I thought that someday was a long, long way away. We were starting our family and I was changing jobs from teaching to staying at home full time. Freddy T. came on staff at FBC in January 2007 and we moved to Clarksville 6 days after Jack was born. We were in the same city as most of our family (which is almost unheard of in the ministry) and Freddy T. still had a few classes till he was finished with seminary. With all that, I was not ready to go to NYC (and there was no real open door at that point either). Still believed in the vision, but not ready to go. Not even willing to entertain the idea, and Freddy T. still talked about it once a month. At one point I had to tell him that it was not helpful for me to hear him "dream." My heart was in settling in Clarksville and it shook me up too much to "dream" about relocating somewhere else when we were just settling down in Clarksville.

This brings us to last October (2007). I'll pick up here later on... stay tuned!

*I do want to make sure this is clear. While we have been in Clarksville we have not been constantly thinking about what is next for us. We love FBC and the people we minister to and along side of. It's one of the hardest things about moving, leaving relationships that mean so much to us.

We moved to Clarksville with the intentions of being here for a while. I don't know if a while was 5 years or 30 but while we were serving at FBC we were committed and focused on what the Lord was doing here in Clarksville. It was not our plan to be moving away so soon. It is simply a call from God that we cannot deny.

I didn't mean to make it sound like we've only been thinking of NYC. I realized after reading it again later it could be mistaken for that. There are hundreds of things I'm breezing over because its long enough already! I'm just trying to hit the highlights of how we've gotten to where we are today.

22 weeks 2 days

We had a great doctors visit today. Lillie and Elliott are progressing well. Lillie weighed in at 1lb 1 oz and Elliott trailed at only 15 oz. They are healthy and laying one on top of the other. Both heads on the right side of my belly. I'd scan a picture but they take up so much space its hard to tell anything about the pictures. I must say though, Lillie stole the show today. The technician said she was very photogenic.

As for me. Someone told me I didn't look that big in the picture I posted last night. I reminded them that was 2 weeks ago. To prove my point I've gained 10 pounds since my last doctors visit and I'm currently measuring that of a 28 week pregnancy. It continues to be interesting to see peoples faces when they learn I'm only 22 weeks along. My doctor said things are looking good. He doesn't see any reason for concern now or in the future, of course that can change, but for now I'll keep playing with Mr. Jack and packing away through out the day.

I'm going to my sister-in-laws baby shower this weekend. That will be my next attempt to try to look decent, I'll get someone to snap an updated picture of me then.

This and That

Here is my 20 week picture. I'm 22 weeks now and it seems like I'm much bigger. I'll have to get Freddy T. to take another picture real soon. In the past 4 days 3 people have looked at me and said, "When are you due?" When I say "December" their eyes pop out of their head. I smile and say "It's twins." All 3 responses at that point have been, "oh well you look like you could have it any day!" Well we're a little over half way there, no telling what the next 3-4 months will look like. I go to the doctor tomorrow, we'll update you sometime this week on the latest news.

Here are a few pictures of Jack over the summer. A few from the pool and one during his favorite time of the day... snack time!

I told him to smile... he sticks out his tongue!

Why swim when you have a cup and a pool surrounded by rocks!

And finally, the latest family picture. Not a great one, but the only one since Easter.

I want to do better about updating everyone. This is a crazy season in our lives. We are sorting through our things getting ready for a moving sale in a week or so and at the same time packing everything up, we have renters moving into our house over Labor Day weekend so we have to be out by then. We won't be in New York till the first weekend in October, so we'll stay at a deployed soldiers condo in the mean time. When I actually get a chance to blog I'm so tired I need to rest. I know things won't slow down for a while, but I'm going to try to do better. Thanks for keeping up with us. Keep praying for the Lord to sustain our faith as we prepare for our big move. He has proven himself faithful so many times since we said "yes" to NY. I'll share some of our stories another time.

I Tried

I tried last Monday to post a belly picture, but my camera would not connect with my computer. Not real sure why, but I'll try again soon. In the mean time, I'm just getting bigger. Can't imagine what it's going to be like later on down the road. I'm only half way there!