Monday, September 24, 2007

Soul Discovery in the News!


Just wanted to share something exciting with you. Our church (Soul Discovery Church in Salisbury, MD) was contacted about our billboards around the area, and it ended up being the front page headline/photo/story in the Sunday paper, complete with a color picture of our staff in front of our most popular billboard.

It's really neat how God has orchestrated the timing of this because 1. we had no idea it would be a front page feature and 2. it comes exactly a week before one of our big semi-annual open house outreach events called "Friend's Day" (kinda like a high attendance Sunday). Hopefully, God will use it to draw many new faces to our church. Free advertising is exactly what we need!

Anyway, thought you'd like to share my excitement...

Click here to read the article on www.delmarvanow.com...


Saturday, September 15, 2007

Busy Month

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know. It's been about a month since I last blogged. But I'm full of excuses--it's been a busy month. Here's the (not-so-short) recap:

The first half of August was the storm before the calm, or so I thought. Our pastor was on vacation for a couple of weeks, so I was filling in for him. Our vacation was scheduled for the last two weeks of August, so I was anxious to get some time off. There were some major decisions facing our church, so I was also looking forward to taking a mental break.

All the while, Lindsay had been dealing with some digestive issues since the middle of July. So, we started vacation with some hesitation in our steps. We met my oldest sister's family in Jamestown, VA on Monday for a fun day seeing the historical settlement (home school points, too!). Everybody had a blast, especially the cousins. We stayed a couple of days at their house just outside of Richmond and had a good time, but Lindsay's illness overshadowed it a bit.

Wednesday, we made a pitstop in Fredericksburg to see my parents and their house renovation project. It's neat to see them so excited about building their dream home--they deserve it! After another pitstop at IKEA and dinner at Macaroni Grille, we headed back home.

After a Thursday full of laundry and house projects, we welcomed our good friends Mike & CJ from Fredericksburg for a weekend visit. It was so good to hang out and catch up on life. They are friends we just feel at home around no matter what, the "friends for life" type of people. Both of our quivers have gotten quite a bit bigger, so having all the kids together was a trip. They returned home Sunday evening...

Monday and Tuesday were filled with packing and preparing for our trip to Jacksonville to see Lindsay's dad and his wife. We were blessed to fly out of Salisbury, so the trip was very smooth. After arriving at the Salisbury airport at 5 a.m. Wednesday morning--five suitcases, two carseats, one double stroller, three carry-ons, three daughters, and one airsick son in tow--we landed in Jacksonville.

After one day exploring our new surroundings, Lindsay's brother's family joined the fun Thursday evening. Did you pick up a theme throughout all of our vacation adventures? A lot of people, especially wild and crazy kids!! We ate, we swam (30 minute rule observed), we went to the beach, we romped around St. Augustine (cool place!), we ate some more, we swam, we ate three birthday cakes and one birthday pie (OK, I ate most of the pie--key lime is my favorite!). Did I mention the food? Don and Susie definitely fed us well...a little too well.

All the while, Lindsay continued to struggle with the cramping in her stomach. She hardly ate anything and was fatigued most of the time. She generally napped twice a day and did remarkably well considering the circumstances. After six days in Jacksonville, we made the trek back home.

So, vacation was over. I hate that feeling, but I was also eager to get back into ministry mode. Those major decisions had been made (I'll blog more on those later) and I was energized for the fall. I went back to work the first day and had made Lindsay promise to call me if she needed me. Ring, ring, ring!!!

Lindsay went to the E.R. because her pain had gotten more intense. Gall stones--big ones and lot of them--were the culprit. She had an appointment with a surgeon the following day to plan a course of action. Great! Now that we know what it is, we can get this resolved this week!

Or not. Surgery was scheduled for the following Wednesday, which was almost a week away. I was ticked! First, that she would have to continue to endure this, and second, that she would have to continue to endure this. So, we waited.

Surgery Day finally arrived and went smoothly. So smoothly, in fact, that Lindsay is at a Women of Faith conference in Philly right now. I'm so glad she got to go as she had been looking forward to it for months. I can't wait to hear all that God has done! I worked from home most of the week (and ironically I feel like I'm actually more productive). I am so thankful for a job that allows me to put family needs first with any threat of docked pay or lost time. The past two months have definitely been a struggle, but it looks like there's light at the end of the tunnel. At least until the next challenge which is sure to come!

That's the recap and the reason why I haven't blogged. I hope to be more consistent in blogging and start covering a broader range of topics that swirl around my mind.

Until next time!