January...gone but not forgotten

What a month it has been.  January came with a hopeful sense of excitement, we were ready for the big move and the beginning of a new chapter in a new place.  We looked forward in anticipation of what God had ahead.  What we didn't realize was January would put us through some of the most heart wrenching moments of life.

The majority of the first week was spent packing away and saying goodbyes to dear dear friends.  Saying goodbye once is difficult enough, saying goodbye a second time is borderline unbearable.  We are blessed with some of the best friends, which makes parting even harder.  They are our greatest encouragement, but the look in their eyes as you say goodbye says it all.  Within days of arriving back from Christmas break in Texas our moving pods were delivered.  We loaded them up and moved into a good friends home for what we thought would be a matter of 2 or 3 days before our departure to NY.  

The day we moved out of our rental home tragedy hit our family hard.  My husband lost his older brother in a terrible car accident.  There is nothing in this world that can prepare you for a loss of this kind.  My heart aches terribly every time I replay that day over in my mind, I pray with time that too will heal.  We walked through several dark days beside my mother and father in law, brother in law, our nieces and nephew as well as a whole host of extended family.  I knew I married a man of great strength, I never realized just how great that strength was until this trial.  He was a rock for his family, even in the midst of his own grief.  I, on the other hand, only know how to deal with these moments by doing whatever needs to be done, meals, cleaning, errands, phone calls, etc.  I wish I could say it was a servants heart, but I know if I were honest it's because the moment I stop I fall to pieces.  I'm sure one of these days I will blog about watching a mother loose a son or a child loose a parent, for now I can only formulate one words, "Tragic".  

We adjusted our moving plans to be with family through the funeral.  In the midst of the pain God held our family close.  Our little guy was a constant source of joy through the heartache, I can truly see how God uses children in the midst of sorrow to bring joy.  We are grateful to have had friends to stay with during this time who were a sounding board, a daily comfort and a warm cozy place to sleep each night, as our belongings headed to NY.  What we thought would be a matter of days turned into a week, I can't recall much, those days just seem like a blur.

There are so many other situations that happened prior to our leaving that I cannot share in a public format, but ones that caused a good deal of pain.  As we left NM I felt as though I was looking back on a minefield of heartache the enemy had so strategically planted and one thought came to mind:

"God MUST have something HUGE ahead for us"    

It seems so many times when we know God has big plans in front of us we fail to remember that the bigger Gods plan the more relentless the enemy's attacks against us.  We drop our guard because all around us it seems everything is so positive and exciting.  For us this past month was no exception.  Our decision to move was out of an obedience to go where the Lord was calling.  The moment we said yes we threw the door wide open to both the excitement of what lay ahead and the trails that would attempt to prevent God's plan from completion.

In the midst of the heartache and pain, God's hand was so prevalent.  I believe it is impart to the prayers of so many of you.   We were blessed to have church family and friends in New Mexico who took such great care of us, helping with meals, childcare, funeral arrangements and generally just loving on us.  And how we have been blessed beyond measure by our new church family in New York.  Not only were prayers being lifted for us by our students and church staff, but the outpouring of love when we arrived continues to warm my heart.  We have moved to a beautiful place to serve an amazing group of people!

So January you are now gone, but certainly not forgotten.

Many Blessings,
hj

    

New York here we come...

Crazy, certifiably nuts, out of our minds, insane...or perhaps just following where He leads.  When we moved from Texas to New Mexico just 7 short months ago we had no idea what God had in store.  In our minds and our plan this was permanent, we were moving home to a place we loved, near Patrick's family and our dearest friends.  Although we were leaving my family behind, we knew we would be less then a day's drive from them.  We quickly fell in love with our new church family, rented a beautiful house from close friends and began to plant ourselves.  But God slowly began to reveal that He had other plans for our little family.

Leaving out the months of little details, in December God opened a door and Patrick accepted a position as Student Ministry Pastor at a church in New York.  This was by far one of the most difficult and yet incredibly peaceful decisions we have ever had to make.   In the past 13 years of ministry I have come to learn that following where God leads, means having the obedience to go when He says it's time.  For those of you who know us best you know this decision was not made lightly, nor was it an easy one to make.  We are leaving behind family, our best friends, a beautiful house and an amazing group of youth to move to an unfamiliar area.  But we know we are going exactly where He wants us.  

As hard as the decision was, we are absolutely thrilled.  God has chosen us to fill this role and we will serve Him fully and completely as we have in each place He has planted us.  We are blessed to be apart of yet another group of amazing students and we look forward to how God will use us in their lives as He has in many others.  I have no doubt He will be holding us up during this very short transition.  For someone who is a planner by nature, I feel I am completely out of my comfort zone and yet I have complete peace.  Further confirmation we are following His lead.  

So speaking of transition....

We will officially be sending our belongings out a week from today and we will depart New Mexico for New York on January 12th.  We are excited!  We continue to pray for Gods hand in this transition.  I'm sure their will be many more blogs to come, with all the changes that lay ahead.  I promise to complete Jaedon's birth story in the coming months, we have been a bit busy.  

So please pray with us....

We ask that you would join us in praying for protection as we are moving in the middle of winter, for peace over baby Jae, for all the minor details to come together, for us in the heartache of saying goodbye and for comfort in starting over in a new place.  

We don't believe for a instant that moving to New Mexico was not apart of God's plan for our lives.  As short a period of time as it was, we can see God had us here for a very specific reason.  I truly believe He has ordained each of our steps and just as He brought us here I am confident He is taking us to New York.  In that I find my great joy and complete peace.

Many Blessings,

hj