The First Half of January

The month of January has already been an adventure, and it's only half over! December 30th, Nathan led worship for the last time at our church. It was wonderful to get to see him do what he loves to do, but very emotional that a chapter in our lives has come to a close. We will still be attending the church semi-regularly since we will continue to live in the area until we know where we're headed next, but it definitely will be a little different in some ways.

We planned on celebrating New Year's Eve with some local friends, but Eliana woke up from her morning nap running a fever of 102. By that night, her fever spiked to 104.9 and we had to call the pediatrician to see what we should do. With ibuprofen, lukewarm baths, popsicles, etc... we kept her hydrated and as comfortable as we could. She ended up running a fever for 6 days (so we did end up taking her to the doctor just to make sure everything was okay), and graciously shared her sickness with mommy and big brother, Levi. With two cuddly, feverish kids who wanted only to cuddle with their mom, and that very same mom sick herself, we had some rough moments but God pulled us through. Nathan and I spent time Saturday praying over our kids, and Sunday morning both of them woke up fever-free and full of energy! Our God is definitely our physical Healer!

It took me a little longer to bounce back, but life is full of smiles around this house! Levi celebrated his 3rd birthday on the 13th, and God provided 62 degree weather for him to get to ride his new bike (or red motorcycle as Levi calls it) outside. This is a very rare occurrence in NE Ohio in January. But so wonderful.

And our "Elle-Belle" is 14 months old going on 16 years old. She is all about her accessories, "bling", & shoes. She daily loves to pick out bows to wear in her hair, put on as many necklaces as she can find, and wear sparkly shoes or boots. Along with her sweet smile, she has the grit & determination of a southern belle, climbing anything she can just barely reach, taste anything that fits in her mouth, and play "tackle" with her big brother and daddy. 

Nathan has been aggressively job searching & applying for jobs when he wasn't playing nurse (he did an excellent job taking care of us while we were sick!). He also finished packing up his office at the church. Right now, we have applied for several positions, but haven't heard anything back and don't have any other leads. We continue to pray God shows us one step at a time what He wants us to pursue! We have also started "networking", seeing if any friends or fellow people in ministry know of any openings that might be something like what we're looking for... We know a lot of positions are found this way. If you know of a church looking for a full-time worship pastor, associate pastor, etc... (basically, someone looking for a godly man to lead worship, preach, and/or do discipleship), definitely let us know. 

Well, that's about it for now! Continue to pray for us as we seek God in our day to day life!