Waiting

As most of you readers know, we are planning to move from Louisville to Pearland, TX any day now to help with a church plant there. Or at least that's what we've been saying for about the past 6 weeks. And we are no closer to knowing when we will move now than we were 6 weeks ago. We are just waiting. Specifically, we are waiting for Dave to get a job there.

It's a very strange thing to be in such a waiting period. Everything feels temporary. It's hard not to completely disengage from life in Louisville, even though we may still be here for a bit longer. It's hard to fight against discontentment when we want so badly to be somewhere other than where we are. (I know it will be equally hard to fight against discontentment when we finally do get to Pearland and begin missing Louisville.) Each week that passes with still no news on the job front provides fresh temptation for discouragement and restlessness. This is fresh on my heart today because the church plant, Covenant Community Church, is having a core group meeting tomorrow night with the biggest number yet of people interested in being a part of the church. This is very exciting evidence of the Lord's grace! And yet, Dave and I are sad to not be able to be there and participate in this meeting of this new community. Our hearts are in Pearland but we are still here in Louisville.

Because we trust in a sovereign and good God, we know that He has purposed to keep us here in Louisville for now. We know that we are not ultimately waiting on a job, but we are ultimately waiting on the Lord. We are waiting on Him to provide the means for us to move, and if He desires for us to be in Pearland at Covenant Community Church, He will indeed make a way for us to get there.

Waiting on the Lord does not come easily to me. I want to take matters into my own hands and charge ahead, in effect, communicating to God that I know better than Him and my ways are better than His. How foolish this is! Rather than give full vent to my discontent heart and take matters into my own hands, my prayer is that I would do as the Psalmist says, and "Wait on the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait on the Lord!" (Ps. 27:14) May the Lord give Dave and me mercy and grace to wait on Him today.

3 Months

Shepherd is 3 months old now. It's hard to believe. Here are some recent pictures of our little man.

Stylin' in his chocolate and baby blue cloth diaper. Mom's personal favorite, although it does make him look somewhat like a Sumo wrestler.

Shepherd has found his thumb and I often find him in this position when I get him out of bed (minus the look of fear in his eyes - that's the result of the camera flash).

Shep is apparently ready for college football season to begin. Although at the rate he is growing, he will not be able to fit in his Gator gear when it does.

Just hanging out on the changing table talking with mommy and looking handsome as ever in his Ralph Lauren outfit courtesy of Aunt Kellye.

Shepherd is treating mom and dad really well these days, sleeping 9.5 hours at night and napping consistently well during the day. He's a very happy baby and gives us lots of smiles and giggles. Although dad is apparently much funnier than mom - maybe because he sees me all day everyday. I have to work pretty hard for giggles, while dad just seems to elicit them with his presence. That is probably going to be the case for a long time, so I may as well get used to it!

Geyser in our Laundry Room

On Sunday night on our way out of church, I got a frantic call from our downstairs neighbor, Kristin, saying, "There is a waterfall in our apartment coming from upstairs. Something crazy is happening in your apartment."

Great.

Dave and I raced home and when we opened the front door to the house (the downstairs door) the sound of rushing water was deafening (okay, maybe not deafening, but seriously loud). Dave flew up the stairs as I braced myself for a completely flooded apartment and made my way up with Shepherd in tow. (Shepherd was not phased, in case you were concerned). Upon entering our apartment I quickly learned that it was not flooded (praise the Lord), but gallons of water were spewing out of the busted washing machine hose and shooting straight up into the air in the laundry room. Dave was back there frantically trying to turn the water off, which is not an easy thing to do when being sprayed in the face. Unfortunately, the faucet was also broken, so he sent me to find the wrench. After a few more minutes of trying to turn the faucet with the wrench, with me holding the flashlight, Dave successfully turned the water off and the geyser dissipated - unfortunately, not without getting a little wet...

Dave post battle with the washing machine.

Thankfully, the laundry room is about the best room in the house the be doused with water. A few shelves collapsed because of the soaked drywall (see pic above), but we had minimal damage. I can't quite say that about our downstairs neighbors, the Perrines, though...

This is a picture of the Perrine's ceiling where a portion of it collapsed due to the waterfall from our place above. Thankfully, they were able to move things out from under this spot before it actually collapsed. Sorry guys.


Dave's first Sunday to not have to work at Frito-Lay was not quite as restful as he had hoped, but I am so glad he was home and not at work! Can you imagine if this had happened when Shepherd and I were at home by ourselves? There would be a lot of squealing and racing around frantically and calling people...and probably a pretty wet house by the end of it. The Lord is kind to give me such a capable husband who was home to deal with this!