October 31: 1,000 Gifts

This was an interesting week for me. It had ups and downs, complete with tears of brokenness and tears of joy. I am walking away from the past week feeling quite emotionally exhausted as I begin this new week, but at the same time, I feel a calming peace moving in and resting my heart and calming my mind. We made so many incredible memories this past weekend with trick or treating, a fall festival and Halloween Parade. We have had some amazing encounters with encouragement and some disappointing confrontations with discouragement. All in all we are leaving yet another week behind us that has been packed full of God's beautiful grace, and we are so thankful for this journey that He has allowed us to partake in.

Gifts 23- 40:

23. Fall colors

24. Peaceful afternoons

25. Days where not having an agenda is perfectly okay

26. Sleeping in

27. Pumpkins

28. Emotional weeks that although tough to navigate through, cleanse the heart

29. The anticipation of the approaching holidays

30. Being friends, despite all of the odds.

31. Random encouraging texts

32. Seeing growth in myself

33. Seeing Kai's face light up the entire day of the Fall festival, from the kiddie parade, to the train we got to go on, inflatables, and the big Halloween Parade. He was more adorable than you could possibly imagine! It was almost too much to handle. I cried at least twice just because of how happy he was.

34. A front page article being written about City Hope Church

35. Unity in local churches. (In particular: a local Pastor wanting to come to a launch meeting and pray for our new church plant!)

36. God in me being greater than the rough spots in me.

37. Finding new local restaurants that have a great menu.

38. Skype!

39. The kind of friends, that you know without a doubt will be there when (not if) you call.

40. This truth: "Delight yourself in the LORD; And He will give you the desires of your heart."

Church Planting, a Full Heart, and a Fab Wardrobe

If you don't know much about ARC, you should definitely get to know more about this incredible association that is completely committed to seeing life-giving church plants all across America, and then helping church planters receive the proper training and resources in order to be successful. 

We absolutely love ARC and their heart for Church Planting. We always leave our time with them feeling refreshed and encouraged exponentially. We have made so many incredible friends. The amount of counsel and coaching from the leadership and those who have gone before us is absolutely priceless! Our hearts are overwhelmed with gratitude for so much support and just overwhelmed in general that God would give us this dream and then arrange a lifetime of details to get us here!

This was our final assessment before we know which direction they will recommend that we go. I have enjoyed the journey so much! I am sad that we won't be going to anymore trainings or assessments but incredibly stoked about having the tools that we need to take our next steps in this amazing process. 2.12.12 is quickly approaching!

Although fashion and style were the least of my concerns while I was in Birmingham, it's always fun to be in a different city and compose your line-up for the days spent there!

Me and my love, who I couldn't be more proud of!