Wisdom I Learned from The Sound of Music

When I was growing up, one of my mother's favorite movies of all time was The Sound of Music. She loved it so much that she actually named my baby sister Gretel after the youngest VanTrapp child. Needless to say, I have seen Sound of Music over and over and over.

A little over a week ago, Jimmy found out he was being let go from his position at the church. It was very short notice and definitely unexpected (since it had more to do with church politics than job performance). Since then I have been praying about what we should do and the direction God may be leading us in now. Which brings me back to--you guessed it--The Sound of Music.

More than once in this musical classic, Maria says, "When God closes a door somewhere He opens a window." That's where I feel like we are right now. God has closed the door on our ministry at McCarthy (for whatever reason) and now He is directing us to find the window He has opened.

So please pray for us as we seek God's direction. It is a very stressful time, but also an exciting time. I know, right now you are giving me a bewildered look and saying "Exciting? Are you completely off your rocker!" But I assure you it is.

Since Jimmy had the weight loss surgery in October he has lost 190+ pounds and we are able to consider more ministry options than ever before. We are even praying about whether or not God may be leading us to bigger and more adventurous things.

I will be sure to keep you informed as we see where God is directing us. Until then I simply want to say thank you in advance for all of your prayers and support!

Grace and peace,

Christiana

Our New Church Home - McCarthy Baptist Church

Hello, everyone! This is my first post in over a month because Jimmy and I have been busy moving and getting settled in Saint Joseph, Missouri.

We have been in Saint Joseph, Missouri for almost exactly a month now. We love it! We like to say that it has many of the things that you like about the city--like things that stay open all night--but you still get the benefit of a small town feel. It's even beginning to feel like we actually live here and it's not just some long mission trip that we are on.

We are also excited that our church family that we have left behind are already moving on. They have recently hired a new full-time music and youth guy. We are praying for them as they step out in faith to make this position full-time. We are also praying that they will be able to re-connect with youth that have fallen out of church in the last few months and to reach new youth in the Hazelwood community. We wish the best for Villebrook Baptist Church and pray God's blessings be upon you.

Things here at our new church home are different than they have been for the past four years. First off, Jimmy is now in the church office on a daily basis! PTL! It's great to see him getting out of the house and being able to interact with the other staff memebers face to face on a daily basis. I am proud of what a great job he has been doing! Another change is that I am no longer able to work for Missouri Baptist Children's Home and have been on the job hunt for the last few weeks. It has been great to be at the church more without the stress of having my own full-time employment. Also, the school set-up is different here. We still are reaching many different schools but all but one of our youth are in the same school district rather than covering three school districts. This makes life and planning considerably easier.

Best of all...Now that we are settling into being mostly unpacked and getting into a routine, I should be able to get back into the habit of blogging more. So for better or worse you might see more of me on here than you have in the last few months. Until next time...

Grace and Peace,

Christiana