Summer has begun...New beginnings

So it's been awhile since I've posted last...almost 4 months...it's been a season of transition for us that has kept us more busy than normal. So here's a quick recap:

In August we planted another campus of our church Summit in Simpsonville, where we live, and I was hired on as the Kids' Director. In January our campus pastor left to attend schooling to step into the medical field so Nathan was asked to step is as the "Resident Campus Pastor". Because none of us expected this, Nathan had already committed to doing the play at Southside. So January to May have been busy with Nathan working 2 full time jobs and our family adjusting to the pulls of each new responsibility. It has been a very encouraging and challenging time. During those few months we were wondering what next year would look like.

Nathan's been teaching for 9 years. What does it look like to transition into ministry full time?
How do we avoid work spilling into home life when my husband is my boss?
Where will Maddy go to school?

The first two questions, we are still working on but the third one led us to enrolling Madeline into a public elementary school close by. We felt like since Simpsonville is our circle of accountability in ministry it would provide a great opportunity for us to be intentional in our community through her school. I also stepped back from serving at a sister church in the Mom's ministry and am beginning to start a Mom's group for ladies in Summit.

This week is Nathan's first week of summer and the transition into starting his full time Campus Pastor position in August. We'd covet your prayers as we learn what this new job and opportunity looks like for our family. I think Nathan is most excited about being able to prep a sermon without starting on Friday afternoon. Starting on a Monday and having the week to prep is SO freeing for him!

So in the midst of all of this, we have been doing a few new fun things. A few weeks ago, I took the kids to the zoo for August's first trip. This was the last weekend Nathan had only a weekend to do sermon prep so we got out of the house to give him some quiet time to think.

 I know you may be tired of seeing these on facebook, but we visit the ICS (Ice Cream Station), owned by a family that goes to our church, on a weekly basis. The girls love it. The price and quality are great! They ask for it by name pretty much every day. So be prepared that you will see many more photos from here...

Another new find is the swimming pool. Instead of Christmas being our big gift season, we go all out for Easter. We know that Jesus' birth is important but his death and resurrection are game changers. So each year we invest in something to do as a family to celebrate the life that God has given us. This year we joined a neighborhood pool nearby and the girls have proven to love it more than any of us expected. August even loves the water! We have gone pretty much every day since it opened! Here are the girls posing with their favorite pool and church friend who loves them very much. She and her sister often fight over who will snuggle our little August. The girls are learning to float and we hope they will learn to swim as well. 

So hopefully this is a good sum up of what we have been doing over the past few months. I will also be doing the musical at Southside again so tomorrow will begin our Summer rehearsals. Hopefully there will be less time between posts next time but we shall see...thanks for faithfully reading though :-)