Happy Anniversary!

Today= 5 years of marriage with the love of my life! Lindz, thanks for keeping your vows and loving me even when it hasn’t been easy! I love you! And, to everyone else…you can check out our wedding video:

Greyson’s sleeping and Bible reading habits!

So, since we moved to Spring Hill (and while we were packing up our house in Cincy) Grey has been majorly struggling with going to sleep at night. I feel like we did a great job of getting him on a schedule and transitioning him to sleeping in his own little toddler bed (you can read all about this on my wife’s blog. I am not sure how much the changes and recent transition have played into Grey’s crazy night-time breakdowns….but we are trying our best to move past this phase! So, a couple nights ago I told Grey that if he couldn’t sleep that he could read his Bible (but he had to stay in bed). After about 20 minutes of hearing him talk in his bed and 15 minutes of silence, we went to check on him and found him totally asleep in this position:

As a parent who is a follower of Jesus, I have to be pumped that Grey loves the Bible; yet, I am a little worried that he fell asleep before he finished the creation story!

Crayon

So my son (Greyson) got a piece of crayon stuck up his nose today! Here is him posing with it:

Major props to my wifey and Jana Howerton for getting it unlodged!

Taking my talents to South Nashville…

In this spring, this is very tough, in this spring I’m going to take my talents to South Nashville and join the Bridge Church.

Ok, so you might have noticed that this sounded quite similar to Lebron’s announcement to take his talents to South Beach! Don’t fret, I am by no means implying that I am the Lebron James of the church world, but I am confident that God is leading me and my family to Spring Hill, TN to partner with what God is doing in and through The Bridge Church.

So, if you are wondering why we are making this move, here is the scoop:
Making a change in ministry/churches is not something I take lightly or would even consider without much prayer and seeking wise counsel (from people that I trust and who are following Jesus). Lindsey and I really want to plant roots in ONE community and make a long-term investment! We are pumped about living in a more beautiful (and warmer) part of the country, a place that is closer to our family (I grew up in Nashville), and a great place to raise a family; however, above all we are striving to follow God wherever He calls us!

It is interesting how God places us in various roles and positions that help equip His people to carry out His plan for the world! I am super humbled and amazed at how God has done this for me throughout my life, and I am so excited that He has brought me to the place in my development where I can serve Him as the Equipping Pastor @ The Bridge!

Also, It has been my heart’s desire to be a part of a ministry that has a radical vision, an undeniable sense of community, a relational approach, an effective and dynamic outreach, strong theology and genuine worship….a community that resembles what Christ would want the Church today to look like…and I definitely feel like The Bridge is an awesome group of folks who embody so many of these things. Obviously, as we get to know the people of The Bridge, we will see that they are imperfect (and they’ll see the same in us). Yet, it is super exciting to be joining up with the leadership at The Bridge as we strive to live out The Gospel! Here is a video of Josh, the lead pastor, sharing a little bit about what The Bridge is all about:

Of course, Lindz and I are going to miss so many amazing people from Cincinnati! We are thankful for the friendships that God brought into our lives over the past 2 and a half years. So, to our friends from Cincy and beyond…our door will always be open…so come visit!

A great resource for Parents!

I am totally pumped about this new series of DVDs from Veggie Tales creator Phil Vischer called What’s in the Bible. I recently purchased DVD #1 for my son, but he fell asleep in the first 5 minutes! Don’t worry, it had nothing to do with the DVD…he is 2 and a half and his naps have become non-existent…so it was totally my fault for putting the DVD on at 7:30pm! With that said, I do think that it is best for elementary aged kids…maybe not my 2 year old (but I would rather him watch this than some of the shows he normally gets mesmerized by). Here is a preview of What’s in the Bible:

For now, there are only 4 of the 13 DVD’s released, but keep checking back at http://whatsinthebible.com/ to get the newest released DVD in this series that is designed to walk kids and families through the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation.

Need a Mom?

So last night was “one of those nights” where I was pretty much useless. Right around 8pm, I put Grey to bed and then started holding our 4 week old daughter, Selah. Selah proceeded to cry (despite my best efforts to calm her) for the next 20 minutes, and Grey wouldn’t stay in his bed! So, to relieve the situation, I handed Selah off to Lindsey (who has an unfair advantage when it comes to taking care of babies). I then proceeded to hang out with Grey and try to get him to sleep…which turned out to be a total fail! He was screaming for his mommy the whole time. Lindsey ended up chillin’ with both kids on our bed! Grey was asleep in 3 minutes, and Selah was fed and fell right asleep within the next 15 to 20! Thank God for awesome moms!

Here is a little extra…since the Black and Yellow Youtube clip isn’t working on here:

Since we own a Sienna…

Here is a video that actually makes us feel cool for owning a minivan! Good thing that we don’t find our worth and identity in the vehicles we drive.

Greyson’s language!

Snap shots from trip to Caribou…

I took a day off from work today to hang with the fam. We ventured out to Caribou coffee to splurge on some dark chocolate mochas and do a little reading/journaling. Here are some snapshots from our time there:

Lindz and Selah

Sipping!

Greyson keeping himself occupied with a mess of toys!

My favorite people!

Gotta love how much newborns sleep!

High 5-ing it!

Rocking my new hat!

Grey lovin' on his sis!

Marinating…

Over the past 10 days, I have had hardly any time to type out my thoughts and keep up with the discipline of blogging! During these 10 days a lot has gone on…

1. Our daughter Selah was born (on December 17th).
2. My son Grey has gotten a ton of time with his daddy.
3. 4 Corners had another amazing Eve Eve service (with 926 folks in attendance and 151 kids in 1 service).
4. We made it up to the LaRiche Christmas in Northville, MI (with Lindsey’s side of the fam).

All that to say, I have been jotting down lots of learnings, thoughts, and ideas that have been marinating in my mind over the last couple of weeks! So, there will be much more to come over the next few days!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!