Moving Adventures

In one week from today our little family will be on the road to Minnesota! We are packing up our life here in Louisville, Ky and moving on to Minneapolis, MN. Now, most of our readers probably already know most of the details of why we are moving to Minnesota, but for those of you who may not be filled in on all the crazy details, I will give you the WHOLE, glorious story!

Right around the time Andrew graduated from Boyce back in May, Andrew was given the name and information of a church in Wisconsin that was looking for a full-time Associate pastor. Andrew went ahead and decided to send in his resume and give it a shot! Well, the church took great interest in Andrew, although they were a little hesitant of his inexperience and young age and as a result, they were not wanting to consider him for the full time assoc. position. However, the pastor had a chance to meet up with Andrew for lunch one afternoon, and through that and other points of contact via phone calls and what not, the church really grew to have great respect for Andrew and saw a great deal of potential. The church then decided to create a whole new position for Andrew, one where he would get some good ministry experience, be over several ministries in the church, and obtain metoring and training from the other elders of the church. He would also get preaching opportunities to help him gain experience in that area as well. And the plan was, over the course of 3 or 4 years, Andrew would then transfer into the associate pastor position. The plan seemed great to us, we were greatly encouraged by their eagerness and enthusiasm to help Andrew get some much needed experience and we were pretty much all on board to move to WI by the time the church sent us the contract and the job description.

Of course there were a few downsides, mainly that this job for the first 3-4 years would only be a part-time position and Andrew would therefore have to get a second job...AGAIN. We were hoping to move away from Andrew having to work two jobs, but it was a sacrifice we were willing to make as the Lord really seemed to be moving in this situation and with little experience and no seminary training as of yet, we did not really expect for Andrew to get full-time work right off the bat. So, you do what you can, especially in this economy and you TRUST GOD! Well, we had been given 48 hours to look over the job description and contract that the church sent us, and then we were to give our verbal yes or no to the church before Andrew flew up to WI to officially sign the contract.

Well.. here's where our story takes a CRAZY turn!

Andrew received a phone call from his uncle in Minnesota about...mmm maybe 12 hours after we received the contract/job desc. from the church. So with 36 hours left to make a decision, this is what Andrew's uncle had to say....

In a nut shell, Andrew's uncle was basically wondering why Andrew was moving up to WI to take on yet again another two job work load,and wondering what Andrew thought would help him actually get a full time ministry position. Andrew told his uncle that his lack of experience, as well as his not having his Masters in Divinity yet was probably his greatest hindrance from finding anything full time that would be sufficient to support his family. His uncle then proceeded to tell Andrew how very impressed he was to see how hard Andrew worked to get through college and work two jobs to support a wife and two children. And through it all, we managed to get out of school debt free and actually, by God's grace, have some money in the bank. His uncle did not want to see Andrew have to continue to work so hard for who knows how many years, so his uncle then made him an offer. An offer which made our jaws drop. The short of it is, his uncle will give us money enough to help with living expenses if Andrew will go to school to get his M.Div. and finish it up asap. Andrew would not have to work, and he could get his M.Div done so much quicker than we had originally planned over a very slow and steady course of 8-10 years or so, and still have time with the family!

Andrew thanked his uncle for his generous offer, and asked him if he could have some time to think about it and talk it over with me. Well after about 36 hours of agonzing over what to do, we decided to go forward and take his uncle's offer. This kind of opportunity comes once in a lifetime, and Andrew knew that in the long run this would be best for our family and our future ministry. It was a hard decision, as we had grown to love this church that we were planning on serving and our answer of no came as quite a shock to them! But, they elders of this church were incredibly encouraging and kind, and expressed their great joy for Andrew to have such an opportunity and even told Andrew they would completely welcome his call in a few years when he is finished with his degree! So, that was that, and now we are Minnesota bound!

Andrew plans to work this next year for his uncle full-time, and in the meantime will be preparing his application for acceptance into Bethlehem Seminary in Minneapolis, MN. Lord willing, upon his acceptance he will then stop working except for one day a week, and Andrew will be able to focus almost completely on his schoolwork (which will be rigorous at the least!) and still have time with our family! Wow! This school is also Andrew's dream school, one he never imagined being able to attend once he had a family. This school is small, and requires the students upon entering to finish the degree in no more or less than 4 years. They are required to finish in 4 years and stay on the same schedule with the rest of their class throughout the entirety of the schooling. It is also a mentoring program that also provides ministering experience along the way. But, they do not recommend that the students work more than 10 hours a week, as the workload is THAT heavy and demanding. Therefore, Andrew has always ruled this path out, as there was no way of going to this school and supporting his family....
Until NOW!

We are still pretty stunned by all this, but we are excited and thankful for God's amazing provision! This is something we never would have imagined in our wildest dreams and yet God has provided this gift to us! Wow! So we rejoice in the goodness of our great God and Savior and thank Him for his blessing us through the generous gift of Andrew's uncle.

Pray for us as we get into gear and get packing and cleaning done. Pray that Andrew finishes strong at his two jobs here in Louisville, and praise God with us for keeping us these last few difficult years of schooling and work and child-rearing! God has been faithful even in difficult circumstances, and we desire for all people to look at our lives and then look to Christ and say, WOW! What an amazing, faithful and gracious God! May God receive all the glory! For HE has sustained us, HE has done this great thing, and HE is worthy!