Tennessee

From PA, we drove south to Johnson City, TN to meet our ministry partners and support them in several informational fund-raising meetings. This was the first time the four of us were together since they decided to take the plunge with us. It was just what I was expecting ... a huge confirmation of God's plans in both our families and more excitement about the new journey we'll share together. Alf and Aly grew up at Berean (our current church) and knew Doug from the youth ministry there. From there, they both went to SEBC which is where I met them and Doug. The Nelsons were already in Dallas by the time Doug and I married and moved there for seminary. We chose to live near them and spent lots of time with them during our "before kids" years. Smile. We left Dallas in 2002, and the Nelsons went to Tennessee a year later. It's pretty nifty of God to allow us to minister alongside them as we plant a new church in New Orleans. The Nelsons have already sold their house (in a day!) in TN and have recently purchased a gutted house in Gentilly, the neighborhood we'd like to target. God's faithfulness in several of those big things for them has been sweet. They will relocate to NOLA within a couple weeks of us moving to Little Rock.

Between both families, there are five boys 7 and under. It was simply beautiful to see them interact and enjoy each other with little attention from us as we prepared for the meetings for two nights.