settled.

I'm posting twice in ONE MONTH.  That hasn't happened in a little while. I wanted to share about what is going on though!

I already told Angela, but we are staying put.  After 6 weeks of waiting to hear back, Jeremy and I had a lot more time to think, pray, and discuss about whether we really felt called to uproot and move to Idaho (if they offered us the position, of course).  We decided it really just didn't make sense to us.  We were a little sad to miss out on the training, but taking everything into account, we felt like it wasn't worth it for that when there are plenty of other opportunities out there.

We e-mailed Lloyd and told him that we felt called to North Kitsap and we have decided to intentionally plant a missional church here in our area (which also happens to be one of the LEAST churched counties in the state).  He e-mailed us back saying they had been interviewing some other candidates, which is why they hadn't come to a decision yet, AND that he would like to partner with us and help provide funding for training!  We were totally amazed. We knew we would definitely pursue licensing and accountability through Church of God still, but we didn't know they would want to support us in that way.  It was such a confirmation that we are supposed to be here - best of both worlds, staying in the community we love and have formed many relationships in AND receiving training.  This entire process also really settled for Jeremy's parents that we ARE leaving Indianola church to plant a new community, plus Jeremy's boss has given him a bunch of raises and promotions - he really sees how valuable he is as an employee so we feel very blessed.  His boss also wants to be heavily involved in the church plant.  We have a handful of people and are starting our first meeting at the end of September.  We are so excited about finally doing this!

I am ALSO pleased because I can finally start promoting my business again. I lost a couple of clients because I couldn't commit to their fall/winter dates for birth, so I'm hoping to be able to start getting booked again.  I am getting involved with a birth professionals meetup in the area and am starting to look into becoming a certified lactation specialist as the first step in expanding my business in other ways.

It is amazing how I can go months feeling disconnected, uncertain, discontent...and then, all along you see how things have been prepared for us to stay.  Amber knows how many times I have moved and how much I have longed for a place to put roots.  There are always things you may want to run away from, but I am glad we are sticking around and just facing those things head on.  We were hoping to buy some property in the area in the next year or two, also.

We had VBS (spy kids theme) up at church all week, and I am wiped out.  It was fun, but I taught the 5-6 year olds and had the biggest group, so it was a little exhausting, plus both Hailey and Shea came down with colds.  We are leaving for vacation on Monday to Long Beach with all of Jeremy's family, also.

IN OTHER NEWS:  I chopped all my hair off this weekend (it was bound to happen sooner or later). It is the shortest I have ever cut it and I have never loved it more.  Jeremy can't stop staring at me, he likes me so much better with short hair it is so weird to me.  I even went out and got second piercings on my earlobes, because you can see my ears so much better now and I have been wanting to do it for forever, ha ha.

I took a picture for my website (I just updated it COMPLETELY) so I'll post it here for fun.

That's ALL!