Playing Music in the Delray Area!

We are going to be playing our 4^th open Mic this week on New Year’s Day at The Havana! God has opened the doors for us to play in several locations around town, and we have been able to meet lots of great people simply through playing music. It is such a cool thing that we get to do something we really love like playing music and singing together and also get to know people in our area. We have played mostly original songs and are even learning some fun covers. It’s an awesome way to connect with other musicians and people in general!

 

We are looking forward to playing again this next week. If you are in the Delray area, we will be at SPoT Coffee every Wednesday night doing their open mic, and will be doing a few longer showcases at some other locations around town! We will try to let you know the specific times and locations of the showcases through Facebook. We’d love to have you come and listen, drink coffee, and hang out with us!

There’s no place like HOME

All moved in, mostly unpacked, and HAPPY as can be. :) We have PRAYED so much for a place for us to live that feels like a real home, and God has given us more than we had ever hoped. We are living in a three bedroom villa (it is the end of a four-plex) in a gated community. We have a little backyard for the kids to play and a screened in patio to sit and read. :) There is a pool a 2 minute walk away with a weight room and large meeting room (praying about that…), so Daniel is making good use of those already! We have already had three community group meetings here at the house, and it comfortably holds quite a few people! So, that is also a great blessing. We are within 10 minutes from downtown, Costco, and just about everything else necessary to life (Steak n Shake!!!), so it feels just right for us.

A number of people have asked us for pictures of our new place, so here you go! 

The outside front

Front entry way

Kitchen

Living room 1

Living room 2

Master bedroom

The kids room

Christmas Greeting from the WIlliams :)

We wanted to share a song with you for Christmas, and thought it would
be fun to have our whole family singing and the kids could dance...it
would be so cute! So, we tried that.

Never mind. :)

This first video is just Daniel and I wishing you a merry Christmas
and singing Hillsong's "Born is the King" from our living room. (the
kids are not really shoved in a closet like I say in the video--that
is a joke :) The second video (probably much more entertaining) is our
first attempt with the kids in it too. :) You will see some very
passionate dancing and singing followed by some yelling and
grabbing...

Love you all and wishing you and your family a wonderful Christmas
filled with the joy of our Savior!

Love,
Daniel, Laura, Jeremiah, and May

p.s. Maybe our next post will include a video of Jeremiah and May
singing "Oh Christmas pee" :)

Community Group in DELRAY!

We have hosted two community group meetings since we moved in to our new home here on December 1^st, and God is blessing us so much. We meet on Thursday evenings for dinner, worship, prayer, and a teaching time. Our first Thursday here, we had 6 people, and this past Thursday, we had 9 people here together, and it was a wonderful time of encouragement and fellowship! I am teaching a short series on Discipleship, and we are praying that more people continue to come and join us! There are a few people we have invited that are hoping to come next week!

We are still praying and looking for a place for meet for a worship service where we can do mass invitations and reach out more to our community—also for a place that will facilitate children’s classes, since right now, Laura has the kids in Jeremiah and May’s room. But we are so happy to have a home where we can invite our neighbors and people we get to know. You can be praying that people continue to come, that we have the boldness to invite people, and for a location for a worship service.

God is good! 

Christmas in Delray Beach is un-be-LIEVABLE!!!

One of the questions looming in our minds when we moved here (well, “looming” may be a little bit extreme… :) was what Christmas would be like living in sunny Florida! Our family is fanatical about Christmas, so we knew that we would make it as Christmasy as possible, but it doesn’t really seem like a beach town in the upper 70’s would feel very much like Christmas at all. We were so wrong!!

On December 1^st, we brought the kids down to our very first real Delray event—the lighting of the town Christmas tree. The downtown area of Delray—which is the heart of the city—is home to the “Old School Square” where every Christmas, a team of volunteers constructs a 100 foot tall Christmas tree and builds a vacation home for Santa Claus to spend the holiday season! It is enormous, and more beautiful than you can imagine! They shut down the entire downtown, and we walked through the streets eating kettle corn, playing in the snow falling from a snow machine one restaurant set up in front of their shop, and listened to a number of live musicians singing Christmas music on the Avenue. :) I promise, it felt like Christmas. AND, if that wasn’t enough, Santa Claus was helicoptered in direct from the North Pole to settle into his vacation home right in the center of the town square. Did I mention the ice skating rink??? Yes, for real! Well, kind of for real…okay, it’s really linoleum, but kids rent hockey skates and slide all over it! Awesome!

Then, on the 10^th, we took our kids down to the “Family Day” back at the square…not only did they get their faces painted for free, but we actually played in real mountains of snow dumped there just for kids to play in for one day! Families had brought down boots and gloves and snow pants, and we saw real snow ball fights as Daniel and I took it all in in T shirts and sunglasses. Pretty fun! . At the end of the day, there was even a full-on Christmas parade with floats and marching bands and Christmas lights. :)

We have been so blessed by the little things that we didn’t expect but get to enjoy about Delray. It is such an awesome place to be at Christmastime. We also attended our neighborhood Christmas and Hannukah party where we got to meet a ton of neighbors and even make a few new friends! God is so good to us!

So, even though we don’t have frost or mittens this year, we are experiencing Christmas in a wonderful new way this year. :) So happy to celebrate Jesus’s birth here! Merry Christmas!

Redemption Church: looking for a location

Now that we are living here in Delray, it is much easier to be getting out in the community, and we are actively looking for a place to start our Bible study. We have had a few connections, but nothing has come up as the right place just yet. I was able to get a tour of the local high school (which is about 1 minute from our house), and they are open to having us rent rooms from them. We are just praying that God will make the right way clear to us. We would love to have you be praying along with us for a building or facility that meets the needs of the church.

You can be praying for a location for us to meet that is:

-convenient for people to come

-the right size to start small

-practical for childcare

-affordable (or FREE!)

- one that allows us to be a blessing and witness to our community

We will let you know once we find a spot!

We are here!!!

We made the move to Delray Beach on Saturday, and we are SO thankful for all of you who were praying for us! The move went very smoothly, and we ended up having about 8 people come to help us. Our home here is starting to feel more and more like our home—and as a bonus, we are getting our Christmas tree tomorrow! :) Yes, they do sell real trees down here—you just have to buy the ones that haven’t been sitting out in the sun—those ones turn brown…

Our neighborhood is very nice with many Jewish families living here as it is about one block away from the Jewish Temple. Not too many Christmas lights up here, but there is a giant inflatable bear with a dreydle when you pull onto our street! Jeremiah and May love it! Can’t wait to start meeting our neighbors!

So, thanks everyone for your love and prayers for us. Pictures to come once the boxes are out of the way!

Road Trip Video Recap

This is an amazing video of our road trip with Daniel, Justin, Geoff, and Noah back in August from Washington State to Florida and was put together by Noah Potis. Just makes me remember one of the best road trips of my life. Enjoy:)

Introducing our church name...

Redemption Church Delray Beach is going to be the name of our church plant in Delray Beach. We are excited to say that we are registered  and licensed with the state of Florida as an official non-profit corporation and are getting a website put together now. Be praying for us and all the details as we start the church. We are excited to see what God has for the people in Redemption Church!

Shopping together...

For any ladies that are following our blog, you all know the thrill of a great find at a garage sale, right? That perfect little throw pillow... :) You know what I mean! Well, this week, my beloved husband has teamed up with me and tackled at least 10 different thrift stores looking for furniture for our house in Delray. When we moved out here, we gave away most of our furniture, so we needed to find a dining set, living room furniture, beds for the kids, all sorts of stuff. And, amazingly, I think our time out shopping together has been some of the most fun we've had together in a while! It's been so funny hearing Daniel say things like, "What about THIS piece!" and "Do you really thing this goes with the overall VISION for the room..." Ha! It's just great. AND, the other cool thing is how great the used furniture and thrift stores are down here. People actually get rid of really great stuff! So far, we've found our dining table (from POTTERY BARN! Yay!), couches, 6 chairs that match the table, and we are on our way to pick up two twin beds that I found on Craigslist this evening.

Just wanted to share the joy. :) God is so good to provide for us in the simplest and smallest ways.

New worship songs

I am always looking for new worship songs to sing, so I just thought we would share a few worship songs that have been blessing us. Enjoy:)

Mercy Reigns by Elevation Church

Lost are found / God is able by Hillsong

Rise by Hillsong

Here is an e-mail we sent to our prayer team this week. If you would like to be on our prayer team, e-mail us and we will add you! Thanks for your support and prayers!

"Thank you so much for continuing to pray for our family during this season in Jupiter. We have been able to spend some really important time in prayer, preparing for the start of a church, fine tuning the vision, trusting in Jesus, spending time with our family and friends, enjoying God’s creation, researching, meeting people, and growing closer to the Lord.

We are excited to announce that we will be moving in a month to Delray Beach. As we move closer to the move, the needs continue to grow and we are thankful that we have you praying for us. Prayer is definitely the foundation of this church plant. It has been so encouraging to see God answering our prayer requests. We know that Jesus hears our prayers, and we are so thankful. Here are some current things we can be praying for:"

OUR FAMILY

-More faith and love for Jesus

-Our family’s health

-Moving expenses

-More financial support and finding a job in Delray

-Friends and meeting people

-More people to join our prayer team

CHURCH

-Financial start up costs and supplies

-A place to meet for Sunday Morning Services and Bible Study

-Salvations and Discipleship

-All the administration details

-More people for our team to help serve, disciple, evangelize, and pray

-The local pastors and churches that are already established in Delray

PRAISE REPORTS

-A CT Scan of Jeremiah’s brain came back completely normal (he’s had chronic headaches since our move in August, and after several visits to the doctor, we were sent to the ER to rule out anything very serious)

-We have had a number of people come to visit us and encourage us

-We found a home to rent in Delray!!! (waiting on the application to be approved)

-Laura’s parents found a home here, and sold their home in Olympia the next day

-Daniel’s walking pneumonia is finally getting better after two rounds of antibiotics

-Daniel has gotten connected with a pastor network out of Fort Lauderdale

-We have had tornados in our area twice now, and they have not come near us

Praise and Prayer for our son, Jeremiah

We wanted to give an update for those of you who have been praying for our son, Jeremiah. He has had a headache since our move here to Jupiter in August. We have had him treated once for a sinus infection (which helped briefly), and have also had him in to at least two other doctors who just sent him home and told us to keep giving him Ibuprofen. Well, last week, his headache became severe enough for him to really complain and beg me for medicine, and I was frustrated and decided to drag him to yet another walk in clinic. I was really hoping that they might simply decide he had a bad sinus infection again and treat him. (the pediatrician here has not been any help).

Well, as it turns out, I believe we did see the right doctor this time. When we arrived at the urgent care, Jeremiah threw up in the waiting area twice. (quite thrilling for the other kids in the waiting room! :) The doctor who saw us, looked right at me and said, "You need to have him evaluated. You have been given the run-around by so many doctors, and I am not willing to gamble on a child. We need to see what is going on inside his brain. In case. Just in case there is something going on, you need to know that." She was right, but I put Jeremiah back in his carseat, and just lost it. Even the thought of all of this was so overwhelming. And scary. And of course, in my mind I am telling myself not to imagine every possible scenario that might be playing itself out. Just "don't think about it" doesn't do any good. I prayed outloud the whole way home where we picked up Daniel and May and headed to the E.R. 

Once we were there, we were taken back immediately and given a hall bed in their Pediatric Emergency Room. That was AMAZING. Every nurse and doctor only works with children, so they were so wonderful with him. When it came time for him to head back to get the CT Scan, I was holding Mailey on my lap, filling out paperwork, so they grabbed Daniel and Jeremiah and left. I prayed and cried, not knowing what was happening--whether he was scared or sick or what the machines looked like... It turns out, it was an "open scan," so there wasn't a tube he had to lay in or anything. In fact, they gave him a special "cape" and told him he was flying in a space ship! He loved it! :) Funny kid.

The doctor FINALLY came and told us that everything is his brain is totally NORMAL!!! They did a strep culture as well which was also completely normal. Some kids begin having headaches at an early age, though it's rare, and that seems to be what is going on. As for the throwing up, he started running a fever that night and had what was basically a tummy virus for about 24 hours and then it was gone. We were sent home after only a few hours, and I don't think Daniel or I have ever had a better night's sleep. Ever. :)

You can continue to pray for Jeremiah's headaches. It usually isn't severe enough to interfere with his activities, so I am just trying not to freak out and be anxious. I struggle with pretty horrible migraines, so it may just be starting early for him. We are THANKFUL TO JESUS that he doesn't have brain cancer or a brain tumor. But we also TRUST JESUS that He has our family in His hands. That doesn't change no matter what. I don't know whether his headaches are of a spiritual nature or not either. We have certainly prayed for God's healing and against spiritual attack against Jeremiah, and we have not yet seen his headaches stop. But we would love to have you pray with us. For healing. For protection against the enemy (for our children and us!). For faith and that God will use this to strengthen him and us as we keep believing and trusting in Jesus. No matter what. :)

Yeah I Said it (10-29-11)

Lessons learned from 1 Samuel 

You don't have to always utter words to pray to God...He hears your heart (1 Sam 1:13).

God's timing is perfect...we just need to trust and have patience (1 Sam 1:20).

"The sons of Eli were worthless men. They did not know the Lord." (1 Sam 2:12) /// integrity matters.

Talking about something and doing something or completely different. (1 Sam 2:22-25).

"Samuel was ministering to the Lord." (1 Sam 3:1). /// This is where godly leadership begins.

Only God saves. No system or resource can save us. (1 Sam 4:3)

"Dagon had fallen face downward on the ground" (1 Sam 5:1-5). /// No idols can stand before or compare to Jesus.

"Samuel judged Israel all the days of His life." (1 Sam 7:15) /// faithfulness matters

"We also want to be like all nations" (1 Sam 8:20). /// being like everyone else isn't always the best thing to do.

"There is a man of God in this city" (1 Sam 9:6) /// People knew about Samuel's character and reputation. People are watching you.

"I have faithfully walked before you from my youth until this day." (1 Sam 12:2) /// Your testimony matters.

"Saul was still at Gilgal, and all the people followed him trembling." (1 Sam 13:7) /// people will follow your lead

"The Lord has sought out a man after his own heart." (1 Sam 13:14) /// Your heart matters to God.

"It may be that the Lord will work for us." (1 Sam 14:6) /// Step out in faith and see how God will come through.

"Do all that is in your heart. Do as you wish." (1 Sam 14:7) /// when you are following Jesus you have freedom and grace.

"He has worked with God this day." (1 Sam 14:45) /// By faith we participate with God in what He is doing.

"For the Lord see not as man sees." (1 Sam 16:7) /// I need more Jesus vision.

Past experiences shaped David's current situation(1 Sam 17:36-37). May the situations you are going thru today build you faith for tomorrow.

David didn't wear Saul's armor (1 Sam 17:38-40). You got to be yourself.

"Jonathan loved him as his own soul." (1 Sam 18:1) /// Thanking God for my friends and praying for new ones.

"David had success in all his undertaking, for the Lord was with him." (1 Sam 18:14) /// Having God on your side matters.

"David weeping the most." (1 Sam 20:41) /// saying goodbyes are never fun.

"Jonathan told David" (1 Sam 19:1) /// Good friends warn you with the harsh truth.

"And about 400 men went up after David, while 200 remained with the baggage." (1 Sam 25:13) /// we all have a role to play