Adding to the family: Introducing Geoff Chase!

We are so excited to introduce you to our good friend, Geoff Chase, who moved in with us this week for the summer. Geoff is from our sending church in Olympia, Washington, and is currently enrolled in the Calvary Chapel Bible College in Murrieta, California. He is down in Delray Beach with us for the Summer months as an intern and support for Redemption Church. Since AJ got married last weekend, his room is now Geoff’s for the Summer.

Geoff is planning to find a part time job while he is here and spend the rest of his time serving with us at our Thursday night services, helping to spread the word about Redemption Church in the community, and praying for opportunities to share the love and good news of Jesus with people here in Delray.

Please be praying that God uses Geoff in a mighty way this Summer and that He is glorified in this season we have together. You can specifically be praying for the right job for Geoff, for fruitful interactions and chances to share the gospel with people here, for Geoff to grow in his faith as he is stepping out in new ways in a new place!

Gratefulness

Today, I did the unthinkable as a mom. I packed up all of our kids’ toys into tubs, carted them out to our garage, and told the kids to say goodbye. I let them keep a few—Jeremiah and May each got a plastic tub to fill with ten toys of their choice, and the rest are in our garage until…well, I don’t know.

I was prompted to this crazy action because of the apparent ungratefulness that I have been seeing in our house lately. What pushed me over the edge today was a literal tantrum over boredom with what we have. I wouldn’t allow our kids to watch a movie, play a computer game, or a game on my phone. I insisted that they play with their TOYS! (mean, right??) Well, when I saw one of them throw a complete fit about it, I offered to give their toys away to somebody else! This wasn’t a popular suggestion at all! :) So, as a compromise, we packed up the toys and put them in the garage where they will be earned back over time.

I just want our kids to learn to appreciate the things that they have and be thankful! Why this is so difficult to teach, I don’t know. But we are trying!

I am continually praying that the Lord would make me a more thankful person—thankful for my role as Mama to these kids that I love, thankful to be married to my high school sweetheart, thankful for this adventure He has called us on here in Delray…there are times I am discontent, too, and I so don’t want to be that child screaming for something else to do when I have all these gifts right in front of me…

When you pray for us, please pray that God will continue to help us be thankful right where we are.

-Laura

“Friends near and far…”

We just wanted to say how glad we are to have friends in our lives!! Our dear friend, AJ (our live in housemate for the past 8 months) is marrying our new friend, Dominique, in less than two weeks. We are so excited for the wedding itself because it will actually be the first wedding Daniel has officiated! It will be really special for him to get to marry these two people we have grown to love so much. Also, our daughter, May, will get to be their flower girl!! We’re just hoping she doesn’t freeze up and actually makes it down the aisle! :)

We are also very excited about their wedding because several of our friends from Olympia will be coming for the wedding and will be staying with us! Our friends, Jessica Jambor and the Fisher family (yay!), will get to see where we live and spend some much needed time with us. Justin Fisher is a groomsman in the wedding, so it will be a really fun family/friends/wedding weekend! We are so excited for our kids to get to see some of their very special friends from Washington too!

Finally, our friend Geoff Chase will be moving in with us for the Summer to help out with Redemption Church as a mission trip. He is also a groomsman in the wedding, so he will be flying in around the same time as everybody else! We will have a full house, but it will be so wonderful to see our friends’ faces and hug and laugh together in person. You can be praying for Geoff as he spends his summer here seeking the Lord and serving with us in Delray. (we’ll probably be blogging more about him soon J

So, we just wanted to share the love and how thankful and blessed we are to have so many people in our lives who God has brought to encourage and love us.