It all started one lovely spring day...
On Sunday May 20th, Bethel Baptist (our home church) planned a big farewell service for us. Jamie's mom came out, and Mandy's parents surprised us by showing up at church! Jamie preached his "testamessage" about the journey God has had us on. About His bringing us to Bethel, our memories of the last seven years there, and how God has used the people of Bethel to grow us and change us and better equip us for the road ahead.
After church we had a dinner with a time for testimonies and gifts. We were so overwhelmed!! Our family at Bethel put together a scrapbook of letters to us and pictures of our memories with them over the years. What a treasure!! We will keep them close. And, per tradition, we received a had made quilt from the ladies... all five of us each got our own one. They are beautiful, and so precious to us. There were many tears, hugs, and laughs. Blessings poured out.
I don't think Mandy cooked at all that week. We had dinner with so many friends. We made last minute memories and just enjoyed being together.
On Sunday, May 27th, we officially had our last Sunday as Associate Pastor and family. What a difficult Sunday. The good-byes took so long there wasn't time for Sunday School. We had dear friends, Robert and Sonya White (who were Jamie's AWANA leaders as a kid and live about an hour away in W.V.) come visit that Sunday. We had a wonderful, but difficult time. There's a Steve Green song called "I Will Go" and in the song it asks the Lord to cut to roots that grow too deep. Let me tell you, it hurts! But it was so wonderful to think about all God has done in our lives and in the lives of our family at Bethel over these years. His mighty hand was working the whole time.
That next Wednesday was our last time with our youth group. We have had wonderful relationships with everyone in our church, but I don't know that any of them compare with our relationships with our teens. We LOVE them so much! They surprised us by inviting past youth workers, parents of teens, and past graduates to come. Oh how we cried and cried and cried. We've been so privileged to be a part of so many milestones in their lives. First boy/girl friends, driving, prom dresses, new and broken relationships... And the privilege to challenge them to honor God in every new adventure. It has been an honor to serve the Lord with these amazing Teens. They are so dear to our hearts. We're excited to see all God has in store for them in the future.
On Monday we loaded up our camper and a little trailer and moved EVERYTHING out to Jamie's Uncle's house. A good friend towed our camper, and praise God there were no problems this time! Tomorrow we will start sorting all our stuff into the "keep forever", "Zambia", and "Get Rid Of" piles. Whew, so much junk!! We will be here for two weeks, spend a few days with our team mates from Zambia, and then move into our "summer home" in Cincy.
We're at 87% with more pledged to come in!!!
