Freedom Church

Several months ago, I posted a blog about a church planting opportunity that John and I had come across. We first learned about it in April of 2006. Then we officially were introduced to the idea in July. We made our final decision to partner with our friends, Shane and Rachel, in October. They first started dreaming of the idea at a conference in the summer of 2005. It’s been a long crazy ride (that’s not over yet!) but I’m happy to announce that Freedom Church will launch sometime in the beginning of 2008. We are still praying about our location and are currently forming our launch team. The conference that John and I will be attending in April is a church planting conference sponsored by the organization that we are partnering with, The Association of Related Churches. We will find out officially in May how the whole partnering thing will work with the ARC. As for now, it will begin to get a little crazy as we form a team that will help us launch the church, secure a location and formally start from the ground up.

Many have asked why we have chosen to leave our old church to do this. Let me make one thing VERY CLEAR and diffuse rumors: We are NOT leaving due to anger, bitterness, etc. We have many great friends there and continue to support the vital ministry that it provides. We simply felt a change in the direction that God was leading us and have had a great desire in our hearts to spread the life-giving message of Christ to other parts of our area. It’s been one year since we have first thought about this. We’ve spent that much time praying and seeking direction from God. This is NOT an overnight decision. It has been confirmed on so many occasions that this is the good and right thing for us to do right now.
All that being said, please pray for us as we start forming plans and our team. You can check out the vision of the church and any other information at our website at http://www.freedom-church.org/ or you can visit us on myspace at www.myspace.com/freedom_church.

The eyes of Texas will soon be upon us...

Yes, you read right. We are heading south for a trip to the Lonestar State! Finally!!! :o) The last two weeks of April will hopefully greet us with warm weather and lots of time with family and friends. We will be in Hurst for a while with a possible side trip to Austin for a conference. Anyway, I am so excited. This is the first time John's stepmom and friends have met Erin or seen Ethan since he was 1 1/2 years old. And the last time our friend Dave saw me, I was very pregnant and big as a barn. Moooo... We are driving. A car trip with 2 crazy kids should be fun. We are looking in to borrowing a DVD player for the car from one of our friends. Hopefully, that will help us kill some time.

Yesterday was a GLORIOUS day weather wise. Here are some pictures of us goofing off outside. We had a blast!

Hook 'Em Horns!

Ethan flying his first kite!

He's so excited to get it off of the ground. He kept running up and down the sidewalk!

The bubbles were a big hit!

Erin rode this horse for about two second. Then she decided that she wanted to know what dirt and sticks tasted like. Ick!

And finally, a friendly game of soccer with a giant ball!