MaceFace

You know, I've lived in College Station for the vast majority of my life, and we're moving to a new city in (possibly less than) a year. And you know what I'm going to miss most?

...not knowing every route to everywhere (though it is convenient)...

...not the proximity of everything (bc there's not much to do here)...

...not even Fellowship Church, my home for over a decade.

It will be this woman right here.

I know it's not a quality pic. But wouldn't you miss someone who would look at you like this?

I mentioned Macie in my last post, because her husband, Mark, was ordained with Stephen. And Macie is such a great candidate for the role of Pastor's Wife, not because fits some mold, but because she is a minister. And she loves with breadth and depth. She is so committed to God and to her relationship with him. Springs of living water flow from her, because she puts action to her desire to abide in Jesus.

Mace and her gorge fam

And she loves me. She loves me even though I'm, frankly, not a great friend. She texts me encouragement and I often don't even text back you guys. Not even a "thanks!" #yesreallyabadfriend

I love her too, so much; I'm just not good at loving people well. I can say that, the Holy Spirit spoke almost those exact words to me (full of grace and favor as well as truth) about my husband. But Mace is a delight to my heart, and I'm going to miss seeing her face more than the home I grew up in.

Okay, also because she's like really pretty.

Would you take a moment and pray for her? Her loss is worse than mine, because she's losing two other great friends to our church plant move. We're going on an adventure (but the real kind, with hardships and struggle; not the sightseeing kind), and she has to go about her normal life without people she's shared it with for many years. Not that we can't still be close, but it isn't the same as living on the same block and seeing each other almost daily. So I'm asking for you to pray for her now. She loves prayer, and this is a great way for you to help me bless her. Thanks.

My Husband, the Pastor!

Stephen was ordained on Sunday. Which feels both like an obvious expectation and just so crazy at the same time. He was celebrated by our church and a few of our supporters on Sunday.

He was ordained with our good friend, Mark Gonzalez. He and his wife went on staff a year before Stephen, and Ezra & their oldest kiddo are only six weeks apart, so we've been going through the gamut of being campus staff and then parents together for a long time.

current pastors praying over the new pastorlings

After giving them a litany of charges (protect the flock, be devoted to serving, other things I missed because I had to take Stella to the bathroom), the current pastors laid hands on them and prayed over them. Then they brought us up to pray over us as families.

Seen here totally NOT about to make out with Pastor Steve.

Our kids endured made it through the whole service surprisingly well, especially considering we were at the front of the entire crowd and it was well past their lunchtime before it was over.

This man of mine is really incredible. I don't talk about him a lot on here, but he is. He parented our boys himself while I was gone in Uganda, all while working as much as he could to not use up all his paid time off. I cannot tell you how tired he was. And then when we got back from Uganda, he decided he would take the kids over to his parents' house once a week to give me a night off -- even though he never gets a night off ever. And he decided to wake up early every morning so he can get to work earlier so he can come home earlier and spend time with us. He also also lets me sleep in on his days off. Not to mention how he encourages me and keeps us focused on our financial goals, since we're moving to San Antonio in a year and we just had this crazy expense called adopting two children internationally (or whatever).

Also he's super handsome and loves babies.

And we make gorgeous babies together, but that's just a bonus.