Tragedy

How ironic that my last post included how thankful I am for New Life Church. Well, after another tragic day for my beloved church, I am even more thankful for this body of believers then ever before.

Today, a gunman shot 5 people at New Life. My city. My church. My family. Thankfully, we were not at the service this morning. We usually attend Sunday nights. But one of the most shocking texts came through my phone at about 1:20pm. "Shooting at New Life-we are OK." At first, I thought it wasn't true, and someone was just playing a prank. But then the texts and phone calls started coming in. The rest of the day has been spent tracking down all of our friends and "family" from New Life. Everyone I know is OK and accounted for, but they have not released the names of the victims yet. We are waiting, but not idly by. We are a church of prayer. So we have been praying.

We have been praying for the victims, the church, the families, the leadership of the church, and the gunman's family. We have been praying for forgiveness, peace, strength, healing, and power.

Needless to say, within the past year and 2 months I have experienced 2 days of overwhelming tragedy, confusion, and pain. But, we know that God is faithful. God is good. When everything is OK we will Praise Him. When tragedy strikes we will Praise Him. Please keep New Life Church in your thoughts and prayers.

Tonight I was again reminded why I am so thankful for New Life Church. Tonight all over this city, in homes of our members, people were getting together to pray, process, and just support one another. I am thankful for this family of believers that I love so dearly.

Thankful Thursday

As we are drawing close to the end of our life here in Colorado Springs, I am able to reflect upon how thankful I am for my life here.

I am so incredibly thankful for our church, New Life Church. Our lives have been devoted to serving and being a part of the community of New Life, especially our "old SATURDAYNIGHT crowd". I have grown in God through this church like I never imagined or dreamed. I have met and married my husband and we have had our 1st baby all here at New Life. We have grown in leadership and in the calling that God has on our lives. Without New Life Church, I would be so lost.

I'm so grateful for everyone I've met here in Colorado Springs. I have such amazing friends here who are lifelong friends. I'm sure I'll still know and keep in touch with them when I'm 75. :) I've loved meeting people who share in our love and passion for people and ministry. God has orchestrated so many amazing people to come alongside us and be our friends. Of course a lot of people have moved on, but we know that God has brought them into our lives for a purpose.

The past 7 years here in the Springs, have transformed my life in absolutely amazing ways. I am so thankful for all of my experiences here, how I've grown, and for all of the people I have met.

Christmas Picture

Here is the Christmas picture we sent out this year. It was an interesting day trying to get the kids to cooperate. We took pictures at our friends, the Chu's house, and their little girl Naomi was being distracted by Camden, and Camden was being distracted by Naomi, so we had to separate them during pictures. :) The pics turned out fairly well though. As Melissa said, it only takes one. I was just really hoping and praying that Camden wouldn't think it would be fun to scratch his face up, or get a big black and blue mark on his face the day before pictures. This was probably the one time during his 9 months that he doesn't have a mark on his face.

Bye-Bye Baby Furniture

If you've read the last post, you know we're getting rid of pretty much EVERYTHING! We're only keeping what we can fit into suitcases and maybe mailing a few boxes to Brazil. So, I've been letting go. One thing that was a little bit harder to let go of was Camden's baby furniture. I really wanted to take it, but I know that we'll find great stuff down in Brazil. Maybe it was the protective mommy in me, trying to keep something that would be familiar to Camden. But, as with many other things, I need to let his crib, changing table, dresser, and rocker go.

Can I just tell you I love Craigslist? We've sold 2 cars and now, the baby furniture on it. (Except the crib, that my friend Terra emailed me about just after I had posted to sell it on craigslist. Good timing Terra!) It's a great resource for any city. When we sold Renato's Jeep, we sold it within a couple of hours! Anyway, I just wanted to show you a few pics of Camden's furniture and room when we were in our house. I loved his room! It was hard to let go of that room, because we had just finished it in January and had to sell the house in July. At least we enjoyed it for a few months! These pics were taken about 2 weeks before Camden arrived.