We're back from a refreshing weekend and in the throes of getting our house ready to go on the market. We are feeling a bit whelmed over with everything, but we are trusting in our good God. We're reminding ourselves of what God has done and how He has been at work in order to bring us to these moments.
This post contains a brief recap of what God did this last weekend in D.C. and previews some of what awaits in the week ahead...
D.C. Fun
On Friday morning we flew to D.C. to begin a fun few days together. On Friday we had three meetings, Saturday we spent the day relaxing together, on Sunday Thomas preached at Restoration City Church, and on Monday Thomas had a meeting before we flew back to Raleigh. Thomas' parents came to Raleigh to watch the kids for this trip. We really needed the refreshment of these few days together.
The meetings on Friday were focused on connecting with business leaders and other church planters. We were able to walk around the District (which we loved!) and the weather was quite nice. We slept in on Saturday and walked through the misty rain to brunch. We spent most of the day in the National Portrait Gallery and had a really nice time together. Thomas did a little sermon prep that evening around dinner. On Sunday Thomas preached at Restoration City Church. After church, we connected with a guy who is a lawyer, currently living in London, and looking for lunch. We took him and his girlfriend to lunch and were amazed at the connections God is providing. Sunday afternoon was a lot of fun as we rented scooters and toured the monuments together. On Monday morning Thomas had a meeting with a church planting catalyst who oversees a number of important ventures. We are so grateful for the time in D.C.
We love D.C. The three visits we have taken to our nation's capital over the last few years have contained some of the sweetest memories in our marriage so far. We love the city in so many ways.
The Mentoring McGowans
While there were so many fun moments on our trip, dinner with the McGowans on Friday night was a real anchor for us. John and Laura planted Restoration City over four years ago. John had overseen a variety of ministries at McClean Bible Church before joining Summit Network. Laura is the strong mama to three littles and a mentor to so many. We laughed our way through dinner sharing our lives and embarrassing stories with each other. Together, this couple is a force to be reckoned with.
We connected with the McGowans through the December trip to D.C. with Summit Network. Thomas reached our to John for some mentoring after the training weekend. John quickly took Thomas under his wing to provide care and coaching. We are so thankful for John's encouragement and his perspective in how to plant in a strategic global city like D.C. Adding the care of Laura to the mix and we could not be more grateful for sweet friends, just a few years ahead of us, who are willing to share their life and experiences with us.
Just Ahead...
We are officially up to our eyeballs in preparations for London. We are preparing our house to go on the market and having whirlwinds of emotions constantly swirling. It's in moments like this that we are learning the discipline of steadying our hearts by remembering God's promises. It's as if prayer is becoming even more real than we have ever experienced it before. We find ourselves not wanting to take the next step of practically preparing for the next step and yet doing so willfully out of faith in our God.
The highs feel higher and the lows feel lower. It's as if bittersweet is no longer an appropriate word to describe what we're experiencing. We trust God and yet we feel a heaviness over the next steps.
Perry Elizabeth and Shepherd are doing great. Perry celebrates her 100th day of school tomorrow and Shepherd is fully potty trained. While we feel flurries of emotions they are resilient and unfazed by what we face with their childlike trust in mommy and daddy.
Would you pray for our family as we enter into a busy couple of weeks? Thomas will be out of town in the weekend ahead but we are excited to have Elizabeth's sister, Katherine (KK, as Perry and Shepherd call her), coming to Raleigh for some sister time. The following weekend will involve both of us hitting the skies again for Tallahassee to visit our friends at City Church. In the midst of it all we are preparing our home for sale, saying goodbye to possessions, and trying to remain anchored through it all. We need your prayers.
Thank you for being on this journey with us. Your prayers, encouragements, and assistance help us in ways you will never know. We take great heart in the fact that we are in this together.
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You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.
Isaiah 26:3