Good Bye Sweet Iowa

We moved to Iowa in the spring of 09. And we quickly fell in love with the people there, the church, and the beautiful seasons. Dan was the youth pastor and worship pastor at Glad Tidings Church in Cedar Falls, IA, home of the UNI Panthers. By God's grace, these two ministries flourished well. It was exciting and unforgettable to see how Jesus grew the church and grew us into many of the members lives. Dan and I also grew ourselves tons! Jesus introduced us and allowed us to form an amazing network of friends and accountability with the state offices there. Leaders that were so stellar. We had formed such close relationships with so many around us. Dan and I both found that Iowa people in general are the most kind, caring, generous, sociable, relational, genuine people we have encountered. So it was very hard when God began to stir our hearts to pray for what was next. Dan and I both know there is a calling on Dan's life to pastor, to teach. We have always had the strong desire to plant a church. We would pray and talk, pray and talk. Both really not wanting to hear to leave because we so much loved the church and congregation. We were so excited to see the weekly growth. So we prayed for a little over six months even. Then knowing it was time to move on with heavy but in some way excited (of what God may have next for us) hearts Dan put his resignation in at Glad Tidings Church in July. It is hard to make life long lasting friendships, but I honestly believe we made many in Iowa that I am so thankful to Jesus for. The next few weeks were extremely emotional and hard. But we were overwhelmed at the support and love through dinners, texts, emails, letters, gifts, and help we received from our dear friends in Iowa. Many tears were spilt as we began to make our transition out. Glad Tidings church family put together a good bye party for us on our last day. It was absolutely wonderful. Thank you guys for all your love and support.

Mrs. Amy who formed a tight bond with Mrs. Halle!
I could not believe all that came to express their thanks and say good bye. Someone was pointed out to me that Paul must have been burdened to leave church families and go to another. But that they always kept a place in his heart and he prayed for them. Glad Tidings will forever hold a place in my prayers and heart. We love and miss you all dearly!

There will be another post soon on where Jesus sent us next.

Iowa State Fair

Just a few days before we packed up our whole house and moved to GA. We spent a whole family day at the Iowa State Park. It has to be the largest Fair I have ever been to. It was very hot but oh so much fun!

swings with Daddy that kept going and going and going and going, too funny!
This was the world's largest pig.

This was a little farmer walk through. They had to go through all the daily routines farmers may go through, from planting...
to harvesting...
to tractor driving...
to milking the cow...
to riding the cow! And then at the very end they were able to sale their products they harvested and the milk and eggs they gathered then purchase something from the store. Loved this!
We had fried oreos!
We met up some of our dear friends, Jonathan and Erica Bartholow and kids. Also Nathan and Vanessa Schadd. We stayed and watched The Band Perry.
What a sweet memory we will never forget. The girls were wiped!

First Black Eye

Unfortunately little Halle Grace tripped and fell into the van door a month ago and hit her eye on the edge. It immediately swelled up to the size of a ping pong ball. The swelling stayed for a couple of days and then it began slowly turning all sorts of colors. Well Halle still has a hard bump under the skin in that spot. We took her to the doctor yesterday and found out that she has a calcified bruise :( The doctor says this could take years to go away if it even will. We are praying and hoping that it does. She sure was brave and a BIG girl through the whole thing.

Buddies

Halle has been blessed with two great friends here in Iowa, Denver and Zion. They are all three within days of each other, the same age. We really really enjoy hanging out with these guys and their mommies. Halle asks about them everyday, talks to them on "her phone" everyday, and prays for them every night. She will be talking about going to the park with them days in advance. Both moms are speaking that their son will one day marry Halle. We really love them and thank Jesus every night for their friendship.

Biker Sunday at GTC

What a fun day Biker Sunday has been every year. I love having church outside and I love having the bikers join us. Glad Tidings has done this for the past few years and it has turned out to be such a success. We take pictures of the bikers and their bikes, give out Harley prizes, bless the bikes, and then they take off for an afternoon bike ride together. Last year we brought it outside with a feast afterwards. It went so well we decided to the same this year. It was a beautiful fun day.

CMA bikers join us! I really love hearing stories from these guys.

A Sweet Short Visit from Grandpa, Grandma ,and Aunt Doris

A visit from Aunt Beverly and Grandma Doris is always welcomed BIG time. These two ladies are AMAZING! They are soooo sweet! Doug, Dan's dad was driving up from Oklahoma for a couple of days. So he stopped off in Kansas City and picked up these two beautiful ladies. They stayed the night over and brought tons of goodies for the girls! Doug was able to take Halle on a date that next day to the movies. She loved it and still talks about it. Then we were able to catch the fights that night on pay per view with Doug. It was a sweet visit. Cant wait to do it again.

Serving the City

This summer PROXY has decided to serve our city for the entire summer through different events. INstead of taking an entertainment trip we are taking a three month missions trip to our cities, Cedar Falls and Waterloo. A few months prior to the summer we studied the book of Nehemiah. Nehemiah loved Jerusalem, his city, and longed to and worked hard to see it restored and put back together. We had the students bring only one cardboard box and one can food item that Tuesday evening. They of course had no idea what was happening. We then told them they were staying the night outside and had only that box and that food to last them through the evening. The night was perfect, beautiful weather. The next morning we went and served breakfast to the assisted living home, where I work. After breakfast they painted the ladies nails. Then for lunch they traveled to the salvation army to serve the homeless lunch. It turned out to be very impactful for them. They all were texting and messaging us afterwards of how it opened their eyes to many things and they were super grateful that we did it. And they did AMAZING!! I was super proud. They jumped right in there and went to work. I look forward to our many more missions projects this summer. Jesus is doing BIG things here in the Cedar Valley. We honored to be a part.

Blank Park Zoo Visit

It seems that we are heading to Des Moines quite often. The state offices are there and he often has meetings there during the month. This one particular time, we took Halle on her very first zoo visit. It was a blast! She called many things a big horse. She was just like her daddy. She didn't stay long at each exhibit. She had to hurry off to the next one. She fed the goats, played in the jungle gym, laughed at the monkeys, barked at the giraffes, rode on the train, and rode in the wagon. BIG day for the girls, they loved it and so did I.