Long-awaited Update

Wow!  It’s hard to believe that it has been so long already since I last posted an update.  The journey has been amazing.  We have been so blessed.  The days are often filled with little trials, but God’s grace has been apparent every day.  It’s hard to believe I am 2/3 of the way done already.  The Sovereign Grace Pastors College was highly regarded in my mind before, and now I feel like it’s one of the best teaching places in the world!  What a blessing it has been to us; not just to me, but to my whole family because of the kind of care we have received as a family.

Christmas break was a week of visiting Jenn’s family and a week of being sick in our house back in VA, unfortunately unable to visit my family much at all.  We hope for better days to come.  Here’s an updated family photo taken in November in Louisville!  This is our Christmas picture that we still have to mail out!  I  suppose you could say it has been a busy season for us.

Family 2013 Update

Leave a Comment

Filed under General

Class is in Session

I am wrapping up Week 2 of classes, and decided I should post a brief update.  We are so grateful for this experience and opportunity.  It has been a great ride so far.  Jenn and kids are doing really great, and the kids are adjusting miraculously well.  Sovereign Grace just updated their blog with our class picture so I figured I would post a link to it here.

The teaching has been deep, practical, pastoral, faith-filling, and intense.  It feels like drinking from a fire hose, but the water is sweet – more than ever, I have faith that the Bible is God’s very Words recorded for all generations to know His plan to offer salvation from our wickedness through Jesus Christ.  What a gift.

The class is bonding quickly; we are excited for each other and wanting to help one another succeed.  Our wives and children are spending time together, and we are all benefitting from wise counsel and encouragement from godly people here.  We are blessed.

PC Class of 2014

Leave a Comment

Filed under General

We Made It!

We had a great trip to Lousiville!  Our internet service was just connected so I figured I’d post an update.  We left my parents’ house around 10:45am Tuesday and arrived in our driveway at 10:00pm.  It was a long trip, but weather and traffic were great.  We took it easy and had fun with it.  Each of the kids got a turn in the HUGE 26′ diesel Penske truck with me.  I realized how huge it was when I saw that the cab was higher than several tractor-trailers parked next to it.

Today, we got lots of help from fellow PC students.  Thanks Jacob, Mike, Shawn, Kyle, and Josh!  Now we have many hours of unboxing to do.

Thanks to everyone who prayed for us.  God gave us a great trip together.  Eleven hours and 5 kids didn’t feel like it!

– Colin

1 Comment

Filed under General

Moving Day is coming

We have been packing for what seems like weeks, but now it’s crunch time.  Internet is already off and I’m writing from a coffee shop on a rare break.  We’re up to box 71 and disassembling beds.  Tomorrow will be our last day with our church family.  I’m sure it will be hard to say good-bye.  My family is in town too, and we will have to say good-bye to them as well.  Lots of changes ahead but we are also excited about the future and the unknowns.  We leave Tuesday morning with a full Penske truck.  Here we go!

Leave a Comment

Filed under General

We should have expected as much!

Well, when you go out on a limb that you think God is calling you to climb, you shouldn’t be surprised when He comes through on His end every bit as much.  Our new house search was no exception.

Several months ago as we prayed about housing, I felt a continual impression that God didn’t want us to even bother looking yet.  Weeks went by and the feeling didn’t subside (though we did visit Craigslist several times just in case my “impression” was undigested pepperoni).  The first time we would really get to visit Louisville was this past weekend, and I felt like he wasn’t saying “No,” so we planned a house-hunting trip.  We made a list of houses to see and charted it on Google Maps.

Day 1: Lots of houses: some nicer, some ugly, some small, some dirty.  The only one we really liked had a realtor who was uncomfortable about how many children we have.  Then, about 7pm Jenn saw a “For Rent” sign as we drove around.  I called the number and we planned a 10am appointment for the next morning.  Day 1 finished with nothing but hope for tomorrow.  We prayed a lot that day, begging God to come through.

Day 2: 10am – The house was beautiful.  Loaded with options.  We went back to the College to eat, think, and pray.  The more we think about this now, the more amazed we are at how much we received.  We signed the deal and left a deposit check.

This morning I was praying with Jenn and said, “God, I don’t know why we had to go looking all day until we found this place, when you knew where it was all along.”  A scripture came to Jenn’s mind immediately that seemed to answer the question.  In Matthew 7:9,11, Jesus says, “which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone?…  If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” Jenn felt like God was saying, “You asked me for bread, and I wanted you to see some stones so that you could really appreciate when I gave you bread.”  He sure did give us bread, and the previous day’s lesson was worth it.  Here’s what He gave us…

  • 10 minutes from the Pastors College, and less than 10 minutes to most of the other students
  • 4 minutes from Kroger
  • 3 BR, 2 BA, Dining room, Living room, and family room
  • Full, unfinished basement and 2-car garage!
  • Ceiling fans in every room
  • Fenced back yard
  • Really clean, inside and out
  • Fresh paint, 1-yr old roof, 8-yr old vinyl windows
  • Nice neighborhood and landlord; previous tenants were there for many years and said they miss the neighbors (the landlord was texting the previous tenant asking about utilities so they seemed to have a good relationship)
  • Walking distance to some small business ice cream and chocolate shops
  • They let us do a 10-month lease (instead of 12) for no extra charge.  It was also the same price as some other houses we looked at that were not nearly as nice.
  • The property was “accidentally” (pronounced “providentially”) listed in the incorrect category on Craigslist, so we were one of only two people who looked at it, and the other person never called back.  So we didn’t have to compete with others who were interested in longer leases, etc.
  • It wasn’t listed until last week, so we would not have found it had we traveled many weeks ago when we wanted to go.

Our New Home

1 Comment

Filed under General

In search of a house

As crazy as it may sound since we are moving in two weeks, today is our first day in Louisville to actually find a house into which we can move!  Jenn and I charted our course and will be searching around.  We’re praying that God shows us the house that will be just what we need.  Stay tuned…Where oh where

Leave a Comment

Filed under General

Goodbye, Ply Gem Family

I have worked for Ply Gem Windows for almost six years, and it’s time to say goodbye.  To all of you at Ply Gem who read this, I will miss seeing all of you, stopping to chat in the hallway, working on projects together, and all the other mundane daily things that will suddenly seem so absent. It’s been a great six years.  I have grown a lot, learned a lot, and hopefully left an eternal mark.  I will miss my Ply Gem family.  To all you guys in Product Engineering, try not to change too much.  – Colin
Ply Gem Windows

Leave a Comment

Filed under General

Welcome!

We’ve added our blog to the millions of others on the internet!  This will be an occasional place for us to update people on the happenings of our lives, specifically around our move to Louisville, KY for Colin to attend the Sovereign Grace Pastors College.  Take a look around to learn more about our story.  Thanks for visiting!

Leave a Comment

Filed under General