Before Christmas someone was giving away a crib/toddler bed mattress on freecycle. I went ahead and asked for it since I figured we’d be needing a toddler bed sooner than later. I got the mattress hoping that someone would be giving away a toddler bed frame later on. Last week I figured I’d go ahead and ask for a toddler bedframe on freecycle, and someone emailed me to come get theirs! It needed some paint, and we had to go buy screws, but other than that it’s in great shape and a really sturdy bed. They also offered me the mattress they had for it, which is in better shape than the first I got, so I went ahead and took it.

Hannah was so excited about all the random pieces of metal around Daddy’s office. She couldn’t leave them alone, and was even more excited when I gave her a screwdriver to help us.

What a cutie! She really got in to her work.

Finally in her room with sheets and blankets, and complete with the extra mattress underneath for a sleep over. She ran out of patience while Tim and I quickly threw everything on. Hannah kept climbing up and down, up and down, and running over to Tim and I to give us hugs. It was so cute to watch her excitement.

Hannah is almost 18 months old, and spending her first night in a big girl bed. How is this so?

I called my mom to get some tips on how to transition Hannah into the new bed. So Tim laid Hannah down under the covers, read her some books, and she was out. This went WAY easier than I would ever imagine. It could have to do with her staying up past her bedtime and starting to get a little cold. But her first day to see her bed all put together, she is asleep for the night in it. Crazy! Now we’ll just see if this continues and if nap times work as well.

Since I vlogged about some books I’m excited to be reading, I figured now would be appropriate to talk about another book I’m looking forward to reading when it comes out…

On Tuesday Zondervan mailed Tim some covers of his first book being published. It really never sunk in to me that Tim is going to be a published author until I was holding one of the covers in my hands. Now I am very excited for him and can’t wait to have my very own copy of Life in Student Ministry! You can already pre-order one of his books on Amazon too. It was fun to hear one of our students who graduated last year and is going to school for youth ministry now; tell us that she is very excited that she already pre-ordered Tim’s book.

I added a widget on the side bar of my blog for you to easily order “Life in Student Ministry” also. Or you can just click here to order one.

Growing up I was impressed with how great of a pastor’s wife my mom is. With the example my mom set I felt like I too could be a good pastor’s wife. But I didn’t want to be a senior pastor’s wife, I’d rather be a youth pastor’s wife, because that would be easier. Ha! Recently I have learned that being a youth pastor’s wife does not make the fact of being a pastor’s wife any easier. And I have laughed at my previous thought many times!

Over the last couple years I have met some wonderful youth pastor’s wives and have had the blessing to keep in touch with them. And I have also received some emails from some special ladies who have found my blog through their husbands following Tim’s blog. Lately I have been praying about what I should do with this. How can God use me to benefit others who have married a man totally devoted to Christ and following a call to minister vocationally? I’m not promising regular blogs about being a youth pastor’s wife. There are some moments when times get tough and personal, like lately. And I know that in the moment it is better for me to hold my tongue, and wait until I can see more of what God is doing in my life through my current situation.

For those of you who may be coming to see how I am doing through Tim’s termination because you are going through the same thing and need some encouragement, this is for you… You will make it through this. It’s okay to cry and let your emotions out. Continue to read Scripture, or get your Bible back in your hands. Let your husband know how you are doing. God loves you and is in control. God has great plans for you, which includes taking you through a time of trial to make you an even stronger woman so that you can serve Him even more.

I feel like I’m giving myself a pep talk, because I have fought and fought to stifle my emotions and not deal with what is going on. Almost 2 months later I still have moments where I break down, because I have slowly let myself work through our situation. It wasn’t until last Sunday that I finally grabbed my Bible in over a month and started studying Scripture again. I have been battling my mind over and over, especially since I started reading Scripture again and am trying to put total trust in God with our situation. I know in my head that God is in control, but my actions and thoughts have not been proving my faith. I haven’t once gotten mad at God for Tim’s termination. I have over and over tried to figure out what God is going to do next with and through our family. I don’t have any answers, and that’s okay.

I’m hoping that through this process I can be an encouragement to other pastor’s wives. That God will use this time of trial to reach others. And hopefully piece by piece I can share our story of how amazing God was to Tim and I during 2010. We had very high highs, and very low lows.

I haven’t organized my days or weeks well enough to regularly blog. My last couple of blogs I wrote quickly on my droidx that I got for Christmas. That may be the best way I can get a blog done. I have a couple ideas for blogs in my head, but just haven’t been able to sit and write for a bit yet. In the mean time, Tim has been putting together vlogs on www.youtube.com/godrox. You can go enjoy some videos of our family (mostly the kids) there.

Here’s the most recent one of yesterday…

Every once in a while I may post videos too, randomly though out the day. Here’s my most recent of a few days ago…

This weekend we are at a camp where Tim is speaking to young adults. I brought all our winter gear and borrowed a sled from a friend so we could have fun playing in the snow.
Well, I checked the weather for today and it looks like all our snow gear will be used as survival to get from the dining hall and back throughout the weekend. The high today is 11, and the ground is covered in snow so our stroller is useless outside. Glad I have a sling to carry Zeke and the sled to pull Hannah! I did figure out the stroller will be good for laying Zeke while in the dining hall. Just have to figure out how Tim and I will haul what we need for the morning, the kids, and the stroller over there.
Pray for our health while out here. We are all already congested, but luckily Zeke doesn’t have a fever anymore. Poor kids, what were we thinking?