It's our 10th anniversary! Want to hear what happened right before the wedding?

One week prior to our big day, we were en route to a ministry retreat when rioting broke out in a community we were serving. From the road, we managed to have a Ugandan pastor moved from xenophobic uproar into the townhouse we would move into after our wedding.

We returned a few days later with massive sinus infections and discovered our pre-wedding housing would not have electricity for the week.

Tomorrow marks ten years of being husband and wife, but we joke that we should count in “dog years” for all the life we’ve lived in the last decade.

A pastor’s wife game me “The Power of a Praying Wife” by Stormie Omartian when we got married. She reads through the book every year, so I thought I’d give it a try too. It has become a powerhouse in my life! I’ve learned to pray Scripture, been continuously turned to Biblical order, and been awestruck again and again as I’ve watched God move for my husband and our family.

We used to sit next to Uncle Lindsey on the front row at church. He and my husband often huddled, head-to-head, in prayer. Every Sunday at church and Friday after the Call to Worship, Uncle Lindsey would tell me what he was going to do when he got out of his wheelchair. He couldn't wait to glorify the Lord with his healing. The man had a plan to dance, and no one doubted he would.

Uncle Lindsey shared his life story with me a few years ago...

I go to Honest Chocolate Cafe every year on my birthday. The darling courtyard in the middle of town holds a special place in my heart. It’s in walking distance to the lawyers offices we’ve frequented - physical spaces that symbolize years of pursuing justice and breakthrough. We always stopped by Honest Chocolate for a taste of chocolate-flavored redemption after a heavy legal appointment.

Another Friday. Another field.
Jam was there to play some serious rugby. Wyatt was absolutely unhinged. He brought the best kind of combination of soccer, basketball, rugby, and spontaneous dance moves. This is one of those videos I made for myself to watch over and over. The dance solo at the end is next level.

As a child, I learned the stories of God on Sunday school flannelboards and the Word of God through songs. In high school, I was enveloped in a community of Godly families and a Methodist church youth group that showed me what God looks like. I went on mission trips, was introduced to Christian music, and learned to hear God's voice on a youth trip.

I'm compelled to reach out to those who sowed seeds in me that are now sprouting on foreign soil. Who could have known those first mission trips of sleeping in another church's fellowship hall and doing odd-jobs for community members would culminate as a lifetime of foreign missions?

We are so excited for September 1st! Church Home is having another gathering at Gangstar Cafe. Pray for us as we reach out and invite people. We believe God has us here to create a safe place for people to experience Jesus and His Church. We’re taking it one step, one day at a time, and seeing what He does.

I LOVE this promo video Chris made. I think it captures the heart so well. Make sure your sound is on!

I didn’t have the mental or physical bandwidth to hit my weightlifting goals this week. (And the goals are minimal!) BUT today I showed up anyway. My most important commitment was never lifting weights for 30 minutes a day, 3 days a week. It’s much more about stewarding my life well. He pre-paid for it with His Son’s. I’ve committed to God, my family and myself to keep showing up with what I’ve got. Today that looked like a short run in the sunshine. It got my endorphins flowing and reminded my spirit to keep showing up, even if it’s not the original plan…

Here’s the next thing coming for Church Home! Check out this invitation and video from Chris (and Wyatt and Frank). And PRAY with us. After our first Good Stuff night on September 1st, we’ll start gathering in small groups. And let’s see what God does from there!

If you were born in southern America in the 1980's, and if your parents took advantage of every summer Vacation Bible School in your hometown, you can probably finish the following lines without thinking twice:

"God is good..." (All the time!) "All the time..." (God is good!)

Join me on a journey…
A story of a boy and his snail.
Snail goes missing. Snail is found. Snail professes his love for Christ. Snail goes on road trip. Snail survives a fall. Mom vacuums soil. This is Saturday morning.

Merchant vessel, The Nantucket, rammed into steamship, The Monroe, near the Virginia coast on a foggy January night in 1914. In the trial that followed, Nantucket's captain, Osymn Berry, admitted to many negligent decisions and was arraigned accordingly. The cross-examination of Monroe's captain, Edward Johnson, revealed he navigated with a steering compass that deviated as much as 2° from the standard magnetic compass. The trial ended with two burly sea captains sobbing on each other's shoulders with the reckoning that their carelessness and misorientation cost 41 lives…

A perspective I didn’t expect from a bug hunt…

A sunny winter afternoon. One in shorts. One in sweats. We were armed with cups and plastic spoons - on mission to find every bug in Africa. We found exactly zero. It might have had something to do with the intensity in which those flimsy plastic spoons hit the dirt, the sheer volume of the hunters’ excitement, or the fact that they can turn anything into an extreme sport. This particular bug hunt included a long-jump practice, rock rolling, sprint jumping, cat counting, and flower petal pulling. Just not bugs…

Benjamin didn’t want to go to his rugby training today. He’s faced waves of anxiety about the sport he loves so much since he saw his brother get carried off the field on a stretcher. Lifa is on the mend, but Benjamin still felt scared today. But we got there. We showed up without expectation.
And GRIT came out of that kid! …

Our six-year olds's auto-immune condition has been flaring up. My nerves crackled and popped all night last Friday from the intensity of caring for him, and I couldn't sleep at all. On Saturday, we watched a medic team carry my oldest son off the rugby field on a stretcher. My three-year old and I rushed to the hospital to open his file while my husband rode in the ambulance with him.

You'll never believe what happened next... I LOCKED MY THREE-YEAR OLD IN MY VAN IN THE HOSPITAL PARKING LOT. My sleep-deprived, nerve-frazzled, broken heart was just about ready to stop beating at this point.

In our current season of life, we don’t go to OT. We go to fields. We bring balls and brothers. It’s everything. (Lifa is often with us, but he’s still recovering from his rugby injury.)

Hard kicks. Full contact tackles. And a PRO MOM game of kicking balls up a hill (recorded on double speed bc it was so intense for so long). It’s always been the best way for Benjamin to find himself and feel like himself…

The boy loves worship music. He regulates with it. He worships with it. He makes up his own.

He asked me to write the words down for him as he sang them this week. I just had to give this a permanent place.

Here it is. A new fresh hit. Dictated by Jam. Written by Mom.

Crocs, snakes, tortoises - oh my!

Lifa sustained a serious injury on the rugby field on Saturday. Our whole family watched him get carried off the field on a stretcher. We spent the rest of the day waiting, praying and, finally, thanking God when he got cleared to go home. He’s been booked off school for recovery from a severe concussion, but, as it turns out, our house isn’t so restful! …

Did I sit quietly in a corner while my chidren tackled each other in the aquarium this evening?
Yes. Absolutely. It’s Jam’s necessary heavy pressure work.

Did I advocate for my kids to have their own space and NOT make friends with some sweet kids who desperately wanted to join in the fun? Did I speak to the children and the nanny on my kids’ behalf?
Yes. Without hesitation….

What a weekend. There are a thousand details and disasters sprinkled into the last 48 hours but GRACE is louder than it all. It’s the last month of his high school rugby career. Lifa took a hit that could have changed his whole story. We are so thankful for the swift care from his school, medical professionals, and the people around us who showed up and carried us through. God showed Himself through His people once again. He’s so tangible and kind.