April & May 2020 - Birthday, Baby Showers, Nesting, and Building Projects

Hey Family and Friends,

Writing about life has been hard for two reasons lately: 1) we are cooped up and there isn't much variation in our life - like many of you are experiencing. 2) We don't know what is next. People often ask what is next because I finished my degree, but I don't have answers. I am thankful for my current job and I'm not "itching to get out of town." We are taking one day at a time and praying about what might be next. I am considering a PhD and also a part time teaching job. Life surely isn't all uncertainty and routine though - here are a few highlights:

This meme spoke to me😃

Graduation/Birthday

I had my 30th Birthday in April and graduated Seminary shortly after! I am relieved and also excited about what plans the Lord has for us next. On my birthday, I received many wonderful celebration videos and texts, but this one made me laugh quite a a bit:

Family Bible Time

Pastor Don and I have been making weekly videos for our Church family to stay plugged into God's word. If you want to watch these regularly, you can be put on an email list (by request) or find them posted weekly on our church Facebook page. 

Click Here for an example.

(Sorry, it is on Vimeo and 

that doesn't embed well 

on the google platform!)

Zoom 

The Youth have been gathering on Wednesday nights since the quarantine started until last week. We recently did a series called "Remain" which was from John 15 and was about how we can "remain in Him" while we "remain at home." Afterwards the youth would stick around, chat, and do silly things...like draw on a photo of me. 

Baby Shower

Our church friends threw us a very thoughtful drive-through baby shower! It was a great to see all the folks who came through to show love and support. Our family also threw us a shower on Zoom a couple weeks later and that was a lot of fun also- we played "the price is right" and heard some great advice about raising kids! 

Preparing for Baby

This shot is right after we installed the baby seat! We have been rearranging the apartment, throwing things out and donating lots to thrift stores to make room for Wren! (Full disclosure - Amber has been doing most of it, but I did install the car seat 😀)

Hebrew Reading Group

This summer I began hosting a group to read through the early chapters of Genesis and sing some Hebrew songs to keep our language skills fresh. The Lord has blessed this group with a few consistent guys who have been a great learning community! Here's a snapshot of Genesis 1:1-7:

Quarantine Devotions

I launched a series of devotions written by Ballardsville Baptist church members to teach each other how we can pray! I encourage you to check them out on our Facebook page. The will be releasing 3x/wk (m-w-f) for the next couple weeks! 

Building A Farmhouse Table

Jason Wallin and I are building a table for a youth area. We got started the other day very early and I got to enjoy this sunrise at church! After we finish, I will add the time-lapse of our build!

Pictured:
Supervisor - Annabelle Wallin
Labor - Bronson
Photographer - Jason Wallin