The Final Week

Rochelle and I are quite blessed. It's actually quite weird too. Right out of college I get my dream internship. I learned a ton from the guys there, my best friend lived 15 minutes away, and I loved my job. Coming out of the internship I had a fairly large church(not Southeast large) pursue me hard as if I actually knew what I was doing. They moved us down here, we had a great place to live, and we've made close friends as well. Though it was a trying year, I've learned a ton from the experience. A year later we are now returning back to Louisville, KY where I will be Music Director of Southeast Christian Church. Thank you Jesus.

I remember when I was leaving Southeast and a conversation I had with Brian Sites at Skyline, one of our favorite joints. We were talking about me leaving and how we had a great year. I remember saying to him, "Dude, keep me in mind down the road. Wouldn't it be great to work with each other again?" and him saying "You know it." It's surprising to me that God has allowed Rochelle and I return back to a place we call home so soon. Here's 20 things God has blessed me with this year.

1. A job here at Cape Christian Fellowship

2. Returning home to Southeast Christian Church

3. Our 1 year anniversary, going on two here pretty soon and it's been amazing.

4. Gracie... who's a blessing and yet a tyrant at the same time. I think I'm only saying this now because she's sleeping... and she looks cute.

5. Our friends down here in the Cape.

6. Jesse and Kara.

7. Clare, Jesse and Kara's little girl who I'm very excited to get to know.

8. Brian, Bets, Caleb, Gwen and Jack. What an incredible gift.

9. T-Money and Nicole and their little jelly bean growing inside. I know I can always talk with Tyler.

10. Rochelle! She's actually number 1 on my list. She's the best wife ever.

11. The moments this year that I laughed all night with my friends here in the Cape. You know the times.

12. Getting a couple hundred dollars taken off of my fines for traffic violations.

13. Joe Murphy. A friend and a person I did ministry with this whole year.

14. Mitch and Sunny. They live in Korea and yet we've seen them a ton this year.

15. Our families, who have been incredibly understanding about us living so far away. i appreciate them letting me take their daughter(daughter-in-law) halfway across the country.

16. A car that isn't going to fall apart on us. We were able to get a Jetta that at the time was just cool. Now I'm grateful we chose one of the safest cars out there.

17. Rochelle having a job when I didn't. Because she got the job at the exact time she did, we aren't struggling like we could have with me not bringing home any bread.

18. Last 3 weeks. I've been a house husband(we should make a show) for the last 3 weeks. It's pretty humbling since I grew up thinking it was the guys job to make the money. I have a great wife who works hard. It's actually been a great few week sabbatical.

19. My first Christmas Program. Although it was crazy, I learned a lot about myself, forgiveness, and the true meaning of it all which is easy to forget being behind the scenes all the time.

20. Moving back to Louisville. With this move we'll be much closer to our families. We'll be able to visit for the holidays easier and have unexpected trips back to GR and Lansing. We'll be closer to my best friend and brother and get to see their family grow. We'll be in an environment where we're appreciated and respected. We'll be able to plant ourselves in a church that we strongly believe is doing the works of God.

About 2 weeks ago, before we had heard anything about a job, Rochelle said to me, "I'm scared." I asked her why and she said "because God has blessed us so much the last couple years that I just figure something bad has got to happen now." I told her that I had thought the same thing. Thankfully, God doesn't work like that...

It's been a great year. We've learned so much about ourselves. We're very excited about the move back. We know where we'll be living, I'll be able to have coffee with Jesse, and Gracie and Diesel will finally meet each other. So much to look forward too but so much more to be grateful for.

~ Paul