A month before our first anniversary and two months before Anna-Kate was due, Derek started preaching at his father's hometown church in Lepanto.
It was an hour and a half drive, every weekend but we agreed it was the right thing for our family.
There were so many difficult things about being away every single weekend but it was a HUGE blessing!
Derek and I grew so close to the families there. I know that Derek enjoyed getting to share such a special place with his own family.
Just a few years before Derek started preaching, his grandfather passed away. His grandfather was an amazing leader in that church. For many reasons, being in that church every week was healing. I know that it was a challenge but I think Derek felt his grandfather with him when he was there.
The Sunday after Christmas, Derek and I said our goodbyes. It was extremely difficult but the church needed a minister who could live in town and we were ready to stay put on the weekends.
When we came back from Franklin, we stopped and I made some pictures of the church and the town.
Our little Lepanto church
The parsonage. We spent a lot of weekends in this house. The first night that Anna-Kate slept all the way through was in this house.
This is one of the streets downtown. I love this town! :)
Another downtown shot...
This is the last one. I just love it here.
(ps. Sorry to all you photogs- I like to play around with color in my pictures...)
In January we became "full-time" members of the church that Derek and I had been attending on Wednesday nights. It is conveniently located right across the street!
Derek and I visited several different churches before we started at Lepanto but we never found a "home." Lepanto taught me more about a loving church family and helped me to realize that our Searcy home was at Westside.
I'm so glad we made that choice. The friends that we have made there are wonderful. They have a pretty close-knit group of young marrieds, many of them have children near Anna-Kate and Thomas' age. We have enjoyed the lessons from the minister and it's been so nice to have Derek in the pew with me!
The classes for the little ones have been wonderful too. Anna-Kate is learning so much! She loves her teachers too. On Sunday nights, they have a special class for little ones called "Christian Soldiers." Anna-Kate loves going. She always asks during the week if it's time for Christian soldiers! haha.
The nursery is wonderful too. I try really hard to keep Thomas in church for as long as possible, but he gets really stir crazy. It seems like he just wants to get down and play and talk. If the girls make a noise, he has to compete with them! Usually, we have to take him out because he is so restless.
Sunday mornings with little ones are tough! I'm always looking for quiet "pew activities" and ideas. (So if you have anything... please share!!) I usually pack a couple of books and a coloring book or notepad and crayons. I try to pack a few quiet toys for Thomas but most of them get thrown right in the floor... or he finds a way to make them noisy. Anna-Kate enjoys taking her baby doll to church too. I have a little magnetic dress up doll that she likes to take sometimes too. I try to let her pack a bag (with supervision) so that things kind of rotate in and out according to what she is interested in.
Wednesday nights Derek and I host a home Bible study. We decided to start doing that this fall so we could branch out and make some new friends. It has been so wonderful doing this! It's really easy for people with young children, since we are right across the street.
I'm standing in our yard. We have no trouble with finding a parking spot! :)
Sorry for the terrible picture!
I've enjoyed getting to link up with
Kelly's Korner and share our churches with you! God has richly blessed us with two wonderful congregations and lots of loving family!
Link up and play along too!