For everything there is a season . . .

As most of you know, we moved to Houston a little over two years ago. With the craziness of the move, new jobs, a new church, etc., we have admittedly been slacking on the blogging front since then, but it is time for us to get back with the program because we have a lot of life to share with you in the days, weeks, and months to come. 

Looking back over all that has happened the last two years, I can't help but to be reminded of Ecclesiastes 3:1-8: 

"For everything there is a season,
a time for every activity under heaven. 

A time to be born and a time to die.

    A time to plant and a time to harvest.

A time to kill and a time to heal.

A time to tear down and a time to build up.

A time to cry and a time to laugh.

A time to grieve and a time to dance.

A time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones.

    A time to embrace and a time to turn away.

A time to search and a time to quit searching.

A time to keep and a time to throw away.

A time to tear and a time to mend.

A time to be quiet and a time to speak.

A time to love and a time to hate.

A time for war and a time for peace."

The last two years have shown us every season; good and bad, joy and heartache. We've rejoiced as new life has entered this world and wept as death took loved ones from us. We've shared lots of laughter with both new and old friends and we've shed tears at times when it seemed the world around us was crumbling. Overall, it has been a season of growth that has drawn Lauren & I closer together as a couple and closer to God. These updates have been a long time coming and I look forward to sharing them with you over the next few days. 

Our church just recently finished a sermon series entitled "Share Your Story...". During one of his sermons, our Pastor told us that God has given each of us a story to share and that though we often don't want to share the bad, it's the part of our story that we find hardest to talk about that will likely have the biggest impact on others. That is our goal with the upcoming series of posts. We want you to join us as we rejoice and celebrate the good and as we reflect and continue to try to heal from the pain that life often inflicts. Our hope is that God will be able to use the trials that we have walked through to bless others around us.  

As we share our story, we ask two things of those of you that might read some or all of these posts.  First, please don't ever read any of our words as a "Woe is me" post or a search for attention. As always, God has been more than faithful to take care of us in every situation and we only hope that through telling our story, we might be able to provide hope to someone that might be experiencing some of the same things that we did. We also know that though what we went through at times over the last few years was incredibly difficult for us, it pales in comparison to what so many other people are dealing with on a daily basis through out the world. Second, we ask that if anything you read touches you, strikes a nerve, or you find yourself walking through anything similar, don't hesitate to reach out to us. We would love to be able to talk to you, pray for you, and show you how God provided for us in our time of need.  

To Be Continued...

-Chad