A New Beginning

On August 27th, 2010, Josh and I took the kids to Grandma and Grandpa's house for a sleep over for 3 nights! We were to leave early the next morning for Fonda, NY where Josh was a candidate for their Senior Pastor position. After kissing the kids goodbye, we drove out to Holland St. Pk. to walk the beach and contemplate the future of our family. We spent the evening wondering and dreaming about what God might do in our lives and where He was leading us.

The next morning we awoke with excitement. It was early, 5 am, if I remember correctly. As I was getting ready to go, I realized I had several signs (that only a girl would recognize) that led me to reach for a pregnancy test from the medicine cabinet. I should have told Josh what I was up to, but I had doubts that I would discover any life changing news at this rude hour. He did arrive in the bathroom in time to help decipher the "pregnant"/"not pregnant" window on the test.  And what we saw led us to believe that God had some exciting, new adventures to take us on. "Pregnant" was what we saw! Baby #3 was to be born into our little family of four.

As the weekend in Fonda progressed, we kept our new knowledge to ourselves, passed sly smiles to each other, mulled over names for the baby and laughed when we thought of sharing the news with Solomon and Lydia. But we clearly did not believe God's timing, because we proceeded to take 3 more pregnancy tests throughout the weekend. I came to know the Johnstown, NY Rite Aid well in our 2 short days there. And each time.....

Presence of Baby #3 confirmed, x4.

My thoughts have frequently returned to that weekend of Aug. 28th, 2010. I remember trying to be very aware of God's voice as we learned about what life would be like in Fonda, if Josh were to be offered this position and we were to accept. And I remember wondering how we would hear God's voice? Would we make the right decision? I heard the voice of God through the new life growing inside of me.  The village of Fonda, nestled along the Mohawk River, was a constant reminder of newness of life.  And our renewed commitments to live our lives differently than what we had been made me feel like I was the one being born.

That weekend led to another visit to Fonda a few weeks later in which we brought Solomon and Lydia to meet the congregation at Fonda Reformed Church. In mid-Sept, Josh received a call from Fonda to be their next pastor. After a week of prayer and discussion we gladly accepted the call and thus began the new chapter of our lives.

life upstate