Weekly Highlights

It's been a pretty big week in church planting world!

We are super excited that we were able to lease an incredibly cool building downtown. The address is 90 Main Street and if you're even half as nosy as I am, you can click here to take a cool little tour of the building! The tour thing was made by the previous tenants; the owner of the photography store did a TON of work to the space!

Our first Sunday in our new space is March 11th!

Anyway, I thought you might be curious what a week in church planting looks like from my perspective!

A few notes before beginning:

• I did/do things that I purposely didn't document because not everything in my life should be documented on the mighty internet. Those things are important and life giving (meaning I'm not hiding things that are hard) but just not for the consumption of the general public.
• I do some things that I would do whether or not we were planting a church! You and I probably do some of the same things on a weekly basis.
• This week had more "big things" than usual.

Sooooooo, first up: Sunday!

We have scones for breakfast on Sundays! Gracie would eat scones for breakfast every day, but we have to have limits on some things in the world ;) I mix and portion scone dough and then freeze them! I bake them from frozen, so I'm not a crazy scone making person on Sunday mornings.

Why scones on Sunday? I read something once about a pastor's family that let their kids eat dessert first on Sundays as a sort of grace to them. And, our daughters have no idea that there has been somewhat of a stigma about pastor's kids...they like that their dad is one of the pastors and that they have first dibs on helping in the nursery. But, we want to offer them a special sort of grace on Sundays when they are sharing their mom and dad. They don't know that's why we have scones on Sunday...which is kind of the point!

I greeted on Sunday, so this was my view from the back:

Yeah, we're back row sitters.

Gracie and I went grocery shopping on Sunday afternoon...and, let me tell you, Aldi is a ZOO on Sunday afternoon.

I usually grocery shop on Monday (because it's a zillion times less busy), but I wanted to get a head start on the week. Also, Gracie needed to get out of the house :)

After movie night and putting the girls to bed, I went to a worship team meeting where we tried out some new songs to see which ones we should add to our rotation.

I felt weird taking a picture of people practicing, so I took this awkward picture of my foot and the treat Becca made instead!

Monday:

After I dropped the girls off at school and went to the gym, I came home and made some meatballs. 

The meatballs are baked, but I put them in the slow cooker after they were baked to keep them warm for supper. That worked out great and it thickened the sauce a bit. Totally a win!

We had a small group leaders meeting for supper. Instead of planning a regular meal, we did appetizers! People brought their favorite appetizers and it made for a fun meal!

It's so nice that the girls are getting to be old enough to watch the little kids so we can have an essentially uninterrupted meeting. They took the little kids to play downstairs while the adults talked about how we're doing, how the groups are going, and had a time of prayer.

Tuesday:

We celebrated our two year Dubuque-iversary (in other words, we moved to Dubuque 2 years ago)!

We saw the movie Peter Rabbit and really enjoyed it! There were lots of funny comments and slapstick physical comedy which is totally my jam (I'm kind of like a middle school boy who thinks there is nothing funnier than someone unexpectedly falling)!

The girls wanted to go to Applebee's to eat, so we went and got a bunch of appetizers to share. It was quite possibly the most mediocre food we've ever paid cash money for, but it was super fun to go together. OK, it was plain fun. Some of the girls were hangry and emotional, so it had its ups and downs. But, that's life!

Wednesday:

We had supper and a meeting that was open to everyone at church, so it was a pretty full house! I made a baked chicken alfredo that was really good! People signed up to bring the rest of the meal.

Becky Morrow Entertaining Pro Tip: buy a big disposable pan when cooking for a crowd! I quadrupled the recipe, so using one enormous pan was way easier than using four 9x13 inch pans. You just have to add time to heat it all the way through!

Thursday:

I volunteer in Maggie and Gracie's classes on Thursdays. This is definitely something I would do whether or not we were planting a church. I've done this since Leah was in 4K. I love getting to know their teachers and classmates! Also, I have this incredible amount of respect for teachers...they work SO hard and care SO much. I'm happy to do what I can to make their day the tiniest bit easier!

Note: I reeeeeeally lucked out with my visitor tag up there. You have to have your drivers license on record at the school to come in. The first time I registered, I still had my Wisconsin license which had a good picture on it. In Iowa, you aren't allowed to show your teeth in your photo. I'd been practicing and practicing a pleasant, toothless smile in anticipation of my driver's license. But, I started to laugh when they took my picture and quickly closed my mouth. Consequently, my driver's license picture is a mess and I look like there is something seriously wrong with me. My Wisconsin license picture is what got stored in the school's system, and I'm thankful for that every week!

I do fluency practice with the 3rd graders which is really fun! I enjoy talking to them one at a time. And, for what it's worth, I don't think any of them knew what a "damsel in distress" was. Even the best readers stumbled on it!

Kind of funny :)

Anyway, so that was a lot of stuff from my week! I'm always a little curious about how others go about their day to day life, so I hope you enjoyed that peek into mine!

Also, we'd love it if you wanted to join us on Sunday! We start at 10:00 and have nursery available for kids age 4 and under!

Update Time!

I think that I blog in dog years.  

For example, way back on September 13th, I said, "Later this week, I'll share more about this truly amazing group of people that God has put together."

Yeah, that was a long time ago!

But, I've decided to rev the ol' blog back up.  I really do feel like this is going to be a big year for our family, and it's important to me that I capture all of that.

So, at long last, here are the people in our church plant's core group.  I could really go on and on about them all, but I'll keep it brief :)  Be sure to stick around to the end; I'll update you on when we are moving and all of those fun details!

Our partners are Brandon and Hannah:

Brandon is going to be the preacher.  He's compelling to listen to and his love for Jesus and the Gospel oozes out when he speaks.  He's also really good at techie things like computers and sound equipment...you know, things with lots of knobs that are intimidating to the rest of us.  Aaron and Brandon work really well together and their skills compliment the other very well.  They share a high level of trust and unity.

Hannah can organize and administrate anything.  She is hospitable, anticipates the needs of others, incredibly helpful, intentional, and a great mom and friend. Hannah helps me understand Maggie and offers a lot of wisdom to how I can mother Maggie well.  She is also super pregnant with baby #2 (a boy).  She is facing a lot of big life changes this year and is doing so like a champ!

Their daughter, Emma, is almost two and is obviously adorable.  She is super friendly and always brings a smile.  Gracie is one of her favorite people :)

Ryan and Becca:

Ryan has one of those smart guy analyst jobs that I don't really understand, but, he's not nerdy...for real! He's great at putting together small group Bible studies and leads them well.  He consistently works at building relationships with others even if it takes him out of his comfort zone.  He's very well thought out AND loves the NBA, so you can see how both of those things make him good friends with Aaron :)

Becca is a gather.  She is the quintessential girls' night hostess and loves having people in their home.  Becca has a lot of interpersonal energy and is so friendly and welcoming.  She is super fun and caring and has a game for any situation.  She loves Jesus and those around her so well.  She teaches 5th grade and is well loved by her students and co-workers...and pretty much everyone who knows her!  

Andy and Steph:

Andy is a phenomenal graphic designer.  He designed our church's website (which I will post when everyone on the core team has announced that they are moving), and it's incredible.  Andy is fun and funny.  He is a reader and is well informed on things that are going on around him.  Andy always sees the good people and is adored by our girls...particularly Gracie.  He's also a Vikings fan which Aaron enjoys :)

Steph is a great question asker and listener.  She has a soft heart towards Jesus and the people around her.  Steph is really creative and crafty and has happily organized areas of my home that are prone to disaster (hall closet, I'm looking at you).  Steph sees things that need to be done or people who need to be cared for and she just steps in and quietly takes care of it...task or person.  

We have another couple who are a part of our core team, but haven't told their employers that they are moving yet, so I won't spoil that online :)

Plus, BONUS, our friends Mike and Jen are joining us!

Mike and Jen have been married for a little over a year, and Mike just got an engineer-y job in Dubuque.  Jen works at a cupcake shop which is pretty much the most fun job I can imagine!  Mike and Jen are fun and hospitable and generous.  They love building community with those around them and are great at taking initiative.  Plus, they are wonderful with the girls!  We were so excited when they moved to Dubuque!

Soooooooooooo, what's going on with us?  We sold our house to our friends, Drew and Sam.  We didn't even need a realtor!  Shortly after we announced we were moving to Dubuque, Sam facebook messaged me and asked about talking about buying our house.  She and Drew looked at it a couple of times, and we worked out a deal.  We closed at the end of October.

We are currently renting the house from Drew and Sam.  They have been so generous to allow us to do that!  There's a mortgage rule that the owners have to occupy the house 60 days after closing, so we need to move out at the end of January.

Enter our neighbors, John and Margaret.  They are retired and go to Florida for 2 months in the winter.  They offered to let us live in their house while they are gone!  We will move into their house for the next month.

We close on our house in Dubuque on February 22nd.  We had an accepted offer at the beginning of October!  The couple we are buying the house from is buying a house from people who are going through an acrimonious divorce and they were pretty inflexible with their closing date, so it pushed things back for all of us.

Aaron and my dad are putting in new floors, plus we are getting a wall out and doing a lot of painting before we move in.  We will move the big stuff on February 27th and the girls will start school on February 29th.

We are excited about where we are going to live!  It's about a 3 block walk to the elementary school and middle school (they share property with each other).  It's also about a 3 minute drive to Aldi, so that's a win in my book :)  We love that it's totally in a neighborhood and we've heard that there are lots of kids around.  

Needless to say, we really see God going before us and making a way!

And THAT'S what's new with us!  Hopefully it won't be several dog years before another update :)

Morrows on the Move!

Well, friends, in case you haven't heard the news, we are moving!

It's been several years in the making, but in early 2016, Aaron, the girls, and I will be moving to Dubuque, Iowa to start a church!

This is obviously a huge transition for our family with lots of details currently settled in the "unknown" column.  In case you were wondering, I'm one of those people who prefers details to permanently reside in the "well planned" column.  

But, even though some things are kind of up in the air, namely selling our house and buying a new one, I'm really, really excited!  The girls have gotten used to the idea and are inching towards being excited, but I wouldn't say they are there yet.  And that's normal and okay!  Aaron and I have had several years to think about and get ready for this but the girls just found out at the end of the summer. A move, even a close move like this one, really does send a child's world into some sort of upheaval.  

If you are someone who sees Leah, Maggie, or Gracie, I think it would be best if you let them bring up the move with you as they are ready.  

'Even though this is an adventure that Aaron and I are excited to take, it is certainly bittersweet.  We love our life here.  We love our friends and our neighborhood and our home and our kids' schools and our church and the fact that we are 7 minutes from anything in town.  

But, we trust that seeing as this is something God has made clear that He wants us to do, we know that He will be caring for us and giving us strength as we go.  

We also aren't doing this alone!  We have partners and a team of people moving with us.  Later this week, I'll share more about this truly amazing group of people that God has put together.

While many people have heard this news from us personally, it still feels kind of awkward to just drop it like a bombshell.  But I figured that I just needed to get it out there so I can write about it.  This is something I want to be able to look back on and see how Jesus has grown us and sustained us.  Plus, I hope that YOU are encouraged and challenged by our story.

So, BOOM!  There it is.  We are on the move...