We have arrived!

Our move to Long Island was not without adventure. It took us two days to make the trip with a Penske truck pulling our Corolla and our Xterra pulling our fishing boat. The most stressful event occured when we followed the GPS' instructions to take the Lincoln Tunnel into New York City. Some traffic had delayed us in New Jersey and we took the Lincoln Tunnel around 1pm. We didn't realize that we would come out of the tunnel into downtown Manhattan at a peak traffic time. There were thousands of people walking around and cars and taxis everywhere. We both felt like we were in a movie. It took us over an hour to go 1 mile in New York City and a lot of aggressive driving to stay together with our big vehicles. We quickly learned to honk our horns with the best of them. But.... we finally arrived at our house on Long Island with everything intact.

Three days later, Laura Jane arrived with Josh's parents. She loves her "New House". Her transition was not without difficulty, but we think the worst is behind us (until Jeremiah arrives?). Laura Jane started pre-school last week (see pic below) and she absolutely loves it. She is at school for 2.5 hours every Tues. and Thurs. She also loves playing with Emma, our one year old neighbor, who lives in the parsonage in front of our house. The parsonages have a playground between them and the church has another playground on the property. Laura Jane has plenty to do.

Josh is learning his job and getting used to working in full-time ministry. We both like the church and feel very welcomed by the community. The staff and their families are wonderful and we feel tremendously blessed to be here. Josh's first sermon was on Sept. 2nd and if you want to hear it, please go to www.shelterrockchurch.com (and then click on "Sermons Online").

The last item of business is getting the house in order before Jeremiah arrives. He is due Oct. 30. We are slowly but surely finding a place for everything and unloading the last boxes. Kim is feeling good, although tired, and adapting to caring for Laura Jane and housework again, without the help of two grandparents. :)

We are so grateful for your prayers and for your concern for us. We do have a guest room and plenty of space for visitors, so let us know when you want to come! We love you!

Laura Jane is Growing Up!

First Day of Pre-School

Laura Jane being silly.


"I'm wearing my Teddy Bear's clothes."

"I love my new neighbor, Emma."

Sprinkler Fun

Laura Jane is growing up!

August Update

We apologize for our tardiness in getting this update to you. As you may know, we have accepted an offer from Shelter Rock Church in Manhassett, NY on Long Island (www.shelterrockchurch.com). Josh will be assuming the role of campus pastor on Sept. 1st. We are all looking forward to moving, although Laura Jane doesn't really understand yet. The next few weeks will be quite trying on all of us as we get all the details together to make the move. In addition, Josh will be at a conference in Vancouver, BC for 8 days during the third week of August. We would appreciate your prayers during this time.

Thankfully, Shelter Rock has a 3-bedroom parsonage that we will be moving into. Long Island ranks high on the "most-expensive-places-to-live" list and we are glad to be having a real home for awhile.

If you haven't heard already, we are having a boy (Jeremiah) at the end of October. That means Kim will be 32 weeks pregnant once Josh starts his job. We are excited and nervous about so much transition in a short time span. So while you are praying about the move, could you pray about this, too? :)

There are some pictures of Laura Jane below. She is such a wonderful girl! She has enjoyed this summer: fishing, camping, and being a flower girl in her aunt's wedding. If you are wondering, she made it down the aisle...twice... as the first time she dropped her basket, ran back to retrieve it and continued down the aisle again. She said her favorite part of being in the wedding was when she got a gummy worm at the end of her "performance". She talks a lot to the baby in Mommy's tummy and keeps saying she wants him to come out. We are blessed everyday by being with Laura Jane and seeing the world through her eyes.

Thank you for encouraging us and keeping in touch! We love to get updates about your family, as well! We'll post another blog once we get to Long Island!

New Laura Jane Pics

Laura Jane loves Daddy's Flip Flops!

Pretending to be Aunt Rachel, who got married.

LJ loves the wagon that Grandpa made.

Playing Play Doh with La-La.

Being a flower girl for Aunt Rachel and Uncle Aaron

on August 4th.

Laura Jane is growing up!

Fishing with Mommy and Daddy

I love my big girl Hello Kitty bed!

Who needs a pool when you have a bucket?

May Family Update

As most of you know, the churches in Denver and Albany did not end up offering Josh the job. We were initially very discouraged, however, there are many exciting things now on the horizon. In two weeks, Josh will be preaching "incognito" at a church in Long Island, NY. He is applying for a campus pastor position, which is essentially to be an associate pastor. We are also in the process of applying for an associate pastor position at a church in Springfield (Northern), VA. We are excited about both possibilities and we are still praying that God will lead us to the best place for us.


Laura Jane, as you might be able to tell from the pictures above, is growing up very fast. She just started sleeping in a big girl bed (Hello Kitty, of course) and she has done well. We continue to marvel at her vocabulary and the original sentences she puts together. In addition, the month of May brought such experiences as camping for the first time with Grandpa and Nonna in OH (she loved it, we survived!), fishing twice with Mommy and Daddy (she loved it, and the Skittles, too), and trekking to the Nashville zoo a couple of times (the meerkats are her favorite and she thinks they are kitties). It is also becoming more apparent that she will be excited once the new baby gets here and she realizes that he/she won't be mobile enough to take her toys. We will find out, hopefully, on June 8th the gender of this second bundle of joy.


Once again, we are so grateful for your friendship, prayers and love. We look forward to hearing from you soon. God Bless!

Family Update

Thank you for taking such an interest in our family. We appreciate your friendship and support. We have two pending job opportunities, one in Denver, Colorado and one in Albany, New York. We had a phone interview recently with the church in CO and it went well. We won't hear back from them until the early part of May. Josh and Kim are flying to Albany the last weekend in April. Both churches have exciting possibilities and we are praying for God's guidance in this process.

We also wanted to let you know that our family is growing. Our second child is due on October 30th. Laura Jane doesn't know what the future holds in the next several months! We want you to view the next couple of posts to see her 2nd birthday party and some recent pictures.

Please write an email or any comments for us. We love to keep in touch! Blessings!