Sad.

For a while now, God has been slowly revealing to us that our time at EFBC was coming to an end.

I'm trying to figure out where to start, and I just keep coming back to...I'm heartbroken. I'm actually a little surprised by just how sad I am about leaving EFBC. That really has nothing to do with anything other than our connection group. I am so thankful for the small group of families that we have gotten to do life with over the past 5 years. Brian is very rarely at our church, so he doesn't have much of an emotional tie. Our kids have all struggled there, so I am excited about a new start for them at another church. But I'm sure sad to leave my friends. JP and Kayla were such an instrumental part of us finding our place here when we moved from Tulsa, and it just makes me so sad to leave them. I know we will still see them at school things and we will always be friends, but it will be different. 

We have never left a church, other than for a ministry position, so this feels very strange and foreign to us. Why are we leaving? The short answer is that the church (Blake) has decided to stop giving through the cooperative program. Because Brian works for the convention, this is a huge deal to our family. It's not just about money...this is just indicative of the direction the church is moving, and we can't stay because of it. We met with Blake and Kelly on Thursday afternoon and basically let them know we were leaving EFBC. I didn't know it was possible to cry so many tears in one day...it was rough. We were there for 2 hours and I cried literally the entire time. The meeting didn't go well, and things didn't end the way we had hoped, but it is what it is. It is important to us to not cause division and to leave well, so we hugged and went on our way. 

Even though we clearly don't Belong anymore, EFBC will always hold a special place in my heart...it is where the Lord restored us and gave us a new place when we moved from Tulsa, it is where Madi and Jonah were baptized, where we weathered the covid pandemic & the birth of our surprise baby, where the girls became part of the youth ministry and Mackenzie got to be part of the praise band on Wednesday nights, where we did Jack's baby dedication, where I became comfortable taking the kids on my own almost every week without Brian while he preached all over the state, where we grew and served the Lord for almost 5 years...so even though we know its the right thing for us, its hard to close this chapter. 

I am trying to trust that God sees the big picture & He already has a new place that will be a really good fit for our family. Right now though, I'm just...Sad.

Very sad to leave the Goodell's too...I love Chesca so much!

Brian sent this message to our Connection Group. 

This picture was from a few years back...our group has changed a lot over the years. Mindy and Kayla are the only two out of this group still there now. Love and miss all of these ladies!

What a dear friend Kayla is to me!

Kayla's text to me the first Sunday after we left...