New Baby = Shifts

As you may already know, it's hard to get some sleep when there's a newborn in the house. I find myself looking up and realizing the day is already gone! I guess that's how the infant stage is: trying to keep up with all that's going on. Which kind of reminds me that it's that way at anything you start or launch, you spend that first stage filled with joy and adrenaline that carries you through the long days and nights involved in launching a new stage of life, work, or ministry.

In order to remain sane a few natural shifts emerged. So far I've taken every first part of the night, like 9 or 10 until 1:30 or 3...hopefully sooner tonight, I'm exhausted! Then if Abigail woke up Bonnie Jean would watch her for the rest of the night. And during the day Jerry and the rest of us would watch her as needed.

Night Shift

Day Shift

Guy Shift

(Playing Wii Mario Kart AND keeping Abby asleep at the same time! We sure can multi-task!)

It's such a joy to have Abby in our lives!!! We've waited so long for this...even for the late nights! :-) The Lord Hears! Even as God miraculously brought us this child in answer to prayer and in alignment with His desires, I believe that God is about to "birth" other areas of ministry that have been several years in preparation for this time of our lives which will lead to more shifts in the way we live life! The Lord Hears.

First Family Portrait!

Happy Parents!

"What are YOU lookin' at?!"

AWESOME DAY!

Well, it's been a long several days...longer for Sarah then for me though...but it's been an AWESOME day! Today at 2:53 PM Sarah and I became parents of a beautiful little girl that weighed in at 8 lbs and 13 oz. named Abigail Hope. We've just met her and already she has brought joy and a fulfillment of hope to our lives. Thank you God! Words can't express the gratitude in my heart!

Sarah did amazing during the whole thing (she's my hero!) putting up with 72 hours of regular contractions and no sleep and finally having to go through a C-Section to get the baby out (she was looking up instead of down so she would never have made it out!) and now we have a precious baby girl that God has given to us. The Bible says that He who promised is faithful and He will do what He promises! There's an awesome story behind that, but you'll have to wait to hear it later on here and on Sarah's blog...speaking of which, you can also go there to see some pictures of Abigail Hope Snyder and more: www.samandsarahsnyder.blogspot.com

CompassionArt

Now we're talking! "He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God." (Micah 6:8)

Thank you Stew Carson for the link to this video.

Sleepless

Tonight I am staying up as late as I can so that tomorrow I can sleep in as late as possible because at 3 p.m. we are taking a van load of students across the state of MN to Duluth for a 12 hour Blitz with about 300 others students. There will be a rally, bowling, snow tubing, movies, basketball, and an indoor rock climbing wall! Then at 7 a.m. we will turn around and drive back. Fortunately Pastor Dean will be helping us drive back after spending the night in his warm and comfy bed. I sure hope I can make it through Saturday with whatever sleep I get in the passenger seat!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!
Tonight we were able to celebrate the conclusion of 2008 with some friends. Tomorrow we will be celebrating the New Year with my Grandparents, Dean, and some out of town friends that are stopping by in the afternoon.

As I look back over 2008 I see some pretty amazing things where God has shown his miraculous provision and faithfulness. Here are some of the things that come to mind right away:

• We are expecting a child!
• We were able to visit all of our family members this year!
• We had awesome experiences with Radiate Student Ministries and have seen lives changed by God and that makes it all worth it.
• I was blessed to help speak or lead worship at a variety of events.
• I was able to work with many awesome people who have been doing construction on ONE24 and we continue to get closer...It looks nothing like it did at this time last year!
  
• Together with Justin, I was able to share the vision of unified ministry (ONE Alliance Developments) with multiple churches in our community (every time I was either preaching or leading worship the same Sunday at my church too so tag-team preaching worked very well for us!)
  
• Our church sadly saw our Pastor of 9 years move on to help with a church plant...there was joy in seeing them go do what God has called them to do, but sadness in their moving 3 hours away. But God places His people in His Church as HE sees fit and HE knows what He's building.
• I was the only pastor at our church for 4 months (and survived juggling school, summer camps, and all of my other church and para-church responsibilities only by the Grace of God!)
• Our church successfully navigated a healthy pastoral transition! We are looking forward to what God has in store for us in 2009.
• Ate at Qdoba & Chipotle more times than any other year (praise God!) :-)
• Shot 2 hole-in-ones playing frisbee golf (2 different courses...real significat and life-changing, I know :-)
• Helped shingle a roof with my Dad, Mom, and Sister...that was a VERY crazy week!
• Had a wonderful weekend hanging out on the North Shore with my wife.
• I lost all of the data from my laptop right after I had organized all of my files just the way I wanted them and was a couple days from backing everything up on DVDs...which caused me to buy an external harddrive to make complete backups easier so I would do them regularly...great choice!
• Was diagnosed as having "the lungs of a 70 year old"...I guess that explains the wheezing! That was followed by much prayer and medication. I feel as though I'm breathing easier now then I ever have in my life!
• Helped Sarah with decorating ideas for our baby ?????'s room (don't try to figure out the name based on the characters, it was random). Lots of sanding on my part and a lot MORE painting from Sarah.
  
• Tried for the first time in 2008: played cribbage, Trivial Pursuit, and Wii Mario Kart (and loved it). Bought a motorcycle (good times) and an Ebow (still learning to use it). Saw Toby Mac in concert (AMAZING), met the great Tom Netherton of Lawrence Welk fame, and went to an amazing Whintley Phipps concert with my wife and grandparents. I went ice skating, and survived! Finally, I attempted to lead some worship songs while playing the guitar, bass drum, snare drum, and singing (that was fun, but definitely "interesting"...I probably would say that leading from the bass is still harder than that though),
  

Looking Ahead: I believe that 2009 will be a year of INCREASE! I'm expecting a great year...maybe a year of Multiplication? Or maybe the word is growth or fruitfulness? I don't know...maybe that's just because we're having a baby :-) I'll be working on some resolutions that I feel God might set as challenges for me, my family, and our ministries tomorrow morning. I'll update when I have some of it.

A Day of Surprises

Tuesday didn't start out very well. I spent 2 1/2 hours shoveling snow between Monday night and Tuesday morning! My back was killing me...not soreness in the muscles, just joint pain. I digress. So Tuesday evening, before going home to clear the driveway for the 5th time in 18 hrs, I got a call informing me that 2 of my neighbors were clearing my driveway with their snowblowers! I was elated & relieved, especially my lower back :-) Thank you my kind neighbors! I should take them some cookies or something for their unsolicited kindness. Add to my appreciative back the fact that I also found out that 6 more of my Regent University credits will be transferred into my degree at Beacon, so I just have 6 credits left to complete it by May! HALLELUJAH!!!