I'm Back!

Now this is the story all about how,

My life got flipped, turned upside down,

And I'd like to take a minute, 

Just sit right there,

I'll tell you how I became…a resident of St. Louis Missouri, not Bel Air!

Anyway, you may remember me asking for prayers for discernment.  At that time I was coming to the realization that four years of graduate school was becoming a very, very, long academic haul.  Plus I was still dealing with the grief of losing my father and desperately wanted to live closer to family again. My husband and I also just wanted to move on and start a family. So we started exploring options.  My dual degree program (a 2yr MA in youth ministry and 3yr MDiv) was set up in a way that at first appeared to make it nearly impossible to graduate in three years with even one degree.  Long story short, after a conversation with our campus Registrar, I nearly kissed the man when together we realized I only needed 11 credits to graduate at the end of the school year! I actually did hug him and told him I loved him, as well as his secretary, that is after screaming, “I love math!” something I never thought I’d say but seriously did after seeing the math that would allow me to graduate so soon. 11 credits!

I dropped out of the Dual Degree program, a program that was my home on campus and one of the main reasons for choosing Princeton Seminary. While it was a tough decision, one filled with a lot of prayer with friends on campus, talks with mentors, and tears with those we would leave behind, it was definitely the right one.  I really didn’t need the MA to get a good job my resume was already packed with youth ministry experience.  I had already been blessed by enrollment in amazing Youth Ministry and Christian Education classes and one more year wasn’t going to make a huge difference. 

Now what!?  We both knew we wanted to be closer to family. We knew we wanted my husband to be able to transfer within his amazing company.  We knew that we wanted to live in a large urban setting, so that I could pursue urban ministry.  Again, summarizing, we landed in St. Louis! 

The start was a little rough, we had horrible movers who ruined some of our belongings and furniture. Then just three weeks after moving in, my car was stolen from behind our apartment (but that is a whole other post worth writing/reading later)!  But gradually God started working all things for good.  It was a huge leap of faith moving without having prospects for jobs for me, but I needed some time off so we were ok with finances being tight for a little bit.  Then it happened!  We got pregnant-fast!  And then…we found out it is twins!!!  Pure joy was quickly followed by sheer panic as I realized how badly I wanted and needed a job, BEFORE, the babies would come.  Again speeding the story up, a miracle worker came into my life in the form of a Pastor who pulled money out of thin air to hire me as a part-time Assistant Pastor at her downtown church.  It is literally the job I dreamed of-working with an urban congregation that is struggling to grow in membership yet growing its homeless ministry by leaps and bounds! Currently I am working only a few hours a week, but that will increase over time, and while dealing with a rough first trimester I was just fine with the arrangement!  

So there it is and here we are in St. Louis!  More posts will come with details about my new job, our current house hunt, and of course details about our twin pregnancy week by week!  Next time I really will keep a long story short-I promise, maybe!