Our new church home

We are incredibly blessed by the church family God has brought us into. With a suggestion from Erin and David Wallace, we visited Grace 360 after spending 2 months visiting others. We were immediately smitten with the pastor's sense of humor and imperfections. He is so honest about himself and has a quick wit. He has braces, though he is in his 50s, and openly admits that he gets his daughters to help him pick out his clothes because he is really a big dork and doesn't know how to dress "cool". He is humble (calls himself weird), and honestly you would not know he was the lead pastor in any respect other than he is the preacher on Sunday morning. The church is structured in such a way that many many men come along side of him and partner to lead the church.

We have adjusted to the more simplified versions of our favorite songs, but have been blown away with our Sunday School class. It is New Parents class for couples with children ages 3 and under and we have already developed many friendships. Everyone is welcoming, talkative, authentic and open. I attended a baby shower on Saturday of someone I had never met before, but they were in my class, so I thought, sure, why not?! That is so out of character for me! The crazy thing is there are 7 babies due between now and August - so I am sure I will have to do it again! One of my new friends is pregnant with a boy and is due 3 days after me, so the class is going to throw us a shower together! How fun!

There are two older mentoring couples in our class (think late 50s) who encourage and embrace everyone. Along with the class is this amazing Mom's First mini-class that happens once a quarter. It is for mom's with just born babies and meets once a week for 6 weeks, to talk openly and candidly about mommy issues they are dealing with as new moms. One of the mentoring wives leads it. We'll discuss diapering, sleeping, feeding, marriage, etc., plus it gives us at least one reason to get out of the house and into something other than our pajamas during those first few weeks and is an emotional support during post-partum.

I am overjoyed with God's outpouring of his love for us. I worried that we wouldn't find a church for a LONG time here, and that I would be going through this pregnancy all alone. God clearly had a bigger, better plan for me. These new friends and the church have made us feel so welcome, so cared for, and so at home. Praise God!