4

That would be the number we are now up to of churches that have wanted Chris to come out to try out. That would also be the number of churches Chris has had to say no thank you too because they were not sound. Not only were they not sound, they were not sound on the exact same issue. Number 4 was tonight, which was the church we happened across that I mentioned a few posts below.

Moving up north doesn't look like it will be happening.

What's even more frustrating is it has all been on the same issue. It wouldn't be quite so frustrating if we could just talk to/try out for a sound church at some point. Right now it's not feeling like there are any out there, well that are hiring at least.

2 would be the number of churches that have recently emailed him back to let him know that they received his information but that they had a huge response to the job ad and so it will take a little while to go through. Which I'm sure when you have had that many people apply that someone fresh out of school with no full time experience will be real high on the list.

It's not looking like we will be going anywhere anytime soon.

Now the question is...how do you fit 6 people in a 2 bedroom, apartment? And yes that thought makes me want to cry. I can't even tell you how bad I want out of here.

Another one bites the dust

We were close. So very close. To getting a try-out that is. A church called and told Chris they wanted him to come try out. I thought it was kind of strange that they wanted to take the time and money to fly him out without talking with him more. Luckily Chris started asking some questions. Let's just say I'm finding our hopes of going north to be just that, hopes. I can't believe we are having such a hard time finding a conservative congregation.

I told Chris there is some good news to this though. At least someone wanted him to come tryout! At least he finally got some kind of answer. Hopefully now that he is closer to graduating we will hear more back from people. And yes, he did decline to go out there to tryout.

I did find out something about myself today though. I have realized that I am indeed afraid to fly. Well, sort of. You see, the church obviously wouldn't have been able to fly us all out and were just going to fly out Chris and I (and I would have taken Elijah since he flies free). Just thinking about that though seriously made me start freaking out a bit. Chris and I, together, on a flight. IF something were to happen with us on the plane and our children not...ugh, I think I will start crying again. I know I have talked about it before but since we have no one in our family who we would trust to raise our children in the Lord, it is a huge HUGE fear of mine that Chris and I would both die. HUGE. But I guess that is another post in itself.

Oh, and this was a different church than I had mentioned in my last post. Don't want any confusion there.

To sign or not to sign, that is the question

It's that time...time to deal with our lease. Something we were dreading if he didn't have a job by now. Our lease is up at the end of July and they want our lease renewal, like now. Apparently you have to give a 60-day notice if you are moving. I never noticed that before. So by June 1st we have to give notice if we will be moving. I told Chris though that if we have to tell them by June 1st if we are moving, then we don't have to have our lease in until then as well. We are going to hold off and see what the next few weeks bring.

Here's our options. We can sign another year lease, and then if we end up having to move before the end of that year (which I certainly hope we do!) then we have to pay 2 months rent for breaking it. We also have the option of renting month-to-month and only having to give a 30-day notice. The downside to that is our rent would go up $75 a month. If Chris doesn't have a preaching job and has to find a secular job, 75 bucks is huge, because we will be broke. So we aren't sure what to do.

Chris at least got a phone call today, which was encouraging. They let him know that they got his stuff and were impressed by it and that they would be meeting tomorrow to discuss it. They said they would give him a call back. They also apologized for the lack of communication. He just sent his stuff off to them at the beginning of the week! If they call THAT a lack of communication then that has to be a good sign! Our experience has been most people don't send anything back or call, at least until a month later. We don't know much about the position though so it is still way up in the air. We don't know if they are sound, what they pay is, what their expectation are, nothing. Guess first we will see if they are interested in going any farther.

It's kind of interesting how we came about the position. Chris saw an ad somewhere for a congregation up north looking for a preacher. He applied for it but didn't know how old the ad was. Turns out the ad was really old...like 2 years old...and the position was obviously filled. The guy who contacted him back said Chris sounded like a sound preacher though and would let us know if something happened to their preacher (their preacher has ads out that he is looking to move back down south). A few days later though he sent Chris an email and told him that his aunt and uncle were just at his house visiting and said they had just let their preacher go and were looking. The guy then sent Chris's stuff on to them, which is how the ball got rolling. I know we would be happy in the area it is in as it is a beautiful area, and up north like we wanted, it just depends on a lot of things. They had apparently JUST let their preacher go and were just starting to the process going, and don't even have it advertised yet. Still though, if they have already called him and they are meeting about it tomorrow, hopefully we will hear something within the week one way or another. Fingers crossed!!!