July in Review

Whew. What a month.

Many things have happened in this past month. Let me see...

1) Our little Ember left our family to join her bio-grandparents on the 7th of this month. We were able to prepare our hearts and her belongings before she left, including written letters for later in her life. For a couple days after, Sarah and I were sad. God answered our prayers, however: we prayed for His will to be done, and wanted to align our hearts no matter what the decision may be. After three days of random crying and emotional ups and downs, we were fine and excited to remember her. We pray for her a lot and I believe God has a great purpose for her life...her story is already so beautiful.


(Ember's last night with us. She wouldn't sleep unless she was on my shoulder that evening. Odd, or God?)

2) [the day after...] We received a call from a foster mom the next day asking us about respite care (foster-care babysitting). We didn't know, but the foster care workers were already talking about our family and figuring out a placement for us. (I believe our workers' convincing words were "I just tell everyone at the office how normal you guys are." Hah!)


(Our new little guy, in a couple weeks, that is. This is him sleeping at the INT-Dayton event while we did respite care.)

3) INT - My brother and my dad are investing 5 of their weekends this summer to compete and volunteer for the Waterski/Wakeboarding organization, INT. Bryan's becoming quite the wakeboarder and i'm quite proud of him stepping it up from year to year. You can scan Facebook to find some video of him landing some pretty complex tricks. I've been able to make it out to two events this year.


(Yep, he's my brother.)

4) C-HOP I am currently part of 4 sets, worship leading and singing. I've also had the opportunity to worship with my parent's church's worship team and lead worship at a local church in Newport...that might have been June. Hmm. Anyways, I have another worship leading deal happening soon with a friend's youth group. Through all these happenings, i'm growing as a musician and worship leader.

5) Recording. My friend Steve has invited me to some experimental recording sessions. It's a great growing experience for me. I bring a song I've written, play it for a few very talented musicians, develop the song and the parts, and we record it right then and there. Last night was the third go at it, and I felt more confident last night than I did the previous time. Playing live and recording are absolutely different...so it's great that I have this opportunity to learn in this environment. My songwriting is also getting better, and i'm gaining confidence in my abilities as a musician in general. Thanks, Steve!

6) I have friends. No, Really! I do! And they now live in Covington. Our friends, Scott and Caroline moved near us, and we seem to see eachother every other day. Two years ago, we felt a call to this city, but knew no one. So we prayed at that time that God would send friends and those who desire God and community. After waiting a bit, they have come! The night they moved in, we met a fellow believer who also just moved to Covington. Since then, 3 more believers have moved to the city. My bro Andrew used to tease me and say "yeah, I know that i'm your only friend within 20 miles..." Booya, bro. Now we got all kinds of people.

Alright, time to keep up with August. Peace and Love.

David