Ashley and I welcomed our first son, Gatlin on August 1st of 2015. He has an insatiable appetite for food and life in general. He constantly moves around and plays with different toys whether they are actual toys or not. Making messes are one of his spiritual gifts. He could talk before he could walk. The picture below is from this past 4th of July when he was told to show his muscles.
Two weeks after G man was born, I began my pursuit of my master's degree in ministry at Lipscomb. It was also during this month that I discovered that I would spend a short period of time being the lone minister on staff at my church as 2 of our ministers took positions elsewhere. I spent most of the rest of 2015 being the lone guy. The members of my church did an incredible job stepping up and filling in gaps where things were missing. The church hired an interim preacher to fill in on Sundays which helped take the pressure off of me and I was extremely grateful for that.
I have loved my studies as a seminary student. If I am being completely honest, this is really the first time that I have truly applied myself in my education in an attempt to truly learn and better myself (but I promise I had fun at all levels of my education!). I am very grateful to have been able to learn from the men of God at Lipscomb like Dr. Earl Lavender and Dr. Rubel Shelly amongst others. I am currently on track to graduate in May of 2018. I have now gotten a terrific taste for what Ashley was going through when we first got married and she was both a full time teacher and a graduate student and I have gained a lot more respect for her as a result of that.
My church hired two terrific ministers to fill in the college and preaching roles. The are both in their 40s which allows me to make the joke of being 28 and the "most tenured minister on staff." This year, my life was theoretically going to be smoother..... theoretically.....
Ashley and I are expecting our fourth child to be born in early June. This should be interesting in that June is when things really take off in youth ministry at basically every church in the US simply because you aren't competing with school schedules. Ashley is due to give birth to a girl (to be named Amelia but will be called "Millie") on June 7th. I also must take one of my online graduate courses to begin around that time and run through most of the summer. If that wasn't enough, I will be leading a group of about 30 from my church to Nicaragua on the 16th. Needless to say, June will by no means be a boring month for me.
One of the more eye-opening experiences since my last post would have to be having my own child in my youth ministry as well as simply having a teenager in general. I'm saving this for a separate post. The age gaps we have in our family including Ashley and myself is dynamic to say the least: 1, 9, 14, 28, and over 28 (love you babe;)). The girls have been an incredible help with keeping on eye on Gatlin to allow Ashley and me to get different things done or go to meetings or even occasionally date nights together. Despite what they may say, it is very evident that they love their little brother so much and he loves them too.
With all of this being said, I have to admit that, as the saying goes, the more things change, the more things stay the same. Audrey is still becoming drop dead gorgeous and it blows (we experienced a guy "taking her out" since then. I'm so not ready for this). Addison is still and always will be herself and is never changing (she told me that felt like a rebel this week when she ordered a burger instead of chicken nuggets at a restaurant...). Ashley still convinces me on a daily basis that I won the lottery when she said "I do" almost three and a half years ago and that she is the most amazing woman that I have ever met. Gatlin is finding his role in our family in that he is constantly providing us with entertainment on a variety of levels. He'll display what new word he learned or show off his ability to smear food all over the entire top half of his body during dinner. I'm still a sports nut surrounded by women who care nothing about sports. Gatlin can now say football and loves throwing his balls back and forth with me so I can say that there is some light at the end of that tunnel. I have become captivated by creativity in all things that I do since beginning the pursuit of my master's degree and particularly in thanks to Dr. Lavender. I live with four creatures of habit who want to know what is going to be happening at every waking hour of the day. I am happy to make life up as I go and if you have read any of my other posts, you might have noticed that that is what this blog is all about. I have been relieved to hear from several people older than me that they too made up much of their own life as they went, particularly in reference to parenting, which I am openly admitted to making up as I go. It has been nice to know that I am not alone in this mindset even when it is wrong sometimes.
My life is still a crash course and will most likely stay that way for some time. I believe God put me in the place He has put me in for a reason. I will be continuing to earnestly learn on the fly and I could use all the help I can get.
Audrey, Addison, and Gatlin. Christmas 2015
