Valley of Vision

O FOUNTAIN OF ALL GOOD,
Destroy in me every lofty thought,
Break pride to pieces and scatter it to the winds,
Annihilate each clinging shred of self-righteousness,
Implant in me true lowliness of spirit,
Abase me to self-loathing and self-abhorrence,
Open in me a fount of penitential tears,
Break me, then bind me up;
Thus will my heart be a prepared dwelling for my God;
Then can the Father take up his abode in me
Then can the blessed Jesus come with healing in his touch,
Then can the Holy Spirit descend in sanctifying grace;
O Holy Trinity, three Persons and one God,
inhabit me, a temple consecrated to thy glory.
When thou art present, evil cannot abide;
In thy fellowship is fullness of joy,
Beneath thy smile is peace of conscience,
By thy side no fears disturb,
no apprehensions banish rest of mind,
With thee my heart shall bloom with fragrance;
Make me meet, through repentance for thine indwelling.
Nothing exceeds thy power,
Nothing is too great for thee to do,
Nothing too good for thee to give.
Infinite is thy might, boundless thy love,
limitless thy grace, glorious thy saving name.
Let angels sing for sinners repenting, prodigals restored,
backsliders reclaimed, Satan's captives released,
blind eyes opened, broken hearts bound up,
the despondent cheered, the self-righteious stripped,
the formalist driven from a refuge of lies,
the ignorant enlightened,
the saints built up in their holy faith.

I ask great things of a great God.

(Taken from "The Valley of Vision, ed. Arthur Bennett. Italics mine)

First Trek into D.C.

Inside the Lincoln Memorial


Washington Monument (Capitol Building in the distance)

If you read the post from two days ago, you know that we had a sad weekend saying goodbye to Kathy Bowers. But the up side was that several friends from Charlotte came to Gaithersburg to attend the funeral. Two friends stayed with us (Carolyn Honea and Lizzy Parks), and we also had fun at Denny's with Ray and Jenny Mulligan. It was great to have all these friends around for the weekend. On Saturday, Carolyn, Lizzy, and I took the metro into D.C. to see some main attractions. We went in at about 4pm, so most of the museums were closing by the time we actually got into the city, but we walked from the Smithsonian Metro to the Lincoln Memorial and back, stopping by the World War II memorial and the Washington Monument. Since the last time I was in D.C. was YEARS ago, it was fun to see these famous sites that I only vaguely remember. After we got back to the metro station, we headed to Georgetown, an historic district of D.C. Unfortunately, unlike New York, the metro stops aren't particularly near anything of interest, and are all pretty spread out. It was getting too dark to walk down to the Potomic River, but we did ask a college-age person a suggestion on a cheap local place to eat. So we dined at the "Froggy Bottom Pub," apparently a favorite among young locals. Needless to say, our adventure to D.C. was fun, although we were all pretty tired from walking when we got back home. I think my "city edges" have softened a little after two years of Southern Living :)

Our New Apartment

Nick's Study



Kitchen/Dining Room



Living Room



Extra Bedroom




Our bedroom

We're out of boxes! Hurray! Now that our apartment is all set up, we are feeling more at home in our new apartment. This has been quite a full weekend... The week started out on a rather sad note, since Kathy Bowers, the Mom of my good friend Jeanie Lechner, passed away on Monday. She had been fighting cancer for 7 years, although had only really been sick for the last year. We hosted some friends from Charlotte for the weekend, who came up for the memorial service on Friday. The service was beatiful and Christ-centered. Each member of her family shared, which left no eye dry in the 1000-person audience. At one point during the service, one of the pastors commented that God gets our attention with death and loss. It made me realize that life really is short- I have a very short time on earth in light of eternity. I was provoked in realizing how little I share the Gospel with others and how much time and energy I waste on frivolous things. I don't think it's helpful to rest in condemnation, but rather I look to the cross and to the one who can bring about change in my life. For every one look at my sin, ten looks at the cross... Oh blessed grace poured down on me, an undeserving sinner. How great is our God!

Now You See It....

....Now You Don't

And We're Off!

What A Stud!

Greetings from Gaithersburg, Maryland! We're safe and sound, and almost unpacked. I've been busy putting up curtains and hanging pictures, making our new apartment feel a little more like home. Thank you to all who were praying for safety on the road with our BIG truck (we split it with our friends Mike and Kristin Seaver, who moved up the same day). We would love your continued prayer for quick friendships to form, as well as feeling settled in a new place. We've met a few other Pastors College families, which has been great! We went to Covenant Life Church yesterday, and Joshua Harris preached (he is the senior pastor). I kept thinking about those books of his that Nick and I read and that shaped much of our relationship. We have a new address, but I guess it's not wise to post it on a blog. So I'll send it via a mass email soon. Coming soon- pictures of our new apartment :)

Our Little Peanut

Well, as most of you have heard already, we went in for our ultrasound, but this little one would not show its stuff. So it is still a mystery as to its sex. He/She had its legs crossed, knees locked together, then drew its knees up and put its hand in front of its behind. Hmmm...I sense a little bit of stubborness! A sign of things to come, if he/she is anything like us. It was so fun to see the baby on the ultrasound screen- moving a lot! What an amazing experience.

16 Weeks!

Starting to look a little Pregnant! :)

Outer Banks, NC

Jeep Tours! We saw some wild ponies too.

My neices- Bethany, Alison, Meredith Taylor

Well, it's a cooker today here in Charlotte, like most other places. Heat index is 104. Ugh. It's the kind of humid and hot day that made me think twice before going to get the mail...isn't that sad? Maybe it's just laziness :) We are well on our way of packing. I've got all my pictures off the walls and into boxes, as well as all the curtains down. Teacups are packed up and china is stored up into the attic. No fancy dinners for the next 10 months :( Oh well, better than risking the chance of broken dishes! We will try to get pictures of the moving process soon, along with pics from our wonderful vacation to the Outer Banks with the Taylor family.

If you're following along this blog journey, we'd love for you to leave a quick comment so we know who's tracking with us! Love to you all!

Lake Junaluska, NC

July 21-23: We had a great trip to Lake Junaluska, NC for a small group leaders retreat. The weather was beautiful (cooler than Charlotte from the mountains), and we enjoyed some wonderful times of worship and teaching, along with spending time with dear friends. Among those friends are Joe and Jeanie Lechner (top picture), who have been our dear neighbors for the last year and a half. We will be sad to say goodbye, but hopefully we'll see them a lot up in Maryland next year since Jeanie's family attends Covenant Life Church, where we will be. I think that's one of the hardest things ...saying good-bye to all of the friends God has graciously blessed us with here in Charlotte. But as He has been faithful to us here, we know he has friends waiting for us in Gaithersburg. Please pray that we can be purposeful in making new friends and initiating biblical fellowship, especially with the other families who will be at the Pastors College. You can also pray for a smooth 2 weeks of packing. For those of you who haven't heard, we are blessed to be able to rent our own apartment next year (thank you so much to all of you who have supported us financially! We are overwhelmed by your generosity!) So we are in the midst of packing our house up, trying not to make too much of a war zone in the mean time. :) Much love to you all!

P.S. Baby Swan is doing well- 14 weeks and counting! We should find out if it's a boy or girl by the end of the month! Yipee!