Forget

Did you think we forgot about you? I have not blogged in a while. I am getting ready for my weekend class at Lipscomb. We have a short paper due tomorrow night.

Chad

Early Morning Phone Call

Shelly and I were heading to the 8 am worship at Berry's Chapel yesterday when my cell phone rang at 7:35 am. I answered it and Dewight Lanham had forgot to get a class teacher for the Hispanic congregation because their preacher is out of town. I was preaching for them last night due to that. He asked if I could do the class and I said sure. I knew we would be "winging it"...in Spanish. They are actually studying a book with many Scriptures so we built the class together around that.

I returned last night to preach for them and enjoyed that very much. With my new job, I need to sharpen up my Spanish so this was a great start. I am preaching all day for them next Sunday. At least I know I am teaching class beforehand.

I was impressed with the 4 individuals in worship last night. Out of the 4 of them, one had been baptized 2 years and the rest under a year. They were so young in their faith but so knowledgeable of God. What a credit to them for studying and knowing what is most important in life. I look forward to class with them on Wednesday night and worship all day next Sunday.

Chad

New Job

Many of you have been praying about my job search for the last 8 months and I greatly appreciate it. After many interviews with non-profits, churches and the business world, I have accepted a job with Metro Nashville Public Schools at Cole Elementary off Nolensville Road. The position is a No Child Left Behind Program Specialist (Title I Coordinator/Family School Coordinator). I will be keeping up with Federal money for the school and putting together a program to reach out to parents and get them involved in the school. Since the school's population is 40% Hispanic, it will give me an opportunity to put my experience from Honduras to action.

I have also been given a Memorial Fund Scholarship at Lipscomb to have my Master of Divinity fully paid for over the next few years. I started my Masters before we left for Honduras. I have 27 hours done of an 81 hour degree. This is a HUGE blessing! It is about a $50,000 gift. I will start classes again in late August.

I am looking forward to this opportunity and ask for your continued prayers in the transition to something I have never done before. I believe this will be really good for me right now and God has had a hand in putting me at Cole Elementary.

I just wanted to keep you informed since many of you ask me on a weekly basis what is going on in this front. I appreciate that more than you realize. God bless you.

Chad

One More Class

I have been in a Graduate Education class for the last 3 weeks which meets on Mondays and Wednesdays. This is to get my teacher's license renewed. Tomorrow is my last class and hopefully my license will be up-to-date.

I have been working with a Metro Nashville Public School to get a position this year in a special area and a local church in Franklin, TN about preaching for them. It looks like both these positions are coming to age at the same time. I might be able to work one full time and the other part time for the first year or so. We will let time tell...and God do His work.

A few months ago I gave up searching for jobs. I put it in God's hands. After that, these two positions fell in my lap and seem to working out for the best. God knows where He wants me and will make it happen. I ask for your prayers in my continued job search.

Shelly has started to go back to her school for a few hours a day to get ready for the upcoming school year. She has to be back full time in a little over 2 weeks. She is ready to get in there and get busy again. Please pray for her new year and new Kindergarten children.

It looks like it is about to start raining outside so take cover and enjoy the rest of the day.

Chad

I almost forgot...

Shelly and I celebrated our 8th Anniversary on Tuesday. We spent the day together and had a great lunch at Maggiano's on West End. If you like Italian, you must eat there.

Chad

This is for Tiffany!

I was reminded last night at Woodson's VBS Homemade Ice Cream Grand Finale that I had not updated our blog in a while. Shelly and I told her that means either we have nothing going on or we are too busy. I can tell you that it is not the first one for sure!

Looking for a job is the pits! I have had some extremely frustrating times with churches and some HUGE disappointments. Next time we are together, feel free to ask me about those. They are too long to type. I have basically put it in God's hands. He will provide. I am a little tired of looking and being disappointed. I do have some leads but I am letting God take the controls. Maybe it will work that way.

Shelly and I have decided to enjoy the time we have together with no jobs to go to. Shelly is on summer vacation from school. We usually can sleep in and then ask each other what we want to do that day. Part of me likes that but I am READY for a job to show up to. I have been asked to speak at several local churches on Sundays and Wednesdays so that keeps my brain going. I enjoy sharing the Word of God with others.

This week I am helping my friend Larry Crockett build his little daughter a play set. We are actually building the border around it and leveling the ground. The rubber mulch to put in it arrived today so that is tomorrow's job. It is so HOT outside. It is amazing the difference in the heat between Honduras and TN. The same temperature number, but the humidity will kill you here. Larry and I usually take a break each hour or more and take on water and shower ourselves with the water hose.

Things are going well though. Tiffany, I hope this catches you up with what is happening with us. I will try to stay on top of this more. Have a great summer night!

Chad

Surprise Party

Does Shelly look another year older? Well, she turned 30 on Saturday and my Mom, Lynn and I planned a surprise birthday party for her that night. We had about 90 people show up at Woodson for the party which was a GREAT turnout. For all those who came, thank you very much. Shelly was excited to see everyone but really appreciated her teaching team at Kenrose being there. Thank you ladies for coming!

Instead of gifts, Shelly wanted to give money to Honduras for a project in Limoncillo which is the northeast part of the country. In her cards, Shelly will be able to send about $1,500 to them to continue the skill trade school. Thank you very much for making that happen!

I told Shelly a few days ago that she had a surprise on Saturday as part of her birthday because she was getting curious about what was going to happen on her birthday. I surprised her by telling her that we were going on a shopping spree to get her a new outfit for her present. She thought that was the end of the surprise since we had planned on having her family party that night at her parent's house.

At 4:30 pm, Lynn called Shelly and told her that we needed to run by Woodson to pick up her dad since they were running late from a trip they took with them. Shelly got suspicious at that point and started to pester me for the next hour. We showed up at Woodson to open the fellowship room doors to be welcomed by a room full of people and singing of Happy Birthday. Shelly was surprised. At that point, I was so glad the surprise was over. It is hard to keep that kind of surprise a secret.

I want to thank my Mom and Dad and Lynn and Hugh for helping put this together. The 4 of them showed up early on Saturday to set everything up and cook the delicious spaghetti. It was all perfect. Also, thank you to Wanda Lovell for the wonderful birthday cake. If you were there, you know what kind of treat that was.

All in all, it was a great day for Shelly and a great PARTY!

Chad

Birthday Time!

Shelly will turn 30 years old tomorrow (Saturday).

If you have time, give her a call at 615-943-8253 to wish her a happy birthday! I will fill you in on the details of the day next week.

Chad