Here’s a bit more on a few things that have been happening within our family over the past several months.
Malachi
Malachi is an official 8th grade graduate! We are moving into a brand new season for us as parents….highschool. At the end of the year, he tested so well. According to the Nation-wide statistics and comparing with other kids his age, he ranked in 11th grade math and 11th grade reading levels!
We were considering Malachi’s next best step for his education and environment and we felt the Lord leading us to move him into a new setting for school.
So God opened a door from him to attend the Rock Academy (our home church’s private school.) He has gone through the admissions process and has been accepted into 9th grade. This is an exciting time for us, while at the same time, tough because he’s been home schooled for the past 7 years of his life. I know we are all going to miss seeing him every day at the house, but we feel like this is the right next step for him in moving into adulthood and pursuing the path God has laid out for him.
He’s physically grown so much in this last season, everyone who sees him comments on how tall he is and he keeps reminding me that he’s almost as tall as me! I’ve still got an inch or two on him though…for now.
Rachel
Rachel completed her 7th grade year and is entering into the final chapter of her middle school education. She has become really interested in graphic design, photography and filming. God miraculously blessed her with a really nice camera and she’s been taking free graphic design courses online to learn the Adobe platforms. Here’s a recent project she completed of her cousin, Madi.
She is so joyful, super creative and has an incredible work ethic. At this point, when we ask her what she feels God is calling her to, she mentions; living in Israel to reach the Jews with the gospel, becoming a film director and producer, an actress and I think there’s a few more things as well.
Andrea and I have been going through a God centered sex ed book series with both Malachi and Rachel and giving them additional attention in regards to communicating with them about their changing bodies.
Also we are figuring out how we can best help them begin the transition from childhood into adulthood. One of those things we’ll be doing is a rite of passage for each of them to walk through, but I’ll save that conversation for another day.
Isaiah
Isaiah is developing a really tender heart towards both people and animals. He leads others by wooing and winning them with his big brown eyes and smile.
During this Covid time, he’s been playing with a few other neighborhood kids (I know, we definitely didn’t apply social distancing with them around our house). One of his friends is Diego, an 11 yr old boy. During the last few months, Isaiah and Rachel have been sharing Jesus with him from time to time and he has since invited Jesus into his life. We gave him a Bible and he’s been reading it with his mom and he recently told us about a dream he had from God about the courtrooms of Heaven. God is doing a miraculous work in his life and he often has very deep and thought-provoking questions, especially for an 11 yr old.
Caleb
If any of my kids will be in sports, it’ll probably be him. Ever since he’s been little, he loves to throw, catch and play ball more than any other of the kids. He’s usually the comic relief in our family, while also currently testing the limits to see if we’ll be consistent in follow-through with him. He is fully adventurous and also a deep lover of people. He adores Isaiah and loves to snuggle with mom and dad all the time.
Andrea
I’ve been blessed to wind down our year of homeschooling with most things pretty normal, aside from the kids Parkour classes canceled! I’ve also been blessed to mentor 3 women from our church and even though we haven’t met much, we continue to be challenged and grow together. I was able to run the final events for the current RSOM class and have a small gathering for them to celebrate this season. It was so intimate and powerful! I’ve also been helping out with the admissions department of RSOM as we prepare for major awesome changes come the fall! So…I wear a lot of hats, but my ultimate favorite is wife! And then mom! Couldn’t be more grateful in this season to reflect daily on what we went through in Haiti, individually and as a family and how it completely, in millions of ways, prepared us for such a time as this in the US! God is amazing and I seek to have my eyes always directed on what He is doing and not what the world looks like.
Aaron
I’ve been continuing working part time at Intent Company helping with marketing work. I’m also working part time as Marketing and Content Manager at Rock School of Ministry and I serve through teaching and helping with some other needed things. In addition to my 2 part time jobs, the only way we’ve been able to survive financially is through others who give monthly or spontaneous one-time gifts.
Lately, a lot of my time has been taken with helping to design and build a new website for the school, and building a strategy for our relaunch.
Also, back in March, God opened a door for me to pursue getting licensed as a pastor. I went through the application process and then sat down with a panel interview with other pastors and leaders of the church. As of this month, I am officially a licensed Rock Pastor!
People keep asking me what that means and my answer is, I really don’t know. But what I do know is that I had a significant encounter with God back in October where I feel like He called me into this path. One of the words He gave me was “Pastor.” So with Him opening this door for me to get licensed, I feel is part of Him inviting me into the next step of my journey while having other leaders affirming the grace God has upon my life for this particular calling.
That’s the update for now!
Thanks for being a part of our journey.
If you’d like to partner with us and support the work of the kingdom we’re a part of, you can give right here.
God bless.