After several months of talking, praying, and pretty much being in denial, Jason and I have decided that it is time to leave E91 and find a church closer to home. This was obviously a very hard decision for us, as we have been attending E91 for over 5 years and been attending Cor 13 (our ABF) for over 3 years (we started when we were engaged). After we moved, we continued at E91 with our normal commitments, and God slowly showed us that indeed, he had something else for us. First, I work almost every Thursday evening, and therefore can no longer attend the Rising. Well, I can attending the rising once every other month, which doesn’t really do it for me. As most of you know, I’m an all or nothing type of person. Those of you who are involved with the rising know how much time and effort I put into it, especially during the Jeff to Daron transition. So going from complete control to, I attend every now and then and have no idea what is going on is really hard for me. I mean don’t get me wrong, I think Daron is doing a great job – he doesn’t need my help. Its just hard being a spectator.  Cor 13 is also going through a lot of transition, and the future seems uncertain.  Attendance has been low, and it seems to me like the church is doing everything but telling the class “no, you can’t meet anymore.”  So we feel like if there is a good time to leave, it would be now.  We have attended Traders Point Christian Church a handful of times, knowing that it would be the closest to E91 on our side of town.  I have to say, we definitely didn’t walk in the door and say, “yes, this is where we are supposed to be!”  It is so weird to go from a church of 4000 knowing tons of people, to go to a smaller church knowing no one.  Our first impression was average.  The music was, well, let’s just say it wasn’t the Aaron Pelsue Band.  It wasn’t bad, just not what we are use to.  But we really liked the lead pastor, Aaron Brockett.  After going a few more times (and Jason listening to a few previous sermons on itunes) we were confident that the church, theologically, was consistent with our beliefs.  All of this back ground info to say this…

So, today Jason and I went to the “young married couples” sunday school class (sound familar?).  We knew this could be a deal breaker, so I was a little nervous.  We were the first ones to arrive (besides the leaders) but slowly people started trickling in (starting 15 mins after it is supposed to – this sounds familar).  After the customary name tags, information cards, and meet and greet, there was breakfast (also familar), and a time of teaching and discussion.  There were around 15-20 couples, 4 of which were new.  Basically, it was so similar to Cor 13, it was scary – in a good way.  It was very comfortable, and everyone was so friendly.  And we didn’t feel like we were way too young for the group (which we sometimes felt in Cor 13).  We are really excited to continue to go and build relationships!

This being said, it will be very difficult to leave E91.  We have spent countless hours there and have amazing relationships with a lot of people.  We just hope that our E91 friends won’t be too mad!

There are so many things I learned and got to experience at E91 that I will never forget.  Here are a few…

1. I’m not the only person in the world who has a mom obsessed with cats, kidney stones, AND a recent love of almond joy.
2. High School girls are such a blessing, and have way more complicated lives than I did just 7-ish years ago.  I hope to have the opportunity to work with them again.
3. Being a part of a ministry is really, really hard.  Emotionally and spiritually.  It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done.
4. I have been to so many Cor 13 baby showers, I can pretty much buy a gift off the registry at Babies R Us with my eyes closed.  Also the registry printer is very fickle.  Take each paper off as it prints or they will be all out of order or might fall into the metal box the printer is housed in (so sad, I know).
5. Be grateful for all of the people who volunteer at your church.  It takes a lot of people and  a lot of time to get everything accomplished!