transitions

hi all!  i hope everyone had a great Easter weekend!  our Easter weekend was pretty nice.  we attended Good Friday service and then went out to dinner with some friends.  then on Saturday we had leadership training at church and then did a little shopping.  on Saturday night we watched "Lincoln" with my family.  it was good!  daniel day lewis did a really great job.  he was quiet and humble and yet you could see how overcome he was with passion for what seemed his life's purpose: to free slaves and pass legislation that would protect their rights once and for all.

on sunday i worked in registration for our Easter egg hunt for both services and johan played for worship.  it was a great turnout at church!  here are some photos from Easter Sunday:

we never get to see johan because he's always in the back playing electric guitar hehe.  as his wife i am always scoping out the stage for him and sometimes i'll even take embarrassing photos.  =D  he loves playing and is really in his element when playing guitar and worshipping the Lord!

so johan and i are joining the ranks of a few friends of ours who have recently faced changes in their careers.  unfortunately johan was laid off a couple weeks ago.  he is prayerfully seeking God's will and wondering if maybe he should use this time to pursue his true passion, which is MUSIC!  we know that God can and does use our ugly and wretched lives for the GOOD of His will and so we truly believe that God's got something spectacular in store for johan!  i am super excited that my husband has the opportunity to make his dreams come true!  it's been really fun talking about all the different things he wants to do and a little scary -in an awesome way- that his dreams could be realized!  God is SOOO good!  please keep johan in your prayers that he would remain positive and be courageous.  pray that in all of our planning and dreaming that Christ would be the center of it all.  :)

as for me, i feel very blessed indeed to have my job and know that it is only because of God that i am where i am today.  i give Him all the praise and glory in the world!  since i started my job at the bank, God has blessed me and johan exponentially.  i was at my first job for only a year and a half before i was recruited into my current job.  i haven't even been in my current role for a year yet and i may have a promotion yet again!  it sounds like a blessing, but in all honesty, i actually struggled with this promotion for awhile with God.  i pretty much didn't have much of a choice: either i have to take a promotion or else demote myself...why would i demote myself though?  that didn't make sense to me as a career move right now.  i also didn't want the promotion because it's A TON more work and more traveling by myself.  i couldn't understand why God would allow this promotion to present itself to me because i actually didn't want it...but i've come to terms with it and i trust that He has a purpose for me to be here.  i feel honored that my boss wants me in this role...but i can't help but feel inadequate and ill prepared.  also, i don't want to travel alone...i already feel overwhelmed at times in my current job, so i can't imagine the workload increasing even more.  it feels impossible to handle, but i know with God - all things are possible.  and this is the only comfort that i have: that Christ will help strengthen me for what lies ahead! 

this year my family and i went to fogo de chao for my birthday.  these pictures don't show everyone who was there, but it was a very special time!  johan and i had everyone dress up and meet up at our house as a surprise.  we decided to use a part of my bonus to take everyone out for a nice dinner because we wanted to bless them.  God has blessed johan and me and it was our turn to bless others in what small way we could.  it was a truly great evening. 

praise God for His many blessings and His goodness.  He has been so faithful to us!  through all of the ups and downs, God's love is everlasting.  johan and i are thankful for how God continually guides us and reveals Himself to us.  we are blessed to be here today.

many blessings to you and yours,
- p