we are in

After meeting with a church last night and talking with some different folks this week we are at the needed support level to go through with the mortgage on our house and move to CT. It is difficult to communicate the joy, relief, and gratitude that we feel. In the last week God has been our provider and sustainer as the process of fundraising, moving, and home buying has taken us on a wild ride. All along it was him, at work and he is worthy of our trust. Thanks to the many of you who have prayed, listened, and cared for us in many ways. We are deeply indebted to you. Thanks for being the body of Christ.

wall paper central

My mom and I drove up from PA to Hartford, CT for our home inspection and it went well (our home is "above average" for its age, according to Tom King our stellar inspector).
It was a lot of fun to see the house and there is great potential. There is so much cool stuff we could potentially do with the house and my mind is kinda swimming in the various details. The one funny thing (or maybe not so funny) is the amount of wall paper we will need to take down. This stairwell, which goes from the 1st to 2nd floor gives you a good idea of the extent of the wallpapering. Fortunately it is not terriblly ugly or audacious.
The house my parents moved into when I was 5 had wall paper that was ~4 layers deep with exciting themes sucha as hunting dogs, shiny metal florals (don't even try to image it), and roses. A killer combination if you ask me.

"you got to pray just to make it today"

Thank you MC Hammer, for the thoughtful lyrics which describe our state of affairs. I hope this isn't super cheesy but as I sat here those words came to mind.
I (jarrett) really want things (housing especially, but also fundraisng and moving) to settle down and be done with. This is probably obvious but I feel stretched and struggling not to"check out" emotionally.
I tend to disengage when I begin to feel anxious and worried. While this may make for a more placid exterior and a more distant sense of fear, it is not a solution and avoids entrusting myself to God. So here we go...

Hebrews 4:14-16
Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

on the increase

Since we last posted it has been exciting to see how God has provided for us. Thursday night we were pretty discouraged and anxious about potentially losing the house. But after talking with the church on Friday and being in touch with different people our support is coming together. We are at ~50% right now and could potentially be between 58-65% by midweek. It looks like we will be able to go through with the mortgage and thus will be moving to Hartford sooner than we anticipated. (maybe 13th-14?). We are still working on the detials for the closing and talking with moving companies. With all this preparation to go to CT iwe have just begun to think through leaving St. Louis - which will be hard. Thanks to all of you who have prayed for us and encouraged us as we've been up and down a lot through this process.

feeling tattered

This is a picture of a little new testament that I got during undergrad and has traveled with me to various places, even spending some time in my trunk. I think this picture describes Hillary and I today. You see "Hope" blazoned on the front but it is partly obscured by shadow and is clearly worn in different places. We are trying to hold to hope and asking God to anchor us but we are cetainly feeling tattered. Here's the situation:

In working on details for the mortgage to buy a house in CT (see previous post for details) we have hit a snag. One of the various documents we needed to process the mortgage is a letter from the church confirming our salary. In talking to the church they cannot legally give that letter until we are at 75% of our support. The mortgage process is time sensative and if we don't have the letter from the church by the 5th we will probably loose the house.
We just found this out yesterday and were surprised and upset. At first, loosing the house at first seemed almost certain. In getting this house we felt God's leading and blessing because it fit so well what we need and what we had hoped for. When it was thrown back in the realm of "uncertain" it was hard to trust God's hand in the process. As we have talked things over with the mortgage agent, Al (sr. pastor at our church in CT) and prayed we do have hope (and a plan).

We are working to see if we (and the church) can get to 75% by Sept 5h. We're at 41% right now but have individuals and churches who have committed to give but haven't sent in their information yet. We're going to talk to them and get potential commitments to see if we can get close to the 75%. I think the 75% can definately happen and even if we are a little short there is a way it can still work out.

What you can do is pray for us:
1. that we could trust God and love each other amidst difficult circumstances
2. that we could touch base with people who have committted to give
3. these folks would understand, not feel pressured, but respond in a timely manner
4. especially in our conversations with the churches, that God would move the decission process forward.


Here's some good news:

Hillary made yummy cookies (I had two for breakfast and need to learn to be more discreet if we have kids)

I got to go climbing outside yesterday. This is my pile of gear after I got home and dumped it in my study which is an increasing mess.

What's in Store

In starting this blog I wanted to use it as a means to communicate with folks who are interested in what is going on with us as we live and serve in Hartford, CT. In looking at our blog I realized that we don't have a description of what we are doing in Hartford - so here we go...

I (Jarrett) have been called as an Assistant Pastor of Youth and Families at Christ Community Presbyterian Church (PCA).

We (my wife and I) are headed to CT because this position fits our sense of calling, meets needs within the community, and lines up with the vision of the church.

We have felt called to serve with a church in an area of the country where Christianity is not a dominant cultural force and to work with a population that has more of an urban orientation. Hartford, fits this bill and meshes with our sense of calling in ways we did not even realize until visiting there.

In addition, there is a unique need in that community for a church to serve teens and their families with the gospel of Jesus. Connecticut is an area underserved by the church with a small population of Christians, thus there are few there to engage the brokeness, often characterizing the teen years.

Finally, there is a church in this community with a vision to impact Hartford, and CT as a whole, for Christ. My position at the church is the culmination of about 5 months of emails, phone calls, and conversations. Christ Community started in 2004 as a new church in West Hartford. It grew out of a bible study of about 8 people who were commuting to a church in Manchest (45min. away). The purpose of Christ community is to present an authentic vision fo biblical Christianity by planting churches through CT, where people delight supremely in God.

My job with the church has three primary aspects: working with the teens and their families; shaping the philosophy and strategy for the children's ministry; helping oversee youth and children's ministries at multiple sites as the church grows. I have some ideas of what this will be like, but I'll get a much better idea once we head there.

Going into this work there are three primary needs that we have: friendship (ministry can be lonely and we need people to stay in touch with us and remind us that we are a part of Christ's body); prayer (only God, working by his Spirit can change us and those we serve); financially (the church has asked us to raise 40% of our salary for the first 3 years of ministry).

This is just a quick overview of what is in store for us. If you would like some more information on what we are doing or would like to be involved contact us: theallebachs@gmail.com. We will continue to update on the blog and will also be sending out monthly prayer requests and quarterly newsletters to those interested.

high stakes poker

We've been going back and forth bidding on a house and it is intense. You put this offer out, wait a few hours, hear back, then make your next move. It has been exciting but it looks like we are going to get this house. It is in a great location, has lots of charm, and really seems to fit what we are looking for. Hillary is very excited and I think I am too, except the reality is setting in that we are buying a home. Wow. We'll keep you posted and let you know how the home buying situation goes.

This Sunday morning I am speaking at during the Christian Education hour at Memorial Presbyterian Church. I am pretty excited and God is continuing to provide for fundraising. We have raised over a third of our support so far and are encouraged by the progress. Now is when the various details of house, moving, jobs, fundraising etc. will all colide. We are excited to see how God is going to weave all these different pieces together. Thanks for being a part of it.

public transport makes me work

So, I went to Chicago last week via megabus, which is a pretty cool set up. The tickets are cheap and they only run between major cities so it goes quickly and there aren't all these stops on the way. Chicago is a neat city. I had fun walking around just checking out downtown and wandering a little to far. I was meeting a friend out in the suburbs for a leadership conference run by Willow Creek church. To make my train I booked it for about a mile in flip flops with my backpacking pack on. By the end I was tired and sweaty, but made my train on time. We cam into Chicago a day or so later and we ended up running that same distance to catch a train and again I was in flip flops, but this time had recently eaten some deep dish Chicago pizza - yikes.

The conference was pretty good. There were the usual ups and downs of stuff I liked and didn't but it was good for me to be there. I'll have to write more about it when I have more time.

We are putting an offer on a house presently and are moving back our time table for CT to mid-September. I'll post tomorrow with some more info but have presently been at the library too long and need to go make dinner.

back then out again

Hillary and I were in Nashville, TN this past weekend and it was a good time. Hillary had lived there 3 years before coming to St. Louis so she has a lot of friends there, many of whom we got to see. We stayed with a couple who had 13mo old twin boys and they were a blast. They don't necessarily talk but just make a lot of noise back and forth. We went to Station Inn and heard some live blue grass, which was a first time for me. The band, Town Mountain, was really good and it was neat to see the amazing banjo and mandolin playing.

Saturday was a low key morning. We went shopping (tax free in TN for weekend) before we had our final fundraising gathering. It was encouraging just to share what we are headed towards and where God is leading us. In working on various details it is easy to loose sight of why God is leading us to CT and what he is calling us to do. Hillary's friends (whom I am getting to know better now) were encouraging as they asked thoughtful questions and prayed for us at the end. We were both glad to have gone down though it was a little sad towards the end as Hillary said goodbye because we're not sure when we'll be back in Nashville.

what to say...

So, it has been a difficult week. I feel like the yo-yo, lots of up and down. I'm more of a stable type of person, yet emotionally I've been all over the place and it is tiring. It is unnerving to know that in 15mins or half an hour I could be in a completely different mood, and as if yet, can't simply control it. Maybe this is what it is like to be more "emotional?" Whatever it is, I hope I get a better feel for how to ride it.

Presently, we are in St. Louis but are headed to Nashville this weekend. I've been back in St. Louis a week and it has been pretty hectic. We've been looking at houses in Hartford and have so far considered three potential houses, one of which we put a contract on, but it didn't work out. Hillary and I both are feeling the weight of so much uncertainty looming before us. Thus, it has been difficult to connect to each other. Sunday afternoon I was up and she was down, while Sunday night I was down and Hillary was up. (almost funny in retrospect)

Writing online is kinda strange knowing anyone can read this. How do you talk about the harder points of life without just complaining or pretending life is fine?

Anyway, here are a few high points:

-this past saturday, Hillary got her hair cut. She had been waiting a while and now it is short, fun, and looks very nice. I don't have any pictures, but it is similar to this haircut, except for Hillary it's more in her face. http://www.natalieportman.com/gallery/mags_2004_marc-hom/4397_G

-I've read a few low key fun books by Jenny Nimmo...

-third, I redpointed (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redpoint) a difficult route at the rock climbing gym today.