New Youth Pastor's

One of the first things Chris wanted to accomplish when we got here to Chandler, was to hire a new youth pastor. An area that is of course close to his heart! :D Chris had a list of three possible couples that he was interested in contacting about the job and he started that process as soon as we came home from our interview at Chandler, yes, even before we knew they wanted to hire US for sure! Haha!

One of the couples, Kris and Amber, were living out in Santa Maria, California, where Kris was a youth pastor. When my Chris left a message on good ole facebook for Kris about the position, we had no idea what a ride we were in for! Kris wrote my Chris back and told him that they were happy where they were and that things were going good for them but was flattered that we were interested in them. We were hitting dead ends with the two other couples as well, so Chris and I really started praying for God's will and timing. Unknown to us, God had a plan and was working out all the details for us! The very night after Kris told us that they weren't interested, they were informed that the church was having some financial issues and that Kris would be the first staff member to go. The problem was, Kris and Amber's apartment lease was up in just three weeks and they knew they would have a hard time finding an apartment that would let them lease month by month. Hmmmm, I wonder what they are going to do??? Hahaha!

Long story short, Kris and Amber moved back to Haviland and then came to interview here at Chandler the very next weekend! The church had a emergency meeting that Sunday evening and it was an overwhelming YES to extend the call to Kris and Amber to come as our youth pastor's!!! Chris was so excited to call them right after the meeting and told Kris that they could have some time to think about it but Kris said they didn't need any time, they knew they wanted to say yes as soon as they got here to interview! GOD IS SO GOOD! Since, Kris and Amber didn't have any jobs at the time they were able to come to Chandler the following Monday, just four short weeks after we moved here!

Kris and Amber also have a dear little one, Aiden, that is just a little younger than Emma and they have become great buds, as long as Aiden isn't pulling Emma's hair or Emma isn't taking Aiden's toys away! We sure have increased the number of babes in the nursery! Haha!

Tonight is Kris and Amber's food pounding and it is going to be so much fun! From 7 - 9pm, any and all church members stop by at their house and bring them gifts of food or household goods to welcome them to the church family. They did it to us also when we moved here and it was so much fun to get to see everybody and it really helped Chris and I get a lot of unpacking done beforehand so that everyone wasn't walking around a ton of boxes! Jonathan and Amanda came over and played Apples to Apples with us after everyone had gone and it was the perfect ending to a very fun day. Maybe, I will take Apples to Apples over with us when we go!