A year ago

A year ago this week, was a busy and exciting time for our family. After a few weeks of meeting at Five Guys Burgers and Fries in downtown Detroit for bible study, we rented our first space to meet as Deliverance Bible Church Detroit. Our first service was just Shea, me and the kids, but we did not mind. We knew that Detroit was where we were meant to be, planting this church was part of the vision and we planted ourselves on the third floor. Yeah, stairs. Besides the stairs, our first challenge was to tackle the interesting paint job the previous tenant left behind. The room was a lovely shade of red, yellow, orange, green, purple and grey with maroon carpet. So in one kid free night we primed the entire room and one coat of paint on the walls. It was a very long night and I think we went to bed at 4 am. Shea went back to the space a couple more times to finish the job while I stayed home with the kids. Shea played guitar while Manoah, Jaelon and I danced around the room worshiping the Most High. Shea preached, shared scripture and then we went down to the river walk to pass out invites.

 

 Jaelon's imagination blossomed at the play ground. He was only 18 months old but already learning how to run and jump. On one of these jumping days, he caught his foot and face planted on the hard wood floor of our friends home. His lip began to bleed and it was difficult to get it to stop long enough to see the damage. Since it felt like forever that his lip was gushing blood, I took him to the nearest ER. There the security guard gave Jaelon a peek-a-boo book that had characters hidden behind flaps for him to enjoy while we waited to see the doctor. His lip was still going strong but something in me started to say, "he will not need stitches, so just leave." I did not listen, and we went through the whole process only to hear the doctor say that he will be fine, and does not need stitches. Wasted time, wasted money. Grrr. The doctor prescribed antibiotics, because it was an open wound and remain wide open for a while. Jo was fighting what I think was an ear infection that week, so I guess it worked out that we got some medicine.  

 I gave Manoah a hair cut, and I thought he looked so very handsome. Shea did not like it, and prefers Manoah's hair long. Which is ironic since Shea shaved Mo's hair every month for over a year when he was a baby. Oh well. Manoah's imagination blossomed as well that year. Pictured below is Mo's very thirsty horse. I fear if that was a real horse, it would have been in trouble. Mo successfully led that horse to water and made it drink. Ha!
  Both the boys became more daring on the playground. Lapeer is full of really nice, newly renovated playgrounds, all within a short distance from the house. Jaelon would take on equipment that was designed for 5 and 6 year old children, and very successfully conquering them. I could not bare to watch my 18 month old climb ladders to great heights. I was always very close with my arms out stretched, sweat beads forming on my brow and heart racing. After numerous times of triumphal climbing, I began to relax, but still stayed close just in case. The slide pictured was a feat that Manoah took on that took my breath away.  The shadow at the top of the slide is Mo's excited body about to fling it's self down the 12 foot high tube. He went down this slide many times, and was the youngest one at the park to go down it. The little girl in pink at the bottom, 2 years his elder, was afraid to go down it, and she did not try while we were there. Jaelon did not go down the slide, the stairs leading up were too narrow and too steep for his taste. I was a happy momma at Jo's choice.

 

 Last year was a very busy, life changing year, but more on that later.