NEW ADVENTURES!

NEW ADVENTURES! 

I am absolutely horrible at keeping up with this blog. When I started it over a year ago I thought I would do a lot better, but clearly this is not something that I've really gotten in the habit of doing yet. 

So much has happened since I last posted, which I'm guessing that if you are reading this you are most likely a friend or family member, so you have seen on Facebook what has been going on in our lives. But, just in case you haven't been Facebook stalking me and you actually have a life outside of social media (which I hope you all do!), we have moved to Arizona! Crazy, right!?! We have moved again...and will be moving once again in about 6-7 months. Why, you ask? Let's go back a few months...

Back in January or February, Doron received a message from Mark Moore, one of his former professors from Ozark. Mark was asking Doron if he was familiar with the Leadership Institute at Christ's Church of the Valley (CCV) in Phoenix, AZ, where Mark is now a Teaching Pastor. He wanted to know if Doron, or anyone that he knew, would be interested in attending the Institute. We had never heard of it before, so we kind of shrugged it off at first, but then Doron started thinking and looking into it more. The Leadership Institute was started 3 years ago. The pastors at CCV heard a staggering statistic that 85% of all pastors leave the ministry within the first 5 years of ministry. 85%! That's insane! So the CCV leaders started talking to Christian colleges and asked, "How can we partner with you guys to get that number lower?" Through a lot of hardwork and prayer, the Leadership Institute was born. In just one short year, students can come and be trained by the leadership here at CCV, and be well-prepared for the ministry career ahead of them. There are 3 different tracks available: undergrad, Masters, or professional. The Undergraduate track allows for students to come and spend their last year in undergrad here in order to finish up their Bachelors degree. Masters is just that - earning a Masters Degree in Strategic Ministry (in just one year!). And the professional track simply allows for people to take a year to come and study and be mentored as a professional, receiving no degree at the end of the program. Doron will be mentored by 8 or more different leaders. There are 9 different areas that he can choose to study, of which he will choose 2: Pastoral, Students, Children and Family, Worship/Production, Church Administration, Multi-Sites, Sports Ministry, Inter-Cultural Studies, Special Needs. This semester Doron is working with the Pastoral staff. It has not been decided what area he will be studying in next semester. In April 2016, Doron and all of the other residents will be taking a 2 week trip to Israel to learn and study right there where Jesus walked. (I'm really quite jealous of this!) 

This has been quite a leap of faith for us. Doron is a full-time student again, therefore he is not being paid. We have a great team of supporters who have stepped up to help us through these 9 months and we are SO INCREDIBLY GRATEFUL for all of you who have helped us financially (If you would be interested in helping out with our financial needs, please shoot me a message; we will get you info on how you can do that). We do ask that you add us to your prayer list. Please just ask God to continue to provide for our needs and pray that He will lead us to an amazing Church family after this program where we can settle and serve for many years to come!

OK...now for the reason the majority of you are here...the #CRAZYJONESKIDS!!!!

Micah, Lila and Henry are loving Arizona. The trip down here was nuts (involving a 2 week stay in Joplin, MO after we blew a head gasket on the car). But once we finally made it here, the kids were so excited to see the mountains, the desert and all of the "pickles", as Lila calls the cacti. 

We, unfortunately, got here too late for us to be able to get Micah into the local preschools (well, at least too late for the ones that wouldn't require me to sell off all of my non-essential organs in order for him to attend). So, I will be homeschooling Micah for this year for preschool. That is going to be quite an adventure. I will also be watching 2 little girls for another couple in the residency program. Their mom is a nurse and so we were excited when we were able to work something out that would help both of our families. Micah was so excited to start school at home. We did really well with keeping up with it the first 4-5 weeks, but then several things happened and I started watching the girls, so it has been hard to keep up with. We will get caught up soon! He LOVES CCV KIDS! He is constantly asking, "Mommy, is today a Church day?" because he just wants to go to church and learn about Jesus. (CCV does an amazing job with the kids, so who wouldn't want to go back everyday!?!) He is growing like crazy and everyday just amazes me at how smart he is and how grown up he is becoming. On the morning of Halloween, he got to run in his very first race! It was a Monster Mash & Dash, so he got to wear his Halloween costume, which was Dash from The Incredibles...very fitting! He was super excited that he earned a medal and can't wait to do another race! 

Lila - oh sweet Lila. We've always known she is the most amazing little girl in the world, but she is growing into quite the little...I can't even come up with a word to describe her. She is sassy as all get out...bossy...wild...funny...sweet...beautiful...and just all around incredible! Every time we get in the van she says, "Look Mommy! White clouds!" or "Look Mommy! PICKLES!" 

 Lila provided us with our first (and hopefully only) trip to the local ER. She busted her lip on a small waterslide at church one night, detaching her frenulum (yeah...I didn't know what that was either - it's the flap of skin that attaches from your inner upper lip to your gumline). It looked pretty deep so we were wondering if she was going to need stitches. The doctor told us that she actually did us a favor, as the frenulum being attached too low can cause a gap in her teeth. So, maybe she just saved us from paying for braces? (A mom can hope, right?) She has been quite clumsy and accident prone since we've been here, as you can see from the picture ----------------------> Falling and hitting her head in the bathtub, falling and scraping her back on a dresser, the ER visit...she's been through the ringer, but she's definitely one tough cookie.

And Henry - sweet, spoiled-rotten, Henry. This little guy brings so much joy to our house. All of our kids do, but this kid is just something else. I'm pretty sure he is convinced that he is 99% monster and 1% human. The kid growls...all the time. He loves following his brother and sister around and trying to be big like them. He also apparently finds great joy in following Mommy around...everywhere...every second of the day...in the kitchen...in my bed...in the bathroom...EVERYWHERE. He hangs onto my pants and tries to walk in between my legs. It kind of drives me crazy at times. But I know that I will eventually miss stepping on little people all the time, so I will try to cherish it for now (however there might be a few minor freak out moments from being way too overstimulated by the grabby hands). Anyway...he also gave us a bit of a "stitches scare" the other day. He fell (I wasn't in the room, so there is a good chance he may have been assisted in this fall), and cut his eyebrow on Lila's bed. They probably would've given him a stitch or two if we had taken him in, but we just decided to let it heal on its own. It's looking good after a few days, so we will just have to train him on how to come up with a really cool story if he ends up with a scar! :) 

The kids had a great Halloween this year! They were all so excited about their costumes this year. Micah-Dash "The Incredibles", Lila-Elsa from "Frozen", and Henry-Carl from "Up". 


Doron and I had an opportunity to help with a fundraiser poker night to help raise money for a local family whose 12 year old boy who contracted an infection that should have taken his life, but he has miraculously fought through and is doing very well. It was an amazing night! It was an 80's themed night, so Doron and I of course had to get all decked out in our 80s fashion! 

To top off the night, we won the grand prize in the raffle drawing...$500 Gift Card to DISNEYLAND!! We are so excited to take the kids! That is what we will be doing for Christmas this year! We cannot wait until Christmas morning when we get to tell them we are going. Micah has been talking about how he would really love to go to Disneyland sometime. I can't wait to share their reaction with you all! It is going to be so much fun!



Micah wasn't the only one to enter his first race recently. I also had the chance to run my first 5k race. I have been running quite a bit trying to get ready for it, and I'm excited to say that I took 3rd place in my age group, 25-29. Not bad for my first race! So here we are in our race t-shirts!








The last big news here at the Jones house is that Lila Mae turned 3 YEARS OLD this week! That is absolutely crazy to me! I can't believe she is 3 and is already growing into an absolutely incredible little girl. I wish you all knew her the way we know her so that you could truly see how amazing she really is!



Well, that's what's been going on down here in Arizona. Life is really good and God is blessing us beyond our wildest dreams. We are so grateful for your prayers and support as we continue on this amazing adventure. Please continue to pray that God will keep meeting our needs, as we know and trust that He will, and be praying for our future ministry, wherever that may be. We will soon be entering the time of sending out resumes and seeking God's will for where we should go next. So, please join us as we pray for His guidance in that search. Thank you so much! We hope to be more consistent in keeping up with our blogs, so be sure to check back again soon to see what else is going on with the Crazy Jones Kids!