A Year in Review

Two weeks ago, Ryan and I celebrated our FIRST anniversary! We couldn't believe that it had already come and gone and kept saying how fast time flew by. We had a very memorable first year and accomplished way more than we had anticipated...namely buying our first home. Here is our year in review:

• Traveled to Italy, France, Spain for our honeymoon and made a few domestic trips to NYC, Boston and Charleston. We love to travel and it's one of our favorite things to do now that we're married!
• Helped officially launch our church plant, Harvest in Fairfax. This has been by far one of the biggest blessings from last year. We've found the best community and church that continuously challenges us. We couldn't do life without them and are always so encouraged by their support
• Bought our first home. We were totally NOT expecting this one at all. We thought this was years away, especially given the area we live in, and seriously lucked out with the best house and buying process. 
• Had our first (and hopefully last) attempted break-in at above first home. This was one of those memorable, crazy and scary moments we'll never forget.
• We both got new jobs. Ryan's in a rotational program and he switched to another component of DHS...the best part is that he now commutes within Virginia! I started at a smaller CPA firm closer to our new house and that gives me more flexibility and freedom.
• Got a dog. After going back and forth between what kind of dog and when we should get one, we finally pulled the trigger and got a miniature dachshund puppy, Piper, who has both exhausted us and given us so much joy.

Just looking back at this list lets me know just how blessed we truly are. We did a LOT and experienced a lot of change. I'm so grateful that I got to do all of those things above with my best friend and partner, Ryan. He has been the best husband and I'm constantly amazed at how the Lord built him specifically for me. He has been nothing short of selfless, servant-like and a God-fearing leader for our family.

I'm so excited for this weekend! My best friends and their husbands are coming into town and we'll be headed to the Nats game on Saturday. Ryan turns the big 2-5 this Sunday and he will be preaching at Harvest...on his birthday. Crazy man! He's been prepping for awhile now and his message is awesome. I'm so anxious to hear it "live". I'm already so proud.

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Not to Brag or Anything...

...But I have the best husband. Even though we've only been married for about 4 months now, he's continued to impress me in new ways.

• He's not afraid to make dinner.
• He'll never turn down a trip to the grocery store with me.
• He'll join me on trips to HomeGoods and World Market...for the 3rd time in a week.
• He cleans the shower, because it literally tires my arms out so quickly that I can't finish.
• He cleans on his days off

BUT there has been one obvious thing that I have noticed that he is the bomb.com at...He loves inviting people to church. Ryan has been intentional with almost everyone we know up here (known for awhile or just a little) and invited them to church on multiple occasions. Some we know are saved, some we know are not saved, but either way Ryan loves seeing people we love and care about come to the church we have grown to love and care about. Usually the woman in the relationship is inviting couples over for lunch, or hangout time; nope that's all Ryan! He's constantly reaching out to multiple people to check-in, stay in touch and invite them into community with us. And I just love that. So, I had to brag, and if you haven't been invited to Harvest yet...it's coming :) Love you boo!

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Church Planting & Window Watching

If you've kept up with Ryan and I over the past couple months, you probably know that we are a part of a church plant called Harvest Bible Chapel. For several months in the early spring, we had been wrestling with some things with our previous church and eventually decided the best thing to do was to leave and start the church hunting process. Again. It was a hard decision for us, since we had made several great connections with some people and staff there. After Googling what seemed like every church in a 30 mile radius of Fairfax and visiting a couple, we came up empty handed. What? There are LOTS of churches in Northern Virginia, and we couldn't find just one to plug into? We were frustrated and confused. We did know that Jesus calls us to be a part of the local church. So, we kept going.

The long-story-short version is that we found our church home in a church that didn't even exist yet. Through Twitter. Thank you social media. We've now been a part of a small team of a handful of families to help build up Harvest in Fairfax that just launched in the beginning of September. It has been a blessing to be a part of, but boy has it been a lot of work. I have a new respect for just how much work it takes to run a Sunday service. And right now, we're a bare bones version compared to some other local churches that have countless ministries that go on every Sunday. I also feel terrible for being a "bystander" for so many years. The truth is, I never really got plugged into a church until I graduated college. Sure I went, but I never served. I was strictly there to get fed and to evaluate how they did this and that. I was not a part of a local church, I was the window watcher and because of that, I missed out on really being a part of the church. So much of my mindset towards church was what was the church going to do and offer me, when it really should have been the other way around.

After jumping into facets of ministry I said to myself that I could never do, having to step out of my comfort zone and putting my "needs" and wants aside, I've found church planting to be both immensely rewarding and simultaneously exhausting. Sure we're the only couple without kids, we're the youngest and least experienced in life and we're in a completely different phase of life than most, but it's in those things that the Lord has chosen to use us and bless us beyond those differences. I've actually really enjoyed being around lots of kids, learning from those who are older and more established, and most of all serving under the same purpose.

The truth about church planting is that bottom-line it's not easy. There might be personality difference, you'll almost definitely do things that will stretch you, and Sunday will be a much longer commitment than your hour to an hour and a half service. My pastor, Dan always quotes Matthew 16:18 where Jesus says, "I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." Jesus will build his church regardless of bystanders and window watchers, like I was. But there is a greater joy that we can freely partake in by being a part of the building and serving of His church. I'm so thankful for the opportunity to use my gifts for a purpose greater and bigger than me and that the Lord changed my heart, the heart of a bystander.

From our first launch team meeting!

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Changing Times

I haven't posted in a LONG time! Life has been flying by and sometimes I forget to stop and look around at what's going on. Ryan and I are in our final month and a half of wedding planning. It's all starting to feel a little more real. I can't tell you how excited I am to see everything all put together, our friends and family celebrating with us and just to experience marriage as a whole. It's crazy to think that it's almost here!

In other developments:

-We found our sweet humble abode! We'll be living in Vienna near the Orange line so that Ryan's commute is a breeze. He's currently living there now and loving the fact that he can just walk to the metro. We really lucked out with this space too! It's got a lot more square footage than we thought we could initially afford and is so light and airy! Don't get me wrong, it's definitely tiny--a little over 800 or so square feet. You're probably thinking to yourself, that's not a lot of space at all, but up here that's HUGE for the location and the price we're paying for rent. We're spoiled with a little loft space that opens up the living room and makes it feel a lot less small than it actually is. The Lord truly provided. It's been fun to slowly make it a home, I love the decorating!

-We're joining a new church! This is something that the Lord has so graciously allowed us to become involved in and we're so excited to be used by Him. Ryan and I had been really wrestling with a lot of things regarding our current church for several months. We LOVE the people that we've met there, which made the idea of leaving so much harder. Now if you follow @shaughnessy22 on twitter, you will remember that Ryan took a several month hiatus from Twitter. One day out of the blue, Ryan decided to get back on the Twitter train and that day he saw a tweet from @hbcfairfax. So long story short, Ryan meets with the pastor of this new church plant coming to Fairfax, hears his vision for the church and tells me we should consider joining this team to launch the church. I was skeptical at first and thought there was no way that we would actually be doing this. Nonetheless, here we are and so pumped! Thank you Jesus for using social media to reach into our hearts and to call us to help build your church. It NEVER ceases to amaze me how the Lord works and it is by far through his will that we are in such a humble position. If you're looking for a church in the Fairfax area, I would encourage you to check out Harvest Bible Chapel of Fairfax on September 9, our official launch date!

-We're both going through some job transition. Ryan switched to a rotational job position about 2 months ago that will have us in the area for at least 3 years. After that, we're moving South! Just kidding, we'll see! He's currently working at the Department of Homeland Security HQ and will be switching to another department every year until he graduates from this program. He's also going back to school to get his MBA. Would you ever have thought that my Ryan would be going to business school? Love it!

I just went through my first salary/promotion negotiation last week. I received a job offer from a competitor firm and my current firm fought really hard to keep me. They worked with me to figure out some additional responsibilities that I could take up and feel like I'm moving in a career direction I want to go. I will be leading the marketing efforts of one of our industry groups and couldn't be more excited for such a big jump in responsibility. In any place I've worked, I've always made it my goal to have a work ethic that reflects Christ. So all you new college grads out there, work hard and aim to be indespensible. Don't think that your assistant or associate-level job will get you no where. You never know what building blocks you're setting up!

So those are all the major changes that are going on or have gone in the future Shaughnessy house! If there is anything that I've learned from going through all of this life change is that HE never changes (Hebrews 13:8). Being a person who is SO resistant to change, I haven't always reacted the best to all of this. Something that I've realized is that Christ has called us to a life of change. Romans 12 talks about how we are to be constantly renewing our minds. The Christ-centered life dictates change and a constant working effort towards making Him the center of this changing life. I'm still learning this the hard way. Change is good and necessary and we have the Lord as our anchor, the unchanged and the immovable to sustain us through life's uncertainites. I'm thankful that I can know that and claim that.

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