Summer's End

Well, our first summer in the south(east) has finally come to an end, at least on the calendar. I saw some CRAZY stats on the news last night about this brutal summer we've had in North Carolina so I thought I'd share them w/ya'll so you can see how we've been welcomed here.

Summer was 94 days long officially (began 6/21 ended 9/22).
Of those 94 days:
-56 days were in the 90s
-7 days were in the 100s
-11 days were record highs
-1 day was an All-Time Record high (105 degrees)
So we had only 31 days with a high less than 90 (many highs were 89) and along with all of that we are still in a serious drought. I don't know the number exactly but I think we are around 7 inches behind on rainfall. I read in the newspaper on Saturday that my county (Durham Cnty) has only 70 days left of water reserve. Seriously, if we don't get some rain we will run out of water in early December.

So, we're feeling right at home here in NC (ha ha) and think we'll stay. :)
We were able to escape it all for a weekend when we went to Minnesota for my cousin's wedding - where it was pretty much WINTER already - but came to find out we missed the coolest weekend of the entire summer.

So am I complaining, actually not really, just informing. I didn't mind it all too terribly much. We've got air (obviously) and some nice ceiling fans and I didn't end up with an outdoor job so we've got plenty to be thankful for. I'm just saying it was a WARM welcome to a southern summer. From what I hear it doesn't get much worse than it was this year so we should be just fine as we move on into summer after summer. But let's not forget...when all you midwesterners are freezing, shoveling, scraping and bundling up it will be a nice 40 - 50 degrees here in Dec & Jan.

Anyone up for a vacation? :)

much love to ya!

Pictures from the move

I finally unloaded our camera and have some pics to share. These are various images taken during our trip from Illinois to North Carolina. ENJOY!

The Trip Route -


The truck and crew:

and Kota was so glad Dad was there
Finally ready to roll away from good ol' South 7th St. and Springfield, IL


On the road
of course the pups made the trip


The second day of the drive got us into some absolutely beautiful country -


and we took a bit of a scenic route through...


My Dad and brother Ryan were so glad they came along...

this place was breathtakingly beautiful...






it was very had on the U-Haul truck, we almost set the brakes on fire at one point so we had to stop and explore along the river... very worth while.


I think we got tired of our cameras cause the next pictures we took came after we finally got to the house.
OUR NEW HOME SWEET HOME:


and a little of the insides too...

So obviously we made it, and all in one piece...well about a thousand pieces probably. Anyway, things are getting to be fairly normal now and I hope to get around to blog updates a little more often.

Thanks for readin'
-dp-

An Update...finally :)

Hello there and welcome to the Phillips family update!

If you've been wondering if we had fallen off the face of the earth I apologize for leavin' you hanging. Generally I am ahead of myself in making plans so this time I have tried to wait until we had everything truly laid out before giving an update. If you haven't really noticed at all then that's cool, you're getting an update anyway.

Let me begin by glorifying God for all that he is and all that he's done. We have truly seen his sovereignty and grace in every nook and cranny of this entire process. Personally I can say that I have been walked through some necessary discipline in my life that definitely would not have taken place without the context of the last few months. God is good and we give him glory for being patient and kind to us even when we are so undeserving.

Having said that let me share with you what's going on. (this may get lengthy)

Rachel has officially finished working at Laketown Animal Hospital as of last week. For her the next 10 days are going to be full of putting the rest of this house in boxes, preparing to pack it all in a U-Haul to be driven nearly 1000 miles away to our new home. (Speaking of our new home, we found it over the first weekend of April. We were in the Raleigh/Durham area for 5 days and we looked at 20+ houses before finally settling on "THE ONE." It's a beautiful one level, 3 bedroom, 6 year old, former "model-home" in a wonderful neighborhood of S.E. Durham) Of course we couldn't leave Springfield w/o selling our house and that happened on March 20th. We have the closing here in Springfield on Friday, May 4th and the closing in Durham on Monday, May 7th. My family (Dad, Mom, Ryan & maybe Jared) will be here to help us load the U-Haul on May 3rd and then 4 of us - me, Rach, Dad & Ryan will make the trip down to NC over the weekend.

Once in North Carolina we will begin working and getting settled in our new house, neighborhood, city and - basically - new mission field. I'll be working with a house builder and Rachel will be working as a Vet Assistant at another Vetrinary Hospital. We have a church that will become our "home church" for a while as I move through the process of becoming a church planter. We have already gotten to know the pastor as he is a part of the network that we will be planting through. As of this moment we don't know the exact timetable or even location of the new church... these are just a few of the MANY things that will be coming together one at a time through what is sure to be an exciting process. I plan on trying to do much better at emails and updating my blog, etc. to keep people in the loop. So keep your eyes and ears open for more info on that front. (Of course if you're in the myspace universe you can find both Rachel and me there.)

Beyond that I'm really not sure what else to write here. If I've left out any information that you'd like to know please email back and ask.

Thanks so much for taking the time to read this! :)

Grace & Peace

Time to move on...

I'm writing this post to officially announce to whoever still reads this stuff that we'll soon be moving from Springfield, IL to Raleigh/Durham, NC. Pastor Eric told the family of iWorshipCenter on Sunday morning so the news is "out there."
For the last two months or so we have gone through the process of informing our family, some of our closest friends and now there's no reason for the info to be completely public.

We are going to North Carolina with the goal of starting a new church in an area that is being overrun by postmodern young adults. For the last 3 1/2 years I have been reading about and researching this area and there has been a growing dream in me to reach the people there. The Lord has really moved on my heart and it has come to the point where I can no longer deny that it is time to start seeing these dreams become a reality. Rachel and I are in one heart and both of our lives have really been pointing in new directions for a while now. It's a strange feeling and almost a confusing one but people who love us have been walking with us as we head down this new path. It's not too often that you pick up your life and move 850 miles to a new state and region of the country and it is such a great thing to have God guiding us along the journey and family & friends joining in support.

We have been in Springfield for more than five years now, me coming in June 2001 and Rachel joining me in May 2002 after our wedding and we couldn't say enough about how great the time here has been. We've been a part of something special here and consider it a privilege to have served alongside such amazing people. Some of our very closest friends are here and it will be very difficult to leave.

We are currently trying to sell our house here and find one in NC. We hope to be there by March and are continuing to have faith in God and see each and every detail work out perfectly. There are a lot of details that I didn't want to hash out on a blog post so if you want more info let me know. We're obviously excited about this new adventure and as with anything of this magnitude we welcome your prayers. A special thank you to those of you who have already reminded us you're praying.

THANKS FOR READIN'
peace