my life as a minister's wife

Most of you know that of course, I am married to a youth minister, which I think is the most amazing thing EVER. I never thought that I would have married a youth minister, even though I have always wanted to marry a pastor and be a pastor's wife! When Mike and I met, I knew that we would get married and he would be in ministry, even though he didn't say that when I first met him. After a while, he finally changed his major to Youth Ministry at CSU, and I just knew that I would LOVE to be a youth pastor's wife.

Now, I am in love with pastor's wives, and any wife of a ministry leader. I just think that people don't give enough credit to PW. Lately, I have been reading Holly Furtick's blog and it is so encouraging. She is one woman of God who is a great example of being a PW who really fulfills the role. Then I was realizing that just about all of my friends are wives of men in ministry. I have so many friends around me who live just about the same life as I do being at church all the time, and loving it. Sometimes, it seems to get a little tiring, but we are all there to pick each other up. One of my best friends Christina Harris, is also a wife of a middle school pastor, now I realize why we are such good friends, we relate with each other. Plus, I just think she is awesome and I look up to her so much with her role as a PW. Some other amazing pastor's wives that I know and absolutely ADORE are Sarah Chalk, Jenny Miles, Many Santos, Sarah Bolin, Sara Smith, Cyndy Morris and Selina May. I see a little bit of myself in all of them. Also, I didn't even name the PW's that are related to me that I just love: Debbie Surratt, Sherry Surratt, Dee McGarity, Jenny Surratt, Lisa Surratt, Jenna Surratt, Jenny Mayer, Jess Ray, and Bethany Singleton. Anita McCart and Allison (soon to be Rankin) are also PW or soon to be that I hang out with and love.

So, as you can imagine, I am always at church. Last year when Mike and I were first engaged, I decided to use my time wisely while being at church all the time and volunteer in the nursery. I absolutely loved it, and a few months later I was asked to come on staff as a part time nursery worker on the weekends. This meant that I would work 2 or 3 of the services out of 5 of them on the weekend, and occasionally a first wednesday. I have been doing this for about 10 months and of course, I love it. There are 6 nursery rooms at Seacoast church LPR on the "0-24 months" hallway, and you will normally find me in one of them on the weekend, loving all those kids whether they are babies, crawlers, or walkers. :)

My favorite part of being at church for every service is this:
Whichever service I am not working in the nursery (which is normally the 9:30), I am upstairs in "the attic" where the middle school service is held. I get to see my husband speak, and act crazy with all the students that come to Nitro. I love it, and I have realized lately that my most important role there is Mike's wife. I am there to support, encourage, and help him do whatever is needed. Lately he has given me the duty of doing a part of the service on stage called "Tell Me Something Good". It's pretty fun, and most imporantly I feel that I have helped Mike with his job as a middle school minister!

In two weeks, I will be going on a youth trip with my husband for the first time as the "youth pastor's wife". (What a way to spend our first Valentines Day as a married couple huh?) I am very excited because I just love hanging out with the students just as much as he does! We will be traveling to Lake Junaluska in North Carolina for Lift, the ski/snowboard/tubing winter retreat. Mike told me that we are taking over 220 people total with all the campuses. I'm looking forward to joining my husband in ministry and seeing what God has planned for this trip!

This is me and my minister husband whom I will always love!
:)