April Update: Easter, Finals, and New Beginnings

Hello again to our friends, family, and ministry partners!

Greetings and a happy belated Easter to our family, friends, and ministry partners!  It is May already!  Where did April go?  It has been a busy, busy month here in the Ivey abode now that finals are NEXT WEEK!!  Here are some sights of the season to share with you before getting into all that has gone on since our last update:

Sam has truly become attached to the play trucks at church :).

Mel began teaching the preteen Sunday school class at church 3 weeks before Easter.

Our church's Easter musical featured students from the youth group doing shadow dance behind the choir as we sang.  Greg had a solo and Mel was in a duet in the program.

Sam helps Daddy study for his final exam in Systematic Theology ;).

Mel works on her Seminary Wives Institute homework on the sunny porch while Sam plays outside.

Daddy hanging out with the boy on our porch

Easter egg creations made by Greg for an Easter celebration on campus

As a "big brother in training," Sam has been learning many things around the house, including some intro to potty training, how to pick up his toys and put them away, how not to throw fits,
and (shown here) the proper way to diaper his stuffed doggie :).

FAMILY UPDATES:

Mel is still manning the fort as Greg works and finishes up school.  She has been doing a great job of managing the craziness that is Sam and taking care of our nutritional and home needs through cooking meals, staying vigilant on our energy use and spending, visiting food pantries, and signing us up for WIC and SNAP.  Greg is very thankful for all that Mel is accomplishing while he is focusing on work and studies.  He truly could not have accomplished what he has so far without her support!

Sam is growing like a weed and learning more words and milestones each day.  It is incredible to think about the many things he can do now that he was unable to do last month.  Sam is now climbing into his car seat as well as his booster chair at the table.  He is proficiently walking up and down steps.  He is babbling all types of words - some understandable, most not ;).  He loves to be going, doing, and speaking all the time.  His favorite activities these days are playing with his ball, running around outside, sitting in our next-door neighbor's toddler truck, being read to and pretend-reading, and dancing around the house.  We are very thankful for our boy!

The baby is doing well and possibly even a week ahead of schedule.  Mel has an ultrasound coming up soon to see if the baby may need to come before the previously established due date of June 7.  Pray for Mel as she endures these last few weeks of pregnancy.  She has experienced more aches, pains, and tiredness with this baby, especially since she didn't have a toddler to wrangle last time she was pregnant ;).  We are both getting excited to meet our new little boy and welcome him into the family!  

SCHOOL UPDATES:

School has been going well though Greg has definitely felt the crunch of the second half of the semester.  Finals are next week and Greg has many things yet to finish to be done with the semester.  Please pray that he would be disciplined with his time and absorb as much knowledge as he can in order to pass his two finals as well as organize two papers that are due next week. At this point, we have decided Greg will take the summer off and focus on the youth ministry at church as well as welcoming in the new addition to our family in a month.

Mel officially finished her first semester of Seminary Wives Institute (SWI) and ABIDE (women's small group Bible study).  Her ABIDE small group studied 1st Thessalonians this term and she loved interacting and growing with the other ladies in the group while diving into this book in scripture.  Mel was both blessed and challenged as she wrestled with the SWI subjects of Biblical Parenting and Spiritual Health for the Minister's Wife.  She enjoyed and excelled in both classes and is looking forward to continuing her studies in the fall.  She also made some great new friends this semester that have helped her transition to this new season in life that is wrangling a toddler, adjusting to seminary, and being a part of church ministry.

Greg's on-campus job with event media has been crazy and fun at the same time.  He has learned that it is best to go into each shift without expectations.  Among his job tasks in the past months has been: create a large wood plank wall (twice), create large wooden Easter eggs, setup for major conferences/banquets/recitals, learn how to run a professional video camera for chapels and conferences, and be a part of a studio recording.  To say that this job has variety would be an understatement!  Greg has really enjoyed this job though - both for the great friends he has made through it and the opportunity to feel directly a part of the ministry on campus.

CHURCH UPDATES:

Church at First Southern is going well.  We had the great joy of being a part of the Easter cantata this year as we both had individual singing parts in the musical.  Our youth, led by our worship leader, did a fantastic job preparing for a shadow dance drama to go along with the choir performance.  God was extremely gracious in helping us all come together for his glory on both Good Friday and Easter Sunday.  Also, last week we put together the complete schedule for youth events over the coming summer and we are excited to see how the Lord is going to bless this group through the fun, learning, and outreach that is to come!

PRAYER UPDATES:

Beyond the concerns of finals and pregnancy mentioned above, please pray for our financial situation as we go into the summer months.  We are grateful that the Lord helped us complete our first semester of seminary without taking out any loans, but striving to do this has been financially costly.  We are hoping to be approved for SNAP (food stamps) very soon to help with our nutritional needs and praying that the Lord will help us meet our rent this month and in the months to come.  Going from a two-income household to essentially a one-income household has presented its challenges.  The Lord has been faithful thus far and I know he will continue to be.  There are some opportunities that may come to fruition in the next month that would help with this financial situation but much prayer would be appreciated as we trust the Lord's direction in these matters.

Thank you so much for reading this blog and for those who have supported us financially and with many prayers.  You each have been an immeasurable blessing in our life and the ministry the Lord has made us a part of here.  We have been both humbled and affirmed in many ways throughout this process as we have learned to lean heavily on the Lord's provision and blessing in all areas of our lives.  We also have seen how important Christian friends are as we have been encouraged, lead in wisdom, and had many prayers lifted up for us.  Please let us know if there is any way that we could pray and support you in your needs.

Blessings,

The Ivey Family


P.S. We are always open to letters of encouragement and prayers as we continue to walk this road.  If the Lord leads you to send us anything, our email address is greg.ivey@me.com or melly.ivey@gmail.com and our mailing address is:

            Greg, Melody, and Samuel Ivey
            SBTS Box 122
            2825 Lexington Road
            Louisville, KY 40280

We ask that you be careful to write our mailing address exactly as it is displayed here.  The seminary has an unusual arrangement with the post office, which mandates that our mailing address be written this way and require exact formatting.