The Aughties

2000-2009
It's hard to believe that this decade started with Erin and I in high school, and ends with us trying to sell a house and moving to the Indianapolis area.  There is a TON that happens in ten years of one's life, but this decade has seen many milestones for the Schmitts:

• Getting married and figuring out how to live together
• Combined 5 Degrees in Education (Erin: high school, Bachelor's, and Master's; Fred:  high school and Bachelor's)
• Starting a full-time Ministry position at a church
• Starting a teaching career
• Buying and Possessing a House
• Seeing Ohio State win the National Championship in person (on Fred's list, but not Erin's)

As we look forward to 2010, we know that God has many more things he'd like to show us...and we sit here at the close of a decade together saying, "We're ready for it!"  

Fight for the Heart

So, I'm (Fred) reading this book about family ministry strategy and I come across this concept that fits exactly where I feel Erin and I are in our marriage.  The concept is: "Fight for the heart."  It's a rally cry for families, mainly parents to fight to build trustworthy relationships with their children.  While many parents strive to merely enforce the rules, or explain the rules, the rules don't mean much unless they are built off of a trust relationship.

Erin and I have had a great year in our marriage, but now more than ever we are going to be pushed to fight for the heart of our relationship.  It has been described as a huge mistake that we are making over the next 6 months as we'll be living apart, but we know that our stubborn tenacity will help up fight for the most important thing: Us.

God has shown us that He has picked us for each other, those who know us closely know how much we balance each other out.  We're past the point of trying to change one another and we're on to the point complimenting one another.  We seek to be an example of what a team looks like and we're on a mission to love others and love God!

The Overflow...

Fred :: I have been reading through Paul's letters to the Corinthians lately and it has been interesting to see the many issues that were facing the church in Corinth.  Divisions, immorality, and disputes about spiritual gifts plagued the church there...I'm glad those problems aren't apart of churches today.
     This weekend, I found myself being overwhelmed by the transition in location and ministry that is upcoming.  I found myself needing to be reminded of God's comfort because life is about to get really uncomfortable for us.  I was in that place when God's word spoke right into my life:

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.  For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. 

2 Corinthians 1:3-5

      The discomfort or any suffering that the Christian faces in this life is the overflow of the sufferings that Christ faced.  No one said this was going to be easy.  But in the same sentence that declares, "brace yourself" is the great promise of "embrace" as God comforts us through Christ.
     The comfort we receive from Him ought to overflow to the others that we come into contact with, so that we may comfort them.
     I may have found a new favorite passage.

To possess and sell a house

     Today we began the process of trying to sell our house.  There are projects to be done and paper upon paper to be filled out.  It's an odd feeling to be selling a house for the first time.  I asked a friend a few weeks ago if she had any advice to give about selling.  She said that she didn't because she's never moved!

     This house, has become our home and will always be the largest purchasing decision that Erin and I have made up to this point in our marriage.  We have lived here for a little over 4 years and have enjoyed the process of taking a structure and making it significant.  Rob Bell talks about possession and ownership in his book Drops Like Stars:

"You can own something and not possess it.  You can possess something and not own it."

     This kitchen is where I learned how to cook dinner.  This kitchen is where Erin did a killer faux finish paint job.  This living room is where Devin and I moved the TV in and Erin said, "I can't believe you got the biggest one they had."  This garage door will not be stopped by the stopper if you swing it open, thus violently sending the knob through the wall.  Those bushes out front are the ones we planted and we've been watching them grow (slowly).  This back patio is where I learned how to master the grill and had many a late-night conversations with Scott and God.  This bedroom we converted into an office is where Erin composed her Masters thesis.  This living room has hosted small group Bible studies where lives were connected to God's truth.  This street out front was decorated with "pary bo" on my birthday because Rick ran out of spray chalk while writing "party boy" (he needs help with his spelling).  This is where Erin and I have laughed until we've cried and cried until we've laughed.
     We didn't just own a house.  We possessed it and made it our own.

four and a half years

Fred: I can't believe that it's been almost 5 years already! We've been through a lot so far: I've been trying to find my way as a minister in a local church, Erin has obtained a Master's degree in Reading Education, and we were able to take an amazing vacation to Hawaii!

2010 will prove to be an interesting year: We will be moving to Mooresville, Indiana and I will be serving as the Children's Minister at The Church at Mt. Gilead. This move will stretch us in our marriage and our faith, but we are anxious to see what God does as He leads us on.

We'll be trying to keep this blog up and running to track where we've been and what we've been through.