Sadness...

Life has been interesting the past couple weeks in the Trepanier household. Some of you may already know that our new home church out here in California has been having difficulties. Let me rewind and give you the background of things...

When we first moved out to California, we attended a great church is Pasadena. The plan was to be mentored by the wonderful pastor that was there and work at the church to get through seminary. About a month after we moved out here, the pastor decided that God was moving him along and he left the church. That pretty much left us high and dry, but we just simply trusted that God would work out the details.

Before the pastor left, he introduced us to a asst. pastor in Santa Clarita, CA whose name is Jon Duncan. When we met Pastor Jon, we knew that our hearts and minds were on the same page as far as ministry. We were so excited to work with him at Santa Clarita Baptist Church. Because of that, we relocated to Canyon Country, we moved out here about 2 miles from the church and got jobs out here so that we could be close to our new church.

About 4 months after we moved out here, the senior pastor, Pete Mothershead resigned. We were sad, but excited about the prospect of Pastor Jon to be moving into the position of senior pastor.

We have spent the last 7 months in close ministry with Pastor Jon and his wife Marlene while he has held the position of interim pastor. Not only do we get along in the ministry, but also on a deep personal level we consider them to be close friends.

About two weeks ago, the pulpit committee/deacon board of our church decided that they would not be pursuing Pastor Jon for the senior pastor position at our church. To say that we were stunned would be an understatement. Most of the church was stunned, and the church body was in upheaval. To make a very long story short, in order to prevent more hurt and division, Pastor Jon announced from the pulpit today that he would be no longer pursuing the senior pastor position (because there was talk that the deacons might change their minds and ask him). He announced that they would be pursuing other senior pastorate positions.

We spent last night with Pastor Jon and Marlene and were just encouraged by their friendship and their humility. The way that they have handled this whole awkward situation has just been a testimony to their godly character.

Please pray for our church, Santa Clarita Baptist Church. There are a lot of hurting and confused people. There is potential for many members of the church to be leaving because of this decision. Right now, Dave and I feel like the Lord would have us to stay and try to minister to this church as best as we can. We are sad about Pastor Jon and Marlene leaving, but we know that God is in control, and that life is good because God is. We don't always understand His ways, but we trust that He is in control.

Pea...

I always wondered when I'd get discovered for a modeling career after we moved out to LA. I mean, I knew that it would happen, it was just a matter of when... Well, it finally happened. I've been discovered. Dreams are beginning to come true...
Those of you that know me should know that last paragragh was completely untrue. :) My very good friends Chris and Janelle have a little company called Conduct Happiness. (check it out at http://www.conducthappiness.com/) I got a call on Tuesday morning saying that they needed some people to "model" their line of "Pea" shirts. I was a little hesitant, but when they said that I would get a "Pea" shirt out of it, I was ALL over it! So, Dave and I headed over on our lunch break and joined some other people from our church in getting our pics taken.
These shirts are seriously too cute. I got to wear the "Pea in the Wind" shirt and Dave got to wear the "Pea Standing Up" shirt. If you're having a hard time understanding why these shirts are so cute and so funny, let me tell you some of the names of the other shirts. There's: Pea Sitting Down (for girls), Pea in the Pool, Pea in the Tub, Pea in the Snow, Pea on the Fire Hydrant, Pea in a Diaper (for little ones), etc... Are you noticing a trend? :) It's pretty much the cutest thing ever.

Anyways, the best part is I got to walk away with one of my very favorite "Pea" shirts. Pea in the bed...

My VBS video...

This is a link to a video that I put on You Tube of my little VBS kiddos. They are NOT as cute as they look! :) Just kidding! Hope you enjoy it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Epzk8qVbfmM

My terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day...

Ok, so I should post a picture of these "angels" that I teach for VBS. To look at their sweet little innocent cherub faces, you would never know that inside of them lurks an evil, sinful, depraved soul...

This Sunday was the last week of regular VBS. Next week is the much dreaded (by me) concert. I thought that I would surprise them by bringing a movie to VBS. "What a nice break," I thought foolishly to myself, "they will love me forever for bringing them a movie to watch on the last day of VBS. We will have such a joyous time watching this movie together as a class. I am sure they will shower me with hugs and affection for being such a great, thoughtful teacher." So, I brought the movie, "Stanley the Stinkbug Goes to Camp." The name alone of that movie just makes me laugh. :)

Anyways, unbeknownst to me, some of my kiddos had heard that the "older" kids were getting to play a water game. Thinking that they got to play too, they came armed to VBS in their swimsuits and with their big beach towels (they all looked SO cute). Unfortunately, not all the kiddos had brought water gear - so even if we could have played the water game, not everyone could have played. And that's just no fair. So, we get in the classroom, turn the lights off, and start the movie. And the complaining begins.

"Where's the popcorn? If we were at a real movie theater we'd get popcorn."
"I've seen this movie like a thousand times before." "I want my mom." "I'd rather be in big people church." "I wanna go on the playground." And the list goes on and on... One child was actually rolling around on the floor repeating like a mantra, "I'm hungry; I'm thirsty," over and over...

The worst part was, I had told my helper that she could leave. I belive my exact words were, "They're just watching a movie tonight. It'll be a cinch." Famous last words.

It got so bad that I actually had to call Dave on his cell phone to get him out of "Big People Church" to help me. Thankfully Dave terrified the children. Something about his deep, stern voice just petrified them. It was great. From the second that Dave walked into the classroom they were little cowering angels.

Anyways, I was sad that my last day of VBS with the children had to be such a disaster, but hopefully they got it out of their system before the concert this Sunday. I'll keep you posted on how that goes...