Fruit.

Back in August we hosted a Student CPx Training in Austin. Since that training we have seen God use the students who “graduated” from SCPx to do some incredible things for His Kingdom. From praying healing over broken bones to Baptizing new believers into new student-led churches these students are really “doin’ the stuff”! Morgan and I have the privilege of walking alongside of these students in discipleship relationships now that we live here in Austin. It is so incredible to watch God use them as they obey His voice. Four students got Baptized by other students this past Friday. Another student who had just come to Christ last week was also Baptized by her discipler in the bath tub in her apartment the Thursday night before these Baptisms…People’s lives are being transformed, and it is happening at the hands of ordinary followers of Christ – these are not religious professionals, church/campus staff members, or people who get paid to do the works of ministry. These are broke students who have been wrecked by the Gospel, and can’t help but introduce others to their king…

more about “Town Lake Baptisms!”, posted with vodpod

The kingdom of God is expanding…that is, new believers are being transformed by the Gospel as they encounter ordinary people who have been transformed by the Gospel. Last night 12 people came over to our house to talk about and discuss desires and passions God has placed in each of their hearts. The stories revolved around starting community discipleship houses in the city that would lead to a network of house churches. We got to share with them a bit of our story with IG in Ft. Worth, then Vegas, and now here. We were all equally edified, and can’t wait to see what God does. We had a powerful time of communion together as well.

God is moving in Austin in some powerful ways. We are loving every second of it. From events in our apartment complex pursuing community to discipling students one on one we are easing into a beautiful rhythm of life here in Austin. Stay tuned…

Dearest Mommy…

I wrote a letter to Morgan, and a letter to Eliza a few weeks before the birth. After Eliza was born Morgan and I spent some time alone together with the baby. It was a beautiful time of worship as I prayed over, and read these letters to my wife & new baby girl.

7.12.2009

“Dearest mommy,

You did it baby. You made it through this pregnancy, and brought this little baby girl into the world. You didn’t just make it through, but you insisted on making this a worshipful experience that brought glory to God. You set a wonderful example by disciplining yourself, and being determined to acquire as much knowledge about this process as possible. You ate well, exercised, and took care of yourself for the sake of our baby girl.

You have sought the Lord, and prayed countless hours for this baby. You have spent even more time in thought about this baby. You have a deep desire to raise her as a lover of Jesus. I want to declare the same victory we experienced in this birth over you as a mommy right now in Jesus’ name. You will have the same determination to raise this baby girl up as you did to care for her while she was in your womb. You will make your job as her mommy a worshipful experience that brings glory to God. You will set an example for many women of what parenting, and being a mommy can & should be like. From this point on this will be a new part of your purpose and life in Christ; this will be your biggest kingdom pursuit yet-to be a mommy to our children. You will continue to discipline yourself, and acquire as much knowledge about this process as possible. You will continue to be in deep thought, and prayer for this little girl. I know these things to be true based upon who Christ is to you, and your obedience to Him.

It is these things that cause me to fall more and more in love with you each and every day. I am lucky to be the husband and father of two of the most wonderful women on the planet. As your husband I commit to being right beside you every step of the way. I commit to leading the two of you, and providing for you in every way necessary. I have a responsibility to hold the below “family values” as priority throughout the rest of our lives as a family…

To family:
…This is a commitment to one another, as a family, that we are entering into by the grace of God, through Christ Jesus, made possible by His activity in our lives. We make this commitment as parents, and have invited you, as our children into this commitment in Jesus’ name. May this commitment, and purpose become real to you as you grow in maturity of faith by the grace of Jesus. (Using this statement as a filter by which all of our life decisions as a family are run through)

“Family Values”
→ To be giving of ourselves in every aspect of life. (Spiritually, physically, emotionally, etc.) To be sacrificial in that. Phil. 2:4 putting others before ourselves. This applies not only to one another, but friends, family, and strangers.
→ We will have open hands & open hearts, a loose grip on our stuff/possessions.
→ We will make decisions as a family as we seek the Lord.
→ We commit to being open and honest with one another about everything. (How we feel, etc.) We will clearly communicate our feelings to one another in a timely manner, refusing to allow a lack of communication to produce bitterness and resentment in our hearts towards one another.
→ We will have a time or rest/Sabbath as a family on a weekly basis. Family time will be a priority in our lives, and not just something we do once per week.
→ We will look to scripture for guidance, and have a solid foundation of Biblical Truth in which our family is built upon.
→ We will pursue our individual callings in the Lord, and help one another discover those callings/gifts. As we discover them we will encourage one another to walk them out through the power of the Holy Spirit.
→ We will teach one another to love deeply.

Morgan, I love you and am so proud of you. I can’t wait to begin walking these commitments out with you on a daily basis. I know it will get tough, and at times feel impossible, but I want you to rest in the fact that we are being led by the Holy Spirit. He will sanctify us through this entire process, and we will welcome it in Jesus’ name. I love you more now then I ever have before, and can’t wait to continue this journey with you.”

-Aaron-

Stay tuned for the “Dearest Eliza” letter in a couple days…

Eliza Sage Snow

The birth of our daughter was a powerful event to say the least. Many tears, thoughts, and prayers were involved in the birth of this little girl. We have watched the video of the birth several times over now; it is extremely powerful, and I wish I could show it to the world. (However, my wife might not appreciate that too much =) I am still processing my experience with the 12 long hours of labor followed by me catching my baby when she came out. I then gently placed her on her mother’s chest as she took her first gasp of air, and began crying. Morgan and I both exploded with tears of joy. I will be journaling the events of the entire evening over the next few days, but wanted to share this brief update with you now…

Eliza was born on July 12th, 2009 at 7:46 in the morning at Gentle Beginnings Birth Center in Hurst, Texas. She weighed 10 lbs. 3 oz. and was 20 inches long. Morgan delivered her naturally; both baby and mommy are doing very well. We owe that to our Lord Jesus who heard our desperate prayers throughout evening, and to our close friend, Ann Crowell, who delivered Eliza. Ann’s birth assistant, Cindy Haggerton, who is also our friend and chiropractor, also played a huge role during the evening.

We had the pleasure of having one of our best friends, Keri Duckett, shoot photos the entire evening. Keri is an extremely talented photographer. You can check out a blog she wrote about Eliza with more pics, as well as some of her other photography HERE. She is available to do maternity photos, births, engagements, weddings, etc. and can be contacted at: keriduckett@gmail.com. Keri put together this wonderful slide show of the birth for us…

Thank you all for your prayers and support throughout this entire process. You have been wonderful. From Target gift cards, and baby gifts, to pregnancy/parenting advice you have all blessed us tremendously. Thank you from the Snow’s; all THREE of us.

Plans a Changin’

Morgan and I are both “planners”. We spend countless hours dreaming up plans for the future while typically staying obedient and content in the present. We usually hold to those plans very loosely, welcoming change. However, this past week has been a different story…

We are 6 days past our original due date, and Morgan’s belly continues to grow. One friend of ours joked, “I think soon Eliza will be going to school inside Morgan!” Haha! We are not worried about Morgan or the baby, as we have come to learn that it is very normal for first time Moms to deliver late. The reality is that this does throw a “kink” in the original PLANS…

I am gonna go ahead and take most of the credit for being anxious by the fact that our plans were being changed involuntarily. You see, the original plan was to be gone a total of 6 weeks MAX (Wait for baby, & 3 weeks recovery for Morgan) before returning home to Las Vegas. We would be in Vegas for a few weeks to get settled in before heading to Austin in August to host Student CPx, and then return back to Vegas again. We have now been in Texas for 6 weeks; no baby has been born. The math pushes everything back 3 weeks, or more. It basically means that we will most likely be unable to go home before we have to be in Austin for Student CPx. When it’s all said and done that’s just under 3 months away from home. That nearly gave me a panic attack. We are paying rent on an empty house, unable to work while away from Vegas, away from the work God is doing there through I.G. in the different simple churches, and the list goes on and on…

My anxiety lasted about a day. While Morgan and I were in prayer and the Word a couple of mornings ago we experienced much peace as the Lord whispered gently into our ears. He gave us a “Big Picture” perspective, and encouraged us to be grateful for this unplanned extra time we get to spend with one another before the baby. As we were reading through Proverbs together the Lord began to reveal to us that we have placed our security in the plans we have made for this baby, and our ability to BE IN CONTROL of things. It feels good to be in control, ya knw? He stripped those plans right out of our hands. We are now forced to trust in Him, not in our control of the situation. There are many things to worry about, but we are being forced (less resistant now=) to rest in the arms of our Father in Heaven. We appreciate your prayers and support, and cannot wait to share baby news & pictures with you.

Please be in prayer that labor and delivery go smoothly. Also, that the Lord would take care of all the details due to this unexpected change of plans in regards to finances, work, bills, I.G., Student CPx, etc. Thanks.

I Better Get Ready…

A lot has been going on since we have been in Texas. Right now we are in “waiting” mode; waiting for the baby to come, that is. Our due date was yesterday, and we still have no signs of active labor. Stay tuned…

While here we’ve stayed pretty busy catching up with friends, spending time with family, planning Student CPx in Austin, and taking care of some important things with our old I.G. Community in Ft. Worth. While I have had much time for deep thought & reading, I have NOT had the time or energy to get things out of my head into a blog post.

A friend showed me this video the other day, so I thought I would share it with you all. I am certain it will brighten your day with some MAJOR laughter. Morgan was in TEARS she was laughing so hard. I thought to myself, “I’m laughing now, but pretty soon our little baby girl will be this old and doing HILARIOUS things like this; I better get ready!” You gotta spend the 2 minutes it takes to watch this video…

Hopefully, the next blog you read here will include baby pics and info! Until then, keep us in your prayers that labor and delivery go smoothly.

Texas. Baby. Daddy.

I just put my wife & mother in law on a plane to Texas. Yes, it’s ok to fly when you’re pregnant. I will head out tomorrow morning in the car with our dog, and enough stuff for a month or so of life in Texas. I wanted to post this to let you all know the “game plan” for the next bit of our lives…(If you know all of this feel free to skip down to the little “survey” at the bottom of the post…)

Our baby is officially due on June 28th, however, we’re praying for her to come a bit earlier. As many of you who have been pregnant or have children know, Morgan is beginning to feel a bit uncomfortable with this rather large baby growing inside of her. We have been reminded lately of how gracious our God is to provide us with such amazing friends & family who have supported us in everything along the way. From baby showers, to prayers for our marriage & pursuits of what God has called us to you have all been a reminder of the Grace of God in our lives.

I have been reflecting over our time in Vegas for the past few weeks. I can’t believe we’ve been here for a year and a half now. God has done incredible things here and all over the place. We have learned a lot, fallen down a lot, been humbled A LOT, and sanctified for His namesake. We have about 8 months left in Vegas, and will be packing up to move to Austin sometime in December of 2009. We will leave behind several thriving new communities of faith here in Vegas that will, by the grace of God, multiply into many more pockets of believers who will continue to proclaim the kingdom of God in Vegas.

We’re excited to return from Texas to Vegas with a new life in our arms. Up until now “how to handle children” in an “organic church setting” has been mere theory with a small amount of practical experience being involved with other communities with children. Our church here in Vegas is excited to pursue this experience with us…

While in Texas we will be spending time with our families, and old I.G. Community in Ft. Worth. It will be refreshing to say the least. I will be getting some things put into place structurally for “Intentional Gatherings” as an organization that will help to propel the vision and purpose forward. (Website, etc.) We will make a few runs down to Austin to prepare for Student CPx, which is coming up at the end of the summer. After the baby is born I will have a few places to go and teach on simple church planting. To say that things will be busy, fresh, and new may be an understatement!

I’m sure I am leaving some things out. I’ll bring this to a close for now. I hope this post answered some of your unanswered questions. I will be on the road for the next couple of days, but will do my best to update the blog. I have a few topics that I’m really anxious to write about. Hopefully, I will have a chance to do so once I arrive in Texas. For those of you who are quite a bit more interested in our new baby than anything else: don’t worry, I will be taking many pictures, posting many blogs/twitters, Facebook updates, etc. as the time comes.

To close: we’ve been playing a little guessing game around here. Would love for you to chime in…give your best guess for the following:

1) When do you think the baby will come based upon the June 28th due date? (early/late, & feel free to give a specific date as long as it is not a prophetic word claiming she will arrive AFTER June 28th!=)

2) Will she look more like her daddy, or mommy?

3) Will she come out with tattoos and/or piercings as many of you claim?

4) Will she have hair, and if so, what color will it be?

5) What color will her eyes be? (her mom has green eyes, and I have blue eyes)

6) Last but not least: Will she have me wrapped around her little finger…?

“Snow” in July…?

It would appear that Morgan and I are…PREGNANT! Woohoo! Yes, Aaron Snow is going to be a DADDY. Those of you who know me well know that this is something that i’ve wanted since I was about….mmmm….12. That’s NOT weird.                  Is it?

On October 20th, 2008 we celebrated our 1 year anniversary. On that day we took a pregnancy test to see if we would be parents.

I’ve never been more excited. Morgan is healthy, but has felt a little crappy over the past few weeks with nausea. She’s already seen our mid-wife at the Birth Center, and we went today for our first ultrasound.

We heard our baby’s heartbeat, and found out our due date; July 2nd, 2009! There will be Snow in July!

The top picture is a picture of the heartbeat. The bright white lines are the beats. The picture below that is my little Snowball. Ladies and Gentleman: Let it Snow.

Parents: Leave us a little note of encouragement/advice in the comments.

Friends: Tell us how crazy we are, and how much you’re gonna be praying for us, and our little baby!