My Worship Revolution

Hello again friends & family,

The year is almost over and it’s been a good one!
I (Bobby) started the year with my second semester teaching music at Ceiba Middle School, continuing to lead and plant Missio Dei Community, and working with CYT Santa Cruz on the side, directing the musical Bye Bye Birdie.  Rachel finished off her first successful year working part time as an Education Specialist with Ocean Grove Charter School.  Of course, it wouldn’t be a Marchessault family year without some form of job change, so don’t expect this story to end that way!

Caleb got involved with karate at the Boys & Girls Club, not to mention some swimming as well, and  Micah had a good time for his first year going to pre-school a few times a week.

As most of you know, 3 years ago we set out on a venture to start a new church community in Santa Cruz, Missio Dei Community.  That continues to be a great faith family for us who we’ve had a blast with this year.  Of course, starting something new like that isn’t without it’s ups and downs and adjusting expectations.  The spring and summer became a time for Rachel and I to wrestle with God a little and ask what this church was supposed to look like and what he wanted us doing.  It was a difficult time, but we came away from it all very clear about and excited about doing ministry in the community of Santa Cruz, a place and a people we have fallen in love with.

Our summer was spent taking a lot of time in Southern California (& a short stint in Portland) meeting with ministry partners and raising support.  While we set to that, Micah and Caleb got to spend a bunch of time staying with Grandma & Grandpa in Big Bear.  Rachel and I had the privilege of getting to see so many great people and catching up with so much friends and family, and under no uncertain terms did we get to go to Disneyland without our kids. (What they don’t know won’t hurt them.)

Caleb finally lost his first tooth somewhere along the way and is now tearing it up in first grade.  His loves to read and we’ve been super proud of how well he’s been doing it.  Both the boys played soccer and I got the chance to coach Micah’s soccer team.  Yeah, get your laughs in now.  You probably know how much of a soccer fan I am, which just shows how much I love my kids.  We also had such a great experience with Marina last year that we opened our home for a month in the fall to Martin, a college student from Denmark.

We became aunt & uncle again recently when Rachel’s brother, Joel, had his 2nd son.  Yup.  That makes the count between our 2 families…boys: 7, girls: 0.  Rachel is now working full time with Ocean Grove and I’m no longer at Ceiba, instead working part time focusing more fully on building Missio Dei Community and spending some more time with the boys.   We’re closing out the year with myself in a musical up here, and all of us looking forward to a nice Christmas as a family in our own home.

It’s been a year of change, but not quite as drastic as some past years.  As we look back, we are so thankful for all the people God has put in our lives.  This summer was a great time of being reminded of all the significant people we’ve been blessed with.  Thank you for being a part of our family and we hope everyone reading this has a blessed holiday season with friends and family.
2014, here we come!!

Merry Christmas y’all!

Bobby, Rachel, Caleb, & Micah