Josh & Jen
with Maggie Pup, Ellie & Emmie
(and two more on the way!)
What a year 2025 has been! If last year was full of blessings and chaos, this year was full of adventure, big change, and the humbling reality of building community from scratch. We kicked off January in Texas, celebrating date nights (A Complete Unknown!), daddy spa nights, and snow at our beloved Faimes home. We had no idea that by May, we’d be saying goodbye to everything we’d ever known in Texas and hello to a completely new chapter in Birmingham, Alabama.
In March, Josh received a job offer from MediaMerge, a large audiovisual systems integrator serving churches, museums, and municipal clients across the country. After much prayer and many family discussions, we decided to say yes to this opportunity for Josh’s career growth.
We spent our final weeks in Texas squeezing in as much time as possible with our Grace Bible Church family, home group, and Texas loved ones. We celebrated Emmie with a Minnie Mouse birthday, Ellie got to have a joint party with Thea, our anniversary, and even got to celebrate Pop being 14 years cancer free! By May, we had packed up our lives, said tearful goodbyes at a farewell gathering, and—right after Mother’s Day—started our roundabout tour of Texas on our way to Alabama.
The move itself was bittersweet. Josh went ahead to meet the moving truck and start settling the apartment. The girls caravanned with Lolli & Pop and stopped in Baton Rouge for beignets and oysters (a little Southern welcome!), and arrived in Birmingham at the end of May to start our new adventure. We’re so grateful for the community the Lord gave us in Texas—especially our decade-long Grace Bible Church family that became our spiritual home—and we’re learning that building community doesn’t happen overnight.
Finding Our People
One of the hardest parts of this move has been finding a church home. We spent more than a decade at Grace Bible Church, first as congregants and later with Josh on staff. It wasn’t just a Sunday gathering—it was our people, our spiritual family, our place of belonging. Starting over has been humbling.
Within our first couple of weeks in our apartment, the Lord graciously introduced us to Allyssa and Jacob (and their dogs!). What felt like a simple neighborly connection quickly became a deep friendship. They opened their lives to us during one of our most vulnerable seasons, and we celebrated birthdays together, shared meals, and did life alongside them from day one.
In June, we visited Green Valley Church after a conversation with a former coworker of Josh’s from Grace Bible Church who recommended it. Later, a pastor from Green Valley reached out to Josh after tracking down his contact info by calling Grace Bible Church. It felt like a little gift from the Lord—proof that He was walking with us even in our loneliness. We found welcoming people and solid teaching, and it was a good first step.
Then in July, as Jen was attending a women’s Bible study, she reconnected with an old acquaintance from college who invited her to Valleydale Church. What started as a reconnection became a renewed friendship and a new church home. We jumped into Valleydale’s community, joined a re|engage marriage class for the semester, and met some phenomenal mentor couples—people with deep wisdom and life experience who have poured into us and walked alongside us during this vulnerable season of transition. Those relationships became anchors for our family.
But here’s where God’s faithfulness gets beautifully complicated: as the fall progressed, we felt the Lord calling us toward the Church at Brook Hills, primarily so our girls could build stronger connections with some of our dear friends, the Guion family, and their children. These are people we love deeply, and our girls adore playing with their kids. It felt important to prioritize that community for our family right now.
It’s been disorienting to move churches repeatedly over such a short time, and honestly, it doesn’t make perfect logical sense. But we’re learning anew how to follow Jesus and build a community of believers to walk alongside. Sometimes this means being willing to be uncomfortable, to keep saying yes to community even when it’s messy, and to trust that the Lord knows what our family needs—even when we don’t (we still don’t).
An Unexpected Journey
June and July were about exploring our new city beyond church walls. Jen started the hard work on obtaining her Alabama nursing license (still in progress), and we discovered some wonderful spots: the Birmingham Zoo, McWane Science Center, Aldridge Gardens, and the beautiful hiking trails at Red Mountain Park and Moss Rock Preserve. The girls have taken this big transition remarkably well—Ellie occasionally mentions missing her Texas friends, but overall our girls are thriving with new adventures almost every week.
In August, Ellie and Emmie started at Shades Crest Preschool, where they’ve found wonderful teachers and friends. We also celebrated Josh’s birthday and special occasions with Allyssa and Jacob—our friends from those early days in our apartment who had quickly become family favorites.
What we didn’t expect was how mutual this blessing would be. Recently, Jacob sent us a text that deeply encouraged us in the best way. He shared that he met us during one of the hardest seasons of their lives, after losing his best friend Nic. He wrote: “Your family gave us something real outside of school that was pure. You guys are fun and just genuine people and your character gave us hope when we needed it.”
We sat with those words on Sunday evening after our re|engage marriage group celebration dinner. The Lord had knitted our families together at just the right moment—not because we had it all figured out or because our family was perfect, but because we were simply willing to show up, be present, and share life together. Their friendship has been such a gift in this season of transition, and knowing that our presence meant something to them during their grief? That’s the gospel working itself out in real time. That’s community at its truest.
The Lord has been faithful in the smallest and biggest ways. In September, we got a new van (made possible by a partial early inheritance from Josh’s grandfather—what a blessing!). Josh has stepped into an increasingly leadership-oriented role at MediaMerge, though it means he’s often stretched thin and hard at work. Jen has been absolutely incredible managing the girls’ activities, unpacking our home, meal planning, and keeping our family grounded during this transition.
New Blessings
In November, we received the biggest surprise of all—we’re expecting twins in May 2026! Jen’s dad is generously helping us purchase a home in Birmingham to make space for our growing family, and we’re in the process of planning and preparing for this new season. November also brought celebrations: Lolli and Pop visited, we welcomed a new cousin (Baby Madison!), and we’ve been reflecting on how God’s faithfulness shows up in community, in answered prayers, and in unexpected blessings.
As we head into 2026, we’re holding tightly to the truth that God’s grace meets us in every season—in big moves, new jobs, new friends, putting down roots in unfamiliar soil, and all the uncertainty that comes with growing families and changing landscapes. We’re learning that community is less about finding the perfect church and more about saying yes to Jesus and the people He puts in our path, even when it’s uncomfortable and messy and requires us to be vulnerable again and again. And sometimes, we discover that by faithfully being who God made us to be and showing up as the hands and feet of Christ, we’re part of healing we never knew was needed.
We’re so grateful for each of you, for your prayers during this transition, for the friendships we’re building here in Birmingham, and for the ways you’ve stayed connected with us across the miles.
Wishing you all a wonderful Christmas filled with peace, joy, and the comfort of God’s abundant provision!
Josh, Jen (and twinies), Ellie, Emmie, Maggie Pup
