Meet The Colony

~You can read the introduction HERE!~

We are The Via Family
AKA "The Colony"

Our Family Mission Statement:
The Via Colony exists to be a family of disciple makers,
who live for the smile of Jesus, proclaim his good news, honor each other,
serve God's world, and live open-handed with everything we have.

This is my sexy husband.  
We've been married since 2002 and I love him more and more each year.
He is one of the most gifted worship leaders, musicians and songwriters I've ever known.
He is the worship pastor at Seven Marks Church
He likes:
running and working out, sneaking smooches in the hallway, wrestling with the boys, 
listening to the girls sing EVERY song on the radio, drinking coffee 
and perfecting his beard;)

I'm a permanent mom of 5 and a temporary mom to our fosters. I am a work in progress.  I'll never profess to have all the answers but I certainly love to share what works for our family.  Hopefully you can take something away that will help you!
I am madly in love with the worship pastor at my church and proudly call him my baby's daddy.
I am learning to become still in this life so addicted to instant gratification,
and am still becoming who God is calling me to be...
I Like:
cleaning and organizing the house, rearranging furniture to confuse the family, 
listening outside my kid's bedroom doors as they wind down for the evening, documenting life through the lens of my camera (although I am quite the amateur), keeping our garden alive (trying to at least), and blogging about it all (I'm bringing it back baby)! 

Our Ministry:
Preaching the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ through song

Areyna Joy ~ Peace and Joy
Her Likes:
She likes so many things that she gets frustrated when she has to choose one thing over the other. She has a dream of a farm and land and animals for her future. But in the meantime she is thriving as she chases her other dream as a circus arts performer and worker at Cirque de Vol where she gets to fly as high as the ceiling will allow. Seeking out adventure, and as many music concerts as her budget will allow, as well as building a relationship with her boyfriend, are the things that you'll find occupying her mind.
She is a free spirit if I ever knew one.

Ezekiel (Zeke) ~ God's Strength
His Likes:
running (he just clocked 43 miles in an all-nigher this past year!), writing scripts, scouting out places to film, editing, making movies, lifting weights and using his unique self to bring life to the family. He's got a pretty fun YouTube channel with some of his short films for you to check out.

Alethia Grace ~ Truth and Grace
Her Likes:
friends, playing with Babies and Legos and reading (ALWAYS reading!). I have loved seeing her grow in her self-confidence over the past year. I can always count on her as we catch eyes when one of the kids does or says something that leaves us speechless. She is quick-witted and funny.
Go check out the story of  our adoption and how she came to be part of our family!

Micaiah (Cai) ~ Who Is Like Jehovah
His Likes:
playing soccer is his #1 go-to these days, but eating (anything) is a close second, rough housing, wrestling,  making people laugh, and conversing with others (a true gift in my opinion). He is always the first to come  up and ask if there is anything I need his help with.

Jude ~ Thanks and Praise

His Likes:
stealing food, eating food, asking about food, and playing house hockey and soccer and basketball...but mostly hockey! He can spout off just about any stat from any player from any sport. I don't know how he can retain on that information. I told him he'd be a great sports commentator one day!
He's also still one of my favorite worship song parody writers. 

Jemma Sky
Our 2-year-old lab, beagle, basset hound mix.  She was named after Zeke's therapist
and has been the perfect dog for our family!
She is sweet but LOVES to wrestle.
She doesn't meet a stranger but is scared to death of remote control cars.
Her favorite things to do are love on Daisy, our hamster, chase our 11 chickens around
and just BE with us.  She is definitely a people dog and we love her!
Sadly we said goodbye to our sweet Jemma on October 16, 2019.

Berkley
We adopted this sweet pup from Saving Grace. He is some kind of pit/lab mix. He LOVES his people. Relly ANY people. And loves them well. And wants all the people to be in one room so he can be with them all together. We love him through and through, 
even though he is the most anxious dog I've ever seen, ha!

Drawing by Krysteah Carroll