Hello, Peters Patch readers! It is truly an honor to be one of the local voices sharing life with you. My name is Jay Higham, and as of Sept. 5, 2012, I will once again be a resident here in the Peters Township/Canon-Mac area.

I thought I'd take this first blog post to introduce myself and share a little bit about what has brought my family and I back to the area. Twelve years ago, my small family and I moved into Peters when I accepted the postion of youth director at Peters Creek Presbyterian Church on Brookwood Road in Venetia.

I was 24, married to an amazing woman, with a 1 year old and another on the way. The years that followed were simply wonderful. Peters became home for us. We loved the area and the people.

After our second year, the rental that we lovingly named, The Shack, became a little too small for our growing family. So we bought a house and moved to Glencannon, becoming residents of Canonsburg. Now we had two amazing homes.

By the middle of year five, we added a third child to our family and accepted a new job that would take us away from Peters Township and Canon-Mac. While it was sad to have to say goodbye to so many friends and a great place to live, we hoped that we might return.

Somerset, PA became our new home as we split the past seven years working for two ministries, Pine Springs Camp, in Jennerstown, PA (2005-07) and St. Paul's Presbyterian Church, in Somerset (2007-12). Living in Somerset was great—it's a beautiful community with year-round activities for the whole family. But there was just something about the PT/CM area that we missed.

Now, we're coming home.

In September of 2011, a small group of friends felt the call to start a church that would serve the areas of Peters Township and North Strabane. I was asked to come and be the pastor at Harvest Church. After some serious prayer, my wife and I thought this was what God was calling us to do. So in February of 2012, I resigned from my recent position as director of Youth and Family Ministries at St. Paul's, and we began making plans to relocate back into the area.

Having served as a youth pastor for more than 21 years, I am excited for the opportunity to lead this new, young church. I am also excited to return to the areas of Peters Township and Canonsburg, and I am thrilled to be able to share it with you here on Peters Patch.

As a husband, father and pastor, I am passionate about the family. What I hope to bring to this community are the stories and adventures of our family and the lessons learned along the way.

- jay