Merry Christmas All!

It’s been perhaps the strangest Christmas season ever, but "different" is good, yes? And I love remembering the birth of heaven – in the person of Jesus – on earth; is that cool, or what! We miss Corrie (our first Christmas without her; she’s celebrating in Germany), and our “kids” aren’t so “kid” any more. Has anyone told you they grow up quickly? Dang!

We’re still in transition, of course. The number of crises is down: Charlie’s estate is more or less closed; we’re just waiting on some paperwork on title transfer of the car. The tree on the house is pretty much done; we’re just negotiating with the insurance company about how much they’re going to pay us, but it’ll still work out OK. In fact, the insurance money may cover the cost of Charlie’s estate, and that would be cool.

I’m losing my assistant at work (Beth is taking a job in massage therapy: she has a license, and she’s ready for it!), and our Sue & I are feeling like our grace to be “in transition” about church is running out, so we’re expecting a change on that front as well. We’re building great relationships with several churches in the area. Please keep praying for GloryHouse; it seems like there’s some tough stuff going on there.

May your 2008 be more than you have hoped for, and may your challenges with 2007 be gone, except for the lessons and foundations they’ve left for your future! Thanks for your prayers!

Snows in December

Welcome to December. The snow is a nice change! TJ wishes it would stay for weeks. The rest of us are glad it's relatively short termed.

We're kind of wrapping up the details of Charlie's estate. There are some terribly lagging details: the title of the car is more difficult than we expected; please pray for an expedited process. We still have decisions to make about some of Charlie's "stuff" too.

Sue's mom is more a focus of our attentions now. She's still at home, still has 24-hour in-home care, and it's still expensive. Sue is finding means to pay for it; her mom has no idea how hard her daughter is working on her behalf! Sue is wonderful! She's wrestling with reverse mortgage details, government agency obstacles, bank bureaucracies, and still maintaining a family, a job and a life! She's so cool!

We've nearly finished cleaning up from the fallen tree; there remain but a few details. The most daunting will be to finish raking up all the leaves (under the snow, before they kill the grass), but those aren't huge issues. I've submitted the claim to the insurance company, and now we're praying for a quick and easy resolution.

Corrie is wrestling with finding the will of God (and the provision of God) in Germany. Boy, that's familiar! Josiah is wrestling with the changes from "adolescence" to "adulthood." That's a rough transition for anyone! TJ is working hard to finish high school; she's been asked to apply for a job in her idea of heaven: the local library, so we're praying for favor there!

Thanks for your prayers. You rock!