Three Men and a Lady

Time is short, so I'm just going to bullet point the last few days...

*Christmas Eve Eve service was great. It was the first time I had to sit with the two of you in service without Daddy's help. You both were surprisingly good. It was the threat of no Santa that did it.

*Christmas Eve we went to Auntie Shar Shar's house with my family. CRAZY. Kent, you were more interested in eating the appetizers than you were in opening presents. At one point, I said, "Kent, come away from the table and open up more of your presents", to which you replied, "No thanks." Parker, you lost it during the White Elephant game when someone stole our gift, and we ended up with a 24 inch Flamenco Dancing Doll from the 40's. All in all, good times.

*Christmas morning was AWESOME. I loved watching you both open up your gifts and giving out your presents to the other members of our family. We were a bit disappointed in your lack of surprise at getting Mario Cart for the Wii...Parker, you could tell by the shape of the box what the gifts was. You also sneeked out of bed at 4:45 in the morning, so you had already seen all of the gifts downstairs under the tree waiting. Kent, your favorite gift was a Deigo animal carrier, and you didn't let go of it all day.

Christmas Day was spent at Grandma Joan's and you boys had fun playing Mario Cart and Wii Resort with Daddy's cousins Chris and Grant, and with Uncle Michael.

Now we are getting ready to pack up stuff for the move. It's getting down to crunch time. I am so excited to join our new church and I'm thrilled to start a new chapter, but leaving family puts a cloud of sadness over my days. I am beyond thankful for this new ministry position, and I am confident that God has provided this place for us to serve and grow, but it is the farthest I will have lived away from home since 2002, and it's the farthest you will be from our family since you were born. I feel as if we are going with God's hand of blessing upon us...I just wish everyone we loved was coming with!!!

This next week we are seeing all of our closest friends and family before we take off. Last night Mr. Jim and Mrs. Sam and Charlie Schultz came over along with Mr. Aldo, and tonight we head out to be with Mr. Bob and Mrs. Bea Konrath, and Mr. Doug, Ms. Becky, and your pal for life, Sam. Tomorrow night and Thursday night will be spent with Aunite Shar Shar, Auntie J, Aunite Angela, Nico, Gigi, Grandma Bea, Mimi, and all of my cousins. Then Friday, we'll see Grandma Joan, Uncle Brian, Auntie Melissa, Kayla, and Sarah. Then we'll go to church Sunday at Stone for our last time, and then begin to pack things up for the journey down to Bethalto.

I've been operating in a daze; I'm still grieving over the loss of Grandpa, adjusting to life without the Crew students, and worrying about a job for me. I'm wondering how I'll fit in a new ministry place, how you, Parker, will adjust to a new school, and Kent, how you'll handle all of everyone else's stress.

I was listening to a podcast from my favorite speaker (besides your Daddy of course), and Pastor Mark Driscoll was talking about how before God sends us somewhere, all of the details are already worked out. I take comfort in that.