Goodbye River of Life Church

Saying goodbye to our second family at River of Life Church has been really tough. We've met some amazingly wonderful and encouraging brothers and sisters in Christ there and are sad to go so soon. Pastor Bob and Grandma Ann have eased our hearts and spirits during this transition and we are so thankful for their love and support. It was especially nice to have Grandma Ann as Faith's Sunday School teacher.

Dylan's teachers were amazing this year too!

Dylan also met his very first best friend, Carter, in Sunday School.

Dylan will definitely miss Carter and we will all miss everyone at River of Life and hope to stay in touch!

Our Infamous Babysitter/Best Friend

JUSTINE! What else can we say? She has been our babysitter for probably 4 years and we've known her since she was 11-Vince's age! She is such a blessing to our family and we've been spending as much time as we can before we leave. More than just a babysitter, though, she's been a great friend to all of us and has inspired me in many ways. Justine, I admire your faith and maturity at your age and look forward to seeing all the things God's going to do with you!

Goodbye Dinner with the Dujmovics

This past Saturday, we were treated to a very delicious dinner and some excellent fellowship by the Dujmovics. They are our friends from our last church in Andover and we have known them for probably 4 or 5 years. They are a beautiful family and are so much fun to hang out with. Lisa went all out and bought a ton of organic goodies in our honor and we were definitely spoiled there. It was great to enjoy a night with their wonderful family to hang out and say our goodbyes. What a night to remember!

The kids enjoyed playing some video games together. . .

And some other things. . .

so Lisa and I got to visit. . .

And Gabie instantly sensed Rich's safe-guy vibe!

Thanks Dujmovics-you guys are such a blessing to us! Our prayers are with you as you mourn the passing of Rich's grandma this Christmas.

Mixing Things Up a Bit

This blogging thing could get to be really fun! The kids are just so fun!

Well, I've been trying to stir things up a bit so the kids' minds aren't just on moving. We thought we would do something crazy, so we decided to have Dairy Queen. Everyone who doesn't already think I'm weird will think so now; our kids haven't had an ice cream cone in probably 2 years! So Gabie got to have his first ice cream cone ever, and Dylan had the pleasure of teaching his little sister how to eat a cone. (He had to explain to her that you can eat the cone, just don't eat the paper on it! You have to remember, though, that Faith is the girl who thinks a Happy Meal is a mealtime when everyone sits down nicely and has good manners!)

So here's Gabie with his first ever ice cream cone:

At first, he was pretty unsure about the whole thing, but with time (and taste!):
he was your average American ice cream lover!

Hey-you may think this is crazy, but it sure was easy to make my kids happy with a $6 trip to DQ!

2007 Christmas

Saying Goodbye to Minnesota

Welcome to the first installment of our blog page. While I never thought about doing one until now, I've always enjoyed checking out all of our friends that are in the same state as us. So I thought it would be good for us to use it as a way for our Minnesota friends and family to check in on us from time to time.

And just as I suspected, we are going to be spending the next few weeks not only packing but trying to get one last visit with many of our friends and family, especially for Christmas. While I know it won't be possible to see everyone, we are so grateful for the ways we have been blessed by each one of you. Please make sure to keep our phone ringing and emails coming at least for our first month down there so we don't feel lonely!!!

Check back after New Years and I'll have pictures of the move into our new home! For now, we'll go from here:

. . .to here.

The moving truck will depart either the 27th or 28th (yes, of this month!) and we will plan on bringing in the New Year in Catoosa, Oklahoma, just off of Route 66!

In the meantime, we have been listening to a lot of Christmas music and one of the phrases is my favorite: "And God sent out salvation, on that blessed Christmas morn." (Name that tune, anyone?!) That's what we're celebrating, right? God actually sent out salvation to us that morning that we've somewhat modeled our American Christmas after 2000 years later. May it be the celebration of all our hearts! (For those looking for a great, short Christmas read, check out Cosmic Christmas by Max Lucado. It's a tradition for our family to read it every year.)