January 11 Already!

Apparently it's been almost a month since I've last written here!

Our whirlwind holiday season is over, and we're settled into a new series at church. Funny how our life is divided into series lately! We started in October with the "Surprised by God" series, each week outlining a characteristic of God (and how it applies to us, of course). Then it was "All I Want for Christmas is..." which included topics on family, marriage, seeking satisfaction, & thriving children. Jan. 2 Eric did a "State of the Church Address", which looked back at what God has done & forward at goals for the year. This Sunday we began "Following Jesus: it's a Group Thing," which will be discussing relationships within the church. This week was about the importance of seeing our fellow believers as brothers & sisters--not just friends. Small groups begin the week of January 23. Praying for more leaders, as right now we only have about 6 or 7 confirmed. Kristin and Josh are leading the young singles group--and they have about 20 on their list!! We have lots of 18-to 23-year-olds at our church!... then, it appears, the rest of our church is more toward the 36-50 age group, surprisingly, with just a few "like us" in the middle.

Eric and I are planning our trip to Costa Rica for the first week of June! He met a man there last year who owns a villa on the Caribbean side, and we will be able to stay there a couple of nights free, and the rest of the time at a vast discount! As it stands now, we will be driving our childrent to AL to stay with Aunt Katie & G & G Frazier, who will take us to fly out of Atlanta. Praying for God's provision so that we can enjoy this celebration of our 10th anniversary!

Our church is also sending a mission trip there in July, but I don't think Eric will go.

Chrissie spent Sat & Sun night here, as she was off work Monday (which is rare). She had pictures of the 9.7 # walleye she caught ice fishing last week!

Braden and I had the flu last week, but we're ok now. So far no one else has gotten it! Fortunately I was better by Friday so I could go to Chaska (about 45 min. away) for a church planter's wives 24-hour retreat at a gorgeous conference center. We were fed like royalty & enjoyed a couple of speakers & some gifts & pampering. It only cost each of us $20, as the Minn. Bapt. Conference and an unnamed donor church provided this for us. Wow!

I need to finish up here because our volunteer who comes on Tuesdays will be here shortly. She enters the attendance into the computer & prepares popcorn & video gift certificate packets & welcome letters for first time attenders. It is such a blessing to have Penny do this for us. She's a middle-aged woman who used to do the attendance at Grace. Her husband, Bill, is a huge Packers fan, so they probably aren't feeling too happy after Sunday! We also now have Britney, one of our former students, doing the bulletin and related publishing for us. She also runs the resource table at church. Again, God has provided talented people to share the load with us. (And we just love Britney!)

Hope you are all well. We will see some of you (in Iowa) this week for our belated Christmas celebration!