We're Back

After a long hiatus, I finally have some photos for you to enjoy. These were taken over the past month or so and give you a little peek at what's been going on in our lives recently. Some big news: We finally know where Anna will be attending high school next year! It was so weird for John and me to go through the process of considering the different choices since we grew up in rural areas where there was no choice - you just went to the one school in your part of the county. She will be attending Westminster Christian Academy, a school with a rich history of providing an excellent Christian education for college-bound students. If you haven't heard already, she wants to follow in her Grandma Shirley's footsteps and pursue nursing. She has awhile before she has to settle on that, but I can see that she possesses the gifts and personality that would make it a great fit.

John is LOVING his job at Wellspring. It's as if God said, "Okay, you haven't done much for 8 months, so here's some stuff to make up for it." He already has one of the biggest client loads among the other counselors after only 2 months. He has initiated and been given permission to pursue establising a child and adolescent center within Wellspring. A couple of weeks ago he went into a spare room and, within a few days, turned it into a space specifically designed for children, complete with bright colors, toys, and lots of candy jars. His first client to see it said, "This is awesome!" He also initiated and is pursuing plans to hold a summer camp for children who receive counseling and otherwise struggle with emotional health. He has connected with Sports Fusion, a local kids' amusement center who has agreed to allow him to use their space for a very reasonable fee and provide advertising through local schools they already have a relationship with. He is busy and, like I said, he is loving it.

Enjoy the pics! Hopefully it won't be so long between posts next time.

My family took me out to dinner for my birthday at a fabulous Italian restaurant in Louisville called Rockies. The best part of the night? When I ordered my margarita, I got carded! Can you believe it? I think it was the low light that deceived them, but I'll take it anyway!

Noah's 5th grade classroom became an African raniforest jungle for Festival of Learning night at school. These guys worked for about 6 weeks researching, writing, and drawing to prepare for the research report and tours they would have to give to guests visiting the room that night. It was quite impressive!

John and Anna at the Dads and Daughters Dinner and Dance that our church recently hosted. Isn't this a great shot of the two of them?

At our school, the entire week before spring break is Spirit Week with each day having its own special theme. Here Anna and Noah sport their school spirit and colors on blue-and-white day. Go Eagles!

For all of you Men in Black fans out there, it's Agent J and Agent K on the prowl for disorderly aliens (on Alien Day, of course).

Speaking of disorderly aliens . . .

Noah's 5th grade basketball team made it all the way to the championship game in their end-of-season tournament. They ended up losing a VERY hard-fought game at 26 to 34. Noah has a lot of passion for this game and we are proud of the effort and sportsmanship he displayed this season.

Lost and Found

I am such a blogger wannabe. I look at others' sites with their links, dozens of followers, updated, nonblurry pictures with captions (even though a friend tried to help me out, I still can't get it - sorry Elisa) and my heart sinks a bit. And what is that orange strip of gobbledygook at the top of my page? I think I found a new sin: blogger envy. But I am committed to following through with this idea, so I will try to reform my ways and be content with my mediocre blog:)

First, some great news! About a month ago, John got a call from the director of Wellspring Counseling Center here in the St. Louis area. She was checking in to see how the job hunt was going (as you know, it wasn't) and to invite him to meet with the center's 18 counselors to see if he might want to become part of the team. John had actually met with Wellspring counselors last spring shortly after he lost his job at Twin Oaks, but felt he needed to search out a salaried position with benefits rather than join a center where income would be based solely on the clientele he would have to slowly build up. He's a good man and wanted to provide for his family.

Needless to say, eight months and no job later, the idea of a counseling center was a little more appealing! After meeting with the group a second time, John felt convinced that Wellspring was the place for him. He officially became a part of the staff a couple of weeks ago and has already been blessed with several clients. I think the best part has been seeing him get excited about his calling again. God used the temporary job at Costco to help provide for us, and we are thankful for it, but monitoring rotisserie chickens (necessary as it may be) can't really compare to helping hurting people find peace and healing in their lives. Tomorrow he meets with the principal of an inner-city Christian school to talk about contracting with them to provide counseling for their students one or two days a week. I'll update you next time as to how that worked out.

We are halfway into Noah's basketball season which is always fun. During his last game he made 10 points with the help of a little incentive. After the previous game, John had told him he could be scoring more if he were to use the backboard. Noah wasn't really convinced, so John offered to pay him 25 cents (I know, we're cheap) every time he used the backboard in the next game. To think that dad actually knew what he was talking about . . .

Anna's wrist is finally healed. She broke it the Friday before Thanksgiving and tomorrow will finally be able to leave the house without a brace. She's looking forward to being able to wear long sleeved shirts again after freezing all winter! I can't believe she's going to be 14 in less than a week. I wouldn't change a thing about her. We have plenty of teenage moments around here, but she is, at heart, a beautiful young woman and I know the growing pains are a necessary part of her becoming who she's meant to be. Feel free to remind me of this often.

A wise man once said, "All the art of living lies in a fine mingling of letting go and holding on." I feel like we've received our fair share of instruction in this truth over the past few months. It hasn't been easy, but it has been rich with growth and redemption. And there's really nothing better than that.

Winter Doldrums

I've had a hard time getting motivated to write this new post. It's not that I don't have anything to write about, but that I've been fighting the winter blues. I'm actually thankful for the return to school because of the sense of normalcy it brings back to life. John was laid off from Costco this past Saturday, which hasn't helped. It will be a year in February since we learned that John would be losing his job and I think the duration of this trial is wearing on both of us. We know and believe in our hearts that God is good and his timing is perfect - that He has a plan for John's calling - but it's easy to become impatient and to want this to be over. Please pray for our spirits and that we would continue to glorify God in the midst of these uncertain circumstances by praising and thanking Him for all we do have.

Man has it been COLD around here! I feel like I'm back in Muncie with these single-digit days and nights. We've been using our woodburning stove to help keep things toasty, which reminds me of my childhood when that was our only source of heat. There's something especially comforting about the scent and warmth of a wood fire. We actually had a snow day today, which both the kids and I get excited about. They spent some time outside sledding with a neighbor, but coudn't stay out for too long because of the low temps and bitter wind chill. When they came inside, however, it wasn't empty handed. They managed to come across a mole struggling in the snow and set about rescuing it from the cold. They thought it was a baby, but I wasn't so sure. It seemed pretty streetwise for a newcomer. They put it in a shoebox and tried to feed it warm milk which wasn't a very successful endeavor. After they had it sufficiently warmed, they let it go in the neighbor's woodpile. It will probably dig up one of our yards this spring. Oh well. They haven't put that much spirit into a project for a long time!

Christmas was bittersweet. The kids and I got to stay at Mom and Dad's for five days, but John had to leave after two because of work. The kids did get to spend a lot of time with their cousins, and I got a lot of reading in, which was nice. We were all back home together by the 27th and on New Year's Eve I threw a surprise 40th birthday party at our house for a friend. It was a lot of fun. I bought champagne for a toast, but since we'd never bought bubbly before, we didn't know how to open it. You should have seen us trying to find the directions. Not cool. Anyway, John finally popped the cork, everyone cheered, and now we know how to open champagne! We celebrated the East Coast's New Year so we could go to bed an hour earlier. Again, not cool, but, hey, we're getting old. Then when the real "St. Louis" new year arrived, we got to wake up to the whole neighborhood setting off fireworks. You can never accuse the residents in our neighborhood of skimping on their fireworks.

So that's a little bit of what's been happening in our lives. I'm hoping that by next time I'll be writing about John's new job. We will see . . .