Unpacked

Well, we're finally mostly unpacked! I've decided that moving is just not for me. I hope we don't have to do it again for a while. We love the house and its been fun getting the Christmas decorations up. (Although the day we put up our Christmas tree it was 75 degrees out!)

The book I did for church planter wives is now out. It's just getting out there and we're already getting great response and a lot of requests for it. I'm excited to hear about how God is going to use this to encourage church planter wives and hopefully to raise an awareness of the need to be providing more support and resources for them.

Things are going great with our church. A couple of weeks ago we had our first baptism service at LA Fitness. In January we're going to be moving to the movie theater right down the road from where we meet now.

The last couple of years Christmas has just seemed to create a lot of stress for me, so this year we decided to keep it simple. Fewer gifts, parties, etc. I'm enjoying it. I'm amazed at how many gifts we buy for people because we have to and how many gifts we get that we honestly don't need or even want. I've always enjoyed giving gifts but as I get older (I guess that's what it is), I struggle with how we do it all. I wish we gave more gifts that really mattered to people who really need them. One final example and then I'll shut up about this. At work this year they decided to have us draw names and do a gift exchange. We're a missions agency! What is wrong with this picture? I let the decision makers know that I thought it made a lot more sense to use our money to do something for our missionaries or families in need, but I didn't get a response. Even though we were STRONGLY encouraged to participate, I could not bring myself to do it. I hoped I wouldn't get a gift, but I did. It was one of those pointless gift books that I'll had to my Yard Sale box.