Updates

It's a cold night in the Tri-Cities, and Jim and I are wrapping up three delightfully-free days. Since he returned home Wednesday night, we have done NOTHING except relax and enjoy each other's company. This is a very rare treat for us, as our lives seem to get busier and busier!

Jim made it home safe and sound, despite having been awake for 30-some hours. He went straight to bed and woke up right before his scheduled endoscopy on Thursday. I'm happy to report the endoscopy went well. The doctor did take a few samples of his stomach and small bowel to biopsy, and we will know those results next week. I'm also happy to report that Jim thoroughly enjoyed his first-ever round of fentanyl and versed! He had the poor nurse in stitches over the things he was saying during his recovery period.

We also just celebrated our one-year-anniversary at Quinault Baptist Church. It's amazing to me to think that a year has passed by already. Jim and I have been so blessed by his position and the group of believers we serve at Quinault, and we are so thankful that God placed us here!

Jim and I are also preparing to make some big changes in our life together. The main change is our address. Our apartment lease is up in February, and we have a few options open to us. We are spending time in prayer and carefully considering our budget to make this decision, and we hope to know what we are going to be doing in the near future!

Speaking of budget, our second Financial Peace University class has begun. Jim and I are excited to watch the class grow and see people from outside our church attend. We are so thankful for what Dave Ramsey's teachings have done for our financial situation, and we can't wait to see others likewise affected. Jim and I have experienced such peace and blessing as we've aligned our financial decisions with God's will, and we hope (depending on our upcoming housing decision) to have the rest of our debt paid off by October of this year.

I'm working nights right now. This worked out well when Jim came home, as I am 12 hours off and Jim has been 16 hours off. We've pretty much been up all night and sleeping all day. That is coming to a crashing halt tomorrow as we return to our normal schedules again! I work two weeks of night and one week of days for the rest of the month, and then I hope to finally have a little more stability in my schedule.

Jim and I are going to be busy with upcoming youth events in February. Our church's Disciple Now (a weekend retreat dedicated to disciplining the youth of our church) and our church association's "True Love Waits" retreats are both taking place in February. We are also going to be focusing on fundraising for the two mission trips coming up this summer.

Like I said, Jim and I are thoroughly enjoying our time right now when we can relax at home, because we know that time is short. And most likely we will not have days like this until this time next year!