Tuesday, May 31, 2005

This is Where I Live


So this is where I live (well, within an hour's drive of where I live). These are the Beartooth Mountains, East and West Rosebud drainages, just outside of Roscoe, MT.

We spent Memorial Day tramping over the woods and through the hills, and it sure felt good to be back. If you'd like to see some photos of our trip, check out the slideshow below, or just mosey on over to our photo album and find the images filed under Tuesday, May 31 2005.


Click the thumbnails to see the larger view


(slideshow is still not working quite right, sorry!)

Sunday, May 29, 2005

Sunday Morning Glory

Look what greeted me outside my window, this fine Sunday morning...

Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass, which is alive in the field today, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith! - Luke 12:27-28 (ESV)

Friday, May 27, 2005

May Update

Just a quick post to let you know what's up here at the end of May. Finals are over (hooray!), we are back in Montana for the summer (hip-hip-hooray!), and we have passed the PCA Church Planting Assessment process (woo-hoo!). This last item is particularly welcome news for us, as it means we are on track to continue pursuing church planting in Missoula for Summer 2006.

I'll have more news and updates shortly, but for now we just wanted to let you know that we made it back safely and appreciate your prayers on our behalf.

Saturday, May 21, 2005

Back in Big Sky Country

Hey folks, just a quick update to let you know that we made it back to Billings, MT yesterday afternoon (Friday), having trekked the 2200 miles (34 hrs drive time) from Philadelphia without any major incidents - other than sore backs and butts. So we finally took in one of Malachi's baseball games (they got killed), we get to watch another today (they can't possibly play any worse :-) and then tomorrow morning Marilyn and I climb on a plane and fly to Atlanta for 5 days to attend the PCA Church Planting Assessment Center.

All this to say: a) we'll still be offline for the better part of the next week, and b) we'd definitely appreciate your prayers.

We have some pictures to put up, but it'll probably be a week before we get to it, so in the meantime, your patience is greatly appreciated.

Wednesday, May 11, 2005

More Baseball Photos

Just an FYI...there are some baseball photos of Malachi over on Yukon Cornelius.

Saturday, May 07, 2005

Teammates


Rebekah, and her teammate Elise.

Happy Birthday Marilyn!

Today is Marilyn's birthday, and I wanted to take a moment to tell her how much I love her! I LOVE YOU MARILYN! (feel like I need to break into the 'Nellie Song' at this point)

[Actually, I realize that it's utterly pathetic if you have to post a blog in order to tell your wife you love her - so fear not!, I have already lavished my affections upon her personally and will continue to do so faithfully (after all, it's Mother's Day tomorrow! :-) All that to say this post is for you more than her!]

So anyway, today was a great day in that:
  • a) we both slept in past 8 AM (Ahhhhh...)
  • b) I really did intend to make breakfast for her, but dang, I was groggy this morning... so she and Rebekah had already started on the eggs and sausage by the time I staggered downstairs (but I DID help once I got there). And it was delicicious, especially with the fresh roasted Ethiopian Harrar (one GREAT cup of coffee, by the way!)
  • c) we actually had time to sit and talk for a bit this morning (I love doing this - she says something meaningful, I tell her how much I love her, she says something profound, I tell her how beautiful she is, she says...ok, ok, I'm just kidding. Well mostly. We had a great time just talking. I'm looking forward to a lot more of this come summer)
  • d) next up, Marilyn's parents drove down from Milton to bring birthday presents and have lunch with us -it was really great to see them before we head back out to Montana this summer
  • e) then it was off to baseball games! Rebekah swung the bat and hit a single! Woo Hoo! And Micah had a couple of really nice hits that were caught (but he did drive in an RBI). All told, it was a beautiful day for baseball. And I even got some studying in at the same time...
  • f) we came home and took a NAP! Gentle breeze blowing through the window, blue sky and golden sunlight filtering through the trees... ah! bliss!
  • g) and now, evan as I write, Marilyn is off pursing her lovely lips and breathing sweetly into that French Horn of hers - she has her last symphony concert of the season tonight, and I must confess that I am really proud of how well she has improved this year. She sounds good! Plus her horn teacher tells her she's beginning to play with 'attitude' (and yes, that's quite a compliment).
So that was the day, and it was a fine one at that. Here in Philly we are wrapping up for the school year. Classes are finished, I am studying furiously for finals, and 11 days from now we should be on our way back to Montana for the summer! Can't wait to see Malachi, who by the sounds of it is having a killer baseball season back in Big Sky Country. Of course we're also looking forward to seeing the rest of you too!

One final note: from May 22 - 26 we will be attending the PCA Church Planting Assessment Center in Atlanta, GA. This is a significant 'next step in the process' as we look towards future church planting work in Missoula, MT in the Summer of 2006. For those of you who pray, we would definitely appreciate your prayers regarding this: pray that God would help us to be real (yeah, I know what you're thinking... pray that he helps us be wise too); pray also that he would give those evaluating us great insight and wisdom into our own character, so that we can know ourselves better, both our strengths and weaknesses. Pray that this process goes well, as the outcome will significantly affect what happens after graduation. Did I mention that we need you to pray? :-)

That pretty much does it for now! You probably won't hear much from us again until early June, but we will be thinking of you and hope you will do the same for us!

See you in Montana!

(p.s. - Micah's birthday is right around the corner on May 15th! He will be 12!!!!)