Merry Christmas!

We hope that you have a great and merry Christmas celebration and are prosperous in 2013!  Thank you for all the prayers and thoughts - we are all doing well.  Sue is gearing up for a mission trip to Nicaragua in June 2013, Jacob is planning on finishing up his Bachelor's degree in Psychology, Megan will continue to go to college and work at Camp Maranatha again next summer, Paula will be with us until the end of May, Stephen hopes to continue to play soccer and sing, and Kevin will hopefully earn his black belt in karate.  Lots going on with us - give us a call or email or skype or something just to say "Hey!" 

Happy Holly-days!

We're rushing through the holiday season!  The Cmas shop at SCC happened today with no issues, which is awesome, the kids are out of college and laying around the house like a couple of bums, and the other kids are hurrying through end-of-semester projects, tests, and activities along with parties, outings, and all sorts of things.  I took a week off of work just to chill, which worked out well, and everything seems to be coming together for another wonderful Christmas.  Woohoo!  Hope things are well you and yours - catch us on Facebook or send an email and let us know what's going on with you! 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving Day is America is one of the most misunderstood holidays of all the holidays we celebrate. It is normally a time to take off of work and be with family, prepare a feast of turkey, dressing, and all the other dishes that people enjoy on Thanksgiving, and then bring family and friends together to celebrate. According to Wikipedia it was celebrated sometime around 1621 and was a celebration of thanks to the Lord God that had given them a bountiful harvest (read it here). We enjoy thanksgiving as a time to celebrate the blessings that God has given us and to enjoy time with friends and family. It is not always a simple thing, but it usually ends up being a fun celebration. I am disappointed in how so many people try to skew the thanksgiving celebration to something about pooling resources to survive. It by no means did not celebrate that, since the early forms of socialism in the North America colonies failed miserably. Socialism is a plague that is spreading through our country and leading us down a path of destruction, which is hugely disappointing to me. Anyways, I am thankful for the blessings I and my family enjoy, and hope that you enjoy this holiday. Thanks!

30th "going steady" anniversary!

Sue and I are celebrating going steady for 30 years - woohoo!  I am blessed to have such great girlfriend that I got to marry.  We love our family and the life we have built together, and look forward to many more celebrations in the coming years.  I love you, Sue!

Good time with Paula's best friend and host family

Paula's best friend Bellen is over here in America, too, and we set up a trip to meet Bellen's host family and her in Chattanooga so the girls could see each other. It was great! The Gragg's were a lot fun, and the girls had a great time seeing each other. We went in the caves and saw Ruby Falls, went to Pointe Park on top of Lookout Mountain, went to the Chattanooga Choo-Choo, and ate a great restaurant. Bellen's family was very nice and we enjoyed getting to know them. As a bonus we got to see some beautiful fall color up there in Tennessee. What a great day!

Fall is blazing by

Things are going well at our house, though it's been kind of busy. School is moving fast a furious, kids are growing and doing more fun stuff, and life is good but fast right now. My 30-day temporary promotion is moving through it's 60th day, but will end the first week in December. Sue is busily working away signing all over the place and getting ready for another test. Jacob is doing well in school, Megan is doing well in school, Paula is enjoying her time with us, Stephen is taller and faster than he was before, and Kevin is getting big, too! Life is good!

Joined a new church

We joined Stockbridge Community Church last month. After being at a church for about 10 years it is hard to make a change like this but we feel like it is the right thing for us to do. We are busily getting plugged in to the life of our new church, which is closer to our house (5' drive!) and has people we see in and around our community. It's exciting to see what God is doing all around us and try to figure out where we can best help. Right now we're focused on getting plugged in to the youth ministry, which should be lots of fun! Pray for us to do what God has for us to do...