Fabulously Fast Fall

As I write, it is almost Christmas Eve. Where did the Fall go? Megan quickly pointed out that her birthday was in the fall. That birthday celebration was quite an event. It was her first time to invite a group of people from school over to the house. It also marked a fun time for church friends to meet school friends. 

The girls also finished the Fall soccer season, and I finished my first season coaching two teams. I enjoyed it tremendously, and had a great group of parents and kids. Hopefully we were able to encourage some of those we met through soccer. One thing all of us enjoyed about Soccer was getting to know people from all different walks of life. 

Megan continued to flourish at school, as did Jacob and Jenna. School has become another place that our family can encourage other people. Most notably, Rachel works in a local elementary school. So, we try to be a part of all the school events that we can so that our children and family are known by the other teachers and the administrators - hopefully known for the right reasons. We also attend those events to build relationships with other families, as well as to get to know the families of our kids' friends. 

Finally, a new place for our family to influence others arose this fall. Justin accepted a new church staff position as Pastor of Discipleship and Small Groups. This will give our family a great platform for encouraging others to grow in their faith. The position will allow our family to stay in the same location, and allow Justin to teach as an adjunct professor in the future. Justin also presented a paper at a national academic meeting this Fall. He will be submitting that paper as a chapter of his dissertation. The whole dissertation will be submitted in January. 

We are blessed to have all of these opportunities to encourage others in the gospel, as well as other smaller ones. We ask that you will pray for us in the coming year, in all of these places that God allows us to serve him.