The Great Adventure: Nearing the End

It has been so long since I have posted a blog, many of you have probably forgotten we even have one! I checked the date of the last post and I am not really sure how that much time slipped by in between posts. Well, sort of… This has been the most challenging semester so far and the last three months have been the busiest I have ever been. The combination of a full load at school that included Hebrew, working 20 hours a week, and serving at our church during a season without a pastor proved to be very time consuming! Not to mention being sure to spend quality time with Jess and the girls! Needless to say, when I turned in my last final exam on Friday afternoon, a great sense of joy and gratitude came over me as the Lord brought us through yet another semester! Now, I have five classes left to take to graduate with my Mdiv. I will take one this winter and four in the Spring to finish.

Despite a very busy season of life, we are doing well. The Lord has provided strength and mercy every step of the way. Our family outings were much more limited this semester than they have been in the past, but we still were able to make some great memories. We were able to go camping for three days during our fall break. We were able to once again experience the incredible colors of a Kentucky fall. The colors came late this year, but were stunning once again. One can only marvel at a God so gracious as to give us such beauty for us to enjoy. We were able to do several hikes in the surrounding state parks, including some picnic dinners. We were able to go watch the National Horse Jumping Competition in Lexington with the girls. I took Kate bow hunting for the first time. We were also blessed to have Ed and Sherie (Jess’ parents) come out and spend a few days with us. In fact, we were so grateful that Jess got the flu the night they flew in and we made sure it spread through almost everyone before they left!

Now we are settling in to enjoy the Christmas season and some relaxing time together as a family. We are going away next week to a cabin in Indiana for a few days. We have been looking forward to that for several months now. Our little house is cozy with our Christmas tree and decorations so that has been enjoyable. We are looking forward to snow and colder weather also.

As we begin to look to the future and pray for what God would have for us, we would welcome your prayers for us. It is hard to believe there is only a semester left until graduation. It seems like we just pulled in and unpacked the truck!

I have posted some pictures below of the past couple of months. Lord willing, either Jess or I will try to keep our blog a little more current from now on! May the Lord richly bless you as we near the time in which we celebrate the coming of Christ to rescue us from our sin and restore us into a living relationship with God our Father!

Blessings,
Shane

The girls with their new stick horses on a recent hike. An early Christmas present from Papa and Nana!

Hiking out at our favorite forest; Bernheim Forest.

Jess and the girls in front of the Christmas tree on Jess' birthday.

This photo was taken at Fort Harrod. It is a rebuilt fort from the first settlement in Kentucky, dating back to 1774. They have it set up as it would have been then and it is fascinating!

Tess has been collecting a zoo from Christmas presents over the past two years. She had them all set up in her bed with her!

I was blessed to be able to take Kate bow hunting for the first time. We saw deer but not close enough to shoot! Last season I was able to hunt quite a bit. This season I have only been out twice.

Kate caught a huge Praying Mantis in our yard this fall. She made a cage for it and named it Katie. She said it was a girl. Not sure how she knew that. Katie ate very large crickets caught in our basement and she slowly ate them alive. Pretty gross. Unfortunately, Katie only made it about two weeks.