One journey coming to an end, a new journey begins!

There are 7 weeks left to graduation and the time marches quickly! Life in the last semester of Seminary, 4 young girls, homeschooling and planning for our next chapter of life keeps our minds in the moment, yet here and there we dream and think of what is to come. I think Shane can see the light at the end of the tunnel, though it hasn't let up yet. I am seeing how to close out our school year and how much more to try to do. Not to mention the day in and day out instruction, correction and training of our children, home, school, etc...

People ask us all the time, "Where will you go after graduation, what is the plan?" We chuckle and say, the plan is Montana, but we have no idea where, or jobs or homes or anything! It is said that Montana and other areas in the Northwest are actually considered an unreached people group with only 2% evangelical. There is a great need to revitalize churches as well as plant new ones. Since Shane has grown up in this region, he understands what it is like and who the people are. He is a native so to speak. He has also been away and seen and experienced many other ways of life and now seminary too. So it seems he would be an ideal person to minister the gospel in these areas. In addition, we would really like to be near his family to be helpful in the coming years, life out there can be hard if there is any illness or injuries with needing to get wood and managing snow, etc... And lastly, this is an area we would love to live and raise our family. All of this has gone into our plans to go there, but God directs our steps (Prov 16) and we will go where ever He leads us.

We do not have any leads with any churches and pray for a full time pastorate in this region by this summer. Our main concerns right now are how to decide what area to settle in while we wait for the fruition of a call to a church. We don't know what area to go to (ie... a town or city), we need a home to rent, and income to bay bills. It is daunting and overwhelming. We are excited, but also battle with anxiousness a little as there are so many unknowns. However, God has been so faithful in bringing us to seminary and seeing us through seminary that we are confident He is leading us and training us for ministry in His kingdom, we just don't know how or when and what to do in the meantime.

Well, this lets you know a little of what is in our lives right now and how you might join us in prayer for His will to be done and for our faith to grow. I pray this finds each of you well as you read this. We are planning to visit home (California and Cornerstone) the first 2 weeks of June, but are not sure yet how the finances will go. But we need to connect with family, and church family and get some things we have stored there. So we are trusting God to provide a way for this to work. Enjoy the recent pics! (Tess's birthday and family in the woods!) And for our friends and family in cali, we hope to see you soon!

Blessings,
Jess

Christmas Break

The Christmas season is now over. This is always a sad time of year for me. I love the Christmas season, college football is about over, and hunting season is about over. My consolation right now is that I just watched Oregon win the Rose Bowl and am currently watching Stanford in the Fiesta Bowl. I haven’t been able to watch a lot of football this year so it is nice to watch some big games tonight. We also had intermittent snow all day today and that was so very beautiful to watch!

The break has been a busy but good break. I have worked a lot of hours in my job and done a lot of studying. It has been good to have a break from the rigors of classes. The week after finals we went up to a cabin in Brown County Indiana for 2 nights and 3 days. That was a really nice time together. The weather was cold and we enjoyed times around the fireplace. We also went hiking and played a lot of games. The lodge up the road that rented the cabins also had a very large indoor water park which we all enjoyed.

We have been able to hike quite a bit in the last month. It is a great time of year to hike here because the mosquitoes are dead, the poison ivy is dormant, the snakes are sleeping, and the heat is gone. So far, it has been unusually warm also with temperatures getting as high as the sixties, but mostly staying in the mid fifties.

Christmas was a nice time for us this year. It was weird because it was the first time in which we did not spend at least part of the Christmas season with family. Yet, it was nice to be together even though we missed family.

Now, we are exactly halfway through the winter break. However, for me, the break is mostly over! I start a two week class tomorrow on the doctrine of the church taught by Mark Dever. I am looking forward to the class and the reading for the class has been really good. It has helped solidify some questions in my mind regarding the nature and function of the church.

Jess and the girls are doing well. Kate just finished reading Jane Austin’s Pride & Prejudice. She is a reading machine. Rose is really growing up as a little girl. She is becoming much more articulate and playful. Little Tess is just as spunky as ever. She almost always has a twinkle in her eye and is trying to make us laugh. She often comes up and says something goofy to make us laugh. Beth is nearing a year old now. That seems hard to believe. Her top front tooth came in forked so that is weird. It makes her grin really goofy and she grins a lot! So far, she reminds us of a cross between Kate and Rose. She is determined and persistent, yet when she gets fussy, she can fuss with the best of them!

The below pictures are the story in photos of the last month. Enjoy!




















Jess and the girls in front of a really cool tree we found on our hike this past Saturday.




















Tess has developed a great love for Minnie stuff! She got her first Minnie from my uncle Chris last year and has grown to really enjoy her!














The girls love to play with their stick horses and pretend they are either wealthy show jumpers or cowgirls. We got them some cowgirl hats and bandanas for Christmas and they wear them all the time!
















One of our traditions here is watching jets around Christmas. With Louisville being the UPS hub in the US, the airport gets quite busy the week of Christmas! These Jumbo Jets are chartered by UPS. They are fun to watch!














All of the pictures below are from our cabin trip.














This is the aquatic center at the lodge in Brown County State Park. It is really nice!














Rose coming down the slide!














We went on a night adventure hike. It was fun and cold!














Playing games in front of the fire at the cabin we rented.















The girls as we are leaving for our hike from the lodge.

This is the cabin we stayed in