As most of my few readers already know, we got the idea from our friends the Smiths of putting out a brief weekly update containing the mundane details of our life. We haven’t been very good about keeping up the practice, and the last one we sent out was in the spring. I’m going to start posting them here as well, in case any readers here are interested. Normally they will contain pretty minor details, but so many significant things have happened since the last one we wrote, that this one is pretty rich.

Ok, here goes…

1. At the beginning of the summer we got rear-ended in our Jeep and it was totaled, but we were fine. It turned out well because we were already thinking about selling it and getting something more fuel efficient, and the insurance gave us more money than we would have been able to get reselling it.
2. We bought a car from a dealership which turned out to be a total lemon. The engine was really bad, but we had bought it as-is, so the guy didn’t want to let us return it. Eventually we wore him down though, and we got our money back, minus $500.
3. Laura’s mom and step-dad sold us their Honda Accord, which is in great shape and has low miles, for a great deal and we now have a car that we absolutely love and that gets great gas mileage.
4. You will remember that we lived at a work-for-rent apartment. Well the people who owned that house finally sold the property and said that we would need to move out by November. They tried to get us to stay and work until then, but that would have been terrible for us to try to do in the middle of an already hard semester. So we finally worked it out and agreed to move out in August.
5. We found a wonderful little apartment in the town of Ambler, just a few minutes away from where were living. The landlord is really nice and he paid for us to repaint the apartment and fix it up just right. In August some of our faithful friends were kind enough to help us move all our tons of stuff to the new place.
6. Now we’re just about getting settled into our new place and really enjoying it. We’re right across the street from a grocery store and right on the main street of the town. We’re looking forward to getting to know this town and our neighbors.
7. Right after we moved all our stuff in, Laura’s dad and step-mom flew us and the rest of the family out to southwest Colorado, where we spent about a week relaxing and sight-seeing. We had a great time!
8. During the summer and into the first couple weeks of the new semester Laura organized a ministry designed to help new students at the seminary get adjusted by helping them to connect with one another and with current students and by providing them with a variety of helpful resources. We set up a website that serves as a central location for telling students about these resources at www.wtssa.org.
9. Now we’re a couple of weeks into the new semester at Westminster, and it’s looking like it might be our hardest one yet. We’re both taking Gospels, Old Testament History and Theology I, Reformation History, and a Counseling Observation class. Laura’s also taking Counseling and Physiology, and I’m taking a systematic theology course called Doctrine of Man. All of these classes will be pretty challenging, but we’re looking forward to them too.
10. Next summer we’re hoping to each do an internship at a church, probably in Asheville, NC. My parents have kindly offered to let us stay in their basement apartment over the summer, which will save us from having to pay a second rent check. Please pray that a good opportunity will open up for us.
11. I now have a new job, working about 8 hours a week teaching ESL to Hispanics. It pays very well and allows me a lot more time for studying, which I’m going to need!
12. Laura’s photography business is still growing slowly, and she’s still working part-time at the daycare, and now she is probably getting another part-time job doing office work at CCEF - the counseling ministry that is connected with Westminster. That’s on top of a full load of classes! She’s one hard working lady. Please pray for her.
13. I’ve corrupted Laura and she has started liking coffee!

Sorry, that was a lot to catch everybody up on. Next time I’ll try to keep it short and sweet. Thanks for reading!