Happy New Year!

This morning, our biggest decision was whether or not to attend one of the many game nights scheduled to ring in the new year.

Many people are out, ready to start the new year with a bang. Ours certainly has. A bang, a crash, a crunch....

Kent called me as he was sitting in the drive-thru line at the bank this afternoon. He was going to deposit his check then head home. About an hour later he still wasn't home, but I wasn't concerned. I figured he'd stopped at the store. We haven't gone grocery shopping yet since returning from Texas.

When he did finally walk thru the door, the first words out of his mouth were, "You can go, but I don't think I'm going anywhere tonight. I was just hit by a drunk driver." My first response was, "Are you serious?" He was.

The car is pretty banged up. The seat he was in is busted.

Apparently the car in front of him was slowing to a stop, as was Kent. They were only going about 5 mph, if that. Kent got slammed from behind and pushed into the car in front of him. The driver who hit him took off, thus making it a felony hit-n-run. The driver in front, and a couple of people on the street, saw the whole thing and took down the license plate # and called 911.

Fire trucks, paramedics, cops....I guess everybody showed up. Kent was dazed and has a bump on his head, but he's ok. The cops caught the guy and believed him to be "under the influence" of something. The witnesses on the street agreed to ID the guy and so he was arrested.

And me? I'm strangely calm. I could look at this and say, "God, with everything else that's gone on this year, why did you allow this?", etc.

But the way I look at it is, "Wow! God you are really taking care of us." It could have been so much worse than whiplash and a bump. I'm also thankful that Zak was not with him. He usually sits where the brunt of the impact was.

God truly is good.

So this new year, we really do have something to celebrate...God's faithfulness to those who love Him. We can't see what's around the corner, but God knows. And He is faithful.

May your new year be blessed. Ours sure is.

I'm Back!

Did you miss me? Probably not if you were as busy as I was! The musical went great! It was tons of fun. We performed for 5 audiences, struck the set and had the cast party. After that came the arts ministry Christmas party, then the staff/elders Christmas party. The 18th found us packed up and on our way to Texas for Christmas. We had a great time visiting with family. Several of us went to 6 Flags for an evening of "Christmas in the Park". We picked a great day for it. Beautiful weather- no wind, fairly warm, clear skies. The next day was cold, cloudy and windy. God blessed us. A good time was had, but man, is it good to be home! We were all a little stressed by the end of the trip because of the constant activity and noise (we stayed with Kent's parents who have 3 little ones at home). Zak enjoyed the constant playmates, but even he was ready to be home. We walked thru the door (at our place) last night and the first thing Zak did was go to his room and lay down on his bed. You should have seen his smile! Home...my own bed...my own space! The look said it all.

Today we spent just relaxing, opening the presents we hadn't taken with us, playing games.... All in all a very pleasant day. You might even say peaceful. Here's praying that peace envelopes your family as well.

More later.

Opening Night!

We opened "Winterland: The Quest for Christmas" tonight. It went great! There were a couple of slip ups, but nothing the audience could attest to. What fun we had. It will only get better from here.

You've gotta stop by and see us if you're in the area! It will be well worth your while!