a brief update

i know i need to be better about these updates. my apologies. the demands of church life combine in an unhelpful way with my tendency to be tyrannized by the urgent. please pray that i'll be better about focusing on the important things and willing to let lesser issues go.

a quick look the local weather report forecasts rain today, tomorrow, and the next day. and the next day. and the next day. and the next day. and the next day. and the next day. and the next day. and the next day. literally. no one is saying what comes after that...

b is in louisiana for her spring break this week, doing a service project in new orleans. as you might suspect, this is part of the clean up and rebuilding after hurricane katrina, nearly four years ago. she loves columbia and new york, both of which seem like a perfect fit.

n is contemplating her university options and making plans for senior year. it's unclear whether she'll head to a local community college (which would allow her to continue in french), stay at her current high school, or try to combine the two somehow. options 1 and 3 might be easier if she could drive, as she has pointed out on more than one occasion! she has gotten more involved at her high school -- the french and step clubs, a couple of dances -- but it's really not yet a place that she associates with fun and friends.

m is a busy bee. in addition to her ministry at the bridge, she is also volunteering at a youth center with another church in downtown renton, and taking an online class in pursuit of her tesol certification.

our house remains on the market. our intention has been to sell and move to renton - but perhaps that just isn't God's plan right now. we've been trying to give this every chance, but after two price reductions and over seven months on the market, i'll admit that i've been rethinking things. maybe we're supposed to make it work from here.

we are facing significant challenges at the bridge, our fledgling church in renton, and would really appreciate your interceding for us. i'll give more detail on this in a future post, but the short version is that we already seem to have more needs than we have people power to address them. and the deficit may be getting bigger. one of the surprises and great joys of our church life has been having so many new babies. of the people currently at the bridge, we have seven new babies in the last year or so, with two more on the way. that's a great blessing, but it's also a huge challenge as it raises the level of need in the church while seemingly reducing the available people resources. i'm not sure how the Lord will resolve this yet, but we'll need him to do it. in the meantime, you can pray for our congregation that we will love and encourage one another, and not lose sight of the reasons for having a new church -- the hope of effective outreach among those who don't yet know him.

more to come -- stay tuned.