when it rains...

such an appropriate title, given the reputation of (and recent floods in) our part of the world. of course, as i write this, it's a beautiful, sunny day -- the first one in some time. in this and countless other ways, i remain the unintentional master of irony.

when we have the long 'quiet' spaces on the blog, you can bet that our lives are quite the opposite, and the recent two-week gap is no exception. it's been a hectic and sometimes intense ride, and not for the usual reasons that peoples' lives are crazy at this time of the year. not much of christmas parties and shopping and decorating and writing cards for us -- no, we've been dealing with higher highs and lower lows than that.

• on december 6, at the end of an upbeat visit at a possible worship site for our new church, i got a call from m who instructed me to get home right away so that i could take her to the emergency room. she was having heart attack-like symptoms which we believe were connected to overexerting herself while having severe anemia. we hurried to the hospital in rush hour traffic (which took about an hour, since the grouphealth hospital is in redmond, some distance away). thankfully, all of her tests turned up negative, and she was sent home with a diagnosis roughly equivalent to what we had surmised. the prescription: rest.

• on the morning of december 8, m complained of abdominal and chest pain that had awakened her in the middle of the night, and so, after a brief consultation with a friend who is an emergency room nurse and then with the advice nurse, we went back to emergency. they were all guessing that she might need her gall bladder removed, but again, the tests came up negative, and she was sent home. that was the second trip to the hospital in 48 hours, and she ended up seeing the doctor four times in a week -- compared to one time in three years in montreal!

• on december 11, b received the wonderful news that she had been admitted 'early decision' to columbia university in new york. as you can imagine, that was a real thrill. that evening, we went out to red robin to celebrate her accomplishment with huge burgers and shirley temples.

• on december 12, the bloom came off the rose, as a much-smaller-than-expected financial aid package came from columbia. suddenly, it became unclear whether we'd be able to send her. even though they promise to meet 100% of a student's demonstrated financial need, their formula for calculating it requires us to pay many times the sample amount on their web site ($35,000+!). since that day, we've been meeting nightly to pray as a family that God will provide what is needed.

• on december 18, m noticed that my left eye was very red. she wondered aloud if i was having another iritis attack (the last one was in january 2006, and the one before that was january 2004 -- see a pattern here?). the next morning, i awoke with the telltale blurred vision, and after another consultation with the advice nurse, was whisked off to the doctor. she confirmed the self-diagnosis of iritis, noting that we had caught it fairly early, and prescribed the usual medications. so as i type this, the vision in my left eye is cloudy and blurry, and m is carting me everywhere while i refrain (under protest) from driving.

there are multiple ways to understand what's going on here. spiritual warfare as we try to start a new ministry aimed at taking new territory. the predictable results of the many stresses of a major move. a spell of bad luck. but however you slice it, it's been pretty tough sledding, and we'd appreciate your prayers in the midst of these and other challenges we're facing.

of course, ordinary life goes on. on wednesday, n danced in a ballet open house and is currently preparing to play in a violin recital. b finished up her fall quarter at bellevue community college, with straight a's no less. our final church plant event of 2007 was well-attended and full of energy and momentum.

as we head (limping a bit) toward our first christmas in the pnw (and our first christmas ever without grandma p, who's joining m's sister and family in hawaii), there is still much to be grateful for: friends old and new, a house to live in (spacious compared to our apartment in montreal), many successes, and multiple offers of help in the midst of all of our difficulties. most of all, we are thankful for Jesus, who reminds us of the lengths to which God will go in his desire to identify with, reveal himself to, and rescue us.

although he existed in the form of God,
he did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped,
but emptied himself,
taking the form of a bond-servant,
and being made in the likeness of men.
(philippians 2:5-7)

and in the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields, and keeping watch over their flock by night. and an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened. and the angel said to them, "do not be afraid; for behold, i bring you good news of a great joy which shall be for all the people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a savior, who is christ the Lord. and this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths, and lying in a manger." and suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, "glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom he is pleased." and it came about when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds began saying to one another, "let us go straight to bethlehem then, and see this thing that has happened which the Lord has made known to us."
(luke 2:8-15)

just how big of a geek are you?

not to sound defensive, but lots of people get a rubik's cube for christmas. and play with it until the stickers come off. and decide to re-model their cube with nearly indestructible lexan replacement tiles. and lubricate it with silicone-based spray in the hopes of becoming a speed cuber.



so what are you looking at?

the rains came down and the floods came up

they call seattle 'the rainy city.' the truth is that it doesn't get an unusual amount of rain on average, though it is spread over 200 days a year, which might make it seem that way.

but yesterday was different. the rain fell, and it kept on falling. having been here just a little bit less than five months, we have already experienced the 2nd rainiest day in seattle history. falling trees caused power outages. flooding closed roads. schools were closed, and traffic is still a mess. you can see some incredible photos here.

and to think, i've been worried about the snow...

grateful

i've found it helpful  at thanksgiving to literally count my blessings from the past year. as God often reminds me, we have so much to be grateful for -- some really big things and even some trivial ones. in no particular order:

• the ongoing faithfulness of our friends and supporters in prayer and even finances
  
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• the warm welcome of lighthouse christian church
  
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• the gift of a 2nd car
  
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• be thou my vision
  
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• the temptations (musical group and movie -- not literal temptations!)
  
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• wireless internet
  
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• new friends
  
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• dallas cowboys, 9-1 and on television on thanksgiving
  
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• our first visitors from montreal (sy and d)
  
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• our unforgettable cross-continent trek
  
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• a challenging, faith-sized new ministry assignment
  
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• our friends from montreal, berkeley, sonoma county, and now, around the world
  
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• healing from solar urticaria
  
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• seeing the grand canyon
  
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• the cpr (church plant renton) launch team
  
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• his eye is on the sparrow
  
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• the improbable late season and playoff run of the golden state warriors last spring
  
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• m's and my 20th wedding anniversary

• Jesus, who gives us eternal life and from whose hand we can never be snatched
  

• a front-loading washer
  
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• grandma p's first visit with us in the pnw
  
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• facebook
  
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• our surprisingly international neighbors
  
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• c, who recently became a christian as part of the ongoing international student ministry in montreal
  
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• b and n, who continue to excel academically and minister with an emerging maturity
  

• the view from our sitting room window

for these and countless other reasons, we give thanks. God is ever faithful!

oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good,
for his lovingkindness is everlasting!
psalm 107:1

far too long

as you might guess, we've been a little bit busy of late -- hence the absence of a blog post. but we've enjoyed some big goings-on. here are some of the highlights:

we had our first international student visitor from abroad -- the first of many, we hope. e from singapore came and spent just over two weeks with us. he was a very good sport, helping out around the house and joining us for a variety of ministry activities. in between, he got to see a bit of seattle, sampled the local cuisine, and took some time away from the normal hustle-and-bustle of life to pursue time with God. he also found time to join facebook while he was here and tallied over 60 friends in just a few days -- a very popular guy, that e! we miss having him. we took a million photos while he was here, but for some reason, i don't seem to have any of them! if i locate a few, i'll post them here.

b formally graduated from high school -- fourth in her class -- and took home some impressive awards, including the rotary club's 'service above self' award and the quebec lieutenant governor's award. our family and a number of close friends were able to join b at her ceremony on 28 october, loudly cheering her (and several of her friends) at every opportunity. later that evening, about 15 friends joined us at fu lam buffet to celebrate.

during our brief visit to montreal, we were able to see a number of friends. highlights included a visit with the international student ministry volunteers and student leaders (they've got 3 small groups meeting weekly for Bible study and are gathering monthly for an all-group potluck), staying with good friends l and r (we were stuffed with lots and lots of delicious food), and being surprised by students and volunteers from the international student ministry (about 20 of them, who dropped in for lunch all the way out on the west island)!

the following weekend, m and i celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary. as i said in a recent prayer letter, that's really a testimony to the faithfulness of many committed friends -- and to the God who works miracles. those of you who know us well know that such a statement is not false humility. it is a clear-eyed recognition of reality, a cause for joyful gratitude, and a reminder that our hope is not in romantic feelings or even in steady commitment, but in the Powerful One who works on behalf of those who wait for him.

in church plant news, we have begun meeting weekly with our launch team, to pursue God in his Word and begin laying the groundwork for the new congregation. this is a great group of people, and we are excited at the prospect of God forming us into the core of a new church. there are many hurdles to clear, and we've faced our share of spiritual warfare; last night's blackout in the middle of our meeting was only the latest episode, but a humorous one. please pray for us as we seek God together in his Word, and begin setting pen to paper as we begin making plans.