Life in the Big Potato

Bennett got a Marsh-Mallow Blaster from his beautiful wife for Christmas. Jana got a kiss from Frosty. Emma got a pretty Barbie with crazy wings. Jana was able to assist in the building of a Gingerbread house, while Bennett dominated in a game of Trouble. You're a good man Charlie Brown. And we know you will go very far.

we are surviving the winter (woo hoo), and we are actually having lots of fun. here are some fun pictures from this month. we wish all of you a very merry Christmas. the snow boarders getting ready. that's bennett in front. we actually get to ski and board in Narnia. it's magical. and our life group felix navidad party. we are thankful for the community God has given us. and this is our first Christmas tree from K-mart. "and they will call him Immanuel which means, "God with us." Matthew 1:23

You may be wondering how things are going with us. The church as a whole seems to be doing pretty well. I mean, we are filling up the "pews" (they are actually padded chairs that hook together) each Sunday morning. About a third of our people are involved in small groups. There are about 15-20 children involved on Sunday morning. Our youth group is only consistently around 6 or so. But we have a good group of adults who want to help with the youth. We are looking forward to starting many mentoring relationships. Our building fund is up to around $300,000 ( I think). That means that we are ready to move forward with plans for a new building. We still have to come up with another $300,000 before all is said and done, but we are far enough along to begin the process, which is very exciting. We have a new Associational Missionary or whatever we call it here. Joe Boney will be DOM for our association and the one south of us. Whispering Pines, I think it is called. Jana ...

I have now lived in snow longer than ever before. Not that there was a large reccord to beat. I guess the most days of snow I've ever seen was maybe four. Even then I was on a mission trip in Indianapolis. But here we have had 12 days with a significant amount of snow on the ground. The temps are ranging a few degrees above freezing now, but the snow is still several inches deep. We did get a chance to go skiing last week. As we rode up the ski lift into the fog we really felt like we were riding into Narnia or some other magical winter wonder land. It was so beautiful. I snowboarded and Jana skiied. We both took the lessons that were included in the package we bought. I ate a lot of snow, but eventually started having fun. I can't wait until you come visit so we can ski lookout pass together. See ya on Huckleberry Ridge.