Our new building is almost ready!  We are actually looking at being into the new place on October 4, so as you can imagine, the excitement is really building around here.  With all that has gone one with this project over the past 14 months (that is not a typo), it is amazing to see it all coming together.

Now, everyone I know who has been through a building program has warned me that, to put it plainly, “life gets complicated.”  Just in the area of health…since we started this project:

• Hannah broke her arm, & pulled a hamstring…
• Brenna got a hip injury in hockey
• Brenna stepped on a piece of ornament glass at a friend’s house, & had to go the ER to have it removed.
• Hannah got a concussion.
• Hannah got an amazing case of hives, her face swelled up beyond recognition, and in the midst of that, doctors discovered that she has a thyroid issue.
• Erin got stitches after putting her elbow through a window.

That list is just off the top of my head, ignores Liz & my health stuff, & the kids normal every day health stuff.  And that isn’t even getting into things like furnace breaking, car stuff, kids being attacked by other kids, and well, just stuff.

Needless to say, it has been a pretty rough 12-14 months.

Yet in the midst of all of this, over the past week, Liz and I have simply been overwhelmed by the love and encouragement we’ve gotten from the leaders in our church to people who have just started attending here over the past several months…from friends and from fellow pastors.  It has been a tremendous blessing and encouragment to us, & has given us great excitement about what God has ahead for this church as we move into this new space!

Although I wouldn’t recommend a year like this past one, it is amazing to see how God turns stuff around for our good.