WOW! It's been awhile!!!!

So, I know Gary had posted a few quick notes, but a lot has happened since my last big post (around 7/4!) and several of you have been asking for an update here.  So here are the highlights:
***For our 1st anniversary, Gary and I visited Palm Springs - it seemed to have the best deals, which we discovered was due to the summer being off-season for the desert!  It was incredibly, unbearably hot, but we enjoyed ourselves nonetheless.  We spent our mornings/evenings at the pool (and even by 9am Gary could barely even handle laying in the shade!!).  We visited "downtown," but only ended up eating at Ruby's, a 50s diner, because it was too hot to do anything else!  We went back into town in the evening for our big anniversary dinner at a wonderful restaurant I had picked out; however, we were so full from lunch we could barely eat the cheese plate and dessert we ordered!  The next day we rode the Ariel Tramway up to the top of Mt San Jacinto (in a giant car hung by a cable - with a rotating floor!!).  We hiked around up top, and were going to eat in one of the restaurants; however, after reading not-so-positive reviews compared to the not-so-cheap prices, we decided to head back down to eat.  I wasn't feeling well and didn't want to go out, so we spent literally hours finding a local pizza place that would deliver to us.  On our way home the following day, we stopped by the designer outlet mall and casino, but didn't end up spending money at either - oh well. It was a wonderful weekend and we were so glad to have gotten away for a little break from everyday life!!
***At the beginning of August, we got a surprise!  My mom drove down to visit and...GIVE US HER CAR! She was planning to get a new car soon and give us hers.  It came suddenly when the alternator when out, so she decided it was time.  We simply paid for the repairs and she drove it down!  Praise the Lord - a return to 2 cars!!!  This was such a blessing and we are very grateful to my parents for this!!! :)  We enjoyed spending time with my mom (although I wish she could have been here longer!!).  We took her to Malibu, Pink's Hot Dogs, church, the Counter, spent half a day at the DMV transferring the title and getting my CA license, and she tagged along with me at work and had a wonderful time playing with the baby!!  Can't wait 'til she can come back!!!!
***Gary has been super enjoying his new job and will be leaving his job with the car dealerships due to his schedule changing when he begins classes at the end of the month.  I get a week of vacation the week he begins so I am excited for some much needed rest/to catch up on life!!  One of my best friends from high school recently moved to LA, so I am hoping to meet up with her then (I don't think we've actually seen each other since graduation!!!).  My job is still going well - although it's about to get more interesting - he will probably start walking any day now!  He is such a bundle of joy and makes me laugh a lot, especially when I make him life - it's adorable!  He has had some separation anxiety for awhile now, but it has grown and grown.  I can't stand up to get a drink if we're sitting on the floor, and have had to take him to the bathroom with me!  He has mastered climbing the stairs, feeding himself with a spoon, and playing peek-a-boo!
***Church stuff: we hosted game nights for our small group every other week during the summer to alternate with our bible studies.  Several couples moved away but we got a new one - yea!!  Gary and I are taking partial leadership in the group now - he'll be teaching a study of 1st Samuel based off of the tv show Kings.  I am beginning a dance team (Great Abandon - FBCP Chapter!) that I just introduced at our ministry fair this week.
***You already saw that I have just been getting over a yucky illness, but after just a few days of asking for prayers, I began focusing all my prayer/prayer chain efforts elsewhere.  I found out about a 15 year old girl from my parents' church in Twin Falls - she lost feeling in half of her body and was being life-flighted to Boise.  It was a stroke, and she has had another one since.  She is still in the hospital in Salt Lake City, as they are waiting for her to be able to eat and drink and regain control of the left hand before they could operate (there is a blood clot in her brain).  So, I've spent a great deal of time on a prayer effort for her, doing everything I can to help out back home ... here is the Facebook group I created for her if you would like to learn more about what happened, join to show your support, and keep up with current prayer requests!  Several other people in the church have been in the hospital lately, so I've been praying for my dad's emotional and physical health while he tried to care for everyone!

well, i think those are the main things - ttfn :)

The Student Returns.

Hey everybody, just letting you know that Gretchen is feeling (mostly) better now. She most likely caught something at work from the baby that she is a nanny for. Poor both of them!

In other news, I will be starting classes at Fuller in a couple weeks. I'll be taking Greek (which I already had 4 semesters of in my undergraduate work so it will hopefully be a nice, relatively easy refresher!) and Patristic Theology (which looks at the theology of the early church fathers and how their theology historically shaped the Church). As a self-professed study nerd, I'm very excited about returning to the classroom! However, your prayers would be appreciated as I am now discovering how to find time for school, homework, a job, housework, and most importantly my beautiful wife! We would both love your prayers as we begin this new stage in our life. We're excited about what God has in store for us!

Quick update

Hey everybody, just a quick update to let you know that Gretchen is feeling pretty sick - the worst she's felt in about a year - so prayers for her would be appreciated! She has a lot of stomach problems/a headache/a fever. More updates will come later, but I just wanted to get this brief update out there so that people could pray for her. :)