Redmond Reality: Happy Fall!

We've been having a beautiful fall so far! And, hard to believe, but we're just days away from our 1 year anniversary! Here's a taste of what we've been up to...

God has shown His faithfulness to us so much this past year. From a new house, to a new niece, to new friends and time with old friends, answered prayers, and discovering new prayers to pray! We are learning so much about Him and ourselves, which is not always easy but is always worth it. We recently had Gary Thomas, author and speaker, come to Providence to do a marriage conference and it was such a great challenge to us. (You can download and listen to the messages for free at http://www.pray.org/resource-center/conferences.aspx - 4 sessions). The premise of his messages were based upon this overall theme - "What if God designed marriage to make us holy more than to make us happy?" One statement that stood out to me was when he said, "If you want to be free to just serve Christ, don't get married, but if you want to be like Christ, get married." In context, he wasn't saying you can't serve Christ if you're married, or you can't be like Christ if you're not married - but he was pointing out that God's design for marriage is to make us more like Him, and that process may not look like what we'd anticipated. But, if we're not like Christ, our service for Him is not what it could be. Anyway, check it out! I think it's worth it!

Also, Jason and I have been taking a Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University class and we love it! We're so grateful for the opportunity to learn this important stuff early in our marriage and allow God to get our financial priorities in order. Check out Dave Ramsey at http://www.daveramsey.com/.

And finally, here are a few pics from birthdays, and our beloved Wolfpack. Oh, Wolfpack, what happened? Jason said he wasn't watching another State game the rest of the season after our loss to Duke last weekend. I think he may actually be serious. Now that's serious.

Dennis' Birthday!