I was looking forward to sitting around last night to watch the Superbowl. I was able to sit and watch the biased pre-game show in favor of the Saints...and then, HE came on. The president. I have never in my life seen a complete attempt at indoctrination as I had at that moment! I couldn't believe that they had a live presidential interview about, yep-- you guessed it--health care right before the Superbowl. It was a total political move with those that planned it knowing the Superbowl was a way to reach more than 150 million viewers. This will only happen when a liberal president holds office. The liberal media would never allow that interview with a conservative president.

        

This weekend was just great! We had our friends (Merlin and Betty) come and visit us from Warsaw. We surprised them by having Pastor B., Julie and kids over last night for dinner. Pastor B. preceded Paul at Concordia. I think Merlin and Betty got a good laugh out of it (at least I did) and everyone seemed to enjoy the visit. The kids were exhausted from playing all evening. Lizzy snuggled up to Betty on the couch before bed and fell asleep--so cute!

        

Dear friends, this will not be a funny, elaborate message. Fight! Whatever struggles you have in life...FIGHT! God is on your side, who can be against you? The Devil? He has been defeated. You live in Christ! Pray for those who need strength. In your weakness you are made strong. FIGHT!

        

It is freezing here!  We have had consistent sub-zero weather. Tomorrow will warm up to the 20's and I am sure it will feel like a heat wave!  Regardless of the cold weather it has been warm and inviting in our church family. I love going to church to see what is now becoming familiar faces.

        

Many of you might already be aware of a document called the Manhattan Declaration. It has been talked about widely on Fox News Channel. I went to the website to read the document in full. Basically, there are three points that it brings up: the sanctity of human life, the sanctity of marriage, and religious freedoms.  As many of you know, these seem to be some of the hottest social topics of our day.  They are without a doubt being tested and the bar keeps getting pushed to allow for more liberal ideals, contrary to how many Americans feel.

        

We are having a great time in our new home and community.  We took our international student, Elisabeth, out for her sweet 16 birthday to a Chinese buffet.  I think she liked it.  Paul ate something that didn't settle well with his tummy.  He is not having a good night!  Floris and I went for a walk this morning.  It felt great to get out and exercise again!  We met up with the Body and Soul group from church and had a fun time talking with them on the last part of our walk.  Does anyone around here feel like starting to run?  Let me know!

        

So, I think I am beginning to feel like I'm getting into the swing of things again.  Planned my meals and got grocery list together this morning.  Went to bank (saw Crystal!), went to the grocery store (saw Beth!), met a couple of nice people at the store who recognized our picture from the paper.  BTW, if anyone has an extra copy of it, I'd buy it from you...I forgot to get one yesterday.

        

We have made it to our new home in Iowa Falls!  It has been a fun (but crazy) past week. Paul was installed as pastor yesterday.  Beautiful service and great fellowship!  Our new home is lovely...more than we deserve.  I just hope that I can make it look nice with all of the "junk" I've brought with me.  I know that many hours were spent in preparing for our arrival.  Many thanks to all that helped!

Also, many thanks to my sister-in-law, Amy, who helped with unpacking!  She kept me going when I wanted to curl up into the fetal position and sleep for about 3 hours!  Our good friends, Gary and Barb, were also here for the installation.  They drove a long way to be here for us and it is also greatly appreciated!

Today was spent driving Susan back to school   Poor girl!  She did not want to go and cried A LOT!  This is very much not like her.  I pray that she can be diligent in her studies this week.  She will be back with us on Saturday.  We will also be hosting an international student over the Thanksgiving break!  Her name is Elisabeth.  She is from Germany.  Looking forward to that experience.

Paul's mom will be with us as well over Thanksgiving.  Looking forward to spending some time with her.  She is just going to love walking around downtown and exploring with us!

Forgot to mention...had snow and sleet on the way back from taking Susan to school!  It was a very tense drive but I made it!  So tired...must get sleep!

        

It is now official!  Paul accepted the call to the congregation in Iowa Falls, IA.  We visited the community and some members of the church this past Monday.  Everyone was so nice and I must say that I am a bit overwhelmed by all the work that is being done on the parsonage!  I don't think I can wrap my mind around all of the kindness that is being given to us.  It really brings me to tears just thinking about it!'

Speaking of tears, this past Sunday was very hard!  Paul announced that he was accepting the call to his congregations here.  I couldn't even make it through the service without crying.  It is bittersweet as we have been here for almost 7 1/2 years and have many good friends in the church and our community.  I will miss everyone here who has shown us such love and support during Paul's ministry.  I guess I summed it up well when talking to Elizabeth about our move.  She was confused about being sad about leaving her friends but very excited after seeing where she will live.  I told her that it was okay to be both sad and happy at the same time.  This seems to help her process all of the craziness.  It is hard to believe that she was only 2 weeks old when we moved here.  This is the only home she has ever known.  Martin and Theodore are clueless and don't really understand it.  Martin is just excited about having a huge American flag painted on his slanted ceiling in his room!  Susan is equally excited and has already hinted at not going back to St. Paul's.  I would hate to see her not continue going as it has an excellent Christ-centered approach to learning and she has established a good friend group there.  I told her to wait and see how her Thanksgiving and Christmas break goes...she may be very willing to get back to school after being annoyed by her younger siblings!

On a side note...I generally love the double rolls of toilet paper that I purchase.  Less changing of the paper rolls, etc.  However, yesterday I walked into the bathroom only to find that the bathroom had been T.P.'ed.  I can only assume that little Theodore was the culprit behind this mastermind!  I think I will have to be even more cautious at our new house as there are 3.5 bathrooms for him to explore!  That, or I could just start buying single roll toilet paper!

Pray for the congregations, both here and in Iowa Falls, as we make our move...more later!

        

We found out this past week that Paul has received a call for a congregation in Iowa Falls, IA.  Yesterday we received the call documents in the mail.  The process is fairly simple.  He can decided to turn down the call to Iowa and remain a pastor where he currently serves or take the call to Iowa.

Many emotions have gone through our system the past few days.  My sense of adventure and going someplace new certainly makes the thought of moving seem like a good one.  That would mean, however, leaving behind some very dear and much loved church and community friends.  That, of course, is the sad thing to consider with a move.  It is the proverbial plight of a pastor's family.  Pray for Paul as he deliberates this new calling, letting the Holy Spirit be his guide.  I take great comfort in knowing that whatever path he chooses, it will be the correct one.

On a side note...a dear friend of mine sent me this link to a very disturbing video.  It is well worth your time to look at it. 
http://www.breitbart.tv/shock-discovery-community-organizers-pray-to-president-elect-obama/  To some, Obama is their savior and some are just ignorant people unable to think for themselves that what they did was wrong!

On the health care front check out my comment on the previous post (I'm back) for some insight....comments are incouraged!