Picture Perfect...

In our 'Christmas Greetings' post, I told you about this 'picture perfect' view from our dining room window. The teasing is over...here's a quick glimpse....hope you enjoy.

This is our dining room. This is the picture window that the pictures above were taken from.

Sandy & The Snow...

Sandy absolutely loves the snow! She like to bounce from one drift to another...she's so funny. And when she goes outside and gets to play in the snow, she doesn't want to come in the house. I had already done some snow shoveling to help her not get lost in the drifts. Hey, don't you love my snow suit!!

Snow Pictures, December 16th...

These are pictures taken from our front porch, Sunday December 16th.

Yep, that's our vehicles!

These are pictures taken from our back porch.

Fast Facts I've Learned In Ohio...

The locals are drinking something like ‘liquid fireworks’…they’re always talking about drinking ‘pop’.
The Wal-Mart is cleaner.
Every house has a basement and a fireplace.
People walk EVERYWHERE.
The locals talk funny.
You either have a filtering system in you house for the water, or, you buy your water.
You keep extra weight in the back of your vehicle NOT because of the slippery conditions but because of the ridiculous wind.
You wear coats, scarves, hats and gloves NOT because they make a fashion statement, but because you NEED them to stay warm.
You don’t care what the hat or toboggan does to your hair.
It really does snow in Ohio.
It really, really snows in Ohio.
A snow-mobile is NOT a 4-wheeler with skis.
The locals have NEVER heard of snow ice creme.
Tabitha is better at a snowball fight than I am.

Holiday Greetings From The Northcoast…

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Even though we’re still a couple of weeks away from Christmas Day, we want to take a quick opportunity to say ‘hello’ and give you a holiday update on our family and our ministry.

Finals are now over at Tiffin University, and we have ended our weekly h2o Worship Gatherings for the semester. I feel so blessed this Christmas with everything we’ve seen God do this past semester. Our inaugural semester for campus ministry has been overwhelming. We’ve had over 60 students attend our h2o Gatherings with an average of approximately 30 each week! Our students were involved in two major ministry projects, and we’ve had 4 social events. We began our Sunday Edition of h2o two weeks ago, which we will continue in the Spring as our build-up of our church plant launch of The River Church.

Tabitha has survived her first semester with flying colors! She’s planning on another busy semester in the Spring. She will enjoy her break as well. Five weeks of no class…no homework…no studying…no papers to write…no choir rehearsals…no dance practice…you get the picture! She’s very excited to relax for awhile. She’s made ton’s of new friends and has acclimated herself extremely well on campus. There is absolutely no doubt whatsoever that TU is where she is supposed to be. She is right at home at TU.

Denise continues to be the glue that holds our family together. From the start of each day to the last thing at night, she makes sure each of us is going in the right direction. Without her steadfastness, I’m just not sure we would survive. Her and Tabitha have our home decorated so gorgeous for the Christmas holidays, and our home is especially filled with the holiday spirit this year. As I write this, the snow is falling and the fireplace is crackling. It started snowing about Noon today, and we’re expected to see up to 8” overnight. Denise loves the snow, as long as neither of us have to be out on the roads.

I honestly wish that each of you could see the view outside of our dining room window. I can post pictures of it all day, but you just have to be here to truly enjoy it. Behind our home is now the remains of the summer’s corn field. On the left side of the field is a beautiful tree line where deer play each day. At the back of the field, there is a gorgeous home that has white lights in each of their windows, and a strong fireplace that has smoke curling out of it. And at night, the lights flicker like candles in the distance. With the snow falling, the appearance from that home, it’s almost like looking at a live Christmas card.

This will just about do it for the night…I would like to encourage each of you to spend some extra quality time with your family this holiday season. Merry Christmas to all, and to all a goodnight…

Settling In For A Long Winter's Nap...

The past several weeks have been a whirlwind around our house. It just seems there isn't enough time in the day... I'm certainly not complaining, I would just like to get a little more accomplished, you know? But then again, there goes my 'work aholic' coming out!

We will have a couple of weeks to catch our breath. TU is in finals week this coming week, which means we won't be meeting at our regular h2o Worship Gathering on Thursday's. We haven't been able to secure an off campus location for our Sunday Evening church plant, so we're looking into mid-January for that. So with those two kinda calm for the Christmas break, we're looking forward into that 'long winter's nap thing'!

But the extra time will be spent in communicating with our students, and planning out our Spring Semester Strategy. Lot's of great ideas on the horizon...can't wait to see them in action.

We had a great Year-end Christmas party with the students, you can see some pics HERE. We had 27 in attendance...our house will NEVER be the same!!! Our special guests were Andy Weems, the Interim State Collegiate Director for Ohio, along with three of his students...Ryan, Andy and Elaine.

The snow has melted somewhat, but the little ice and rain we received today, sure helped slick things up. We're expecting a little more icy rain overnight.

I think that's it for now...my coffee cup is empty...gotta go...

Winter Wonderland...

We awoke yesterday morning to a fabulous winter wonderland. It has been so long since our family saw snow like this! It was totally captivating! We received 3 inches overnight, with another 2 inches during the day. We're expecting another 2 inches tonight. We had an overnight low of 6 degrees...yes I DID say 6 degrees! Today, it was almost 20 degrees for a afternoon high! Now imagine all of the Christmas lights that are on the majority of homes here, against the back-drop of this snow blanket...absloutely gorgeous!

I'm especially amazed at the organization of our communities snow removal program! By noon yesterday, most of ALL of our streets were clear. And even today, only minor icey spots. If we had received this much snow in Arkansas, it would have shut down the entire community.

These are pictures taken yesterday outside of our home...enjoy!