The Intentional Life

This year Hannah gets to share her birthday with my favorite holiday. Hannah actually celebrated her birthday 3 different times before this actual day that i don't really think she realized today was the actual day. However, i didn't want the day to go by with acknowledging the celebration of her birth. Hannah is boundless energy - she is constantly hopping. She is affectionate - she tells us many times a day "i love my mommy/daddy/Owen/Mads" And although she can drive us mad with her whining (we're still working on that) she makes us smile and laugh many times a day. Hannah, we love you and are so glad you are a part of our family! And to not overlook the whole reason we are able to celebrate - Thank you Jesus that you were willing to come to this earth, die on the cross, and rise from the dead to conquer sin and hell and death so that we can celebrate birthdays and look forward to heaven someday!

Well, we have become content with our crazy life as it is: raising three children under the age of 4, packing every few days to go live on campus at Gateway, working with delinquent teens (sometime as much as 7 at a time), getting Paul through college to get his Master's, doing our best to glorify God in our day to day lives. Ah, but I have found that although God calls us to contentment, once we find that place, He often calls us beyond it to stretch us some more. And so, Paul and I are taking on the challenge of fulltime houseparenting at Gateway. How does that differ from what we are doing now? Well, right now we live in a little house a few miles off campus and support the fulltime houseparents (Jarod and Molly Steffen) by running the house while they take their 9 days a month off, running doctor appointments, helping with treatment plan decisions, keeping the food room stocked, doing general maintenance around Cypress House and on campus, and completing other various thing