Archive for January, 2008

Due Date and More

It’s January 31st.  No baby yet.

I suppose since there is no baby yet I could take a moment and update you about the past few weeks since I have been silent on my blog.

Joanna and I have been preparing for the arrival of the baby.  She has been amazingly strong throughout the whole process, especially the last month.  Joanna has pretty much wrapped up her construction project at the hospital.  In about a two year period she has added a second and third floor to the hospital and redone the second floor ICU rooms.  The size and cost of the project was amazing and she did a great job!  Just today I spoke to a friend who was with his dad after surgery there in one of the new rooms and was blown away with the size and how beautiful they are.

At home we have wrapped up our own construction projects for now.  We gutted the entire upstairs of our house and remodeled it.  We moved doors and re-framed walls to create a new layout.  The nursery is complete, the guest room is done, and we now have a complete master bedroom.  We have left space for a new bathroom to be installed upstairs shortly after the baby comes.  I’ll try to add some pictures of the upstairs soon.  Thanks to my parents, Kimber, Jim, Jon, and Paul who all helped us on this project!

I have started my fourth class at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena.  We are working on our fourth or fifth week and it has been a great process for me to go through.  The class is called “Lifelong Development” and is taught by Dr. Robert Clinton.  I have been very impressed by him and the material.  It is a good class for me at this point in my life.  I am in such an early stage of my life but so often I feel like I need to have it all together and my eyes on what I will be doing with the rest of my life.  So often I find myself frustrated in where I am at career wise but this course has helped put it all in perspective and understand more of what God is doing in and through me.  Going to Fuller is having an amazing impact upon my life right now but it is really setting me up for the future.  It is a great blessing.

At the church we are in the midst of a youth pastor search.  I have been heading this up and have talked to many different people who have applied for the position.  I feel that we are getting closer to narrowing down our choices.  There have been many resumes that I have read that were not even close to what we were looking for but it is refreshing and exciting to read about and then meet someone who really could be a great fit.

The students and leaders here at the church have been amazing throughout this process.  They have picked up and ran with this ministry.  I have been excited each Wednesday walking down after I release my men’s class to see a room full of teenagers laughing, enjoying each other, and growing together.  There is a real ownership from the students of both junior and senior high.  My deepest thanks goes out to Nate, Jo, Jon, Kimber, Zach, Lindsay, Hanna, Denise, Dennis, Ben, Shannon, the Olds, Crafts, Jeff S, McNeils, Walkers, Longwells, and so many more who have committed themselves to the group and seen it succeed.

Well, I have rambled enough…I’ll talk to you soon…hopefully with baby pictures.

Pray for us, the delivery, and the baby

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and the Final Four

christmas-family.jpg
The Tark Family, Christmas Eve

I pray that you had a great Christmas and New Year!

Our Christmas was great!  It was really relaxing this year even though we had a bit more traveling.  Christmas Eve was spent with the Tarkiewicz including a great meal, a good movie, and a really fun time of gift giving.  Christmas day was spent with the Bennett’s, eating, eating, and eating.  It was a great day filled with laughter, gifts, and watching our niece enjoy Christmas.  New Years was spent with friend in Albion.  We did end up beating the snow which was very difficult to dig ourselves out from the next day.  New Years day was great with a huge victory for Michigan and a great way to send Lloyd Carr out into retirement.

The upstairs of our house is almost complete.  We finished painting last night (thanks Kimber and Mom T).  Carpet is coming next week.  Doors are going in this weekend.

Finally, we are down to the final four weeks of the pregnancy.  Joanna is more than ready to have the baby (pray for her and the stress it is causing on her back).  It has been fun to watch the baby moving and it is still bizarre to be able to feel the baby and start to make out body parts by touch.  The nursery is set (minus the crib as we wait for one part to come in).  We have unpacked and taken items out of the boxes, washed the clothes (thanks Mom B).

I will keep you all up to date as the day approaches!


Disclaimer

I'm a pastor at Family Bible Church. Any opinions, conclusions or hints of wisdom expressed on this site do not necessarily reflect the views of Family Bible Church, Pastor Richard Gerten (my boss) or fellow ministry leaders. I'm sure something at some point might upset someone, just wanted to clear this up!