"The Office" office party

The Strike is over! We are free! Gone are the shackles of annoying reruns! Throw off your burden of boring primetime!

That's right. "The Office" is back. Michael, Dwight, Jim, Pam, Phyllis, Stanley, Andy, Angela, Oscar, Kevin, Toby, Creed, and the beautiful Jan Livingston.

For those of you who do not watch Thursday night TV, this will bore you. So go do something else, like buy the entire DVD collection of the first three seasons.

Last night, Kara and I (Caleb was being watched by our landlords, the Roths) drove down the street to our friend's house about 8:30 for the preshow party. Complete with beverages, lil' smokies, & mini corn dogs, we got down with our bad selvs all the way up to 8:59. Shh, shh. It's starting!

Though we were disappointed that we didn't get to see much of many Office characters, we were still deeply satisfied (Thanksgiving meal satisfied) with where our beloved show took us. Though we unanimously decided that a half hour was too painful a teaser after the 40 years wandering the desert of unknown primetime TV. Could it have hurt them to feed us for another 30 minutes?

Regardless, the flag still flies. And we say, "O beautiful, for spacious cubicles, for Dunder-Mifflin's back!"

We survived our first week!

A little over a week, and we are still pressing on. This whole moving thing has been super-stressful (a little less stressful than having a loved one pass away) amidst the packing, boxes, driving, switching bills over to a new address, making sure we didn't forget important stuff (like our 8-month old son), not to mention trying to transfer the feel of "home" we had in Redding to a smaller home in Salem. Check back soon for pics of our new place (Kara has done an amazing job).

Kara had a couple hard days last week. We knew it would be difficult moving to a new place, but forgot that Kara was moving from involvement in ministry/great friendships/stable home to NOTHING. Literally, she had nothing. There are a couple of women from Salem Alliance that have reached out to her and spent some time with her last week, but it's not the same. Any of you who have moved know what I'm talking about.

Every day it gets better. Every day we meet new people or see another side of the city of Salem and we are encouraged. Every day our roots here in Salem begin to spread and grow deeper. One day, we will look back and remember these first months as we chuckle about how hard it was. But for now, we have to work a little harder at chuckling. For now, we press on.

My first day at work...

7:00am
I woke up to the sight of my son, Caleb, crawling across the bed towards me. He buried his head underneath me, almost as if he was trying to gain leverage in order to push me off the bed. Cuddling is a new thing with him, and we love it. Sometimes, he mistakes "head-butting" with cuddling, but either way, we welcome it.

7:15am
Tying up my running shoes, strapping on my ipod, & grabbing my dog's leash (with my dog attached to the end of it), I set out for my morning run. I knew that I would need this. It's amazing how much energy I gain from expending it.

8:50am
My wife prayed for me while at the same time feeding my son his breakfast of apples/blueberries. Caleb has not learned prayer etiquette yet, especially when food is at stake, but we spent a moment praying for each other. For me, she prayed for strength, excitement, and we thanked God for getting us to this place. For Kara, I prayed for patience as she makes our house a home and for Caleb to get over his little cough.

9:00am
Orientation with Kyra (H.R.). Signing papers never felt so good. Man, it's good to be here.

10:00am
I arrived at my office to see 30 individual brownies laid out on my desk. A sign above read "Welcome Brownie". An additional sign read "your keys are below" with an arrow pointing to the brownies. Apparently, Logan and the rest of the staff thought it would be humorous to bake my new keys into three random brownies. My task was to search all the brownies and find them. Humorous. Again, I knew I was in the right place.

11:00am
Worship Leader meeting with Logan and Laura. Dreaming. Brainstorming. Talking about the future. This is amazing. To have two other people that love worship as much as I do and to bounce ideas off of each other is unlike anything I could explain. It's my dream job.

12:00pm
Lunch with the worship department at The Ram.

1:00pm
I set up my office and was given a crash course on the church network

5:00pm
My wife met me at the church door and we walked home together. I could get used to this.

All in all, an amazing first day at my new job. God has led our lives to this point and we are grabbing it with both arms. I love this place. I love this job. I love this time in my life.

Our last week in Redding.

Bath time with daddy. Next one would be in Salem, Oregon.


















Our last Sunday at RCF. A bittersweet moment as they prayed for us, and at the same time prayed for the next youth pastor, Nick Welch, who had just been hired to take over the youth ministry.







The truck was packed and loaded Friday morning. We asked my father to oversee the operation and he got everything in the truck - with some extra room to spare! We couldn't have done it without family, friends, and some hungry teenagers.















With the truck packed, we set out early Saturday morning with the Brown caravan. Though Joey and I almost died because traffic suddenly reached a hault and we only had 50-60 ft. to maneuver to the shoulder, we had a safe trip. Don't worry Budget-employee-bloggers, this pic was staged.











Our last meal with the fam before they headed home. We couldn't have done this trip without them. As we uploaded these pictures, Kara and I are sprawled out on our couch in our new home in Salem, Oregon. We are excited about the next steps and know that we are in the caring hands of a good God.

"i will be still whate'er He does"

As Kara and I were walking through the past couple months, it felt sometimes like we were being led blindfolded through thick shrubbery (Monty Python). I found myself at times waking up to the reality of my situation and exclaiming, "So this is what it's like to truly trust God." All at once the scariest thing and most thrilling experience.

I wanted to share with you some lyrics to a hymn entitled "Whate'er my God ordains is right". My father shared it with us one night when he was retelling of a time in his own life that was much like ours.

I don't know what you're dealing with, sweating over, crying over, wrestling with, etc. My prayer is that these words will have the same impact on your heart and faith that they did on mine. Enjoy.

1. Whate'er my God ordains is right,

Holy His will abideth

I will be still whate'er He does,

And follow where He guideth

He is my God, Though dark my road

He holds me that I shall not fall

Wherefore to Him I leave it all

2. Whate'er my God ordains is right,

He never will deceive me

He leads me by the proper path,

I know He will not leave me

I take, content, what He hath sent

His hand can turn my griefs away

And patiently I wait His day

3. Whate'er my God ordains is right,

Though now this cup in drinking

May bitter seem to my faint heart,

I take it all unshrinking

My God is true, each morn anew

Sweet comfort yet shall fill my heart

And pain and sorrow shall depart

4. Whate'er my God ordains is right,

Here shall my stand be taken

Though sorrow, need, or death be mine ,

Yet I am not forsaken

My Father's care is round me there

He holds me that I shall not fall

And so to Him I leave it all