Beach House...

Ok, so it's not right on the beach, but from Sunday to Wednesday, the Furrs, Musielaks, and Gobles crashed at my sisters place in Whitehall, MI. It's about a mile from Lake Michigan and Duck Lake...both incredible places to hang out. What a gift...thank you Fishers!!

While we were in Michigan connecting with our small group from Hamburg, my sister, husband, and daughter were at our house, living large in Chi-town. They made good use of the train into the city and it sounds like they spent every ounce of energy enjoying the sights. What a great house exchange!

The time in Michigan was good. During out six plus years in Hamburg, NY, we became very, very close friends with the two couples (Larry and Audry Goble, Rick and Carrie Musielak). We met as relatively newly-wed couples and shared life through significant transitions -- including adding children to the family. Between the three couples, there are six kids...including the one leaching life from Heidi.

I'm not sure what I expected out of the time, to be honest. I knew we would enjoy hanging out. We did. I thought we would have some deep conversation...that was somewhat limited by the energy spent wrangling all the kids (4 and under). I thought we would spend time at the beach...that was great! I thought we would continue to explore what our relationships will look like with the Furrs in Chicago...this was an important part of that journey.

When we were preparing to leave Hamburg in January, I vowed that I would arrange for us to all meet together for a vacation sometime this summer. This Michigan trip was me making good on that promise. I was excited to do that for my friends.

So that's a bit of an update. I'm back in the office today, getting settled back into the routine here.

It's a big weekend...Northwest begins our second worship gathering this weekend. We will worship God at 9 and 1030 am. I'm excited about this shift.

Peace,

M@