Pray for Aidyn

Matt and Kristin Wooley are close friends of ours from Colorado. They taught our MarriagePlus course. We got some horrible news yesterday that Aidyn, their oldest daughter, has a tumor at at the base of her brain. The doctors believe it is cancerous. She is in surgery as I write this. They are the greatest family and I just can't imagine what they are going through.


Please stop and say a little prayer for them.

Also, hug those around you that you love a little harder today.


I wish you a blessed Thanksgiving.

Here is a link to Aidyn's blog http://www.prayforaidyn.blogspot.com/

Will turns 6!

Our family celebrated Will's 6th birthday at the St. Louis zoo Build A Bear workshop. It was a chilly day, but the cold couldn't dampen our son's enthusiasm for exploring the zoo and visiting all his favorite animals. The memories made that day will surely stay vivid in our minds for some time. Typically on Will's birthday, Barry and I reflect on God's goodness for changing our lives and making us parents. Parenthood has stretched me and challenged me in ways I never thought possible. I often reflect on what God teaches us about His character through the journey of parenting.
Ephesians 3:18-19 says "And may you have the power to understand, as all God's people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep His love really is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is so great you will never fully understand it. Then you will be filled with the fullness of life and power that comes from God."

Isn't it true that we as parents can't quite understand the depth of our love for our children? God's love for us is perfect and the model we are to take in loving and raising our boys. What a gift! What a privelege!

Trick or Treat

I hope you all had fun trick or treating. Our boys are at a perfect age. They still think it is cool to hang out with mom and dad and I can still convince them to give me half of their candy. We had a blast going from house to house. Our boys practiced their "trick" all week to get ready for Friday night. Will pulled his thumb off about 50 times and Luke perfected the amazing talent of hopping on one foot. Pretty awesome stuff.

For the parents out there, cherish "big moments" with your kids. Even though our kids are only 6 and 4, I can see how fast our kids grow up. I figure we only have about 6 more Halloweens with our kids. I hope they never forget these times. I hope we are doing the right things to make their childhood something they can look back on and remember all the laughter.

update - An amazing encounter on Sunday. We visited a church in St Charles for the first time. I overheard the pastor talking to another new couple that said they just moved from Parker, CO (same place we lived). I introduced myself and we ended up sitting next to them. After several questions we realized we went to the same church and after more questions realized we had several mutual friends and finally realized they had been through Marriage Plus. About 100 people in the entire country have been through Marriage Plus. I imagine there are only two couples in all of St Louis and we just happened to walk into the same church for the first time on the same Sunday and run into each other. Pretty amazing "coincidence". We look forward to following up with them.