howdy!

it's 10:30PM on a monday night and johan is working late in the office. we left work around 6PM, went to my brother's birthday dinner @ famous daves and came back to the office. i contemplated going back to work myself, but thought i'd rather spend the evening near my hubs...the work will still be there tomorrow morning. =)

in the last month or two johan and i have been working MAD hours. i started a new job, so there's definitely a learning curve as i seek to gain as much knowledge as i can. johan is settling into his job and finding out that they really need extra help at his company. he's had to step up the overtime and yet he is still behind. we should count these things as blessings however, and be thankful! having a lot of work also means job security, so thank You, Jesus, for providing us with these jobs! we're young and able-bodied, so rest will come when we're older and getting ready for Heaven. like caribou's logo says: "life is short. stay awake for it."

the summer has flown by! God has been so good to us. i've been traveling a lot for work and for fun. i went to vegas in april/may, louisville, ky in june and cincinnati back-to-back for two weeks in july. im resting now in august and then i'll be out in milwaukee in september, which should wrap up my travels for the year. johan has yet to come out and join me on any of my work trips. he's been holding down the fort when i travel and hanging out with the guys and our family.

this summer, johan has dedicated himself to playing at 2 different churches and we still attend our home church. that means we are rotating between 3 different churches and it's starting to wear us down a bit. johan never tires of serving for the Lord with his talents that God has blessed him with! on the contrary, he LOVES getting up at 5 or 6AM for church. :) i think he just wants to be more intentional and efficient about where he uses that energy, so we are praying that God would convict our hearts on where we should be in the coming months...

we love our friends and our family. we think of sarah and all the new adventures the Lord is guiding her through! we love our nieces and nephews and look forward to playing with them every week. we miss our friends and family who are far away from us whom we don't see very often. we look forward to the future where we will continue to grow in our walks with Jesus and in our love for each other. time is a passing, but we're so grateful for the good and bad things we have gone through thus far because we know it produces character within us.

He deserves all our praise!

Goodnight friends and loved ones,
p