Prayer Request from Shelley Buhner

Friends:

Please keep Shawn Buhner and his brother in your prayers. Here's Shelley's message.

Wes

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Will you please add a prayer request to the list? As you know, we went to Houston last weekend to visit Shawn's parents. Shawn's mom has not been well for about 4 years but this weekend we realized how bad she was. Shawn and his brother Jay are going to Houston on Wednesday to take her by force and get her into assisted living here in Waco.

Please pray that Shawn and his brother have patience and make the best decisions possible. Also, please pray that their parents will be open to their help. Shawn's father is a diabetic who has had two heart surgeries and is capable of taking care of himself but not of her too. We have found her a place here in Waco but we are not sure how they are going to react to the situation. When we try to discuss it with them they admit they need help but never do anything about it.

Thanks,

Shelley

News, Prayers, and Changes to Our Blog!

Friends:

Good afternoon, everyone! I don't know about you, but I'm glad that the 65 degree weather has returned. Spring will be here soon enough! Anyone ready for the Easter Egg Hunt?!

First off, let's say a big welcome to Becca Herbert! She was a guest in our class this morning. Becca, we were delighted to have you with us! We do hope that you will come back and see us again next week. We are so pleased to have you and Brady as part of our church!

Next, thanks be to the Ericksons! They brought our donuts this morning. Thanks, Mary and Vince! Next week, Stefany AND (notice the emphasis on the AND part) Sean Goolsby are in charge next week. Thanks for signing up, Goolsbys. Sean, we'll save your chair for you!

PRAYERS

Both Jennifer and Steve May will be traveling this week. Please pray for their safe travel.

Also on the May front, pray that everything will come to a good closing on their home transition.

Loren Jantz is traveling to Tulsa tomorrow. Pray for his safety. Please also continue to pray for the Jantzes as they make important decisions. Ask God to be with them and help them find what is best for them and the Jantz girls.

Amy Nicholson has asked that we pray for her sister, Mindy. Mindy has been having some health problems recently. Pray for better days for Mindy.

Franci Rogers would like for us to continue to pray for her friend Kathy. Kathy had a double mastectomy this past week. The surgery went fine, but Kathy has lots of recovery and chemo ahead in the future. Please pray for strength and courage for Kathy.

Those are all of the prayers for now, but, if there are others (and I'm sure there are) be sure to send them along.

NEW FEATURES ON THE BLOG!

Be sure to visit our blog! You will see two new features on the right hand side. One of them is known as a "Cluster Map". This map tells us where in the world (literally!) the people who visit our site are from. It also keeps track of how many people visit our blog. I think you'll agree that this map is fascinating to watch! Am I technologically sophisticated or what?!

Next, you'll see that we have two new polls, both of which have to do with the Baylor men's basketball squad. Be sure to record your vote! Khalil, we're rooting for you on the second poll!

READING FOR NEXT WEEK

I enjoyed our discussion this morning. I think it would be overkill to discuss politics every week, but it is important for us to think together--and sharpen our minds--with regard to the relationship between politics and religion, especially during this time of heavy-duty political campaigning. For those who weren't in class this morning, the article we discussed can be found here. Feel free to agree or disagree with the author however you wish!

Even though we sometimes see matters differently on various questions within our class, I'm proud that we can discuss these topics in a reasonable and dispassionate way. Other groups would have no courage and would shy away, yet we're willing to discuss difficult issues, and I think we do it quite well. We're held together by our faith in Christ, which makes disagreements about politics secondary to say the least! If anyone runs across another article that you think our class would enjoy discussing, please send it along.

As for next week, we will plan to read through Chapter 25 in Treasures of the Transformed Life. If you run across something in the book that you would like to share, be sure to write it down and plan to discuss it with us!

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Dana and I hope that all of you have a great week. We'll look forward to seeing you next Sunday morning!

Wes and Dana

Update, Your Prayers for Rhonda Glanzer

Friends:

Many of you know Rhonda Glanzer. She is having a difficult time again. Please pray for her and the Glanzer family. Perry, her husband, has given some details about how we can help them. You can read his message here:

Thank you for your prayers for them and for considering ways that we might be able to help them. If you’re interested in doing a meal, the person to contact is Brandi Ross at TROSS14@hot.rr.com.

Wes

The Bears' Incredible 5 Overtime Win

Friends:

For those of you who didn't stay up, the Bears men's basketball team just won an incredible, unbelievable, 5 Overtime game against Texas A&M.  The final score was 116-110.  

Way to go Khalil and the men's basketball team!  Unbelievable!  Look out SportsCenter!

Wes

Red Door Project Message from the Rogers, VanZee, and Good-Suhm Families

Friends:

Please read the message below from Franci, Robbie, Jill, Brian, and Good-Suhms (whom you'll meet soon enough!). I want to encourage all of us to participate. This is a great opportunity for us and our kids. If you would like to donate some canned goods or other items that are listed below, you can bring them to church this Sunday and Franci and crew will take care of delivering them.

Thank you for taking the lead on this, folks. God bless you guys!

Wes

P.S.--And be sure to share this message and our blog site with your friends!


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A few of us have begun volunteering with the Red Door Project, which has a food pantry for people in the Waco area who are living with HIV or AIDS. It's been a great opportunity to get our kids involved and show them a concrete example of how to "love one another." So far, our efforts have been mainly around marking food items and putting them on the shelves. Next month, we will expand to providing a lunch to (and eating/fellowship with) a support group for HIV+ women.

Once we have been doing this work for a while, we will probably have a better understanding of what the Red Door Project's needs are, and how we can help them best. The pastor of the church that sponsors this project has been fantastic about coming up with ways for us to involve even the youngest kids. So, if other people from the class are looking for meaningful ways to get their kids involved, I'm sure we can help them find a way in the very near future. But for right now, if people would like to donate food, we would be happy to make the delivery on behalf of our class. This would also be a great way to introduce the idea to the kids. Take them on a trip to the grocery store to buy a couple of items for the food pantry. (We did this with Carter, and he was really excited to pick out some of his favorites to share.) We (the Van Zee and Rogers families, and the Good-Suhm family from another class) would be happy to take any donations you want to bring on Sundays. Otherwise, they can be dropped off at the Metropolitan Community Church (the corner of 16th & Clay).

Thanks for your interest in this project!
Franci & Robbie
Jill & Brian
Jennifer & George


Here is a list of the most urgently needed items:


Red Door Pantry Needs
· Canned fruit juices
· Instant potatoes
· Crackers
· Canned spinach
· Fruit cocktail
· Canned peaches
· Canned green beans
· Canned corn
· Canned peas
· Boxed Cereal
· Soup
· Hamburger Helper and other boxed dinners
· Canned stew
· Canned meats and fish
· Candy
· Cookies
· Shampoo
· Disposable Razors
· Toothpaste and brushes
· Antiperspirant

Lots of News, Cold Weather, and Other Stuff

Friends:

Good evening, everyone! I hope you've had a great weekend. If you think we're cold here, look at it this way. We could be living in Green Bay, Wisconsin, where its -5 tonight! Remind me not to move to Wisconsin (right, Rogers family?).

We have lots of news this evening, so this may be a long message. Let's get to it.

First, thanks to the Matt and Beth Ramsdell (with a bit of help from Susan!) for bringing our donuts this morning. Thanks for coming through even when you can't be there, Matt and Beth. Next week, the Ericksons are in charge. Thanks, Vince and Mary!

PRAYERS AND PRAISES

We have many, many prayers this week.

Franci Rogers has asked that we pray for her friend, Kathy. She was recently diagnosed with breast cancer.

Dave and Ashlee McCrary will be traveling this week. Pray for their safety.

Also with the McCrarys, little Rylie (sp.?) is scheduled to be baptized on February 10th. Please pray for a great ceremony for this precious little girl! (By the way, she slept through our entire class this morning. Can you believe that?! Not even the jokes woke her up!)

Ben Sullivan heads off to work again tomorrow. Pray for his safe travel.

Khalil and the BU Men's basketball team are/were traveling home from Nebraska today. Pray for their safety.

Also on the BU basketball front, Khalil and Leslie have asked us to pray for the family of Tweety Carter. One of Tweety's nieces, who was 2 months old, recently passed away. Tweety also has lost another family member recently. Pray for comfort for him and his family.

Jenny LaSeur would like for us to pray for her Dad. He's headed back to Singapore tomorrow for another 3 months of work.

Jenny also would like for us to pray for her. Her migraine headaches seem to have come back. Please pray that Jenny will find something that will help her and that she will have better days in the weeks ahead.

Vince E. has asked that we continue our prayers for his friends, Cole and Iva. The court date to resolve the situation with their two young kids has been postponed yet again. Please pray for strength for Cole and Iva and for stability for these two little ones.

We don't want to jinx them, but it looks as though the Mays have sold their home at last. Praise God for this great news! Please pray that things will indeed work out well and that the move will be smooth for the Mays.

Steve M. also would like for us to pray for Dennis Woodard. He is the long-time Hewitt City Manager. He recently had surgery, during which the surgeons found a 4 pound tumor behind one of his lungs. Please pray for strength and a good recovery for Dennis.

In addition, please pray for Steve, Brian, and others as they make decisions about what is best for the future leadership of the City of Hewitt.

Mary Erickson has asked that we pray for her grandmother, Ella. She will be having another surgery this week to battle her cancer. Pray for a successful operation.

Ben Sullivan would like for us to pray the family of one of his co-workers. The helicopter he was riding on went down about a month ago. Please pray for the family that is mourning this loss.

The Jantzes need our prayers as they make some important decisions about the future. Loren may have an opportunity for a job back in Tulsa. Please pray for discernment, good opportunities, and good decisions for the Jantzes. We would, of course, hate to see the Jantzes move back to Oklahoma (and we probably wouldn't approve of it!), but we also want what is best for them. If you want to keep them here in Waco, pray that they will get their house sold outside of Tulsa! Also on the Jantz front, Loren will be traveling this week. Pray for his safety.

I would like for everyone to pray for Rhonda Glanzer and the Glanzer family. She continues to struggle with Guillain-Barre Syndrome. Rhonda is having trouble again. Details here. The Glanzers need our prayers for strength, patience, and understanding.

Teresa Sullivan has asked us to pray for the Allen family. They recently lost a baby to SIDS, as well as had to go through a suicide. This is a very sad time for the Allens. Please pray for their strength and for God's presence in their lives.

I have one final prayer. Sometime this week, I will be sending out a book proposal for my next book. The working title is Liberating Curriculum. Please pray that the proposal will land on the desk of a sympathetic editor at just the right publishing house. I am quite excited about writing the book and will be even more excited once a book contract has come through. Please pray that I will find an editor who is as excited about the book as I am!

Last but not least, I would like for everyone to pray for the family of Joe Cox. He will be our new Youth Pastor beginning in just a few months. Praise God for bringing him to our church! I think all of you will be very pleased with Joe and his family. Our Youth program has a very bright future. Please thank Steve R. and everyone else who has worked so hard to find a very strong person to fill this position. We have always had a strong Youth program at FUMC-W, but I think we can safely say that we just might have the best program in the state in the not too distant future! Please ask God to be with Joe and his family as they make the transition from North Carolina to Waco. He will be doing some very important work for our kids and our church in the near future.

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I think that takes care of the prayers and praises this week. We do, however, have something a bit different this week. We have a movie suggestion! Steve M. and Vince E. both have many positive things to say about The Bucket List. I have yet to see it, but my Mom and Dad saw it last weekend and enjoyed it as well. I watched the trailer this afternoon, and it looks like my kind of film! Let's do this. Next Friday, we'll take all of the kids to the Hookham home and the rest of us will go watch the film. How's that sound, Jeff and Bernie?!

I know there is one more announcement on its way from Jill VanZee, but I will send that out tomorrow. She will be sending it in a separate message. The short version is that Jill is helping our class to get organized to make some donations to the Red Door Food Pantry. Thanks for taking the lead on this, Jill! This is a great opportunity for our class and especially for our kids. Stay tuned for more from Jill.

I think that's all for now, folks. For next week, we will plan to read through Chapter 21 in Treasures of the Transformed Life. I'll look forward to our discussion next Sunday!

Have a great week,

Wes and Dana

The Bears!, Reading for Tomorrow

Friends:

How about those Baylor Bears!  Let's say a big congratulations to our friend Khalil Coltrain and the rest of the men's basketball team.  They beat Nebraska in Lincoln tonight to go 3-0 in Big XII play and 15-2 on the year.  Keep it up, Khalil and friends!

Next, I want to remind all of you that we will continue our discussion of the Treasures book in the morning.  We will plan to discuss through Chapter 17 tomorrow.

Dana and I look forward to seeing all of you in the morning!

Wes

Photos from Barry & Erica Lunch

Pretty good, aren't they?! Enjoy.

Thanks, Franci!

Wes

Update, Next Week, and Best of Luck to the Sullivans

Friends:

Good evening, everyone! For all the Cowboys fans out there (which includes me these days!), the sun will come up tomorrow. I promise. It may not feel like it now, but life will go on.

Thanks to everyone who came to the Going Away Lunch for Barry & Erica today! We all had a great time. I took a few pictures with Franci R.'s camera, which I'll send along when I get them from Franci. I also want to thank everyone who gave some funds to buy B & E some going away gifts. For those of you who weren't with us today, we got them a $50 gift certificate to Applebee's (yes, they have one in Gainesville!) and we bought them two books: The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama and Leadership by Rudy Giuliani. How's that for balancing the political equation! B & E, I think you will enjoy the books. And, get this. We even had a slight surplus left over from the Sullivan fund drive! I am planning to hand over these funds to our Treasurer, Mr. Jeff Hookham. He will be investing the cash for us shortly. Make us proud (and make the church rich!), Jeff! I have a bit more on the Sullivans in a minute, but, first, let's discuss next week.


NEXT SUNDAY

Thanks to Matt and Beth Ramsdell! They have signed up to bring our goodies next Sunday. We appreciate it, Matt and Beth!

As for our reading next week, we didn't quite have a chance to get through Chapter 14 this morning. Let's do this. We'll plan to read through Chapter 17 for next Sunday. If we're a bit behind the rest of the church, I think that's just fine. Once again, please make a note of a section or two in the book that strikes you as particularly good and plan to share it with the class.


PRAYERS AND PRAISES

Now let's move on to our prayers. Please pray for all of the Baylor students as they return to campus this weekend and as we begin classes this week.

The Buhners will be traveling next weekend to Houston. Please pray for their safety (and sanity, as Shelley puts it!) as they visit family.

Amy Nicholson is headed back to Dallas on Thursday for a check-up on her shoulder. Please pray that she will be "released" to do more with the girls. Pray for nothing but good news for Amy.

We need to continue to pray for the Jantzes and the Mays as they continue the stressful wait to sell their homes. Pray that God will bring closure (in more ways than one!) for the Mays and the Jantzes as soon as possible.

Robbie R. will be traveling tomorrow. Pray for safety for him.

On the Null front, please pray for Mr. Corbin. He's had a fever today and has been struggling with a cough. Please pray that he will have a healthy week. Us Nulls can't afford any more sicknesses!

Also on the Null front, my dad is headed to the Grand Canyon tomorrow with his brother and sister to hike down, spend the night, and hike back out. Please pray for his safe travel.

I also would like for everyone to continue to pray for our church as our search for a new youth pastor comes to a close. We had a terrific meeting this afternoon with Joe Cox, whose family was in town to visit our church this weekend. I am very excited about the future of our Youth Ministry. Joe is a very strong person who has a great deal of experience organizing, leading, and directing youth ministries. Thanks to a great deal of hard work by many people, the future of Youth Ministry at our church is looking very bright. Please pray that God will be with Joe and his family as they travel home tomorrow. Pray, also, that God will continue to be with us as this search comes to a close.

Last but not least, let's continue our prayers for Barry & Erica as they make the transition to Gainesville. Barry began his new role as Gainesville City Manager last Monday. It sounds as though his first week went well. On January 22nd, Erica will begin her new job doing economic development with the city of Denton. Barry & Erica, as I've told you many times, we will miss you terribly, but we will pray each and every day that everything will go smoothly for the two of you as you transition to your new home. I pray that you will find a church home that will bless you the way that I hope our church has. I know that you have blessed us. Dana and I will be forever grateful to the two of you for helping us to build our class. Your consistent presence and support for our class has meant a great deal to us. We would not have what we have today without the two of you. Thank you. Come back and see us when you're in town. We'll have two chairs, some donuts, and a few bad jokes waiting for you.

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I think that's all for now, folks. See you next week!

Wes and Dana

Email Prayer Requests

Friends:

Just a quick note here.  First, thanks to all of you who came to the lunch today for Barry and Erica!  I think we all had a great time.  Second, please send along your prayer requests and I will add them to my email later this evening.  Since we ended class a bit early today, I decided to have you send your prayer requests through email.  I also have some photos (thanks to Franci Rogers!) from the lunch that I will send along this evening as well.

More later.

Go Cowboys!

Wes

Reminders: Going Away Lunch and Reading for Tomorrow

Friends:

Good afternoon, all! Lots going on this weekend. The Baylor Bears have a double-header today, and the Cowboys play tomorrow afternoon at 3:00. Busy weekend!

GOING AWAY LUNCH FOR BARRY & ERICA

I'm writing to remind you of a couple matters. First of all, we will celebrate (and mourn!) Barry and Erica's departure tomorrow afternoon with a Going Away Lunch at Fuddrucker's. We will head over there after class. We'll dismiss a bit earlier than usual. I hope that all of you can make it! I have purchased a few special gifts for the Sullivans. Thanks to all of you who have donated to this effort! If you would like to contribute and have not yet told me that you want to do so, just send me an email.

Not to worry, Cowboys fans. We will be done at Fuddrucker's in plenty of time to be home for the game.

READING FOR TOMORROW

As I mentioned in my message last Sunday, we will be discussing Chapters 4-10 tomorrow from the Transformed Life book. For those of you who have time to do the reading (do the best you can!), I would like for you to pick out 1 or 2 points or sections from the book that you think are most important and plan to share them with us tomorrow. This will help to move our discussion along!

I think that's all for now. Dana and I look forward to seeing all of you tomorrow morning.

Sic 'em Bears!

Wes

Prayer Request from Ashlee McCrary

Would like to also request an addition to the prayer list. My oldest and best friend, Casey Faubion passed away yesterday in the ICU at Temple's Scott & White. She was 21 yrs old. She was born with cerebral palsey and was lucky to have made it this far. Please pray for her family. They're going through a really tough time right now. They all live in Valley Mills, Texas. David, Rylie, and I hope to join you all next week, as the past weeks have all had another commitment keeping us from attending. Thanks again for everyone's prayers.

Ashlee

Going Away Lunch for Barry and Erica Next Sunday (Jan 13)

Friends:

Please plan to join us next Sunday after class for a Going Away Lunch for Barry and Erica. We will plan to dismiss class a few minutes early so that we can be sure to beat the Baptists to Fuddrucker's.

Let's take this time to celebrate this important step in life for Barry and Erica. As far as I can tell, they have been with our class for at least five years. To show our appreciation for their dedication to our class (and for other reasons), we will be giving them a gift (or perhaps two) next Sunday. I would like to invite all of you to contribute. If you would like to do so, just respond to this email. Dana and I will take care of getting the gift(s) for Barry and Erica. As you can see, I am making no effort to keep this a secret!

By the way, Barry, all I expect following your departure is for you to send us a photo this March when you take part in the annual Breakfast With the Easter Bunny event in Gainesville. Don't all of you think a picture of Barry sitting in the Easter Bunny's lap would look good on our blog?!

I hope that all of you will do your best to join us next Sunday to celebrate this transition in Barry and Erica's life.

Wes

Class News and Related Stuff

Friends:

Good evening, everyone. I hope you've had a great Sunday. Thanks to the VanZees for bringing the bagels this morning! Good stuff, Brian and Jill. Next week, us Nulls will take care of the snacks.

I plan to send a separate message about this, but we will be headed to Fuddrucker's next Sunday after class for a "Going Away Lunch" for Barry and Erica Sullivan. Please plan to be there if you can. More details in a separate message.

PRAYERS AND PRAISES

Please continue to pray for Brad Burney's Dad, L. M. Burney. He had a heart attack earlier this week. He is home now and seems to be doing fine. He had 3 stints put into his chest. Please pray for his complete and speedy recovery.

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Franci would like for us to continue to pray for little Eddie. The good news is that he appears to be making progress! Here is the latest from Franci:

Just a quick update on Baby Eddie. He is officially breathing on his own! They took the breathing tube out late last night and he was doing well this morning, according to Chris. Thanks for the continued prayers.

Franci
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Brian VanZee asked that we pray for Brian and Pam Bartram. Brian's grandmother passed away this past week. Please pray for Brian's family during this time of mourning. We're praying for you, Brian!

Erica Sullivan brought a praise today that her step-father is doing better. The treatments appear to be helping, but please pray for his continued recovery.

Mary Erickson has asked us to pray for the Serma (sp?) family. They are part of a difficulty custody battle. Please pray, especially, for the grandmother in the situation who has agreed to keep one of the little ones at this time.

Last but not least, let's continue our prayers for Barry and Erica as they make the transition to Gainesville, Texas. Barry will be in Gainesville working all week.

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READING FOR NEXT WEEK

I wasn't sure how things would go with our new Treasures of a Transformed Life book this morning, but I was pleased with our discussion! Thanks to everyone for contributing! That's what will help things to go well with this book. Lots of contributions from all of you. For next week, I hope that all of you will plan to share something from a piece of the book that you enjoyed. Let's do our best to keep up with the church by reading one chapter per day. We're slightly behind that schedule, but that's okay. Next Sunday, we will plan to discuss Chapters 4-10.

Dana and I look forward to seeing all of you next week!

Wes and Dana

Hope

Friends:

I was a bit inspired by one of last night's speeches, which led me to put together some of my favorite pieces of text. Feel free to share with your friends:

Wes

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Lamentations 3:21-24—Yet I still dare to hope when I remember this: The unfailing love of the Lord never ends! By his mercies we have been kept from complete destruction. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each day. I say to myself, “The Lord is my inheritance; therefore, I will hope in him.”

Psalm 71:14-15—But I will keep on hoping for you to help me, I will praise you more and more. I will tell everyone about your righteousness. All day long I will proclaim your saving power, for I am overwhelmed by how much you have done for me.

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Andy Dufresne, Shawshank Redemption, “Remember Red, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.”

Red, Shawshank Redemption (after finally listening to Andy), “I find I'm so excited, I can barely sit still or hold a thought in my head. I think it's the excitement only a free man can feel, a free man at the start of a long journey whose conclusion is uncertain. I hope I can make it across the border. I hope to see my friend, and shake his hand. I hope the Pacific is as blue as it has been in my dreams. I hope.”

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Barack Obama, January 3, 2008--

But we always knew that hope is not blind optimism. It's not ignoring the enormity of the task ahead or the roadblocks that stand in our path. It's not sitting on the sidelines or shirking from a fight. Hope is that thing inside us that insists, despite all evidence to the contrary, that something better awaits us if we have the courage to reach for it, and to work for it, and to fight for it.

Hope is what led a band of colonists to rise up against an empire; what led the greatest of generations to free a continent and heal a nation; what led young women and young men to sit at lunch counters and brave fire hoses and march through Selma and Montgomery for freedom's cause.

Hope is the bedrock of this nation; the belief that our destiny will not be written for us, but by us; by all those men and women who are not content to settle for the world as it is; who have the courage to remake the world as it should be.

Prayer Request from Brad Burney

Friends:

Please pray for Brad Burney's father, L. M. Burney. He had a heart attack yesterday. Although he remains in ICU at Providence, he seems to be doing okay.

We also need to pray for Brad. He's going in for an MRI this week to check out a tumor on his back. Thanks for your prayers for Brad and his family.

Wes

Goodbye 2007, Hello 2008, Prayers, and Other Stuff

Friends:

Good evening, all! Well, our family has at last returned home from our visit to New Mexico. We enjoyed seeing our family very much. Our kids had a great time playing with their cousins. We're also glad to be home.

I want to thank Steve May again for teaching class this Sunday. I also want to thank Shawn and Shelley Buhner for bringing our snacks. Next week, Brian and Jill VanZee are signed up to bring our goodies. Thanks to all of you for your terrific service to our class!

We have several important prayers this week. Here are two messages of note, the first from Franci R. and the second from Steve M:

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FROM FRANCI ROGERS:

Thanks for all your prayers for Eddie! They're working! We had to leave Minnesota without seeing the little guy because we're all sniffling and sneezing (I guess that's what 4 below will do to wimpy Texans like us) and we didn't want to risk sharing our germs with him or his family. But the surgery went well. Here's what Chris had to say:

The surgery is finished and Eddie is back in his room!

Everything went just as the doctors had hoped--he was able to have the Hybrid Norwood (which means he didn't have to be put on the lung/heart bypass) a much less stressful surgery for his tiny body.

He is settled into his room, "sleeping" and being monitored--he is incubated at the moment, but that will be removed within the next couple of days.

As before, everything is in God's hands--and we pray that he will continue to help Eddie be strong and heal just the way he's supposed to.

The journey is just beginning, but I feel like we got over this first big step in fine form!

Thank you, thank you thank you for your prayers--since Eddie won't be allowed visitors until the doctors say it's safe--your prayers are the best form of support you can give us.

I'm off to gaze at the boy and maybe catch a few winks.

Thank you again.

Franci
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FROM STEVE MAY

I had two friends of mine pass away over the last couple of weeks:

Jeff Roe - 34 years old, married with a 2 year old daughter. Passed away unexpectedly in Austin on Dec. 17.

Dave Beckman - 62 years old, married with 2 grown children. Lived in New Jersey. Some blood thinners he was taking caused some bleeding in his brain and he went into a coma. He was removed from life support today and passed away soon after.

Please keep these families in your prayers.

Thanks,

Steve

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Thank you for continuing your prayers for little Eddie and his family. Thanks, also, for praying for the families that Steve mentions above. Let's also continue to pray for all of the families who are traveling home this week.

READING FOR SUNDAY

As I suspect most of you know, our church has been kind enough to hand out a book entitled Treasures of the Transformed Life to all of us. I think it makes sense for us to set aside our Perfect Leader book and, instead, discuss the Treasures book along with the rest of the Church. For next week, we will plan to discuss the first three chapters of Treasures. The chapters are short, so we're talking about pages 7-24. I think that all of us will enjoy reading this book with the rest of our church.

I think that's all for now. Dana and I are excited about getting back in our normal routine now that Christmas and New Year's have come and gone. We'll look forward to seeing all of you on Sunday morning!

Wes and Dana