A Good Easter Thought and a Life Update
First off, let me lead with a great, Easter though that I had last night. Last night our church had a silent Lord's supper, which is always one of my favorite services. it's always been hard for me to "be still," and this service is one of the best times for me to do so. Also, our handbell choir rings, which is fun. Anyhow, during one of the hymns (being played on organ/piano), my mind went to all the crap Jesus went through leading up to the cross and then to the cross itself. Over Eastern weekend, I caught the last hour of The Passion of the Christ on TBN (starting at the cat of nine tails, including the purple robe/crown of thorns, the Via Dolorosa, the crucifixion, and ending with Jesus' death). So all of that was fresh in my mind coming into the service. Anyhow, I was sitting there and getting angry at everyone who was involved with Christ's death. Pilate, the unnamed soldiers, Judas Iscariot, the crowd, Peter for being a coward and lying... everyone. And then it hit me that any one of my sins (much less all of them) was just as much to blame as they were (as the OC Supertones said "My sin yelled 'Crucify' louder than the mob that day"). So then I got to wondering why I am not as angry at myself for sinning as I was angry at them for the physical acts of Jesus' death. It is my sin that separates me from a holy and just God. And it is my sin that drove Jesus to the cross as a means of paying the price for my sin and allowing me to have access to God. So that's my good spiritual thought for the week.
Onto other news, a lot has happened since the last time I posted up here. Anna and I got pregnant in Spring 2011 and had our son, Stephen, on March 1, 2012. He is such a joy, and we are so blessed to have him. He loves feeding himself (and can eat half of a Chick-Fil-A grilled sandwich at one meal), and he's this close to walking/standing (he can stand when he has a hand on the sofa, a wall, Mommy/Daddy's hand, etc...).
Numero dos, my company was acquired in May, 2012; and I now work for NextGen Healthcare. I'm still working on the same products and still working with the same group of people. But I now work in Tower Place in Buckhead instead of working from home 5 days a week (though I have the option to do so on occasion). Also, my office is about 3 miles north of Anna's so we are able to carpool in together most days.
Thirdly, Anna's mother's liver was failing (and had cancer) last fall, and she was blessed to receive a liver transplant. She is doing ok now and has been back to work since right after New Years. If you want more information about her, or are interested in donating to help with her medical expenses, please visit her website.
Lastly, (and this is related to number 2), we are selling our house and moving to Gwinnett County to be closer to family. The only reason I moved out to Cobb County was to be close to my job (which was in Vinings). Since my company was acquired, we have dreamed about selling our house and moving. We waited for the housing market to improve a bit and listed our house on March 29. We had our first offer come in on April 4 (for full price!), and after negotiating on some of the details, we have a signed contract as of April 6. We close on April 26 and have to be out by April 30. As my father put it, I'm impressed at God's moving but not surprised. Given how fast that is, there's basically no way that we will find a new place, get a contract signed, close, and be able to move in directly from here. So we're putting 90% of our stuff into a storage unit and staying with Anna's parents for a month or two until we can find/move into a house of our own. We will owe close to $1,100 at closing, but that's not bad considering how low the market has been recently. And, if we live with Anna's parents for a month, then we will have saved that much by not paying mortgage/rent. Also, we won't have to pay for childcare as Anna's grandparents can watch Stephen while we're both at work.
Onto other news, a lot has happened since the last time I posted up here. Anna and I got pregnant in Spring 2011 and had our son, Stephen, on March 1, 2012. He is such a joy, and we are so blessed to have him. He loves feeding himself (and can eat half of a Chick-Fil-A grilled sandwich at one meal), and he's this close to walking/standing (he can stand when he has a hand on the sofa, a wall, Mommy/Daddy's hand, etc...).
Numero dos, my company was acquired in May, 2012; and I now work for NextGen Healthcare. I'm still working on the same products and still working with the same group of people. But I now work in Tower Place in Buckhead instead of working from home 5 days a week (though I have the option to do so on occasion). Also, my office is about 3 miles north of Anna's so we are able to carpool in together most days.
Thirdly, Anna's mother's liver was failing (and had cancer) last fall, and she was blessed to receive a liver transplant. She is doing ok now and has been back to work since right after New Years. If you want more information about her, or are interested in donating to help with her medical expenses, please visit her website.
Lastly, (and this is related to number 2), we are selling our house and moving to Gwinnett County to be closer to family. The only reason I moved out to Cobb County was to be close to my job (which was in Vinings). Since my company was acquired, we have dreamed about selling our house and moving. We waited for the housing market to improve a bit and listed our house on March 29. We had our first offer come in on April 4 (for full price!), and after negotiating on some of the details, we have a signed contract as of April 6. We close on April 26 and have to be out by April 30. As my father put it, I'm impressed at God's moving but not surprised. Given how fast that is, there's basically no way that we will find a new place, get a contract signed, close, and be able to move in directly from here. So we're putting 90% of our stuff into a storage unit and staying with Anna's parents for a month or two until we can find/move into a house of our own. We will owe close to $1,100 at closing, but that's not bad considering how low the market has been recently. And, if we live with Anna's parents for a month, then we will have saved that much by not paying mortgage/rent. Also, we won't have to pay for childcare as Anna's grandparents can watch Stephen while we're both at work.