December 30th was our one year anniversary! Can you believe it? It has been the most wonderful year of our lives. And it has certainly been a full year. The first couple months of our marriage were relatively quiet...and then there seems to have been some kind of snowball effect with all of our travels and adventures. In March we attended our church's first ever couples retreat, which was amazing for us to be a part of. Also in March, Justin traveled to Los Angeles to attend the Shepherd's Conference at Grace Community Church (headquarters of our mission, Grace Ministries International). In the Summer we went to Appomattox, Virginia, for a huuuuuge party with Gretchen's family. A couple days later we were in Russia conducting an evangelistic camp, then we flew to Czech for an English camp...and then onto Albania for yet another camp! After being home for two whole days we drove to North Carolina for our training at CIT, which you can reach about in some of our previous posts. We drove to Michigan for a friend's wedding (almost 3 months Brian & Jessie - Congrats!!) We drove to Baltimore for a wonderful and meaningful Thanksgiving with Gretchen's family. We had a much needed week of vacation in November. Then Gretchen had a reunion with some college roommates in early December. Then the holidays were upon us. Christmas and New Year's with Justin's family here in the Chicago 'burbs. Whew!!! What a year! Thanks for thinking of us and praying for us! If the rest of our lives are anything like the first year of our marriage, then we've got a lot to look forward to!
Now we are packing and packing and packing. Our belongings will be picked up on Jan 11th - that's one week from today! Then they'll travel by ship to Albania and arrive sometime in late February. Gretchen will spend a week at home with her family in Virginia while Justin is in Pasadena, CA, for a youth conference called Resolve. We'll fly to Philadelphia on Jan 27 for a final good-bye reunion with Gretchen's family. We've purchased tickets to leave for Albania from DC on Jan 30!!!!!
All that to say...at the moment we are very busy (and maybe a bit overwhelmed), and we are so grateful for your thoughts and prayers during this HUGE transition time for us. Below are some pics of recent events... enjoy :)
Us on vacation in November.
Gretchen's roommate reunion in December.
New Year's Day: Waving Justin's brother, Jared, off to Australia, where he'll spend this semester abroad.
Packing up our stuff!
2 comments:
Congratulations on your first anniversary. We wish you much happiness on the way to the golden celebration. Ken & Diana
Congratulations!
May God bless you with lots of good years!
Have a good time packing, and don't forget your toothbrush :)
I'll be praying for you. Keep updating us about what's going on!
Alon
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