Two Months Later...

Okay...so it's been a while since we've updated our blog. It has been a very busy time for both of us. I got to go home in December for my Dad's second surgery (which was very successful) and then we both go to spend a week at home during New Year's. When we arrived back in Washington, we both had job interviews and now....we both have jobs! I am working as a tutor at Huntington Learning Center and Derek is quickly becoming a connoisseur of sandwiches at Subway. =) We are so thankful that God provided us with employment since it's not exactly the best time to be job hunting. Yay for answered prayer!

On the subject of my Dad, he has now had two very successful surgeries and is now faced with more cancer on his lung. The masses are very small (measured in millimeters), and will have to be treated with chemotherapy. He and Mom have decided to go to MD Anderson for his treatments and hopefully we will know next week when his first trip to Houston will be. Please keep my family in your prayers. My Mom and I have totally felt your prayers in the recent past and know that without them, this would be just unbearable. I can't imagine going through this without trusting in our great and wonderful God, who is in control of all things.

Two weeks ago we started our first Bible study in DuPont. God is totally blessing us with opportunities to build relationships with people and get them involved in His Word. Just today, a co-worker was asking me several questions about what we do in the ministry and "how it all works." Please pray for both Derek and myself as we hope to build relationships through our jobs to bring people into God's Kingdom. In case you don't know, Derek sends out a weekly update on what God is doing here in Washington. If you would like to be a part of that update, just email Derek at derekthomas.dt@gmail.com and he will add you to the list.

We hope to be able to put some pictures on our blog soon. We've been having some trouble loading them (probably operator error on my part), but hopefully we'll get it all worked out so you can get a little glimpse of this beautiful place we call home. Love to all of you!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We hope that all of you have a Happy Thanksgiving! We really have so much to be thankful for, my family especially in these recent weeks. I just want to say a HUGE "THANK YOU" to all of you who have been and still are praying for my dad. His next steps are to have his kidney removed in about 2 weeks and then proceed to chemo/radiation. This thing called "cancer" certainly took my family by surprise, but we know it was no surprise to God. Every prayer, every thought, every phone call, every text message, every email, every Facebook message has meant more than you could ever know. We are so blessed to have such a huge support system. We love you all and are truly thankful for each and every one of you. Happy Thanksgiving!
Oh, and for those of you worried how we would spend these holidays, we were graciously adopted into a Washington family and had an absolutely fabulous Thanksgiving!

Yay for Internet!

We've been in Washington almost two weeks now and we are so thankful that we were finally able to get our Internet connected today! Many thanks to Kyle and Terry for letting us use theirs while we've been waiting. I already feel more connected to everyone :)

Another great use we'll get from having our Internet connected is that we can take our work order to the Driver's Licensing office and be considered actual Washington residents. We learned this week that apartment leasing papers do not make you a Washington resident according to the Homeland Security Act...now you know.

We also had a great time this evening at Sunbreak's (our new church) fall festival. I think my favorite part of the night was seeing Kade in his dinosaur costume! It was just so cute and funny. We really love our new church and getting to make so many new friends. They've made us feel so welcome and we appreciate them so much. What a great day!

Dino Kade! Our favorite dinosaur :)

A Week in Washington

Hi to all of our friends and family! Because so many of you have shown so much love to us, we want to be able to let you know what we are up to here in Washington! We hope this blog will help.

We have been in Washington for a whole week now and we love everything about our new home. We feel blessed that God has called us to such an incredible area. It's so awesome to be able to do God's work and have such a beautiful backdrop at the same time!

Our first week has been a very busy one. We started moving our things into our new apartment on Monday and we are still unpacking! It's really tough to find a place for everything, especially when it doesn't quite go where you thought it would. Our goal this week is to have everything finished and all of the boxes out of the house. Shouldn't be too difficult, we hope :)

Derek's parents made the drive up with us (We could never thank them enough for that!) and flew back home yesterday. We were really sad to see them leave and look forward to seeing them, and all our friends and family, again. Love you all!

Neely's is our favorite place to eat in Memphis.

Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Missouri

This one's for you Mom! Love you!

The Corn Palace in Mitchell, South Dakota
All of the exterior decoration is actually made from ears of corn.

The Badlands in South Dakota, much like a mini Grand Canyon.

Mt. Rushmore! And yes, we took this picture, it is not a postcard. :)

A beautiful spot in Montana where we stopped for a picnic.

This is Mt. Rainier. We've gotten to see it just about everyday since we've been here. It's truly amazing!