We have a baby now...and so much more...

Well, it has been a LONG time since the last update on this blog...

* we have a SON!!! Judah William Grip- 6 lb. 15 oz. 19 in. May 18th, 2010. He is wonderfully perfect and beautiful. I could never have imagined the myriad of emotions I would go through when I saw my son for the first time. It's a miracle. It sounds cliche, but its the only way to describe it. I love to just watch him as he discovers his surroundings. :)

He is now just over six months and very close to crawling. He recently started eating baby foods and really is giving us an easy transition into parenting. He is a good little baby.

* Bill just finished coaching Jr. High wrestling at Maxwell. He really liked doing that. It sounded like the kids really liked him as a coach. Every practice they had a "word of the day" and the last day the "word" was Bill's name. :)Bill has also done 4 wedding videos since the last post and he does a REALLY good job on them. Each video gets better every time he does one.

Bill is now THE media man at Maranatha since I am now a stay-at-home-mom. He is kept busy with website maintenance, monthly prayer updates, posters, photography, videos, and on and on. He is a busy man. He is currently working on getting internet to the West End of Maranatha so residents have the option to have internet in our homes. (Which I would be VERY excited about.)

* And that brings us to me...I am at home being a mom and I really like it. :) At times I feel like I don't do much but then Bill reminds me of all the things I do and that if I wasn't cooking he would starve to death and I feel better. :) I also am thankful that I am able to be at home and see Judah growing daily cause I know alot of moms don't have that opportunity.

Besides that, I AM doing contracted work for the camp and random design jobs for people. I am currently working on wedding invitations for someone and I am really enjoying it.

Well thats where we are...we will keep you posted!

Bill and Lindsay and Judah

End of Winter Update

The winter sure has flown by, hasn't it? I'm really excited because just last night we turned the clocks ahead 1 hour, which means it won't get dark until after 7:00PM now, and the days will only get longer! Longer days means spring and summer are on their way.

This past winter has been a growing experience. For the first time in my life I have to be responsible. My job, my wife, our future child, are all causing me to be more responsible than ever before. It's new and different, and there are times when I'm afraid I won't do things right. But with God's help, I will. I would say as a Christian trusting God is the number one key to responsibility. In fact, all of life could be summarized that way as a Christian- trust God and the rest will fall into place.

If I fully live my life like that, it means I can take life one day at a time. I like to have a plan, I want to know how long God will have me and Lindsay at Maranatha, but right now God is telling us to stay here. We recently committed to another year at Maranatha, and I feel that the second year here will be twice as good as the first, and the first year has been pretty good!

Lindsay and I just recently found a church that we would like to call our "home" church while living here at camp. It is a small baptist church in Maxwell, and we decided to give it a shot because the guy who came out and treated our house for bed-bugs went to that church (God thing). We gave it a shot, and from the moment we walked in the door we have never felt more welcomed and more loved at a church. It's a bit old fashioned but I must admit that I find that to be attractive in today's "modernized" church.

There are only 2 months left until that BABY joins our family (Lord willing), and we are doing our best to prepare but we know that we still have a long ways to go and a lot of learning to do before we have this parenting thing even close to being figured out. But once again, trusting God is the key there.

Lately I've been doing some graphic design work for camp to help ease the burden on Lindsay's shoulders and also to give me more things to do. I got to design the poster for the upcoming Go Fish concert at Maranatha, and I'm really excited about how that turned out. God is great, and even though I never thought that I could do graphic design, He is showing me that I can do anything if I trust in him.

At home, I've been doing the Jillian Michael's 30 day shred, and mostly I'm just seeing the effects in my legs, because when I flex my thighs the earth shakes. The house camp has provided for us isn't the best at times, but overall we are very thankful to have a place to call home, and we are growing to love it.

So now we look forward to spring, and then summer out here at Maranatha Bible Camp, where we know God is going to do great things through us and others who work here. It will be a very interesting summer both in my job and at home, because in both situations I will be adjusting to new challenges. Thanks for reading!

In Christ,

Bill Griepenstroh