A Capital Vacation

So, off we went to DC for a few days. My old seminary roommate offered to let us stay with him and his wife in their DC apartment - and it was perfect. Located just across the Potomac in Crystal City, we had an easy metro ride to the sites of DC.

Our first night, we ate at a cool DC diner - Ben's Chili Bowl. It's got a cool atmosphere, with pictures of famous visitors in the past, plus great hot dogs and awesome chili. Prepare yourself if you get two hotdogs plus fries - it's a lot of food for two people!

We checked out the National Cathedral - it was incredible. Such a wonderful place to go and just look at the incredible architecture God gives man the ability to craft!


We took a day to check out the monuments. It was a very busy day - lots of walking. But, we got some incredible pictures, and just enjoyed seeing sights together.


Yes - that's ice! It was so cold the reflecting pool between the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial was froze over. Not solid-through though, as an unsuspecting couple near us found out (splash!).

At the end of our full day of monument walking, we got to see the sunset - a perfect DC postcard.

Our final day was Sunday. We visited Capital Hill Baptist Church - a great church just a few blocks from the Capitol. Check it out if you're ever in DC on a Sunday.

Who says you need a fireplace?

We decided to hang our stockings by the fireplace! Well, it works, doesn't it? :-)

Turkey day and Christmas decorating!

Well, it's hard to believe it's already the holidays! Emily and I will be celebrating our second Christmas together as a married couple in just a few weeks! This week, we visited my parents in the mountains, where my wife delivered to them an incredible feast with a beautiful turkey. We then visited our favorite tree farm in West Jefferson, looking for that perfect tree. We brought it back with us late Thursday night and decorated a couple of days later. We even got to enjoy an afternoon at the Nutcracker ballet. God has been so good to us - giving us a joyful holiday season to enjoy friends, family, and the bounty of His blessings to us! Enjoy the photos!

Summer Summary

Yes, well, I know many folks have been shocked that I haven't been blogging as regularly as they expected. Well, it's just that nothing exciting's been happening. OK, that's probably not quite a true statement. During the summer, I was working two jobs - my part-time job at the church and a part-time contract programming job with a company in Hickory. It turned out to be a very heavy workload, lots to juggle, so most other things fell to the wayside.

So, God decided it was time to answer my prayers about ways to reduce my stress. In September, the church informed me that they wouldn't be able to hire me full-time starting in 2007 as expected. That was a sad note, considering the church understood that if I could only continue working both part-time jobs for the next few months (before I'd be pulling my hair out) and that I felt it was time for us to look for a full-time ministry role. Full-time could mean a regular full-time job and then a ministry role that allows me to actively help lead - so, it's not 100% based on a full-time church job.

This coming November, I'll be transitioning out of my church job and focus on my other job. Then, we'll wait to see what God opens up for us! Keep praying!

On more enjoyable notes, October turned out to be visit central for the Rotens. We had visits from the Hall family (and got to go there a few weeks later, see the pictures below) and went on a birthday weekend. Over the next few weeks, we have two more weekends planned out, plus a trip to DC in December. What an exciting time!

Here's some pics from the recent trip to Hickory. How do you like my first time carving a pumpkin?

Finally over "the mono"

It's been an interesting last few weeks!  About 6 weeks ago, I started feeling very tired and sore.  After a couple of weeks like that, I came down with a sore throat and sick feeling.  The doctor said I probably had mono - and that heart-warming prescription of "rest, sleep, no exerting yourself" but no drugs!

Took a couple more weeks to get over that part, and another to get back to feeling like I have some energy.  Oh, and of course, I developed something like strep on top of mono.  Thankfully, there were antibiotics for that!

But, I have to say, during the illness, I truly appreciated how much my wife took care of me and the house.  She tried her best not to have me deal with any problems - just recouperate.  Thanks sweetie!