Fast Forward...

Here's a synopsis of what has happened in our lives since May.

Job:
I'm now working full-time at the University of Tennessee. It's great and I love coming to work every day. We just launched a national military research study to help military personnel quit smoking. It's fun to be apart of something that will hopefully help people across this great country improve their health. I'm also able to do massage in the evenings as an extra side job and it fits in well with everything. Jason starts back at Harding on Monday. He's got a tougher schedule this year and he's also going to be coaching junior high cross country. I'll fill you in on how he got roped into that one later.

Parents:
My parents are doing well. My mom's recovery from back surgery has been remarkable. She's still experiences stiffness and muscle spasms on occasion, but nothing too extreme. Her surgery has really motivated her to be more active. She's walking about 3 miles every day and bicycle riding in the evenings with my dad. I'm so proud of her for overcoming all this and making the changes necessary to improve her health. It's also helped my dad, too.

Life in Memphis:
We moved this summer into a townhouse in Midtown. We love our new location and Baxter seems to be adjusting well. Hopefully, I'll post some pics on the blog soon to let you see what it looks like. Our new location puts us much closer to both our jobs and helps us cut back on gas. It's also much bigger than our last location and we now have room to spread out a bit.

We have been very busy with church this summer. We are teaching the 5th/6th grade bible class. It's been interesting working with this age - they're old enough to want to be treated like adults, yet they're not old enough to actually act like adults. I don't miss being that age. We are also very involved with the praise team. It's a rarity for us to have a Sunday off, but we enjoy it. Jason is apart of the praise band playing guitar and I sing, or run media shout (the overhead projector screen). We also have an amazing small group that has really challenged us lately in our spiritual growth. We couldn't ask for more from our church family. Jason is also on the committee for the social justice ministry. We're looking forward to the Grace Works project coming up in September. We get to go into some really run down neighborhoods in our area and help renovate a house of someone in need. We don't ask anything of the people we help, just enjoy the opportunity to share God's love with them. It's been amazing with the response we've received so far this year.

Jason has been extremely motivated this year with his personal exercise routine. He's lost 20 lbs and has gained a ton of muscle. He's also cut down his 5K time by several minutes. It's been amazing watching his transformation over the past several months. Of course, he's been working out at Harding most of the time and I'm not the only one who has noticed his dedication to his running/weight training. This is how he's been roped into coaching junior high cross country. I'm excited for him and I know he'll enjoy it.

Jason has also gotten back into playing and singing. He's got a band together now and they play at least once a month at a couple local places. I love watching him perform. Jason has also started writing some new songs, so I'm looking forward to watching him introduce some new material into their set lists.

As you can see, God has blessed us in so many ways this year and it's not over yet. I can't wait to see what else he has in store for us.