January 09

We can't believe that this month is practically over, and February is almost here. The time has flown by. Andrew has had a change in his work schedule which has made our schedules pretty much the opposite of each other (Kate has classes/clinicals during the day and Andrew is working afternoon shift usually). The new schedule allows two ES supervisors to be working at the same time, so it is nice that they can interact and hang out with the men more then they were able to before. Kate is enjoying her new semester. It is keeping her super busy! She is in her Med/Surg clinicals at the hospital, taking care of progressive care patients (its a step down from ICU and a step above a regular adult medical/surgical floor). They are really sick patients, but she is learning SO much from them and able to do so many more things than before. This week she had her own patient for the first time this semester and really enjoyed helping the patient and meeting their needs. Andrew has also been preparing for the Biblical Counseling Confrence (in Lafeyette, IN) that is coming up February 8-13. He is reading a book called How People Change, by Paul Tripp, to help get ready for the confrence. Please pray for him that week as he learns and is challenged to grow. This conference is something we can be doing now to help us with present and FUTURE ministry opportunities.

Hope you have had a GREAT January and not too much snow :)

Journeying Into 2009

We finished off 2008 with a Sunday School class party at Zach and Anne Gembis's house. We had a fun time playing games, eating, and fellowshipping with our friends from church. Kate had an allergic reaction to something she ate, and her bottom lip was pretty swollen. She took some Benadryl and it went down though the next morning. On Sunday afternoon, we went to the Stauch's house, ate lunch, and the same thing happened…but this time it was the top lip and her fingers and it was a lot worse. So we spent the afternoon at the doctor's office. They don't know what caused it, and we can't seem to find the correlation between New Years Eve and Sunday (had completely different foods). So now we have steroids and two other meds to help Kate get better. Please pray that we and the doctor can figure out the cause…it is unsettling not to know the source of the reaction.

Closing the door on 2008, we want to remember many of the GOOD things God blessed us with this year.

· Kate got into Nursing School, started it, and has already passed 2 semesters. She really loves school and learning how to care for people.

· Andrew has been able to reach and impact many men's lives at the Holland Rescue Mission.

· We have loved becoming involved with our church family, Sunday School class, and small group.

· We celebrated our 2^nd year of marriage in July.

· We were able to take a vision trip to Bethesda Outreach Ministry in South Africa this past August. We loved learning more about this ministry and being able to serve the kids, houseparents, and missionaries.

· Dad Dodd's surgery, in June, went well. The doctors got all the cancer out, he lost 40+ pounds, and he got to spend a week here in Grandville with us as he recovered.

· Grandma Galloway was promoted to heaven in February after a battle with ALS. We miss you Grandma and can't wait till we see you again.

· We welcomed our first niece, Elizabeth, into the Schneider and celebrated the 1^st birthday of our first Dodd niece, Natalie.

As we journey into 2009, we are eagerly anticipating how God will use us at work, school, church, and the relationships we are able to have with the people around us. We are looking forward to Kate's graduation (12/12/09), the Eagles winning the Super Bowl J, the Biblical Counseling training Andrew will do in February, Kyle's graduation from high school, Kate graduating (we are just a tiny bit excited to graduate! Can you tell?), and whatever is next in the journey that we may not even know about yet. Happy 2009!

Christmas Celebrations 2008

The last two weeks have been a whirlwind for the Dodds. We left on December 23 after Andrew got off work and headed up to Lake Ann through a snowstorm. It took us 4 hours to make a normally 2 to 2 1/2 hour trip. It was snowing and really windy and so we just took our time getting up north. We made it safely in and our new car was such a blessing, not sure if we would have made it up some of the hills and around some of the turns if we had been in the 99 Ford Escort. We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day at Mom and Dad Dodd's home. It was so wonderful to relax and have fun with them. On Christmas Eve, we played games, watched the old version of the Christmas Carol, ate beef stick and cheese, and made Andrew's new favorite pizza "Buffalo Chicken Pizza". It was so great to celebrate old traditions and enjoy time together. We had Monkey Bread and Sausage, Egg, and Cheese Muffins on Christmas morning when we woke up. We had a wonderful time of giving and receiving gifts (we had been saving some of their gifts since our trip to Africa). Later on, we all bundled up and went and took pictures out in the snow! It was SO fun and crazy!! They had at least 3 1/2 or 4 feet of snow. It was taller than me in some of the piles. Made snow angels and had a great time laughing and playing in the snow. After warming up and hot cocoa, we had an amazingly yummy Christmas dinner and played some more games together. Our time with them went by too fast! It was a blessing to celebrate and remember the birth of Christ together.

Friday morning, the 26th, we packed up our car Roxy and headed diagonally across the state to Clinton Township. The weather was much better for this traveling day. We arrived at the Schneider home and spent the evening playing a new game we got from Andrew's parents called Balderdash. The next morning, we woke up early and headed to Grandma M's house to take her out to breakfast and celebrate Christmas with her. Grandma can no longer see, so we got her a carved ebony elephant from South Africa as a gift. It was so neat to see her face light up when she recognized the shape of the animal and she was so appreciative of us thinking of the perfect gift for her. We we got home, later that morning, Kevin and Angela and Elizabeth arrived. We spent the afternoon with them and the rest of Kate's family (and G as well) talking, playing with the baby, and playing a new game Kevin had gotten (we sure do like to play games huh?). Mom made lasagna for dinner, and afterward we all exchanged gifts and had the annual Christmas stocking game (you have to guess what the wrapped gifts in your stocking are, whoever has the most points wins). Fun times, lots of laughter and smiles, and memories made. We headed home to Granville the next afternoon after church. It was great to be back home and back into the routine of life here.

Our families are such an important part of our lives, and we are so blessed to have such wonderful, loving, encouraging people who care about us. We thank the Lord for each of you for the impact you make in our lives!