Mike and Sarah's 2006 Newsletter

It has been a year of adventure for the newly weds! Along with the blessing and adventure of getting to know each other, we have enjoyed much travel this year.

We began the New Year with an MLK Weekend trip to Sanibel, Florida, where we were engaged the previous June. Mike’s Aunt Sally and Uncle Dwayne hosted us again, and it was an opportunity to relive sweet memories of the summer before. Mama and Papa Thompson even met us down there - they happend to be vacationing in Florida at the same time!


And at the end of January we had the opportunity to take a long weekend in historic Williamsburg, VA. (Mike was a very bad boy!)


In April Sarah’s mom purchased a condo in Ocean City, Maryland, and we spent many weekends at the shore. The condo is right on the beach, and it has so many amenities that you don’t ever really need to leave if you don’t want to! We are very grateful to our mom for her generosity to us in letting us stay there so often!


In June Sarah surprised Mike by taking him to NYC for his birthday. We stayed with friends Bernard and Erin, ate well, and (of course) shopped and went to a show (The Light in the Piazza).


In July, we went on a 9 day road trip north, to Maine and Quebec City. Sarah used to work at a Christian camp in southeast Maine (Chop Point Camp, http://www.choppoint.org/) and she attended school in Rhode Island, so we were able to visit many old friends along the way there and back, including Tim and Cindy, Elaine and Chris, Valerie and Matt, Dave and Bethany, Joe and Nicole, Jean, and Kyle and Lydia. We spent 4 days at Sarah’s camp where Mike got in touch with his more rustic side and braved the great outdoors (which included enjoying lobster meals and boat rides). We were very blessed to get such a warm welcome, even after being out of touch with some of these friends for a number of years. Thank you all for your generous hospitality.

Quebec City is one of Mike’s favorite places, and we were there just in time for the summer music festival. We stayed at a B&B right next to the Chateau Frontenac.

At this point you might be wondering if we were in the office at all this year! We were, and somehow it all worked out that we were able to take yet another big trip, a 7 day cruise of the Southern Caribbean in early October, which we affectionately call our “second honeymoon.” We began in Puerto Rico and cruised to St. Thomas/St. John, Dominica, Barbados, and Aruba. This trip was a particular blessing – they all tell us that marriage only gets better with time, and we are finding that to be true!

As if that were not enough, God has blessed us with rich friendships. (Pictured are our friends Joey and Evelyn). Each month we get together with 4 other couples from our church for a dinner party, and we take turns hosting and planning activities for the evening. Somehow, by another amazing blessing, we also have great neighbors – in our little strip of townhouses we have become friends with 2 of the other couples. Like us, they are relatively newly married and without kids (except for Rebecca and Hamisi’s little Dovani, who is due in May). It is nice to have friends nearby who will share life and doggy stories with us, which is a treat since we are still sans animals.

We quite enjoy our little home. We had our first real home-owner challenge when a pipe leaked in August and required us to cut a large hole in our ceiling. Out neighbors (thanks Andrew) gave us a crash-course in dry-wall and mud, and 4 months later we (Sarah- she loves this stuff) are almost finished the job! We are slowly decorating and improving the house. Sarah is hooked on the show "Flip That House" and is getting all sorts of ideas about how they might upgrade their little home in hopes of making it most attractive to potential buyers whenever we decide to sell it. We might take on some projects in 2007. Overall, we are blessed, and our home is the perfect size and location.

Covenant Life Church is still our church home. We are so grateful for the solid Biblical teaching and godly examples and accountability we find there. (http://www.covlife.org/) It is such a blessing to have godly friends who help us grow in our relationship with God, and to have a church with leaders who are humble and full of integrity. We don’t know how people do it without our Savior and the support of a church community!

Sarah left the business world to work for the church 3.5 years ago, and now she and Mike have decided that she will go back to the IT world to help reach some financial goals as we anticipate starting a family sometime in the future (no, not pregnant yet). God quickly provided an excellent job for Sarah doing project management support for Lockheed Martin, and she will be starting her new role in January. She anticipates that her commute will be about 10 minutes!

As you know, Mike has been working at Covenant Life for over 4 years now. After much prayer and counsel, he does not think God is guiding him to be a pastor. While he loves working for the church, and could stay as the Outreach Coordinator, we believe that he should also begin looking into jobs outside of the church. Mike is still exploring options (he is considering everything from recruiting, to consulting, and government) and waiting to see what doors God opens up. In the meantime we have told the pastors that Mike will be leaving his role at the church in upcoming months as well. We are grateful for their support and care during this time of transition.

A few days before Christmas, on December 18th, Mike’s grandma, Lessie, passed away at the age of 91. She had lived with Mike’s parents for 13 years, and for the past 3 she had been struggling with dementia and other physical problems. She went into the hospital on the 15th and only woke up once, right before she passed, to say goodbye to Mike’s mother. While we will miss her, we are also able to rejoice because we know that she believed in what the Bible says about death, that she would not perish, but have eternal life if she trusted in Christ as the only way to God. We are so grateful that she is finally home with her Savior in heaven! She was a devoted follower of Christ, and we rejoice that she is truly “home for Christmas.”

Looking ahead to the next year we have much to look forward to with career changes alone. We are also planning a 13 day trip to Israel and Egypt in late March. We will be traveling with a U.S. based tour company with local guides. Our good friends Joey (Mike’s groomsman) and Evelyn (Sarah’s bridesmaid) will be joining us. We trust that this will be the trip of a lifetime as we re-trace our Savior’s steps.

Overall, we can’t believe God’s goodness in our lives. Not only has God saved us from our sins through His Son, but we experience many practical blessings, and we really lack nothing. We are grateful for each of your friendships, and look forward to staying in touch in 2007. God bless you!