Journal entry for: 12-21-2000

Merry Christmas everyone!

      I hope that you are all having a great time, getting to be with family and good friends and all that entails. I want to first of all thank those of you who have sent us some help for the trailer situation. The money is really helping us out a ton, but more than that, we've been so encouraged by the fact that you would think of us to help us out like this. We're absolutely humbled and grateful. We still have a ways to go before we really get back to full speed, but your help has been more than the means to achieve that, it's given us a new desire to get out there and to make music again. So thank you again, for the help, the prayers, and the encouragement, and God bless you.

      As for me, I'm listening to the Dire Straits' singing about Romeo and Juliet here in North Carolina with my girlfriend's family. It's been a really great time as we've gotten to spend a lot of great time together, driving out here, sitting in front of the fireplace talking... We've been friends for years, and our dating has been a gradual and interesting process. As a lot of you have probably felt, or will feel at some point, it's a bit surreal being in a relationship after so much time spent longing for one. All of a sudden you've gotten to this place, and now you have to figure out what to do when you're there. I have been learning so much through all of this, just about forgiveness and grace. I'm learning I'm not as great as I thought I was... I've really been learning the Gospel all over again. We're learning things about each other that we love and are excited about, and we're learning things that are disappointing and sometimes painful. It's scary at times, but it's really exciting, and it's when we open ourselves up and start to let each other in that the grace of Jesus becomes so much more real and essential. It has been our prayer from the beginning that God would use this relationship to grow us more into a man and woman of God. It's great to see how He is answering that prayer.

      We're all heading to our respective homes for Christmas now, though. Cason's in Wichita, and Mike's down in Alabama, while the rest of us are heading up to Illinois. Mark and Dawn are moving down to Nashville a couple of days after Christmas, and we're really excited for them. She just graduated with her teaching degree, and we're really proud of her, (and grateful, because we're learning a whole lot more about American history than we ever thought we would...)

      Overall our spirits have been lifting, and we've been very encouraged to see the things that God is doing out of the hard seeds that have been planted over the past year. Thank you again for your help and for your prayers. We're really looking forward to hitting the road again this Spring, and trying out some new material as well. It's our prayer that this Christmas season becomes increasingly rich and true. We'll see you again next year!

Grace and Peace,
Andrew