Hi Family!

Good news: we finished our house! The assessor came today, took all her measurements and pictures, and sat down to have coffee with us. She asked what we were hoping for, and when we told her, she didn't tell us to lower our expectations, she simply said "I will do the very best I can for you."

Whew. Done. Wow.

There will always be more to do, of course. But we're done with the sixteen hours a day every day jamming. In fact, due to the last week finish the house jam, we didn't get to go to Grand Marais for Thanksgiving this year. Sad. But we had a crowd here and it was a blast. Those are the pictures above.

So this means- what? All the people we've been putting off, all the meetings we've wanted to attend, all the time on campus we've wanted to spend can happen. We came back full time last spring, and it's a reality now.  It means that our budget will be in a much better place. We may still need to fundraise, but that's fun anyway, we get to come see you :)

Friday Night Worship has been great! When the remodel started, we moved from our home to Destiny Fellowship, a church that meets downtown. We were hoping the closer to campus location would be helpful, and it was fun to meet there in their second story building- we could see the city. But starting this Friday, we are moving to First Assembly. We're really excited for this move too. Our pastor at First, Vern Lathe, has retired, and the church is in huge transition. Pastor Vern called for a 21 day fast, and we all started today. FNW will be a great addition to this time of transition/prayer/fasting.

We had a great time last weekend visiting the church in Hibbing and sharing in music and testimony- what a blessing. We have former students who live there- Aaron and Jill Reini. So we stayed with them and just drank in the wonderfulness of their little family and friends. Aaron and his dad Allan have written a great sci-fi/end times-ish book called "Flight of the Angels."  Wow. It's awesome.  I was privileged to have a small part in the revisions- check out the back page. Give it a read! It's available on Kindle and hard copy.

Buy Flight of the Angels

Tomorrow night we are having a crowd of students over to watch "Father of Lights," Darren Wilson's third documentary on the move of God in our world. His first and second movies, "Finger of God" and "Furious Love" were amazing- wow, if you haven't seen them, give them a look! He was a bit of a skeptic at the beginning, and decided to make a documentary on what God was doing. It took him all around the world where he met amazing people and saw miracles. We watched Father of Lights the other night, and Elijah, who is now 9, was bummed at us for not letting him play wii instead. But as the movie progressed, he was completely sucked in. He told me later that at one point, he went to his room and told God that he LOVED him SO MUCH. He then asked Him if he would take any "gunk" he had inside him. "Mom, I got goose bumps, all over, for a long time. It felt really good."  Then he said he asked Him if there was anything He wanted to say to him. He said, "God said thank you.  And I said, 'you're welcome.'"

I just can't think of enough good stuff to say about that :)

HEY! This is more news- remember my son Ian (Sam)? We were reunited three years ago, super fun, super amazing. He did the Trinona with the girls and I this past summer. Happy news is, he's getting married! Ian met Chaley at a wedding in Texas  a few summers ago. They have had a long distance relationship, with lots of plane flights, and they got engaged last month. The Thooft family will be driving to Dallas next summer! If you live on the way, we may come see you :)

Finishing the house also means I can now finish the second edition of my book. Will keep you posted!

In the works- Christmas cookie bakes, sleigh rides, movie nights, FNW, sozos, ecumenical prayer meets on campus, and hopefully a trip to Fargo to glean from Brad Lewis (Chi Alpha director of NSDU and Moorhead State XA) with our faculty advisor, Rick Goeb.  Rick is the Athletic Director at BSU and he is full of encouragement and excitement about XA on campus. So fun.  So much is in store.

Thank you for your love and support. Dang. We love what we do.  You rock.

Have a wonderful December!!!

To check out the Father of Lights Trailer- click on the link below.

Father of Lights Trailer

PS- thanks for the reminder Eric! :)