Christmas Newsletter

Dear Friends,
As we look back on 2010 we are so thankful for God's strength and presence as He carried us through the ups and downs, the challenges and celebrations of another year.

We started our year struggling to be so far away from our Sarah as she adjusted to life as a single parent. We want the absolute best for our kids and when things don't go "according to plan" it's so hard to stand by and not be able to fix it for them. Sarah has done an amazing job of continuing to be an awesome mom to Rilo, who turned a big two years old in March. She took the spring off from school, but jumped back in this last fall getting more of her general ed. classes out of the way. She has gotten almost all A's and we are so proud of all she is doing and simply the very caring, wise, and loving person that she is.

Rilo continues to be the highlight of our lives these days. He talks up a storm, is one mean dancer and singer, and simply cannot be any cuter. The latest line that cracked us up was as he was talking with his mom (being videod) and out of the blue he says, "You're the man, mom!" Ha ha ha! What a kid!

His daddy, Rob, moved back to Philadelphia (where he's from), and Sarah and Rilo moved to FL and are living with Sal's sister Lee so Sarah can have more help and support. We benefitted in that on one of the visitation trips Rilo flew out of Pittsburgh instead of Philly so last July Sarah flew here to Pittsburgh to fly back with Rilo, and Rob drove him over from Philly. It was awesome to have them here, if only for a few days. Ah the craziness of joint custody...but it's great that he gets to spend time with both of his loving parents (and now gets to see more of his family on the Nachman side as well). We are really proud of both Sarah and Rob in how they treat each other and the priority they have put on being the best parents they can for Rilo.

Sean and Megan are doing great back in Colorado. Megan became manager of the Starbucks she was working at, and Sean just finished his masters degree in Special Education. He interviewed a couple of weeks ago and just found out that he's been accepted into the doctoral program for Special Education at the Univ. of Northern Colorado. The majority of his classes and work are online, and he hopes to finish by the time he's 30 (2015). We're really proud of him.

Kim continues to work at the Apple store and helps out many seminary students who seek him out for advice! He has provided lots of sermon material for Sally as he meets people at the store. He has come home numerous times with stories of people who came into the store, started conversation with him, eventually they find out Sally's in seminary - which opens the conversation always to a whole new direction, and the next thing you know he's saying a prayer for them, inviting them to our house, or telling them about our church! What a great partner in ministry!

Last spring Sally was able to go on another mission trip with the seminary, this time to Brazil! This trip was planned to help the participants learn about church planting in Brazil. It was an amazing trip and SO much was learned! Sally was able to travel to both Rio and Manaus and learned all about a couple different Presbyterian denominations in Brazil and how they are going about growing the church after being in decline like many of the mainline denominations in the U.S.. What a blessing to be able to go - and it was all because of generous donations from church family in Grand Junction as well as help from the seminary.

The summer came quick this year. Sal went back to CO to jump through a few more hoops in the ordination process (as well as visit friends and family) in late May, and then came back to jump into CPE - Clinical Pastoral Education. She worked at Shadyside Hospital for ten weeks on the stem cell transplant floor as a chaplain. Sal was with a group of seven others - some Presbyterian from her seminary, some Episcopal, one Catholic priest from Uganda, and one female rabbinical student! Quite the group. Together they were chaplains at the hospital and then spent lots of time writing up and going through their case studies as well as other group activities and individual supervision. Probably the cheapest group and individual counseling she'll ever get! It was a very stretching, emotionally exhausting, and yet growing period ever! We BOTH grew in how to better communicate, how to show our love...the effect on our marriage has been tangible.

So now we are halfway through our LAST YEAR in seminary!!! It's so hard to believe! In addition Sally's been working as the pulpit supply pastor at a tiny church, Greenfield Presbyterian, where she preaches to around ten people every Sunday morning. This is a little church that is refusing to die! It's unique in that the ten people aren't all old people - they're mostly in their 30's and 40's, and refuse to give up on this church.

They asked for a Bible study, so Sal led a study over Advent and we had almost 100% participation. How many pastors can say that?!! There are three of the people who want to join the church as well! So Sal's preparing a class for January that she's encouraging everyone to attend, but will also be a new member's class, too. It really is like a new church development which is great since that's what Sally is really feeling called to do.

The local Presbytery new church development (NCD) leader continues to try to talk Sally into staying in Pittsburgh (as they have a great reputation for NCDs and have all sorts of support and funding as well)...unfortunately, we REALLY want to be closer to family - whether that means CO or FL we really don't know.

So we're looking ahead to graduation day, June 1st! Sal took the ordination exams in the fall, and only has to retake the Polity exam the end of January before she can officially start sending out her resume - but she has permission to start discussions with churches and contacts.

We are really torn as to whether we should be going to Colorado or Florida, so we're counting once again on God to make things very obvious for us. Sal would love to start a church, but that means paying for our own move and finding a job to help support us while the church grows. It would be awesome to find other churches that would like to help support a new church and/or a presbytery that comes close to what the Pittsburgh Presbytery has to offer as far as support and resources. Another consideration is either a part-time and/or a temporary pastor position to get us to an area so we can learn the area and acclimate to start a new church later.

So many unknowns, so much that is WAY out of our control...but that is when God does His best work -- when we know for sure that there is no way we can make things happen on our own.

We're counting on God totally to guide and direct us as well as provide for us in this transition from seminary to ministry. We welcome your prayers as we finish our time here and look ahead to see where to plant our next step. Once again, it's an exciting time! And once again, God has been preparing both of us for 'such a time as this.'

We are so thankful for our many friends and loving family who have encouraged and supported us in so many ways on this seminary adventure. We thank God for you and pray that you know His presence and love this holiday (Holy Day) season, and always.

All of our love...Merry Christmas!
Sally & Kim (& our sweet Charlie!)