One of my favorite Christmas movies, beside the ever classic “It’s A Wonderful Life,” is one that I find hard to not laugh all the way through. Maybe it was because I can relate to many of the things that happen during this show, especially as I remember being in grade school. Although I never had to write and official “theme” on what I wanted for Christmas, I do remember circling many toys from the Sears Roebuck catalog.

I’m sitting on my front porch, looking out across the neighborhood with sunlight streaming down from a partly cloudy sky. The clouds are a wonderful puffy white, slowly moving across the azure canvas which has been created for such a beautiful day. Most of the trees are still bright green, although some have begun the seasonal transformation, albeit a little early.

This past week I was able to get away with family for a little vacation to Grayling, Michigan. We were able to visit different places, do some shopping, sight-seeing, and mostly, a little relaxing. There were a few nights that I was able to spend by a campfire as the stars entertained us, and while there are many things I could write about, one thing really jumped out at me on our last day there…

A couple of weeks ago, I was able to go with our mission team to Spirit Lake, North Dakota and work on a couple of projects. We built a wheelchair ramp for a resident of the Spirit Lake Reservation as well as begin the construction of the new bath house for the ministry center. I was tasked with nailing the studs together to form the outside walls.