Isaac's 25th birthday

Son Isaac turns 25 years old today. It's hard to believe our baby is that old. And this will be quite a year for him. He and Ricci are getting married in September and she will be moving into the house with him. They will live in the basement, Stevo and Elise in the upstairs, and the main floor and garage will be for residents.

Isaac is still the program director for the Exodus House in Anderson (where he lives). It probably defies the odds that they are still in operation, much less the fact that they have made considerable improvements to the physical property. The place looks amazing; however they can still use funding (if you're reading this and you would like to invest in a worthwhile endeavor). He also still works on the exotic animal farm cleaning barns, building fence and mowing, so he can make some money. He made just barely enough last year to have to pay taxes.

This past year was also a big year for the boy church-wise. They moved out of their old building adjacent to the Exodus House and have started meeting in the basement of the big Methodist church downtown. They also left their denomination and no longer have any paid staff. So it is a much smaller church body, but still very much alive. Isaac is one of three (I think) on the preaching team, and is one of the leaders.

I suppose the highlight of the year for the boy was his engagement to the lovely miss Ricci. Just after Christmas they took a train from Indy to San Fransisco. He had planned to propose marriage to her sometime during the trip. Well, shortly after leaving he found out that the train actually went through our hometown of Buda. So he worked it out with the conductor that when they approached Buda he made an announcement something to the effect, "We are now approaching the hometown of one of our passengers who is on board with his girlfriend; only he hopes she won't be his girlfriend for much longer." So as they chugged into Buda, and past the house we used to live in with the red door, he asked her to marry him. I thought that was about as neat as it could get. Of course she said yes! So we are pretty excited about the wedding coming up in September in Story, Indiana.

We won't see Isaac today as he has a wedding. I think the plan is to get together sometime this week and celebrate both he and Carrie's birthday's together. We didn't get either of them much for their birthdays this year because we are taking everyone to Myrtle Beach later this month. That's kind of a combination birthday present for them and 30th anniversary present for Jane and I.

We continue to be very proud of our son, and we look forward to an incredible year ahead.