End of the year update

Hi,

Sorry it's been so long since I sat down to update you all.

Since we announced our departure from pursuing staff life, a lot has been going on emotionally for me (Kate). The first few weeks I think I didn't really know what to do with myself and I hadn't had a good cry about this huge change in our lives. Then a couple of weeks ago, it finally hit me that we'll probably never be one of those "missionary families" that speak at churches and live that lifestyle. So I've been grieving over that loss and working through a lot of personal things. I know this about myself, but you may not all know this: when things get hard, I have a tendency to withdraw quite severely and I become pretty introspective (which most people don't expect and don't know how to respond to) and so I've been sorting through things as best as I can. Louie has been a huge help in all of this.

He continues to prepare himself for ministry in the church (hopefully as a youth pastor somewhere) and spends a lot of time reading and job searching. I know it can be hard to wait, but I'm excited for the right job and I look forward to God's timing in providing it. Meanwhile, I'm back in the swing of things at the bank, and am looking forward to normal bank pace now that the holidays have passed...

We're learning more about each other and ourselves during this process of huge transition. We're also talking through and deciding on all the things we had planned around the lifestyle, timing and world of Campus Crusade. Please pray for us as we continue to make new plans and learn how to have a new lifestyle that's not currently centered around ministry.

Thanks for your prayers, friendship and encouragement.

Until next time,
Kate

Moving

Wow, I can hardly believe 1 week ago today we spent over 10 hours moving. Over 10 + car trips (and a few with the church trailer and our friend Rob's help), almost all of our things that need to be stored are stored and most of our daily things are at least in our new/old place. Moving back in with Kate's parents has been pretty quiet with her brother Joe at college and her parents working some longer days. It's been such a blessing that Kate took this week off with paid vacation. As she caught a cold during all of the moving, it's been really nice to sleep to our hearts' content, eat soup for lunch and take our time getting settled in.
Today is Joe's birthday (Kate's brother) and we're looking forward to a "families" dinner (Washleski and Jacobs) to celebrate.
Plus this Saturday is Kate's birthday and some friends of ours are hosting a Thanksgiving potluck and gift exchange, which we're really looking forward to.
Well, that's a pretty little summary of the last week or so, but there hasn't been much going on besides packing, moving, getting sick and recovering.
And we're thankful for that!

Praise God!

This morning, we got a call from our landlord... one we've been waiting for over the past several weeks.  See, we gave our notice in October that we'd like to get out of our lease, and he said there wouldn't be any financial penalties if he could find another tenant to start renting.  So after about 10-15 showings (maybe more), there's finally a person as urgent to move in as we are to get out.  

We're moving back in with Kate's parents so we can save money to buy a house.  And the sooner we can stop spending so much for a place to live (short term) the better.  Especially going through such major transitions, we're just really looking forward to simplifying our lives, our living space, and focusing more on what matters: God, each other, and our friends.

We are so elated about this news! Praise God for His provision of this new tenant and please pray that everything goes smoothly (as they want us out in two weeks if possible!) and for grace during this transition to new living arrangements.

We are so thankful for this!!! :) 

Welcome!

Hello Everyone!

This is going to be our way of keeping you all in the loop on big and small things that go on in our day-to-day lives as the Washleski Family.  Kate will probably do most of the writing (as that is a passion of hers) but the updates will be about anything that we think you'd be interested to know.  We are excited to have this new format to share photos, life updates, and cool things that God is doing in our lives.  Please feel free to leave comments, ask questions and post responses to what we share.

We're so excited to share our lives with you!

Love,

Kate and Louie