Another month gone, another bunch of little changes, and a few bigger changes, too.

February marked the final burst of winter here. We had a number of days of wintry weather, leading to several days where Southeastern’s campus was closed—though none on days when I had class! One of those days included well over six inches of snow, and marked the first time Ellie has ever been able to play in the snow. Though she was a little nervous at first, she loosened up as she watched a neighbor kid play and was soon having a blast working on snowmen and a snow fort. She even tried to throw a few snowballs, but—like her momma—she didn’t much care for having them tossed her way.

Kate quite enjoyed the snow as well, even though her snow clothes were still a bit too big for her.

In the meantime, I kept plugging away at work and school. His past week was Spring Break for us, but “breaks” here usually just mark an opportunity for me to get ahead on my class assignments. I wrote one of my three papers for the semester—the shortest, but it’s helpful to have it out of the way nonetheless.

This week also saw our friends PJ and Katie finish packing up their apartment here to move to Texas, and we helped them wrap that up and participated in a few get-togethers to give them a good send-off. We are simultaneously glad for them, because this seems like it will be a very good thing for them, and incredibly sad, because we will miss them dearly.

Good friends are a rare and precious thing, and we have been blessed in ways that are hard to describe in our friendship with PJ and Katie. Having them live in the same town as us for that past couple years, and then less than a mile away for the last year, has been wonderful. We are blessed to live in a time when it is easy to stay in touch, of course, but no amount of Skype or FaceTime can make up for being unable to share a meal. Gladly, we are hoping to see them again in just a few months at the Southern Baptist Convention (which I am planning to attend for class credit at SEBTS), and that softens the blow, if only a little. Too, they are moving to be only about 90 minutes’ drive from where Jaimie’s parents live, so we will certainly see them when we visit there.

Still, I am sad, and so is Jaimie. Ellie hasn’t really understood it yet, but she will no doubt be sad as it comes home to her over the next few weeks.

So it goes until Christ comes again. Maranatha.