best imitation of myself

a little late but...

I'm currently enjoying two of my favorite Christmas presents: simultaneously!

The beautiful voice of Gillian Welch is piping through my humble headphones, and I fall more and more in like (I usually reserve the term 'love' for more sacred things) with her songwriting, singing, and playing. So thanks to Lori and Joe for my copy of her "Soul Journey" album. I also received Sean Watkins' "26 Miles" and Tim O'Brien's "Traveler." Good stuff all around.

And at the very same time I am wearing a T-shirt featuring Homestar. And it's very cool. Even cooler that today is the first day in a LONG time that there's been something new on the homestarrunner.com site. Thanks Em and Steve for the high-stylin fashions. Maybe soon I'll also be wearing the pants from Old Navy that Michelle got me. Lots of Old Navy stuff for the both of us this year. I guess they've got us pegged.

And I must mention the latest addition to my growing pile of cool/random instruments. Mom and Dad got me a 2 course gourd thumb piano. If you have no idea what that is, come by and check it out.

You may or may not notice that I'm not a very faithful blogger. That's about to change. Trust me. There's always pictures and such on the family site too.

Christmas Letter 2003

Dear Family and Friends,

We come to the end of another year, and we marvel at God's faithfulness throughout. We've been carried through quite a few ups and downs, especially in regards to health, and we look forward to what lies ahead.

The year started with a bit of heartache and confusion, although it was lined with hope. Michelle was diagnosed with fibromyalgia, and her declining health forced her to quit her part-time teaching job at Chattanooga Christian School. At the same time, we learned of a little-known treatment for fibromyalgia that is inexpensive and safe, if not a little complex. At times it was difficult to understand why God would allow this terrible disease to take away Michelle's health, but His faithfulness and grace overwhelmed our wandering hearts. We were especially comforted by the prayers and help from our family and friends during this difficult time.

We were also encouraged by the willingness of our loved ones to come visit us this year. We were not able to travel as much as we like, so the visits from Michelle's parents and her sisters and niece early in the year were fun and encouraging.

Our first spring at our new house was full of color. It seems like each day there was a new surprise, as the cherry, tulip, iris, rose and many other blossoms ushered in the warmth. It was such an unexpected blessing to have so many flowers to admire around our little yard. We were inspired to start our first backyard garden, and had a lot of fun working the earth together. It was quite a learning experience too: we won a few battles and enjoyed some good crops, but overall the bugs won the war this year. Hopefully next year we'll be able to be more diligent in fending off those pesky pests.

By the time the sunflowers nearly reached the roof, it was the middle of the summer and a time of change at work. One good friend and coworker moved out to Colorado and another went off to law school. We also moved our office, but only just down the block. Perhaps most notably for us, I received a generous raise, which was such a blessing in God's good timing. We've been struggling under the weight of school debt among other things, and we are now seeking ways to honor God better by being better stewards with what He's given us. Please pray for us as we continue to learn much in this area.

Our fourth anniversary came at the end of the summer and our families generously sent us to a cabin getaway in the Georgia mountains. We hadn't traveled in a long time, so it was such a good time to leave our worries behind with some downtime in the hills. As the summer came to a close Michelle joined a weekly study with Bible Study Fellowship. We've both been blessed by how much of the Word she has been learning each week.

In November Michelle's health took a turn for the best. We are so thankful that the treatment for her fibromyalgia is showing some clear improvements. The treatment program is a somewhat long and drawn-out process, so it's very encouraging to be able to look back and see such improvement. We're hopeful that next year she'll have regained most of her strength. If you know of anyone with fibromyalgia who may be interested in learning more about this, please don't hesitate to contact us.

We’re excited for Michelle’s parents as they embark on a new adventure this coming year. Her Dad graduated from seminary this spring and they have been waiting on the Lord’s timing to plant a new church. Now they have been called to start a ministry in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, and you can find out all about it at www.Champaign-UrbanaPCA.org. I was happy to be able to do this little website for them, and speaking of: Michelle and I are planning on pursuing more small website side-jobs this year (proceeds go toward our debt relief fund), so if you know of anyone needing such work, let us know.

We're headed to Pennsylvania for the holidays and taking the dog too! Speaking of Katie, she's still the cutest little dog ever and she always has us laughing. She had some odd health issues of her own this year, but it turned out to be nothing especially serious. There is no lack of pictures of her on our website (wiegersfamily.com), and there you will also find lots of pictures and updates on our various adventures.

As Christmas approaches, we're looking forward to spending some good time with Michelle's family as we celebrate the coming of Jesus. We truly hope you know and love Jesus this Christmas and beyond. Thanks to many of you for your continued prayers, and as always, we'd love to hear from you or see you soon.


Much love,
Bob and Michelle

(not so) monthly update

from my website, copied here for your convenience:
11/19/2003

The past month or so has been very encouraging for us. We made not just one, but TWO roadtrips, and they happen to have been to the same location: Lexington, Kentucky. If you haven't been keeping up, you may not be aware that simply going on one roadtrip is a big step for us. For over a year Michelle's health has not been up for traveling much. So while 5 hours each way may not seem like much, it was a big blessing for us. Why Lexington? The first visit was for a Fibromyalgia seminar, at which we were able to meet Ms. Claudia Marek, who literaly wrote the book on Fibromyalgia treatment. She took time to evaluate Michelle's progress with the treatment program, and proclaimed that she is doing quite well and "about to turn the corner." We were thrilled to hear this news, as the program is a long and hard road and we've been quite discouraged at times. The best part is: she was right! Also on this trip we were able to meet other folks who are dealing with this disease, which was very encouraging, especially to travel with and get to know Joy, who is a "fibro buddy" from here in town.


A few weeks later we returned to Lexington to have early Thanksgiving with my (Bob) family. We're all going different places for "real" thanksgiving, so we decided to get together early. My sister lives near Lexington and my folks made the drive from NC. So it was good to have early holiday times with the fam. Pictures coming soonish.


Katie update: according to the vet, Katie's bald spots are reactions to her puppy and yearly shots. Plus she also has an unknown allergy. So it's good that she doesnt have something more dangerous, but it seems as if she's stuck with a bit of discomfort, as the allergy treatment is prohibitively expensive. She's still as happy as ever and loves to hop around the yard and yap after the squirrels (of which there is an abundance these days). She even climbs up to the top of the woodpile against the fence to get a better view of the squirrels in the neighbor's yard. Quite entertaining. Unless you're a tree rat. Actually they seem to get a kick out of her too.


I had the honor of attending a birthday party to celebrate the 5th year of life for Bennett Sunder. As his Sunday School teacher, I even made it to the top of the guest list. I find it somewhat odd, because I'm usually doing my best to get him off his favorite subject (superheros), but it's touching that he'd demand my presence at his party. I didn't disappoint, making him a card featuring him as Batman (using a little PhotoShop magic). The look on his face was priceless. We've got some of the best kids in our church.


Now we're gearing up for the holidays. The cabin-maties are coming for Thanksgiving (there will be 9 of us total!), and thankfully the Petersons have opened their house for lodging. We're looking forward to the usual mellow good times. And Christmas has come a little early, due to the fact that Michelle will be gone for about half of December, and I'll be following her to PA a little later. (And our little dog too!) So to enjoy our allotted month of Christmas cheer at home, we went ahead and bought a (fake) tree. We're both surprised at how realistic it looks, and at only twice the price of a real tree, a worthwhile buy (not to mention lack of sap, needles, watering, and tree-stand battles). Thanks for the early Christmas present mom!


We're in the midst of making everyone's Christmas presents. That's right folks! Read below and you'll see that money is tight this year, so homemade presents all around. We hope you like the stuff as much as we've enjoyed making it. No more hints.


Thanks for your continued prayers. Michelle's health has indeed improved significantly, and we hope it stays that way through the holidays. We look forward to next year, as February marks year one of the Fibromyalgia treatment.


Latests:

Movie (theater): Matrix Revolutions - We should've seen Elf instead. The orginal film was cool. Parts 2 and 3 are lame. Cool in parts, but overall: lame.

Movie (rental): Finding Nemo - saw it with the fam in Lexington. Another classic from Pixar.

Book (Bob): Mosquito Coast - saw the movie years ago. in the middle of the book. good stuff so far.

Book (Michelle): Peace Like a River

TV: Alias - gotta love the spy/thriller/techno soap opera. We get together weekly with friends to watch. And Matt has Season 1 on DVD: no commercials!

perforated puppy

I agree with Josiah that dogs are great, but sometimes they're dang expensive. If you've ever seen our dog, you know that most people wouldn't classify her in the general category of "dog", but she is indeed a canine. We tend to think of her as a perpetual puppy.

But now she's a perforated puppy. The vet had to do three biopsies on her, due to her mysteriously aggressive ringworm, or some such thing. We're not even to the diagnosis of this malady, and we're out $200 already. Oh, what we do for puppy love. We just hope it's not anything serious (and expensive).

And just a month ago we had her "fixed." More like broke, if you ask me. Ever since that lovely procedure, her skin has dried up and she's itching like crazy. Could that have anything to do with the aforementioned condition? And it's not like a 5 pound pup is going to bleed much anyway. Oh well. We tried to do what they say is best, but alas, that darn Bob Barker got the best of us.

At least she's a happy pup. Cutest dog ever. Not exactly "manly" but who cares?