Greetings friends,
Here's a bit of an update for those of you who requested more information, re: my engagement.
In the late fall of 2006, I attended a halloween party hosted by a friend I went to Wheaton with (Raelyn Isherwood, for those of you who know her). At this point, she was in grad school at Wheaton in the TESL program (Teaching English as a Second Language) and she invited a bunch of friends from her class to the party as well.

Thus, completely unexpectedly, at a halloween party (where I wore a costume consisting of an orange t-shirt which said "This is my halloween costume"), I met the girl it seems God has plans for me to marry. :)

Her name is Melanie Thayer, she's from MI and she graduated from Grand Valley State University (in MI) in 2002 with an Elementary Education Degree & Special Ed focus (education degrees in MI are highly valued across the country because of their stringent standards). Then she spent 2 years in Tanzania as a missionary, teaching english at a bible school hosted by a local church. Now she is a full time special-ed teacher/resource facilitator at a school in Glen Ellyn, and is taking grad classes at Wheaton for a master in TESL part time. She is smart, fun, thrifty (we both are...one of our favorite things about each other), has a beautiful smile and...this list could go on and on. :)

In all seriousness however, she is another glowing example in my life of how God takes care of me and blesses me in ways I could not have expected. Simply put, if God has allowed me to create the "perfect wife"...made to order if you will, whatever I thought would be ideal (You know proverbs 31 stuff, but also attractive, etc...)...I would not have created a Melanie. That's right, I said not. Instead I would have created a girl who was so much less that what Melanie is for me, and I wouldn't have know better. But thankfully, God does know better, and in Melanie, he's placed a girl in my life who is so much more than I ever could have hoped for, and who is so much of a match for me in so many ways, it blows my mind.

It's hard to believe the wedding is only about 3 months away. Very exciting.

On a different "update" note, I'm currently in my third year at MagnetStreet (http://www.magnetstreet.com/). I work in production running to 2 Xerox iGen3 Digital Presses (each worth about $750,000). In addition to magnets, etc, we've recently branched out into the wedding invitation market (which is of course what I've done our invitations on...you'll get them in a few months). This is good growth for the company, and while I don't know what God has planned, my hope is that if he's keeping me at MagnetStreet for an extended time, that this growth will lead to promotional or possibly even management opportunities in the future.

Lastly, Melanie and I are closing on a townhouse in early April. I'll move in shortly after. Then we'll spend evenings and weekends painting, fixing up, etc...and then just before the wedding, we'll move Mel's stuff in after she heads up to MI for the wedding. We're very excited about the place. :)

Anyway, that's pretty much that from this end. I hope you're all doing well and of course I'd love to hear what you've been up to.
Later!-Wes