Messner Family Newsletter, Fall 2007

“Dull” has never been a word that I have used to describe the life of our family…Here is an update on the latest happenings at our house:

The biggest news of all is the arrival of our new puppy – His name is Kona and he is an Airedale Terrier. He was born on June 29th. We were looking for an Airedale and I came across an ad in the Seattle Times. To see the puppies I had to drive to a small town just south of Yakima, called Zillah. The main tourist attraction in Zillah is the Church of God. (Church of Godzillah). There was a big litter from which I did my best to find the puppy with the best temperament. We have been thrilled with our dog. He was quickly house trained and is a fast learner. He is gentle and really sweet. People just love him. We took him on his first hike today and went up to Snow Lake and he did great! He made it the full seven miles over some rugged terrain. I’m trying to ease him slowly into the hiking/running routine, but I can already tell he will do well. He also is growing really fast.

Alicia has had an exciting fall – taking her first college course as a part of “running start” – she has English 101 at Cascadia Community College. She also started her first job as a barista at “Get Up and Go Espresso” in Juanita. She usually works on Saturday and Sunday afternoons. She makes pretty good money from her tips and she was able to purchase her first car this past Saturday – a decent, used Honda Civic. We think it is going to work well for her and she is really happy with it (although it does need some work).

Levi is busy playing “Tier II” Bantam Hockey. Making the team was quite a process and now he is playing games in Canada and at home every week. They have a pretty good team and will be going to Victoria this weekend for a tournament. The team charters a bus for their weekly trips to Canada. Parents can ride along on the bus, so we are able to catch most of his games. They practice twice a week and have games twice a week. He is playing defense and has grown so much this year that he is one of the bigger players on the team. He also continues to develop as a guitar player, playing for the school band, the church youth group and for a band with a couple of his friends. He also is learning piano. He is a fast learner and is a very gifted musician. He also has been able to see quite a few live concerts this year, including Steve Vai (his favorite guitar player), EndFest (with Smashing Pumpkins, and Social Distortion), and this past week we went to a great show at the Showbox with The Classic Crime and some other excellent local bands.

Besides taking care of all of us, Heidi spends a lot of her time making the world a better place – she is leading a new support group for teens that have been through abuse, trauma, or are just struggling in life. She is seeing real change and hope with these kids who have been through things that kids should never have to experience. Last weekend she spoke at a “grief” retreat and the weekend before that she spoke at a women’s event at a nearby church. She also is staying involved as a staff member with the Northwest University Graduate School of Psychology. You never know what the future holds for Heidi – she has such a broad arena of ability and expertise -- right now she is considering doing counseling for the public high school. We’ll keep you posted.

My life is pretty steady – no radical changes. I have been busy teaching in several venues that Eastside has (services, School of the Bible, School of Ministry). I am really looking forward to going to Manila at the end of this month to meet with the leaders of the project there. We will be planning the coming year (2008). I also may be teaching a class at Fuller Theological Seminary during the winter term. It will be my first class as a professor at Fuller and the class is entitled Liberating the Laity Across Cultures. Teaching in a Seminary is a good way to be able to invest in developing leaders while at the same time sharpening my own knowledge and abilities as a leader. During 2008, I anticipate preaching more at Eastside Church. Our Senior Pastor, Jim Hayford, has graciously offered me “the pulpit” nearly once a month. I am looking forward to this new opportunity. It is also worth mentioning that Eastside just opened a new 33,000 square foot addition and it is REALLY nice. It includes a wonderful “Lodge”/fellowship hall, kitchen, coffee bar, youth facility, and a great “Kidz Zone”. I continue to enjoy hiking, climbing, trail running, photography, and other forms of outdoor recreation (snow shoeing, fly fishing…). Check out my Flickr website for my latest photos.

That is about all for now. Our holiday schedules will be built around church and hockey – so we are not sure if or when we will be travelling during that time.

Happy Holidays! We hope that you are able to be thankful for many things this Thanksgiving. We are thankful for you – our friends and family.

Matt, Heidi, Alicia, and Levi

(PS – for those that are new to “blogging”, I would encourage you to post comments about anything that provokes a response from you – from this post or any other posts on my blog).