Wow...

What a month it has been. Life has been (as they say) crazy for a while at the Coates household.

Within the last month, we've had the regular festivities of Christmas and New Year's (and the various family visits associated with said holidays), as well as a few other things. Let me give you an idea...

In the beginning of December, I played my third year with "Tribute". "Tribute" is a group of three ladies that put on a fantastic show once a year around Christmas. The night is filled with humor, comedy and of course Christmas tunes. Three years ago, I was asked to fill in for their regular guitar player, Bruce. Even though Bruce has been back the last two years, they've still asked me to join the festivities.

The show sold out all 4 nights that it played this year... a great testament to the quality of the show they put on. Its also one of the few events during the year where you will actually see me in dress pants versus my normal jeans. *grin*

December also brought the celebratory return of Parkview Evangelical Free Church back to the building it occupied prior to the Summer floods in Iowa. From June through December, the church met at a local high school... setting up and tearing down the entire church on a weekly basis.

The building is now put back together and is better than ever!! I look forward to many more weekends of worship there at the building!

December also brought on a crisis situation with our house. To make a long story short, half-way through the month we learned that we needed to have our basement complete by the end of December or "suffer the consequences" as they say. We'd been working on the basement for 3 years, but still had a long way to go.

I'm happy to say that by God's grace, the help of several dear friends, the patience of my boss and an inspector that was willing to answer all kinds of questions, we made the deadline!!

The basement still has a few things to be completed before we can actually enjoy the space (carpet etc), but the city is satisfied with the work and the rest of it should hopefully be completed soon.

Last... but certainly not least... this past Friday morning, my wife and I welcomed our *5th* child into the world!! Brooks Joseph Coates was born around 9:25 AM on Friday morning.

We were able to bring him home today and are in the process of spending our first night back in the house.

I'll write more soon, but thought today was an appropriate day for an update.

I hope you all are well and I pray that God will continue to draw us to Him and shape us in this new year.

In Him,
Jim