What's Up at WillowBridge??

 Whew!! Time for another life-at-WillowBridge update, and I seriously feel like I JUST did one of these! 

* I do have some really exciting news since my last update! The tenant that had been working so hard to get her driving permit...passed her test! We were so very, very proud of her for persevering! (Also, in quizzing her, I learned that I don't know the technical terms for most of the signs on the road.. Maybe I need to sign up for Ryan's driving classes myself!)

* We finished up our month-long "Attitude of Gratitude" devo challenge, and we even shared our daily challenges on Facebook and Instagram. Ryan and I shared devos in the November staff meeting for Gateway Woods, so we used one of our daily readings to share with the staff, too!

* Justine, Isla, and I went shopping for Christmas decor so we could have a proper WillowBridge Christmas! We had the best time! Girls' Day Out!

* The Sunday after Thanksgiving, we had our official Thanksgiving dinner with the whole WillowBridge crew. The team did the cooking (and if we're honest, Ryan did most of it) and we were able to share an evening together. (I haven't officially told you about our Thanksgiving, but I will, I promise.)

* This last Friday was the Gateway Woods staff Christmas party, which was done entirely through Zoom and party kits and was SO COOL! I have to tell you about that soon, too! 

* And the next day, we decorated WillowBridge for Christmas! It was such a fun day for everyone - and I'll tell you more about that later, too. (I basically have stories for you for the rest of December.)

So as you can see, it has indeed been a full month here at WillowBridge! Though these are the highlights of successes and celebrations, there have also been hard days, tough conversations, and daily life that can have its difficult moments. When I share these updates with you, my goal is to celebrate the goodness that God is doing here, but I never want to misrepresent and make you think every single day is easy or uncomplicated. NO ONE on this earth has an uncomplicated life, and we're no exception. 

But I can tell you this: we have learned in fresh ways this month how dearly and fiercely we love our tenants. We have advocated for them, brainstormed ways to help them succeed, and prayed hard for them. For those of us who work here, the days are long and busy, but the work is worth it, even on the hard days. 

How can you pray?

* We're in the process of potentially bringing in a couple more tenants, and there is much that goes into this process. Continue to pray for wisdom for us as we seek God's will for our community and those who may join us here!

* We're doing our very best to stay healthy here at WillowBridge, and so far, we have been. We've had a few quarantines here and there, but so far all of them have turned out to be non-events. (Potential exposures that turned out to be false exposures.) Having said that, we have learned that quarantining, even if it's not for a positive test or true exposure, radically alters the dynamic of how we function as a building. We'll do our best to continue living wisely, safely, and in the most disinfected way possible, but we would welcome your prayers for health and for the ability to function to our best even if we do have to navigate these waters at some point.

* Our churches around here have gone back online entirely as we lead up to the holidays, so we're having church together (watching an online service) in our community room each week. We're striving to find better ways to help our tenants understand about the Lord, and we'd love your prayers for wisdom as we do that!