This is us getting engaged in Yosemite this time last year. : )

Need an update?

Well, it has been awhile since either of us have posted anything on here, so I will bring you all up to date on what has been going on with us. Micah still loves his new job at Whittier. We are planning to move into an apartment there on February 4. It is a two bedroom, two bath place with a washer and dryer inside. We are very excited about that! Living in Whittier will be great for Micah because he will be so close to work and his job. I am excited about the move as well, except it will mean a few months of a long commute to Pepperdine. Please pray that God will keep me safe on the roads during that time.
We just got back from Christmas in Fresno yesterday. It was so much fun and great to be with my family for a few days. However, we are missing the Fosters up north because we did not get to see them for the holidays this year. We will see them at the Zoe conference in January though. Yippee!
I will begin my part time student teaching after the break. I am excited and dreading it at the same time, but more excited. : ) Graduation is not too far away. My parents have already made reservations to come down for it. I can't believe how fast the time has gone.
Micah and I are both sick now...I guess it's just that cold that is going around. We are hoping to be better for New Year's Eve so we don't miss out on all the fun! That is all I have for now.
Love you all,
Erica

Giving Thanks to God

I am thankful on this day for God's protection, his Love, the love he has entrusted me with for Erica and the life we have together. Life is a very precious thing, do everything in your power to preserve it ... and lean on God through it all. And never forget to pray.

New Job

Title: Associate Minister
Job Emphasis: Youth Ministry (80%), Various (20%)
Church: Whittier Church of Christ, Whittier, CA

We are getting ready to accept a proposal from the church and we want to thank all those people who have been praying for us. It has been a long couple of months looking for work. I've interviewed for about 12 jobs and I wasn't hired for a single one, until now. The one Youth Ministry job I've gone for ... God has opened the door!

Our Birthdays Have Past

Erica and I have now celebrated both of our birthdays. Erica's parents and sister are on their way to our apartment as I type. They are coming down for the day and night. We're going to go check out the Camarillo Outlets and then head out to Santa Monica. We'll eat dinner in Venice at a really good Italian place.

I'm still on the job hunt. We're heading back out to Whittier CoC tomorrow to teach the High School class again. I am told that the Elders would like to speak with me about a possible job opportunity there. We'll see how God leads that and if it is His will that we accept ... it will be made clear.

God is good. All the time.

Annual Thanksgiving Youthfest

California Inferno

CNN was labeling the southern California fires as California Inferno. At this point only one structure has been destroed but 20,000 acres were burnt and it is at 20% containment. Fortunately, we are not close to the fires. But here are some pictures that I took while driving to and from Malibu yesterday. These are just north of the 101 freeway at the Lost Hills exit, for those of you who know the area.

Shane & Shane Contest

Check out this contest sponsered by Relevantmagazine.com and InPop Records. It's pretty awesome.

Seinfeld & Shingles

Well, we went back to Fresno this weekend so that Erica could help with Ladie's Day at College CoC. My mom, Cheryl, was being honored for her service to God and work within the women's ministry.

While we were in Fresno we were able to see Seinfeld live. That was a pretty awesome blessing. I haven't laughed so hard since the show went off the air. Did you know Seinfeld is 51 years old and got married in his mid-40's? Crazy!

While we were in town I went to a walk-in clinic and was diagnosed with shingles. It stays dormant in your spine until it is activated by stress. I guess I've been stressed out from being on the job hunt for three weeks. On the up side, I got some medicine and I have another interview tomorrow. We'll see what happens. Keep us in your prayers. God is good and he will provide.

Post-Wedding:Post-Honeymoon

We are back from everything. Life has been a whirlwind of fun, friends and love. We hope everyone else had as good of a time as we did at our wedding and reception. It was more perfect than I could have imagined. Thank you to all those who put in such hard work to make this the day we dreamed it could be. Now, drum roll please ... some pictures.

And Now for the Important Stuff

It is now Thursday. I am excited, yet level. I think that most people would have an emotional roller coaster right now. They'd either feel like they are on top of the universe or scared out of their wits. I am in the perfect frame of mind. God has blessed me so richly with a beautiful bride-to-be and a wonderful new family of in-laws.

I don't know why God has blessed me as much as he has, but now I have a responsibility to use what he entrusts to me for his glory. I pray that God will watch over us and be our guide through our life together.

Mixan Web Solutions

I have been working on an idea and now it has come to fruition. I am now open for clients. I hope to help supplement our income by running this web site creation business. You can see some of my work at...

www.mixanweb.com

Check it out and pass it along.

The Site is Up

My dad's website is now up and running.

http://donfosterconstruction.com

Feel free to check it out and pass it on to any churches who need help with their building project.

Don Foster Construction Inc.

Here is a sample of my dad's website. When it gets up and running, I'll post the link.

Almost Time

The wedding is coming up real fast. We are ready to be married and start the next chapter of our lives. Can you believe that we almost waited another entire year? That would have been insane. I'm so glad that we chose to get married this summer.

God has some pretty awesome things in store for us and through us, but we just don't know what they are yet. I'm not working with Camarillo Church of Christ after all, but we are set to attend Conejo Valley Church of Christ. We know a lot of people there and already feel welcome, though we haven't been there to visit in a while.

This year is going to be a big adventure. We'll learn a lot and pray a lot. We will always appreciate your prayers as well. Thank you to our friends and family for your support!

The Tux Shop

I went with my brother, Jason, my mom and my nephews to the tux shop for a courtesy fitting. They're so cute. Here are the results ... in partial form.

One More Week

This tour has been the longest of my Won By One career. The reason: Erica and I are engaged! Time has passed at a monumental crawl. But that just means that it will be that much sweeter when we actually get married.

I'm in Camas, Washington right now. My parents moved up here earlier this summer and I'm having a good time with the family. It was nice to have dinner with everyone and have them at our last couple of concerts too. The boys are doing well and I can't wait to see them in their little tux's. We're going to the mall tomorrow and they're going to have another fitting. I've heard that it's hilarious because the pants are too short. I'll have to take some pictures and post them.

I pray that this week finds you especially thankful for your family and friends and that you will tell them about the love you have for them. We should also take this time to be a friend to those who don't have a loving family life. There's something sacred about unofficially adopting your friends into your own families. God bless and "love on" your family and friends, as they say at the Hilltop Church of Christ in El Segundo, CA.

Dry Bones Love

Yesterday a homeless man named Michael read 1 Corinthians 13 out loud to me. I was at Venice Beach with the Dry Bone Venice ministry. He kept emphasizing that if you have not love ... Nothing you do matters. Without love nothing matters. You can have faith and hope ... But if there's no love ... These things are worthless.

Check your heart and search for the love of God in you. Search for a compassionate Spirit that resides in you, God's Spirit.

WE LOVE OUR NEPHEWS!!

Trust in God

"Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul." (Psalm 143:8)

"Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight." ( Proverbs 3:5-6).

There has never been a time in my life where I have had to trust in the Lord so much, and I have learned that it is one of the most difficult things to do. Yes, i have faith that the Lord is watching over me, and that He knows what He is doing with my life, but have i ever really trusted that what He is doing in my life is what truely is best for me? In the midst of a time where everything that has been stable in my life up to this point is all the sudden not so solid ground anymore, I have had to really trust that God will provide for Micah and I in our marriage. It is hard to trust in Him when everything is so uncertain, but I have learned from this that it is all I can do. It has challenged and strengthened my faith in so many ways. Everyday, I wake up unknowing of what lies ahead, but if I give it all over to Him, and trust Him with my day...my life...only then will I be at peace. When the road ahead is unclear and you can't see where you're driving or what you're driving toward, you just have to remember that you're not the one who is driving at all.

1 John 3:1

"How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!"

His love is indescribable. There is nothing like it. It is deep, high, wide, long and completely beyond our wildest dreams. If you seek it, you will find it.

Change is good.

"If we dare to live beyond self-concern. If we refused to shrink from being vulnerable. If we took nothing but a compassionate attitude toward the world. If we were counter cultural to our nation's lunatic lust for pride of place, power, and possessions. If we preferred to be faithful rather than successful. The wall of indifference to Christ would crumble. A handful of us could be ignored by society. But hundreds, thousands, millions of such servants would overwhelm the world. Christians filled with authenticity commitment, and generosity of Jesus would be the most spectacular sign in the history of the human race. The call of Jesus is revolutionary. If we implement it, we would change the world in a few months."

-Brennan Manning, The Signature of Jesus

I WOKE UP!

Do you realize that it is a blessing just to wake up in the morning. I've often thought of that moment when my eyes break open to be the moment I most dislike in the day. But we are blessed by God just to be able to wake up and live another day. He does not guarantee any more time for us...Yet he freely gives it to us.

Since I am blessed to live today...What will I do with this gift God has given me? How will I spend it. I deserve death...Yet God gives me life. Therefore I am compelled to search out his will for today and everyday that follows.

Father, help me to do your will. Protect me from evil and fill me up with your Holy Spirit. Guide me and direct me to the kind of daily life I long to live. A life fully devoted to you.

Church at Point Dume

In the midst of kites, rock climbers, snorkelers, scuba divers and the rest of the beach crowd...I enjoyed a small church service today at Point Dume. John Calhoun, tenor for Won By One, and I decided that instead of attending a traditional service, we'd have our own. So, we went down to Ralph's and picked up the elements for Communion and drove to Point Dume. There we sat and watched the waves crash, the people play and even some dolphins. As we shared in Communion, prayed and talked about God, I began to slowly see that this was probably a typical Sunday morning for most of these hundreds of the people at the beach today. They may not attend a regular church service anywhere and they may not even have a faith, but God loves them just as much as he loves me.

I'm just wondering if we need to get out of our boxes a little bit more and following the calling of God to be the hands and feet of Jesus in this world.

Where two or more are gathered...God is there also.

Just the Two of Us

This is a picture of Erica and I in Oregon. We love to be right next to God's beautiful creation. Sometimes we eat on the beach, visit waterfalls or take a scenic drive.

Have you ever sat back and just pondered the beauty that surrounds you? How complex is every organism and how wonderful is creation? God is truly amazing and in his "infinite wisdom" as the movie War of the Worlds puts it, God made it all for a reason. Nothing is in vain.

What do you hope for?

Let's start this blog off with a thought provoking question that I pray I'll never stop asking. What do you hope for? Really think about it. What is it that you don't already have that you wish you did? Are you bored, uneducated or sloppy? Let's take it to the next level. What do you hope for yourself ten years from now?

I was recently asked this question and it was surprisingly hard to answer. But I finally came up with this, "I hope that I have two kids (since I'll be married this summer). I hope that I'll be a full time youth minister and a great husband. I hope that I'll have written a feature length film and had it optioned or possibly made. I hope that I'll be producing several local music groups from my backyard studio. And finally, I hope that I haven't passed up the opportunity to do great things in the name of the Lord."

What do you think? I encourage you to spend some time everyday thinking about what you hope for. And when you're done with that, focus on what you're thankful for as well. For example, I'm thankful for Erica Paige Solberg (soon-to-be-Foster) and her presence in my life. I am also thankful for supportive friends and a loving family.

When you can complete these two exercises everyday, it is my opinion that life will be more enjoyable and you'll be more focused and driven to accomplish your goals.