This is the Sunday night before my classes start back so I am going to try and finally send out our Merry Christmas/Happy New Year Blog update....YAY!!!

2013 was a very eventful year in the Lamb family.  First of all, Tom hit the 40 month mark of being cancer-free!  While they still will not agree to take his port out, it is still great that it has been this long with no recurrence.  

Tom is still enjoying his job as Facilities Manager at the Lifeway Corporate Offices in downtown Nashville.  As of the end of the year, his job responsibilities are shifting a big to include a broader range of duties.  

In August of 2013, after a year of training at Hope Church in Las Vegas, Layne and Zeke moved to Zeke's hometown of Hilo, Hi.  They started Ohana Church with Zeke serving as pastor.  Layne has opted not to work right now due the large work load of starting a church.  Two couples from Tennessee joined them in November, the Fords and the McBees,  and Zeke's sister, Micah, joined them in December. 

I (Jan) started a new adventure in the summer/fall of 2013.  I am getting my Master's Degree online through Liberty University.  As many of you know, my undergraduate degree was in Finance but I am not getting my MBA.  I am getting my Master's Degree in Biblical Counseling.   Am I crazy?  I think that is pretty evident!  Going back to school after 30+ years, yes I would say crazy pretty well covers it.  If I could have gone to college online before, I definitely would have!  While challenging, the convenience of online study is fantastic!  I will have to spend 2 weeks on campus this year and next year too before I earn my degree.  I am very excited about this new endeavor!!

As a family, we faced several challenges this year.  First of all, Tom's mom had to be moved to a memory care facility here in town.  This leaves his 90 year old father at home alone.  He is still very much able to take care of himself but we see his health and my 90 year old parent's health deteriorating more rapidly with each passing year.  

As I said before, in August, we watched Layne and Zeke move off to Hawaii with the plan to see them in January 2014.  However, plans changed about a month and a half ago when my brother, Paul, was diagnosed with lung cancer and 2 brain tumors.  Paul lived with my parents at the time of the diagnosis but has since moved in with his son, Matt.  In the past month he has been in the hospital again due to 2 bleeding ulcers.  He had emergency surgery on Christmas night to repair one of the ulcers that was on an artery.  They were putting blood in and it was coming right back out essentially. Going into the surgery, he was given a 25% chance of making it through.....but he did!  

We hope that you all had a very Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year!  We wish you a happy and healthy 2014!

In Him,
Tom and Jan