No day better than today!

Hey Family and Friends,

So the North Portland (NoPo) Changs, aka. Jedd and Michelle,have been meaning to start a blog/website/newsletter about our lives a long time ago. Of course this project took a backseat with everything happening in our first year of marriage. However, as the title says, there is no day better than today to start- anything- and so with this, we are going to try our best to fill you in on the latest.

To condense this past year and tell you what’s coming up, here’s a bullet point list of things:

This past year:

• Michelle started a position at the Moreau Center for Service and Leadership at University of Portland
• Jedd finished his second and final year as Hall Director at U.P.
• Had a fun fall with new Portlanders Josh and Lins (Sellwood Changs)
• Joined an amazing life group (not small group) of married couples from our church, Mosaic, and have enjoyed sharing life with new friends
• Traveled to Arizona to visit brother Tyler and celebrate the New Year!
• Traveled to McCall Idaho to hang out with the PLU crew
• Traveled to Hawaii for spring break to visit family and participate in the H.I.M. conference
• Ran an entire Half-Marathon together and not only survived but obliterated our goals (still recovering)
• Saw Lon and Joel (Michelle’s and Jedd’s younger brothers) graduate from their respective colleges (we are just thankful they did 🙂 )

Upcoming?:

• Traveling to Haiti on a vision trip with the Haiti Foundation of Hope (more info to be posted)
• Staying with friends for two months while Jedd looks for a new position
• Enjoying the Portland summer of hiking, picking berries, white water rafting, Justin Klump’s concert at the Zoo, etc…

This past week?:

• We said goodbye to Mom and Dad Chang and Joel who were visiting for a couple of weeks (we think we wore them out)
• Went camping at Oxbow Regional Park to celebrate our anniversary
• Moved out of our campus apartment! (almost…)

To sum up life right now:

Life seems a bit chaotic and discombobulated (I didn’t need spell check for this word). There are a lot of questions for us right now. Will Jedd be able to get a job soon? Where will we live? What does God want us to do with our lives? How does the Haiti trip impact our lives currently and in the future? Should we get a dog at some point? How can we balance our time?

Yet with all these questions we feel extremely blessed for this past year and for whatever lies ahead. There are many joyful things to celebrate in our lives and the lives of others: marriage has been a fun and exciting adventure (we both are realizing how much growth there is as individuals and as a couple), Michelle enjoys what she does at work, Jedd is getting a chance to look at new possibilities for a career,  a new cousin born this year in Seattle and more little ones to come in the lives of our friends and extended family, weddings in both our families. We know that God has and will always provide for us and our family and we both feel a strong call to figure out how He wants us to share our lives with others. We remain hopeful and faithful in whatever is to come, although honestly, it can be difficult at times. But it’s a lot easier with the love and support you have given us. Thank you.

Till next time, Love and Peace,

J& M