Before addressing events, passed and present, I should mention for those who don't know that my dear mother, "Gramma" Dorothy Kirschke passed on to her eternal reward in heaven last May.  Jennifer also lost her mother, also named Dorothy, last Fall ... so the last 12 months have been a little harder than usual.  But the Lord has brought us through!  You can see a tribute to my mother, Dorothy Kirschke, by clicking on HERE, and also a "2009 month-by-month "Kirschke Year in Review" with scores of pictures of family and friends by clicking on HERE.

Now some recent news first:

January marked my second archaeological trip with the team from Trinity Southwest University to excavate (dig, dig, dig!) at what is believed to be the ancient city of Sodom southeast of Amman in the "plain of the Jordan" (just 10 mi. NE of the Dead Sea). It was an amazing time, and on off days we traveled to cities of the Decapolis, where Jesus sent his disciples preaching, including Gadera, where he cast the demon's in the demon-possessed man into a herd of swine. We stood at the cliff where they fell over to their death, and saw the cave and tombs where the Gadarene man lived! It really made the Bible account come alive! (I'll post a video here or on the blog later.) For more information on the Sodom site, go to www.tallelhamman.com, and you can also see the YouTube video HERE.

While talking about Biblical Archaeological, let me mention that I took a trip last year to work with Dr. Scott Stripling (one of our LifeWay elders, who is an archaeologist and teaches now Wharton Co. Jr. College) in Jerusalem on the Gabay Barkay's Antiquities Salvage Operation at the Temple Mount. In case you're interested in these kind of things, here are some links to the project, which will be ongoing for about 5 more years:

http://templemount.wordpress.com/
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7929937138181980966  (video)
www.radioscribe.com/2008mar3.html
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/10/071023-jerusalem-artifacts.html

You can see my own video of Scott and my time in the Middle East with some of the places we visited on our "day trips" by going to www.vimeo.com/davidkirschke.

A most recent short-trip within the last few weeks has been to a marriage seminar given by the National Institute of Marriage in Branson, Missouri.  They were offering a weekend special (free!) for pastors and missionaries and their wives.  It was fantastic, and I heartily recommend it for any couple that wants to enhance (if not rescue) their marriage.

A couple more notes about 2009: When we returned home from Europe last summer, our dear friends, the Testori's (who have a world-wide ministry out of Milan) returned the favor and visited us, bringing their boys. We had a great time hosting them at Lake Conroe on our vacation and showing them the Alamo and Riverwalk in San Antonio. About 2 months ago, another good friend, whose husband pastors in southern France, visited us a few days on her hold-over as an Air France stewardess.

I gave a report on a couple other events in our last Christmas letter, but one of the most exciting recent developments has been the move of our church, LifeWay, to Rosenberg (20 minutes away), which is mid-way between Houston and our Training Center campus location. Everyone is quite pumped and enthusiastic about it. (You can get details about it at www.lifeway.org and www.lifeway.org/index2.htm).

I am still trying to finish this entire website, and hopefully I can before long---rebuilding it from the "ground floor up." New pictures, new links, new videos, and some innovative slide shows will keep you entertained as well as informed with all the new escapades of the Kirschke Family. Pictures will continue to be uploaded and can be seen by clicking on "Photo Album" in the left Table of Contents. Another site to view a few family and travel pictures old and new, some quite amusing is:http://gallery.me.com/dkirschke 

By the way, do you have any health issues, or are just concerned about staying healthy and disease-free?  If so, please check out our wellness site at www.glycohealth.com.

So, may the Lord bless you, and thanks again for visiting! Check back soon!