The Pillmans

Christmas is here!  It is with deep and sincere appreciation for your friendship that we take a moment to consider what God has given us, and share with you a chronological overview of 2023. January we started out our 2023 year with Anna’s 4th birthday. Anna has started reading and writing with Mommy at home. She measures the success of a day by how many crafts she has completed. March – Gloria turned one in March. Gloria loves to play music and do little skip dances to the music. She is talking in basic sentences, and is convinced she can do anything that her siblings can do. August – Katie celebrated her birthday on our way out to Yellowstone for a Pillman/Salt side reunion. We found out that tenting with 3 kids 4 and under makes for a vigorous expedition. We wouldn’t miss the chance to visit extended family from Canada, as well as a few bears and geysers.  September – Farzona started school in September. Farzona joins us as a foreign exchange student from Tajikistan. How many of you

This year has flown by with many fulfilling moments of joy and friendship. Our foreign exchange student from France, Perrine, finished off her year graduating in a special ceremony unique to American culture. While here, she enjoyed trying new recipes and book reading. We were grateful to have her, especially with the birth of baby number 3 in March! Gloria Claire Pillman was born rather quickly, and Perrine embraced her role as older sister and Sponsor. We said our melancholy goodbyes as she left for college in Paris, France. We will never forget her, and remain inspired to continue hosting other students! Now at 9 months old, Gloria makes us laugh with her smiles and enthusiasm to join the fun! She is often found wrestling with her brother and sister, and can pretty well hold her own.  Anna (3) continues to be interested in matching clothing and grows her creativity by designing her own crafts. She is learning how to read and write.  Caleb (2) is another enthusiastic motivator, often

 Remote work or in person work. That is the question these days. Rather than where work takes place it is the nature of our transactions between coworkers: Are they transactional or relational? Much of work is things we do for our fellow coworkers. It is more enjoyable and we do it better if it is a relational transaction (e.g. like bringing a cake to my friends birthday party) and not transactional (a call with comcast about bills). It's also true that many of our best friends and relationships are the result of circumstances and not choice. Few of us choose our first college roommate or our platoonmates in the military. So the goal of good work culture is to provide the circumstances that create a relationship for our work and coworkers rather than caring about the physical location of the rest of our transactions. Do I care where my friend texts me from to invite me to a birthday party? No. But without some type of shared physical experience together it is hard to have a gre

Dear friends and family, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! In case you were wondering, here is a little update about our year together.  Early this year, we were vacationing in Daytona Beach, FL. Playing at the ocean with our two children, we enjoyed the sunny and rainy days in the tide. At home, we were moving and building our garden structure, as well as developing a natural playground in the woods. We adventured, by camping in our DIY tiny house, and also camping at Lake Beauty Bible Camp with family. Most enjoyed the swimming and horseback riding. Soon after, we learned a baby girl was on her way and due on March 2nd, 2022! Lucas was changing roles at work and is now a Product Manager at Airborne, while Katie took on teaching roles to help tutor in reading and host a neighborhood Vacation Bible School. Our family was enjoying the Pillman Family Reunion. Playing games and swimming at a neighbor’s pool, it was great to catch up! As Fall began, it was exciting to welcome our Forei

Hello family and friends,  We are getting excited about the arrival of the new year 2021, but here is what we have been up to this past year, 2020, in case you were curious...    We had the goal as a family to try and find ways to be twice as helpful this year, but found it extremely difficult under the circumstances. You guessed it, Covid-19, among other things, shook up our lives in more ways than one. Nonetheless, it has been an interesting year, particularly full of family time, rest, and reflection.     However, we have been blessed in different ways than are normally expected: Such as purchasing a new house two months earlier than planned. We were able to move in early summer and secure it even after 15 other offers! Each day we continue to be thankful for God’s provision of more space, being closer to Lucas’ work, and the unexpected things such as a nice view looking out at our deck and backyard. Despite Covid-19 restrictions, we have still been able to host family and friends.

Another pitfall but also an opportunity surrounds the core question of “who is my neighbor” when it comes to how we measure helpfulness. While I write this my daughter is patiently asking for me to play with her doll. I might by helping someone by writing this (That’s the hope. More on this later.) but at the same time I’m not helping my daughter learn and grow. The key then to understanding being more helpful is that it both includes those close to me like my wife and daughter even as we partner together to be more helpful to others. Jesus answered this question with a story: The Good Samaritan.  The answer to the question of who is those in our path of life that need mercy. I think of this sometimes like a pyramid weighted by need and opportunity. At the bottom of the pyramid is my family. I see them often and I’m responsible for much love and mercy as it relates to them. And it is a pleasure for the record. Next are those I already have a commitment to and interact with of