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How do you like them... potatoes?

*****edit: this definitely should have been posted on our couple's blog, I don't know what I was thinking. Update: since January, Gabriel and I no longer work for ctc. A very long story. Transition is here yet again, keep us in your prayers.

Well, folks, if you had told me a year ago, maybe even 6 months ago that I'd be in Idaho right now I would not have believed you.

Actually... I probably would have. I'd be liable to believe any crazy thing at this point. And you probably think we have commitment issues with the amount of job flipping and moving around we do, not to mention trying out new schools and ministries. [Only a little ;)]

The truth is, we are still young, still trying to figure out this complicated thing called life, and still trying to find our place in the midst of this crazy world. God has led us to some strange places, and asked us to do some even stranger things, but hey, "I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes..." (1 Samuel 6:22) if that's what it takes to be obedient to the Lord, it's all for His glory and not my own.

We are young, and we have dreams. And we are bold enough to believe those dreams can come true. We just don't want to settle for less. It's an adventure, for sure! Trying out different places and things whether it's to learn something for the future, to figure out what we need/don't need or like/don't like, or just biding our time until our next opportunity has been both interesting and kind of exhilarating. We have a lot of great stories, that's for sure.

I'd rather live my life having tried out a lot of different things, seen different places, met different people, and experienced a wide variety of life than to work some boring 9-5 job I don't care about every day of my life until I'm old and gray.

I will say I'm getting the point in my life where I'm starting to feel a longing for my own home. A place to call my own, something that is ours where we can live and make memories and enjoy life. This is very interesting, because until recently, that had never mattered to me. I never cared about consistency. In fact, moving into a new place was always exciting, with the options being open and trying something new. I guess it's because I moved around so much as a kid, but actually, after a while in one place I'd start to get antsy, and desire to move on. But now, it's just starting to feel like, I could actually settle down somewhere and enjoy it. Really having our own house. How exciting! It's not time yet, and I can wait. But it's an interesting development, and let the record show I'm taking note.

So, all that jibber jabber aside Gabriel is working as the art assistant in a real comic studio! And getting paid! To make art! Granted, he's not being paid much and it's very, very part-time, but it's still awesome. For that I'm thankful. He's learning a lot and enjoying it.

We were originally planning for me to come and be the office manager, but plans changed and I've taken on the role of Sales and Marketing manager, which mostly consists of running the online store for commission on orders filled, and some online marketing that I do on a volunteer basis. I'm currently contacting different comic stores around the country to try and get our books carried, so if you guys have a favorite store or know of one in your area please let me know! I'm currently on the look out for good leads.

We are also working on a big proposal to hopefully start selling at Conventions. My hope is that starting in February Gabriel will turn in his notice at his other part-time job and we'll be full-time Coffee Table Comic-ers! Scary, and also exciting! The plan would be to do 1-2 shows per month and on the weeks when we aren't traveling work in the office here in Idaho. If any of you know of any Comic Conventions, book fairs, or other events where exhibitors are allowed and you think our books would sell I would love to hear about it. It's always helpful to have local information. My plan is to try some of the smaller more local shows as well as the big ones, to see how sales are. My thought is, since the smaller shows are so much cheaper to get into, we still might be able to walk away with close to the same amount of profit even if there are less sales due to fewer attendees.

Please, keep us in your prayers! We are having a blast but have been really tight on money, especially with the holidays and everything, and that has been a major area of testing for us. We are striving day in and day out to trust God to provide for us.

There is a new and updated Coffee Table comics website that looks pretty sweet if I do say so, so please check that out. There will be a blog happening there that will have posts from both Gabriel and myself at some points in regards to what we're doing, learning, etc and how things are going at ctc, so for those of you who are interested in being updated, check that out.

I will try to get some regular updates on our couples blog, the endless frontier, so follow that if you like. My personal blog I'm going to try to use for my writing: some poems, Bible/theology essays, fiction (for fun) including but not limited to allegories, and maybe some non fiction articles about things that interest me -fitness, eating healthy, organizing, diy projects, etc. If you are interested in reading those feel free to follow me here.

I hope you all are doing well. Feel free to send me your updates and prayer requests. God bless!

-Nikki

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