"The Greg and Dolly Show" Spinoff

Dolly and I have always been fans of "The Greg and Dolly Show." It was a term that we started back in High School to characterize certain dates, scenarios, or events in our life that were big enough to be deemed for a good TV show. It started off as a teenage drama, complete with cool soundtrack (we still have some mixed CD's for certain dates), hot drama, a little bit of ignorant romance, and even in some cases, action. The first season was fun with some great day trips to Leavenworth, road-tripping the cascade loop, skipping school to go to the zoo, and Dolly butchering Mac N Cheese while we played pop-punk in my band Influence (that's right Nick, my band, even though I only played drums). It had a lot of comedic moments, was light-hearted and felt more like a pilot season than anything else, we had no idea where it was headed (although we both knew it was headed to marriage).

The second season began following high school, the fun teenage drama became a little more intense. We both felt distant from each other and fought to keep the love that we kindled in High School as Dolly was at SU and I was off at Army Training and then Northwest University. Throughout the season, there was the angst of feeling exiled from home, love, and life. It bred fights, fears, and bitterness but also gave us the chance to fight for our love. It was a difficult season for "The Greg and Dolly show", whereas it was previously characterized by that careless teenage feeling, it had developed into something more serious but unstable. It was like the crappy part of "Friends" where you were sick of the Ross and Rachel drama and you wanted either the closure or the consummation (I voted for closure for Ross and Rachel, but wanted us to make it). At the high point of this was when I got my military orders to go overseas. It felt like we were getting close to the season finale, what would happen next? Would they still be together? Was it just a good run for two seasons? The questions went on and on.

The season finale ended with a proposal.

Halfway through the deployment there was a special summer episode of the show. It was a two week stint where we got married, had a vacation to Victoria, moved into an apartment, and experienced the giddiness of newlyweds. It matured past a teenage drama, but embodied more of a prime-time sitcom. It was very fun. We we married, being cool, hanging with good friends, and laughed a lot. After the two week stint, I went back to Kuwait and the show was put on hold (it was sorta like a writers strike, where it couldn't continue, but we couldn't wait for it to come back).

When we came back we finished school, got into our careers. For me it was ministry, interning at Mars Hill for 100$ a month (thank you GI Bill), and for Dolly it was working at Children's. The show was in full swing and hit a good stride. It continued to do well. There were little hiccups here and there which made for an interesting season, e.g. Greg getting laid off for budget reasons, thinking about moving to Charlotte, NC for Seminary, but realizing that God has called us to the NW. This season ended with a Bang: a pregnancy (watch the surprise pregnancy announcement here-the first 30 sec.). We ended up moving back to North Bend, our hometown, for that season so that we could be close to our parents when Josie arrived and it was awesome. Little did we know that his was going to be the finale of the "Greg and Dolly Show."

The show ended when ratings were at their peak. It had been a run encompassing every aspect of great television: romance, comedy, action, and spirituality. However, it wasn't the end of our career. The "Greg, Dolly, and Josie Show" was an even more successful spinoff!

What had started as a teenage drama transitioned into a feel-good family sitcom. There was the comedy of ignorant parenting, poo, great laughter, sleepless night, and love. Receiving Josie into the cast has been one of the biggest blessing in our "television career" and we look forward to continuing to watch her mature into an actress and seeing the roles that God calls her to. In addition to that, we are also excited about the possibility of future cast members (hopefully some more brothers or sisters for our lil prima donna).

Although we still do get great evenings where we are able to do a reunion of the "Greg and Dolly Show" (such as going on a great date night), it is no longer the show that characterizes our family. The show has unfolded into a more elaborate one that is a great blessing. The best part is that we have so many supporting actors that make it so enjoyable for those watching and participating. Our parents, friends, co-workers, those we live in community with, and others.

This all really hit me following Josie's B-day, and I realized on the way home from Leavenworth that we made it through the first season of the "Greg, Dolly and Josie Show" and it was a seamless transition from the original show to the better spinoff. We do see this as part of God's blessings and are so thankful for the ways He continually shows His grace and love to us by giving us another season (hopefully many more) with more cast members, and more opportunities to see His hand as the director of the show. By the way October 15 will mark 8 years from the pilot episode of the "Greg and Dolly Show" we might have a reunion in honor of that :)