May Update

New Denver Newsletter 4

Always changes

So here we are staring down finals week for Matt to officially complete his first full year of seminary. One down, two to go!! Wow, this year has sure went by quickly. As it always seems when I am motivated to blog, we are going through a lot of changes in the coming months.

I found out this week I was officially accepted for a position that I interviewed for nearly 3 weeks ago. It's for an organization that works with individuals with developmental disabilities. This new position will move me from working directly with the client to managing and overseeing their services to make sure they are receiving appropriate services available to them and to make sure the care they are receiving is adequate. I am excited to take on more of an advocacy role for those with developmental disabilities. The new place I will work is called Developmental Pathways. The best parts about this new job are that it pays more money and the work week is only Monday-Thursday. I already have friends lined up to have fun time with on Fridays :).

We are amidst a frenzied time of finding a new apartment to live in for hopefully the next 2 years. We are ok with the place we are in now but if you recall we agreed to rent an apartment out here before seeing it. Given that condition, the apartment wasn't all that bad but we feel like now we know what neighborhood we'd like to live in, how much space we need, and a better feel for what we want as amenities offered in our apartment home (I'd LOVE a hottub that we can use all year long!). We are currently living in a 704 sq. ft 1 bedroom apartment and ideally we'd like to move to a place with at least a den or 2 bedrooms so that Matt can have a place to study and store his seminary stuff. It's a little nerve-racking to always be walking around things in our apartment now.

Timing worked out perfectly it seems for me to get a new job. We were planning a short weekend trip home to Iowa for Memorial Day and now it works out that we will get to spend around a full week there instead of only 3 or 4 days because I'll be in transition to my new job. I'm hoping to run into some of the new babies that so far I've only been able to see on Facebook.

Matt's time is focused on studying. Luckily he has finished most assignments for his classes so now he can focus his thoughts on obtaining knowledge for them. He has a greek final this Monday, which he has to get 70% or better to move onto the next one (I think he's got it), a Church History final Tuesday, and a cumulative final on his class about the Epistles and Revelation. It's a lot of information he needs to recall. I know he can do it and come out shining on the other side. After finals he's taking an immersion class to study rural ministry in Illinois, he's going to harvest wheat again this summer, and then take a 2 week course in July. So even though he's hitting the summer, things are pretty well laid out for it to be a busy one for sure.

I really hope to start blogging more. We've been really involved in a lot of neat things lately. Hoping to update you all soon! :)

Busy, busy, busy!

Things are really starting to pick up for us here. Well, mostly Matt. He told me this morning that he has two eight page papers due next Thursday and then one 10 page paper due 2 weeks from today. He'll get them done. That just means that on top of reading and studying to stay up to date in class he will be spending much of his time writing papers. My new phrase I am living by when things are about to become overwhelming is: "It's why we're here."

We knew this time was going to be challenging and stretching and full of unknowns. Believe me, we've been on this journey for about 3 months and we've already hit the majority of those feelings. God has been faithful through it all and will continue to do so. "It's why we're here."

My life has been picking up as I have been offered more hours at my current part time job. It's not full time yet but I had a supervisor tell me that the best way to be considered to become full time is to have them see the need for me. Which means that I just need to be around and ask for ways to help and work the maximum hours they'll let me before giving in to giving me full time. Sounds like a deal.

I have been meditating on God's greatest commandment to us. "To love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and all your strength. And then to love your neighbor as yourself."

There are so many commands Jesus gave us to live our lives by to be more like him. This surpasses all and I feel that if we can live to understand and really love God and our neighbors as ourselves then some other commands Jesus gave us will just fall into place. When God is the only thing that matters it will be natural to live more for others than yourself. Just a little of what I've been pondering lately.

I do know that God is good and He loves us.

Why We're Here:

Matt on his way to orientation :)

Today was orientation for new students at Denver Seminary. Although I am not currently a student, I was also invited to be a part of the festivities and was able to take part of a lunch that was for spouses of students. I had a good time having some free Chick-fil-a and getting to know some other women that have husbands entering into seminary.

Going to orientation was a bit overwhelming because it finally made it real that this is actually happening and Matt and I will now be entering into a season of life that is going to be difficult but should be very rewarding. Matt is also feeling overwhelmed and has began to see the reality that this program may take up to 3 1/2 years to complete instead of only 3.

We have found and settled between 2 churches to call our home and will visit them both this weekend one more time and will make the decision at the end of the weekend. The two we are choosing between are Greenwood Community Church or New Denver Church. Both are very different. The thing that draws us to New Denver is that they are a relatively new church and offer an internship program for students in seminary that may prove to be very flexible and helpful towards Matt during our time here.
This week we got a chance to go into the mountains with a friend and it was amazing. We found a nice picnic area that we would love to take friends and family to when they come to visit ;).

Yesterday we spent our last real day of "freedom" by going to out complex's pool two separate times. It was the perfect summer day.

You can see Matt swimming in the pic.

I've been working part time and am still pursuing other jobs that may be able to offer me full time. I have been working with those with disabilities as an employment consultant which means I supervise a group of people with disabilities at a work cite and help them to learn how to keep their job and do well in a work setting. It's a lot of fun but I really need it to be full time. I did get a phone call just today for a second organization that does employment consultation for disabilities that I will have an interview with next week. If they are only offering part time as well I may at least be able to work enough hours a week to equal or work a little more than full time. It's a start! :)

Anyway, we are nearly done with the sitting around part of us being in Denver, which is good. We have really enjoyed the last couple months out here though but have been itching to be busy again. Hoping that we can adjust to this new life quickly! :)

It's so hard to say goodbye...

Matt and I are headed out of state this coming Friday (we have one more full day left in Iowa). The excitement is getting to me. That and the fact that we really have most useful things packed which makes it very real that this is in fact happening. (this pic is to attempt to show how much of a disarray our current house is in).

Matt and I have lived in or around the Waterloo/Cedar Falls area for pretty much all of our lives. We are on our way to Littleton, Co so that Matt can attend seminary. I am hoping it is fairly quick and painless for me to find a sustainable job.

The things I will miss about Iowa:

Sweet Corn

Lightning bugs

Being close to both of our families

Long life friends

Not having emission checks on our vehicles

Accessibility to farmland

4th of July with family and friends

My nephews; Jacob, Gabe and Judah

Prairie Lakes Church

Boating on the Cedar River

And the list could go on...

There are however, things I will NOT miss about Iowa:

Getting my car egged while being parked on the street

Humid summers

Long, dreary winters with snow that never goes away

Having to travel to get to any major destination (Adventureland, decent malls etc.)

Yep, it's official, there's more I will miss than I won't. It's going to be hard to leave on Friday. This is all for what we believe to be a step that will equip us to better serve communities all around and share about the redeeming power of Jesus. Hope it's worth it! :)

We'll be back to visit. At least by Christmas. See you next time from Colorado!

New Addition...

So I started this joke with Matt around my birthday. He was out of town with his parents visiting Dan and Shannon in Kansas City. I had to work so I was way bummed I couldn't go. Anyway, I randomly/jokingly sent him a text message joking that he could get me a puppy or kitty for my birthday. Matt latched onto the idea of having a pet and we found a family at our church that had a litter of 10 week old kittens that was giving them away...

It was a bit impulsive on our part to get a kitten when we have plans to be moving across the country in a short amount of time. But the kitty is so worth it... sometimes. When it snuggles with you and doesn't bite your feet as your walking around the house :)

We named it Ginny (I am not giving the kitty a gender because we aren't sure if it's a girl or boy. We took it from it's previous home thinking it was a girl but it is maybe starting to look like a boy. We are hoping to get it into the vet next week and will know for sure then). After a character in Harry Potter because I left the naming up to Matt since he absolutely loves having a kitten. No joke. Anyway Ginny is all kitten and is very playful. I have plenty of scratches to prove it.

Here's our new kitty:

Crafty Things

I've been attempting to break out the sewing machine lately and improve my craft skills. I got a couple great books from my sister-in-law Amy for my birthday: One Yard Wonders and One Skein Wonders. I haven't used the One Skein Wonders book yet but have used the One Yard Wonders book for two projects now. I've really impressed myself with how easy some of the projects are and how great they look when they're done.

In addition to sewing I took up knitting over the winter months and completed a couple dish rags that I use as potholders. I am also into making special bridal shower gifts... there are pictures to follow:

This is a towel cake I made for my cousin's fiancee for her wedding shower. I got tons of compliments. My grandma walked into the basement and thought it was actually a real cake to eat. How cute! This gave them a full set of towels and you can't have too many towels! :)

The sewing machine cover is my first successful project from the book "One Yard Wonders". It turned out really nice.
This is the first potholder I made and kept for myself. I made a set of three for my sister-in-law Emma for Christmas which I saw her using over Easter weekend to clean up Judah.
My most recent project I just finished today (and I made 2 in under 2 hours!) is from "One Yard Wonders." It's a tactile blanket that I will be giving to some friends that are having baby boys within the next month. So excited for them to get these. I love making projects that I can give away. It adds a special element to the gift when you've spent extra time on it. Anyway those are my projects for now! Hopefully there will be more to come! :)

Spring is here!!

I LOVE this time of year! Although this picture is from last spring looking at it makes me excited for the things to come this year! I can't believe it is almost April though. Matt and I, like always, are preparing to go through another major transition this fall. We are planning for him to attend Denver Seminary in Denver Colorado starting in August.

This is exciting and scary at the same time. For the last part of 2009 and beginning of 2010 we were sure we were staying in the Cedar Falls Waterloo area and were going to take part in the awesome things God is doing right here in our midst. When Matt's job changed from full time to very part time because he was replaced (He had actually resigned in June of 2009) and there were not any immediate opportunities for us here we started exploring things out of this area again. We landed on seminary as the most viable option for us because it's going to equip us with the tools to ultimately lead others to Christ.

What will I do while he's in seminary? Good question. I plan to get a job that will be sufficient income for us during this time... Easier said than done. I've been doing research online and will start putting my resume out within the next couple weeks. So far the things I've seen have wanted more education than I have or way more experience than I have So, it's really up to God to lead us out there and take care of us.

In my mind I have 2 options of timing; 1 we can move out to Denver mid June. This gives us enough time to get settled and to be in Cedar Falls for all the weddings we have over the summer. Option 2 is that we quit our current jobs July 1st take some time to go to Disney world and the big family trip to Canada and then move to Denver around the first of August. Option 1 would only make sense if I have a job lined up and would also help if I didn't because then I could be in the same community that I'm looking for a job in which I have found could be helpful. Option 2 makes no sense but it's a dream I have :).

Ok. so much more to say but this is getting long. Will leave you with the picture and it should explain itself:

(matt's new job while we are in this transition period)

HAPPY EASTER!! Jesus is risen!

Onto the next year... 2010!!!

Well the holidays are over! That's always a good feeling and a bad feeling for me. Especially this last Christmas. It was really relaxing and we were able to celebrate with family and friends over a spread of four days. It was so much fun! I really had a goal of focusing on the reason for the season (JESUS!) and wanted to take in all the time with family and savor the season. I feel like that was accomplished fully.

Now, back to the daily grind of winter in Iowa. We are in a winter storm warning this evening. I was thinking this would be the first week in 3 or 4 weeks that I will have all of my clients at their normal times... Tomorrow may be snowed in. It's a welcome break already :).

Here's some pics from the holidays... None from New Year's Eve... we actually didn't take any pics and we left our camera in Iowa City by accident so wouldn't have them uploaded yet anyway :)

Updating is always better with pictures...

So, the last two weeks have been quite the experience. On Tuesday 11/24 I got into a car accident that was not my fault that totaled my car (it was a 97 pontiac grand am) I wasn't sad to see it go except for the fact that I lost my ride and I had a client with me which complicated matters....


Then Thanksgiving came and went... I had an aunt get married on Saturday after Thanksgiving. It was really small and quaint but enjoyable. Congrats to Aunt Pam and Scott!


We went back to work as normal and i got a rental car (2010 Hyundai Elantra... pretty nice) and we got our insurance settlement and really began looking for the next car in our family....



We are so far so happy with our 2004 Chevy Malibu! It's a really fun car for us to drive!

Here's our Christmas tree all decked out:



Friday I went to see Toby Mac and Kutless in concert. I realized why I don't prefer loud concerts (my ears rang the rest of the evening) but had a ton of fun! I really enjoyed how both bands brought a worship element into the concert.



And finally, we've been living in our duplex for just over 2 months now and I would like to share pictures of the outside:



Here's to hoping I will be a little more consistent with this blogging thing and will ahve an update and more pictures of our new car soon! :)

Way too long!

So looking at this blog I can see all the posts of this year on the first page... Not a good thing. Guess I'm just not that good at sharing my life and writing things down constantly. Stuff is always happening!

Hmmm.... So, starting where we are at right now.

Matt and I have our first real Christmas tree up and decorated. We took 3 hours to make popcorn and cranberry garland to decorate it (don't know that we'll do that again until we have more hands to help with it... which will be a while)

Matt is currently deer hunting which his dad and brothers traditionally do every year the first weekend in December. I took some time to attempt to Christmas shop today but didn't get very far on my list. I did get to go out to eat with Amy and Suzy which has become our tradition the first weekend of December because we are without husbands. I think it was especially fun for Amy because Andrew can't eat wherever he wants and so we went where there is gluten in everything: the Olive Garden (yum!)

I had a lot of fun with my nephew Jacob he was very sweet on me tonight giving me lots of attention... we visited a lot of places and every time he wanted to walk with me or have me hold him and while at his house he brought me a lot of his toys to show them to me and gave me a chat about them. He is very very cute these days!

Thanksgiving was really nice this year. We decided to only go to one family's festivities because it just wears us out otherwise so we went to Matt's aunt's home in Jesup. We then got ourselves a game plan and went shopping on BLACK FRIDAY! We have grown accustomed to getting ourselves out of bed ridiculously early and getting some good bargains. This year we got a new tv, some shirts from Old Navy and some Christmas decorations. We didn't go for much but we had a lot of fun doing it together and had some great conversations while waiting in line at Target from 4:15-5:00 am when the doors opened...

I was also forced to get a 'new' car... that just happened yesterday. Perhaps I will post pictures tomorrow... because my battery on the laptop is dying....

Mother daughter time.

My mom and I are in the midst of a trip to South Carolina to visit family. Her father, my grandfather. We arrived yesterday in the late evening. We flew in and were scheduled to be in right around 10:00 pm but with a series of events including weather and airplane issues we finally landed at 11:30 pm. That's not too bad, I've suffered through worse delays...

My grandpa will be turning 76 on Tuesday so it's really neat that we get to be here to help him celebrate. Although I'm not so sure he is really looking forward to celebrating :).

It has been a pretty lazy day for our first full day here. We got up had the $.50 garden tour and really just sat around and visited. We visitined some family members that I haven't seen since I was very little and got to use a hot tub... it felt surprisingly good in the middle of summer!

We will be here until Thursday morning so for now we are just here to be present with them. I have not seen my Grandpa and Grandma here in over 4 years. So far so good. I will have to take hold of my short attention span, reel it in a little and get over being away from my love for almost a week!

This week I am focusing on being present in relationships and conversations with others. I want to see my mom and I enjoy each others presence and come out of this trip closer than we were when we took off of the run way in Cedar Rapids, IA.

Pretty boring post, no pictures. Perhaps a later post this week will lend you some pics of the scenery.

No more clear now than then...

So, I have finished more than 90 days of my commitment to prayer and reading the bible daily. I was not entirely successful in praying and reading every day but I have noticed much more of a commitment to put forth an effort. I have a "day by day" bible and it really guides me through. I find enough time most days to get through the reading for the day and find that my thoughts are more directed towards prayer throughout the day. Overall I am in a much better place for taking this challenge even though I didn't fully complete the challenge. God is good.

Matt and I are in transition (which seems like a constant state of our lives and is becoming quite exhausting). Matt was planning on starting a missionary aviation school in Colorado in September but in mid July it was cancelled because of health reasons of people that would be teaching Matt to learn to fly. We had moved out of the home we were renting in June and moved into his parent's basement because we were planning on leaving. Now, Matt is going to continue with leaving his job, either when he gets replaced or we find our next step... And we have no idea what that is. We have leadings but we are really wanting to know it's going to follow through before we step out again...

As of right now we are planning to stay in the Cedar Falls/Waterloo area and we hope to be finding a place to live by September... we have really appreciated Matt's parents for letting us crash with them for a while but we so desperately appreciate our independence and are excited to be there once again.

There are lots of other things going on but that's the main highlights... Summer has been good to us. We took a trip to the Czech Republic but that's another story that maybe i'll get to take a part of this week... :)

Praying for the rest of my days....

Starting with 90 days.

Today I made a commitment to myself and my Jesus to pray for an hour a day for the rest of my life. That sounds huge. But I believe with all my being it is doable. In the past few months my daily prayer life has been fairly close to non-existent. So, it is safe to say this is going to be quite the culture shock for me.

I really feel this is a challenge I need to take. I have the choice of doing it or not but I feel that the choice to sit back and continue to do basically nothing in my spiritual walk with Christ is close to spiritual suicide. I would be letting myself miss out on so many things God has for me and I would be missing the point of my existence.

It's interesting in the last few days and weeks I have really been struggling with how to meet with God and how to hear him and at times was even wondering if all these things I claimed were really things I was willing to give everything up for (as in going into missions full time... I want to do it but I have been struggling if I am really willing to give up everything now, not really knowing what is going to happen).

Through a series of unpredictable circumstances, I was able to go to a Women's conference at my church last night and today... Honestly, i saw the advertisement for the conference and I gave no second thought to it. I had a big misperception and a bad attitude about paying money to go to an event that is meant to feed Christians that are already saturated with information on how to meet God on a weekly basis. i wasn't interested in spending some of my free time with a bunch of older ladies from my church. Nothing against them, I just felt like it wasn't something I would be the least bit interested in.

I had the opportunity to attend last night which with my job normally on Fridays that would be impossible because I have a client until 7:00 that lives 30 mins away and the program started at 6:30. Yesterday it so happened that he didn't have school and so I jumped at the opportunity to take him earlier in the day. Then my husband had a need for someone to run slides for the music. I was like "well, i'm not going to be doing anything else important, so why not?" So I went to the program last night.

After the program I honestly wanted to come today but still wasn't willing to pay the money or ask anyone about it. Then it turned out the person that was going to run slides for today's session wasn't going to be able to make it... and they asked me to help... How funny. I jumped at that opportunity and brought my laptop to take notes...

Amazing. And I can honestly say the speaker, Becky Tirabassi, is not who changed my heart. But God totally met me at the conference today. I was really placed there because he had a purpose for me. My heart was in an open place and I was (and still am) willing to try most anything because I am desperate for some intervention from the one I have placed my trust in, Jesus.

So, long story short, Becky Tirabassi has this company called Change Your Life Inc. and doesn't give you answers on what God wants from you or what you should do with your life but teaches you how to pray and gives you a plan of organization. And she encourages you not to do it alone, which I am officially held accountable to pray every day by one of my wonderful sister-in-laws! :)

The recommendation is that praying every day will not really become an inherent part of you until you've been doing it for about 90 days. So we are committed to e-mailing daily for 90 days and I am hoping, but not certain it will happen, to invite the blog world in on my beginning journey. Although I doubt it will be terribly interesting because i don't know how much i'll want to share. I'm thinking it's more an accountability thing for myself to blog and have it known out there, even if no one really reads this that I have made a commitment to myself and God...

I want to pray an hour a day for the rest of my life!

It's a picture day!

This is of Matt at Christmas time. We had a lot of fun at his parents house. Being able to see all of the family is always a blast!

This is some of us just after we sang happy birthday to Jesus. A tradition that will live on now that there is grandchildren in the family... only it won't be fully real until Jacob can talk and sing! Also, this picture tells me that Jacob is not going to have any problem eating his birthday cake come February... :)

The grandparents were sure to start outfitting the grandchild with John Deere stuff... He will grow into it. Still a little big for him.

This is our house after the 7.5 inches of snow that came last night and after Matt spent an hour shoveling! I offered to help but i was a little sick yesterday so he told me not to help... I think he'll want me to eventually!

This is our house after a lot of snow but before the latest drop in snow... It was actually this past Monday because we got 3 or so inches then! It's been a snow-filled winter!

Finally I got some pics up!! :)

2009!

Since the last update a lot has happened! We have really been very busy up to this week. I finished my internship and then just decided to take the rest of December off as far as not looking for a job. I have technically been working though because i have been contracted to work for my mom. The job is getting close to being done and I don't have a 'real' job yet. I officially started looking this week and have only heard from one place out of about 7 that they have a position for me. The catch is that the position they have to offer is only part-time. I'm not sure if that will cut it. I am really ready to work full time but as of right now there have been no openings. I am hoping to get some phone calls next week!

Track back a little; December 20th i graduated from UNI! I wasn't going to walk in the ceremony but I did because my parents asked me to and I actually had a really great time. i saw some people I had previously had classes with and had some good time of thinking about what it was like to be in class.

The week before graduation we began to move into a house! We love it! We officially finished moving in on the 20th!

Then, we had Christmas!! It was a lot of fun this year. We worked all 4 Christmas Eve services (1:30, 3:30, 5:30, and 11:00) by helping with the tech aspect of things, and inbetween the last 2 services we had dinner and Christmas with my parents and brother. We didn't know where our camera was because we had just moved but were not yet moved in so sadly we don't have any pictures... but other family members do so maybe we can snag some...

We proceeded to have 3 more Christmas parties in 2 days and played a lot of Ticket to Ride (our new favorite board game).

Then we went to the next week and rang in the new year with some of Matt's friends. I have to admit I was a bit skeptical about going to this house for new year's eve but it turned out to be a lot of fun even for me. OH! On new year's eve Matt and I broke down and spent a large chunk of money......... we traded my 93 geo tracker that i had had since junior year of high school and bought a 2002 Ford Escape!!! It is such a nice car in comparison to the tracker! the only down side to the new vehicle is that it seems to use a lot more gas than either of our cars we had previously. It gets about 200 miles before a fill up... which is about 13 gallons I believe.... we're not used to that... one more reason why I need to get a job... :)

This past Monday I officially started the job hunt. I think the economy around this area is generally doing pretty well in relation to other areas in the U.S. but I have heard a lot of 'no, we're not hiring at this time' so maybe because I am looking for jobs primarily in the human services field that tend to be funded by the government, the money just isn't there. I know there is a place for me though!! We'll get there! I have found it is not worth worrying about because it's not going to make it better one way or the other. I just need to pray and get myself out there. The more places I put my resume in, even if it's a job I don't think i want, the more likely I am to get a job... (I hope)!!!

Anyway, all of this to say Happy 2009!

It was a random post but so much has happened and it was also good for me to recall it all....

Thankfulness

So Thanksgiving was over a week ago but I had every intention of sharing what I am thankful for over last weekend. Better late than never, right. I look at it this way, at least I've been really thinking about what I'm thankful for over a longer period of time!

I am in such a good place right now. Yesterday I officially finished my internship and this morning I finished all the assignments for it. It feels really good to have accomplished something significant in my life. Really good.

Matt and I have a wonderful caring family. We are blessed with two sides that really want us to be around.

WE have been blessed with housing all of our lives. To me this didn't seem to be a big deal but a natural given. But after working with some families in the community that are constantly moving form place to place or are living with friends because that's the best they can do, it puts a different light on the things i have.

I'm a food lover and so naturally i am thankful for food. I am thankful that this year we embraced Aldi for what it was and began taking control of their prices and started shopping there regularly.

I am soooooo thankful Matt has a stable job. If he wouldn't have, we wouldn't have made it while I did my internship. Now it also puts me at ease to really be able to figure out what is next and not feel rushed to jump into something if it's not the right fit. Don't worry babe, I will be working soon but I am so thankful you have been given the opportunities you have been given. It's pretty amazing really.

Friends. I've learned quickly that life is really not complete without them. Matt and I know a lot of people but really know very few. We are thankful for those of you that are on the inside of our lives. Some of you we've known for what seems like forever and some have become close friends in a relatively short time. The friends we have will always share a special place in our lives and hearts as our lives change. I only hope you know who you are. :)

Well, I must close this post now only because I am being summoned to do something else. Perhaps I will expand at a later time.

Go and be thankful!

We found a place!!!

As a temporary solution to the problem/issue of what we're going to do with our lives, we've found a place we can live that isn't going to break the bank and isn't going to require us to sign a year long lease!!!

It's actually a really interesting story how this all came about. About 2 weeks ago i found a listing on Craigslist for a house in Cedar falls that was a month to month lease because the owner was trying to sell the house but was going to take it off the market for the winter and then put it back on again in the spring. Well, we instantly fell in love with the house. It had a 4 season porch and 3 bedrooms (which is way more space than we need right now) and the kitchen and bathrooms were updated. The only catch was that the monthly rent was about $200 more than we felt we could commit to spending on a monthly basis. We wrestled with whether or not to say yes or to just forget it. The guy renting it said he would give us priority because we are a married couple and he'd rather rent to us than college students because he had just spent a lot of time and money renovating the place. We didn't feel right about making that type of commitment when we are not entirely sure of our working situations coming in the next month. IF we had taken this house it would about double what we are paying now for rent + utilities. We know i'll have some type of job but whether or not it'd be enough to help us save while we're working was a valid question we had to ask.

so, we gave up on that house and were back at square one. Thursday of last week we were talking with a friend and he mentioned that he had a friend that is trying to sell his house because he's moving to an acreage outside of town. We shared how we're really in no place to buy or to sign a one year lease because we are just unsure of a lot of things right now. He said something like he'll see if he's willing to rent. The next day his friend calls us and wants to know if we're interested in renting his house month-to-month at the exact price we had felt we could afford for renting... he will take the house off the market for the winter and then in march/april put it back on...

We decided we would look at it and then decide.... We got home about an hour ago... for how much rent is going to be we wouldn't be able to find anything better. It's really like God is walking us through this time one step at a time. I am very encouraged. This is not all set in stone yet by any means but we left the house feeling like it is really a place where we can spend some time and also be wise about our money. Tonight the owner told us that they had just decided about the possibility to rent it the day before our friend talked to him about us... that is not a coincidence... : )

I feel like this one is really going to work out!! Yay! Now if we could just figure out the rest of our lives... and this isn't a permanent solution by any means but it's going to be what we need for now... and that's enough.

Mobilize

Mobilize: (n) 1. to organize and encourage (people) to act in a concerted way in order to bring about a political objective.
2. bring (resources) into use in order to achieve a particular goal

We met with a gentleman from Indiana that works for the wesleyan church and has strong ties with where we were over the summer in the Czech Republic. We expected this meeting to be something of the sort where this gentleman would try to encourage us to jump on board and become career missionaries in the Czech Republic. We were prepared to hear him out and to leave ready to consider any possibilities. After all, we have been weighing anything as a possibility for a few months now.

He did nothing of the sort. He shared his frustrations with the church and the wonderful things he's been a part of in the church. Overall, we walked away feeling more encouraged and more at ease with where we are right now. We have begun to see and understand the possibility of us being 'mobilizers'. In essence, we are more likely to be effective if we are able to get more people to go with us than we would be just going as two of us alone. This isn't saying we aren't effective. It's saying that we are enabling people to share in an experience along with us and help to spread the vision of the great commission while getting people out of the pews on Sunday morning.

Our talk with this gentleman was fascinating and he had many great things to say that are definitely worth thinking about for a while longer... This is just the preliminary thoughts and I wanted to get them in writing so they don't just slip away from my head...

In addition to being Christ's followers, how are we best able to mobilize others to catch a glimpse of the bigger picture; the great commission?

Matthew 28:16-20 (NIV)
16 Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in[a] the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

Fall is here??

A couple weeks ago Matt and I took a day trip to Backbone State Park. We were under the impression that we would see a rock that looked something like a backbone. Neither of us had officially been there before. Needless to say, the renowned backbone is a trail that is rocky and hilly like a backbone would be. It was interesting to tell that to our small group when a couple of them are from around there! We had a lot of fun. It turned out to be the perfect day to be out and about on the trails.

If you'll notice, i am wearing Matt's shorts because we took a picnic lunch and i spilled my applesauce all over and bees were landing all over me to help clean it up. It grossed me out overwhelmingly. I have a very thoughtful husband! Mostly i was also just lucky that he decided to wear shorts under his pants in case he got hot.

Anyway, we are settling into a schedule that looks like it's going to be changing within the month. I am extremely happy at my internship except for the fact that i don't get paid for it, which is a problem. But i will be finishing it up in about 4 weeks and then figure out what is next. that is still a big question for me because i am not sure what my exact passion is. But i fear of being a wanderer for some time being. I don't want what I do next to just be a dead end. I feel like where we are right now, anything we do needs to be working towards the end product. The end product in this case is when we reach our ideal job or life purpose, which we hope is in some way ministry, however that may look. Now is a time to build contacts and gain experience in real life organizations and situations.

Some balls have started to roll... that's good news for us... depending on which way the balls roll..