A child of God educating other children.

I just got home from staying with David, Adrienne, and Noah this weekend. Tim left Thursday evening at 7pm for his weekend in California and wont get back 'til early Tuesday morning, so I went down to visit family. I am very glad I did because not only did I have fun hanging out with everyone, but it helped me not to mope around our house all weekend missing Tim. I still miss Tim like crazy and had a really hard night last night, but I think it could've been worst. I got to talk to him for almost 30 minutes this morning which really helped. I think I wouldn't be doing so bad if he had more breaks and time to call me to talk. If we could connect more while he is gone that would help a ton.

Friday I drove down to Dan and Maggie's where I got to see Ti, Ruby and Noah and hang out with Dan, David and Adrienne for the evening while Maggie worked. Then Saturday we went to Cabela's with the kids and got Sonic. That evening Adrienne Maggie and I watched the kids while the guys went to a volleyball game. And today was a great day to visit their church. Dan and David both did the music, playing piano, guitar and singing. And David and Adrienne both told their testimony as part of becoming a member of their church. I am grateful I got to be there for such a fun part of belonging to a church.

Before Tim left for California he asked me if I would like to be a guest blogger for him writing tips and advice for youth pastor's wives. I thought that would be a great idea and really exciting until he left for the weekend and I have no clue how to handle a husband being gone. This is the first time Tim has gone on a trip and I stayed behind. I feel like I need to be reading someone else's advice on how to be a good wife and not be so homesick for my husband. Maybe after Tim comes back home I'll see about writing it, but right now I am in no shape to give another wife advice.

Posted in: family, marriage on Sunday, October 12, 2008 at at 4:32 PM 2 comments    

Tim just left to start his way to Sacramento, California for NYWC. This is the first time that I have stayed home from it, and the first time Tim has left for something more than a day. I wont see him again until Tuesday when I wake up, unless I wake up at like 3am when he gets home Tuesday morning.

I'm excited for Tim to get to go as an official blogger for the convention. I'm pretty bummed that I'm not getting to experience this with him, but we sent a male youth worker from our church that I think will benefit more from the training than I would. This will be his first time, and it would've been my 4th.

I also volunteered not to go so I can go to the National Youth Ministry Conference for the first time put on by Simply Youth Ministry. I absolutely loved going to NYWC, but I'd like to try NYMC and see which is better for me to attend in the future.

Also, I found out after the church had already bought Tim's and the youth worker's ticket that I was asked if I would come and be an official blogger. Man! If I had known that ahead of time, or in enough time, I would've been right on that! But again, this will be more beneficial for the youth worker joining him. I just need to stop being selfish.

Although I'll be missing Tim a ton, I am excited to go down and hang out with Tim's sister-in-law and brother and nephews and niece. I'm excited to spend more time getting to know each other, and keeping busy not thinking about Tim the whole time he is gone. I'll go down tomorrow after work and stay through Sunday afternoon. I wouldn't have been able to stay home that whole time, so I am very thankful to have family close by to help me out!

Posted in: family, marriage, ministry on Thursday, October 09, 2008 at at 6:15 PM 1 comments    

I am really enjoying my work schedule. I go in at 10am and am done at 4:30pm. It's not many hours, but it will be good for me not to work a full time job. For instance...Friday I was tired during the day, but when I got home I was in the mood to clean. That is amazing all in it's self. So this weekend I spent quite a few hours cleaning the house. I got all 3 of our bathrooms clean and disinfected. And I got a new shower curtain and window curtain for our basement bathroom. That bathroom kind of becomes neglected because it is used the least amount of time, and seen the least by company. But, when we have company spend the night that is the main bathroom they use. After spending the week in Virginia with Tim's family I got motivated to get in the basement bathroom and make it nicer. I want to apologize to everyone who has had to use that bathroom while here and us not taking more pride in it. Come again and it'll be much better!

I also vacuumed and dusted the whole basement, dusted and vacuumed the main floor and cleaned the kitchen really nice! Now tomorrow hopefully I'll still have this cleaning energy and tackle our bedroom. We've been good at keeping our kitchen clean a couple weeks in a row now which has been so nice! Now we need to learn how to do that with our bedroom.

Posted in: marriage on Sunday, September 07, 2008 at at 9:12 PM 0 comments    

Yesterday our neighborhood through a cook-out/kid's bike parade thing for all of us neighbors to meet each other. I am so glad they did this because ever since we moved here I've thought it'd be fun to do something like that, and I didn't have to plan it! :)

Tim and I didn't know until about an hour before it started that we'd be able to, so we ate dinner before heading over, and just spent our time meeting everyone we live around.

We already know 4 families in our church that are right in our neighborhood, but this was a great opportunity to see everyone we constantly pass by when we're out for a walk or a jog. Most of the families are pretty young too. There were probably 4 that are older. Tim and I are probably the youngest in our neighborhood, but a lot of these people are still having babies, so they're close enough to our age.

I love meeting new people, but I was actually really nervous to go to the get-together. Tim actually did most of the talking and I just tagged along behind him. We had a great time, hopefully this will open the door of a lot more get-togethers. I haven't talked to Tim, but I'd love to do a sledding day at our house and invite the neighbors over this winter.

Posted in: marriage, neighborhood on Wednesday, August 20, 2008 at at 2:50 PM 1 comments    

Well, my business caught up to me. I was afraid it would happen, and it did. I had to call in sick to work yesterday and today. I really hope I'm all better tomorrow.

At first it just started with a sharp pain from my right should blade on my back all the way to my chest in the front, a really weird pain that made it hard for me to breathe. Tim researched online of what it could be, and it just said stress related...which makes since. The youth are having a ski trip and there was an adult in the church asking Tim if someone paid his way to go on the trip if he would...and of course he would, that would just mean 4 days of us being apart from each other, and that totally stresses me out thinking about that. I would hate for him to pass up the opportunity to go on the youth ski trip if someone makes it possible for him to go. So Wednesday night I didn't sleep well 'cause every time I would wake up all I could think of is what I would do without Tim for 4 days, just doesn't sound like fun unless I could fly to Texas, but we don't have the money. I only have about $60 saved up from my blow money.

Then in the morning Tim told me that his brother Dan invited us to go to Duluth on vacation with them, but we're in debt and getting out of it, so we don't have money to do that either, so that stressed me out that we're missing out on all the fun they will have together. Our reason for moving up here was to be a part of things like that and get to hang out with his brothers more, but right now that's not possible. Big let down! So then the stress really set in. I told Tim it'd be so much easier if I wasn't so eager for us to get to spend time with his brothers. They see each other all the time going to the same church and only being about 20 minutes from each other. We see them more than if we were in a different state, it just feels like we don't do a lot with them since they're always together.

Thursday I didn't get a subbing job, which was probably good 'cause that's when my sharp pain started. I worked at Hallmark in the evening, but then I started feeling light headed and my throat started hurting. I finished up the evening, but by morning I was feeling completely weak and sore all over. So I called in sick for work at the Preschool and Hallmark. And that makes me feel worst 'cause I hate letting people down. I called into Hallmark sick again today, which I hate even more - 2 days in a row! But I know if I went in I would probably get even more sick 'cause I don't have the strength. So tomorrow I am really praying that I am better 'cause I hate being sick, I want to be healthy again!

Posted in: health, marriage on Saturday, December 15, 2007 at at 2:38 PM 0 comments    

I am so tired. This have been busy lately and will only get busier until Christmas. Then time to relax! We are also covered in snow right now! I'm not sure how much actually is on the ground, I haven't had time to just go have fun yet. I hope soon though. We're supposed to get 2-5 more inches of snow tomorrow. It's gonna be really deep after that! I am starting to feel a little more comfortable driving on the roads. It's much easier to drive right now than in the spring when the roads get icy.

So what has been going on...Tim had the stomach flu. I stayed away sleeping in our living room and didn't catch it! Woohoo! Tim lost at least 20lbs with it. Not fun! Same day he got sick I had a terrible class that I substitute taught. I am thinking about not subbing in that school anymore, we'll see. There is one class that I know I could handle, but for the most part the kids are rough. So I was completely stressed and upset about my day and came home to find Tim sick in bed, so I was hoping to get sympathy until I saw him, and I gave sympathy instead.

Friday night and Saturday we were suppose to be in the city for Planet Wisdom with the kids. We still went Friday, but because of the snow on Saturday we came home that night too, at 2:30am. It was fun, just a bummer to leave early. We had such a great group of youth go, I wish we had more time together.

Tim's xbox also came this weekend, so we spent a lot of time playing on Saturday. Then forced ourselves to take a break and clean the house. Tomorrow we have the youth worker's Christmas party at our house. We still have a few things to do to be ready for it, but either way we'll have it! :)

I haven't been out to take pictures of the snow, hopefully tomorrow I can do that. I wish I had my camera at pre-school today. We went outside for recess to let the kids play in the snow, and at one point 4 of my girls were sitting in a row with a big chunk of snow eating. I had to make one girl go in that was shaking a LOT because she was so cold, but she didn't make the decision for herself 'cause she was enjoying the snow so much.

Hopefully I'll get better at blogging more often. I miss it, I have just been busy.

Oh! Tonight working at Hallmark was fun. Our senior pastor's wife was in there shopping so we got to talk for a little bit, and then she came back and her son who is in the youth group came too. It's so much fun to see people in there!

Posted in: marriage, ministry, weather, work on Monday, December 03, 2007 at at 8:33 PM 0 comments    

Tim and I just put our last payment on our credit card, so now we are credit card debt free! We have gone the last 2 months without using our credit card and just paid off the rest of what was on it. Man that feels good! We haven't made our budget for next month, we'll probably do that tomorrow, but it feels great to have that debt out of the way! We will have to make our budget for next month work with the money we have. I have a feeling we'll be cutting it a little close with Thanksgiving and Tim's family coming in and presents to buy, but I really feel like God is smiling at us taking this debt seriously and getting out of it. There will probably be no eating out next month for us, but that's alright, we only ate out one time this month, so I think we can go a whole month without eating out. I enjoy cooking, and it's nice when I cook a larger meal and we have left overs...which is very nice when we just want something quick for dinner.

So now we just have my car to pay off then Tim's student loans. If we keep putting on the amount we've done each month so far then we should be out of debt in a year! I am so totally excited!

Posted in: Dave Ramsey, debt, marriage on Sunday, October 28, 2007 at at 10:33 PM 0 comments    

Tim and I put $25 in our budget for eating out for the month, and decided to spend all in one night going on a nice date. We went into Saint Cloud for the evening and the people that put those stores up are so smart. Tim went to both Best Buy and Circuit City, and right next to each of those was either a JoAnn Fabrics or Michaels. So we both went our separate ways for that part of the date. :)

Then we walked around the mall for a little while. Between our mall and the Mall of America it has been a while since I've been in a regular mall, so I just felt like walking around and window shopping. We didn't stay too long 'cause I'm not much of a shopper, I just wanted the experience. :)

Then we went for dinner at Outback Steakhouse. We left a little earlier before we got too hungry figuring we would have to wait a while, and we were right. Our 30 minutes they told us the wait was ended up being 55, but we did get to try their mushroom appetizer and their rack of lamb for free as we waited. We also watched Seinfeld (which was nice since we don't have TV at home) and chatted with 2 other couples that were waiting around. We split a nice 11oz steak dinner with a sweet potato and some incredible green beans for our sides. I also ordered the Blooming Onion for an appetizer. I think that is my all time favorite appetizer from every restaurant.

And for dessert we went to Wendy's and got 2 jr. frosties for free. (Thank you Pastor John!)
It was so much fun to go out for a night and hang out. I absolutely loved it!

And good news for today! Tim and I get free season passes on the ski slopes near town for Tim being a pastor, so we went and got our season passes today. And they were selling all of the lost and found that people never picked up, so I got a nice pair of snow bib pants for only $4! Amazing deal, nothing wrong with them! We didn't have any money in our budget for clothing this month, so it came out of my blow money, but I think it's totally worth it instead of paying $20 plus later for some.

Posted in: budget, dating, marriage, skiing on Saturday, October 20, 2007 at at 11:10 AM 0 comments    

Today was great! I really enjoyed every minute spent with Tim. We relaxed this morning sleeping in and taking it easy. Then after lunch went to the main part of town for some craft fall fair or something going on. Our youth were selling baked goods to raise money for our Belize mission trip next summer. So we got to chat for a little while with the two girls manning the table.

Then Tim and I went for a bike ride on the bike trail that goes through town. The bike trail I have been told goes from St. Cloud to Fergus Falls, a total of 185 miles. Tim and I only did 5 then turned back around to our car. We did make it to the next town though! :) The trail is gorgeous right now with all the leaves changing colors. The trail has trees on both sides sometimes down in a hill, and at parts it goes between lakes which is gorgeous having water all around. Hopefully we'll get a couple more good weather days for more bike rides before it gets too cold.

After biking I cooked us dinner while Tim cleaned up. What a good husband! And then we picked a few apples from our best apple tree and I made apple cobbler. The topping was more like biscuits that the flaky cobbler I'm use to, but it is still good! We'll have some more after lunch tomorrow.

Our apples are great right now for cooking, and I want to use them for the holidays to make sweets for family, but I'm not sure how long the apples will be good for. I need to find out if I can freeze the apples after I peel and slice them and then get them out when needed, or what I can do to have them for the holidays.

Posted in: marriage on Saturday, September 22, 2007 at at 8:34 PM 0 comments    

Tim and I at the Twins/Rangers game in Minneapolis.

I have been deciding what to do career wise. I want to be flexible with my days so I can support Tim in youth ministry. So I was stuck between finding a permanent job or do substitute teaching and find a part time job for the evenings.

Well, today I had an interview for a different department at the company I am hired out to right now. The position is for an administrative assistant. So it's actually an office job which I'm excited about! Leaving the interview I was thinking it went well, but wasn't too sure trying to guess the vibes I was getting by the people in the interview. I admit, I was pretty intimidated because I was interviewed by 4 people at once for a 3 month temporary position. I haven't gone through an extensive interview before for any temp work. It didn't take long to hear back from the temp agency about the verdict if they wanted me or not...they decided to hire me. Now it's just a matter of time of when I switch over from my current position to the new position. I figured I might as well try this out because it is definite work every day for the next 3 months, and it could possibly turn into something permanent, but I get to try it out by going through the temp agency first.

I am exhausted. I have been trying to teach myself how to keep our house clean...mainly the kitchen. I need to catch up on laundry, it's all clean, just not put away. Anyways, I am trying to train myself to have the kitchen clean before I go to sleep and tonight is the 2nd night in a row. I had the day off today so I cooked a lot. I cooked an apple crisp from the apple trees we have and baked a simple lunch for us, but the downside of liking to cook is all the cleaning I have to do.

Tomorrow we start up confirmation at our church. I am really excited 'cause I'll be co-teaching one of the 8th grade girls classes. We've got 6 girls so far, and I can't wait to build strong relationships and teach these girls about Christ and the basics of the Bible, and to learn a lot myself.

I am absolutely loving married life. Tim and I have been getting along really well. We are just having fun together, and it's nice getting to participate in his ministry, and everything is very exciting with the school year starting up. I am helping Tim in the 7th and 8th grade Sunday School class, and will help out Sunday evenings for youth group, and then Wednesday nights for 8th grade girls confirmation.

Tonight it is suppose to get down to 35 and tomorrow's high is 64. Burr! It's only September! I am not ready for cold weather. I was wanting to work out today, so I tried to go on a bike ride, but after only 5 minutes I was tired of the wind and my hands were getting very cold, so I turned around to come home and to my surprise I was already riding with the wind and I was miserable, so then it took me even longer to get back home fighting against the wind and thinking that the first part of my bike ride was pretty nice. So I got out my work out videos and am thinking I'll have to stick with those 'til next June.

Posted in: cooking, exercise, marriage, ministry, weather, work on Tuesday, September 11, 2007 at at 8:45 PM 0 comments    

(Sorry the picture is blurry, I took it through our window screen.)

What a great morning to wake up to a hawk outside our window. I was so drowsy getting up, and to my surprise on our roof just about 4-5 feet away from me was one of the hawks that have been hanging around in our trees. I can't help but to praise God when he sends pictures of His amazing glory. And I've needed those with working 10+ hours each day. I'm glad that I have this job to help Tim and I kick start getting out of debt, but I dread being bored all day. Since the teaching positions were filled I'm now looking for an administrative assistant position. I really liked doing that right before moving from Texas. So now I'm asking God to guide me where he wants me, and for that to be a place where I will love it as much as I did my last position in Texas.

I wish I was blogging more often, but I get so wiped out after a long day at work. I had Tuesday off, but I still worked more than 41 hours this week. I worked 11.5 today, and I'm going in tomorrow morning (Saturday!) for another 4 hours. I could probably work a full day, but I'm exhausted and already dreading not getting to sleep in tomorrow. Pray for me. I don't want to wear myself out with all of this work, but I think I am. Pray that God will give me the strength and energy to work as much as possible through this job. I only have it through the end of the month, maybe a little longer. After that I more than likely wont have something as well paid.

I've been waiting a couple days to have some time to blog and post the picture of our hawk. I love it. I hope everyone is doing well. Pray for my great g'ma Z. I got a lovely letter in the mail from her yesterday and she just found out that she is anemic due to her age (she'll be 91 at the end of the month). She said she doesn't have as much energy as she use to, which surprised me to hear and makes me sad. I loved seeing her last summer for mine and Tim's wedding and seeing how spunky she was at 90. She was always on the go with us never wanting to stay behind to rest.

Okay, I need my sleep and spend some time with Tim. I miss him like crazy with working these long days. I get to see him for lunch which helps a lot. I still miss him though.

Posted in: family, God, marriage, work on Friday, August 10, 2007 at at 7:21 PM 0 comments    

Tim and I went around town today with our friend Doug who is a Realtor. We looked at a few houses, a couple that are do-able. One that is really nice, but we're not sure if it's in our price range. We have no clue what we can afford 'cause we've never owned a house and know what all that entails. And Tim has the great point that what we can afford right now might not be what we can afford later on when we have kids.

The first house we went to the family was just leaving when we got out of the car. And the first person we see is a girl in our youth group. We were excited to see her and didn't know they were planning to move...out of state! :( So we asked when they're moving and she said, "As soon as our house sells. ... Don't buy our house." She is such a sweet girl, and that is sad news to hear that they'll be moving. So we walked around the house to look at it still knowing that we can't buy her house, 'cause if we did then that would mean she moves, and if we had any youth activities at her house her friends would all know it as her house.

We did find one really really nice house, with an unfinished basement, but we're not sure how much they are willing to come down, and we're not even sure what we can afford when we have kids. Trying to figure out expenses Tim text'd his brother Dan asking how much a kid costs each month and almost immediately Dan called back asking when I was due! :) haha! I just thought that was the funniest thing, it didn't even cross my mind that they would get that idea, Tim and I were just trying to figure out what we can afford for a house.

So I started researching some cheaper homes in case we're still above our price range. We've already dropped our price range by $30,000 from when we first started looking around. We'll see. I think we're going to meet with a financial adviser to get some help figuring these things out.

Posted in: marriage on Saturday, July 28, 2007 at at 8:56 PM 0 comments    

Happy Anniversary Tim! I really enjoyed this last year spending it with you and all the experiences we had together. I am blessed to be your wife!


Tim and I had a wonderful time celebrating our anniversary. We stayed at the resort in town, did some putt-putt golf there, had a nice dinner, exchanged gifts and ate dessert in bed while watching our wedding video which was one of my presents from Tim. (This is the view from our room.)

At dinner there was a small vase on our table of daises which were in mine and my bridesmaids bouquets. Perfect table decoration for our anniversary! :)

Then today (our actual anniversary) we ate lunch out at a fun restaurant in town that we have not tried yet, and then had Wake n' Ski with our youth. I skied for the first time and Tim slalomed.

Well, Tim actually tried to slalom, he was learning today, which was his third time to ever ski. Pretty impressive. Look at his muscular arms! ;)

Here is our wedding video Tim put together:

Posted in: marriage on Sunday, July 22, 2007 at at 6:25 PM 1 comments    

Wanda, we have got to be thinking with the same brain! Yesterday and today I listened to Chris Tomlin on the way to church, at lunch break and on the way home. I caught myself yesterday on thinking any words, and would talk to God when I heard the words. I also found out that I was repeating in my head the phrases that I heard people say, so I cut that off before it even started yesterday morning. Praise God! I'm sure it'll still be a struggle that I'll have to stay on top of and give every instance to God every time it happens.

Most of the way home I had tears of joy. God has totally amazed me with all He has done for Tim and I since we moved up to Minnesota. And today God did it again! My job really isn't all that bad. It is boring, but I learned to bring something to read, and they don't mind if I play the games on the computer for when the machine is down and the guys are working on it. I've also learned some about the machines and catch some things the guys don't, and I have helped figure out a couple problems now! :) I am told a couple times a day though that they plan for me to be completely bored because that means that the machines are running smoothly. So they want me to be bored! What a job! And when the machines are running smoothly I can't read or play games 'cause I have to keep alert in case something does happen.

So God has blessed me with this great paying job, and I get lots of over time with it. I worked 47 hours this week, 10.5 of those were today. I worked from 8-6:30 without a break. I ate my lunch while I worked. The biggest blessing came as a huge surprise. Bill, the guy who hired me is with Frito Lay in Plano. He knew that Tim and my one year anniversary is this weekend and asked what we're doing. So I told him we're going to the resort in town and he goes, "Let me see if I can get you the employee discount there." Bill stays at the resort while he is here for the week and gets a huge discount there. So he called the resort up and told them that I am working with his company, and they gave us the discount! I am so so so excited! This was perfect timing with our finances too. We already have a gift certificate for the resort, and before were going to have to pay extra on top to finish paying for our room, and then pay out of pocket for dinner too. But now with the discount it covers our room and will cover a very nice dinner for us at the resort too! So what a complete blessing, not just for our anniversary but also for our situation right now! God is so amazing!

Posted in: anniversary, God, marriage, work on Friday, July 20, 2007 at at 4:59 PM 0 comments    

Today has been pretty fun. Tim and I took it slow this morning, grilled some burgers for lunch, then went to Clara's for ice cream. I had heard from many people that it is the best ice cream in town, and so far I agree.

After ice cream Tim and I met with Doug to go see a couple houses I had looked at online. We are finally looking into houses that are in our price range instead of what we wish we could own...which is what my parents have worked up to their whole lives. It's hard to transition from what you're use to living in to what you can actually afford yourself. The two houses we looked at were okay, but I don't think we'll be jumping on them right now. If something does come up that is a good deal and we like a lot, then we'll probably go with that when ever that happens. The rent home we're in right now is incredible, but I'm with us buying a home and moving in at any point. I really like the thought of us owning our own home, and first home.

I am babysitting Davis and Bria over night. Davis was great, and I felt sorry for him 'cause Bria was fussy most of the time, so I couldn't give Davis the attention I wanted to. Davis got to sleep a little before 9 and Bria right before 10, she was fighting it like crazy.

Tomorrow is the Jr. High canoe trip. We're going to the early service and leaving after that. Amanda works in the nursery during early service so that's perfect timing with the kids. I was told that they slept all night at their grandparents last night, so hopefully that will happen again tonight. Tomorrow is going to be an early morning, and I will soon learn what it's like to get kids around for Church in the morning!

Posted in: kids, marriage, ministry on Saturday, July 14, 2007 at at 8:46 PM 0 comments    

Today is my Mom and Dad's 30th Anniversary! Such a great accomplishment and I am so glad to say they're my parents. My parents have taught me so much throughout the years, and I can give them the credit for being Tim's wife. If I hadn't grown up as a PK watching my parents in the ministry with the ups and downs it can bring, then being a Pastor's wife would probably be out of the question. But growing up and watching my parents, specifically how my mom deals with things I knew that being a Pastor's wife wont be easy, and that God probably has a purpose with me learning from my parents.

It's also been great to pass along knowledge from my parents. In high school I remember my dad constantly telling me, "A situation is only as bad as you make it." It took me until college to understand that truth, and now as I work with teenagers I find myself telling students the same thing.

I love my parents dearly. I love what they have passed down to me. I love the example they have lived for my faith, ministry, and the importance of family.

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad, I love you!

Posted in: family, marriage, ministry on Monday, June 04, 2007 at at 9:57 PM 0 comments    

We had a good time with Tim's family. Grace and Mark and Tim's parents took turns staying up in our tower to sleep. We played a few games and ate lots of good food. I'm thinking next time we have company for that long we wont be eating as nicely. It took a lot of work and time that could have been better spent. Oh well, you live, you learn. David and Adrienne also came up on Saturday to hang out with all of us. We were able to take out our neighbor's paddle boats and go swimming and kayaking in our lake. The water was a little cold, but it was a nice day, so it felt good. Then Sunday we all went down to David and Adrienne's for dinner and Dan, Maggie and Ruby were there also. We were really worn out from the weekend, so we stayed at Dan and Maggie's for the night. It was fun to get to see David and Adrienne's new house. It's such a great place.

Now Tim and I are enjoying an evening to ourselves. We just ate dinner and are about to go play frisbee then go to the gym to work out and then back to watch American Idol after it's finished recording.

Posted in: family, in-laws, marriage on Tuesday, May 15, 2007 at at 4:05 PM 2 comments    

I had a wonderful day today spending time with my parents and Katelin. It was nice to get to sleep in also. I need to go to bed soon 'cause Brandi and I are leaving at 5:30 tomorrow morning. Today I just went all over the town with my parents. We went into the "Red Dirt Soap Company" and smelt all of their soaps and bought a couple. We were dissapointed though 'cause they didn't actually use the OK Red Dirt in their soap. But they did choose a good name for their company 'cause it got us in there. We also went to a park, drove around looking at different areas of town, and got some good food. I still haven't had my orange cream slush from Sonic, but I did have a hamburger and cheese tots and sweet tea. It was just so nice to go to Sonic again. Hopefully on the way home I'll be able to get my orange cream slush. Mmmm that sounds so good. We also went to the mall and shopped some. Katelin and I got a devotional to do together. We both have our own books for it. I'm excited to go through it with her when she comes up this summer. We got something that I will get to learn along side her instead of leading it. We also played in the mall's arcade. We played the motorcycle racing game where your control is the motorcycle and you have to tip side to side to turn. That was fun. Then we spent the rest of the time racing each other on "The Fast and the Furious" That was a ton of fun too!

I'm excited to get to see Tim again tomorrow. I really miss him. I had a great time with my family today. It was great to be together and had an awesome time and just laugh with each other. The only thing that could have made that better would have been to have Tim with us. I can't wait until tomorrow when I see him and I can wrap my arms around him.

Pray for my parents as they're traveling back home tonight. They should be getting home a little before 1am. And Dad will be at work tomorrow and Katelin at school. Pray that they will have the energy to go through tomorrow. Also, pray for Brandi and I. We are driving back to Minnesota tomorrow. It'll take us about 12 hours and we're leaving at 5:30am.

Posted in: family, marriage on Thursday, May 03, 2007 at at 7:23 PM 2 comments    

Connor, Davis, Amanda, Tim, Dana, Amanda, Mark

I turned 24 today! Woohoo! I had a good birthday. Parts of it were hard, such as being homesick for being away from my family...but Tim was great. He even decorated the house for me! We have streamers and balloons all over our living room and I even had a crown to wear. :)

I also got a few calls from people in the church with birthday wishes, and talking to family was great. I also got non-stop text messages from facebook with all my birthday wishes from people on there. My phone's battery died early tonight with all the excitement, so I need to plug it in. :)

We had Amanda and Connor and Davis and Bria over and Amanda and Mark over for dinner. We had Papa John's pizza and DQ ice cream cake...which we have a lot left over of. It was great, just sweet....and I like ice cream, but I don't eat it much. :)

Then all of us played Mad Gab; boys against girls...and the girls did an overwhelmingly great job at it. Then we played Taboo and the boys were harder competition.

I have really enjoyed this whole birthday weekend. It was nice getting to hang out with Tim's siblings, and our new friends here in town.

Now I'm exhausted and ready to go to sleep.

Thursday and Friday I am substitute teaching for a 1st grade teacher. I'm really excited. I've been getting more calls from the district lately. Praise the Lord!



Davis helping me blow out my candles.
Connor taught us a new way of cleaning our socks...
Or just a fun way to play with fire. :)

Posted in: birthday, family, friends, marriage on Tuesday, April 24, 2007 at at 9:36 PM 2 comments    

I need to get to bed, but wanted to write something since I haven't in a while. Wednesday I got 2 cavities filled and my jaw hurt until Saturday from keeping it open the whole time. Thursday Tim got his teeth cleaned and I went next door to see about getting on with a temp agency in town. Friday at 8am I went in for testing and short interview with the staffing agency. Thursday at 10:30am-2:40pm I was a para-sub at the Jr. High School in town. For the most part it was good. Most of the students were really sweet and fun to work with. One class was difficult with a couple behavior kids I had to pretty much babysit to try to keep them on task. I didn't enjoy that.

Friday at 4:30 Tim and I left for Minneapolis with a couple of the girls in our youth group to go to M.O.V.E. (Mission Outreach Venture Experience) We had worship at First Covenant Minneapolis and slept over at the church. Saturday morning we had worship then went out to our work site. We painted a room in the basement of a Baptist church in St. Paul. Then we went back for worship and headed home after stopping for dinner at Dan and Maggie's.

Today was another full day. After church we had a youth leader meeting then came home for a short nap then back up at the church for youth group. I just finished making my lunch for tomorrow. I am going back to the Jr. High School to be a para-sub for the whole day for a different person. I enjoyed my position as a para on Friday much better than when I was in the High School. Hopefully tomorrow will be another good day.

I need to wake up extra early 'cause I've been playing phone tag with the district sub coordinator. I am certified for elementary now, so I can substitute teach now instead of just do para-sub, but I need to talk to a lady first, and she will be out of the office before I am done at the school tomorrow, so I'll have to call her early before I leave.

I have loved participating in ministry along side Tim. It is such a great experience, and everything is so much better now that we are married doing ministry together.

Posted in: marriage, ministry, work on Sunday, April 15, 2007 at at 8:50 PM 0 comments