....

I have no words...just questions with sad, hurt, confused feelings attached.

God's brought US this far...

What a day! My brain hurts from thinking so much about church planting. I never knew I could have so many thoughts about the subject, but as we sat in our first day of class, so many new and different concepts and ideas were put before us. It is exciting to hear but at the same time overwhelming!

God has brought us this far, and I know he will see us through this week of intense training!

Our class began this morning at 8:15 and finished up tonight at 5:00.

This evening (after class) we visited here:


We saw this sign as we walked in...I've seen it in the ham once before but thought it was pretty odd!


While cruising the MASSIVE mall, we saw a large group gathered with loud booming. As we drew closer, we found the Minnesota Vikings cheerleading tryouts. Of course I wanted to stay and watch! After a few minutes, Daniel began to enter a state of boredom to say the least. He said watching girls dance around in cheerleading outfits (if you call them that) is not his favorite thing to do. I guess he is right...he shouldn't be watching them anyways =)


In case you forgot what we look like...

Oh this has nothing to do with this post, but I found it on CNN today and thought it was HILARIOUS!

On the road AGAIN..

Before I post the real reason behind writing this post, I wanted to give you a glimpse into our trip inside the Arch which we visited this morning.  I was scared (no big surprise if you know me well) and Daniel loved every minute of the thrill.  It really was neat!  Here are a few snaps from our journey to the top:

So we hit the road bright and early this morning...we thought maybe we could make good time (because we made great time yesterday).  Well...we were wrong!

We have this nifty thing that came in our car when we bought it four years ago...a GPS.  It is super nice and truly has helped us when we needed directions.  Well..lets just say it was NOT a help today.  In fact it caused us MORE DRIVING than needed today!!!

BOB (daniel named our GPS this because there is a man who gives directions and that was the first name that came to his mind) was WAY off today.  It is only suppose to be 552.82 miles from St. Louis, MO to Minneapolis, MN according to Map Quest.  (Can I interject here that my husband struggles with OCD, so before we left for our trip, we had directions from map quest, google maps, and we would rely on BOB to make sure we were heading in the right direction. =) it makes me smile!)

Getting back to the story, we got in the car ready to head for MN, typed the directions in BOB  and begin driving.  After about 5 minutes, Daniel looks down at BOB and noticed it said 668 miles to MN..."WHAT?" daniel said in a voice louder than normal.  He continued "BOB, YOU CAN'T BE RIGHT!"  Then Bob began telling us to turn left then changed his mind to right...long story, we started going the wrong (or maybe I should say LONG) way.  At this point Daniel becomes angry (just about as angry as he can get).  Then we miss another turn all the while I am trying to carry on a conversation with my mom about how our day has been with no voice (I should pause and say that i have almost completely lost my voice.  I woke up a couple of days ago with a sore throat, which has now turned into yucky snot and a rough, scratchy voice.)

 

Daniel getting mad at BOB!!! It was a reinactment because I was too stressed in the moment to whip out the camera and take a picture of my hubby.

 

We had to back track trying to get going the right way.  We ended up on a road where the speed limit was 60...yes I said 60!!!!  We were not happy to say the least.  This slowed us down even more, so we began making our own direction!

We stopped at Sonic for lunch, but had to hurry since we were WAY behind.  

Since the drive was right at 10 hrs (it was suppose to be 8 1/2) we had to keep ourselves preoccupied.  I accomplished a lot in my riding time like:

Knitting

Reading

We also spent some good quality chatting about life with each other, singing as loud as we could, reading articles for our class (the whole reason why we are on this trip), answering and discussing questions about the articles, eating, holding hands, looking at the snow on the side of the road (IN LATE APRIL), making comments on Church names as we passed (wow it's amazing some things they come up with), getting lost & much more!

So, that was our day...I guess if you are still reading this then you are somewhat interested!

Its cold here, suppose to snow...I will be bundling up!

We are tired even though if you think about all we have done is ride in a car...but boy it does make one tired!  We will be heading to bed early tonight!

That's all for now...later

Welcome to St. Louis!!

In our hotel:

We're here!! We arrived last night around 6:45.  We enjoyed a very peaceful dinner in the hotel's restaurant, and then rewound in our hotel room (going to bed about 9:30...we were tired!!)  

This morning we were up bright and early...hitting the gym!  Now we are enjoying our breakfast (room service which neither of us have ever done) =).

We're off in about an hour to see the arch, then we will make our way to Minneapolis!!

that's it for now...hope all of you are doing well this Monday morning...later

Summer's almost here!!!!

                                (from our beach trip at the beginning of April 2008)
Summer is approaching fast, and I must say my life will be changed upside down. Daniel and I were discussing it last night, and we (well more me than him) will be SUPER BUSY!! Between 4 (yes I said four...just found out yesterday that I am in another wedding) weddings, all the parties for the weddings, beach with my family and then with friends, trips to the lake with friends and family, my last day of work (July 10th), Daniel and I traveling to speaking engagements and MORE PARTIES, I don't know when I will have time to BREATHE! Although it does seem overwhelming, I am ready for every bit of the excitement and journey ahead.

                                    (at Sumo last summer when I chopped my hair)

Like I said, in July Daniel and I will both be full time support raising (meaning we will be spending most, if not all our time together =) ) traveling the US to share what Christ has called us to! We are both excited about this step of faith, but at the same time frightened! We are praying that this is the Lords plan for our lives and could really use your prayers too! We are solely trying to be obedient to God's calling on our lives, and we feel like this is the next step!

                                            (also from the beach trip April 2008)

ok...I have things to do, so this is all for now!

i love this girl!

SO...I had lunch with Erin today which was just perfect. Erin and I were bff's in middle school and some into high school...seriously I was at her parents house every weekend swimming and hanging out. Then in high school we both got boyfriends and kind of went our separate ways!

BUT now we have "rekindled" our friendship and it is better than ever! I love laughing and hanging out with her...we have that relationship where we DONT have to be with each other day in and day out, we just can pick up where we are and chat...like we didn't eve skip a beat! i love it..and her. Thank you Lord for such a dear friend!

Erin is getting married June 21st and I can't wait to see her become a Mrs.!! She will be such a BEAUTIFUL bride!


                (we went to Taziki's for lunch and here we are in my office chatting it up!)

NO TIME!...ok maybe for Friends =)

We leave for our ROAD TRIP on Sunday and I have not packed a thing!! My hubby is packed, ready to go...he is always does this, so he is not stressed and going crazy at the last minute...smart idea huh?

In other news...Daniel and I had a very delightful evening with some dear friends of ours. We don't get to see them that much between school, work, and the fact that they live in a different city (and expecially since one of them will be moving to Colorado, along with the rest of SEBC, in a few months).

We ate at Jim-n-Nick (aka nick & jims...dan..wink wink)! It was so yummy to my tummy! Here are a few pics...you gotta love these people...we do! =)

Wes & Clare...so cute!


High School Buddies!


Of course we had to have one of me and my sweet hubby!



Also, congrats to Clare and Erin on officially becoming college graduates and are nurses now!! YAY! I'm having lunch with Erin today and I am SUPER excited!


I am working on my picture taking (notice I got shots from last night...thats big) so that when Daniel and I are overseas, we can give you a glimpse into our lives!
later...

WHY?

WHY is it that I crave those things that are so bad for me like...

I wish I craved these things...

Anything...
OR even...

that is all i have to say...the end!

not bad...Honestly!!

who knew that decaf coffee wasn't that bad! I can say I've enjoyed drinking it!

who also knew it would be between 30 to 50 degrees in Minnesota in April? Can you say brrrrrrr....

We will be visiting this site exactly a week from today...YAY.  


Our week will be busy preparing for our trip to Minneapolis...this is a new place for both of us. It is always exciting exploring new things with each other...especially the country! And not to mention, who doesn't LOVE road trips!

We have LOTS of reading and other preparations for our Church Planting course we will be taking. I feel like we are back in college!

I will keep you updated...

Who knew?

These are a few interesting facts I ran across today while working (downloading things for Sunday for the kiddos).

Babies are born without kneecaps

When you sneeze, your heart stops for one millisecond

Fidgeting can burn 350 calories a day (this is good to know =))

Apples are said to wake people up better than coffee (i questioned this one!)

Women blink almost twice as much as men

A ducks quack does not echo

It is impossible to lick your elbow

Snails can sleep up to 3 years

Peanuts are an ingredient in dynamite

Over 75% of you (reading this blog) tried to lick your elbow (I did when I read it!!)

Turtles can breathe through their rear ends (I laughed at this one!)

Your thumbs are the same length as your nose (I bet you tried that one too!)

All polar bears are left-handed

Today your heart will beat over 100,000 times 

and the last one...

Ok I found this one EXTREMELY INTERESTING...When you lick a stamp, you consume a tenth of a calorie.

Doing the Decaf thing!

I have come to the realization that I LOVE COFFEE..i mean i REALLY LOVE LOVE COFFEE! Each morning when I get to work I have 2, 3, maybe even 4 cups on those sleepy mornings.

This LOVING coffee thing is rather new and came about all the sudden. In November ('07), I made the decision to completely give up soft drinks, and I must say it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. BUT the mistake I have made is filling those times that I wanted a soft drink with...you guessed it..COFFEE! Now I also need to say that I drink my coffee black (no nothing is added) which is not bad for you (if you can drink it in moderation). The caffeine actually speeds up your metabolism...this is a good thing.

So in saying all of this, I am making another decision to change to decaf (for most of the cups I drink). It never occurred to me that I was "addicted" until we were at the beach this past week and the coffee machine at our place was not 'up to par'. In light of this, each morning after working out we would stop and get a cup of fresh brewed coffee (and of course I could not just get a small cup of coffee...a medium or large was much more satisfying!)

Anyways as I sit here and write this post, I am enjoying a warm cup of DECAF coffee...
I will have to keep you posted on how it is working out for me later =)

?!?!

Well we're back from the beach and can i just say..WE HAD A BLAST! I got slightly (ok maybe a little more than slightly) sunburned on my back and legs, but the burn has subsided and just left me peeling and constantly itching!
I must say this trip was filled with many "firsts". First time to be gone away from home on my birthday. First trip Daniel and I had gone to the beach alone. First trip to P.C. with each other. First time to take kaki & white beach pictures (thanks Ryan & Sam). First time to go on a trip with Ryan & Sam as a married couple. And many more I won't bore you with!

Here is my favorite picture from the trip:


Since being back, work has seemed to pick up both for Daniel and I. VBS is just around the corner here where I work so the preparation takes ooogles of time! Daniel has spent his days (besides recovering from a neck injury last week and a back injury yesterday) writing, editing, printing, stamping, sealing and finally mailing this months newsletters. So all those who get them keep a watch out...it should be arriving in your mailboxes soon!

Last night we had a delightful dinner with my in-laws at Red Lobster (don't criticize until you go!) in celebration of my birthday!


Mrs. Davis also made me a birthday cake that I thoroughly enjoyed looking at and then digesting =)



We have a busy weekend ahead of us. Daniel will be working for his brother doing some photography work..WHOOO!! I will be spending part of Friday and all day Saturday bridesmaid dress shopping! Then on Sunday I have 2 wedding parties to attend along with my own Birthday party thrown by my fam. AND we are speaking at a local Churches youth group Sunday night too. Busy Busy!

Today I had a delightful visit from a dear friend. I love our chats and that basically we can be "real" with one another. She has great advice and I have really learned a lot from her! We got married a week apart from each other, so basically we are in the same season of life. Today, on my lunch break we went to Old Navy where she purchased some really cute shorts for her new job. YAY =) Here is a picture of us one girls night (but not today lol)


One more thing...we leave for Minnesota a week from this coming Sunday! More packing, traveling, and touring the country..I CAN'T WAIT :0)