Wow, just realized that is has been almost a month since the last time I updated the blog....time seems to be flying by! At the end of February the kids and I went back down to Davenport for them to join the youth for Winter Jam. They had a fantastic time! I actually had time to myself that weekend as I stayed in Davenport. (Thank you Jamy Cochran for allowing me to stay with you and also for the wonderful meals!) After church on Sunday morning we loaded into the car quickly and headed back home.....had to make it back in time for core group meeting in Clear Lake. The meeting started at 5:30 and we made it back just a little before 5:00....YEAH! I did forget a few details that are probably some of the most important......as we were heading out of town we stopped off to grab lunch to eat in the car. We had Subway sandwiches and Whitey's ice cream (thank you Jamy for the gift certificates!) Whitey's ice cream is one of the best ice cream places ever if you ask me.
Here in Clear Lake....the Lord continues to build His church. We have been meeting with new people throughout the week at different dinners. This has been such a blessing to meet with people over a meal and have time to get to know them personally.
The kids continue to work hard on school.....it is Spring Break here for everyone, but with all the moving around that we have done this school year we are not taking a "spring break". However, the weather has been just amazing the last two days.....we have had great time being out in the beautiful weather! I just love spring, but not all the allergies that it brings with it.
Johnathan has had a great time spend his afternoons (after school) at the warehouse. He and Larry Weakland are working together at putting a 1955 tractor back together...from pieces. He is learning a lot and just loves it.
Daniel has been great at being our photographer. Each time we have met he has camera in hand to help so we have remembrance of how we started. He is so excited to be spending more and more time outside in the fresh air......oh yeah.....the boys have been able to spend some time of their dirt bikes and came home nice and muddy! They were introduced to a boy their age, Christian, and enjoyed dirt biking with him and his friend, Issac.
Nattalie.....she is ready to meet some girls her age. Today a neighbor for a block or so away came and introduced themselves to us and they have a junior high daughter. Nattalie was so excited. Now that the weather is warm people are outside and I just know that we will meet more and more people.
I know this is a quick update, but wanted to share about where we are right now and how you can pray for us......pray that the Lord continues to build His church, that we continue to follow God's plan, that we make good use of our time and prioritize well, and that the kids are able to find friends in our community.
Thank you to all you who faithfully pray for our family!
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Monday, February 20, 2012
FANTASTIC WEEKEND!
This weekend was full of so many great things! Friday April and Gretchen came up together with the McCarl kids. Daniel was so excited to find out that his best friend, Dominic, was coming up earlier in the day....more time to hang out together. (I think that he is too old for me to say that he was excited to "play" together.) The kids were excited to have Dominic and Kaylee walk into town together and go see the frozen lake and hang out. We called ahead and put money on an account at Cabin Coffee so the kids could warm up a little after that walk to the lake with some hot chocolate. They had a great time! Friday evening we were joined with more guests....the Boat family, the Nick Tank family, and then Terry and Dylan came up from Des Moines after they got off work. We all enjoyed tacos and all the fun stuff that goes with tacos. Also, Gretchen brought chocolate chip cookies....we all love her chocolate chip cookies! With this group of people we had a lot of kids in the house....12 kids total :) We all stayed up nice and late, but had a great time together, except Dominic who seemed to be coming down with something, but he did gain strength to join in the fun on Saturday.
Saturday morning was a little slow getting around, but we all enjoyed a wonderful breakfast casserole that April made. (Thanks again for making that....it was delicious!) Then the guys headed off to see the warehouse and then went into Mason City for a little bit. Us ladies stayed at the house. My parents also came up that morning...and they brought my birthday present. Lots of fun little things and under all that was a beautiful necklace....THANKS MOM AND DAD. Also, mom and dad brought great deli meats, buns and chips for lunch...that hit the spot. After that we all headed out to the lake to enjoy the kite festival. What a beautiful day to be outside enjoying God's wonderful creation with family and friends. Daniel got a new kite that we can not wait to fly from Grammie and Pop for his birthday. He is looking forward to a kite flying lesson from Larry. After a nice time out at the lake we headed back to the house to enjoy more fun together. The guys headed off to see a movie together, the kids played, and us ladies we played games together and laughed so hard. What a wonderful time! Dinner was also great....thanks again April for the roast and potatoes! Again, nice late night, but great fun!
Sunday morning we started the day out by going to church together with my parents and April and Dylan. Then Rib Crib for lunch....YUM! Then the ladies went shopping...we found some GREAT deals. I got a $118.00 jacket for $11.80 what an awesome deal! The guys ended up heading north and spent some time together at Cabella's. So after shopping April, Nattalie, and I enjoyed a movie together.
As you see, just a great weekend with family and friends. So thankful for the people the Lord has put into our lives.
To change the subject a little from personal to Harvest Bible Chapel Clear Lake.....we have been so excited to see what the Lord is doing here. We had a Vision Night on February 12th and it was just amazing to see so many there. The Lord is building His church and providing in amazing ways! It is so incredible to be a part of what the Lord is doing here in the Clear Lake area. What a blessing to be called to be a part, thank you LORD!
Saturday morning was a little slow getting around, but we all enjoyed a wonderful breakfast casserole that April made. (Thanks again for making that....it was delicious!) Then the guys headed off to see the warehouse and then went into Mason City for a little bit. Us ladies stayed at the house. My parents also came up that morning...and they brought my birthday present. Lots of fun little things and under all that was a beautiful necklace....THANKS MOM AND DAD. Also, mom and dad brought great deli meats, buns and chips for lunch...that hit the spot. After that we all headed out to the lake to enjoy the kite festival. What a beautiful day to be outside enjoying God's wonderful creation with family and friends. Daniel got a new kite that we can not wait to fly from Grammie and Pop for his birthday. He is looking forward to a kite flying lesson from Larry. After a nice time out at the lake we headed back to the house to enjoy more fun together. The guys headed off to see a movie together, the kids played, and us ladies we played games together and laughed so hard. What a wonderful time! Dinner was also great....thanks again April for the roast and potatoes! Again, nice late night, but great fun!
Sunday morning we started the day out by going to church together with my parents and April and Dylan. Then Rib Crib for lunch....YUM! Then the ladies went shopping...we found some GREAT deals. I got a $118.00 jacket for $11.80 what an awesome deal! The guys ended up heading north and spent some time together at Cabella's. So after shopping April, Nattalie, and I enjoyed a movie together.
As you see, just a great weekend with family and friends. So thankful for the people the Lord has put into our lives.
To change the subject a little from personal to Harvest Bible Chapel Clear Lake.....we have been so excited to see what the Lord is doing here. We had a Vision Night on February 12th and it was just amazing to see so many there. The Lord is building His church and providing in amazing ways! It is so incredible to be a part of what the Lord is doing here in the Clear Lake area. What a blessing to be called to be a part, thank you LORD!
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
CLEAR LAKE
What a blessing to say that Clear Lake is HOME! We moved into our rental home on February 1st. We were greeted we with a fantastic surprise from some members of our core group....food and supplies to stock the pantry. SO BLESSED! We got to work right away moving everything from the garage into the house....wow we have a lot of stuff. But I can say that we are 90% unpacked and settled at this point. We are waiting on one book shelf that we ordered which should be delivered today. Then we will unpack more of John's books. His office area will be complete once we find a chair and a desk for him. Yesterday we finished unpacking all the home school stuff so this morning was back to the grind stone for the kids....they are doing great!
Speaking of the kids....they were so excited to have their own rooms and to set them up. You can definitely see each of their personalities in their rooms. Johnathan has guitars all our his room and he also has the family keyboard in there. Nattalie's room takes on a very girly look and was completely organized within a few hours after we asked them to work on their rooms. Daniel's room is a mixture of all the things that he is into....cameras, yoyos, and also Knex (which all have to be put back together). So fun to see them growing up and getting their own "style" of their room.....now of course I will go in often to make sure that our "styles" stay clean. :)
We actually have a place to set up our home exercise equipment and leave it set up. We are excited to get into a routine each morning in making sure that we are taking care of our bodies. I would love to say that we have this all up and together, but hopefully that will fit the agenda for this afternoon or this evening.
God has been paving the way for us here in the Clear Lake area with so great help of our hardworking core group members. We are truly blessed with workers who diligently complete tasks and continue to ask..."What's next?" Currently we are working on preparing our meeting place which is a warehouse area. With a clean coat of paint, chairs and carpet this will be the prefect place to meet. We have been blessed with free carpet not only for the warehouse, but for the church building in the future. So exciting to see all the doors that the Lord is opening here in the Clear Lake area!
We are getting to know people in the community and are truly amazed at how God is preparing this community for HBC Clear Lake. We have our first vision night/core group meeting on Sunday night. We are praying that God will lead many that will join us on this journey!
Speaking of the kids....they were so excited to have their own rooms and to set them up. You can definitely see each of their personalities in their rooms. Johnathan has guitars all our his room and he also has the family keyboard in there. Nattalie's room takes on a very girly look and was completely organized within a few hours after we asked them to work on their rooms. Daniel's room is a mixture of all the things that he is into....cameras, yoyos, and also Knex (which all have to be put back together). So fun to see them growing up and getting their own "style" of their room.....now of course I will go in often to make sure that our "styles" stay clean. :)
We actually have a place to set up our home exercise equipment and leave it set up. We are excited to get into a routine each morning in making sure that we are taking care of our bodies. I would love to say that we have this all up and together, but hopefully that will fit the agenda for this afternoon or this evening.
God has been paving the way for us here in the Clear Lake area with so great help of our hardworking core group members. We are truly blessed with workers who diligently complete tasks and continue to ask..."What's next?" Currently we are working on preparing our meeting place which is a warehouse area. With a clean coat of paint, chairs and carpet this will be the prefect place to meet. We have been blessed with free carpet not only for the warehouse, but for the church building in the future. So exciting to see all the doors that the Lord is opening here in the Clear Lake area!
We are getting to know people in the community and are truly amazed at how God is preparing this community for HBC Clear Lake. We have our first vision night/core group meeting on Sunday night. We are praying that God will lead many that will join us on this journey!
Friday, January 6, 2012
We are in Davenport.....
Happy New Year!! We traveled from Des Moines to Davenport on Monday the 2nd. We are geared up for our internship with Harvest Bible Chapel Davenport. We spent Monday and Tuesday night at the Cochran's house....Thank you for your hospitality! Jamy is a huge football fan so the boys were excited to watch the Rose Bowl with them on Monday night.
Tuesday morning John began his internship with a nice long day. He left the house at 7am and then we meet him for dinner at 9pm. The kids and I just went around the city for the day and ended up at the mall. Nattalie was excited because she found a great deal on a jacket! She is so proud of her find!! The kids were excited to see Dad at 9pm for dinner.
Wednesday John was off again early in the morning.....his day started at 6:00am this morning. HBC Davenport is making sure to get John involved in as many ministries as possible this month. The kids and I got up at took all of our things to the Merrifield's house. This is where we will be staying for the month on January. We thought that we would be able to start school on Wednesday, but after getting all our things in place, me making a bunch of phone calls and then going grocery shopping the day was almost over. We relaxed a little before it was time for dinner and then it was time to head to church for youth group. Another large youth group for the kids to get involved in....they really seemed to enjoy themselves. We met up with John when we got to church. John and I together observed the high school youth group. Came home and it was time to hit the bed as we were all tired!
Thursday.....wow this week is just flying by. John left off for work again bright and early! We had a breakfast scheduled together to meet some of the family leaders of the church. We had a fantastic time....and we found a great place to go on a "date breakfast" on Monday! While I was at breakfast the kids began to work on their school work and then we hit to books hard when I got home. Wow, it's been a while since we have done school with moving and then Christmas. I think as Monday comes we will have our routine back down.
Friday, as normal John headed off to work and the kids and I worked hard on school! We pulled back out our Greek....we are in a new section and they all start with review so that was very helpful. We are all ready for new Greek words....it has been fun to learn this together. We are hopeful that after we have completed the full course that we will be able to study the New Testament in the original language. Part of the Greek lessons we will be to completely translate the book of John.
Tomorrow the entire family gets to work together with one of HBC Davenport's ministries.....King Harvest....looking forward to serving together! Then we will also go to Saturday service together.....excited to worship at Harvest Davenport!
Please pray for our family as this will be a very busy month for us. We are getting as much information as we possibly can in one month while we are here. We are very thankful for how HBC Davenport has welcomed us and are loving on us while we are here. Clear Lake will be home SOON! Continue to pray for Harvest Bible Chapel Clear Lake....Lord build Your church!
Tuesday morning John began his internship with a nice long day. He left the house at 7am and then we meet him for dinner at 9pm. The kids and I just went around the city for the day and ended up at the mall. Nattalie was excited because she found a great deal on a jacket! She is so proud of her find!! The kids were excited to see Dad at 9pm for dinner.
Wednesday John was off again early in the morning.....his day started at 6:00am this morning. HBC Davenport is making sure to get John involved in as many ministries as possible this month. The kids and I got up at took all of our things to the Merrifield's house. This is where we will be staying for the month on January. We thought that we would be able to start school on Wednesday, but after getting all our things in place, me making a bunch of phone calls and then going grocery shopping the day was almost over. We relaxed a little before it was time for dinner and then it was time to head to church for youth group. Another large youth group for the kids to get involved in....they really seemed to enjoy themselves. We met up with John when we got to church. John and I together observed the high school youth group. Came home and it was time to hit the bed as we were all tired!
Thursday.....wow this week is just flying by. John left off for work again bright and early! We had a breakfast scheduled together to meet some of the family leaders of the church. We had a fantastic time....and we found a great place to go on a "date breakfast" on Monday! While I was at breakfast the kids began to work on their school work and then we hit to books hard when I got home. Wow, it's been a while since we have done school with moving and then Christmas. I think as Monday comes we will have our routine back down.
Friday, as normal John headed off to work and the kids and I worked hard on school! We pulled back out our Greek....we are in a new section and they all start with review so that was very helpful. We are all ready for new Greek words....it has been fun to learn this together. We are hopeful that after we have completed the full course that we will be able to study the New Testament in the original language. Part of the Greek lessons we will be to completely translate the book of John.
Tomorrow the entire family gets to work together with one of HBC Davenport's ministries.....King Harvest....looking forward to serving together! Then we will also go to Saturday service together.....excited to worship at Harvest Davenport!
Please pray for our family as this will be a very busy month for us. We are getting as much information as we possibly can in one month while we are here. We are very thankful for how HBC Davenport has welcomed us and are loving on us while we are here. Clear Lake will be home SOON! Continue to pray for Harvest Bible Chapel Clear Lake....Lord build Your church!
Saturday, December 24, 2011
The Next Chapter Begins.....
John has completed his training with HTC in Elgin, IL....a very busy but an amazing season for our family. The last couple of weeks in Elgin flew by and I wasn't sure that I would ever get the apartment packed up to move back to Iowa however we did finish in time and well prepared to pick up the truck on Thursday morning....bright and early or should I say dark and early. We went to Home Depot to pick up the Penske truck at 6:15am.
After picking up the truck we were ready to work hard and fast with the time we had with John before he headed off to his last 1/2 of training. We were blessed with a couple of the guys from the training center to come for about an hour to help with some of the heavier things....we did get a lot accomplished in that first hour. Then they all headed off and the rest was left to the kids and myself. We began to work hard as a team and about 10 minutes went by and we were surprised by Dylan and April. They came up to help us pack up and travel back to Iowa. WOW, what a true blessing!! With the help of two wonderful friends we finished packing and the last miniute cleaning of the apartment by 10:00am.....we beat our deadline of Noon (which was the time John would be done for the day so we could get on the road). We turned in our keys, got one last "The Cheff" sandwich and some pizza from Rosati's.....and then it was time for the road.
Just before John was ready we found out that my cell phone was having some trouble....it was able to do everything, but if I made a call the person on the other end could not hear me at all. Made a quick call to Verizon and found out that I needed a new phone all together....Praise the Lord for warranty. I was able to have it overnighted to my parents house in Ankeny, IA. So funny, Nattalie said that her phone wasn't ever used that much in one day by her....thank you Nattalie for letting me use your phone as we traveled to Iowa. (By the way, I got the transfer to the new phone all taking care of this morning....wow having the iPhone made this easy! Didn't lose a single bit of data.)
Traveling went so smooth....no snow, no bad weather, no car trouble, no accidents.....NOTHING! Thank you, Lord! We decided to have a girls car (thank you April for doing the driving as I was a little tired and worried about how I was going to do with the that), then Dylan and Johnthan were in the Penske truck (thank you Dylan for driving that BIG truck), and John and Daniel followed us all in our car. We made is to my parents house by 6:30 that night....back in IOWA. We enjoyed a wonderful dinner prepared for by April and my mom...thank you for feeding our hungry and tired bodies!
Then Friday morning came quickly.....Dylan was helping up again as we headed up to Clear Lake to place all our belonging into the garage of our rental home. We left again "dark" and early. We made it to the house by 8:00. It took us about an hour to unload this load and then we headed to the storage unity to move the rest of our stuff to then rental house....this took a little longer since 2/3 of our stuff was in the storage unit. John, my dad, Dylan, Johnathan, Nattalie, Daniel and I worked hard to load the truck....WOW it was cold. I took time to run to Kum and Go for a Hot Chocolate run! By 11:00am we were headed back to house to unload this truck full....Larry Day ended up coming in right behind us and within minutes we had a wonderful addition of help as we unloaded. Thank you Larry Day, Larry Weakland, Scott Stauffacher, and Slim Meints.....it was a blessing to have your extra hands (and muscles) to help unload. Praise the Lord we were all done by 1:00pm. We took the truck back, ate lunch, returned to key to the storage, went to the post office.....all of to do list was completed for the move!
Enjoyed and evening of appetizers at Larry and Kay Day's house with other couples that are a part of the core group.....fantastic evening! We had laughter, we had serious moments, we had tears and then we had even more laughter. Thank you everyone for such a great evening!
Now, it's Christmas Eve and we are ready to relax and enjoy family. Thank you, Lord for the wonderful family that you have so graciously given to me (and to John). What a blessing to spend time together and enjoy this beautiful season of the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Next page....internship in Davenport for the month of January. John has his schedule and it will be a busy month, but an amazing opportunity as we work with Harvest Bible Chapel Davenport.
The page after that....move into our house in Clear Lake, IA and begin to work with our core group as we follow the Lord's leading in building His church......Harvest Bible Chapel Clear Lake. Pray with us as we follow the Lord's leading in our lives, our family and our community.
After picking up the truck we were ready to work hard and fast with the time we had with John before he headed off to his last 1/2 of training. We were blessed with a couple of the guys from the training center to come for about an hour to help with some of the heavier things....we did get a lot accomplished in that first hour. Then they all headed off and the rest was left to the kids and myself. We began to work hard as a team and about 10 minutes went by and we were surprised by Dylan and April. They came up to help us pack up and travel back to Iowa. WOW, what a true blessing!! With the help of two wonderful friends we finished packing and the last miniute cleaning of the apartment by 10:00am.....we beat our deadline of Noon (which was the time John would be done for the day so we could get on the road). We turned in our keys, got one last "The Cheff" sandwich and some pizza from Rosati's.....and then it was time for the road.
Just before John was ready we found out that my cell phone was having some trouble....it was able to do everything, but if I made a call the person on the other end could not hear me at all. Made a quick call to Verizon and found out that I needed a new phone all together....Praise the Lord for warranty. I was able to have it overnighted to my parents house in Ankeny, IA. So funny, Nattalie said that her phone wasn't ever used that much in one day by her....thank you Nattalie for letting me use your phone as we traveled to Iowa. (By the way, I got the transfer to the new phone all taking care of this morning....wow having the iPhone made this easy! Didn't lose a single bit of data.)
Traveling went so smooth....no snow, no bad weather, no car trouble, no accidents.....NOTHING! Thank you, Lord! We decided to have a girls car (thank you April for doing the driving as I was a little tired and worried about how I was going to do with the that), then Dylan and Johnthan were in the Penske truck (thank you Dylan for driving that BIG truck), and John and Daniel followed us all in our car. We made is to my parents house by 6:30 that night....back in IOWA. We enjoyed a wonderful dinner prepared for by April and my mom...thank you for feeding our hungry and tired bodies!
Then Friday morning came quickly.....Dylan was helping up again as we headed up to Clear Lake to place all our belonging into the garage of our rental home. We left again "dark" and early. We made it to the house by 8:00. It took us about an hour to unload this load and then we headed to the storage unity to move the rest of our stuff to then rental house....this took a little longer since 2/3 of our stuff was in the storage unit. John, my dad, Dylan, Johnathan, Nattalie, Daniel and I worked hard to load the truck....WOW it was cold. I took time to run to Kum and Go for a Hot Chocolate run! By 11:00am we were headed back to house to unload this truck full....Larry Day ended up coming in right behind us and within minutes we had a wonderful addition of help as we unloaded. Thank you Larry Day, Larry Weakland, Scott Stauffacher, and Slim Meints.....it was a blessing to have your extra hands (and muscles) to help unload. Praise the Lord we were all done by 1:00pm. We took the truck back, ate lunch, returned to key to the storage, went to the post office.....all of to do list was completed for the move!
Enjoyed and evening of appetizers at Larry and Kay Day's house with other couples that are a part of the core group.....fantastic evening! We had laughter, we had serious moments, we had tears and then we had even more laughter. Thank you everyone for such a great evening!
Now, it's Christmas Eve and we are ready to relax and enjoy family. Thank you, Lord for the wonderful family that you have so graciously given to me (and to John). What a blessing to spend time together and enjoy this beautiful season of the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Next page....internship in Davenport for the month of January. John has his schedule and it will be a busy month, but an amazing opportunity as we work with Harvest Bible Chapel Davenport.
The page after that....move into our house in Clear Lake, IA and begin to work with our core group as we follow the Lord's leading in building His church......Harvest Bible Chapel Clear Lake. Pray with us as we follow the Lord's leading in our lives, our family and our community.
Monday, December 12, 2011
Moving Plans!
Wow, it is hard to believe that it is already time to pack up and head back to Iowa.
We will be leaving Elgin, IL on December 22nd after John is done with class for the day. We have been so very blessed.....God has provided a fantastic house for us to rent. We signed the lease just this last weekend! Planning to move all our things into the garage there for the month of January.....we are praying that the weather holds out until we get all the things moved into the garage.
After moving all our things we will be able to spend Christmas with family and friends....praise the Lord! The kids were so excited today....with moving and tansitions we gave them their presents today. We have always tried to keep present giving simple in our home......Johnathan got a nice new shirt from Buckle (which he was wanting) and Curve cologne, Nattalie got two sweaters from Aeropostle and two pairs of earnings, and Daniel got two sweaters from Aeropstle and a trick yo yo (he is already learning all kinds of tricks). As a family we will be purchasing a goat for a church in Nepal....this will provide Christmas dinner for an entire church....we are all so excited about this!! John got some great things from Walk in the Word and I got two pairs of earnings. God has blessed our family and we are so grateful!
This week I will enjoy my last time with my women's small group....so excited because we will be meeting as a flock and enjoying fellowship, sharing about our lives, and exchanging a Christmas ornament. Nattalie and I will enjoy a nice evening together at the women's Christmas event with Mandesa and Matthew West concert on Thirsday night. Finally on Friday all the training center wives will meet together for the last time before we all head out for our internships. What a blessing it has been to create new friendships with some great Godly women. We will be great support to each other as we all work hard with our families to plant churches in many different communities.
Last week our website went live..... http://www.harvestclearlake.org/ .... what a blessing. We are so excited to be a part of what God is doing in Clear Lake and Mason City, IA. Visit the site to see things like....the mission of the church, the four pillars of Harvest, and other important events within the Harvest Fellowship.
Internship.....we will be spending the month of January in Davenport.....we are so excited to work hard and learn many things while at Harvest Davenport.
We will be leaving Elgin, IL on December 22nd after John is done with class for the day. We have been so very blessed.....God has provided a fantastic house for us to rent. We signed the lease just this last weekend! Planning to move all our things into the garage there for the month of January.....we are praying that the weather holds out until we get all the things moved into the garage.
After moving all our things we will be able to spend Christmas with family and friends....praise the Lord! The kids were so excited today....with moving and tansitions we gave them their presents today. We have always tried to keep present giving simple in our home......Johnathan got a nice new shirt from Buckle (which he was wanting) and Curve cologne, Nattalie got two sweaters from Aeropostle and two pairs of earnings, and Daniel got two sweaters from Aeropstle and a trick yo yo (he is already learning all kinds of tricks). As a family we will be purchasing a goat for a church in Nepal....this will provide Christmas dinner for an entire church....we are all so excited about this!! John got some great things from Walk in the Word and I got two pairs of earnings. God has blessed our family and we are so grateful!
This week I will enjoy my last time with my women's small group....so excited because we will be meeting as a flock and enjoying fellowship, sharing about our lives, and exchanging a Christmas ornament. Nattalie and I will enjoy a nice evening together at the women's Christmas event with Mandesa and Matthew West concert on Thirsday night. Finally on Friday all the training center wives will meet together for the last time before we all head out for our internships. What a blessing it has been to create new friendships with some great Godly women. We will be great support to each other as we all work hard with our families to plant churches in many different communities.
Last week our website went live..... http://www.harvestclearlake.org/ .... what a blessing. We are so excited to be a part of what God is doing in Clear Lake and Mason City, IA. Visit the site to see things like....the mission of the church, the four pillars of Harvest, and other important events within the Harvest Fellowship.
Internship.....we will be spending the month of January in Davenport.....we are so excited to work hard and learn many things while at Harvest Davenport.
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Updates.....
Wow, it has been a long time since I updated the blog..... a lot has been happening. I will try to share a little bit of everything that has been happening.
Just after the last post we headed up to Clear Lake for our first Open House. We took some back roads to get there and it was just the most beautiful time of year. Definitely not a road to take in the winter though.....lots of hills and curves. We spent time touring the Clear Lake and Mason City area....looked at potential places for worship services, looked at warehouse to hold meetings in, and just all in all checked things out. The kids were so excited....they didn't have to come along with us and they got to walk around town. We have never let the kids do that so they were so very excited! Great day and then it was off to the Open House in the evening. The Open House was a huge success! We had a total of 42 people in attendance. What an amazing blessing! God is building His church.
Back to Elgin it seems that we are always keeping busy.....Small Group, Women's Bible Study, Youth Group, Small Group in Winnetka (which has now ended), and many other things.
We had a great Thanksgiving in Iowa. Thanksgiving Day we spent with my parents and had a great meal. We also went and visited my Grandma in the nursing home. She was so happy and that was a blessing to see! Then after looking through all the sales ads decided to do a little Black Friday shopping. April, the kids, and I went to Kohls to cash in on some great deals. We ended up with a new Keurig coffee machine. (Merry Christmas to John and I....and the kids because they like hot chocolate and some coffee.) We also ended up with new tires on the car. Mom has a friend that works for Firestone and she had a friends and family coupon for tires. Got a quote on Wednesday night and would take it in on Friday. They opened early for Black Friday as well.....John and I got up and took the car in at 5am because they were working us in. Even more of a blessing they had Black Friday specials and we ended up saving even more.....all in all saved over $450.00 for the tires and an alignment on the car. We are truly blessed. Then that afternoon we went to visit friends that just had their baby.....Toby is soooo cute. Then we spent some time with April and Dylan and then joined them with fellowship and small group.....great night. Saturday was another busy day.....we went up to Mason City and Clear Lake. We had a great time with Nick and his family. It has been almost 2 years since I saw the kids....wow they are getting big! We had a great potluck with some of the core group that evening.....great time of fellowship and getting more acquainted with one another. After that headed back to Ankeny to my parents house. Just as we pulled in the driveway we got a call about a possible rental house in Clear Lake. We looked at one early that day that just didn't feel right. We talked about it and decided to head back up Sunday and take a look at the house. April and Dylan joined us.....they give to our family so sacrificially. We are truly blessed to have them as friends! The house was amazing! We pray that we are able to work this one out it will be yet another blessing! Headed back to Ankeny to pick up the kids and my Uncle, Aunt and Cousin with her little Kaine man came for a visit from Arizona. We all enjoyed dinner together and then we had to get on the road to head back to Elgin. We had a great, but busy trip.
We are coming down to the wire here in Elgin. We will be packing up and moving to Iowa the last week of December. We will be staying in Davenport for the month of January for an internship with Harvest Davenport. We have been blessed with the opportunity to stay in a missionary family's home for the month as they will be gone. So when we leave Elgin we will take all but some clothes up to Clear Lake.
So, how can you be praying for us.....pray for the packing of the apartment to go smoothly, for good weather as we travel in the winter months, John as he finishes up here in Elgin, the kids and I that we prioritize our time well and not to get behind with school as we do all the other things, for the housing to work out in Clear Lake, and for God to continue to build His church in Clear Lake and Mason City, IA.
Just after the last post we headed up to Clear Lake for our first Open House. We took some back roads to get there and it was just the most beautiful time of year. Definitely not a road to take in the winter though.....lots of hills and curves. We spent time touring the Clear Lake and Mason City area....looked at potential places for worship services, looked at warehouse to hold meetings in, and just all in all checked things out. The kids were so excited....they didn't have to come along with us and they got to walk around town. We have never let the kids do that so they were so very excited! Great day and then it was off to the Open House in the evening. The Open House was a huge success! We had a total of 42 people in attendance. What an amazing blessing! God is building His church.
Back to Elgin it seems that we are always keeping busy.....Small Group, Women's Bible Study, Youth Group, Small Group in Winnetka (which has now ended), and many other things.
We had a great Thanksgiving in Iowa. Thanksgiving Day we spent with my parents and had a great meal. We also went and visited my Grandma in the nursing home. She was so happy and that was a blessing to see! Then after looking through all the sales ads decided to do a little Black Friday shopping. April, the kids, and I went to Kohls to cash in on some great deals. We ended up with a new Keurig coffee machine. (Merry Christmas to John and I....and the kids because they like hot chocolate and some coffee.) We also ended up with new tires on the car. Mom has a friend that works for Firestone and she had a friends and family coupon for tires. Got a quote on Wednesday night and would take it in on Friday. They opened early for Black Friday as well.....John and I got up and took the car in at 5am because they were working us in. Even more of a blessing they had Black Friday specials and we ended up saving even more.....all in all saved over $450.00 for the tires and an alignment on the car. We are truly blessed. Then that afternoon we went to visit friends that just had their baby.....Toby is soooo cute. Then we spent some time with April and Dylan and then joined them with fellowship and small group.....great night. Saturday was another busy day.....we went up to Mason City and Clear Lake. We had a great time with Nick and his family. It has been almost 2 years since I saw the kids....wow they are getting big! We had a great potluck with some of the core group that evening.....great time of fellowship and getting more acquainted with one another. After that headed back to Ankeny to my parents house. Just as we pulled in the driveway we got a call about a possible rental house in Clear Lake. We looked at one early that day that just didn't feel right. We talked about it and decided to head back up Sunday and take a look at the house. April and Dylan joined us.....they give to our family so sacrificially. We are truly blessed to have them as friends! The house was amazing! We pray that we are able to work this one out it will be yet another blessing! Headed back to Ankeny to pick up the kids and my Uncle, Aunt and Cousin with her little Kaine man came for a visit from Arizona. We all enjoyed dinner together and then we had to get on the road to head back to Elgin. We had a great, but busy trip.
We are coming down to the wire here in Elgin. We will be packing up and moving to Iowa the last week of December. We will be staying in Davenport for the month of January for an internship with Harvest Davenport. We have been blessed with the opportunity to stay in a missionary family's home for the month as they will be gone. So when we leave Elgin we will take all but some clothes up to Clear Lake.
So, how can you be praying for us.....pray for the packing of the apartment to go smoothly, for good weather as we travel in the winter months, John as he finishes up here in Elgin, the kids and I that we prioritize our time well and not to get behind with school as we do all the other things, for the housing to work out in Clear Lake, and for God to continue to build His church in Clear Lake and Mason City, IA.
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