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.

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. 

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. 

Time is Flying By.....

Wow, cannot believe the end of October is almost here!  We have been busy learning all that we can get our hands on and then some here in Elgin and other HBC close in the area.  Some things that have happened since the last post.......

Johnathan has had is birthday and is officially 14.  He enjoyed shopping for some new clothes.  What a blessing that all three of the kids like to get new clothing.....able to double as a gift and making sure that we always have clothing that fits their fast growing bodies.

My parents have been here since October 21st and will not be heading home until late on Thursday.  We have been having a great time.  They also took Johnathan shopping for more birthday clothes....and Nattalie got new clothes since her birthday is coming up soon (Nov 1st).  Today we spent the day in Chicago at the Museum of Science and Industry.  What an amazing place.  It will definitely take more that just one visit there to take in all that they have.

I have been a part of the Thursday morning ladies Bible study and have truly enjoyed it.  What a blessing to have an additional group of women to help me as I transform into the person that God has called me to be....and to have even more sisters praying for our family as we follows God's leading in our life to plant Harvest Bible Chapel Clear Lake/Mason City.  Also, as couples we have small group with Lyn and Rick every other week.  I thank God for these ladies as they pray for and help to hold me accountable to grow in Spiritual disciplines, Character growth, and a Relationship in my life that needs some healing.

John has been working so hard....it was a true blessing to join him Thursday afternoon......Paul Tripp came in to speak to the training class and their wives.  What an amazing, God challenging time.  Other things that I have been doing with John is small group in Winnetka/North Shore with a core group of people.  We are going through the 5G devotional study with this group....what a blessing.

I know that I have mentioned a lot that we have had so many blessings.....God is truly bathing us in blessing after blessing.  God has surrounded us with amazing friends that are prayer warriors and truly love our family.  So humbling the love that we have been shown.....thank you so much Lord for all the blessings in our lives.

Looking forward to the weekend!  As a family we will be headed to Clear Lake/Mason City to meet to rest of the core group.  So excited to meet the rest of the core group. Please pray for our travel to and from Clear Lake this weekend.

Amazing Weekend!

Friday morning all the training center guys headed out for Davenport to spend the day learning more about Harvest at HBC Davenport.  The kids and I headed out later that day.  We had to prepare the dog for his stay with Stephanie and her family (what a blessing it was to have them watch him) and then load up the car.  Before we hit the road we enjoyed some Steak and Shake....the kids love this place!  Our travel went uneventful to which we are truly grateful!
John and Jamy Cochran hosted us in their home.  What a blessing that was.....thank you so much for the hospitality. (John is the associate pastor at Harvest Davenport and church planting is some of his many duties.)

Friday evening we meet some of the core group from Clear Lake, IA.  We enjoyed dinner together and spent some great time just sharing and getting to know each other.  One funny thing that brought the room to laughter was that Johnathan introduced himself and said that he was 14.  We quickly explained that he is excited for is birthday, but that it was not for two more weeks.  They all knew about his excitement because in Iowa you can test for your learners permit at 14.  The kids were very excited to hear that Larry Day flies amazing kites and they have an annual festival in February on the lake.....and yes the lake is froze over at that time.  Check out the site www.colorthewind.org 
It was a great time and which we shared about ourselves and the core team shared their heart as to why Harvest.  What a blessing!

Saturday morning Jamy graciously kept the children home with her.....they enjoyed waffles, cinnamon rolls and played games together.  We met with the core group for breakfast.  Thank you John Cochran for having all the plans and reservations in place.  We spent more time getting to know each other and talking about Harvest.  We shared laughter and we shared tears.  We shared excitement and we shared fears.  God has orchestrated new relationships built together to bring Him glory....AWESOME!

Saturday afternoon John and Jamy knew it was time for some fun for the kids.....so we went to John Deer Pavilion.  There was a ton of tractors.  Daniel brought his cameras and enjoyed taking some pictures.  They also had some simulated machines to show you how some of the tractors worked.  One is tried to drive the tractor in a straight line to prepare the field for planting.....wow that was hard.  Then the other one was an excavator.  The kids would sit in this one and get a bucket of dirt and then try to empty it into the truck.....it was not that easy with each motion the handle moving part of the bucket and arm.  The computer would measure what it had in it and at the end of four minutes it gave you a total of what amount of money you would have made.....I did the best!! :) Yeah mom!

Then we went to church.....HBC Davenport.  What a great service.  We found out that their main worship pastor came down very sick Friday night and their worship leader had to fill in at last minute.  Wow....he did a fantastic job!  You would have never know it was last minute.....we only knew because we were with John when he received call about the change for worship.  Our great friends meet us there at church.....April and Dylan Knudsen.  After church John and Jamy had planned a great time of fellowship with another church planting couple.  We enjoyed great food and fellowship.

The kids were excited to find out they got to spend the night with April and Dylan at the hotel and then just have fun on Sunday morning.  John and I went back to HBC Davenport.....we spent some great time with John Walters (children's pastor).  He had some great wisdom to share and we enjoyed our time with him.

After church it was time for fun for everyone.......we meet up the kids.  When we got to the hotel they were in the pool and having a great time playing "chicken".....it was really funny to watch.  We headed to Michael's which was a great place....  Go-Karts, laser tag, bounce houses, rock wall and tons of games.  We spent a handful of hours just having a great time.  And for the record.....Dylan and the girls won in laser tag.  That was a ton of fun!!!  Then we decided to enjoy a movie together.....Courageous.  What an amazing movie.  If you have not seen that I would highly recommend it!  All around a great day and just enjoyed being with out great friends....April and Dylan.

Monday we spent some more time just catching up with April and Dylan.....then we went to the mall.  Enjoyed lunch and then spilt up to shop.  The boys didn't think all the girl stores they had in that mall would be fun.  We had a great time looking around.  John and Dylan ended up in Barnes and Nobles.....they got the Resolution for Men and the Resolution for Women.....these are the books that go along with the Courageous movie.  We are excited to go through these books together. 

What an amazing weekend!  We are so excited for God has in store for our future.

ENJOY SOME PICTURES..........

Kids playing chicken with April

Johnathan, John and Dylan preparing to race

Core Group we met with weekend...Tank family,
Larry and Kay Day, Slim and Pat Meints, and Scott Stauffacher

Tank Family scooped up in a plow!

Nattalie working hard at getting a full bucket with the excavator

Johnathan...concentrating so hard....hopefully he doesn't bite his tongue off  :)

Daniel concentrating really hard to drive the tractor in a straight line

Busy Learning and being involved in Ministry.....

The calendar is starting to fill up as we are involved in everything possibly while we are here in Elgin. Last week was the intro for the Women's Bible Study on Thursday morning.....I truly enjoyed that. The study throughout this week has been great and I look forward to the weeks ahead. I am excited for personal growth in God's Word, but also to see how HBC uses Bible Studies at the church to connect the ladies into a Small Group.

Tomorrow night we have our first Small Group with fellow residents in the training center. On the agenda is dinner and then to get to know each other we will share how we meet our spouse and our engagement story.....for those of you who have not known John and I that long our engagement story is a fun one. I will take the time to share with you...... We loved to drive up to the mountains at night and look and the stars and many nights we would see a lot of shooting stars....so beautiful. Well, John had planned another enjoyable evening like this starting with dinner and then head up north to the mountains. We enjoyed a great dinner together and then got on the road. We were about an hour out of town and the clutch in the truck just fell off the truck while we were driving on the highway....CRAZY! John coasted over to the side of the road.....and it was great the next exit was about 7-8 miles up the road. Oh fun...but we were blessed with a military guy headed home to his family that sopped and gave us a ride to the next exit. We called a tow truck and then road with the tow truck driver to pick up the truck and then he dropped us back off at the same exit. (This was before cell phones.) We called John's dad to come and pick us up. We went to the Denny's there and got a drink while we waited for John's dad. He finally made it......then all of a sudden I turned around and John was on his knee with a beautiful ring in his hand. Not exactly what he had planned for the evening, but he knew he needed to propose because everyone back at home knew what his plans were for the evening. Also, just so you know the clutch on the truck was under warranty and was fixed within a few days and we drove up together to bring the truck back home. So, that is our engagement story. :)

Back to what is going on here.....the kids are getting involoved in everything they can as well.  On Wednesday nights they enjoy youth group.  Thursday mornings they help with childcare during the Women's Bible study.  And something they just started tonight is livestream for all harvest students.  They log on and have fun with Landon and other youth leaders, but then they always have a Bible study.  Right now they are going over the fruits of the spirit....this is awesome!  Another way to get students involoved and in God's Word!!  It is such a joy to watch the kids so intent on learning from God's Word....they are watching this right now as I am typing the blog.

The month of October is exciting for us.....we will meet the core group from Mason City, April and Dylan are coming for a visit, Jason and Dava are coming for a visit, and my parents are coming for a visit. (And mom and dad just so you know the order is not that we are not excited about your visit....I have just listed them in date order.)  So excited to have friends and family around us!

Please continue to pray for the sale of our house back in Des Moines.  We have gotten some crazy news over the past couple of weeks.....a couple of weeks ago we got a call from our realtor and she told us that the lockbox was pryed off the railing by the front door.  Then yesterday, before there was a chance to get the locks changed, we got another call.  Whoever took the lockbox broke it open and got the key out.....and they stole the furnance.  At first this was hard to hear, but we are trusting this all in the Lord's hands.  We have called the insurance company and should hear back from them soon.  Thank you to all who have helped with the A/C.....my dad and Butch took it to Carl and Becky Jackson's house so that it wouldn't be taken as well.  Thank you for your continued prayer support for our family!  God has truly blessed us and we are so grateful!!

Wow, 2 Weeks.....time is flying by!

Thought that I would share what our apartment looks like.......

Kitchen



Living Room



Dining Room



Boy's Room



Boy's Bathroom



Nattalie's Room



Our Room



Girls' Bathroom

The kids are so excited that we have two bathrooms and it was decided early on that one would be for the girls and the other would be for the boys.  Notice the girl's bathroom is a little more decorated than the boy's one.  :)

We are nice and settled in and enjoy our lovely apartment....but after living in a house you for so long you forget some of the things about an apartment.  Like carrying your groceries in..... you carry as many as you can at once so that you don't have to go back out to the car.  :)  Seriously though we are truly blessed with such a nice place to stay while we are here for the training.

The kids and I have been working hard on school.  They are doing more independent studying this year and it is amazing to see their progress already only after two weeks.  Of course we start first thing in the morning, but the things that they do independent they work on how they would like.  Johnathan has actually been getting up earlier than the rest of us to get started.  I am so excited they are dedicated and working hard on their studies.  I pray this enthusiasm remains throughout the entire year.  We are all still working hard on our Greek....we almost have the entire alphabet.  Let's see if I can spell them out for your without looking......
Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, Epsilon, Zeta, Eta, Theta, Iota, Kappa, Lamda, Mu, Nu, Xi, Ompicron, Pi, Rho.....yeah I did it.  The kids can not wait until they can put some words together.

Training is in full force at HBF!  Today is the end of the second week.  John has been learning tons and coming home each night to share with me.  We are so excited about what God has in store for the future and also humbled that God has called us to the amazing task of church planting.

All things are coming together and we will be having small group with our fellow training residents.  We know that building relationships with these families is very important as I am sure we will be in contact and of course praying for each other as we go to our respective cities to begin to reach out to our communities. 

John and I are very excited....we got a message yesterday that we will have a chance to meet the core group from Mason City/Clear Lake the first weekend in October.  They will be coming over to Elgin for the weekend.  Please be praying for us as we begin to build relationships with these families as well. 

Sorry if this blog is a little scattered....I just wanted to share our apartment and also share what is going on.  We thank you all for your continued prayer for our family and also the community of Mason City/Clear Lake.

Let's call this one.....Learning!

Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, Epsilon, Zeta, Eta, Theta....more to come tomorrow.  Hope to make it through the end of the alphabet by next week. The kids keep asking if we know a word with the letters we know already.  I am sure we do, but we are going to stick to the program and soon we should know "Lord", "My" and "Helper".  I am so excited to be learning this along with them. As we continue to learning our Biblical Greek (Kione Greek) we will be able to study the New Testament with a deeper understanding of what was written in the original text. 

We have been enjoying the weather here in Elgin.....doors and windows have been open to allow that beautiful breeze through the house. We have been told that this is a little cooler weather than they normally have this time of year, but we will enjoy if for now.  Fall is one of my favorite seasons.....with pumpkins, apples, and all the fun fall festivals.....and the beautiful colors of fall.  Haven't seen any trees that have changed as of yet, but we will have our cameras ready.  :)

John has mentioned that he has been learning a lot already in this first few days of the Harvest residency.  He comes home each night and shares what they talked about....I know it is only a part and that is a lot for me.  I pray that he is taking good notes. :) 

Please continue to pray  us.....I have to be honest I am missing home a little bit more than I thought I would.  What keeps me going is that I know we are following God's will for our lives. Things are not always easy, but God is always with us! 

Many thanks to all who have been praying and continue to pray.  Also, a somewhat public thank you to all who have supported us in this journey.  God is an amazing provider....we just have to have faith!

Harvest Residency Has Begun...

We packed up and moved to Elgin, IL last week on Thursday.  I would have to say it was the hottest days to move, but it's all done!  We were so blessed to have such amazing friends to help us with the move.  Dylan and April Knudsen helped pack us up, drove out with us, helped unloaded the truck, and then unpack and put the apartment together.  God has truly blessed us with these amazing friends!  We were all very sad to see them go on Sunday!! We did enjoy some fun while they were here with us.....steak and shake, IKEA, shakes again (from steak and shake), outlet mall, Harvest Bible Chapel service together.....and steak and shake one more time.  I should mention they have this amazing fall shake Carmel Apple....you have to try it!  Dylan and April we want to thank you for all that you have done and the example of selflessness that you have been us and our family!

Speaking on being sad....it was hard to say our goodbyes at Grace West and then also hard to say goodbye to my parents.  We enjoyed some fun time together leading up to the move....including using their washer and dryer since ours were already in storage! Thank you Mom and Dad for your help as we prepared to move....we will miss you, but are glad to know that you have iPhones now and we will facetime really soon!!

We are all unpacked for the most part....at this time the things that we haven't unpacked are things we won't need until it gets colder.  Speaking of colder.....

Today John went to Harvest for orientation for the residency program and then we all went back to enjoy a picnic together and meet the other families.  We had a great time, but it was cold outside.  I think my toes almost froze off.  There are lots of kids and everyone seemed to get along GREAT.  All the men played a game of football.  John shared with us that he caught the winning touchdown throw.  :)

We started school today with the kids also....the first day seemed to take a little longer, but I am sure that we will get back into the swing of things right away.  Greek.....we learned "alpha" and "beta" today and tomorrow will be "gamma" and "delta".  Along with learning the letters and the sounds we will be working at writing them too.  We will all be working hard as John and I are taking this course along with the kids!!

We are now home and John is already busy studying!  I think this is a glimpse of what the next 5 months will look like.  We are so excited and looking forward to what the Lord has for us.  Please continues to pray as we study and prepare for the church plant. 

Where is the time going???? The move is coming up so quickly

We have been working diligently at packing and preparing for our move to Elgin.  Today so far has been a busy phone day.... calling new eletric company, calling to change addresses, renter's insurance, and more.  I know that I am not done with all that stuff, but at least I have a good start on it all.

Last Thursday we took some time in the evening and went to the Iowa State Fair as a family.  The Knudsen family joined us as well.  We had a great time and the weather was fantastic!  We enjoyed looking at Daniel's pictures again that werre choosen for display at the fair....so proud of our Daniel!  We ate some great fried food and just enjoyed being together (and not packing!).

A few weeks ago Johnathan and I were talking about the possibility of me learning the guitar.  He was so excited and continued to talk with John about it.  Monday night they suprised me by taking me to our friend Mike's house to pick out a guitar.  Mike is the worship director at Grace West and also has a business of buying, selling, and repairing guitars.  I just love my guitar.....however Johnathan has already proven to be a tough teacher. :)  I am working hard to learn my chords.....we will see how long it takes before I am able to play a song.

Also, this week my Dad's uncle has been in town and we have had a good time visiting with him.  It is fun to hear stories....last night he told us a story of my Granpa when they went camping in a pop-up camper and how he hit his head on the bottom bunk.  He was laughing as if it had just happened....fun times.

We received a great blessing from my parents....they have traded their electric piano for our Baldwin spinet piano.  I know some of you are thinking....why?  Well, moving to an upstairs apartment would be too much for all of us with a piano.  The electric piano breaks done and is much more mangable.  So, in order to save every one's backs and knees we called a professional piano mover to move the piano from our house to theirs....wow, they made it look so easy.  Almost like it wasn't worth what they were charging for it, but we know that it was well worth it.

It's getting harder to look at the calendar because we realize how close the move is....and good-byes are not easy! This coming Sunday John will preach his final message at Grace West and then in the evening they will have a potluck in our honor to say good-bye.  I am sure there will be tears, but we know that we are following God's plan for our lives. 

Support letters have been mailed out!  Also, a special offering has been taken at our church to help us raise the support that we need.  We are so grateful for the blessings that we are seeing!!  God is so amazing....He truly makes the impossible possible.....we just have to have faith!

This Summer is Flying By....

We all went to Arizona for a nice 2 week vacation.  We spent our time just relaxing and enjoying family!  What a blessing that time was.  The kids were in the pool about 3 times a day.... I think they started to grow gills.  :)  It was nice to get away and have this time together before our move to Elgin.  We stayed with John's parents and spent much of our time just hanging out at their house.  We were also able to visit with my family while we were there....we had a GREAT time!

Now...back to reality.  We are working hard at packing up the house.  Today the kids and I packed a ton.  We plan to make a trip to Northern Iowa on Thursday and take some things up to a storage unit we have secured up there.  The packing just takes so much time....I put together a list each day as to what I would like to get done and of course we are never able to complete the list.  I know that we will get it all done, but just wish it was going faster than it really is.

I originally thought that the kids and I would start school at the beginning of next week, but with packing and my mind being taken in so many different directions we decided to wait until we get to Elgin to start.  We will just not have as much time off around the holidays to make up for starting a few weeks later than normal.  I am ready though.  I have all the lesson plans ready and have purchased all the stuff that we will need.  The only thing that I have left to do is to print out the CPI forms and turn those in.  We have decided that since we will only be in Elgin for 5 months that we will complete the CPI's forms and file them here in Iowa.

We are working on a support letter to send out.  So things you can pray for.....packing, the sale of our home, raising our support, our upcoming move, the training while in Elgin, and the church plant.  Thank you for taking the time to pray for our family!

Preparation for move to Elgin

We have been working hard to pack up the house....and along with that comes trying very hard to weed out things that we do not need.  We have made one trip to the dump for larger things that we needed to dispose of and we have made a handful of trips to local thrift store to donate clothes that no longer fit and other household items we no longer need. We have also been able to donate clothes to other families in our church with children just a little younger than ours and pray that they are able to make use of the clothes our kids have grown out of.

Wow, moving is so much work! 

As we prepare for Harvest Bible Fellowship Residency we are taking a nice vacation to Arizona to spend time with family.  We plan to use this time to get some rest and relaxation.  On the schedule is swimming and fellowship....looking forward to this much needed rest. 

When we return we will complete the packing of our house.  We are trying to be very organized in our packing with boxes that will stay in storage here in Iowa and then taking only the things we will need in Elgin, IL.  Just got email today with our new address and apartment number.  Praise the Lord we will have a 3 bedroom apartment to accommodate the entire family while we are there in Elgin.

We ask for you to continue to pray as God continues to guide and direct our family.

Here is what God is doing in the Tank family's lives

I know that it has been a long time since I have posted something on the blog.....sorry! I want to take this opportunity to share what is going on and what God is doing in our lives.

Earlier this year John completed an application with Harvest Bible Fellowship for church planting. We went through a two separate trips to Elgin, IL for interviews. Throughout this process John and my prayer was that if this was in the Lord's will this would be something that He works out. Just last week we reecieved our acceptance letter into the residency program which begins at the start of September. We will be in training in Elgin, IL from September through January. After that we will move back to Iowa, but we will not be returning to the Des Moines area...we will be in Northern Iowa.

With all that said we have a lot to do. We will be packing only things that we have to have for Elgin. Then we will pack the rest and leave in storage here in Iowa. We will be working hard to get our house on the market and pray that the Lord will provide a buyer quickly.

We have faith that everything will work out because the Lord has always provided for our family.

In preparation for the hard work in Elgin and the hard work that we will have ahead in building a core group and launch team for the church plant, we are planning a nice two week long vacation to Arizona. We are excited to send time with family, rest, swim, and also meet our newest niece for the first time. We are so excited!!!

We ask that you pray with us....that the Lord prepares the way. That the Lord provides a buyer for our home...that we raise all the support that we need...that we are open and learn a lot in Elgin...that we follow the Lord and He blesses as we work in building and planting a Harvest Bible Chapel in The northern Iowa area.

Well, in a nutshell this is what is going on with the Tank family.

Wow....it has been so long!

Can not believe that March is half over!
Feburary was busy......and went by in a flash!

We have continued to work hard with school.....just loving all the history we are learning along with the old testament! We have all learned so much this year......looking forward to continuing through the year and also continuing this into next year!

Johnathan and I have been working really hard together as we will be helping to lead worship this weekend and next weekend! Johnathan has worked so hard and it shows. I unfortunately caught a cold on Tuesday and truly is only affecting my voice....praying I wake up with a miracle tomorrow morning.

Nattalie has been growing like a weed still! It is so neat to watch her with babies and children. She has such a love for them! I am so excited to watch her grow into a young lady. I can say that part of the growing up she doesn't like.....helping with dishes,laundry, and picking up the house. I am not sure that I even like that now ;)

Daniel is continuing with the picture taking. He and Bob meet weekly and Daniel is taking in all that he can. A few weeks ago we went to Bob's and watched as he printed so of Daniel's black and white photos in his dark room. That was a ton of fun......so educational. Now I want to get th equipment to do that ourselves.....oh yeah never mind that is a bit extreme.

I know that this post is pretty vague......I will try harder to poet more often and share what is going on as it happens.

A little catch up......

Last week ended with Daniel's 11th Birthday. He had a great time celebrating with his friend Dominic. We went last Friday afternoon sledding behind the Rhino with the Laxton's. Everyone had such a great time! There are time when we got the Rhino up to 20mph....the kids loved it.

This week has been awesome! The weather has warmed up and we have been able to enjoy some time outside. It is so nice....the ugly snow has all melted away! It is so refreshing to have this nice weather.....it looks like next week we are headed back to the cold weather....bummer!

I will post pictures for Daniel's birthday later!

Other things that we have been working on is worship practice. Johnathan and I will be leading worship together two weeks in the month of March. It has been great working with Johnathan on this. He's guitar playing is improving so much....and he is testing me because I will be playing the keyboard along with. Thanks Johnathan for the encouragement.....it has been great working with you. I truly enjoy the time!!!!

Monday Madness .....

Productive day for all The Tanks. We got busy on school right away and got everything done....we studied hard! Also, we forgot to post last week that we are learning about cells and we did this really cool experiment with an egg.....www let it soak in vinegar for a day and it dissolved the shell off the egg. Then with the clear coating around the egg the learned all about what makes up a cell.

After school today the boys went outside to work on the driveway a little and put some ice melt down....they were not out there long. Wow, we are in for a cold couple of days!!!

Johnathan and John are going through the Bible in 90 days together.....this takes great discipline and it will be great to see them finish this!!

Also, Johnathan and I have been working hard on the worship services that we will be leading in March. God has truly put some great songs in place and we are excited to see how God uses the worship on those two Sundays.

Also, should mention that we had a great time last night at a Superbowl party at the Laxton's house. The only part of the game that I watched was the National Anthem...and I could not believe that she forgot a phrase.....crazy!!!! The ladies enjoyed some great fun playing cranium together....we laughed so hard....what a great time we had! Thanks Laxton's for opening your home!

Rough start to our day.......

Got up to do the paper route this morning. Wow, there were some crazy drifts outside. We made it to the distribution center without much trouble. We put the papers together and headed out. We turned onto our first street and there was a car stuck.....John turned into the Walgreens parking lot......he got out to help him. The crazy guy was in a car and just try to plow through a snow drift above the height of his bumper. When looking at the rest of the street the boys and I decided to walk the block to th apartments. Glad we did because we ran into some pretty high drifts. John was ready for us once we got those delivered. At this point we decided to call the manager to ask if we could go back later in the day to deliver the papers and she said that there was not late call on them and that it was delivery as normal. Great! We couldn't get into the mal area to deliver the businesses that we have....that sow at all the entrances was over the bump of our truck. So, reluctantly we headed to our larger route. The street leading up to it had been plowed somewhat. Then John turned on our first street which was a down high street....well that wasn't our brightest move. After that we had a heck of a time getting out of there. John and Dan drove the best they could to complete a street and Johnathan and I walked a street....wow! After we final figured out how to get The truck back to the plowed street we left him there and the boys and I waed down the rest of the streets to deliver the rest of the papers. Whihle down one of the street a gentleman asked John if he needed any help and explained that he was waiting for us to get back up the street.....he does something with the paper because after John told him that we were delivering and he found out our manager said deliver as normal he went crazy.....we are sure he made some type of call. So after that neighborhood we had one more street to deliver and then we were done. We did save the businesses until later in the day. Got home and called our manager to let h know that we finished delivering and she says oh if the streets weren't plowed the you should have just waited to deliver until they had been plowed.....wow what a change from when I called her to ask if we could wait. She now knows that the Tank family will not deliver the paper unless the streets have been plowed....only safer for everyone.

Being out there walking was crazy.....the boys and I walked through snow that was waste deep for me.....so like chest deep for them. We were tired when we came home!

As normal we went back to bed....the boys went right to bed, but John and I drank some nice hot coffee before we went back to bed.

Then my dad came over because he wanted to plow our drive with his Rhino which he has graciously let us use for the winter months. The girl across the lives next door left her car on the street overnit and sine they had plowed our street she was stuck and unable to get out.....Johnathan went out and helped her shovel her way out. While he was doing that I had my dad run with me to deliver the business papers.....wow my dad is crazy driving in the snow because he has to drive over all the snow that he can just to play. So we finished delivering them and he was driving through the parking lot up the first street of our route that we had to walk where the car was stuck early in the morning. Wow, this street still hadn't been done, but a rough patch down the center. This made my dad excited.....he started driving through all the thick stuff. I said, "You are going to gt stuck!". He said, "No we won't.". Well, you guessed it we got stuck! He tried to move a little snow from the tires, but no luck. I was about to go to the Walgreens for a shovel and a gentleman came to asked if we needed help....he had a tow strap and was able to tow us out. Let's just say my dad was truly asking like a kid! Thank for the excitement today, dad!

We made it home and dad had a good time plowing out the driveway.....we had some serious drifts! Praise the Lord for the plow this year!

The rest of the day we just spent together......no school and kids loved that!

Johnathan and I worked on worship music for a while and had a great time. Now, we are snuggled under blankets trying to stay warm and watching a movie.

So we have had a crazy day and pray that tomorrow is a little less eventful!

Snowy day.....

Well we are supposed to be buried under a significant amount of snow by morning. This morning we had about 2 inches or so, but the roads we not clean at all so John went with us on the paper route.....thank you, honey!!!

The church decided to have the staff work at home today and tomorrow because of the storm. So today John was home with us. We did our school and he did his studying for his message this weekend.

Nattalie just made cookies for all of us to share...she did a great job. Only stuck her oven mit in two of them while she was taking them out of the oven ;)

The snow is still coming down and it is really windy out there. Not looking forward to how much snow we will have to wade through to delivery the papers tomorrow.....I am sure tomorrow I will have John join us again to help with the driving. What a great husband he is to me!!!!

Ok...now that the day is wrapping up we are going to snuggle under blankets and watch a movie or two. Praying that all our friends and family that are in areas of this crazy winter weather are warm and safe!

Slow Day...

Today is starting out a little slow. I know that we will complete our school work for the day, but it is going slow at this point. Later today and into tomorrow we are supposed to have a significant about of snow....hopefully we don't get all that they have predicted. Church has been cancelled for Wednesday night and we may end up canceling lessons tomorrow.....could be a productive week in the house if we don't have to go anywhere.

I know that I have posted pictures that Daniel has taken, but wanted to share that this weekend we picked some to print out....and let me just say wow! They are GREAT. He loves taking pictures and we are so proud of how well he is doing.

Johnathan was really excited that he was able to meet two of the guys from Harvest that write a lot of the music that he likes. We are working had on some new songs to share for worship with church in March. He is doing awesome and we are excited to see how the Lord continues to bless in the area of music for Johnathan.

Now Nattalie....she is growing up so fast. She loves playing the mandolin, but I have to say that she is really enjoying learning different things about being a homemaker. She is taking on a lot of responsibilities of picking up and cleaning....and she is beginning to experiment in the kitchen. What a joy it is to she her learn and embrace these new found joys with her. And what a great joy to mom.....now I will have a helper with dinners. Praise the Lord!

Ok...well back to school and praying that we are able to finish our work for the day and of cour learn a lot from it!!

Men's Weekend!

John and Johnathan headed out of town today for a men's conference. Johnathan is so excited that he gets to go and spend this time with dad. I pray that have a great time together.

Natt, Dan and I went walking around the mall after we got John and Johnathan on the road. We had a good time just looking at stuff. Tonight we will go to small group...looking forward to that. Then off to my parents house to have a belated birthday celebration...yeah me ;)...just kidding!

This week was not our best at getting our school done, but we know when that happens we will have a busy week next week to get back on track......hard work here we come. We still love everything that we are using this year! This years biggest challenge is that Johnathan is not liking that sometimes he is still working when everyone else is already done. I explained to him that his school is only going to get harder and take more and more time, but studying hard is so worth it!!! Next year he even has an extra subject than everyone else.....glad we are learning the concept about time and hard work this year!!

Also, thinking about adding Spanish for everyone starting next year. I know there are a lot of different programs that are good, but tell me what you like beat and why. Thanks in advance for your help!!

We will call today.....Musical Monday

We got up and cleaned and picked up house as normal and then instead of hitting the books first we worked onour instrument practice. Johnathan and I spent over two hours together on music tonight. Johnathan is beginning to put together music for each night on Wednesdays for the youth, but also together he and I will be leading music for worship twice in the month of March....we worked so hard to put it all together. I am so proud of how hard Johnathan is working with his music....is he doing great. Also....his voice is starting to change....I am excited about this because we will be able to harmonize a lot more together....so fun!!!

Also, not to forget the other two. Nattalie is truly enjoying her mandoline and she is doing a great job! She has a great love for music! She even picked up her flute again to she how much she still remembers....awesome stuff! Daniel is still working hard with the electric guitar.....and of course he has a great passion for photography. He is doing such a good job. Let me tell a funny story......a friend of ours took one of the pictures off the blog and it using it as the background on her phone and also one of Daniel's friends is sending it out in a picture message to his friends. They all love it and they are so amazed to find out that it wa taken by Daniel. He is so excited that people love his pictures. What a gift!!

Thank you Lord for such blessed and talented children....we are so blessed!!!

Fantastic Friday and Relaxing Saturday

Friday was an awesome time......the kids went with Grammie and Pop to outdoors show at the Iowa event center and they have tons of stories of all the fun that they had.

John and I enjoyed dinner and then Winter Jam concert with April and Dylan.....what a great evening. And yes John and I are getting old because for the most part we couldn't understand what they were singing.

Today has been a relaxing day to just catch up on our busy activities yesterday. Stayed up way to late last night, but it was well worth it!!!!

Thanks Grammie and Pop for spending the day with the kids and April and Dylan thank you for the great night out!!!!

Wow...we are ready for winter to be done!

Got up early o head to deliver the paper this morning.  Yesterday it was above freezing for a little bit, but then before evening it dipped way down.  Everything that started to thaw then re-froze.  Wow....everything was like a sheet of ice.  Wow, I am really learning a lot about driving on those crazy roads being up so early with the newspaper.  Its nice that there are not that many people on the road that early!

We headed to church today for all the music.....had a great day!  Unfortunately before we left is was snowing....yuck!  The boys are hoping that there is not much because they don't like it when there is a lot to have to walk through for the newspaper!

So....the iPad was successful today.  The kids are really enjoying working on the iPad with the math and spelling.  Nattalie did just a few minutes with the spelling yesterday and it showed with her test today.....so awesome.  They are enjoying spending the time working on all of it.  What a blessing when learning is disguised so well.

In light of the new snow I thought that I would post some pictures Daniel took when we had the new snow last week.....he is doing such a great job!

These were all taken at Water Works Park.....what a beautiful sunset we caught that day!!

Monday is here again!

Wow, the weekends always fly by! The kids and I worked very hard on school today. Some of our studies today includes the solar system and everyone seems to really enjoy studying this. Also, we are excited to add some new things to our daily routine. I recently got an iPad and this is going to be a great tool for our home schooling. I have found some great math, states and spelling practices for th kids to spend time with each day. I am very excited to see how this will help them to improve in these two subjects.

Today the weather has been interesting. When we started our paper route it was snowing and then about 5 minutes later it turned into sleet.....then back to snow again. Weather like this is not good for the roads....very slick out there. Also, during the day today it warmed up a little and allowed things to begin to melt, but we have very cold weather on the way. This winter has been easier than last winter, but we are all ready for the spring!

Tomorrow we should be back to our normal schedule and be at church in the afternoon for guitar and voice lessons and then second service worship practice. Speaking of worship.....Johnathan and I have been working on our music for the worship services we will help lead in March. So excited to see how the Lord has blessed Johnthan with such fantastic musical talents.

God has truly blessed our family in so many ways.....thank you so much Lord for the heathly, wonderful, and talented children you have blessed us with. What a true blessing the Lord has given us with the opportunity to home school and train the children to live their lives for the Lord!

Back Home....

Yesterday and most of today the kids were with Grammies and Pop. John and I went on a day road trip.....even though as we were driving we get tired of being in the car we had a lot of great time with each other! It was greT to be able to enjoy conversation together without kids asking questions in the background!

We are back home just relaxing as a family and wil be back to our normal routine in the morning....with school.

Then tomorrow afternoon we will head over to celebrates Pop's birthday with him.

Snow Day!

Wow, we got a lot of snow! This morning John got up with us to help deliver the papers since we had gotten over 7 inches of snow. so grateful John was with us because there were streets that were really hard to get going on! Praise the Lord we completed the route and were home almost in the same amount of time as a normal day.

John didn't go to the church today because of the snow. The staff decided to wait to have the parking lot plowed until the snow was done. That parking lot is not one that you want to get into when it has not been plowed or you may not get back out. I had decided to cancel guitar and voice lessons yesterday because of the snow....and it was a good idea.

We worked hard to finish school quickly and then the kids went outside with me to plow the driveway. Ok....that is a lot of fun! Wow, it sure is a lot faster than shoveling.

This evening we went to my parents to spend some time.....we ended up watching a movie on their new TV and blue ray player...nice!! We also found in the ads that someone had it cheaper this week than last week and it includes a surround sound....they called the place they got it from and they will be getting a refund and a surround sound.....it pays to watch the ads of competitors even aft you have made a big purchase!!

Monday Again.....

We hit the books hard today.  It was easy to stay in the books with all the snow outside.  The kids worked really hard.  This week we are learning about the tabernacle and how God had every part....down to the threads explained in the Bible.  What a fun time we are having studying this together. 

Then in Science we are starting to study the solar system.....we have a fun saying to try to remember the order of the planets, but the kids and I think that it may just be easier to memorize the planets than the saying!

Our day got away from us pretty quickly....we were going to clean out the driveway for John and noticed about 15 minutes before he was supposed to be home.  What a blessing the Rhino was to scoop the snow.  We were actually almost done before John got home....just had the end of the driveway blocked so he couldn't pull in right away.  Wow, that Rhino sure makes snow shoveling a lot easier....thank you Pop for letting us keep it for the winter!!

I am excited because I have found some great applications on my iPad for the kids as study tools.  There are these awesome flashcards, a States game that teaches great facts about all the states, and a great math facts game that even keeps records of how you are doing with each fact.  I am so excited to get the kids started on a routine of using these tools a couple times a week.  It is funny last week they were actually fighting over playing the states game.....yeah fun learning that they are eager about....Praise the Lord!!

We have cancelled guitar lessons at church tomorrow since the roads are still supposed to be pretty snowy.  We are just going to enjoy time at home and study the books! 

Tonight we just finished dinner and we are enjoying a movie together....what a great thing to do on a cold snowy night!

Finished the Week

First week back after break was a little harder to stay on task than normal. The kids are still working on finishing their story.....this week they are creating a story that is like the Boy Who Cried Wolf, but with different characters. Their stories are turning out great....we will edit and write final copies on Monday.

Math has also seemed to be a bit challenging for everyone this year. Johnathan is doing pre-algebra and it is taking him a lot more time to complete his math than he would like! He is doing good as long as he takes his time. I have to tell you that I am very happy with the curriculum that we choose because if he gets something wrong then he can watch them solve th problem.....great for me if I can't quite remember how to do a specific type of problem!! I am sure that we will continue with this math in future years.

Actually I found myself starting to think about curriculum for next year already.....wow am I crazy or what?

Yesterday we went with my parents to help them pick out a new tv......so later on today we will head over there and help them get that all set up. Fun stuff! Hopefully there will be a fun movie to watch together when we are done.

Next week is a new week and pray that we are more on schedule.....we did finish this week, but it felt like we were playing catch up all week long ;)

Back on Track with School

We took a nice 2 week break for Christmas and family time. It was awesome....we had some great fun together! Christmas was just fantastic and New Year's was good too.....well it was ok. Johnathan and I got food poisoning on Thursday night into Friday morning. Wow, we were sick. It has been so long since I have been sick! We started to feel better toward the evening so we were still able to celebrate with friends and bring in the new year. John had some time off over these two weeks and it was just great having him home with us! Yeah!

Yesterday we worked on putting the house back in order and today we are back at school. The kids did great today and I pray that they are ready for tomorrow. Tomorrow our writing in English gets harder and more time consuming. I know that they will do a good job with it, but sometimes to throw changes in is not fun!

Over the past couple of nights we have been running the kids around to spend their gift card money from Christmas. They got some great things. Tonight we ended up at the Christian bookstore for Nattalie. She picked out a great book that is a 3 in 1 and also a CD. She is actually in her room reading the book right now. What a blessing....she is actually reading without being asked to...this may be the start of something wonderful!

Just after Christmas John took me to the Apple store and I got an iPad. I just love it. We take it with us all the time and it is so handy! I know that I will be using it with the kids a lot with school. I wasn't sure about getting one, but I have to tell you that I haven't ever really set it down. Thank you John for my Christmas, birthday and all year long present!

Well, this post has been a little all over the place. Sorry for the delay in posting and I know that I will post again soon! Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and a happy New Year!