Bible Study Party

Tuesday night was our last bible study for the summer.  It was also the last party I will get to host in our tiny apartment.  Oh, how I've turned into my mother, in making up excuses to decorate and cutesify things.

We had a Favorite Things exchange...

Assembled mini-fruit pizzas....

And ate some more goodies that we shouldn't have...  Played some fun games...

We had FRUIT, though!  Does fruit outweigh the chocolate cupcakes?

Oh, how I have grown to love these gal pals.  Miss you already!

My Yamahopper

This thing is going to make its comeback when I get to Sioux Center.  

Watch out, folks.

Camping, Coffee & Percolators

This sums up several things that I am thankful for.  1) Campfires  2) Eggs, potatoes and breakfast skillets  3) Bread  4) Coffee fresh out of the percolator  5) Friends who like to cook  6) Talks about theology and other deep things  7) Camping

Special thanks to Halee for all the deliciousness.

PS - When my dad was little, he wanted to be a percolator when he grew up.  Now I know why.  Percolators are awesome.

PPS - My dad turned out to be a pilot, not a percolator.

On House Hunting and Moving

We don't have cable, but every time I go to my parent's house, I fight the urge to plop on the couch and watch HGTV's House Hunters for hours and hours on end.

From now on, I will not be yelling, "Duh!  That is the dumbest house.  Buy the OTHER one!" at the TV.  These poor people deserve much more compassion.  After viewing a million and one homes in Sioux Center, I know that house hunting is a very tiring ordeal.  No matter what, you have to sacrifice some of your precious "wants" to make room for "needs" and things that will make an overall better investment.  Such a huge choice hasn't easy.  Mortgage calculators, spreadsheets, Dave Ramsey's advice, and husbands who are smart when it comes to math have become treasures.

We are trusting God to lead us to the house He has for us!  He is such a better decision maker than we are.  I'm excited to have another story of His faithfulness to tell...  Heck, He's been faithful already!  I am not nervous about offers or counter offers or finding out which house we will get at all.  I'm not stressed.  I am sleeping very, very well at night.  I'm just tired...which, in the broad scheme of things, is not such a big deal.  Praising Him for lots and lots of peace.

As we wait to see which house will be ours, I will be enjoying the last moments in our little apartment.  I will procrastinate packing until the last week (there's no sense in feeling displaced earlier in this process, folks).  I will also be spending too much time on Pinterest trying to figure out how to work with some less-than-ideal house-sorts-of-things.  AND, I'll be itching to go to the paint store, Ikea and some of my favorite thrift stores.  Is it weird that I am already praying for supernatural favor when it comes to good deals?  From prior experience, I have learned that the Lord DOES care about teeny little things like that.  He is so nice to His kids.

I would also like to add that I HATE HATE HATE wood cabinets and plan to paint the heck out of each and every cabinet in ANY house.  No, I don't care that some of the cabinets are nice and relatively new.  This will be MY house and I will paint brand new cabinets hot pink with polka dots if I feel like it.

Glad I got that off my chest.

Camp Dress Up Night

Pulling some pictures out off my camera finally.  I wish this one would have turned out better!  Dress up night at camp...

Change of Address

We're going to have a new address soon...from Sioux FALLS to Sioux CENTER (not to be confused with Sioux CITY).

It's tough to blog about something so huge and sad and exciting and crazy...where would I even begin?  Maybe someday when we are settled in and things make sense again, I'll be able to collect my thoughts.

For now...

Sioux Falls friends - We are so sad to leave you.  We are NOT moving because we were unhappy here.  We love you.  We love Sioux Falls.  We love Young Life!  We ARE moving because the Lord has been leading and pushing and pulling.  Oh, to be a follower of Jesus!  It's not always easy, but it IS worth it.  PS - You won't get rid of us completely.  In case you didn't know, we'll only be an hour away. :)

Sioux Center friends - I am looking forward to coming "home".  I've missed you, family!  We've already been through so much together...I'm excited to see what the Lord has in store for us all in the future.  I'm thinkin' He's up to some pretty big things.  Your cozy, small-town-sort-of-charm will be delightful.

To everyone - Pray that we find a home!  We are in the thick of house hunting, number crunching, and making trip upon trip upon trip back and forth to tour homes and chat with our realtor.  Pray for our transition, for peace in the middle of many mixed emotions, and that we'd finish well in Sioux Falls.

photo credit