A "Real" Post

I have been thinking that I haven't posted a "real" update in ages! So, here I am posting a "real" update!
Currently, Joseph and I are at home for missions conference at our home church! Sometimes,it just hits me how much I love my home church, the people there and just being there! Tonight, I just loved being there-it felt like home and I felt so loved by my friends there!
While on the road this trip, we were in two missions conferences which were drastically different. The first conference was kind of a let down, we never got to meet the pastor during our time there. I just don't understand how a pastor can get behind the pulpit and emphasize loving the missionaries; but doesn't even have time for them himself?! However, the preaching was great there and really hit home.
Our second conference was in Georgia and it was by far one of the greatest conferences I have ever been to! Joseph and I felt so loved and wanted there! Upon arrival, the table for our display was covered with goodies and snacks that I don't think we will ever finish! Every class we visited gave us money and gifts like blankets, towels, jewelry, candy! The final night of the conference, ladies in the church made each missionary wife a quilt-mine is SO beautiful and it even has a matching pillow case! They also took us on for financial support that night! The preaching was also so wonderful! They did so much for us, I don't really have time to share it all. But, I want to share on the final night of the conference when we were standing on the platform receiving gifts and seeing our plaque go up on the wall to join the missionaries they already support, I felt so revived! Sometimes we look at things and wonder what is God doing, you want to keep going on; but you don't understand why you have to keep going on. This is where I had been at. I don't know if anyone has ever been in this place or can relate; but that week I realized once again the importance of the job that is at hand for Joseph and I. As I stood on that platform, receiving gifts, hearing testimonies about us, I was humbled at what people saw in Joseph and I that I don't even see, humbled that people are willing to 'put their money' on us, intrust us that we can get the job done. When we left that conference, I told Joseph, I want to go-I want to be in Norway. Even now thinking about it, tears come to my eyes...I'm ready to keep pressing on. There are people counting on me even now.
We leave Monday for Oklahoma and will be gone for a few weeks. Short trips this time around; but I think Joseph is trying to book summer. We need meetings. Please pray that we can get meetings for summer.
Well, I am worn out-its time for bed!

10 on Tuesday

1. In just a short time Joseph will be on the road home for a few days!
2. We are scheduled to be in our church's missions conference!
3. Next week it will be off to Oklahoma!
4. We had a great time at my grandparents last week-very relaxing and good food!
5. God is always good, God is always right! Praise the Lord!
6. It is snowing, ugh! Snow, snow go away come again another day! I am really sick of snow.
7. Yesterday we drove from Manttoon, Illinois and arrived to my parents for the night.
8. The inside of our van will look so different by the end of the day! When we get home, Joseph will unload it of all its goodies that have been retrieved on the road and I think the van will then be able to breathe again. lol!
9. I think I am finally at the tail end of this silly cold. What a relief it will be when it is completely gone.
10. Yes, my post today was kind of drab; but I wanted to post because I don't know when I will have the opportunity to post again!

A Photo Memory or 2!

Wow, where does the time go?! In 2000 I headed off to Heartland Baptist Bible College to start my freshman year! It was really a great year, I believe mostly because of my roomies-Becky McCracken and Lindsay Benson(Lusk)! We had so much fun, roommate bonding days where we went to McDonalds for every meal, did Mary Kay pedicures and facials, pumped air into an inflatable couch and took it back to our dorm room in a Cougar...with all of us in the vehicle as well! Sometimes at night, after lights out I would crawl into Becky's bed and we would just talk and look at pics of her at the time "crush"! I remember laying in bed, talking after lights out while Lindsay was doing her homework...then smelling something weird and realizing there was smoke coming from her pillow that had caught fire from her reading lamp! Those times happened ten years ago...now fast forward ten years! Lindsay and I are both married...Becky will be married this summer! I am married to a missionary to Norway, Lindsay and her husband are actually back at HBBC, getting ready for her husband to graduate and seek the Lord's will for where He will have them to go and to be honest I just know Becky works at a hospital and her husband to be works at Heartland I am not sure what the Lord has planned for them. I am just grateful that the Lord allowed me to remain friends with the girls who made my freshman year so memorable. Though we all did lose touch with another at some point the Lord allowed us to "find" one another again...I believe the Lord knows the people we need in our lives. I am truly grateful for my friendship with Lindsay-we have so much in common, we are traveling the same journey in a very personal aspect and the Lord knew I needed someone like her to walk on this personal journey with, she understands me in a way others can never understand. Becky will always be the one that gives us the laugh or the smile we need along the way, she has the joy of the Lord and a very real walk with the Lord. Ten years ago, the Lord knew that today I would need Becky and Lindsay in my life and I praise the Lord that He sees the big picture!

20 in February

1. Busy, busy-I haven't even been able to think about my blog since the beginning of February.
2. We have been in two missions conferences this month-one of which has taken us on for support! Yay! Another step closer to Norway!
3. Joseph has had a cold and now I think he has shared it with me-what a blessing he is to my life! lol!
4. Currently, we are with my grandparents in Kenosha, Wisconsin! I love my grandparents!
5. The missions conference in Georgia was awesome! They treated us so wonderfully-our van is loaded down with goodies! One of the goodies is a homemade quilt that is beautiful! Each missionary wife in the conference was given a quilt that was made by a lady in the church!
6. One more meeting in Gays, Illinois and then we get to go home to be in our church's missions conference.
7. This past Monday, Joseph and I were able to spend some time with my good friend Amber! I love being able to catch up with friends!
8. How would you say this, Le-A? Its a girls name...any ideas? Are you maybe thinking Leah? Because that is what I initially thought; but no its Ledasha...so funny! The pastor we were with in Georgia was telling us about this name of a little girl he knows in Pennsylvania!
9. I am really getting tired of snow and ice. We had to leave Elgin, Illinois in it and drive to Georgia through the night-it was only to be a 12 hour drive; but because of the horrible snow and ice it took us 17 hours.
10. This past Sunday I was able to teach a ladies Sunday School class...I taught the lesson that I will be teaching for ladies retreat at my home church in April.
11. I'm beginning to wonder if 20 in February was a good idea? I did it to help catch me up on everything...but I have a feeling that 12-20 are really going to cause me to think hard.
12. Why do I always have to think that I need to know everything that is going to take place? The whens, the wheres, the hows? Shouldn't it be enough that God knows all about it? Yes, it should; but I must admit there are days that it is easier said than done.
13. I have been so tired lately, could it be that I am still trying to catch up from going a whole night with no sleep last week? I go to bed at night and wake up still feeling tired. Then I get a burst of energy and then I am tired again.
14. What a blessing it was to have our oil changed, our van washed and vacuumed by the church men in Georgia! Our van looked great-then we had to drive through the snow again!
15. In March, we will be in Altus, Oklahoma for a missions conference which will be followed by a meeting in Oklahoma City.
16. While in Oklahoma City we will stay with my brother in his new apartment. I am curious as to how he is decorating it! I have a feeling it will say boy all over it!
17. This past month we were able to spend a few days with Joseph's parents, we had a nice visit with them! Checked out golf clubs for summer, played wii...good times!
18. Since being married, Joseph and I don't get to celebrate Valentine's Day on its actual given day-we are usually traveling or in a meeting. I am not complaining. So, Tuesday Joseph took me to Olive Garden for lunch...I love the breadsticks at Olive Garden. I appreciate my husband not forgetting me and doing something special for me.
19. We were also able to stop and see Joseph's cousin Holly for 5 minutes at college, she goes to Hyles Anderson in Crown Pointe, Indiana.
20. Okay, my blog is finished until who knows when and now its off to address all of our prayer letters!

10 on Tuesday

1. Happy Birthday to me! Yes, today I have turned 28...2 years away from my midlife crisis! Haha!
2. What a day this has been, we were driving along our way to Georgia for a missions conference. We decided to call our meeting and see what time they wanted us there tomorrow and they informed us that they had changed the missions conference to next Wednesday! We were in the middle of Kentucky when we learned this information, thanks for telling us right!
3. We are now currently in Marion, Illinois for the night. We were tired of driving, we have been on the road since 7 this morning and have decided to drive to Joseph's parents-which is still another 7 hours from here. To say the least Joseph and I were sick of being in that van today and are thankful to be in the night with nowhere to go.
4. We were able to get a discount at the Comfort Suites hotel and are staying in a suite with a double wide tub with jets-so nice and relaxing and I think well deserved! lol!
5. This past weekend, was so fun for me! It started with meeting Diana for breakfast at Panera Bread, getting my hair done, lunch with my sister and Amy and ended with going to visit my parents in Iowa!
6. Even though today was spent in the van, it was nice to be thought of and get so many phone calls and text messages that wished me a Happy Birthday!
7. Do you know laughter has no negative side effects? You should try it sometime!
8. I am so hungry-haven't ate since this morning and we are now waiting on our pizza from Dominos.
9. I cannot believe that I am accomplishing the task of posting 10 on Tuesday...on Tuesday!
10. I am thankful for today, things might not always be what we want them to be; but it is always more than we deserve! This life, God has given me is already more than I deserve!