oh the joys of homeownership!

everyone should know there are lots of things to think about when deciding if you are ready to buy a home or should continue to rent. 

i spent all my precious "free time" or non- work time this weekend on one of these:

yardwork

now that Justin and I are proud "homebuyers", we are learning to take care of this place that is supposedly an investment in our future. it has been an interesting journey so far. only a month after we moved in we had plumbing problems, and we had to learn how to figure out what is wrong, who to call and how expensive it all is! we have been researching and praying through what updates (that we can afford) will bring back the most worth to our home. it makes you grow up quickly, that is for sure!

but it is spring. and in spring things come back to life. with life comes growth. so what we have is lots and lots of growth in our yard. so this weekend we began to tackle the problem. can you tell?  

the people who lived here before us apparently really liked gardening. so they planted stuff everywhere... i mean everywhere. we have random junk popping up all over our yard, in the most random places. we spent most of the last two days digging up these bulb things that look like onions on the bottom. they are in the front, back and side yard. here is a pic of the side yard and my darling hubby working hard at digging up those onion things. 

All in all, I am just glad we are learning how to be adults and get the job done. It was a productive weekend, and I guess it was better than taking an afternoon nap?? The jury is still out on that...

joey pate

well, at the very beginning of december our family grew to four. 

we got a dog. joey. he was already named- we weren't trying to be cute and have the names of our pets sound so alike. (anytime we say on

e of their names they both turn and look at us like "what?") 

since my old computer was so slow and hated pics, i never got around to introducing him to the blog world. so here are some pics of my fabulous, large and cuddly boy joey!

Isn't he cute?

He has claimed this chair as his own...

He smiles! He is a happy go lucky doggie. 

He really thinks he is a toy poodle... he loves to sit on top of you- literally! 

And so that I am not playing favorites... I had to sneak one of my fat cat  zoey in! (as she sits on my freshly cleaned towels!)

 

inside the life of campus ministry

i love campus ministry. i have spent the last eight years of my life devoted to it in one form or another. and as some of you know, i will be saying goodbye to a direct role in campus ministry this may. my heart breaks as i type the words. so this post is just going to be some thoughts on recent happenings in campus ministry and my thoughts about leaving.

any of you that know me well (i love how i act like there are tons of readers to address, hehe), know that i love the movie "You've got mail". I could watch it over and over (wait-i have watched it over and over). there is a part in the movie where meg ryan is talking about closing her store and she says "its as if a part of me is closing with it". I feel the same way with leaving my beloved job at the BCM. It is time for me to go, and while i am excited just for a change in my life, I am also so sad to have to say goodbye. So much of who I am has come out of this ministry. 

last night another campus minister from the state spoke at 180. he is always a great speaker- funny but full of depth and wisdom. it just made my heart happy, bc it reminded me how fun campus ministry. students are so full of life and funny, never the same and always figuring out who they are. they have the whole world at their fingertips and the sky is the limit to what they can do. they get to be with friends till the wee hours of morning. they can live, work and play all at the same place if they so choose. college is really the good life. the funny thing is- you never know it till your out i think. 

the past three weeks in college ministry have been very very very busy. spring break in a  blizzard, council interviews, veritas planning, a good friend having a baby, seeing family, youth events... busy. so i have determined that one thing i wont miss is being so so busy. but then i have to wonder, what will i do? i am sure i will be able to find a million things to fill up my time, but it is a strange thing to imagine staying home on a tuesday night for awhile.  

well... i know these have been short random incomplete thoughts on things... but in my head it all made complete sense. welcome to my head!

sweet dreams??

 last night, i had to do a sleep study in tn. my doctor wanted to make sure that I did not have sleep apnea, which would explain my exhaustion this past year. you know what else explains it?? Hypothyroidism! anyhow, so at 9:00pm I showed up at a deserted building in the rain not know what to expect. here are the top ten things to report:

1. the room looked like an upscale hotel (which of course I dont see often bc we stay at cheap places!hehe)

2. there was a super nice flat screen tv with cable... so basically this place was ten times nicer than my house

3. it took almost an hour to hook all the wires up to me

4. i had wires coming out of my hair, legs, face, stomach and chest... i felt like i was in chains

5. i move alot in my sleep

6. therefore, i was very tangled and unable to move by the morning

7. they wake you up at 5 am... yes 5am

8. as soon as they wake you up, they pull sticky tape off of you- OUCH!!!

9. you are left with a ton of weird sticky paste all over you and especially in your hair! yucky!

10. i hate sleeping without my husband! and my dog, and even my demanding cat meowing in the morning. 

Home... Warm... Home hehe

We made it back to the south safe and sound (well there were sounds of whining as we spent several hours in a van driving south) from good ol Fargo. I thought I would let you know how the rest of the trip went.

The blizzard let up on Wednesday morning, leaving behind another 10 inches of snow! But Fargo is so used to the powdery white stuff that they have it cleaned up in no time at all. As we walked towards the van Wednesday morning, excited to actually get out and do something, we noticed the missions pastor of the church we were staying at was across the street. And what was he doing? Digging a car out of the snow. So we headed over to help (except for cam who felt it was more important to film the event hehe). After several minutes of digging, pushing and trying to pull the car out with a truck... we got it out!! You wont find that in Kentucky. Well prob not at least.

Then we headed to the Salvation Army to serve lunch. Yes there are actually homeless people in Fargo, crazy I know! (FYI- Fargo has a very low unemployment rate, so people are actually drawn there to look for work) At the S.A. we had some great conversations with the security guard, a young graduate named Alecia, and the Kitchen supervisor Kay, who has an amazing story. I dont think Alecia is active in church, but she did tell me that she felt there weren't any churches reaching out to the younger population in the Fargo-Moorhead area. That happens to be the key focus for MissionFargo right now. Neat!

After that we headed over to the Fisher household and packed up lots of books (and took in some HGTV). Then we went to a coffee house called the Red Raven. It was a pretty neat place. It was in a basement and had a random used book store in the middle of it (which had great prices- i got a sociology book for dirt cheap!) and a larger open room in the back where they have bands play. There was no one there when we got there, dead as a doorknob (what does that even mean?). We got to talk to the owner for a few minutes, other that that it was pretty uneventful.

So we headed back to the church for a special missions dinner, where Jeremy and all of us got a chance to speak before the church. Jeremy got to share about MissionFargo and why they brought us up, our students shared about what God was teaching them and what the trip had meant to them, and I shared about campus ministry at large (they have no BCM's up there). It was a neat time. Hearing the passion and surrender our students have to the Lord was just a sweet time of challenge for me.

And the fun started after that. At this point I need to mention that I would be driving 11 hours the next day. Did I jump in bed to get some rest to be ready to drive? Heck No. I went to yet another coffeehouse... hehe. We decided to split up and study the night life. Jennifer and I went to a newer coffeehouse in town called Fargo Coffee Company, which is the only place open 24 hours a day. Jeremy, Randall and Cam went back to the Red Raven.

Jen and I had an amazing time! The place was pretty slow when we got there, just a few groups of guys. We went up to the counter to order- and met Mike. He is a younger guy who has lived in the same house in Fargo his whole life. He of course recognized our accents and asked us where we were from and why the heck we were in Fargo. We got to talk about MissionFargo and their desire to start a church for the younger population in the area. Mike thought that was a great idea and asked us what kind of church it would be. When I said Baptist he specifically asked if it would be Southern Baptist. And when I answered yes, he made the remark that that was the good kind. Hehe, I found it hilarious. Fargo has a large fundamentalist Baptist church that is all about pulling away from the culture, not reaching it. Anyhow, Mike began to tell us that he had grown up in the church and had gone to seminary for a short time, but it wasnt for him. He hadnt been to church in several months, mainly because he had gotten lazy. Then he actually gave me his info (without me asking) and said that he would love to meet with John or Jeremy and learn more. Awesome!

Then Jennifer and I finally took our Wizzle Mizzles (white mochas) and sat down. At the table next to us there were two guys talking. I noticed one had a mac (yes i am kindof getting obsessed with them). As we sat and read or journaled... well Jen wrote and I pretended to read,  we realized that these guys were talking about Jesus. Jen mouthed to me that we had to talk to them... several minutes later she told me that she would follow if I talked to them. Hehe. So I noticed that one of them had a youth speciality bookbag. I should mention that I prob listened to these guys convo for 15 minutes straight, and they were talking about everything under the sun. Anyhow, I finally said "Is that a youth specialities bookbag?" And they didnt hear me. But the table next to me did and gave me a weird look. Ok so if at first you dont succeed, try again. So a little louder, I said the same thing a second time. And this time he heard me. 

Turns out he had been a youth minister in the area for several years at the Evangelical Free church (the closest thing to a Southern Baptist up there). We moved to his table and Jen and I spent the next hour talking to Josh about Fargo and ministry and life. It was pretty neat, bc he had just gone thru what Justin and I had gone thru at Crossland over a year ago. 

So then Jeremy, Randall and Cam showed up and told us about their culture shocking night of comedy at the Red Raven. By the time we got home it was 1 something in the morning and we were all wired. But the Lord provided rest and we were able to safely make it the 11 hours the next day. 

It was a neat trip. different than any other mission trip I had been on. It was about living normal life, but taking the time to notice the people around you and really listen to the Lords leading. It challenged me to remember that I can do this everyday. I practically live at Starbucks! 

So I challenge you reader- to be "strategic" as Jeremy and John like to say, or just intentional in how you live life. Have a routine, but notice other people that are in the same routine. Talk to the people around you. Hear their story. Dont be to busy in your own life to let God use you in someone else's.