I heart NY

Today was the day of New York City! We spent the whole day in NY. It was awesome. Saw lots, walked lots, rode the subway lots and there were lots of people. Wow. Great times! Started in Central Park, then went to the district of Chelsea where we went to this cool market. Took the subway to Park Ave to meet up with one of Em's friends from college. From there we went and walked down 5th Ave and did some shopping. Saw Rockefeller Center! After we hit up H & M, we went to Time Square and then we were homeward bound. It was a packed day but wow, was the day perfect. The sun was shining and it was so warm out. FANTASTIC!! We leave for Fergus tomorrow. We've had such a great time here at the Benson's! Rock on NJ.

New thoughts on Jersey.

We've been having such a great time here on the east coast. I must say that my opinion on New Jersey is changing. It's not an ugly, dirty state full of loud, obnoxious east coasters.... its a very pretty and clean state. And the people are wonderful! We've met some super nice friends of Em's from college. We're beginning to realize why it's called 'the garden state.' We went on a hike around Succasunna on Sunday and yesterday we went to a place called Hacklebarney State Park where we walked around, hiked a little and explored. It was such a beautiful day and we packed a little picnic lunch! It reminded me a bit of the Kananaskis, minus the mountains. We loved it! Today we're going to go shopping with Em's great Aunt Alice. She's such a neat woman. She has a strong east coast accent and she just says it as it is. I love it. She has a twinkle in her eye and she and Em are really close.

Tea time with the ladies.

Me, Niki and Em with our crazy hats on!

The whole group of us. Em's mom Ruth, sis Ali and I in the front and Em, her sis Carrie and best friend Niki in the back.

Having a spot of tea!

We had a blast yesterday in Pennsylvania. We went to Messiah college where Em went to school for 4 years. We saw her sisters Carrie and Ali, who also go there. We met up with Niki, Em's best friend, and all of us ladies went to Carlisle, PA to a cute little tea house called 'Camellia's Sin' which stands for camellia sinensis which is the name of a tea plant. It was wonderful. It was very quaint and they had a bunch of old English hats which you could wear while you enjoyed the tea time. We were served the 'Camellia's blend' tea to start. Along with a fresh fruit cup with a lemon sauce drizzled on top. Then some wonderful freshly made apricot scones with a devonshire cream and lemon curt to go with. We could also choose from a menu of different teas and we chose a white tea called Spring breeze. It had aromas of vanilla and cinnamon and lemon. But I still loved the Camellia's blend which has caramel in it. Mmm. Delish. Enjoy some great pics! Oh, I almost forgot to mention what Wayne and Em's dad did all day... they went and visited Gettysburg. He loved it because he loves history and to see the place where it all happened was fantastic. We all met up again in the evening at Pizza Town near Messiah college for some sweet New Jersey pizza. What a day!

Jersey...here we come

We are now in Succasunna, New Jersey visiting our dear friend Emily Benson and her family. We arrived today at about 6:00 pm and had a wonderful home-cooked meal and we sat around the table for hours chatting with her aunt and her great-aunt and her grampa and some of her great-aunt's friends. It was just so fun. Tomorrow we're off to Pennsylvania to visit Em's two sisters at Messiah College. I'm so pumped. I'll keep you updated on the trip and I'll post pictures because now I can! Woohoo!

and now its April...

Well hello there friends and family. You're probably wondering where on earth I've been. And you have every reason to ask that question since I haven't posted in a MONTH. Oh, I'm so ashamed. I will say that I did post about a week ago and tried to publish it and for some reason, it just would not work. I finally gave up and tried to just save it until I could muster up the patience to try again but when I went back to it... viola, it was gone. All that time thinking about what to say and how to be witty... all gone. How sad. Oh well. Such is life.
Anywho, today is monday and all the students are GONE! They are on springbreak. It's so wonderful to have a quiet dorm. This past weekend was H.I.T.'s. (hillcrest invitational tournament...basketball) We had a TON of people in fergus from all over, playing bball. It's such a fun weekend because so many come back and there's lots of fellowship and hanging out. Wayne's team won in his division so that was super fun to watch. He played with some other HLA coaches including his brother JP and they were really fun to watch. In the last game, Wayne allee-ooped him and he dunked it...it was sweet!! But I'm also glad that it is all over because its such a packed weekend with not a lot of sleep.
This week we're getting ready to head out east to Succasunna, NJ to visit our great friend Emily and her family. To see where she grew up and see where she went to college and probably go into NYC for a day and do lots of other fun things! I'm so excited. It'll be a great time!
Still can't post pics from the school computers so I'll have to go to my sisters to do that.
Peace.

A great day...

Well, I have just successfully turned the big 2-6. Yup, not even kidding. It's kind of a weird age because I'm now closer to 30 than to 20. It's not a bad thing at all..just weird! It was a great day yesterday! Started out with my hot, hunk of a husband totally shocking me with an iPod nano. He sneakily bought it without me knowing and when he gave it to me, it was covered up by some sweet ceramic Starbuck mugs that we'd been looking at a little while ago. What a guy! I was floored. This nano thing is such a cool little piece of technology! I'm pumped to don my new nano with the cool armband thingy at the Y when I go to workout!
My parents are here still, so I spent some time with them yesterday and that was just so great. I really couldn't ask for anything better than having family close.
I went and treated myself to a sassy haircut. And all my girls out there... you know how great it feels to go to the salon and get a new do!
My great friend Emily, decided that she would get me a year subscription to Real Simple. Yikes!! I love that magazine and I've always wanted a subscription to some great mag and now I do. Wow. I was spoiled, thats for sure.
The day ended off with my mom and dad, sister Susanne, my husband, his bro and sis-in-law and his parents all going out to Applebees for some great eats. Yummy!
What a great day... (Thank you Lord for such wonderful blessings!)

Here they are!

Here they are! My mom and dad and Heather and Kalle are here. She's such a cute little peanut! We went to the mall yesterday and they played at Dino land for a long time. It was a crazy zoo there. My cousin and her husband brought their two kids too! Fun times. It's so great having my fam here. I sure missed them. I'll post pics of my parents and my sisters soon!

Last day of Feb...

Okay, I apologize for the mean preggie joke. Not nice, I know. And I should probably be careful because I'm going to be crying wolf when it really does happen! I'll be honest with you though, somedays I can hardly stand it, I get the baby itch so bad and I just want to be a mom. Is that normal to want a baby so soon after just being married? God's timing...I just keep telling myself that!

Our computer issues are yet to be fully resolved. There are certain things that I cannot do anymore. Like, I can't reply to emails from my yahoo or hotmail accounts. Bummer. As I'm writing this, I realize that I don't have any options to post a picture. Double bummer. I guess for now, I'll have to try and blog just words and not any pics. That's a sad day for me though because I love pictures and I've got some to post. Urgh. Modern technology sometimes makes me want to stomp my feet.

On a happier note... my parents and oldest sister and her bebe are going to be here either Thurs or Fri of this week! Yippeeeee! Their plans changed a little bit but they are still coming. And Heather wasn't going to come until May or June and now she is going to come with my mom and dad, so it's all good. It's just been too long but boy, those months sure fly by. (Sidenote...I will do a wedding post with some major pics and some major details for all my Cape friends who've requested... and to all you friends of my friends who I feel like I totally know already because of this great blogging world!)...Anywho, they are driving down here and will be here for a little visit. It will be the first time to meet little Kalle. My sister's youngest daughter, born in Nov. It'll be great! I'll be sure to post some pics of everyone too. So fun.

All for now.. I want to try and get this posted before midnight.

totally disconnected

Well, I'm finally able to get onto blogger to post a little bit. I apologize to you, my blogger friends for leaving you all hanging like that. Like I stated before, we've been having some internet issues and we've had to be very patient as the issues get resolved. Hopefully now I'll be able to stay a little more connected with ya'll.
What's new you ask? Let me fill you in...
1. Wayne and I got new travel coffee mugs to fill with the delightful black substance.
2. Our school's chapel is just about finished. It's the project which we have been very busy with for the past weeks. It's had a total makeover and it looks totally different. We hope to have it all done by the end of next week.
3. We went to Minneapolis for the day on Saturday, just Wayne and I and we had a great time. Ate at Panera bread for lunch, went to the Christian bookstore, hit up Ikea and the Mall of America. A little bit of Caribou coffee and then we had supper at Chipolte mexican grill! It was such a great date day! Just what we needed.
4. My parents are coming to visit on Feb 25 and then my sister Heather and baby Kalle are coming on Feb 29. I haven't seen any of them since our wedding last May. I'm so pumped about it!
5. We had a Wild west party in the girls dorm last weekend and all of us deans dressed up like cowgirls! It was such a blast.
6. I'm pregnant.... (just kidding... I just wanted to throw that in at the end of the update list!)

Hey everyone...sorry its been so long since the last blog. We've been having some internet issues so I haven't been able to get on for a while. I will try to update soon!

Coffee coffee coffee

We love coffee. By that, I mean LOVE. Like capital letters L-O-V-E. It's becoming an addiction for Wayne and I. We have a cute little coffee shop in town called Field of Beans which we frequent quite often. Our drink of choice is a 'Tall double shot Mocha with caramel on the whip'...mmmmm yummy. It's so good. Today we were in Fargo with our friend Emily and some Hillcrest students. We dropped the kids off at the mall and ran for Starbucks. Can I just say 'Cinnamon Dulce Latte'...? Oh yah, that's what I'm talkin' bout! If you get the chance, try one. It's a little like having a piece of heaven with every sip or gulp...however you drink it! Wayne took some creative photos at the Bucks.

Jan 21

Day 'O' birth for my handsome husband! We were very blessed to be able to spend a day and a half at our friend's cabin. Saturday was filled with much relaxing, reading, baking cookies, eating nachos, some more reading, fresh winter air, some good quality chat time, eating the cookies that we baked, drinking coffee, a beautiful star-filled sky in the silence of the country...what could be better really? Well, being together with my best friend. That was the best part of it all. Just him and I. I and him. Time well spent and a retreat much needed! Thanks to our wonderful friends for opening up their cozy place for us to be refreshed.

Me and my Wayne

The many faces of Kaia!

Here's my niece Kaia. She's a hoot. She just turned 4! We were at a Hillcrest basketball game the other night and I took some pics of her and she made some crazy faces. She keeps us laughing. Love you Kaia SarahAnn.

First pics with the new cam!

Just some fun pics. I've been playing around with all the features of the cam. It's great. There's still lots to learn on it though. I'll have to dig into the owner's manual soon I guess. For now, I'll stick to the easy stuff! More to come...

Busy busy busy

The girls in the video are my nieces. The littlest ones are twins...Logan and Laci and they are 2 1/2 and the older one is Kaia. She's almost 4. They are busy busy busy girls, but so fun! They make me laugh.

Funny girls

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Soon and very soon.

Okay, so Wayne and I only wanted a digital camera for Christmas and we ordered it on Christmas day from the internet. When we called a few days later, the guy told us that we'd have it by the end of the week. That was last week. It has not shown up yet but I'm anticipating that it will be here tomorrow. I'm pretty stoked to start snappin' away. It's so fun to be able to post pics for all ya'll to see. We got a Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX9S. Here's a pic of it.

Hurricane Katrina

My husband has left for one week to go down to Mississippi. He is with 17 others who are doing relief work for Katrina victims. They are staying at a church in Gulfport and will be working there and in Biloxi. I'm so glad that he has the opportunity to head down there, yet I'm a little sad that I'm without him for a week. God will do amazing things through them, I just know it. Here are a few pictures of the devastation. These are from the last trip.

My sista Julie

This is Julie. She and I just became sisters a few months ago. She is married to J.P. who is Wayne's brother. We got married only about a month apart. I first met Julie at the Stender family Thanksgiving in Waconia, MN at one of the extended families home. Wayne and I were barely dating then and Julie and J.P. had been together through high school. Right from the beginning, Jules and I have been friends. She's always ready to talk and listen and be a shoulder to cry on. Within the few months before she and J.P. and Wayne and I were married, we spent many hours planning and preparing and talking and gabbing about our big days and all that comes along with weddings. It was so much fun and she definately kept me on track with when I needed to have this or that done. I have learned a lot from Julie in the time that I've known her and I look forward to holidays spent together and many more memories made as we get to know eachother better. I love ya Jules.

Hillcrest's annual Christmas banquet

Wayne and I all dolled up!

Emily, me, Diane and Stacy at the banquet... aka the Fab Four...aka girls dorm resident life staff!

Some of the beeeeautiful norwegian girls!

Proudly introducing...

Kalle Elisse Danielson

Heather and baby are doing great. Very healthy and beautiful!

My dad with Siri, Nate, Jemma and Kalle

NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE

Goddy and Matt, Em, Wayne and me... we would go for coffee seriously everyday. I think we could've almost lived in the Starbucks because we were there everyday. Ahh!

Matt, Michelle(Niki's sister), Goddy, Wayne, me, Niki and Em outside of the Pancake Pantry. It's this famous pancake house in Nashville where lots of people go for some sweet pancakes. We had to wait in line and the line went all the way outside. Crazy.

This is Emily and her best friend Niki. Niki has a sister that lives in Nashville and when she heard that Em was going to be there, she got on a plane and came to visit both of them. She has a sweet New York accent. It was so fun to meet her and to see her and Em together. Made me miss my Erin.

Goddy, Matt, Wayne, me and Emily in front of the Gaylord Entertainment Center. This is where we had all our general sessions with great speakers and some sweet praise and worship with The David Crowder band and Chris Tomlin

Florida days

Wayne and I on the beach...it was so beautiful everday we were there!

Goddy (Chris Godshalk), me and Wayne

Here's Em and I on the balcony of the condo in Boca Raton, FL

The time in Florida was so wonderful! I probably could've stayed there for a few more days soaking up the sun. We were in Florida over Thanksgiving and we ended up taking Emily to the airport in Miami so she could fly to North Carolina to watch Messiah College girls and boys soccer teams play in the final four and WIN! It's the first time in history that both teams have won the championship. Messiah is where she went to college and played soccer! After we dropped her off at the airport, we drove back to Boca Raton and had McDonalds for our sweet Thanksgiving dinner. Yipee.

Just some random Revolve Tour photos

We stayed at Mirae's house in St.Paul and her fam was so hospitable to us. They even built us a cozy fire outside!

This is Em and I at Revolve Tour

This is Ashley Chrisman and me at the Revolve Tour being models in a department store window!

Waaaaayyy tooo long, I know.

Hey friends... well, you already know by this point that this blogging thing hasn't really been the easiest thing for me to do. Partly because I'm a procrastinator and partly because I've been busy busy busy. But that shouldn't be an excuse. I guess I could say that I'm sorta waiting until we get a digital camera because I love the picture blogs. I'll keep trying though!
I want to tell you all about our trip to Nashville, Tennessee and Boca Raton, Florida. And I want to show some pictures but I don't have them yet...so I'll give a few details and then post the pics when I get them.
Wayne and I and some other friends attended the National Youth Workers Conference in Nashville from Nov 17-21. It was amazing. We had praise and worship led by the David Crowder Band and Chris Tomlin. We attended seminars and heard speakers like Doug Fields (author of 'Purpose driven youth ministry' and Youth Pastor at Saddleback church), Louie Giglio and many others. We were able to hear the talented artists Jars of Clay, Third Day, Tobymac and Starfield (whom we got to meet and they were super cool because they are totally Canadian and it made my heart smile)... we were able to get some sweet resources for Campus Ministries here at school. It was just awesome. THEN... us and our totally sweet friends, Emily, Matt and Goddy rented a car and drove down to Boca Raton, FL...which is really close to Fort Lauderdale which is also close to Miami. We stayed at Matt's gramma's condo right on the ocean and soaked up the sun for 4 amazingly beautiful days. We layed on the beach and took it all in. Oh wow! It was gorgeous. Everyday was perfect weather and it was just a relaxing and refreshing break.

Sidenote: My friend Emily is so fun. She came out here from New Jersey, not knowing anyone that well and jumped right into deaning here at Hillcrest. She also coached girls soccer this year and she teaches jr high phys.ed. It's been a blessing and a half to have another sista living right here at school. This is a crazy pic of her!

Like I said before... I'll make sure to post those pictures from TN and FL as soon as I get them. Peace out homes!

When I was beleaguered and bitter,
totally consumed by envy,

I was totally ignorant, a dumb ox
in your very presence.
I'm still in your presence,
but you've taken my hand.
You wisely and tenderly lead me,
and then you bless me.

~Psalms 73:21-24 the message

I love this passage of scripture because its so true how everyday we get distracted by our selfishness and our bitterness, yet God just tenderly calls our name and leads us down the path of righteousness... and not only that... He then goes beyond what we could imagine and BLESSES us. It's unbelievable the kind of love He has for us. Thank you Lord for another day to walk with you. May I be delightful in your sight.