Some big changes!

We're moving into a house! And we're so excited. It's very close to the school so we can walk to work. A good friend of ours bought this house and gutted it and redid everything. It looks amazing all over. It's very 'Ikea' inside. We love it and we're feeling very blessed to be able to live here in the community that we love, with great neighbors on each side. It has 2 bedrooms, one bathroom, living room, kitchen with nook, basement that is partially done but we are going to finish it, add a bathroom and make that our master suite and add a little nursery down there for the baby! (Which by the way my friends, is true this time and we are expecting the end of January!) Good news and good timing and God just has everything in control doesn't he? He is so awesome. I can't be more thankful for the opportunities that He has given me to work at a fabulous school doing what I love to do. And if I thought that was enough, I get to work with my totally terrific, hottie of a husband. So blessed!

some more pictures...

a few words about the trip

Well, Mexico was awesome. God showed himself to our students and to us chaperones too. But more importantly he showed himself to the people that we met. There were many who accepted Him! Our students showed Christ's love to the kids. It's amazing how loving and caring the kids are... when they have nothing. No father or mother, not much food or toys. They just longed to be held and hugged. We spent a lot of time playing with them, doing their hair, playing soccer or american football. Trying to communicate with the language barrier. That was tough but God allowed us to communicate through our actions and our love more than anything. I just think that's so cool! He knows what He's doing. We just trust and listen to Him and he uses us. The Hillcrest students came back changed and a lot of them realized that this world is not about them but it's about serving God and reaching out to other people. Some have even decided that they would like to do mission work for the rest of their lives. As a leader, it is so great to watch the students work together as the body of Christ and to see their eyes opened to Him and how He longs to work in and through them. It was great! (Minus the sickness, which is a whole other day!!)

Me-hee-ko Mission trip 2006

The husband and I

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

Upload Video at DropShots.com

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.