TGIF!

I am so ready for the weekend. Things have been really stressful at work these last few weeks with all of the changes that have been taking place. In spite of all the stress, I still (for the most part) really enjoy my job.

Last night Steve went out with the Hurling guys to an indoor field in the Wisconsin Dells. I love that he loves the sport so much, but I hate that it's so rough and I worry about him the entire time. He had a great time, but was really sore this morning. He’s supposed to go disc golfing with Dale & Jared later this afternoon but I doubt he’ll make it.

Tonight Jacq , Katie and I are gonna have a girls night out while all the guys meet up at our house for a beer brewing experiment. I’m just ready to get all of the buckets, bottles and brewing supplies out of our bedroom. They’ve been taking up space for a few weeks now.

Other than that we don’t have a lot of major plans for the weekend. I’m really looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow. We’re having a dessert party at our place on Monday, so I need to search for some new recipes to make for that. I hate cooking but I love baking and making desserts and always like the challenge of finding a yummy new recipe.

We're supposed to get some more snow tonight - yuck! I'm so ready for spring!

just another weekend...

One of the "treasures" we found while out and about on Saturday
We had a good weekend. On Saturday we went downtown and walked around on State St. for awhile and watched the “Winterfest” activities. They had ski races around the capitol and other fun stuff going on. I realized that we were actually becoming Madison residents when we ran into a few people that we knew while we were downtown. What a weird feeling. I still feel like we’re just visiting Madison, so to be out and about and running into familiar faces solidifies that we actually live here and this is our new life now. I haven’t quite decided if I like that or not.

We’ve made some nice friends here, but I still can’t help but feel lonely for the friends back home that know me inside out. I think it’s been kind of hard for Steve too as he’s mentioned on more than one occasion lately how much me misses some of his guy friends back home and really wishes he had a friend here that he could connect with and not only have fun with but also talk about life with.
All I need is to just hang out with Missy and the kids and I feel like my heart would be full again. I’ve been missing Hannah and Ava a lot lately, to the point where it actually brings a tear to my eyes every time I think about them. Missing those girls has definitely been the hardest for me in this move.
Speaking of kids….I so completely have the baby bug! I am so ready for kids and so is Steve. I never thought I would get like this and if someone were to ask me even a year ago if I was ready for kids I probably would have been nonchalant to the point that I would have been fine if we were to never have kids. Now it’s all a different story though. I’m praying that Steve will find a job soon so kids are more of a possibility.

Speaking of the job situation….we are praying that something will come up soon! I’m trying to be patient and trust in God’s timing, but I have my good days and bad days when it comes to my perspective. I’m so thankful for this rough season because I feel like we’re learning so much about ourselves and our dependence on God. I’m so proud of the man that Steve is becoming and everything that God is doing in Him, but I can’t help but wish that the season would hurry up and end a little bit. There haven’t even been many prospects or openings that he could apply for lately. I don’t question at all that God is faithful, but I find myself constantly asking Him the big “what are you doing?” question. It’s true that we will never understand the ways of God. I know someday we’ll look back and everything will make sense, but I wish I could just see it making sense now.




PS....I finally transferred the pics from our trip to Milwaukee 2 weekends ago and thought I'd add this one in for fun. We were giving Chris a hard time for some pictures we took a few months ago where he was scowling in every single one of the shots. So, these are the "imitate Chris" pics. Ironically though Chris decided to smile in this one! Don't know why Steve was smiling too, but I thought it was cute!

The adventures of Batman & Jenny

Yes, what you are seeing in the little cage is a bat!
This thing tried to attack me this morning while I was minding my own business in my office. My maintenance guys must have thought I was crazy as I was yelling hysterically to them over the radios to book it to my office.
The little bugger wouldn’t give up either. It took Jeff coming down and slugging at him with a broom and hitting him across room (and breaking his wing in the process) to get him to settle down. I now have a new found respect for Jeff’s batting skills in the process.
We (mostly Jeff - I just sat there and screamed) then caged our friend “Mr. Bat” up and send him out into the cold.
Never a dull moment here!

It's gonna be a bright sun shiny day!

The beautifu view of the lake on my way to work this morning. (Don't worry, I was stopped at a red light when I took this picture)
I'm extremely excited to report that the sun is shining so much that I actually saw some grass pop out in our front yard underneath the melting snow this morning! It brought joy to my heart - so much joy in fact that I didn't even mind wading through a river of water from the melted snow to get from the back door to the garage.

Is it just wishful thinking to hope that spring is on the way?

On to other bizarre news, this morning as I exited the beltline and stopped at a light I was amazed to see hundreds (I promise I'm not exaggerating) of cigarette butts all over the side of the road as well as there was an unusually large amount of trash littering the roadway as well. Just a few feet away a saw a sign that read "Welcome to Fitchburg, Wisconsin's leader in recycling." I thought it was pretty funny to boast in the recyling when half the crap on the side of the road (soad bottles and such) should have been recycled. Oh Wisconsin!

Time well spent!

We had a great weekend up near Milwaukee. It was so refreshing to get away and see friends and just be in an uplifting environment. It was just what we needed.
One thing that I feel I'm in a constant love/hate relationship with is God's timing. I'm always wishing and hoping that things would move a long a little quicker than they are, but I also love how His timing is so perfect that He knows what I need and when I need it.
I really think God knew I needed some encouragement and refreshment and I'm so grateful that last weekend came at just the perfect time. I feel so renewed and ready to face the world again.

It's amazing the perspective you can gain simply by stepping outside of your circumstances and looking at the big picture. It's been so easy for me to get bogged down by life and all of its uncertainties, but when I stop and really think about the process and how involved God has been each step of the way I can't help but laugh at my foolishness for stressing out.

All that to say, life is good!

Catching Up....

The guys ice skating at Tenney Park
The past two weeks have been so crazy busy. Last week Steve & Kyle came up to visit us from St. Louis for a few days and this weekend we’re heading to a church planting boot camp just outside of Milwaukee. We’re so looking forward to getting away and having a chance to get refreshed and see Chris, Nathan and the others that will be there.

Still no job for Steve. It’s been rather frustrating as we’re going into his 3rd month of job searching. Ironically I’ve been getting calls lately from places I had sent my resume out to months ago. One of them has even called a few times and emailed yesterday to see if I’d be willing to reconsider. It’s just so frustrating because when I needed a job I couldn’t find one, and now that I have one I’m getting calls while my husband is the one needing work and isn’t getting many calls at all.

On a more positive note, we’re really liking our life here in Madison. Yes, this winter weather sucks, but the city is so great that it kind of makes up for it – just a little bit though. In the short time we’ve been here we’ve already made a pretty nice group of friends and even though half of our stuff is still sitting out in the garage in boxes our place is starting to feel more like home. I am so ready for spring to come so we can get out and really explore the city.


Just a "normal" winter day in Madison
I feel like these last few months have been such a great learning experience for me. I’ve had to learn not to worry so much, how to better communicate and most of all to learn to be more dependent on Jesus for every need. That being said, I’m grateful for all I’ve learned and the experiences I’ve had, but I’m definitely ready for a new season. I’m ready to feel like we’re at least kind of back on our feet again and everything isn’t so unknown. I’m not sure if realistically that day will ever come, but if it does I will cherish every moment!