Alaska Cruise

If you get to go to Alaska on a cruise, go. Especially when your parents offer to pay for it. Thanks Mom and Dad, it was fantastic!!

We got on the ship in Vancouver and had three stops, Ketchikan, Juneau, and Skagway and three days at sea to view glaciers. We met Mom, Dad, Kylie and Jesse in Vancouver as well as our new friends Ryan & Tara from Richfield, MN. Dan and I took a crab tour, and a hike and meet with the rest of the family for deep sea fishing while on shore. Below are a few of our pictures.

Our Ship

Dan and I with very yummy crab..we didn't eat this one

We caught 7 Salmon. 5 Cohos and 2 pinks

Us in Skagway

Glacier Bay National Park

Keturah, this one is for you. Do you have a picture of bear droppings yet?

Week of Projects

I am VERY happy to report that the painting is done. 7 gallons of paint for 6 rooms and MANY Long hours. -I sure hope the future buyer likes it.
Our carpets got cleaned and stretched last night. They look good as now. Dan worked all day yesterday bringing the upstairs furniture down and the downstairs furniture up. I'm realizing quickly how much I liked having our bedroom downstairs, it will take some major getting use to having it up again. I used the upstairs bedroom for a guest room/my sewing room. It was nice to be in and convenient. But to go downstairs to sew, some how it feels like a punishment. I'm very sad to admit that I have packed up most of my sewing things because of this.
This week is cleaning. My friend Melissa come over last night and cleaned my oven for me. I LOVE YOU MELISSA! I have a huge list of things to complete but we began checking them off last night. I even did a few things not on the list, so I added them just so I could cross them off. :) Aren't we silly!
Tonight I hope to bring a car load of things to Matt and Julie's to put in their garage sale. Anyone want to buy a $150 Wilson's leather coat in really great condition for $5 dollars or best offer? The early 90's style will be back soon won't it?

Our Decision

OK, I got Dan to agree to some wording, and he couldn't keep from smiling when he did, which is a good sign. :) We have decide that unless something comes up to keep us from going, whether it is job problems, house problems or we just sense that God really doesn't want us to go, then we would like to move to Northern Idaho and are making efforts to do so. YEAH!! We are both really excited.
Did I mention that one of the elders at His Place Church in Post Falls, ID (where we will be interning for the next year) offered to put us up in his lower level for the year? What an incredible gift!! This was a huge help in our decision to go.
Options for Dan: There are 4 church plant opportunities out there. The district is waiting for the existing churches to die out, they aren't doing very well right now, and then will replant them within the next few years. His Place Church as been accepted as a satellite campus for Trinity. Dan would like to help teach a few classes (Greek and Hebrew) to help ready the student for classes in Chicago. The church would also like to start a young adults ministry and get their Thursday night service going. There are many things Dan could be involved with and these are just a few of them. We are really excited to be used however God wants to use us.
Doug, the pastor, asked for my resume as well and is in the process of circulating it around to a few key people in the congregation. I have a great peace that God is taking care of all our needs.
Please continue to be in prayer for us. My biggest prayer request is that we can get our house ready for market by next Friday. There is still so much to do.

Anyone want to buy a townhouse?

7 year old, 2000 Sq foot, Walk out rambler, town home. 3 bedrooms, 2 bath. 8 miles from downtown, on an express bus route...this could be the house for you!

Did I mention we have decided to put the house on the market? Oh by the way, we have also decided to try to get it there BEFORE we leave on our cruise next Saturday. Not good. :( My stress level it thru the roof.

We have most of the painting done, just remove the wall paper in the kitchen and paint the stairwell.
The carpet cleaners come on Monday. Matt and Julie are having a garage sale next week-yeah for getting rid of junk, I mean really nice stuff. Our new realtor suggested we switch floors again. Our bedroom and main living area is downstairs, we need to bring it up-after the carpet cleaners come on Monday. "They" say your house should look like a model home before it goes on the market, that's a LOT of cleaning and organizing in one week. THEN, pack for the cruise. Good thing there is some relaxing to look forward to. :)

Coming Soon to the MN State Fair

Well, I've done it. I've decided to enter one of my most prised possessions into the MN State Fair this year. If you happen to be there, stop by the Creative Activities building and check it out. I would love it if someone would take a picture for me. Knowing me, I will forget my camera.

Looking for Boxes

Does anyone have any packing boxes? As I'm going through the house cleaning or organizing, there are quite a few things that we don't need out so I thought I would start packing a few thing. That way, if/when we are ready to go...we will be closer to being ready to go.

We're Back

We're back and wish we weren't. We had a such a wonderful time in Post Falls, ID this past weekend. The scenery was beautiful, the weather was fantastic and the people were extremely friendly and welcoming.

We left Minneapolis at 2:45 Thursday afternoon and arrived in Spokane, WA at 9:00am the next morning. Dan said it was a guy thing to see if he could last through the night. He did great! We spent the morning touring Airway Heights, the location of one of the church plants. Had lunch with Doug and Linda, His Place Church's pastor and wife. Then headed back to John and Lisa's for a nap.

Dan and I met with Doug again for lunch on Saturday as well as the district superintendent. This was like an interview for Dan. I listened and eat a tasty elk burger. Yummy. Saturday night was dinner with the elders and their wives. This was very fun. It too was a time of questions, both from us and from them. Doug kept saying, Good Question! to each of Dan's questions. He seemed very impressed and we got lots of positive feedback from everyone. We liked them a lot as well.

Sunday, we joined them for church. The service was so good that I'm disappointed that we won't be there for next weeks. The congregation surprised us and took up an offering to help pay for our gas. What a blessing!! We got more than the cost of the entire trip. Thank you His Place Church!

I know a lot of you are asking, Now What? We have agreed, along with the church, to spend the next week in prayer seeking God for direction. We would like to invite you to join us in prayer as well. We still don't have many details of how everything will work but we do know that we can see ourselves doing ministry with this church and look forward to seeking God for direction.

I'll post more when I know more... :)

How would you like to wake up to this every morning?