Fourteen Years!

Today my hubby and I are celebrating fourteen years of marriage! It's amazing how time flies! Thinking back and reminising about our wedding day and looking back at how young we looked.. because we were eighteen and nineteen years old! Wow, we were young! We spent the day together, went to Fireworks resturant for a wonderful lunch and then shopped around. It was a wonderful day! I am looking forward to many, many more wonderful anniversaries! We talked today about what anniversaries 16-20 will look like in Italy! What a blast those will be too! But we are off to clean the school tonight...now that's romance. :)

Thanksgiving!

Oh, what a wonderful day we have had! We woke up around 8:00 and put in the turkey, we watched the Macy Thanksgiving parade in our jammies, drank coffee, ate donuts, and had an all together merry little thanksgiving! Had all the fixins about 1:00; turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, warm rolls, and if I do say so myself amazing gravy! I made two pumpkin pies, that we will enjoy after the Christmas tree is up.. it's in the process right now! My wonderful hubby is an amazing lighting expert and has put about 800 lights on our little 6 and 1/2 foot tree.. he decided to add a bit of red to our gold lights, and wrapped them around the trunk of the tree and hung gold all around! It's gorgeous! My heart is full! I am thankful beyond words, thankful for a warm house, wonderful family and most importantly in awe of God's amazing love! My son and daughter made me cry as we prayed today at the table.. Caleb prayed for blessing on Michael who provides the roof over our head, the food on our table, and is a great daddy.. Faith prayed for the people down at People's City Mission in Lincoln, we served together as a family last night at the homeless shelter with our Oasis Youth and Faith prayed for those who had no table of their own to sit around.. and we prayed for Italy... reflecting on all we have and how blessed we are.. all Glory to God! This is one of my favorite days of the year for sure! Family, great food and laughter! Blessings to you and yours!

Favoring Friday!

Oh how I love knowing the weekend is only one day away! There is something about Fridays that makes my heart sing! I love that I get to have a lazy Saturday tomorrow with my kids and can sit around in my pj's and watch cartoons with them! Snuggling under a blanket and eating cereal in the front room.. weekends are so wonderful! Michael is working this weekend, but it's his opening weekend, which means he gets to be home with us in the evenings.. I don't mind these kinds of working weekends so much.. it's the closing ones that are hard! I am just feeling really pumped about having time to just veg tomorrow! As I am preparing to head to the store and figure out our weekend meals, I just wanted to share how much I am enjoying my day! Dreaming of lazy couch time and snuggling with my kids!

Thankful it's Thursday oddities edition

I am feeling the need to just be thankful for Thursday! This is a day that reminds me weekly to sit down and share what I am most thankful for... there are so many things in my life that are great blessings; good friends, amazing family, awesome husband, wonderful kids... So I thought how about sharing some quirky things that I am thankful for? That's what I am thinking for today, the strange little things that I really appreciate... should be funny! :)


yeah.. nuff said


I am a sucker for limited edition anything :)


I carry this everywhere


Love spraying this on my sheets or when I want to freshen up the linen closet...

Just thought I'd share some funny things that I am thankful for... next week will be more serious.. maybe :) Enjoy your Thursday!! :)

Conversing

(the picture in my kitchen fits the mood perfectly!)

This weekend was filled with laughter and fellowship! Nicole came and spent Saturday night and Sunday with us and we had the most enjoyable weekend! We caught up and dreamed about all the things the future may hold. It is always so wonderful to say things that are in your heart and watch them take wings in conversation! This weekend was all about that! It was about being amazed at how God works! Only He could have orchestrated the meeting of Nicole and I... we both allowed that to sink in and just laughed at the way in which things can come together! How grateful I am that our paths crossed, how grateful I am to call Nicole friend! It was a wonderful weekend that went too fast! I am still basking in the joy of our time together!

A Word from Our Kids Part II

Caleb's Viewpoint

I am very exited to get to be a missionary. Knowing I get to be used to do God's work is great. Even though he doesn't need us he uses us anyway. That's pretty cool to think about. Although there have been some struggles. There are some times where people think we're going just for fun or that it is going to be tough living in Italy (which is said in sarcasim). Which make's me very upset. We are going for one reason and one reason alone. To reach the unreached and to expand the Kingdom of God. We also want to feed the hungry and help the poor!

And Now A Word From Our Kids Part 1

A Word from Faith~

In my life some cool things have happened, but not as cool as what I'm going to do. I'm really excited for what's to come of my family in a new country. Yes I will be scared of some things there but not as scary as going into a plane for the first time. Yet I'm really excited to try new foods, and get a dog too! This isn't all about us this is about God using us to make a difference in the world, by telling others about Jesus dying for our sins. The Lord loves everyone, so we should try to tell everyone about his love. God has given us many things in our life, we are blessed with great things, but what about the people who don't have God or aren't as blessed as we are? We are going there to help them and to serve the Lord. I don't need an all American life, I'll do just fine in a different place. I might not have the same schooling system but I'm really excited to see what other schools are like. I can't wait to go and I'm excited to see what the future brings.

Ponderings

What if? What if someone had said, "There is one church in Omaha, don't build anymore!" Or, "Let's stay in England, who needs religious freedom?" Or, "Why become a Pastor? There are plenty of Pastors in the World!" Or, "Why be a missionary? Aren't there other missionaries?" Arguments and discussions about religion happen all the time, everywhere! There is persecution of the church no matter where you are. No one ever said to Mike when he was looking at seminary and said, "Don't do that, there are more than enough Pastors." Praise God! We never found the push back of our convictions until we said we were going to be missionaries in Italy. It's weird that people have such strong opinions now about our path and yet, when Michael was planning to be a youth pastor, we didn't have the same kinds of reactions. It just makes me ponder, why it's okay to be a Pastor in the United States, where there are churches at every corner and people don't seem to be up in arms about doing that job... yet, when you say we are leaving and going to another country that they feel is less deserving of being reached for Christ based on the fact that this said country has a "Catholic heritage"... I mean really? Doesn't the US have a "Christian heritage" and yet, still people are becoming priests and pastors here... are people as outraged by that? I know that not everyone will understand or agree with whatever decision we make about ministry, there will be those that think that Pastors are unneeded as much as they think that missionaries are unneeded. And I don't need to justify my position or make people understand, but there is this feeling I am wrestling with that wants to ask why Italy doesn't deserve missionaries? Why because you consider it a vacation destination and not a place that is greatly in need of the love of Christ? I wonder, what if Jesus has said, "Well, we tried, but they won't ever get it, so why die?".... I am glad that He is wiser than I! I am glad that He died in spite of my pride and while I was yet a sinner! Because who can understand the height and depth of the love of Christ? His love is moving! Here I am Lord... all my innermost ponderings and questions and I pray that I will keep firm on the call you have placed on our hearts! I pray that I will show your love in spite of my frustrations and that I can fully rely on you! You are all that matters, I don't need the world to understand, help me to not worry about what other people think, help me to keep my eyes fixed on you! John 16:33 In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.

Deputation

Will I look back at these deputation days with great feelings of warm fuzzies or feelings of thank God it's over? As more letters are preparing to go out and we are intentional about making more connections before the Christmas Season takes over, I know that God has continued to bless our fundraising! It's been a fast a furious kind of deputation so far! We are doing really well in raising up supporters and partners in the Mission to Italy! We are over 20% raised for Italy monthly with a matching request out and waiting to see what God does with that. It's amazing to think that we could be at 40% soon... There is still a long way to go though. We are trying not to lose focus and momentum.. but it's hard to keep up the intensity sometimes. I wonder if I should put a pictures of Italy all around my house to remind me visually of the goal? Hoping that when some of our teammates visit Rome soon that they will have lots of photos to share! Looking forward to Michael going over to Italy this Spring with the leadership team and deciding upon the city in which we will be serving... knowing the name of the city will make it even more real I think... because some days it seems unreal.. I am asking that you would pray for us as we continue to raise funds! Pray that more people will stand beside us and that we can be fully funded soon!

Sunday Bliss

I just felt like I should update a bit. It's been a good week and since this is technically the beginning of a new week, I thought I should jot down some thoughts.

- Going to Kirk & Natalie's for what you think will be a quick stay.. never actually is a quick stay!

- Having Halloween candy at easy access while you are watching a movie empties the bowl really fast!

- Having dinner as a family is like the best thing ever

- Watching your child shine on stage doing something they love.. makes you feel like you will burst with joy

- People who hold a note while singing longer than everyone else make me giggle

- Sweatpants are the best

- Christmas ornaments create memories that we will unpack and share for years and years to come

- Sharing life honestly with people takes time and effort but the rewards are so worth it

- I lost 5.5 lbs. this week

- Meeting a friend tomorrow for lunch... going to catch up and talk about Italy...

Random important thoughts that impacted my week.... there were many wonderful experiences this week! I am grateful to be so blessed!

Thankful Thursday!

Well, it's November and so it seems very fitting to be doing Thankful Thursdays! Looking forward to Thanksgiving and all it's yummyness! That's my inspiration today.. yummy food! Maybe it's because I am on a diet and looking at food doesn't mean I am eating such food... Here's my run down on foods I am thankful for! :)


Bruschetta!


Heavenly... whoever thought of this combo is genius!


Ebelskiver! We have these on Christmas Morning and sometimes for company just because! :)



I am kind of skipping ahead to Christmas dishes I love.. Baked Oysters!!


My Grandma Knudsen made a killer cranberry sauce... miss it every year.. someone in the family needs to learn how to make it.. maybe I will attempt it this year!


Okay, this really isn't a food.. but it's an amazing condiment!! Weird fact: I love this drizzled on bananas!

Busyness!

I have come to the conclusion that the one thing that seems to accompany parenting is busyness! Having kids = lots of activities! This has been a very busy school year for us this far! Caleb is involved in Student Council, Drama, Pep Band, Choir, and Basketball right now.. he is gone almost every night with something, it has been a blast and he is loving every moment of it, but whoa the schedule is packed! I am thankful that Faith is still in grade school and even though she is involved in things, it doesn't seem to take up our evenings yet the way that Caleb's activities do! Look out next year... a High Schooler and Middle Schooler...

I had taken the previous week off of facebook and have to admit, I didn't miss it all that much, I was too busy most nights to have the time to think about it! But it was the days at home when I missed it most... the lull at lunch or after I got the kids off to school where I thought.. geez it would be nice to check and see what my friends are doing... I missed the birthday reminders! I didn't realize how much I relied on that! :)

Off to run a few errands or maybe just check my facebook before the night of running Mom's Taxi Service begins! :)