March 2010 (Sorry It's Been A While)

We have been so busy, we can barely keep up with our blog anymore, but we'll get it. We hope you are all doing well. This is an excerpt from our March newsletter...

It’s hard to believe we have been here for almost 3 months. There are moments when we step back and can’t believe we are here. We are learning so much, and feel so blessed with the privilege of immersing ourselves in God’s Word every day. 

I (Mike) am enjoying classes and am encouraged to find out I am a much better student at 35 than at 16...I don’t know why, but I think it has to do with listening in class and actually doing my homework.!?

I have had many ministry opportunities including an interview with 2 Buddhist monks, conversations with people at the mall and coffee shop, visits to the Milwaukee Rescue Mission, and playing in the chapel worship bands. (*This is not in the newsletter...One thing I'm praying for is to have more boldness, and a natural ability to talk with strangers and just share Christ in a way that doesn't come off rude or socially awkward.) 

Kristi is doing really well in school. I am really proud of her, and have gotten a better understanding of the challenges and hard work that go into being a mom. She is getting used to me being around her all day, and in time, might discover what a blessing that is! Just Kidding! We are really enjoying studying together.

Thanks for praying for us, and please stay in touch. 

~Mike

A Day In The Life Of Kristi...

Ok... I'm sure some of you have wondered maybe, what do we do exactly on any given day. Well I am going to walk you through my (Kristi) day.

6:15 Good Morning song on my phone goes off... I push SNOOZE.
6:20 It goes off again... I push SNOOZE... (alright I will jump ahead, I do this for a half hour)
6:45 Get up, get Nicole up, let Mike and Jesse sleep a bit more.
7:15 Get Nicole ready, and breakfast for the kids
7:30-8:00 Pull last minute stuff together for Nicole etc. (and get ready myself)
8:00 Walk Nicole to her bus stop. (it's usually VERY cold outside, so we wait in the building right by her bus stop with the other kids and parents.)
8:10 Get back up to the apartment.
8:15-8:45 I help Jesse get ready, and make coffee (this has been a staple)
8:50 The 10 minute bell rings, so its time to walk Jesse down two floors to his class (this takes about 1 minute and 30 seconds) Drop him off and walk up 1 flight of stairs to my class (15 seconds...)
9:00 Biblical Foundations class starts (Mike and I sit together in the back row and talk... just kidding!) We really like our classes and pay attention all the time!
9:50 Bell rings and we make our way down to chapel
10:00-10:30 Chapel
10:40-11:30 Bibliology class (all our classes are in the same room)
11:30 I'm now done with school for the day, Mike stays there for one more class (Evangelism in a Postmodern world)
11:30 I pick up Jesse and we head back upstairs to the apartment. He usually plays with friends at this time and I have an hour to pick up the apt, start laundry, do dishes etc...
12:30 Mike gets back from class and we have lunch
1:00-3:45 is time to do homework, work on papers, run errands, prep dinner etc.
3:45 go down to the bus stop to pick up Miss Nicole.
4:00 Get Nicole started on homework, the sooner we start the sooner we finish!!
5:00 Dinner (sometimes accompanied by a Little House on the Prairie episode)
6:00 clean up from dinner, finish up homework with Nicole (if she is done w/hw she plays in the hall with friends)
7:00 The day is starting to wind down for Nicole and Jesse, sometimes we play games together, read or clean their room... Showers also happen at this point...
8:00 The kids bedtime.
8:00-Midnight Mike and I finish up homework, Mike does his Campus Ministry, catch up with friends and family via Facebook, and blog. Our newest venture is Skype, and we enjoyed talking to my parents last week! Jesse and Nicole also got to see our cat Caesar, whom they miss VERY much. (I dont think Caesar liked being held up to the computer screen though)
12:00 am I am exhausted and usually like to take a quick shower so I can push snooze in the morning!
And that is what 'A Day In The Life Of' me, looks like!!

Our first Week of Classes at NTBI

Wow! Our first week at NTBI is over. Mike and I have had an awesome time starting our classes and getting to know more of the students here. It is quite an adjustment getting used to three of us in the family doing homework in the evenings! I'm sure we'll get into the swing of things quickly.

We have two classes together, Biblical Foundations, and Bibliology; he has one more class, Evangelism in a Postmodern World. Our classes are in 3-week blocks, so we will spend concentrated time on these classes, and then they will switch in three weeks. By the end of the semester I will have taken 7 classes and Mike will have taken 10. We have thoroughly enjoyed our reading assignments, homework, and listening to the teaching in class.

Our evenings are so different from what we are used to. Our kitchen table is covered in notebooks, textbooks, calendars, pens, pencils, highlighters, Bibles... the list goes on and on! I am constantly clearing it for a meal, then putting it all back. Nicole will sit and do her homework at the table while Mike or I do ours nearby, that way we can help her when she needs it.  So far our average bedtime has been midnight for Mike and I. I am hoping to get that down to at least 11pm. =) I do have to say that living on the second floor and having my classroom on the first floor makes for a very nice commute!!

The kiddos have really enjoyed getting to know some of the other kids here at the school. Jesse loves playing in our hall with 3 other little boys his age. He is attending the Pre-school class they have here on campus, and he loves his class. He just earned a 'sticky hand' for saying his memory verse this week... "Make a JOYFUL NOISE unto the Lord, all he lands" (I'm not exactly sure if that last part is right though??? I think it's all ye lands, or all the lands. He says all he lands.) Nicole has met a little girl that lives in our hall, and also has made lots of great friends at school. Two of our teachers have kids in Nicole's class.

The environment is so great here. We are really growing as a result of the way we do life. I know there will be lots of growth through the next two years here. It is an exciting feeling.

~Kristi

Zero Degrees And Snowing

It snowed about 12" last week. This view is outside one of our windows. The brown building holds the garage, maintenance buildings, and carpenter shop. The grey building in the background is staff and student apartments affectionately named "The Blues". Nicole's class couldn't play outside at recess this day because it was zero degrees outside.

"Sally" here is feeling the effects of the weather. She likes to ice up on the inside and the outside of the windows.

This photo of Jesse was snapped in the parking lot of the DMV. Looks a little different here than the DMV in Victorville! The staff inside was helpful and friendly...hmmm?

I took the kids sledding. It's hard to see it here, but there is an amazing hill right in front of the school. The snow is so dry and the powder blows everywhere, mostly in our faces. Good stuff.

Waukesha is a pretty cool midwestern town with a population of about 65,000. We are enjoying getting to know the area. Our days continue to surprise us with struggles and blessings.

Grace and Peace,

Mike

Settling In

The kids and I took Kristi out to lunch to celebrate her birthday. Afterward she enjoyed going to Target and using gift cards from her Mom and Sister to buy this rug for the apartment. It really warms up the industrial tile floors.

That evening we went to Jim and Millie's (the couple who together serve as the deans of married students) house for dinner. They knew it was Kristi's birthday and were so nice to bake her a cake. They have a rock collection that gave the kids hope that unlike what Mom and Dad say, it is okay to keep rocks all through the years!

The next day we "finished" the kids room.  What you can't see is the big stack of boxes in the back corner. The brown wardrobes that you see on the left are what divide the room. Our family is experiencing a new level of togetherness and community.

The shower curtain divides our room and the kids room.  Photos of our room will be coming soon, but it still needs a lot of work. We taught the kids to knock on the side of the bookshelf when they want to come in. Everyone knows it's rude to just barge right through a shower curtain without knocking.

We singed up Nicole for 2nd grade today and she starts tomorrow. She is so excited! It will be an adjustment for Kristi, who loved teaching the kids at home.

We are really enjoying our new home, and adjusting to the new environment.  There are lots of little things to get used to. The water has to always be purified before you use it, which is simple enough until I almost rinsed the pasta with the tap water...that's a no no. The men's bathroom is about 120 feet down the hall, and the long journey is making me aware of how many trips I make in a day. Kristi did some laundry today and enjoyed going down 3 levels, across a freezing parking lot, down a flight of stairs, then back up to wait for the load to finish, then back down, across, and down the stairs to put the load in the dryer, then back upstairs, then back down to fold the load and put in another. While there is much to adjust too, there is much to be thankful for, and we feel so blessed to be here together as a family. I believe God has much to teach us.

Grace and Peace,

Mike

St. Louis MO to Waukesha WI

We left St. Louis Missouri at 7:30am on Saturday, January 2.  It was 7°F outside. When Jesse got into the car after our freezing photo shoot he said, "I think I like Springtime better." Classic!

We arrived in Waukesha Wisconsin at about 2:30pm. Everything in the PODS survived the journey. Not a single thing was broken. All of the canned good we had packed were frozen solid.

About a dozen people helped us unload the PODS and bring our things up to our apartment on the 2nd floor. It only took about an hour.

Nicole and Jesse are very excited about their room.  Nicole loves the bunk-bed. A new friend named Mark custom-made the guardrail at the top. The kids shared a room before we left so that they could get used to it. They have already made several friends and love the idea that they can walk down the hall to play with friends.

Two brown wooden wardrobes and a shower curtain for a door make the wall between the 2 bedrooms. We think it's going to work out just fine. We told the kids to knock on the wardrobe when they need us.

Here's a view from both ends of the great-room. During our family devotion time this morning we were  all overwhelmed at how God has given us peace, joy, and contentment about our new living situation. Humanly we would probably be complaining, but God has really helped us have His perspective with this one.

Thanks for all your prayers, love, help, support, and encouragement so far!

Grace and Peace,

Mike

Tulsa OK to St. Louis MO

We love getting State-line photos.  We put the camera on top of a trashcan and set the timer for this one. It was hard to get the lighting right.  Better luck next time maybe.

Some of the rest-stops in Missouri were really nice.  This place had an indoor rest area, full staff, playground, clean bathrooms, and this cool mural.  Way to go Missouri!  Maybe if Arnold raised the taxes in California we...I mean you... could have nice res-stops like this one.

I saw this sunset in the side mirrors (the rear view mirror is covered by a mountain of suitcases, jackets, sleeping bags, and an assortment of other travel gear)  so I pulled over and snapped a quick photo.

This gas station came with its own candy factory.  It was the kid's favorite gas station so far.  I don't know what it is with the Midwest...their gas stations have Indian trading posts, the worlds largest gift store (that's what it's called), and candy factories.  Another gas station we saw was an official Russel-Stover chocolate factory outlet. Maybe they pay for it all with the toll roads.

If all goes according to plan we'll be sleeping in our tiny new apartment tomorrow night! We have truly had a great time traveling together.  Todays game was "Would You Rather".  It was interesting to hear the questions and answers the kids came up with.  One question Jesse asked was, "Would you rather let a bank robber take your money, or have to shoot him?" We asked the kids "would you rather get to spend a day at Disneyland, or see your Grandparents." They both said "see our Grandparents!"

I better get some sleep.  I have to wake up in 5 hours.

Mike