Home is where your husband is.

This past weekend Josh has been in MN/WI to be a groomsman in a friends wedding.  As I anticipated this weekend I was nervous at the thought of being the only one in my family in WA.  By the grace of God this weekend has been yet another way to see how I have grown.  God has blessed us with our Washington family of the Renzelman’s.  I am so grateful that we did NOT have a place to live when we first came out here, but stayed with Chris and Rebecca.  Their house became our home away from home…a mini refuge of some sort!  

After Josh left for the airport I made my way over to the Renzelman’s to stay a couple nights.  It was great to spend some time with Rebecca chatting and eating. 

Saturday I made my way back to the valley for the “Blessed to Give” event at church.  It was their second annual where they gave away backpacks full of school supplies to families in the surrounding neighborhoods.  It is said that 880 people attended and 540 backpacks were given out!  It was so cool to see the diversity of the neighborhood I live in all in one place.  There was even a dance competition for the kids which was a major highlight along with a father son performance of them dancing and rapping.   And let me tell you- his 8-year-old son had some amazing moves J 

Sunday morning I went to church early to shadow the hospitality team.  I plan to help out with the new third service Sunday evenings that will be geared to a younger crowd.  I have to admit when I found out that I had to be at church at 7:30, I did not have a good attitude and thought how long does it take to set out some coffee?!?! (service starts at 9:15).  But I am so glad I went (on time!) because it gave me a new appreciation for the small things that happen on a Sunday morning.  Not only does it take a while to get the coffee brewed and set up, but they also set up and prep communion.  Plus everyone there makes it a point to have everything ready by 8:30 so they can gather for prayer and remember that church is about God, not us.  It was good for me to see all the people that are there early getting things ready to make Sunday morning happen.  So love your church and show appreciation to those who make it all happen and if you aren’t already…SERVE!  If you are a Christian there is a place for you in the body to serve à Jesus Works Through Us Pt. 10 Pastor Mark

    

Unfortunately as the service progressed I felt worse and worse.  I am not sure if its allergies or sickness but my throat did not like me.  I spent the rest of the day at home working on small projects, resting and catching up with two of my dearest friends.  All that to say I had a thought occur to me- home is where my husband is.  I did not feel anxious or out of place while Josh was away (which I thought would happen) but it didn’t feel like home without him.  I feel like in the past few weeks Josh and I have grown deeper in our friendship and I realized it doesn’t matter where I live, as long as I’m with Josh…. I’m home.  Do I miss MN?  Yes.  But God has taught me to cling to my husband and to trust where He takes me.  He has given us a family in Christ to turn to, a great place to live, a wonderful city to explore, food in the cupboards, a church to worship in and more.  While I may not understand fully how God provides, I do know that He has provided and given me a home.    

Frustration and Refreshment

This past few days have had moments of frustration and on the flip side moments of utter refreshment.  Sunday morning was refreshing because of the sermon Pastor Mark gave.  The topic was “Jesus Loves Us” and while I could summarize it- it would just be to your best benefit to listen to it. 

Jesus Loves Us Part 9 of Jesus Loves His Church Series- Mars Hill Church, Pastor Mark

Sunday evening I found out that I did not get the near by nanny job.  It has been frustrating and disheartening to have so many interviews and no bites.  This carried into my Monday as it became hard for me to shake the disappointment of job hunting.  I longed to be by my close friends and family to just feel the sense of disappointment with me and then cheerfully move on.   

I finished all but the cover with illustrating and am more than ready to see it completed in book form.  This project has been refreshing for me as an artist.  It has challenged me to make multiple cohesive works (obviously it is a 33 page children’s book!) and allowed me to dive into watercolor.  I pursued watercolor for a time in the past but not as a more mature artist- and I am loving it!

Tuesday morning I was refreshed to have a long conversation with a friend across the pond.  Molly and I became friends fast- which rarely happens for me- and then quickly were thousands of miles apart.  We are both in the parts of the world we need to be- we just wish they were the same parts.  Though I must say our friendship has joyfully remained and I am grateful for technology to make that happen.  It was great to talk with her “face to face” and catch up with marriage, jobs, art, s’mores and more!    

Today Josh leaves for MN to be in a wedding of close friends.  It is frustrating to not be going with him.  It is hard to believe it has been 5 months since I have been in my lovely home state of MN…sigh…

prayers are welcome :)

An update

My apologizes for the lack of blog posts.  It seems that every time I think of a blog I want to write I don’t have access to the computer- so of course I eventually forget because I didn’t jot down a note to remember.  I thought I would give an overview of the past few weeks and get you all up to speed.

Sea-fair:

2 weekends ago Josh and I attended a well-known annual event called Sea-fair.  It runs for 8 weeks of the summer and is composed of many different events.  The “grand finale” if you want to call it was happening at a lake less than a 10 minute drive from our apartment.  We had heard about this because of the Blue Angels performing and Josh went online to check out the schedule.  To our surprise there were many other things happening to check out at the lakeside.  We had an hour to spare on the Friday- so we went down to check out the wakeboarding competition.  It was quite the set up with vendors, food, wakeboarding, air shows, hydroplane races and more.  We enjoyed our time on Friday so much we thought lets go back on Saturday when we have more time.  One thing we didn’t realize until we were at the entrance was that Friday is family free day and the rest of the weekend was $30 a person!  So like peasants we found a spot on the other side of the fence and watched from there because we could still see all we want to.  The Blue Angels show was amazing.  I am not into planes- but would definitely see them again!  Josh had to work early on Sunday morning (5-10am) and when he was at work a man who worked at Sea-fair gave him 2 free all access passes.  Knowing that we most likely would never be at Sea-fair again decided to head back out once he got home.  We thought it was pretty funny that something we had never heard of and randomly came across we ended up attending everyday that weekend- but it was well worth it.  Not only did we enjoy our time there is the sun (yes the sun has been out and blaring lately- makes me thankful I was not in MN for all the heat!) and feeling like we were a part of the Seattle community attending an annual event, but it also brought about more opportunities to discuss why we are here and what to pursue.  It has been amazing how much the vehicle for our vision has changed or more so been refined.  We are constantly discussing, evaluating, realizing and praying and hope to share more on it all soon.

Pray for the vehicle for our vision.

     

Job update:

Josh is still rockin’ it at Starbucks.  I enjoy seeing all the people who now know him whether in our building or at church because they see him on a regular basis.  It is a great spot for him to be because he is a great connector!

Pray for meaningful connections and conversations.

I had two other nanny interviews not too long ago and while they both seem like great options and really pulling for one.  Both would be great families to work with- one is just much closer than the other. 

Pray for favor.

I also have made great progress of the children’s book and am very close to finishing the 33 pages- yeah! 

Pray for a strong finish.   

Marriage:

If I would have known of all the great conversations Josh and I would have on this journey I would have moved out here sooner.  Moving across the country and living in a new state has been a challenge, but a great strengthening tool for our marriage.  I realize more and more everyday how Josh truly is my best friend and how I want to do life with him.  Because God brought us to Seattle- it has given us the opportunity to dream and make goals and then talk about them in a way that they one day could be a reality.  Seeing my husband discover his passions and where he wants to grow in life is utter sweetness. 

We also have started reading “Real Marriage” by Mark and Grace Driscoll (the pastor of Mars Hill).  We have not read a book together in awhile and know that our marriage can never be put on the back burner, nor will it ever be perfect therefore we want to make sure we work at it! 

Pray for our marriage- and yours!

Visitors:

Nicole recently visited us in Seattle and had primal weather to view the city.  We did all the tourist hot spots of the market, ferry ride, City Center and more.  We also went on a hike, which was challenging at times but proved to be a very refreshing journey- though I did get bit by something that quickly swelled but all is well now.  We each were wearing something MN on the hike- Josh a Wild hat, Nicole a Mankato State shirt and myself a LTF shirt.  Thanks to Nicoles Mankato shirt two couples on the hike down stopped us to ask if we were from MN.  One of the couples hasn’t been back to MN for a while, but the other recently moved from Lakeville- again small world!  We also got to go to three different art museums- all for FREE!  Thanks to SBux and a Sbux customer we went to SAM, Museum of Glass (Tacoma) and the Asian Art Museum.  On the ferry ride to from Bainbridge Island- we were walking past a family when the baby became fussy- instantly the mom jumped up and sang, “Lets do it, lets do it, mama’s dancin’ for you-a!”  It was super cute and we said that line over and over again through out the trip.

This coming Sunday we will be getting together with Dan and Kristi- the youth pastor and wife Josh interned with in WI.  They are out here celebrating their 10 yr. anniversary!  It should be fun to bring them to church and catch up over lunch.   

Pray you can make it out here!    :)

its a little windy on the ferry

olympic sculpture park

Kerry Park

Top of the hike

we made it!

loving the view :)

the rocky part is where we hiked up to!

"butterflies"

in the giant cone is a demo lab

chihuly bridge

conservatory

my "money" shot of the day :)

Artists

These are the artists we were greatly impressed with and would have bought something from them.  Check them out- all their names are linked to their website

Teresa Sala

(She had beautiful colors and scenes depicted in her work.  She had pastels and paintings- but the pastels blow me away with their colors, layers, texture and line)

A. E. London

(Her both was amazingly beautiful.  She had african music playing and her work had great movement and intensity)

Marla Baggetta

(Marla had a pastel I would have bought instantly just to have the opportunity to look at it everyday- unfortunately buying real art is not in the cards at the moment and it was not featured on her website)

Bill Simmons

(We were really impressed with the lights, the first picture shown of a jelly fish.  Again, if we had a yard and money we would totally have one these!)

Justin Hillgrove

(He had a lot of funny pictures of monsters we were laughing the whole time!)

Go for the Gold

Ever since Josh and I visited NYC and went to Rockefeller Plaza to watch the TODAY show I have been itching to go back.  I love the TODAY show.  It was on everyday in middle and high school when I came down for breakfast in the morning.  I enjoy watching the anchors that are not only good at their job, but have fun with it too!  I also love watching the Olympics.  I look forward to it every two years and getting the opportunity to see so many countries in one place.  It is the only time you feel a sense of world peace and get a tiny glimpse of heaven when it will be all nations under Christ.  Now put those two together- the TODAY show at the Olympics and I’m hooked.  It has been my motivation the past few mornings to work out because then I can watch the TODAY show in London covering the Olympics- sweetness. 

As I watched this morning, the top stories were the women’s gymnastics winning gold and Phelps getting his 19^th record-breaking medal.  Even though I am not an athletic person at all it is still an encouragement and a reminder that achieving your dreams is possible.  I know, I know sounds super cheesy- but its better than life passing you by and missing out on something great. 

This past weekend Josh and I attended the Bellevue Art Fair and we had no idea how big it was going to be.  We went because the Bellevue Art Museum was free but got blown away by the 300+ art vendors!  They filled numerous streets and parking lots in Bellevue Square and we saw so many wonderful pieces.  We were wishing we had the money to buy some paintings and pastels just so we could have the opportunity to look at them everyday.  Walking through and talking with some of the artists was also a huge encouragement and reminder to me that I can do this and should really start pursuing my art in a real way...