cutie! well ok...handsome!

Joshua in his new glasses!

February Update! (iow: our internet works now!!)

So... We're Here!  
In the midst of the missionary community that is YWAM Minneapolis we've been quietly setting up our home, re-figuring homeschool, hunting for doctors and grocery stores, doing our usual number on the local library, and spending ridiculous amounts of time trying to set up a new computer, internet and cell phone (Give me (Joel) firewood and a splitting maul and I'm much happier.)  

We've been welcomed warmly into the family of staff here.  The kids have yet to make friends their own age, but they've already endeared themselves to many of the staff, as well as the students from Latin America.  While our duties around base won't actually begin until Monday (the 3rd), we've jumped into worship and prayer gatherings, staff meetings, fellowship gatherings and a little broomball.  Slowly we've been getting to know some of the 50-odd staff members and the 20 or so ECCO (English Cross-Cultural Orientation) students. Just today (Sat. the 1st) two outreach teams returned from South Africa and Mexico, so we have more people to meet!  I've been invited to help lead worship.  We'll be joining a local outreach to Tibetan kids, as well as helping out with the next Kids Against Hunger food packing event. Maybe we'll even check out a local church tomorrow!  

We are encouraged to see the godly maturity of many of the staff here who've served in missionary training for decades.  At the same time there are many young couples with children younger than ours who we hope to be an encouragement to.  In many ways, as we become acquainted with the people and the vision that drives them, we find God confirming in our hearts that we belong here at this time.  There is still the uncertainty about how God will use this season in the story of our lives, but He's got dibs on Foreknowledge while calling us to Faith.  


We want to say THANK-YOU:
To those who've given and prayed to get us here to YWAM Minneapolis
Those who made meals,
   helped clean our house and pack up,
   picked up the Uhaul,
   packed the U Haul (expertly), 
   watched our kids so we could pack the UHaul...
Those who laid hands on and sent us out in prayer and in song.
Who sewed us a beautiful farewell quilt,
Who stopped by for one more visit...
Those who drove to Rockford with us and stayed two days to unpack,
   those others who cared for our kids for those two days...
   all the those who came out to unload the U Haul,
   Who brought pizza and welcomed us into the YWAM family. 

We are deeply grateful to the Lord for you!

Joel and Renee, Joshua, Rachel, Madelynn and Hudson.


P.S. "Second opinion" appointments at Mayo Clinic this week resulted in my NOT needing surgery on a herniated disc, just needing to be smarter!  

"I have been young, and now am old,
yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken
or his children begging for bread.
He is ever lending generously,
and his children become a blessing."  Psalm 37:25,26
(This Psalm is a family favorite.  We are enjoying seeing the Lord fulfill his word in our lives.)

Below are pictures of our apartment and then some of the YWAM base itself...

Living Area with a small "nook" off to the right

Dining area/classroom and hurrah for the homeschool wall!

You can see the kitchen here

Our Quadplex apartment building

One of the classrooms

Lounge area

Dining area
(the other half behind the camera can be divided off into another classroom)

A pretty evening picture behind the campus. The building on the far left is the dining hall.

Smells

Through all the frozen winter

My nose has grown most lonely

For lovely, lovely colored smells

That come in springtime only.

The purple smell of lilacs,

The yellow smell that blows

Across the air of meadows

Where bright forsythia grows.

The tall pink smell of peach trees,

The low white smell of clover,

And everywhere the great green smell 

of grass the whole world over.

-Kathryn Worth

January 14th Update

So this is it, the last stretch. Only four days left. I still can't believe we're leaving.

Emotions (mine and others), things breaking around the house, a touch of the flu, more packing, more cleaning...wondering what the future holds...

But I must choose not to focus on the things that are going wrong or are exceptionally hard. No, I must keep my focus on Jesus and not how tired I am.

I must choose between packing yet another box, or playing Dutch Blitz with my kids.

I must choose to remember, always remember how good and helpful and gracious people around us have been: in the last month, but also in the last nine years.

Remembering to pray for the people around me, to pray for friends whose wife got run over by a motorcycle and purse stolen in a muslim country (she's mostly ok), to pray for the people we will be sharing Jesus with...

I am excited to be involved in YWAM, but it is hard to leave here: a small community of people we recognize walking down the street or in the grocery store. A place where we have invested our lives in others and others have invested in us. We will miss this place. Yes the lake is nice and it's a cute town and the air is clean and the trees are great, but it will be the people we will miss most.

Update January 6

Today Joel and I signed the Purchase Agreement on our house!  A closing date is being set for Friday January 17th.
We're planning on packing up the moving truck Friday the 17th, camping out in the house, and then Saturday morning hitting the road for Rockford.

Thanks for all your prayers! The packing is going better than I (Renee) thought it would. *smile*

(I wish I could record Hudson with his squeaky two year old voice: "We're going to Rockford!")