Some New Pictures December 16, 2008

Here is an updated picture of our last little play date. Annie on the left, then Ellie Jane and Maddux. They are all changing so much. Check out our past post “first friends” to see their first picture together, they look so different it is fun to compare. They don’t really “play” yet, but we are excited for them soon to acknowledge one anothers existence  

My little glow worm after she was done eating.

Annie is now 8 weeks old and is starting to put on the pounds…well, ounces I suppose. Her cheeks are really starting to fill out and her little legs are getting some rolls. It is the cutest thing. 

I know sometimes people pretend to be sleeping to get a cute picture like this but this one is real. You can tell because Annie is kind of falling off of Matt I walked in after our Bible study the other night and my husband and little daughter were taking a nap together. Matt is an amazing father, he absolutely LOVES changing, holding, hugging, kissing, playing, bathing, etc Annie. Anytime he can do anything with or for her he does. I love watching him love her. Oh how the Lord has blessed me! 

 

Matt and I are spending Christmas in Minneapolis and then will head to Milwaukee for our annual Christmas conference. After that we will head down south to visit Matt’s family in Charleston. Annie will get to meet her Aunt Jenni and Aunt Ali for the very first time as well as hopefully many of our supporters. 

We will be in Charleston starting Jan 5 and will be there until we are done raising more support so we hope to get a chance to see many of our support team in the south. 

Please be praying for our Christmas conference at the end of the month. We are talking about all the “freedoms” that Christ offers us. Pray that students would be effected by the message of Jesus Christ’s offer of freedom to us.

One last picture…

The Greatest Day of your life! October 17, 2008

Believe it or not…this was the title of our outreach event last Saturday. Instead of doing an overnight retreat, we did a day long extravaganza. The day started at 9AM where groups of 4-5 people got in cars and headed out around the campus and city to do a scavenger hunt. They had to take pictures of themselves doing crazy things around the city. All of the activities that they did throughout the day earned them points which would win the top three teams $100 gift cards…big time!

We met up at Afton State Park at 12 and had lunch which was followed by our director Ken Currie giving an evangelistic message to all the students. He talked about our desires to have a “greatest day of our lives” and how in reality we are always falling short of this amazing day. He explained how Jesus Christ has come to satisfy our biggest desires and longings. We may not feel it or understand it today, but the promise is sure…there is ultimate life, satisfaction, completion in knowing the truth/ Jesus.

We followed lunch up with an elementary school field day where we had all the students participate in a sack race, wheelbarrow race, frisbee throw, hoola hoop contest, horseshoe throw, tug o’ war…and many more. 

The above picture is Matt in the finals of the potato sack race. I was so proud!

The below pictures are some of the funniest pictures from the day. The last event that we had was an egg slinging war. Two people had to put eggs in panty hose and put it over their head. They then proceeded to try to break their egg on the other person with their hands behind their back. It was the funniest thing ever. Not only did the students look ridiculous, but they all got egg yolk all over each other. Here are just a couple pictures of this event. 

We had around 70 students show up for the greatest day of their lives. It ended with a little rain which put a “damper” on the rest of the evening, but at this point I think we had worn everybody out anyways.

Girls Bible study & COW September 12, 2008

Just wanted to show you guys a picture of the girls that are in my Bible study this semester/ year so that you could be praying for them. So here it is…

These are the girls that I spend the most time around. From left to right is Emma, Lisa, Emilie, Anna, and Lindsey. 

They are all Juniors and Seniors some of whom I have led since their Freshman year! We are getting together on Monday nights as a group to study through “Salvation Belongs to the Lord” a theology book by John Frame. We are spending the semester trying to gain a greater understanding of who God is and praying that God would allow this knowledge to deepen our relationship with him. (John 17:3)

I will be filling you in on their lives more throughout the semester.

 

COW

We also had our first COW (campus outreach wednesday) meeting this past Wednesday. There were over 120 students there. Matt gave a talk on “What if Christianity was real.” He talked through the implications of Christianity being real and challenged students to think through ultimate truth and who/what they ascribe authority to. 

After the talk Matt had a very long conversation with a student named Russell who is an atheist. (He actually wore a t-shirt to our meeting that said “Friendly Atheist” on it. It was pretty funny.) But Matt and Russell talked for an hour after the meeting discussing Christianity’s authenticity and God’s goodness to his people. 

Here is a picture of the packed house that we had at our first COW. We are probably going to have to change venues due to the people sitting all over the floor. 

 

Next: I will try to within the next couple days get some more pregnancy pictures up and update you on Matt’s guys. (guy’s don’t take as many pictures)

U of MN leaders September 12, 2008

Last weekend we had a leaders day retreat to talk about 1) The gospel for us (leaders) and 2) The gospel for others (evangelism/ outreach) Here is a picture of all the students that came to the retreat. 

One of the big joys that we have had so far this semester is seeing all these students eager and willing to step into a lot of leadership on the campus. We have had a couple meetings so far and all of them have been full of students that our leaders have brought. 

The mission statement of campus outreach is “building laborers on campus for the lost world.” We desire for our students to turn into life-long laborers for Christ. We get this command from Matthew 28 and 2 Timothy 2:2 where we are told to impart what we know into other people who will then impart that knowledge to somebody else. 

Please continue to pray for this group of students, specifically…Anna, Emilie, Garrett, and Scott who are some of Matt and my key students.

Cookout Kickoff! September 9, 2008

Last weekend after the freshman had all moved in we started off the year with a big cookout at the Essex house (our ministry home). Usually these cookouts turn out pretty well with a lot of students coming that are already involved. This year however we had an amazing turnout. There were probably around 125 ish students that showed up and the great thing was, many of them were new. 

Our older students have been getting a lot of time in the dorms meeting freshman with the intention of building relationships with them. So there were quite a few new students to meet at the cookout. 

Here are a few pictures from the balcony of the house next door. You can see we even had some collegiate four square going on in the background. 

This is a picture of Anna (2nd from the right) with a couple other girls that are involved in our ministry. They were getting to know the girl on the far left.

Here are some of our faithful cookers. Tom (my brother) and some of his roommates helped out by being in charge of all the cooking. 

Overall, we had a very successful first cookout. The ministry is seemingly off to a great start. 

Please be praying that the students continue to gain more and more vision for what they want to see the Lord do on the U of MN campus.

Keeping you updated August 28, 2008

I know we have not been very good in the past with updating our blog. So we are trying again! We want to keep you all updated with our new family, as well as our ministry at the University of Minnesota.

This is a picture of our current staff team in Minneapolis. We have had a few additions as well as some staff leave the team, so our team may look a bit different. We currently have a 2 year old, a 4 week old, and three babies on the way. 

      

    

(Top left) Here is a picture of Me (31 weeks), Lindsey with Ellie Jane (4 weeks old), Jen (23 weeks) and Samm (30 weeks)

Our Minneapolis staff team went to Grand Marais for a staff retreat. We did a lot of hiking in the mountains and along rivers. It was amazing. Creation is so beautiful, especially when you don’t see it like this that often. We were there for 3 days relaxing and getting ready for the start of a new year. 

We are now back on campus. Freshman moved in yesterday so the campus is in full swing. 

We will try to post things weekly to help keep our family and friends updated more.

Thanks for visiting!