Another week begins...

Another Monday at the laundromat...who would think that two people can go through so many clothes?!?!? I am just so glad that this place has wireless or I would absolutely dread the usually two hours that I spend here! It's hard to concentrate on reading with the sounds of the washers and dryers, not to mention the tvs that are on...so this is a good distraction!

Anyway, I hope that you all had a good weekend! Jesse and I had a really fun day yesterday! We got to sleep in and go to an 11:00 service at a church with Michael and Leeanne. It was called Park Community Church. It was okay, we got there late because we all thought they were meeting somewhere else, so we missed the worship time. One thing that was cool is that a few weeks ago, the church passed out envelopes to everyone in the congregation, each with a different amount of money in it, ranging from $2 to $50. They asked the people to invest the money in the people of Chicago; they are currently renovating a building into a church, and their sermon topics the past few weeks have been on The Great Investment. They had three people up front yesterday reading some of the testimonies that were received from people, and they just went on and on...so many people did so many cool, unique things with the money! Around here, I am approached by the homeless more than I was back home, and I am always reluctant to give them money, because you never know what they'll do with it. One person took the money and bought McDonald's gift cards to give to the homeless...what a great idea! There's only one thing they can do with that, and the great thing about McDonald's is their dollar menu, so even if you just gave someone $2, they could have something to eat! At the end of the testimonies, the pastor said that since so many people went above and beyond and contributed out of their own pocket, he thinks they might have doubled what was originally handed out, which was just over $9,000, I believe! WOW! So continue to pray for a church home for us, there have been good and okay things about every church we have tried, and we don't want to settle until it's GREAT!

So after church, the four of us didn't really have anything to do, and the church was right by the Lincoln Park Zoo, which is free, so we decided to go there. It was a beautiful day outside, really sunny with a chilly breeze, and I think we saw the entire zoo! It's such a neat zoo, especially considering that it is free! We were all like little kids, just in complete amazement of God's creation, from the tiny little ants on display (eeewwww!!!) to the giant rhinocerous. And of course, to share that experience with two other people that know Who created those animals was just awesome! Last night, we went to their apartment for supper and just had a great time talking and laughing, and we watched The Count of Monte Cristo, which is a great movie if you haven't seen it! We just get along with them so well, we have so much in common and our personalities are so much alike as well! Praise the Lord for some friends!!! :)

Thursday night at SWF (Student Wives Fellowship) was their mission night. Every year, the officers pick a missionary (or missionary family) to support for the year, and so we got to hear the testimony from that lady and from two other former missionaries! The one we are supporting will be going to Italy about a year from now (they are raising their support right now) with her husband and three children, and they anticipate possibly staying there! One of the other ladies was a missionary in Haiti with her family for 24 years and the other lady was a missionary in Ecuador with her family, and actually, I think they still are. It was just really neat to hear their stories! Also, the week before last (I wasn't there becuase I couldn't talk), they split up in to mentoring groups, and one week a month, we spend most of the night in those smaller groups for accountability, prayer, and a devotional, and guess who is in my group?!?!? Leeanne! So is Maggie, the girl that I went to high school with whose husband went to New Haven with Jesse! So I am really excited about that!

Wow, I think this has been long enough, so thanks for reading! Thanks also for your continued prayers, have a WONDERFUL, GOD-FILLED, BLESSED WEEK!!!

Sorry it's been a while!

Wow, I am glad that Jesse posted last week, because it's been a while! Sorry about that, we have been busy (like he said), and it doesn't help that we don't have internet at home! He covered everything I would have said, so other than that, just continue praying for us...our schedules are so crazy! There is so much to do in Chicago, but we don't have time to do anything! Jesse is used to working full-time, but I'm not, and I can really tell. I had that migraine a few weeks ago, and last week I was losing my voice all week...I really just don't think my body is used to being this busy! So just continue to pray for us!

We had fun camping with my family this weekend! It was so relaxing...Jesse and some of the guys played football a little, but other than that, we sat around a bunch and just relaxed and hung out with my family, and I think we both really needed the break! Speaking of breaks, another thing everyone could pray for is for our schedules around Thanksgiving and Christmas...I know Jesse will have time off, but I'm the new girl at work, so I'll probably get stuck working closest to the holidays, so just pray that I can get some decent time off to spend time with both of our families!

Thanks to everyone for reading this and for all of your prayers! Have a great week!

What a long week! It's finally Friday though, and we're heading out to go camping tonight. We're pretty excited about that, should be fun. Stephanie's crazy family does this every year, everybody gets together at a campground and shares a couple of campsites.
Stephanie has some pretty cool news; she found out that she ranked third in the salon for services! Not too shabby, eh? She only started a few weeks ago, and already she has done better than seven other people in her shop. The only two that were above her were her manager and one other lady that has been there a few years. So remember to congratulate her on that!

I got my first reports done this week - if anyone wants to read a few pages about the first five books of the Bible, let me know. Everyone can benefit from my school experience! Just kidding.
Sorry we haven't written anything in a while - I've been busy with school and whatnot, and Stephanie has been busy getting third place at work. We did go to another church on Sunday. It's called Seminary Avenue Community Church. It's a very old, very unique church. The building is absolutely incredible, not in a huge church kind of way, but in an old, small chapel kind of way. The congregation was very small, but friendly. They really want us to join them. We'll see. The pastor was very friendly, Stephanie really liked him. He's a Moody grad, so he can't be all bad. If I were to judge solely on a building, it would be the only choice. But, there is much more to a church than a building. The problem is that I don't know if we even know what we're looking for. It would be nice to be in family with other people our age, but at the same time, we don't want to be in a shallow environment, either (which is what you can get sometimes). There are probably thousands of churches in Chicago, too, so we have to just make a decision at some point.
Anyway, that's all for now. Thank you for visiting Jesse and Stephanie's, have a nice day!

At the laundromat...

So I am so excited because I just figured out that the laundromat has wireless, so I actually have something to do while I'm doing the laundry! I saw people here with their laptops before, so I thought I'd bring ours this time!

Anyway...things are still going well for us, we did get to go to Fort Wayne this weekend, we left right from my work when I got off at 3:00 and we made it home in about 3 1/2 hours, so that was pretty good! We spent Saturday night with my family and then went to lunch with Jesse's family and went to visit Aubrey in the hospital. For those of you who don't know, she has Crohn's disease, and has been in the hospital with complications...it's a long story, but please keep her in your prayers! Anyway, we then went to my cousin Jessica's wedding reception, and then met some of our friends for coffee...then we had to come back home on Sunday night because I had to work on Monday. It was so dead at the salon on Monday...I was SO frustrated because while I was sitting there doing absolutely nothing, I could have been in Fort Wayne with family, or I could have been at home with Jesse, who had the day off school...

So about the ice cream social the other night...it was GREAT! We spent most of the evening talking to two couples. The one couple I have mentioned before. His name is Michael, and he has a bunch of classes with Jesse because their majors are very similar. His wife's name is LeeAnne, and she is a cosmetologist just like me! We had a lot in common...I think Michael is a lot like Jesse, and LeeAnne is a lot like me...we are both outgoing, Jesse and Michael are more laid back. So then...this is crazy...Jesse had been in chapel one day and saw a guy he thought he went to high school with, and the guy approached Jesse and said 'hey, didn't you go to New Haven?', so that was crazy enough. Well, we get to the ice cream social, and there he is! And we were just talking and he asked me where I went to high school, and when I told him Leo, he's like 'no way! My wife went to Leo!' So it turns out that Noah and Jesse graduated a year apart from New Haven and Maggie and I graduated a year apart from Leo! I had been told to look for her by some people at church who know her, but go figure that our husbands went to the same high school! CRAZY! So now we have some new friends and tomorrow night is the first meeting of the Student Wives' Fellowship, they meet every Thursday for Bible study, worship, and mentoring time, so I am SO excited! I can finally meet some other young ladies who are in the same boat as I am, and, as Anne of Green Gables would say, hopefully make some 'bosom friends'. (You'll have to excuse me, I am a huge fan of Anne of Green Gables...the processional at our wedding was the theme song from the movies...) I will keep you all updated, but this has been long enough for now...and don't forget that we love to hear from all of you, so make sure to leave comments for us!