Settling In

Well...after a looooong trip with my parents and Ashley's dad, we finally made it to Wisconsin. We left Friday morning for Margaretville, NY to visit my grandparents there and spend a night. Then after a great evening with them, we left early the next morning for Elgin, Illinois. It was a pretty easy trip, except for gas and tolls were a pain. Then driving through Chicago traffic, bumper-to-bumper, was stressful. But we made it safely to the hotel. The next morning we left Illinois to make it to church in Baraboo that Sunday.

With alot of help from my parents, we've got the apartment set up and unpacked. I have to say how thankful I am that we were provided this home for the internship. It's a very nice place, cozy, and just a few blocks away from my favorite coffee shop :). And a big thanks to the guys that repainted the walls, I love the colors.

We've spent alot of today and yesterday exploring the area with my parents and walking around town. I love the area so much. It's hard to explain it unless you see it. But once you do, you can't help love it too. I think this next year here will be amazing :). I'm also excited to get back to a somewhat normal schedule, and get back to work. After so much time off you start to go crazy. Especially this past month I have felt kinda like a gypsy, spending much of our [Maine] home time packing up and living off of as little as possible, then spending a weekend on the road with all our belongings. It's nice to be settled down and to relax and feel like you're at home.

So you will definitely see more posts from us later after we get some more stuff together. I'm sorry I haven't really been taking pictures (I don't know whats wrong with me) but I stole some from my father and my husband and a couple I took to atleast give you something to look at. (Also sorry, they are mobile pictures lol).

Al Ringling Theater

Downtown Baraboo

Gary, Indiana

Cleveland, OH

Al Ringling Theater in Baraboo

Chicago, Illinois

Back to Blogging

Sometimes I forget I have a blog, and then those times I do remember I am always too lazy to type out a full explanation of why I haven't been blogging and what I have been up to since I was gone.

So, to get you back up to date.. Let me first tell you this: We have decided to take the internship! We will be moving out October 26th to Wisconsin to spend time there in ministry for a year. We're very excited (not so much for the drive) and so thankful we were granted this opportunity. So now we have a little less then a month here in Maine trying to spend time with as many people as we can.

With that said, we have been filling our spare time with various activities and cool stuff. Ash left his stinky, tiring, boring job at the mill and has been helping out with some handy work for other people. It's been nice having him home :) Recently I've gotten more into photography. I was nervous for the longest time to try and go bigger with it, mostly because I didnt feel I was good enough. But after doing a couple more shoots I started to gain confidence. Now I'm booking sessions like crazy and investing in better equipment to keep up. Here's some of my work..

So if you had told me 4 years ago that I would be married, moving to Wisconsin, and starting my photography business, I would have thought you were crazy. God has surely blessed us and done some amazing things in both of our lives. It's been a very interesting time and I'm always looking forward to seeing what happens next :)

Where We Go

If you've read my last post then you already know we're taking on a one-year ministry internship in Wisconsin. You can read about it here.

Its hard for me to put into words my thoughts without thoroughly thinking them through so I try to blog about it but I'm terrible at keeping up with it. But with all this new stuff happening I have to share it with someone...

I can't explain how excited I am that we have been presented with this opportunity. There are certain [typical] fears I have concerning this internship, but there is a confidence that far outweighs them all. A peace I can't explain. Wherever God calls, we go. I'm writing this and I havent even gotten on the plane to visit yet. You must think I'm crazy. But I think the reason I'm most excited is to see my husband grow. At first I was excited for the general idea but after thinking about it my appreciation for this opportunity grew quickly and I was eager for what God has in store for him. I love him dearly and to see him exert all his energy and time at a mill building cabinets knowing that you're not doing what God wants has been a burden to bear.

It has been awesome just this week so far to have him home with me (I work part-time now). He smiles a little differently now. I enjoy it so much :)

Thank you for all your prayers and keep it up, please! :)

5K's and Softball

Sorry its been quite a while since my last post (I'm very bad at this), so I thought I'd give you a quick little recap.

Funny story, Ash has been wanting to do a 5K for a while. Just wanted to do it to say he's done it. So he signed up for the Sea Dogs Mother's Day 5K and the Father's Day one. Coincidentally, husband's best friend's wife signed up for the same Mother's Day one. So us spouses and some family all went to support them yesterday. I wanted to go just to see what it was like. I plan to do one soon (when I gain confidence :P ).

Husband finished 725th out of 4,000 with a time of 27:08. Katie finished with a time of 28:41 and ranked 967th. Not bad at all for their first one!

Also, the day before we had softball games and guess who came to happen to join us that weekend? The cutest little boy and of course his parents :) hehe.

Remembering Christmas and All the Traditions

As I sit here drinking my coffee and enjoying some cookies that my parents and in-laws made us (yes, we're spoiled), I had to stop and think of all the Christmas traditions we've done over the years. That's when I decided to whip out the computer and start typing.

This Christmas has been rather confusing for me and Ash. Last year was our first Christmas together so of course I had to make sure we did every typical holiday tradition to make it memorable :). And previous years I was with my parents celebrating so it was always me and my brother's responsibility so spread the Christmas cheer in our family and set up the decorations, which was fun. We would always have a fit if the parents wanted to put up the artificial tree by saying it made Christmas fake. In which then we would trudge through snow to pick out the perfect "Griswald" family Christmas tree (hehe). But this year is different.

We've been focusing alot of the traditions of the church with our Antioch group and perhaps still having that mindset it is making Christmas difficult for us. Going from being the cheerful, always have to keep to tradition person, its quite a 180 change. There were three reasons we didnt get a tree this year, 1) We didn't have the room, 2) It was alot of time and effort (we're not lazy, just tired :P), 3) For some reason I forgot the reason for why we "need" a tree. That's what started the confusion. Now don't get me wrong, I'm still very cheerful and positive :) I don't refer to myself as a Scrooge....yet.

It's funny sometimes listening to customers conversations at the mall. I'll hear a nice positive message from them one second, then the next thing they are complaining about Christmas. After reading so many posts on Facebook about remembering the "reason for the season" I cant help but think, what is the reason? To spend a whole week at the mall spending your paychecks before you even get them? Spending hours in a day decorating the house? Idoling a Christmas tree and comparing whose is better? Dressing up as Santa to please the kiddos? Unending gifts? Complaining about your family gatherings? Admiring the baby Jesus who apparently never grew up and died on a cross? It's confusing. This is not a tradition I want to keep nor pass down through my family.

Thinking about these things has discouraged me but also encouraged me. Where is my focus? There's alot of things I could say I want but nothing I need. (I did ask for a couples wants and didnt neglect our family presents ;-) I would have felt bad since it's expected). But what does presents have to do with Christmas after all? Who started this tradition? This year I'm spending Christmas with close family remembering that God has had a plan since before creation and remembering how He loves us :)

Merry Christmas!

I Need You

If you have been keeping up with my posts then you already know of the rut that me and my husband are in. Well one night after the work day was done and we both sat down on the couch, Ash showed me this song he heard on Pandora while he was working. I fell in love. This song hit so hard.

I'm in an emotional struggle. I've never been one to open up or express myself. Ask my husband, he practically has to pry it out of me. Perhaps that is why I am opening up on here. Its easier just writing than expressing in person.

Lately my heart has been burdened. There is so much going on in this world. It is so easy to become overwhelmed. So easy to make "ME" the focus, so easy to lose track of time, so easy to exhaust yourself, so easy to forget what is important. I want so much. Not in possessions, but spiritually. I want to help everyone. I want do everything. I want to grow. I want less of me. I want the time to do all things. This is how I exhaust myself. When I become exhausted its like I am surrounded in chaos. When I feel like I am surrounded it is easy to lose sight of God.

When Ash shared this song, I knew it was a God thing. It was exactly what I needed to hear. So please listen...  (Not to mention it is also one of my favorite Christian artists).

Times by Tenth Avenue North

I love this....

 I hear you say "my love is over,
Its underneath, its inside, its in between

The times you doubt me, when you can't feel
The times that you've questioned 'is this for real?'
The times you've broken, the times that you mend
The times you hate me and the times that you bend

Well my love is over, its underneath
its inside, its in between,

These times you're healing and when your heart breaks
The times that you feel like you've fallen from grace
The times you're hurting
The times that you heal
The times you go hungry and attempted to steal

In times of confusion and chaos and pain
I'm there in your sorrow under the weight of your shame
I'm there through your heartache
I'm there in the storm
My love I will keep you by my power alone

I don't care where you've fallen, where you have been
I'll never forsake you, my love never ends,
It never ends

Like I said... it hit hard. It was like God's way of reminding me, "keep your eyes on Me, and through Me you can do all things".

I know I need you. I need to love you. I love to see you, but it's been so long. I long to feel you, I feel this need for you. And I need to hear you, is that so wrong?

Baby Shower 2

It has taken me this long but finally they are here.... Pictures from Marcy's second baby shower with us :) We had a nice Saturday afternoon shower at the church with some family and church friends. It was a fun day! Here are some photos to enjoy :)

PS. most of them came straight from the camera unedited :P

This is my favorite picture :) (haha)