The little guy

It's a helmet!

Jackson has learned how to impersonate his Momma when she barfs.

It was so cute we needed another picture.

Financial Peace University

It's a funny thing that I have become passionate about finances in the last few years.  I did not grow up with money and I am a lousy math student but I love talking about money.  Most Americans are drowning in debt and live with so much stress in their lives that is just unnecessary.  Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University course has helped many people to get out of debt and get their financial house in order.  For a while I had the desire to teach the class at my church but there was never an opportunity.  When I found out that Pastor Sam, who taught the class last fall, decided not to do it again, I volunteered to take over.  The class will start on September 15 at the Minneapolis branch of Bethel Christian Fellowship and run each Wednesday from 6:00 to 7:30 pm.  The address is 2727 Central Ave in NE Mpls.  There is a meal provided beforehand and childcare as well.  If you are married or single, in good financial shape or poor, come to the class.  All are welcome.  Leave a comment or get in touch with me directly if you have any questions.  I'd love to see you there.

Pictures of Jackson

What is cuter than a super cute little boy?  A super cute little boy in a cape.

Jackson is playing with his cousins, Chase (right) and Carver (left).

Jackson loves his mama.

We sure love our little guy.

Eviction

We moved back from White Bear Lake (WBL) on Saturday.  Neither of us had spent much time in WBL and we found it to be a charming town/suburb.  It feels like a small town but is close to downtown St. Paul, making it a unique place in the Twin Cities.  On our last night in WBL we invited our friends, Brad and Karyn Carlson and their children, to walk around the downtown area and visit the Cup and Cone for some ice cream.  The C & C is a fantastic little ice cream shop and a must visit in WBL.  The prices cannot be beat.  We will be back.

In June we learned from our property management company that the tenants in the upstairs unit of our duplex had not paid their rent.  They were put on a payment plan for July but still did not have the money, so we had to evict them.  We felt terrible about it, but there was not much choice.  They were finally out on August 9, and we set about getting the place ready for new tenants.  Fortunately they left the place in good shape, so there was not a ton of work.  My father in law helped me paint a room and do some touch ups and my buddy Jeremy helped me with some cleaning.  I still need to return one more time to paint a stair railing that needed replacement but the place is ready for new occupants.  We spent some time last night praying over the property and part of that time was spent praying for the family we had to evict.  Our prayer was that the Lord would show them favor and give them a new place to live.  The financial hit that we are taking by this is not small and we are trusting the Lord to provide for us.  We are asking people to pray for new tenants and a way to refinance our payment down.  If the Lord decides to provide for us in another way, that is good, too.  We hope to get some good news about refinancing soon and we'll keep our blog readers posted.  God is good and we are still in a good place of trust.

 

Back on the move

Well, once again we are dogsitting.  Tomorrow we will start a week in White Bear Lake watching the dogs of some people that are friends of friends.  They have a sweet house with a home theater and the location is much closer to my work, so that will be nice.  A little extra cash won't hurt, either.  At the end of August we may have another dogsitting gig in St. Paul and after that we don't have any planned.  Some day, when we have a place of our own again, we will stop dog/housesitting for all our friends, but until then, these times provide a nice break from living with the in-laws in outer suburbia.

Jackson is becoming more vocal all the time.  Instead of saying yes, he says, "yeah, yeah" very quickly and nods his head.  When he says no, it mostly sounds like an o without the n, but we get the point.  He is an opinionated child who knows exactly what he wants and is not afraid to ask for it.  (He must get that from his mother.)  Every day he learns something new and is such a fun kid.  We are so thankful to God for him.

My job continues to go well.  I learn something new all the time.  A week or so ago I decided that I need to better understand what it is like to be in prison, since I am teaching classes to people who were just released. I watched some videos from the discovery channel about prison, which helped a little, but mostly I have been asking the residents.  Some of the guys that have some hard time in federal prison roll their eyes at my questions, thinking to themselves, "how does anybody not know that?" but I keep asking anyway.  I have to remind them that is is normal to have NOT been in prison and not the other way around.  Lately I have had a few openings to talk about things of the Lord and that has been cool.  My job can be tough but I like it and every day I get a little better at it.  Hopefully some of the teaching sticks and these guys are able to make it back into society.

 

Dance Party

I would be lying if I said that I haven't been feel very discouraged lately.  Though it's been a year since we heard God say "stay," we have not truly been able to settle back into life.  We love my mom and dad and are SO thankful for them.  Without the blessing of being able to live with them, I don't know where we'd be right now.  Probably crashing on your couch or camped out in your driveway!  

That said, their house doesn't feel like our home and I don't think we will ever truly feel settled here.  We still live out of boxes and that takes its toll after a while.  More than that, we still feel an empty place where a dream used to be.  Healing from a broken heart takes time.  This is a process I am learning well and no matter how I feel,  with a little one at my heels, I still have to pull it together and get through each day with a smile.     

Tim and I recently listened to a good sermon on choosing to rejoice when you don't feel like it.  The speaker gave the Hebrew definition of the word rejoice, which basically includes the physical actions of smiling, jumping and spinning.  It's challenged us to make that choice to rejoice even when we don't feel like it.  So we have decided that we are going to have a family dance party EVERY night until we get our breakthrough.  Lately, we have been rockin' to the song with the chorus 'this is how we overcome'  (I can't remember the song name, but it's a good one.)  Jackson absolutely loves it and runs to the living room as soon as we say the words dance party, it's very cute.  We all smile big, spin, and jump around and it's been really fun.  Even if I don't feel like it, I always feel better afterwards.  And I find myself singing the song throughout the day, which is a great encouragement. 

Tim and I are trusting God for some big things and are really praying that God would dramatically broaden our scope.  We know He didn't keep us back from Senegal for something less and we want to believe for something even bigger, more than we could ask or imagine.  But it's hard.  Anyone who tells you it isn't really, really hard is lying.  Seeking God for a God-sized calling is tough.  I cry a lot.  And I cry out to God a lot.  A lot.  Lucky for me, He is faithful to answer.  We may not have a new dream to fill our empty hearts yet, but we still have a solid grip on the "dream Giver."  And He is good.  

So I end this post with a challenge for you.  Have you chosen to rejoice today?  If not, and you don't think you have the strength to do it alone, come on over and join our dance party.  It may sound cheesey, but there is power in praising God.  Check out the Psalms.

Still on the move.

We finished our stay in North Mpls, returned to Rogers for Jackson to take a nap, and repacked for a weekend in Northeast Mpls.  The weekend of the 4th of July was spent doing a Stay-cation with our friends Peter and Julie at their house.  We ate a lot, Peter and I played some Disc Golf, and watched some episodes of the show Freaks and Geeks on DVD.  Never having done a Stay-cation before, we had a great time and hope to make it a tradition.  We then returned to Rogers in time for Jackson to take a nap, repacked, and moved on to White Bear Lake, to stay at the Showers house while they are visiting relatives.  My drive to work is short and we are enjoying their nice house and great yard.  It is getting a little old moving around all the time but we appreciate our friend's willingness to let us crash at their houses.  In a few days we will be back in Rogers for a while.  That will be okay, too.

I will add a couple pictures of Jackson, just because he's so cute.

 

Kickin' it, Northside!

I lived in South Minneapolis almost as long as I lived in Aurora, Colorado.  It seems strange that I have now spent more years living outside of Colorado that years in it.  South Minneapolis, despite being in the Hood, is a place of comfort to me because I know it so well.  This week Heidi and I are staying at some friend's house in North Minneapolis, which is totally foreign to me.  They live a couple miles from the tough part of Northside in a quiet neighborhood near a major freeway.  Our friend's house is peaceful and well decorated and we are enjoying our time here.  It has been great to save so much drive time on my commute to work and to go running in a new area.  Shingle Creek is two blocks away and has a trail alongside it that goes for miles.  I did not know that it existed before this week and I have enjoyed running there the last few mornings.  We do think about how we long to have our own place again and hope for the day when we can move out of Heidi's parent's house for a place of our own.  Until then, we remind ourselves to keep our heads up, trust in God, and keep saving money.  It is a huge blessing to be back in the city, even if it's for a short time.  Thanks, Snyders!

Thoughts on my time of unemployment.

From September 1, 2009, until the middle of May, 2010, I (Tim) was either unemployed or underemployed.  For 6 weeks over the holidays and all of March and April, I worked at Costco part time.  The rest of that time I was without a job at all. (I did watch some great kids on Wednesdays and got paid $50 each time, which was nice.)  My daily routine was to run in the morning, have a quiet time after breakfast and then spend much of the rest of the day applying for jobs.  I had two group interviews, four or five phone interviews, and about 8 or so face to face interviews during that time.  I applied for several hundred jobs.  When I finally got a job offer, it came from the same place that had turned me down for a different position.  I didn't take the interview seriously and almost turned down the second interview but now I am glad that I did not.  In fact, I prayed about going to the interview and felt strongly that I should go.  When they offered the job, Heidi and I went to different rooms and prayed about it for a while and both felt that I should take it.  We both heard from God that it was a prophetic act to take this job.  (In the Bible, prophets often did unusual or counter cultural things to show people what the Lord had to say about certain situations.)  While the Lord is giving us installments of understanding about the prophetic act, we still don't understand completely and are waiting on Him.  I get to work with people in a vulnerable state who need a tremendous amount of encouragement.  They are all in the beginning stages of finding a job, which is a tough place these days, and my recent experiences make me better suited to empathize and encourage them.  I am glad to have a full time job again and excited to see what the Lord has in store.

Our little peanut

Here's a few pics of Jackson

                                                                                                Trying ketchup for the first time!

We love our pastor

Today at church we celebrated twenty years of service at Bethel Christian Fellowship of our pastor, Jim Olson.  We also celebrated his completion of a PhD from Bethel Seminary.  Our church is so blessed to have such a caring and multi-talented pastor.  Heidi and I have two memories of Pastor Jim (we'll call him PJ in this blog entry).  First, when we found ourselves at Children's Hospital in Mpls with our sweet, five day old Jackson, PJ came and encouraged us.  It was the hardest time of our lives, taking the little guy to the ER and seeing him go through a battery of tests after we had not slept the entire night, and we appreciated PJ's visit so much.  Second, last summer, when we struggling through the decision to not go to Africa, PJ was with us in the struggle.  He then went on his Sabbatical but made sure that we were left in good hands with Pastor Dave Ogren.  Pastor Dave O was awesome and we appreciated PJ's wisdom in knowing that Pastor Dave O would take care of us.  When PJ returned from his Sabbatical he spent some time encouraging us even though he surely had plenty to keep him busy.  On top of taking care of us, he is an outstanding preacher.  We love PJ and feel so blessed to have him as our pastor.

The first Good Diction music video

We are taking a detour from our serious posts to put up the video for our favorite local, independent band, Good Diction.  Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_Qv47377QI

Somedays, you torture me, Facebook.

Happy Memorial Weekend!  Tim and I are filling ours with productivity, rest and time with both sides of the family.  

My favorite part about Facebook is how easy it has made the task of keeping up with people.  Those who use it at least.  I love, love, love looking at pictures from "our" team in Senegal.  I can't get enough.  I just love it.  I love missionaries in general, but I especially love a certain 7 missionaries in Kebemer, Senegal  :)   Joe and Cara just had their ngente, or baby-naming ceremony, for little Oliver Rufus.  The pictures were lovely and everyone looked amazing.  

Somedays though, it's just as painful as it is enjoyable to cruise through the images.  Most days I would say that's still the case actually.  But I can't NOT look.  I love to see what's going on with them.  I love to see everything about their lives.  A year ago, it was going to be us sitting there celebrating with them.  So maybe I torture myself by pouring over the pictures, but I can't stop.  I am so thankful that God continues to work healing in our hearts.  While I still ache today, I know that one day I won't.  And I rejoice in that hope.  I hurt, but I count it all joy as I face this circumstance.  

So congratulations Herzbergs!  We love you, we love Oliver and we can't wait to see you this summer!  

A New Dawn

If you know me, you know I like to go to bed early, typically 10pm.  Tim likes to stay up, but I need my sleep.  So when I tell you that I am sitting up typing this blog at 11:45pm you know that means something.  I went to bed at 10:15 and laid there totally awake for 45 minutes until the Lord finally got through to me that I needed to come and write this post.

Tim and I often dialogue about why we keep a blog.  In the beginning, it was obvious:  a way for friends and family to keep up with us while living in West Africa.  These days though, it seems less clear to me why we blog.  As much as Tim loves football and I love coupons, posting about those topics can seem a little fluffy in the grand scheme of things.  Blogging just to blog is a waste of time.  I have often been motivated to blog by a desire to make people understand our situation;  to help people “get it.”  But making people understand is not my job and this is an attitude that I have needed to repent of as God has challenged me to examine how much I care about what others think of me. 

Blogging is such a funny thing to me b/c you never really know who is reading your posts and you rarely get much feedback.  You put your thoughts out there to fade into cyberspace or maybe people are entertained by them.  Either way, I do find it cathartic.  It’s been a helpful tool for me to process this past year. 

Though this year has been nothing that we expected, God has been speaking to us more than at any other time in our lives.  On the surface, it’s been a pretty dull time for us and we have felt lonely, isolated, and discouraged.  We’re far from friends and away from community events (and that got really old really fast), but when we really think about it, this year has been anything but boring.

God has kept us on our toes.  He has ministered to us through prophetic words again and again and He is building up that gift within each of us.  (For all of our non-Pentacostal friends out there, don’t freak out, ok?  Bear with me!)  It’s these stories of His grace and mercy that really get us excited about what He’s up to.  It’s these stories of His faithfulness, provision, and hope that we want to share with you.  It’s these stories/experiences that have kept us seeking Him this past year when we have wanted nothing more than to give up and walk away.

We don’t say the things we say in order to prove something to you.  God told us to stay and we stayed.  But that’s not the end of the story.  We want to share these things b/c God is doing a good work and He is pouring out His spirit upon us in exciting new ways. 

Words cannot express how devastated Tim and I have felt, and sometimes still feel, this past year.  God has stripped away almost everything from us (title, ministry, location, financial security, you name it, we feel like we have lost it).  Most days, we feel keenly aware of all the things that we seem to lack.  But what we don’t lack, the most important thing, is Him.  In fact, He has given us more of Himself. 

Our desire has always been to be transparent with our ministry partners and though we’re not in ministry right now, but we speak with faith when we say that we will be.  And as we journey with God to that end, we deeply desire to encourage others along the way. 

So now our blog has a revised focus.  We want to share with you (whoever you are J) the “nitty-gritty” of what God is doing in us as we work out our salvation with much fear and trembling.  Please don’t be scared off if we start using language that we haven’t used before in the blog.  It’s still us:  Tim and Heidi.  We are just sharing more b/c it’s time.  It’s time to speak boldly about the things that God is doing in our lives b/c that’s what He’s called us to do.  When we hear a powerful prophetic word from God, we want to share it that He would be glorified. 

There might still be an occasional post about football and coupons, but mostly we want to boast in our God about this crazy ride that He has us on; it’s still a painful and bumpy ride, but it’s good. 

So please, join us in this adventure, leave comments, leave prayer requests, let us know how God is working in your life that we could join in with you and ride the wave of His mercy.

Ok, it’s 12:35…..I am tired! 

‘night 

1st week on the job.

I (Tim) have completed my first five days at my new job.  So far, I like it.  The place I am working is a halfway house that is contracted with the Department of Corrections and the Bureau of Prisons to handle inmates that are transitioning back into the community.  Every one of them has committed a felony and is facing an uphill battle to re-enter their lives.  My job is to teach classes to the residents, both men and women, during their first two weeks at the halfway house that will allow them to find meaningful employment.  The classes cover things like forgiveness, anger management, and expectations.  There is a lot of information to cover and it is not really enough for the years of incarceration but hopefully the classes are enough to get them thinking about their choices and what they want in life.  Soon I will start putting my own personality into the material and making it my own.  I am excited to add a new element of financial training into the material as well.  It's a good job so far, and I am grateful to have it.

Heidi and I are now back in Rogers.  The Leberts arrive back in the USA tomorrow with their kids, so we are no longer needed in St. Paul.  It is good to be home but I will miss the fantastic location of their house.  It was so nice to be able to hang out with people and not drive 45 minutes to do so.  We are praying that the Lord will give us some way to live back in the city and when that happens, we'll blog about it.

I got a full time job.

This will hopefully be my (Tim) last employment update for a long, long time.  The last couple months I have been working back at Costco on a part time basis.  Ironically, I was pretty close to getting full time hours and a better position in the company when I got an offer for a full time job.  I put in my two weeks notice at Costco on Monday and accepted a job at Volunteers of America at their Roseville facility.  The job title is Employment Program Coordinator and I will be working at a halfway house with inmates that are finishing their time in the Department of Corrections.  It sounds scary but it's really not.  The bulk of my job will be relationship building and helping the inmates to change their mindset to succeed on the outside.  I am sure there will be difficult days but I am looking forward to being challenged again.  At first I was not all that excited about the job and did not even want to go for the interview.  Somewhere in the process both Heidi and I came to know that the Lord provided this job and I was to be obedient and take it.  We know He is faithful and we will trust Him to take care of the rest.  It's a relief to no longer be on the job hunt and I am grateful for God's provision.

Livin it up in St. Paul!

For the last couple weeks, Heidi and I have left our suburban life behind and re-entered the city.  Our friends, Ed and Amanda, are in Columbia to pick up their newly adopted children and we are watching their house and dogs for them.  We love the seven minute drive to church and being so close to friends again.  I can run from their house and around Lake Como and back in about 45 minutes, although I do have to pay more attention to traffic than in Rogers.  We are happy that we can bless Ed and Amanda and will move back to Rogers in a few weeks.  Until then, we'll keep enjoying city life.

A year ago this month

As of about a week ago (April 19^th), Tim and I have been living with my parents for 1 year.  Yep.  1 year of crazy transition.  So far….the clock is still ticking…..  When we moved in we thought we’d be there 4 months tops.  Certainly not until Christmas, we’d say to each other….Well, God had different plans. 

So even with the coming of another beautiful MN Spring, April is a bittersweet month for us this year.  We are thankful for God’s provision as we continue to pray about direction.  We are also thankful that our ongoing needs keep us seeking Him, while Tim looks for full time work.  God is teaching us the painful lesson about finding satisfaction in Him and nothing else. 

Although there are lots of reasons why we still long to have our own place again, I think we are getting used to living with my parents.  There are a lot of benefits to multi-generational living and we are really thankful to have parents that can help us out in this way.  Truthfully, I don’t know what we’d do if we couldn’t live with them.  We don’t even have enough income to even rent out part of our own duplex!

We sure don’t know what’s coming next, but one thing we do know, the longer it takes for us to finally get settled again, the  more committed we are to what God is calling us to, no matter what.  And for right now, knowing that He knows what that is, even when we don’t, that’s enough for us.

A post the ladies can appreciate

Today I realized that I am proud of myself.  (With a little help from Amanda J)  I am an emotional eater for SURE.  I love, love, love food.  I love to read about it, look at it, buy it, prepare it, talk about it, and eat it.  And this is especially true when I am feeling down.  The past 9 months of this crazy transition time have been an emotional rollercoaster leading to little bouts of depression for both of is.  So I am proud of myself that in the midst of it all, I have been able to lose some weight.  If you are an emotional eater, you know how profound this is!  Some of it was baby weight and needed to go and some of it had nothing to do with Jackson, but still needed to go!  I have been watching what I eat and working out, but I think some of it was that fact that I can control what I am eating even when I can’t control anything else in my life right now.  At least it’s a small victory in this season of discouragement J   

Pushin Broom

Encouragement sometimes comes from strange places.  One of my (Tim) all time favorite bands is Tourniquet, a metal band that hit the scene around 1990 and made some amazing music over the years.  They are mostly known for their incredible drummer, deep lyrics which were often inspired by medical terminology, and a singer with good enough diction to actually understand him.  One of my favorite songs is "Pushin Broom", from their 1995 album Vanishing Lessons.  It is a reminder to be faithful in the little things before we can expect God to give us bigger things.  The song says that sometimes we have be content to push a broom and not try to speed along God's plan for us while the voice in our heads tells us that we are wasting our lives.  Only when we ignore that voice and seek to be faithful with what we know God has for us will we be able to take that next step.  I feel like that song speaks to my situation.  Working at Costco is a blessing and I am grateful to have some income but I am also longing for the day when I am back in full time work that I find more fulfilling.  However, I must constantly remind myself not to look ahead but to seek the Lord now and enjoy what he has for me today.  The extra time with my family is a true blessing and someday I'll look back at that with gratitude.  In the meantime, I will work on being faithful and keep pushing that broom.

Easter

When I (Tim) was in high school, I started the tradition of listening to the song, "It is Finished" by Petra, every Good Friday.  Last year I finally switched songs to "Beautiful, Scandalous Night" by Bebo Norman and Leigh Nash.  Those songs bring me to the place of the Passion, where Jesus went through pain and death for me.  I am still amazed that He loved me enough to do that.  It really is amazing.  I am so glad that the story did not end on Friday.  As the old preacher said, "it's Friday.  But Sunday's comin!"  He is risen!  He is risen indeed!

Spring has sprung....sort of

Every year my birthday comes on the first day of spring (today!), but sadly, in MN, that doesn't necessarily mean anything.  Jackson and I have enjoyed a lovely walk every day this week regardless of the weather.  

So far the day is off to a great start.  I have been trying (with relative success) to fast from coffee for lent.  But today I decided to ring in the celebrations with a steaming cup of jo.  It was delicious!  I got to sit and watch the food network and enjoy my coffee while Tim fed Jackson.  What a great husband!  Then Tim headed off to work and Mom, Jackson and I headed to Big Bowl for lunch, yum.  After work, I will pick Tim up, we'll drop Jackson with some friends and out on the town we will go, hooray!  But for now, here are some more pictures of my current employer.  What a cutie.

Sporting the hawk

If you know me, you know I love little things:  A little man in a little chair, ha!

He loves to drink the last drop of my coffee 

As you may know, we have been doing a lot of house-sitting lately and he has really loved all the "new" kitchen cupboards to play in.  And always with spoon in hand :)

Back to Costco

It is time for an employment update.  Costco called and invited me back to work, so that is good.  I have been back two days so far and I am getting back into my groove.  They are giving me 24 hours per week and I am grateful for the income.  Aside from that, there is little to report.  I have had several interviews in the last month or so but nothing has come of them.  One interview was for a position at MN Teen Challenge and I was excited about it, but it was offered to someone else.  There is not much to do except keep pressing on.  Today as I was praying, I felt a hope return to my heart that I have not felt in a while.  I was reminded of Jeremiah 29:11, where the Lord reminds Israel that He has a hope and a future for them.  Yes, I receive that.  Heidi did restart her Mary Kay business and that has brought in a some cash, so that's good.  I will keep the blog updated when anything exciting happens.

A whirlwind weekend.

A week ago my sister, Sally, and I boarded the Megabus for an overnight trip to Chicago.  Having never taken a trip on the Megabus, we were unsure what to expect.  The bus was running late so we waited for an hour outside in 21 degrees with a lot of other impatient and cold people.  We were finally able to score two seats together and settled in for the trip.  Many of the people around us were on their cell phones and most talked much louder than necessary.  A few people’s conversations would have made Ice Cube blush with the foul language.  I have never heard the F word or N word as much as on that bus ride.  Fortunately I was able to sleep most of the way but poor Sally was not.  Upon our arrival in Chicago, we found a taxi and located the South Shore Line for our train ride to Valparaiso, IN.  With Starbucks Pike Place roast in hand, we rode the train and met up with our sister, Amy, and niece, Christi in Valparaiso and they drove us to Warsaw, IN.  We had enough time to get cleaned up and meet up with the rest of the family for dinner before Christi’s show, the reason we trekked to Northern IN.

Christi has an immense talent for comedy.  She gets it from the Chase side of the family, we know that for certain.  Last spring she spent a semester at Second City doing Comedy Studies, so she is the real deal with comedy.  The show we had travelled to see was a sketch show and she was the writer, director, stage manager, and costumer.  It was put on with students from Grace College, where Christi is finishing her senior year and will graduate with one of those degrees where you don’t make any money.  (I’ve got one of those, too.)  Sketch shows are just a bunch of mostly unrelated skits meant to make you laugh.  Imagine Saturday Night Live if it was still funny.  I cannot say enough good things about her show.  It was so funny that my stomach hurt afterward.  I am so proud of her and excited to see where this takes her in the future.  She could write for Jay Leno and then he would actually be funny.

On Sunday we returned to Chicago with Amy and Christi to catch the bus home.  I learned that I did not know Chicago as well as I thought and we had some trouble finding the place to board the Megabus.  We finally decided to park and use the free wireless at Panera to find the right location but then quickly realized that we were only a block away but had not been able to see the place because of road construction.  After pizza at Giodano’s (spell?), which was awesome, we found our bus stop.  Since we put our trip together at the last minute, our tickets did not line up for the same bus.  Fortunately Sally sweet talked the driver and he let me board with the wrong ticket.  Our fellow riders were a much different crowd from the last ride and I don’t remember hearing any foul language on this trip.  I am so glad I got to see family and Christi’s show.  It was a great weekend but I’m still tired.

Here is a picture of my talented niece.

Why?

Lately Tim and I have gotten a few emails and the like with a similar question in them.  Basically, a few folks have asked why we didn't go to Senegal.  Our desire is to be transparent in this transition and I have been meaning to address this via the blog for a while now.  Usually, by the time I get Jackson into bed, I am too wiped to do anything very productive!

Our answer to this question is painfully simple:  God said so.  It doesn't sound like much, I know, but it's enough.  It has to be!  Just over a year ago, the Lord started preparing us for a door that was going to close.  His word was that we should not be discouraged, b/c He was going to do a new thing.  Though we never imagined it would be such a big door, God began to speak to us (loudly) about obedience and timing.  We do have more insight into why, and some of that we are holding on to until the time is right to share it, but we can say that God wanted to know how much He could trust us.

When we first heard Him say that a door was closing, we began to pray for discernment.  We also began to say yes, yes, yes to all that God has for us, even if it meant a completely different ministry.  The best way that I can explain it is that as we were constantly saying yes, and holding "our" ministry in open hands, along the way we said yes to something that God grabbed on to and thought 'ok, I am going to use them in a different way, time to change the direction of things.'  I don't know if that makes sense to you, but that is how I understand it.

So we stayed b/c God changed the plan.  We still feel called to ministry, but we have NO idea of what that will look like.  And since we made the final decision to heed what we thought we were hearing from God, we have not doubted for a moment that it was the right decision.  We praise God for that peace and we are blessed by how vocal God has been to us in this time of transition.

This season continues to be one filled with pain, tears and grieving and we deeply covet your prayers, especially for our unity as a family.  We definitely feel stretched, especially as this season of unemployment continues to take its toll on us.  We are hanging in there, but it's surely a challenge to stay full of faith and hopeful for the future.

I hope this answers some questions.  If not, we want to know.  We want God to be supremely glorified through this chapter of our lives and we are not embarrassed by anything that has transpired (even though we are unemployed and live in my parents guest room....  :P  ) so we welcome dialog  about what God is doing.

If you'd like to read the original newsletter see the post from July 30th, 2009 from the archives.

Peace.

Housesitting

For the last week and a half, Heidi and I have been housesitting in Richfield.  It is nice to be closer to our friends and have our own place for a while but being away from all of our stuff does get tiring.  Also, Jackson requires so much gear that our car was pretty much stuffed.  A few days ago our stationwagon needed to go into the shop so we had to bring some stuff back to Heidi's parent's house and retrieve our Honda Civic, which has much less cargo space.  Hopefully we will still be able to get everything into the Honda on Tuesday when we are done in Richfield.  We have also discovered that we are not dog people.  This is the second time we have watched someone's dog and, while we do not dislike dogs, we just don't love them.  Ironically, we have two more house/dogsittings scheduled for the next couple months.  In both cases, the people are good friends with nice dogs, (and large TVs) so we are not at all worried about it.  It is good that we did this so that we did not get a dog and discover that we were not cut out for dog ownership.

I am still in the job hunt.  Yesterday I had an interview at MN Teen Challenge and that went well.  It would be a great job and I am sure I would like it a lot.  I will not hear about a 2nd interview for a couple weeks since one of the decision makers is going on vacation all of next week.  Today I had a phone interview at Lifesource, which does organ procurement.  Next week I should hear if they want another interview.  It is good to have interviews and I'll keep putting out applications and keep the blog updated when anything happens.  I am in a good place of trusting God to provide.

Let's party, MK style

This entry is kind of like Tim's last blog, it's another employment update...sort of...I have decided to start selling Mary Kay cosmetics again!  I used to do this a few years back and I thought I'd see if I can generate some income for the Chase family until Tim is working.  So, here we go!  

Some of you have asked us over the past few months if there is anything you can do to help us re-transition back to life in MN.  Well.....I have a fun, tangible suggestion for you (insert sweet smile)...you can throw a Mary Kay party!!!  If you are reading this and thinking, "No way!  MK is for Southern women with big hair and way too much lipstick," don't worry, that's not how I roll.  I am a pretty mellow MK lady, parties are a fun way to hang out with your friends and try a new lip gloss color :)     

So, if you're up for it, or even if you just want to order a refill of your fave foundation, let me know.  I would REALLY appreciate it and I promise it will be fun!

Employment Update

I (Tim) have not given an employment update in a while, so here it is.  Since September 1, I have been officially unemployed.  After a couple months of searching and a few interviews, I accepted a part time job at Costco and kept sending out resumes and interviewing.  I was at Costco as a seasonal employee for six weeks and then was let go, along with the other seasonal workers.  It was supposed to go for two more weeks, but the money flow was not enough to keep us.  Now I continue to job search and hope to find something soon. 

I learned a few things working at Costco, which was the first retail job I had done since 1995.  The following  are a some of them:

-          - A big part of my job was to go around returning items that customers had left in the wrong spot.  They would decide that they did not want it and leave it in some other part of the store.  That drove me nuts.  C’mon, people.  Put your stuff back where you got it.  Especially when it needs refrigeration.  Don’t be so lazy.

-         -  I also spent a couple shifts collecting carts from the parking lot.  On Christmas Eve, I spent seven hours on cart duty in a snowstorm.  I got annoyed when people would leave their garbage in their cart.  There are no magic elves that go around and pick up trash.  It was me.  I did not want to do cart duty when I started but I enjoyed it more than I expected.

-         -  Most of my time was spent going around with a scanner to get info from the customer’s membership cards and convincing them to upgrade their membership.  As you can imagine, most people did not want to upgrade.  A few were jerks but that was the minority, fortunately.  I was good at it but never enjoyed it all that much.

-          - One woman got the award for jerky customer of the year.  When I was on cart duty in the handicapped section, I woman drove up to me and rolled down her window.  I leaned down and she asked me if we used all the handicapped spots, many of which were empty at that moment.  My response was that when the store is busy, all the spots are filled.  She said “hurump” or something like that and drove away in a huff.  Anyone who complains that there are too many handicapped spots is the jerk of the year.

-          -  I got to run into some friends that I don’t get to see often, so that was a nice side benefit of the job.

I am grateful for the Costco job but I am looking forward to full time employment with something that fits my gifts a little better.  I appreciate your prayers and will give an update when I have any news.

So many firsts!

We are constantly celebrating firsts these days, from baby signs and cute expressions to discipline.  Mostly fun things, though.  It was great to celebrate Jackson's first birthday even though he didn't really get it.

So many presents for such a little guy!  He really liked ripping the bows off.

That little orange dinosaur is about the cutest thing ever and handmade by Jackson's special friend Marlyse.

Since we don't give Jackson any refined sugar (except for trace amounts) I made him a healthy rendition of some sweet potato pie.  At first he wasn't sure what to think of it, even though he loves sweet potatoes (who doesn't?!), but then he got into it.

Not too much of a mess to clean up either, which was nice  :)

Jackson may have liked it, but Nana needed to add some sugar to hers...haha

Here's another one of our little man surveying the bounty on Christmas morning.

Life sure has changed a lot this past year, but Tim and I love being parents and can't imagine parenting a sweeter little person.  We look forward to growing our family, but aren't sure we'll get "so lucky" the next time around.  haha  One thing is sure, Jackson has brought a lot of joy this past year, especially on the hard days!  We praise God for him.

So who reads this anyway?

Tim and I ask this question all the time, who reads our blog anyway?  Sometimes blogging feels sharing your life with everyone and sometimes it feels like I blog and Tim reads it and that's it.   So if you read our ramblings, often or irregularly, drop us a comment to say hello. 

This Christmas season was strange for our little family.  We were blessed to meditate on the birth of our beloved Savior, we got spoiled with lovely gifts and we enjoyed time with both sides of the family, but it was also a bittersweet reminder of where we are at.  We have never doubted our decision to stay and not go to Senegal, but we haven't yet reached the point of being happy to be in MN.  We are still sad.  And if you catch us in a moment of vulnerable honestly, we don't FEEL like we have that much of a life here anymore. 

Even though we figured it was a pipe dream, we were hoping to be out of Mom and Dad's by Christmas.  We love my parents, but living with them is certainly not without it's challenges.  I especially crave a place that I can make into a home for my family.  Most days, we feel rather homeless, unsettled and directionless.  However, God is SO good and we are able to whole-heartedly praise Him daily for His presence and faithfulness in our lives. 

I think we could use a break.  Sometimes a change in scenery does a world of good.  In August, the three of us went camping for a couple days and it was really refreshing.  Some of you have been consistently offering your homes, it just hasn't worked out yet, but THANK YOU!  We have appreciated your offers SO much.  (I thank you assuming you read our blog......)  Since Tim wasn't asked to stay on at Costco, we have lots of time on our hands again.  So if anyone is going to be out of town for the weekend and we could "do you a favor" by watching your house or something, let us know.  We are really good at watering plants :)  haha  Or maybe you know someone with a year round cabin that might be available for our use, let us know.  Thanks friends.

Happy 1st Birthday Jackson Oliver!!!!

Our little boy is ONE year old today!!!  Hooray for Jackson!  I can't believe this year has gone by so quickly, what a blessing he has been to our family.

Here's another family pic from Christmas and a few from a party we went to.  This is my first gingerbread house ever!  I had never decorated one before, it was really fun....I feel a tradition coming on....

A few more cuties of baby Jack from the weekend :)

In other news, I told Tim this morning that since we are now buying whole milk for Jackson, I will no longer be buying half and half for the coffee.  I don't think he was excited.  

It was a Merry Christmas

We had a good Christmas but we were sad to miss out on seeing my (Tim) sisters.  The snow and ice kept us from making the trip to Dresser, WI.  It was nice to just hang out with Heidi's family but I missed seeing my own.  I guess that is a part of living in Minneasota.

The other pictures are just to let everyone know how cute our little boy is.

Jackson discovers sugar

We have not allowed Jackson to have refined sugar yet but he apparently has a taste for it. The following pictures are from when he found a plate within his reach that had some apple crisp left on it.

 

 

 

Back to work, for now.

I have finished two weeks of work at Costco. I am a seasonal, part time worker and Heidi and I are happy to have the income. The first few days I spent unloading carts for the cashiers to ring up the items and then I would reload the carts after the customer paid. It is tiring work but I started to get into the groove after a day or so. I also spent time putting away merchandise that the customers either did not want when they got to the cashier or simply left on the nearest shelf. If it was a perishable item, I would return it immediately and try to get back to keep loading as quickly as possible. Since Costco is a warehouse store, not everything is always in the same spot every day. That makes putting items that I find back where they belong much more interesting. Often I try to put something back in the place I saw it the day before only to find that it is in another part of the store altogether. I am starting to get the hang of it, so that's good. Lately, though, I have joined the Marketing Team. That is a fancy way of saying that I hover around the cash registers and try to get people to upgrade their membership. It is going well and my manager already told me that he was pleased with my work. I am not a natural salesman but at least I know that most people who upgrade end up saving money so that makes it easier. It's better than collecting carts from the parking lot, which I did one day last week. In this difficult economic time, I am grateful for work.

A week ago I had a promising interview with Kids Against Hunger. A secular nonprofit based in New Hope, a suburb of Minneapolis. That job would be an excellent fit for me and I am praying hard that they will bring me back for a second interview. I expect to hear something later this week.

Jackson got his first ear infection a few days ago. He has responded well to the antibiotics but is still not back to his normal self yet. Normally such a good sleeper, he has not been sleeping well the last few nights and therefore, Heidi and I have not been either. Hopefully this passes soon and we can get back to normal. Otherwise, he is doing well. He has mastered crawling and can move at incredible speeds. His favorite thing is to crawl to the nearest bathroom and try to stick his hands into the toilet. Good times.