This past week has been wow...quite the week! Winter is here in full swing, and along with a midwest winter comes temperatures in the negatives. This btw...is a first time experience for me! yes crazy i know but where i come from...the coldest i can ever remember it getting is 15 , and that was a big deal! On our way to Lester this past wknd Christa and i shivered as the thermometer in her car read outside temps of 3..1....0...-3..and continued to drop. Now -17 is an everyday norm. This i do not like..and when it blows, well for those of you who know me well know that this is when i begin to grumble. But when nights like last night occur, when its in the negatives,dry fluffy snow is gently falling, everything glitters, and there is no wind...then i can handle it! and *gasp* you may actually hear the words "i sorta like this!" come from my mouth. crazy i know. For now its not bad as this is my midwest adventure to last me my entire life. Then after this i shall dwell in the beauty of the willamette valley forever:):)
Friday night i had a meeting with Rod to go over january 4th, my testimony night, as he is the visiting elder. It was such an awesome time and i am so so thankful that God has worked so many miracles in my life this past year. 2013 sure hasnt been an easy one but i wouldnt change it for anything:) After my meeting Lanna, and Hannah picked me up and after one quick stop to grab Nicky we were off to Sioux Falls for dinner at Ruby Tuesdays. We had barely sat down and Rod and Sue walked in the door! made for quite a laugh as I had JUST been at their house:) Ahh the small things in life:) a Trip to Target was our next stop. 5 Girls in Target...you can only imagine..
The rest of the night was spent at Lannas in footy pajamas while we counted down the minutes to Nickys 20th birthday and then celebrated the AC way, with food!:) Lanna and Hannah created a giant cookie masterpiece!
After a late night and then sleeping in late Saturday finally got rollin. Nicky, Hannah and I went back to sioux falls to bum around the stores. We had been wanting to go to world market so that was our first stop. Honestly ...its the coolest place ever. So many random foods, clothing items and decorations line the walls that its nearly impossible to "just stop by". When we found the chocolate isle we got a taste of heaven ;) There were so so many different flavors and creations that we decided to each buy something unique to try. Hannah bought Maple bacon, which as the package said was " crisp bacon, delicate maple sweetness,and bonfire smoked sea salt bathed in milk chocolate" sounds tasty right!? Nickys choice was Potato Chip described as "crisp kettle cooked potato chips and a hint of sea salt mixed and mangled with milk chocolate" how delightful! My choice was almond and sea salt in dark chocolate. Not super unique but the dark chocolate part had me 100% SOLD. After having a taste test of each im pretty sure bacon was ruled out right away...it tasted kind of life dog food...mixed with chocolate. Hah not my cup of tea, but never the less unique! Our next mission was to hit up dress barn in search of long jean skirts..where we came up empty handed, so the clerk gave us directions to this second hand store that she claimed had tons. So off we went... we didnt find the place she was talking about but we did find a second hand store in the location that she told us the other one was at. So we went in....sketchiest thrift store ive probably ever been to... but we were brave and began sifting through all of the skirts. Naturally we found a few and went to try them on...mind you the dressing room was a curtained off doorway with junk...everywhere.It was so sick. Hannah was the only one to have anything fit and was pretty sure she was going to get it until we walked out of the dressing room and spotted a gallon of milk...yes MILK!! on the floor...next to a pile of rubbish.Yup that was just enough to change her mind and we high tailed it out of there! You know a place is bad when you go to Goodwill as a step up. So that is how we spent Nickys birthday:)
Saturday Evening was the testimonies of LaChelle Moser, Garth Knobloch and Amy Knobloch. I had'nt ever been to a testimony since in SIlverton converts dont go, so this was a new experience as i spent 3 hrs in the conference room with about 16 other converts. It started off a tad awkward because for a lot of us it was our first time but it didnt take long and we were chattin away!:) After the testimonies we went to a lunch call at Blaire and Julie Metzgers house.
Saturday night was spent at Nickys house with Nicky, Hannah, and Kendra. Sitting in front of a warm fire with full bellys..and within minutes we were konked out on the living room floor! This isnt normal though...it was actually quite odd beings how the 4 of us are big talkers so usually we spend sleepless nights together talkin up a storm.
Sunday dawned bright and snowy and the Baptisms that took place that afternoon were beautiful. Every since i gave my life to the Lord ive cried at every single baptism. Its just so beautiful! Its the most important thing that anyone can ever do in their entire life, make a covenant with God and bury the old self. Sitting in the pews watching the 3 of them "bury" their old selves made me slightly nervous yet excited at the same time knowing that the next baptism i would attend would be my own. And Lord willing this will be on January 5th 2014:)
This week has been quite busy what with finals underway and so much studying to do! So please please pray for me if you think about it when you bow your head. Im not one to get stressed out but this has been a stressful semester. Its finally what ill be doing for the rest of my life. No longer am i taking generals. its the real deal!
So in between laundry, phone calls, meals, and packing you can bet ill have my nose buried in a text book:)
Have a blessed week and stay warm!!
BTW we LOVE christmas cards!:) *hint hint* so if you've got an extra feel free to send them our way! Weve got a christmas photo wall going and we would love to put your shining face up!
401 1/2 apt.11 Grand Ave.
Spencer IA 51301
:)
Friday night i had a meeting with Rod to go over january 4th, my testimony night, as he is the visiting elder. It was such an awesome time and i am so so thankful that God has worked so many miracles in my life this past year. 2013 sure hasnt been an easy one but i wouldnt change it for anything:) After my meeting Lanna, and Hannah picked me up and after one quick stop to grab Nicky we were off to Sioux Falls for dinner at Ruby Tuesdays. We had barely sat down and Rod and Sue walked in the door! made for quite a laugh as I had JUST been at their house:) Ahh the small things in life:) a Trip to Target was our next stop. 5 Girls in Target...you can only imagine..
The rest of the night was spent at Lannas in footy pajamas while we counted down the minutes to Nickys 20th birthday and then celebrated the AC way, with food!:) Lanna and Hannah created a giant cookie masterpiece!
After a late night and then sleeping in late Saturday finally got rollin. Nicky, Hannah and I went back to sioux falls to bum around the stores. We had been wanting to go to world market so that was our first stop. Honestly ...its the coolest place ever. So many random foods, clothing items and decorations line the walls that its nearly impossible to "just stop by". When we found the chocolate isle we got a taste of heaven ;) There were so so many different flavors and creations that we decided to each buy something unique to try. Hannah bought Maple bacon, which as the package said was " crisp bacon, delicate maple sweetness,and bonfire smoked sea salt bathed in milk chocolate" sounds tasty right!? Nickys choice was Potato Chip described as "crisp kettle cooked potato chips and a hint of sea salt mixed and mangled with milk chocolate" how delightful! My choice was almond and sea salt in dark chocolate. Not super unique but the dark chocolate part had me 100% SOLD. After having a taste test of each im pretty sure bacon was ruled out right away...it tasted kind of life dog food...mixed with chocolate. Hah not my cup of tea, but never the less unique! Our next mission was to hit up dress barn in search of long jean skirts..where we came up empty handed, so the clerk gave us directions to this second hand store that she claimed had tons. So off we went... we didnt find the place she was talking about but we did find a second hand store in the location that she told us the other one was at. So we went in....sketchiest thrift store ive probably ever been to... but we were brave and began sifting through all of the skirts. Naturally we found a few and went to try them on...mind you the dressing room was a curtained off doorway with junk...everywhere.It was so sick. Hannah was the only one to have anything fit and was pretty sure she was going to get it until we walked out of the dressing room and spotted a gallon of milk...yes MILK!! on the floor...next to a pile of rubbish.Yup that was just enough to change her mind and we high tailed it out of there! You know a place is bad when you go to Goodwill as a step up. So that is how we spent Nickys birthday:)
Saturday Evening was the testimonies of LaChelle Moser, Garth Knobloch and Amy Knobloch. I had'nt ever been to a testimony since in SIlverton converts dont go, so this was a new experience as i spent 3 hrs in the conference room with about 16 other converts. It started off a tad awkward because for a lot of us it was our first time but it didnt take long and we were chattin away!:) After the testimonies we went to a lunch call at Blaire and Julie Metzgers house.
Saturday night was spent at Nickys house with Nicky, Hannah, and Kendra. Sitting in front of a warm fire with full bellys..and within minutes we were konked out on the living room floor! This isnt normal though...it was actually quite odd beings how the 4 of us are big talkers so usually we spend sleepless nights together talkin up a storm.
Sunday dawned bright and snowy and the Baptisms that took place that afternoon were beautiful. Every since i gave my life to the Lord ive cried at every single baptism. Its just so beautiful! Its the most important thing that anyone can ever do in their entire life, make a covenant with God and bury the old self. Sitting in the pews watching the 3 of them "bury" their old selves made me slightly nervous yet excited at the same time knowing that the next baptism i would attend would be my own. And Lord willing this will be on January 5th 2014:)
This week has been quite busy what with finals underway and so much studying to do! So please please pray for me if you think about it when you bow your head. Im not one to get stressed out but this has been a stressful semester. Its finally what ill be doing for the rest of my life. No longer am i taking generals. its the real deal!
So in between laundry, phone calls, meals, and packing you can bet ill have my nose buried in a text book:)
Have a blessed week and stay warm!!
BTW we LOVE christmas cards!:) *hint hint* so if you've got an extra feel free to send them our way! Weve got a christmas photo wall going and we would love to put your shining face up!
401 1/2 apt.11 Grand Ave.
Spencer IA 51301
:)