Respect

Respect is a hard concept for many kids to understand. Every year I talk about what it means to be respectful. It's always one of the rules we have in my classroom because it encompasses so many things from not hitting, to not taking other people's property, to taking care of your desk because it belongs to the school, etc. Well, this weekend I learned that there are some adults who are unsure of the meaning of the word respect.

This weekend, we went camping at Mississenewa Lake. It is so beautiful down there with many things to do. We played corn hole, went on a hike, went swimming, took a boat ride, and of course had lots of yummy food. Camping isn't camping without yummy food.

We also had some very disrepectful neighbors who stayed up until all hours talking, laughing, using choice words, etc. I found myself praying that first night that they would just go to sleep so I could go to sleep. Getting angrier and angrier by the minute because they were being so disrepectful to everyone around them. Then the more I prayed, the more I had the feeling to not pray about them, but to pray for them. It seemed to me that they probably did not know Jesus, so I prayed that they might come to know Him and they would then find joy in Him rather than drinking and cursing. Now of course this was no magic button and the next night was more of the same. I was still angry at them for ruining my peaceful camping experience, but I also realized how blessed I am to come home to a quiet house! :)

The Fair

MMMMMMM...it's that time of year again. The only time one can actually enjoy animal smells and fried food smells at the same time! :) The Elkhart County 4-H Fair! As a youngster this was always one of my favorite weeks in the summer (probably because I didn't have animals and have to be stuck there all week! :)). Now as an adult, I pretty much go for the food and concerts. Saturday, Matt and I went to the fair to work in the pork building as a fundraiser for our Sunday School class. It is definitely one of the best fundraisers ever! You work for about 4 hours and get a free meal and fellowship time with classmates. Then last night we went to the Little Big Town concert. They put on a great show and even though I knew just a few songs, I had a great time! Below are some pictures (I would've put more on, but getting these two to upload took about 5 minutes!)

Picture Perfect

After a long day of working in the basement, cleaning everything from walls to floors, what could be better than taking a bath? I don't remember the last time I took time to take a bath, but I thought with a brand new tub, I better try it out! It was awesome. God is so amazing. Picture this, the sun is setting, candles are flickering, the jets are pumping, and the bubbles are flowing. And just when I thought, "It doesn't get any better than this," Matt yells to look out the window because a deer is grazing in our backyard. WOW! Praise God for everyday moments that remind you of His awesome creation!! :) Have a great day everybody!!

We're back and in!

After a crazy few weeks, we have returned from Utah and moved into our new house!
We had a really nice time in Utah visiting with friends and hiking around the mountains. It really is beautiful out there.
But we were really excited to get home because we knew we'd be moving into our new house. We got back from the airport around 3:45 a.m. on Monday morning so we slept for a little while and mom came over to the house to let the carpet cleaner in. When we got here we cleaned and brought in a few boxes. On Tuesday was the big move, we called in wonderful friends to help us move furniture and boxes. Thanks to Wes, Jamie, Dave, Amos, John, Jessica, Jenn, Jess, Rex, Liz, and all our parents we are now moved in! :) Since then we've been cleaning each room and trying to organize everything. We still have lots of boxes, but it is beginning to feel more like home!
And as soon as I find the cord to our camera and have about 3 hours (gotta love dial-up!), I'll post some pictures of the trip. Until then, check out Jess's collage on her site.

This is it!

Well, today is the day we no longer own the house at 28745 CR 42. It seems surreal because we've been here for almost 6 years. We've had a lot of wonderful memories here and I'm sure we'll create many more at our new house. We'll be out of town until July 6th and then begin the move in process. If you need to get a hold of Matt or me, the best way would be our home number (which will stay the same). A bad part about moving we found is that the cell phone reception is horrible and we cannot get high speed internet (at least until we find a cheap enough deal!) :( So for now we'll have to stay connected the old fashioned way! We are now the official owners of 23525 CR 38 in Goshen!! YEAH!

Below are some pictures of fun times we've had at our "old" house! :)

Softball Picnic '07
Snowstorm '07
Mom's birthday '05
Kristina's bridal shower '06

Halloween '07
Matt and Grace '07
Bears/Colts Super Bowl '07

Christmas '07
Us '07
Christmas '05

Halloween '06

Christmas '06

Halloween '05
Fondue Party '07

Not to mention the years '02-04 which I couldn't find any digital pictures of since we didn't have our current camera! :) Thanks for the memories!

The Plan

The plan for the house is coming together quite quickly. As of now, our goal is to have everything packed and moved into trailers (thanks to Phil Hahn Auctioneers :) ) by Tuesday. Yes, I did say Tuesday as in July 1st. We close that day and then will be gone July 2-6. When we get back on the 7th, our new house should be empty because they will move in to this house while we're on vacation. So, we'll move in to our new house the week of the 7th! It sounds confusing, but I think it will work. The only part I'm not super excited about is having everything we own sitting around in trailers for a week. But, I'm sure everything will be fine. And the house we move into will be empty, which is great because we'll get to clean before moving in! So today we start packing. Here's what we have done so far....

...ok so all these boxes are just from the kitchen. Who knew that we could fit so many things in such a small space? Mom and I worked for about 4 1/2 hours on one room. I hope the other ones don't take as long! But, Matt and I will both be home during the day (yeah..summer school's done!) so I think we'll be able to get all we own packed and loaded within a week! :) And mom and Cathy have both volunteered their time to pack tomorrow. Thanks ladies!

Week in Review

Matt has returned! :) I tried to stay busy with teaching summer school (2 more days, YIPEE!), visiting friends, cleaning the house, shopping with mom, reading, and watching softball. And the week actually went by pretty quickly. I was glad to see Matt come home though. :)


Here is a picture of Matt and the kids in his group. He said the weather was cold, the water was frigid, and the bugs were bad. But everyone still managed to have a good time.

The fishing was not as good as it had been in the past, but he still managed to catch this whopper! :)

There was a moose and her calf that they could get relatively close too to take pictures of. Matt said that the moose didn't seem bothered by them, but they also didn't want to push their luck and get too close! :)

Things are moving along on the house, the appraiser came by last Thursday, and all the financial stuff is getting in order. So we're trying to figure out a moving/closing date that will be beneficial for both of us since we have to move at the same time. Don't worry though, when we get a moving date, we will let you all know!! :)

We're moving!!! (TAKE 2)

Ok, the last situation may have been fast, but this one's just strange! :) After our first buyers backed out, the people who are selling their house to us, decided they wanted to look at our house. Hmmm....strange. So they wanted to look at it on Saturday (when we were camping) and it was no where near ready. We said no can do. Well, they wouldn't be able to look at it all this week they said. But then, a few days later we got a call saying they rearranged their schedules to look at the house Tuesday afternoon. The realtor said they really liked it, but wanted a few people to come out and look at the roof and furnace. Then today, we got an offer from the couple, we countered them, and they accepted! So it looks like we are going to trade houses! It's hard to get too excited after what happend with the last buyer, but these people are much more motivated to buy because it really helps them out too. Our closing date is July 11 and we're still waiting on loan approvals from them, but no inspections have been ordered. PHEW! :)

We could use some prayers that everything goes smoothly and we actually get to the closing date this time. Also, John, about those boxes.... :)

The Great Outdoors

Matt and I spent the beautiful weekend enjoying the great outdoors camping at Chain-o-Lakes. It's so nice to get away from work and technology for the weekend and you can't forget about all the great food. We definitely eat well (and a lot!) We had a wonderful time enjoying the campground and the company. We went with Amos, Jess, Grace, Tyler, and Jenn. It was Tyler's first camping trip and I think he liked it. He especially liked the sticks! :) Here are some pictures:

The crew after our yummy Saturday evening meal.

The girls

Jess and Tyler
You gotta be quick to catch a picture of Grace! :)

Make a Joyful Noise?!?!

Alright, I've taken a few days to blog about this because I couldn't get my mind wrapped around the "making a joyful noise" part! :) As many of you know, our buyer backed out of his contract with us to buy our house citing that the roof and furnace are too old and may need replaced soon. So our house is back on the market, we are not moving at the end of June, and we have to go through the cleaning process again to show our house. Not much there to make a joyful noise about and so I've been a bear to be around for the past few days, mostly complaining about all these things and being mad. :) Sounds fun, huh?
Today, I think I'm rounding the corner enough to consider the positives of this set back:
1. I will not have to pack up the whole house while Matt is away on Boundary Waters.
2. We still have our contract on the new house (extended for 45 more days).
3. We had a showing today, so hopefully people are still interested in looking at the house.
4. Matt is the complete opposite of me in this situation, trying to help me be positive and make me laugh (even though I've still been mad about it!) :)
So, I know God has a plan for us and this whole situation that will be even better than our original plan. I just hope that we'll get to see it soon! :)