Our new apartment.... eventually

We traveled to Illinois this past weekend to search for an apartment!!! We are nearing our financial goal, and praying that would be moving in the next couple months. It was such an exciting time for us! After doing lots of research online we had a good idea of what we liked. We looked at 9 different places, and feel like God provided a great apartment for us! It is a newer complex, with two new buildings in process of being built. The building we will be moving into is due to be done December 1st. The awesome part is we will be on the 3rd floor with washer/dryer and lots of storage. We feel like God's hand was in the process because it is such a nice place for a cheaper price than the other apartments around the area and we secured the last 3rd floor apartment (which was cheaper)! Also, since we aren't sure as to when we will exactly be moving, we were able to put a security deposit down to have them hold our place, and we don't have to start paying rent until we actually move. They will hold the place until Jan. 1st without us having to pay rent! We thought we would share some pictures (this is what it will probably look like - remember our actual building is not completed yet)!!!

Our actual building... we think we are the top floor on the left! I love how quaint the area is - a couple ponds and a field. There is also a neighborhood a little distance away.

The living room with fireplace. The oven won't actually be in the middle of the room, they didn't install the appliances yet.

I love the kitchen!

One of the bathrooms.....


We are pretty sure this will be the actual view we have from our apartment. We love the fact that the pond is stocked with fish and they allow you to go fishing!


We are so excited and can't wait to move to the great "Land of Lincoln". We also had a great time visiting with our future Campus Crusade for Christ staff team as we went out to a local pizza joint. Another perk is that Andrea's sister lives about 50 minutes from Bloomington so we got to spend quality time with the family, too!

We went on a walk in Peoria on a bluff overlooking the Illinois River. It was beautiful, especially with the fall colors. Andrea and her sister, Jill (above) and (below) our bro-in-law Glenn and one of our niece's, Ava.

Hope everyone is having a great fall... or should I say winter.. it has been so cold! We will keep you updated on our moving plans and how God has been providing. Thanks for sharing in our excitement!

Fall Festivities!

It has been a long time since I have updated. But in recent news, we have been enjoying the joys of Fall. It has been exciting seeing the combines out in full force and the leaves starting to change colors. Today, Joe and I carved a pumpkin. We picked out the beauty at a fundraiser a ministry was doing locally. Here are some pictures from the fun!
Before carving the pumpkin....

Joe starting to carve. We decided to cut the bottom out. I had seen an article in a magazine about it. It surprisingly works really well and lots of the guts came out with it. It also made it really easy for the candle later.

Scooping out the guts... There wasn't much! Joe carving and making the final touches.

Us with the finished product. We were really excited for how it turned out! It looked really neat when we lit it up, too!

Traveling...

September has been quite a busy month for us. We have been traveling quite a bit to meet with people to share about our ministry. Joe told me we have put around 1600 miles on car just this month. One of the fun things we got to do when traveling to Toledo was to visit the "Extreme Home Makeover" house. The TV show came to Toledo to build a deserving family a new home. We thought it would be neat to check it out.. since it always seems crazy they can demolish and rebuild a home in 7 days time. We thought it was a neat experience to witness. The new house... this was two days before completion. It was crazy to see how much equipment and semi trucks were around the site. Some neighbors literally had the grill of a semi right outside their front door!

It was a neat idea... they took around a painting and had people in the crowd add on one paint stroke to finish it off. It was a little rainy...hence the umbrella.

In the brief 20 minutes we were there we got to see a designer for the show - Rib Hillis.

Air Force Museum

Joe and I recently went to the Air Force Museum in Dayton. We figured while we are living close to Dayton, we should take advantage of the neat stuff in the area. We really enjoyed looking at all the planes and learning some fun facts. Checking out the plane that dropped the atomic bomb "fat boy".

Joe checking out a plane in the newer section of planes (above). Joe and I went into the huge cargo plane behind us that is used for transport and war (below).

Our favorite part of the museum was in a hanger that was on the active part of the base. The hanger included old Air Force Ones from past presidents and also a research and development section.

Truman's Air Force One plane, "The Independent".

We really enjoyed touring the old Air Force One's but the only thing was the aisles in the planes were super narrow due to the plexi glass. Is was semi claustrophobic. We even got to tour the Air Force One that presidents Kennedy to Clinton had and transported Kennedy's body from Texas to D.C. In the research and development hanger. It was quite neat as the plane pictured in the background is the only one in the world. There were also other different looking planes that they used to test certain engines or wing patterns, etc. This is one of the most different ideas we saw in the R&D section. This plane takes off and lands vertically. There is a cable it catches to make it possible.

We really enjoyed ourselves at the museum and the best part is.. it was free!

First backpacking trip!

Joe and I went on our first ever backpacking trip on Monday! We hadn't planned on going, but as something we had Monday night got canceled, Joe looked at me and said "wanna go backpacking tonight". Of course I was really excited (we really have been wanting to go for quite sometime) and rushed around trying to get everything ready.

We headed to Germantown and started on the trail about 3:30pm. We were planning to hike around 6 miles, but weren't sure if we would have enough time due to the late start.

Joe and I on the trail!

So, Joe and I ended up hiking around 4 miles on Monday evening. The weather was beautiful and we saw lots of toads, birds, and a snake! We were quite tired by the time we got to camp. Our feet were hurting and we were ready to sit down!

After setting up camp - our tent and packs. It was a nice little spot - there was a little pond just past our tent. (Below) Joe hanging up our food and other smelly items, so animals wouldn't get them!
Joe and I after waking up. We were pretty excited it was morning. We didn't sleep very good. My goodness, the crickets and toads were triple loud. But, some other animal (never heard it before in our lives) kept waking us up it was so loud. We think it might have been a coyote or something. Also, some other people got to camp late and decided to cook at midnight, which we also heard. So, we were kinda excited to finally get up after not sleeping to0 swell. The backpacking trail we were on was pretty new, so they had a journal to write your thoughts about the trail, campsites, and your experience. The journal was located in the crummy outhouse (although, I was appreciative) - needless to say, I brought the journal back to the tent.

Joe packing up our sleeping bags in the tent and (below) us with the campsite sign at Oak Ridge. Thus begins the second day of hiking. We decided to hike around 6 miles!

Joe blazing the trail! We had another great day with beautiful weather!

We made it back to where we started! We had such a great time experiencing God in nature and having fun as a couple! We are excited for many more backpacking adventures in the future! We had so much fun! :)

Our niece goes to Kindergarten!

Our niece had her first day of Kindergarten on Tuesday! She was so excited! We called her after her big day and she sang us all the songs she learned that day (which was about 6 or 7)!

We thought we would share some pictures with you! This is Andrea's sister's daughter. They live out in Illinois, close to where we will eventually be in the future!

Can't you tell that she is pretty excited?!

I (Andrea) had to really laugh at this picture. This is Ava (the soon to be preschooler) and Ellie (the Kindergartener). My mom used to always take a picture like this of my sister and I on the first day of school. Wonder why my sister thought of this pose?!

Revamped page!

So, we revamped our webpage. Hope you like the new look!