a couple dollars shorter...

This is what you get for a couple dollars these days. Since we moved into the house back in January, our sump pump in the basement has ran every minute of every hour of every day of every week. There was only one electric pump in the sump. And with that much water coming in, and how often we are gone, we knew we needed to do something. After much deliberation and many professionals looking at our situation, we had a back-up water pump installed. But, they had to do some cutting in our drywall ceiling of the basement. The guys did a great job and we definitely feel relieved knowing that we have a back-up pump in the sump now that does not need electricity.

One of 2 holes cut in the ceiling to run 50 feet of copper water line from our utility room.

The other cut in the ceiling.

Some of the soldering work they did to work the copper around the joists and duct work.

This is the infamous Water Commander back-up sump pump. I highly recommend. All it needs is to be connected to your water line, which you see on the right side of the picture.

The sump with multiple pipes..not sure if I could get many more in there.

The yellow ball is the float for the water back-up pump. The green pump is a new electrical pump I had the plumbers install while they were in there. Notice the water pouring into the sump at the top of the picture. This a common occurrance that happens around the clock. We must be sitting on an underground pond...

This picture shows the two cuts in the ceiling, one closer and the other farther away.

Behind this door is the sump, and where all the pumping action occurs.

tulips!

When we bought our house, the previous owners had mentioned that there were tulips around the tree in the front yard. Andrea was super excited about this since her favorite flower is the tulip. So, we had been waiting in anticipation of the blooming of these tulips. So, we'd like to share a little of the color in our yard!

This little [big] guy is one of many culprits in our yard. We have several rabbits running around and were hoping they would stay out of our tulips.

Thankfully the rabbits stayed out and these are our wonderful tulips...about 50-100 of them!

These pictures were taken a few weeks ago, so our grass is greener and other plants/trees are currently flowering.

Andrea wanted to cut some and bring them inside to enjoy.

Andrea's birthday

Andrea's birthday was a couple weeks ago on a Friday. So Joe had planned some fun outings for Friday and Saturday for us to do. On Friday, we went to Starved Rock State Park and did some hiking. On Saturday, we went to an outlet mall near Champaign, IL to go shopping for the day. We had a blast, as usual..and these are some pictures to prove it:

This was traveling on Saturday to the outlet mall. We basically shopped til we dropped. Then we got some Amish goods [salsa and peanut butter sauce]. We also at Texas Roadhouse that night for dinner...Andrea's favorite.

We ate at this rootbeer stand in Oglesby, IL near Starved Rock. We saw it when we traveled toward the park and decided to eat there for dinner afterward. It was definitely an experience and the rootbeer was delicious!


The remainder of the pictures are from Starved Rock. The park is located next to the Illinois River and is composed of lots of sandstone. Thus, many canyons and waterfalls have been created over time. We had a blast exploring the canyons and trails, with only one scary moment of scrambling across a drop-off.

concert..

Andrea and I went to a concert a few weeks back called WinterJam. It was a concert that included several Christian rock bands including Newsboys, 10th Avenue North, and Third Day. We went with Andrea's sister and husband, Jill and Glenn and their two girls Ellie and Ava. The concert was here in town in Normal at the university.

Us at the concert

Andrea and Jill at the concert

Glenn and Jill

Andrea and our nieces Ava and Ellie

Spring Break 2010

We have been so busy lately it just seems like we don't have time to do anything extra such as updating our blog. Hopefully it will become better updated in the future.

We went to Berlin, Germany for a weeklong trip for our ministry with Campus Crusade for Christ. We took 7 students with us to connect with other CCC staff in Berlin and to help reach out to the students on some campuses in the city. We had such a great time learning the culture and history of the city and being able to be a vessel for God while we were there. Here are some pictures from the week:

Us at a coffee shop-chocolate dessert drink and crepes!

In front of Humboldt University-once where Einstein taught..back in the day.

Joe enjoying a German feast...pork knuckle, saurkraut, potatoes, and mashed peas!

Laying on beds in an atomic bomb shelter in the city.

Trying on a HUGE backpack.

Waiting at a train station.

Waiting at a train station..some of the ladies with us.

The Brandenburg Gate

The Berlin Wall

One of the many bears around the city.

Bricks lying where the Berlin Wall once stood.

Our first night in Berlin...currywurst and fries!

Projects, Projects, Projects...

Well, God finally blessed us with the house on O'Reilly Ct. We moved in on January 30th with the help of family, friends, and students. It's been nearly 2 weeks now since we've been in the house and it's beginning to feel like home. Since moving in though, there have been lots of projects to do.

The first project entailed painting a pink bedroom which ended up being our office. The gray walls and ceiling are much better than the pink. Joe has also begun to replace the doorknobs and deadbolts to the exterior doors-4 doors to be exact. That project, which we thought would be short (about 30 minutes per door per the instructions) has taken much longer-and is still not complete.

We bought some new furniture for the basement including a sectional and ottoman. We also bought a kitchen table, but have yet to buy chairs for that table.

Joe has become very well acquainted with The Home Depot which is right around the corner, thankfully! He has bought paint, tools, storage bins, shelves, etc. He has also been enjoying blowing the snow off the driveway and sidewalk with the snowblower from Andrea's parents.

We definitely feel blessed to be in this home, but seem to be very tired every night. Andrea is having some female students over tonight for a slumber party. It's such a joy to be able to use this house for ministry and for God's Kingdom!

Crazy..wow..what?!?!

Yep..the title sums up our life as of recent. The Christmas season is always busy with us trying to visit family in Ohio and our annual conference with Campus Crusade for Christ in Indianapolis, IN. But, within the past month we have added to the craziness in our life.

We are becoming homeowners for the first time in our life! We found a wonderful house in Normal, IL as we began casually searching for houses in the area. We fell in love with it, the location, the possibilities for our family and ministry, and following the Lord's direction. We quickly went through the process of purchasing the home and will close on the house on January 28th! Here is the house:

We are very excited for the future possibilities of working with the college students! We plan on moving January 30th! Pray for good weather!

Also on the agenda was Joe having surgery on January 8th on his wisdom teeth. Thankfully everything went smoothly and he hasn't had any problems thus far-not even swelling!

Thanks for all of your prayers!