We Are Finally In!!!

Tuesday July 8th was finally the day that we got to sign the papers to close on our house, YEAH!!! Actually... due to my work situation I (Christina) was not able to sign the papers for the house. Ben and I had to get a notarized Power of Attorney paper signed in order that Ben could sign for me on all the papers. Ben did a great job working through the mound of papers that they gave to him. I was able to make it for part of the signing when I got off of work. It was so cool to have them hand us the keys to our home and to immediately be able to move in. On Wednesday of last week Ben had the youth leader and 6 of the youth group members come to help us move our stuff from storage to our house. So we now have all of our stuff moved in, which is such a great feeling. We are loving our house and loving the settling in/decorating process. We have so much space to work with that it is not too difficult to have boxes everywhere. Slowly yet surely we are making it our home. We also have had a major need of buying a second car, and it was great because the Lord led us to just the right car. The second car is making our lives easier as our jobs are far apart from eachother.

Speaking of our jobs... we are settling in quite nicely. I started work last Monday the 7th for the Department of Child Services. I am in training for a total of 12 weeks, but have the first week under my belt. I am enjoying my training immensely and learning a lot that will be beneficial when I get put out on the field. I am in a class (they call us a cohort) of 22 people and we will be with eachother in this same training class until our graduation on September 29th. They are great people and we are learning how to work together as a team, which is essential for the type of job that I will be doing. Ben's job is also going well. It has been a bit of a slow start though for him since much of his focus has had to be on our move. The church was very flexible this past week with our closing and move to allow Ben the time to help us get settled and situated. Sunday, Ben took the opportunity to introduce himself to many of the volunteers and to observe the Sunday morning ministry in order to get a good idea of how he could best serve this ministry. It was very beneficial for him and he looks forward to putting all of his ideas into practice.

Praise the Lord for all of this coming into place for us. We can clearly see His hand in all that we are doing!

When Things Go Not As Expected

On Monday night after work Ben and I rode into the sunset to our new destination of Indianapolis. For the past couple of months our expectation had been that we would spend the first couple of nights in a hotel waiting for our house to close on July 2nd. We had the impression that all of our paperwork was done and that they were just waiting until it got closer to finalize all of it. Well about 10 days ago our plans started to change when our lenders made us aware that they were missing paperwork from us and they needed it urgently to settle on our house. Since that day, each day we have been scrambling to get all of the necessary documents that they need in order to finish this process. Needless to say it has been a frustrating 10 days working with these people and we are not yet done yet. We are now hoping for a Monday or Tuesday closing. In the meantime... our church has been wonderful to work with and they are putting us up in a hotel for as long as we need. Ben and I have been trying to keep busy getting other necessary errands done in order that when our house closes we can focus on getting settled.

The other challenge we were up against was that our moving company needed to drop off our stuff on Wednesday, but we didn't have the keys to our new house in order to move the stuff in. The cost to have them deliver at a later date would have been $500 so we quickly thought of a plan B to put our stuff in storage. The Lord blessed us with a company that is fabulous to work with. They are kind, flexible and extremely generous. After explaining our situation to them they told us that they had a moving truck that we could use for free when we needed to move our stuff out of storage. That was a huge relief for us and an opportunity for us to see the Lord at work on our behalf. We ended up saving about 3-$400 by putting our stuff in storage, Praise the Lord!! We do truly believe that God has a plan for us during this time. We are trying to keep our heads up and focused on Him instead of all the other chaos.

Also during this time Ben has started his position as the Children's Ministry Director. He attended his first staff meeting on Tuesday and really enjoyed getting to know the staff. They have been helping him to get situated in his office, supplying him with the needed resources that he needs to begin. He is absolutely loving it so far and is excited for this upcoming Tuesday where he will start his first full week of work. This Saturday we will be driving to Cedarville University where most of our church members are at for a weekend retreat of spiritual enrichment. They have invited us to come down for the day. Ben is looking forward to connecting with people from other churches to build his network. Sunday we will be filling the gaps for the children's church teachers and jumping in and leading during the main service. So despite our house not closing, we already have plenty to keep us busy. I (Christina) will be starting work on Monday and am excited to start my training as a Family Case Manager. I will write more about that later, when I know more about what my job will be like. We will also post some pictures of the church and our surroundings as soon as we can. Until then... thanks for bearing with this long blog!!

Saying Good-Bye to Chicago

Saying good-bye to Chicago and all or our friends and co-workers was a bitter-sweet time. We had a lot going on that weekend. On Friday the 27th our moving company came to take all of our stuff from our apartment in order to get a headstart to getting it to Indiana. We were so glad to have all of our stuff moved on Friday because it allowed us the rest of the weekend to relax and to hang out with all of our friends one last time. We stayed with our close friends the Pilditch's. This family over the past couple of years has become very dear to Ben and I. It was great to spend some extended time with them. On Saturday Ben and I cleaned out the apartment, turned in our keys and said goodbye to that chapter in our lives of renting. We were able to spend the rest of Saturday relaxing and re-cooperating after a very busy week of packing etc.


On Sunday we went to our church (Judson Baptist Church) for the very last time. Before Sunday the whole moving process seemed kind of sureal, but when we were in church it hit me that this was it. The Pastor and Elders did a commissioning time

for us where we told the church about where we were going and what we will be doing and they took time to pray for us. They had our Explorers group join us on stage so that they could be apart of the special prayer time. It was really neat!! After the service they held a

reception for us where we were able to say goodbye individually to people. We felt very special and honored by our church family. Sunday afternoon was a time that we spent with the Pilditch family bonding and playing a good old family game of "Life".


Sunday evening the College and Career group through Ben and I a BBQ where we were also able to invite other close friends of ours to. We had about 30 people there and we had a lot of fun despite the rain. It was a meaningful time with the people and a great ending to our time in Chicago.

Monday was Ben and I's last day of work. It was wierd to have our last day be on a Monday... but I wanted to finish out my fiscal year with Moody Publishers. Our co-workers took the time to recognize us and make us feel special. Overall... we had a spectacular ending to our Chicago chapter. Chicago, and all of these friends hold a special place in Ben and I's heart. We will have fun visiting in the future. Enjoy the fun photos from our last weekend!!!

House Progression!!

This past Monday Ben and I found out that our house that has been being built is almost finished. It is due to be completely done on June 30th in order that we can have our orientation on July 1st and sign the papers and get our keys on July 2nd. Since our house was nearing completion they asked us if we would be willing to come down and do a pre-walk of our house. At first we didn't think that was feasible because it is a 31/2 hour drive for a 30-45 minute walk-thru. On Tuesday though, I (Christina) was called for an interview with the Department of Child and Family Services for Thursday afternoon. I had applied for the position of a Family Case Manager. The interview itself was tough, but I stuck it out and now we will see if this job is the one that the Lord has for me. I am confident if he closes this door that he will open up another place that is just the right fit and where he wants to use me. In the meantime I am just waiting to hear back from them. So in light of traveling down for my interview we decided to go ahead and make an appointment to walk through our house with the builder before all the final touches are made. It was great to pull-up in front of the house and to see it basically finished (minus the yard). The builders have done an amazing job and we had such a great time walking through the house seeing all the personal touches they had made. All they have left is minor touch-ups and cleaning, installing the appliances and putting together the yard. They are right on track to finish by our completion date. It was a great, but long day trip! While we were visiting the house we took some pictures of it to post so everyone could see.

Explorers End of Year Party

Last Saturday Ben and I threw an end of year party for our Explorers group that we have been talking about. We went to a local park that had a large field area, a playground area and a water pad (water sprinklers that kids can run through and get wet and stay cool). We had a great time with them playing frisbee, having a long drawn-out water fight, playing freeze tag with water guns, lunch etc. The kids deserved a good time after all the hardwork that they put in over the year. They attended the meetings and cooperatively participated in all of the activities that we had planned. During our party we also took the time to have them evaluate their experience in the group, letting us know what they liked about it and what they would want to improve on the group. They gave great insight to us, which will help as we pass on this group to the next leader. A couple of the things they mentioned that were encouraging to us were that they would want to have the meetings more often than twice a month and that they grew in their friendship with eachother through meeting and interacting in all the group activities. Overall we had a wonderful time as a group and Ben and I are extremely sad to be leaving them. The other encouraging factor that came about was we found out from the Childrens Director that they have officially found someone to take over the leadership of the group so it can continue into the future. We look forward to coming back to visit to see the progression of the group as well as how it may continue to develop over time. Well... enjoy the pictures that we took!!

The Countdown Is On...

The last time we wrote we were catching you all up on our crazy life of work, church and moving. Our month of May was very busy, but we had 2 very fun weekends in a row at the very end. For Memorial Day weekend we went camping with 3 other families totaling 16 of us. We went to Peninsula State Park in Door County Wisconsin. We had a blast and for the most part the weather was beautiful. On Sunday morning we had a bit of a drizzle, but was grateful for the gazebo covering that we had, but on Sunday night we experienced a huge thunder and lightning storm, which again made us extremely greatful for our covered gazebo. The Lord was so good in the fact that during the daytimes it was extremely warm and sunny and so we got to go biking and sightseeing and kayaking with no problems. Also when it came time to pack-up in the morning it was sunny so we didn't have to pack-up in the rain. Granted most of our stuff was extremely wet and muddy from the night before. It was just a neat time bonding with some good friends in nature, telling stories, laughing and sharing some great food. We all hope to make this a regular event even though Ben and I will be a bit farther away. I've included some pictures for your enjoyment.

The very next weekend we went on a retreat with our College and Career class from church. We went to a Christian retreat center called Cedar Creek Retreat Center. We had a great time as a group playing games (catch phrase was a hit), eating great food, being ministered to by our speakers and sitting around a campfire roasting smores. Each one of us was challenged in a different way through our theme of "Discerning the Will of God for our Lives". It is not an easy thing to do, but the group was up for the challenge of their faith in God to direct their lives. So we had a great time with the group, but must admit were excited when it was over because it takes a lot of time and energy to plan a retreat. I (Christina) feel like I have a life again. This retreat was a great ending to a 3 year commitment that Ben and I have had in leadership to this group. We will miss this group of students, but know God has great things in store for them with the new leaders. Here are some pictures from our retreat.

Shortly after this retreat on June 6th Ben finished up his school year as a teacher at the Cambridge School of Chicago. The end of year ceremony was a wonderful time as Ben was recognized and applauded for his 2 years of service. The kids he has been working with had a really hard time with him leaving so many tears were shed at the ceremony. For the remaining 3 weeks before we leave Ben was asked to be the curriculum specialist for the camp that the school puts on. So far he is loving the work. He is also very excited though about his new position beginning on July 7th. I am just continuing to work at Moody Publishers up until the day that we leave for Indiana. Now that our responsibilities are winding down our main focus is packing up our apartment and saying goodbye to friends and co-workers. We will be leaving Chicago on June 30th, which is the same day that our house is supposed to be completed. We will be moving into our new home on July 2nd. YEAH!!! So that is what is happening in our lives right now. Lots of changes and transitions, but much excitement ahead as we see what God has in store for us.

May Update

May has been a very busy month for Ben and I. We have been very involved with activities at our church. Two groups we are most involved with at our church are the college and career group and the 1st-5th grade student (primarily the 4th and 5th graders). Ben started a group called the Explorers and we have been meeting for the past year and a half twice a month on Saturday afternoons. In our next blog entry we will be sure to include some recent pictures that we have taken with them. The point of that group is to invest in them and to teach them teamwork and leadership skills. On Saturdays we hang out with them and play games that teach one of those skills and we work on a project for the Sunday morning children's church time. There are 5 kids currently in our group and we love hanging out with them. We are going to miss them when we leave for Indianapolis. We also are involved with the College and Career group at our church and right now Ben and I are planning to lead the group on a retreat May 30th-June 1st. Planning retreats are very big projects, but it is going to be a blast. We also will post pictures of that event when it is finished.

I (Christina) have not found a job yet, but have some leads on jobs. Ben and I went to Indianapolis a couple of weekends ago to turn in Resumes and to get an idea of what kinds of jobs are over there. For the most part it was a productive time, but searching for a job long distance is a challenge. While we were there though we got to see our new house that is being built and it is making great progress. It seems as though they will have it completed in time for our move at the end of June. For right now we have completed our paperwork and it is definitely a relief. We are having fun planning for our new home!

As for this upcoming Memorial weekend we are very excited to being going away with 3 other families to Door County Wisconsin to a beautiful camping park called Penisula State park. We plan to relax and enjoy the great outdoors with hiking, bike riding, campfires and more. We will tell more about that upon our return. We are just glad to be getting away to have fun together and to spend some time with 3 families that we have grown close to over our time at our church. It will be great to make these memories before leaving.

Well... we will write more later. That about summarizes what the month of May has been like for us. Busy... but GREAT!!