Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Six Years Together
In the Fall of 2003, Christina and I were in a class together at college. On September 16 of that year, we took a walk after class and shared that we were very interested in each other. We got Slurpees at 7-Eleven and sat down for a couple hours in a park . I remember many details of that day because it was very significant in our relationship. Six years later, we're married and love each other more than ever.
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Our Trip to Alaska
Greetings again from the Malans! We took a bit of a sabbatical from blogging this summer due to being extremely busy, but we are back and ready to start sharing our lives again. The best way to start is by sharing about our most recent vacation we took.
We recently got to take a fabulous vacation to both Seattle and Alaska. We had been planning this vacation for quite some time and it finally arrived. Here are some tidbits about our journey:
Day 1: Getting to Seattle
To begin our trip we had to drive from Indianapolis to Chicago to catch our flight to Seattle. On our way to Chicago our electrical system in our car decided to go out. The car was driving fine, so we weren't worried much until we realized that not only could we not run the air conditioner, but that our windows would not roll down either. It was about 85 degrees outside and we had to sit in a hot car, sweating for about an hour and a half. We didn't know what the fate of our car would be, but we managed to make it to Chicago (opening our doors to get air every opportunity that we had) and made our flight out to Seattle. All the meanwhile our faithful friend Andrew picked up our car from us at the airport and took it to a mechanic to get fixed while we were away. The Lord was good and worked all that out for us.
Day 2: Visiting Leavenworth, Washington
We went with Christina's parents to the small town of Leavenworth in Washington. Leavenworth was just a normal town until about 40 years ago when the city decided to boost their tourism by adding a section to their town that resembles a Bavarian village. Ben had never been there before. It was a quick tour of the town, but it was great to go there and see all the shops and eat some delicious salt water taffy. Leavenworth All in all we spent more time in the car than actually touring the town, but Ben was glad to see some new sites and it was a great chance to chat with Christina's parents. Plus, we took the "scenic route" through the beautiful Cascade Mountains, and that was great.
Day 3: Savannah's birthday party
I know it seems insignificant to mention a birthday party, but the thing is that we rarely get to go to family birthday parties since we live so far away. It was great being at Christina's niece's fourth birthday party and to be able to celebrate with her. It is so fun reliving the experience of birthday parties. Kids get excited over the littlest things, which is awesome.
Day 4: Fly to Anchorage
After spending about 3 full days in Seattle the two of us flew out to Anchorage Alaska for our own personal vacation for the summer. We met a nice lady on the plane that gave us lots of advice for our trip and ideas of good places to go and sites to see. She was very resourceful for us. The only bad news we got was that we were going to Alaska during their rainy season. We had prepared for colder weather when we packed, but not wet weather. Sure enough when we landed it was pouring down rain. We were a bit disappointed, but didn't want it to wreck our time. We were determined to make the best of it. Another funny thing about our first day in Anchorage was that we were driving around in the pouring down rain trying to find a place to eat. We found a place, walked in, sat down and looked at the menu. It turned out we picked what seemed to be the most expensive steak restaurant in town. We laughed about it and ate a great meal anyways.
Day 5: Glacier cruise
The highlight of our first full day in Alaska was taking a Glacier Cruise. We learned several interesting things about glaciers while we took a 1-hour boat cruise to see Portage Glacier. We didn't get to see any break off, but there were several that had already broken off and were floating in the lake.
Day 6: Hiking in Denali National Park
Unlike most national parks, Denali does not have many hiking trails, but the few it does have are very scenic. We started with a steep hike up Mount Healy and were treated with a wonderful panoramic view of the valley below. We had to hike in a little rain, but it was worth it. Later in the day we hiked to a nearby lake. The lake was beautiful, and it had some beavers busy cutting down some trees.
Day 7: Taking a shuttle bus 66 miles into Denali
We took an 8-hour bus trip into the park and saw several mountains and animals along the way. Some of the animals we saw were: Moose, Grizzly bears, a fox, a wolf, a marmot, and several Dall Sheep. We were able to see the bottom of Mount McKinley (the tallest mountain in North America), but not the top because of the clouds. It is actually pretty normal for Mt. McKinley to be completely covered with clouds, so we were actually lucky to see the bottom of it.
Day 8: Fun in Fairbanks
Just outside the city of Fairbanks is a town called North Pole, Alaska. We drove there and got to meet Santa Claus at his "house" and saw some of his reindeer. Then we mailed some postcards from the "North Pole" post office.
The main reason that Fairbanks grew to be a city was because of the gold rush. They have a park called Pioneer Park that has several replicas of log cabins and some actual machinery that was used for finding gold. They also have a Salmon Bake every night, so we joined them for some for some amazing fish and prime rib, along with other great food.
After dinner, we drove out to the Chena Hot Springs, a natural hot spring where you can go swim and relax. They've turned it into a sort of shallow pool with a fountain in the middle. Most of the water is comfortably warm, but there are some places along the side that are extremely hot! When the water comes out of the rock it is 145 degrees, so we quickly learned which places to avoid!
We were hoping to see the Northern Lights, and Fairbanks would have been our best chance to see them, but it was cloudy every night of our trip, so we didn't get to see them. However, we bought a book that has several great photos of the Lights.
Day 9-10: Return to Indy
The nickname for Fairbanks is the "Golden Heart of Alaska". The "Golden" refers to the gold rush and the city is close to the center of the state. Therefore, Fairbanks has a Golden Heart Plaza that has a nice fountain and statue of Eskimos, along with several plaques of historical information about the state. This plaza is positioned right by the river that runs through town. it's a great place to visit.
Our trip home had four main components. Part 1 was to drive from Fairbanks to Anchorage, seeing the same great scenery had seen on the way up. Along the way we stopped for lunch at Denali and picked up a few more souvenirs. We made it to Anchorage in time to get some photos developed before getting on the plane. Part 2 was to fly to Seattle, where Christina's parents picked us up and took us to breakfast during the 4 hour layover. It was fun to show them the photos and tell the stories of our trip. Part 3 was to fly to Chicago where Andrew met us with our repaired car. Part 4 was the drive back to Indiana. We had really enjoyed our trip, but it sure felt good to get home!
We recently got to take a fabulous vacation to both Seattle and Alaska. We had been planning this vacation for quite some time and it finally arrived. Here are some tidbits about our journey:
Day 1: Getting to Seattle
To begin our trip we had to drive from Indianapolis to Chicago to catch our flight to Seattle. On our way to Chicago our electrical system in our car decided to go out. The car was driving fine, so we weren't worried much until we realized that not only could we not run the air conditioner, but that our windows would not roll down either. It was about 85 degrees outside and we had to sit in a hot car, sweating for about an hour and a half. We didn't know what the fate of our car would be, but we managed to make it to Chicago (opening our doors to get air every opportunity that we had) and made our flight out to Seattle. All the meanwhile our faithful friend Andrew picked up our car from us at the airport and took it to a mechanic to get fixed while we were away. The Lord was good and worked all that out for us.
Day 2: Visiting Leavenworth, Washington
We went with Christina's parents to the small town of Leavenworth in Washington. Leavenworth was just a normal town until about 40 years ago when the city decided to boost their tourism by adding a section to their town that resembles a Bavarian village. Ben had never been there before. It was a quick tour of the town, but it was great to go there and see all the shops and eat some delicious salt water taffy. Leavenworth All in all we spent more time in the car than actually touring the town, but Ben was glad to see some new sites and it was a great chance to chat with Christina's parents. Plus, we took the "scenic route" through the beautiful Cascade Mountains, and that was great.
Day 3: Savannah's birthday party
I know it seems insignificant to mention a birthday party, but the thing is that we rarely get to go to family birthday parties since we live so far away. It was great being at Christina's niece's fourth birthday party and to be able to celebrate with her. It is so fun reliving the experience of birthday parties. Kids get excited over the littlest things, which is awesome.
Day 4: Fly to Anchorage
After spending about 3 full days in Seattle the two of us flew out to Anchorage Alaska for our own personal vacation for the summer. We met a nice lady on the plane that gave us lots of advice for our trip and ideas of good places to go and sites to see. She was very resourceful for us. The only bad news we got was that we were going to Alaska during their rainy season. We had prepared for colder weather when we packed, but not wet weather. Sure enough when we landed it was pouring down rain. We were a bit disappointed, but didn't want it to wreck our time. We were determined to make the best of it. Another funny thing about our first day in Anchorage was that we were driving around in the pouring down rain trying to find a place to eat. We found a place, walked in, sat down and looked at the menu. It turned out we picked what seemed to be the most expensive steak restaurant in town. We laughed about it and ate a great meal anyways.
Day 5: Glacier cruise
The highlight of our first full day in Alaska was taking a Glacier Cruise. We learned several interesting things about glaciers while we took a 1-hour boat cruise to see Portage Glacier. We didn't get to see any break off, but there were several that had already broken off and were floating in the lake.
Day 6: Hiking in Denali National Park
Unlike most national parks, Denali does not have many hiking trails, but the few it does have are very scenic. We started with a steep hike up Mount Healy and were treated with a wonderful panoramic view of the valley below. We had to hike in a little rain, but it was worth it. Later in the day we hiked to a nearby lake. The lake was beautiful, and it had some beavers busy cutting down some trees.
Day 7: Taking a shuttle bus 66 miles into Denali
We took an 8-hour bus trip into the park and saw several mountains and animals along the way. Some of the animals we saw were: Moose, Grizzly bears, a fox, a wolf, a marmot, and several Dall Sheep. We were able to see the bottom of Mount McKinley (the tallest mountain in North America), but not the top because of the clouds. It is actually pretty normal for Mt. McKinley to be completely covered with clouds, so we were actually lucky to see the bottom of it.
Day 8: Fun in Fairbanks
Just outside the city of Fairbanks is a town called North Pole, Alaska. We drove there and got to meet Santa Claus at his "house" and saw some of his reindeer. Then we mailed some postcards from the "North Pole" post office.
The main reason that Fairbanks grew to be a city was because of the gold rush. They have a park called Pioneer Park that has several replicas of log cabins and some actual machinery that was used for finding gold. They also have a Salmon Bake every night, so we joined them for some for some amazing fish and prime rib, along with other great food.
After dinner, we drove out to the Chena Hot Springs, a natural hot spring where you can go swim and relax. They've turned it into a sort of shallow pool with a fountain in the middle. Most of the water is comfortably warm, but there are some places along the side that are extremely hot! When the water comes out of the rock it is 145 degrees, so we quickly learned which places to avoid!
We were hoping to see the Northern Lights, and Fairbanks would have been our best chance to see them, but it was cloudy every night of our trip, so we didn't get to see them. However, we bought a book that has several great photos of the Lights.
Day 9-10: Return to Indy
The nickname for Fairbanks is the "Golden Heart of Alaska". The "Golden" refers to the gold rush and the city is close to the center of the state. Therefore, Fairbanks has a Golden Heart Plaza that has a nice fountain and statue of Eskimos, along with several plaques of historical information about the state. This plaza is positioned right by the river that runs through town. it's a great place to visit.
Our trip home had four main components. Part 1 was to drive from Fairbanks to Anchorage, seeing the same great scenery had seen on the way up. Along the way we stopped for lunch at Denali and picked up a few more souvenirs. We made it to Anchorage in time to get some photos developed before getting on the plane. Part 2 was to fly to Seattle, where Christina's parents picked us up and took us to breakfast during the 4 hour layover. It was fun to show them the photos and tell the stories of our trip. Part 3 was to fly to Chicago where Andrew met us with our repaired car. Part 4 was the drive back to Indiana. We had really enjoyed our trip, but it sure felt good to get home!
Friday, April 3, 2009
Back in Blogging Business
Lately I seem to be starting each blog saying: "It's been awhile since I've written", and I'm realizing that keeping up with blogging is harder than I thought it would be. Ben and I have been keeping very busy with work, church, our home, and trying to have a social life. With all that going on it has been hard to sit down and truly reflect and write out what is going on in our lives. Probably like most people we take one day at a time and try to accomplish enough to make it through each week. The weeks have literally been flying by and we can hardly believe that we are at the beginning of April and close to embracing Spring (YEAH!!!). The Lord has truly been faithful in our lives and we are grateful for that. I will try and highlight what we have been doing in order to not write a complete novel that no one would want to read.
March has led us into beginning to paint our home. We are taking it one room at a time, but are excited to get some color on the walls to spruce up the house. We are gathering that it will be a slow process for us, seeing as many other things keep us busy on a regular basis. Painting is fun for us and a relaxing thing to do together.
Church Ministry has been going really well. Ben continues to love his job and is doing a great job. He is in the middle of a very busy season right now. Our church has decided to go to two services instead of one service. One of our services will now be strictly in Chinese and the other service with be for our new English Ministry. We will go LIVE with this on April 19th. The church is both excited and nervous about this new development. For Ben this now means that the children's ministry on Sunday mornings is twice as long. He has come up with a plan and now he is working on recruiting man power for the job as well as developing the program for the entire morning. It is a huge endeavor for him, but the Lord has been faithful in leading him to just the right people to help serve the children. We also are continuing to enjoy building relationships with the people at the church and love serving alongside them.
That seems to highlight the past several months for us. I hope to be more regular with these blogs, but can't make any promises.
Back in January we finally had the opportunity to go back to the west coast to visit our families. We were gone for a total of 9 days and they were wonderful! We enjoyed the relaxation and rest as well as a good time with each of our families. In light of having 9 days of vacation, it never seems like enough time to see everyone that we would like to see. We had some very full days visiting with friends and family, but they were fun nontheless. A highlight from visiting my (Christina's) family in Washington was going to the skating rink and teaching my niece and nephew how to roller skate. They sure were troopers and quick learners. A highlight from visiting Ben's family was our bonfire/cookout that we had in the middle of the desert. It was so peaceful and serene. We got to watch the sunset, cook hotdogs and roast smores over the fire and sing worship songs as a family. Going to the west coast also allowed us to get away from the bitter cold and to defrost in the nice sunshine of California.
In February we expanded our family (I know what you are thinking, and no we did not have children, nor are we pregnant). Instead we purchased 2 kitties to add to the excitement of our life. We bought an all black cat and named him jet and we bought a white cat with patches of calico fur and named her patches. We are having suc
h a great time having them arou
nd the house. The black cat, jet, especially has lots of energy and loves to explore everything. He never misses a thing and has to be around in all the action. The other day I was loading the dishwasher and turned around to find him sitting inside the dishwasher with the dirty dishes. He keeps us on our toes to say the least. Here are some starter pictures of them. I will post more as we get them.
h a great time having them arou
nd the house. The black cat, jet, especially has lots of energy and loves to explore everything. He never misses a thing and has to be around in all the action. The other day I was loading the dishwasher and turned around to find him sitting inside the dishwasher with the dirty dishes. He keeps us on our toes to say the least. Here are some starter pictures of them. I will post more as we get them.That seems to highlight the past several months for us. I hope to be more regular with these blogs, but can't make any promises.
Empowered To Serve
Last night Ben and I attended our Young Adult Bible Study and it was really neat because we have been studying in the book of Acts. We chose to study this book because we will be starting up our new English Ministry in a couple of weeks and we thought it would be great to learn about the early church development and the characteristics of the early church. Last night we discussed in length what true fellowship is versus just hanging out and having a good time together and also about serving those in need who are around us. In regard to fellowship we decided that true fellowship happens when we bring the Lord into our times of fellowship. It can look different for every occasion, but if there is no spiritual component to our times of meeting than we are just hanging out with one another or partying ( much of what the world does). It seemed that we were challenged to try and go the extra mile when we are gathering in the future to really engage in conversation with each other to get to know each other and to grow spiritually with one another. It definitely takes extra effort, but is worth it when everyone is growing closer relationally and spiritually and we can encourage and sharpen one another.
We also discussed serving others whether they are from our church or neighborhood or from somewhere around the world. In Acts it talked about the people selling things that they had to give money to the leaders to distribute to those in need. What an incredible picture of sacrifice! They did not treat their posessions as their own, but the Lord's and wanted the Lord to do with it what was needed. What could that look like for us today? One question that I wrestled with was whether I give my best or my leftovers. Also, do I really put my heart into it in order to see what the Lord can do with what I give. Often times I give with a half heart for my own purposes, instead of with a full heart and for God's purposes. One barrier we did mention is that often times we are not made aware of the needs of those around us. Often times our hearts are ready to serve, but we just don't know where to offer our services. Helping each other is a two way street. We, as people, need to let down our pride to admit when we need help and there needs to be people willing to give and serve where needed. It was awesome to see the passion in the different individuals of our group to really make a difference in the lives of those around us as well as those around the world.
The work of the Holy Spirit is utterly amazing when we let go of our own agendas and really let the Lord work. I hope our group maintains this fervor for serving the needy around us. I can't wait for next time when we discuss our spiritual gifts and really determine how we can be at work for the Lord the way He gifted us.
We also discussed serving others whether they are from our church or neighborhood or from somewhere around the world. In Acts it talked about the people selling things that they had to give money to the leaders to distribute to those in need. What an incredible picture of sacrifice! They did not treat their posessions as their own, but the Lord's and wanted the Lord to do with it what was needed. What could that look like for us today? One question that I wrestled with was whether I give my best or my leftovers. Also, do I really put my heart into it in order to see what the Lord can do with what I give. Often times I give with a half heart for my own purposes, instead of with a full heart and for God's purposes. One barrier we did mention is that often times we are not made aware of the needs of those around us. Often times our hearts are ready to serve, but we just don't know where to offer our services. Helping each other is a two way street. We, as people, need to let down our pride to admit when we need help and there needs to be people willing to give and serve where needed. It was awesome to see the passion in the different individuals of our group to really make a difference in the lives of those around us as well as those around the world.
The work of the Holy Spirit is utterly amazing when we let go of our own agendas and really let the Lord work. I hope our group maintains this fervor for serving the needy around us. I can't wait for next time when we discuss our spiritual gifts and really determine how we can be at work for the Lord the way He gifted us.
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Celebrating All the Holidays in Indy!!
Where has the time gone. Looking back at my last blog I realized that a lot of time has gone by since I have taken the time to sit down and share what Ben and I have been doing for the holidays. Ben and I have stayed in Indiana for all of the holidays thus far. I (Christina) will not earn any vacation time from my job until the beginning of January, and there was not enough time during the holidays to go to the west coast to visit family so we stayed put at home. For Thanksgiving we started off our day going to the park and playing flag football with the youth and young adults from the church. We had a great turn-out of about 50 people come to play. I learned really quickly that flag football is not my thing. I felt as though I was running in circles trying to figure out what I was doing. I took over watching the youth pastors 3 year old son, which was much easier. That evening the youth pastor and his wife hosted the young adult group for a potluck Thanksgiving dinner. It turned out to be a wonderful, meaningful evening with a group of our new friends. We were blessed to have a place to spend Thanksgiving since we could not be with our family.
Next came the very busy season of Christmas. We had several great parties and celebrations that we got to be apart of. I will only mention a few of the highlights. One of the highlights from Church was the Christmas program that we had a week before Christmas. Ben had the
opportunity to put together a short play for the children to perform during the program. He wrote a play based off of Luke 2 and each of the children played a part. You will see in the picture the angels, which are the kindergartners that Christina works with on a regular basis. They did a wonderful job, as did all the children and the play turned out great. A highlight for me (Christina) was a Christmas party that the youth pastors wife Grace and I put on for the women of the young adult group. We spent many weeks planning for this event and felt that it turned out really nice. We had dinner as a group, sang Christmas carols, decorated sugar cookies and made cookie jars that we could give away as presents. We had many new women join us for the event, which was wonderful because now they are coming to our young adult group on a regular basis. We love to see the growth in our young adult ministry.
Ben and I had a great time celebrating Christmas in our new home. We had fun getting a tree and other fun decorations to make our house look festive. Ben and I kept our tradition of looking at Christmas lights on Christmas Eve. We landed on a gold mine when we found a house that was not only decked out with lights, but they had it set to music on a certain radio station. They had a sign outside of their house that told what radio station to tune into and then you could watch the light show. It was amazing and utterly outstanding. We can't wait to go back next ye
ar. Christmas evening we went to Chicago to spend a few days with our friends. We had a great time traveling around seeing people we had not seen since we left in July. Again, it was nice being amongst friends when we couldn't be with our family. The last major celebration we had was a New Years party that we hosted last night. We had about 23 people come through the house to visit and to ring in the new year. We even had a time of sharing/reflecting on this past year and praying for the year ahead. It made the night really special.
Soo... another year has gone by and Ben and I know that we have much to be thankful for. It has been a full year, but one of many Blessings and the Lord's direction. Ben and I look forward to this next year and what the Lord will do in and through us for his glory.
Next came the very busy season of Christmas. We had several great parties and celebrations that we got to be apart of. I will only mention a few of the highlights. One of the highlights from Church was the Christmas program that we had a week before Christmas. Ben had the
opportunity to put together a short play for the children to perform during the program. He wrote a play based off of Luke 2 and each of the children played a part. You will see in the picture the angels, which are the kindergartners that Christina works with on a regular basis. They did a wonderful job, as did all the children and the play turned out great. A highlight for me (Christina) was a Christmas party that the youth pastors wife Grace and I put on for the women of the young adult group. We spent many weeks planning for this event and felt that it turned out really nice. We had dinner as a group, sang Christmas carols, decorated sugar cookies and made cookie jars that we could give away as presents. We had many new women join us for the event, which was wonderful because now they are coming to our young adult group on a regular basis. We love to see the growth in our young adult ministry.Ben and I had a great time celebrating Christmas in our new home. We had fun getting a tree and other fun decorations to make our house look festive. Ben and I kept our tradition of looking at Christmas lights on Christmas Eve. We landed on a gold mine when we found a house that was not only decked out with lights, but they had it set to music on a certain radio station. They had a sign outside of their house that told what radio station to tune into and then you could watch the light show. It was amazing and utterly outstanding. We can't wait to go back next ye
ar. Christmas evening we went to Chicago to spend a few days with our friends. We had a great time traveling around seeing people we had not seen since we left in July. Again, it was nice being amongst friends when we couldn't be with our family. The last major celebration we had was a New Years party that we hosted last night. We had about 23 people come through the house to visit and to ring in the new year. We even had a time of sharing/reflecting on this past year and praying for the year ahead. It made the night really special.Soo... another year has gone by and Ben and I know that we have much to be thankful for. It has been a full year, but one of many Blessings and the Lord's direction. Ben and I look forward to this next year and what the Lord will do in and through us for his glory.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Post Physical Therapy
Many of you know that I have undergone lots of knee problems in the past year and a half and have been in and out of doctor appointments, MRI's and therapies. I wanted to give the good news that I have just been successfully discharged from Physical Therapy. This is the second time I have been referred to therapy and I must admit I was very skeptical about the possibility that it would work and that I could come out of it capable of being active again. Well, the physical therapist that I was referred to was exceptional and worked one-on-one with me to accomplish my goals. I had extremely weak leg muscles going into it and failed all of my strength tests. I took another test at the end of my 8 weeks (16 1 1/2 hour sessions) and passed everyone of them. I feel great and stronger than I have felt in a long time. Now I get to embark upon my journey of running again. I will be taking it slow, but nontheless will get to run again soon. The only possible thing that could keep me from running now is the cyst in my knee. Unfortunately, nothing can be done about the cyst at this time. Only time will tell if it will go away on its own. If it doesn't go away and bothers me, I unfortunately will not be able to run, but if it doesn't bother me than I have the go-ahead from my doctor to begin running again. I want to thank everyone who has prayed for me and inquired about my knee. I appreciate it greatly and am encouraged to see how God has worked all things out.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
A Much Needed Update
Much has happened in the past month since we last posted a blog. I will do my best to update everyone without writing a complete book.
At the end of September, I (Christina) graduated from my training course for my job. It was a great feeling to graduate and move forward into my career as a social worker. Ben was able to attend the graduation and it was great to have him there. He was a continual support for me through the entire training course. Since graduation my job has taken off and life at work is very busy. Despite the craziness of the job, I love what I do and working with the children and families that I work with. I am learning the job quickly and how to stay organized amongst the chaos.
Ben's job continues to go well. He is quickly approaching the holiday season, which is busy, but he is managing all of his tasks efficiently. On the 16th of November there will be a Children's Ministry Sunday where Ben will be the main speaker. The children will also be apart of the service in the way of singing and skits. This will be Ben's first time preaching during a service along with doing it via translation. He looks forward to sharing about the children's ministry and getting others excited about it as well. Ben has also been working with the co-workers to establish a Mission and Vision for the department that will guide the Ministry. He is very close to having an official statement that the ministry can be driven by.
In the middle of October Ben and I took a mini trip to Virginia for the Columbus Day weekend. We went to see the historical triangle there, which consists of Jamestown, Yorktown and Colonial Williamsburg. We had a wonderful time on our getaway trip. One of our highlights was that the hotel we were booked to stay at was full so they put us up at a resort and we got our own 2 bedroom condo to stay in instead of a hotel room. The resort was remarkable and helped make the trip extra relaxing. The other highlights were visiting the 3 different historical sites. They were full of great information and had it set up in a way where the people were dressed up to represent the time period and the people were demonstrating the different things that were happening during that time period. It was a fun way to learn history and we would recommend it for anyone. It was a well-needed break for both of us and we were grateful to get away together and to experience history in the way that we did.
At the end of October Ben and I recieved sad news that a friend of ours from our previous church in Oak Park had passed away due to heart problems. We received the news the night before her funeral service and therefore up and left Indiana on the spot to drive to Chicago to be able to say our goodbyes and be apart of the service for her. It was a precious service and one of hope as she had a personal relationship with Christ. We got a chance to spend the day with some of our friends in Chicago, which lifted our spirits and was a nice time for us. We had wanted to go back to visit, but didn't expect to go on those conditions. Nevertheless it was a neat time being among our Chicago friends again.
It's hard to believe, but the Holidays are approaching rapidly and we are doing our best to prepare for them.
Unfortunately we were not able to post any pictures from our most recent endeavors due to a problem with our main computer that houses all of our pictures. We hope to post some pictures in the near future.
At the end of September, I (Christina) graduated from my training course for my job. It was a great feeling to graduate and move forward into my career as a social worker. Ben was able to attend the graduation and it was great to have him there. He was a continual support for me through the entire training course. Since graduation my job has taken off and life at work is very busy. Despite the craziness of the job, I love what I do and working with the children and families that I work with. I am learning the job quickly and how to stay organized amongst the chaos.
Ben's job continues to go well. He is quickly approaching the holiday season, which is busy, but he is managing all of his tasks efficiently. On the 16th of November there will be a Children's Ministry Sunday where Ben will be the main speaker. The children will also be apart of the service in the way of singing and skits. This will be Ben's first time preaching during a service along with doing it via translation. He looks forward to sharing about the children's ministry and getting others excited about it as well. Ben has also been working with the co-workers to establish a Mission and Vision for the department that will guide the Ministry. He is very close to having an official statement that the ministry can be driven by.
In the middle of October Ben and I took a mini trip to Virginia for the Columbus Day weekend. We went to see the historical triangle there, which consists of Jamestown, Yorktown and Colonial Williamsburg. We had a wonderful time on our getaway trip. One of our highlights was that the hotel we were booked to stay at was full so they put us up at a resort and we got our own 2 bedroom condo to stay in instead of a hotel room. The resort was remarkable and helped make the trip extra relaxing. The other highlights were visiting the 3 different historical sites. They were full of great information and had it set up in a way where the people were dressed up to represent the time period and the people were demonstrating the different things that were happening during that time period. It was a fun way to learn history and we would recommend it for anyone. It was a well-needed break for both of us and we were grateful to get away together and to experience history in the way that we did.
At the end of October Ben and I recieved sad news that a friend of ours from our previous church in Oak Park had passed away due to heart problems. We received the news the night before her funeral service and therefore up and left Indiana on the spot to drive to Chicago to be able to say our goodbyes and be apart of the service for her. It was a precious service and one of hope as she had a personal relationship with Christ. We got a chance to spend the day with some of our friends in Chicago, which lifted our spirits and was a nice time for us. We had wanted to go back to visit, but didn't expect to go on those conditions. Nevertheless it was a neat time being among our Chicago friends again.
It's hard to believe, but the Holidays are approaching rapidly and we are doing our best to prepare for them.
Unfortunately we were not able to post any pictures from our most recent endeavors due to a problem with our main computer that houses all of our pictures. We hope to post some pictures in the near future.
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