Have YOU Ever Been THIS tired??????????

Have you ever been THIS tired?

Trading Spaces...Amongst Other Transitions...

As the title says, we traded spaces. Maybe not in the sense of the show that was so popular, but there was a lot of painting that went on and hopefully soon-new furniture. Right now, there is just LOTS and LOTS of boxes! We moved from our apartment close to Wrigley Stadium to Rodgers Park (still a part of Chicago), but very close to Evanston, IL-where Northwestern University is. Don't worry, we will NEVER be Northwestern fans (GO BUCKEYES!!!!!!!)
Anyway, the apartment is twice the size with a sun room, two bedrooms, a garage, enclosed backyard (for the pups) and other perks too! Hopefully soon we will be able to post pictures.

OTHER TRANSITIONS...
Two weeks ago, Joel was voted in to be interim associate pastor of our church! There are mixed feelings about this right now. I know I have told you all some things, but our church has gone through a lot of transition itsself this year and Joel was there during that time-but it is still going on. He does however feel God wants him here and we know that our God doesn't make mistakes. He also gives us the strength to handle whatever He asks us to do. It will be interesting to see what happens there.
Most of you know this as well, but I also changed jobs just a few weeks before we moved. I am working in the Emergency Room. It is challenging and stressful, although a much different stress than working in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. I admit I miss my old job-especially the people, but again, I know God knows so much more what He is doing than me-so I will adjust and go with it.
I also started classes 2 weeks ago. I am doing a lot more studying than previously. The classes I am taking are both very invloved-Physiology and Biostatistics. The latter I do believe is my nemesis...not much more say about that...
Needless to say, a lot of transition at once, but we seem to be taking it OK at the moment. We hope to eventually post more pictures from the new apartment. Right now you wouldn't think it was very nice since mostly boxes are filling the rooms.
Happy Sabbath (almost)

Our Mt Fugi Climb

This is when the fog started setting in right before the drizzle came. Right before the climb started getting really hard.





THis is the map at the base of the mountain showing the different trails you can take up. We were warned many times to stay on the path you start out on or else you will end up somehwere that is really hard to get back from.







This is us at the base of the mountain.


So, I promised more pictures from Japan. One of the highlights was our climb up Mt Fuji. I guess I have always taken for granted climbing a mountain when I read it in a book. You know "Jesus went to the Mt of Olives.." Climbing a mountain is just plain hard work!!! The big thing with climbing Mt Fuji is that most people arrange it so that you get to the top for the sunrise. Of course we wanted to be like "MOST" people. We started around 4:30 PM at the 5th station (there are 10 stations, but you only climb 5 of them). A bus carried us to the 5th station. We were supposed to make it to the 8.5 station before nightfall which is about 8PM (that's when they turn of the electricity). Almost as soon as we started climbing, the fog came in as well as drizzle, which made climing the volcanic rock...FUN to say the least. We made it to the 8.5 station in 3 hours and 20 minutes (it usually takes longer) I just had to add that. I was pretty proud of us. We passed a lot of "young college kids" on the way so that made me feel good. Anyway, we got to our $100 hotel which was more lilke a barracks-a hundred or so sleeping bags with bean pillows right next to each other. I guess they can charge that since they are 1 of 2 on the entire mountain. We went to sleep around 9PM and they woke us up around 2:30AM to finish the climb to the top. We did this and made it in time for the sunrise. It was such a beautiful place to be. One of those once-in-a-lifetime experiences and just such a beautiful reminder of God's awesome creation and what a priveledge it is to in the midst of His vastness. It made me realize once again how small I am, but how much I mean to Jesus. Here are some pictures from the start of the trip-read down for pictures from the top...

More Climbing...

I thought about sending these head shots to Hollywood, but then thought I would save them just for our blog-why waste them on Hollywood. Really, this is probably the worst picture ever of us, but I just had to get the head lamps in. This was during our night climb up Fuji-the first half anyway. Please erase this picture from your mind after you see it...







Joel wondering what in the world he got himself into climbing this thing...Or maybe thinking about all the great sermon illustrations he will use from this experience...who knows what he was thinking, I jsut thought it was a fun picture...

A cool picture of the sun rising over the mountain. It was such a beautiful sight and such an awesome reminder of Jesus and His wonderful and VAST creation.

This is us right as the sun was rising over the mountain. Notice the 'peace' sign...that is what a lot of Japanese do when they take a picture. It was hard to find a good place to take a picture because there were so many people. Notice also the BIG smiles and of course...our really cool headlamps!

It was REALLY cold at the top of the mountain. We probably didn't prepare like we should of for it. We also didn't have a whole lot of food at the top or water so almost as soon as we got to the top, we headed back down for water and food. Just to put things in perspective. Noodles similar to the 25cent kind here in the states with tons of sodium and "just add water" were like $5 there and you had to pay for the hot tea too. Needless to say we waited until the bottom...

GO BUCKEYES!!!

GO Buckeyes!
Ohio State fans should be excited about yesterday's win over Cincinatti! They did it again putting them 3-0 still ranked
NUMBER 1!

We are very happy for our Buckeyes and hope they continue with a great season. We are so excited that we get to go see them in Evanston when they play Northwestern in November!

WOO HOO!

More Than Just Sushi...

This was part of our first meal in Gujo Hachiman. We grilled fish over the fire and just had a wonderful night of conversation and lots of food!
This farmhouse is where we stayed the first couple nights in Japan. Eric and Fumiko have friends who live here on vacations and allowed us to come and stay with them. Japanese culture is so welcoming and hospitable. They cooked every meal for us and also showed us around town (Gujo Hachiman). During this time we got to experience a traditional festival where everyone in town dresses in their best and dances in a big circle for hours. It was quite an experience. We loved our time here.
We went all over Japan, but one place we stopped was in Kyoto. For those of you who have read or watched Memoirs of a Geisha, you would recognize this city. It is a beautiful historical city. One highlight for me was "Geisha Hunting". We were actually more like the papparazzi, at least I was. Geisha's which are actually not called Geisha anymore but 'Michael's' (I don't think that spelling is right). ANyway, they are superstarts in Japan. There were tons of people watching for them and Joel just happen to be one of the first to see this beautiful lady. She was kind enough to let us take a picture. For me, this was one of the many great moments.

As much as we love Sushi in the suburbs of Chicago, it is NOTHING like Sushi in Japan. Eric and Fumiko took us to one of their favorite Sushi resturants. We dressed in our best (the boys in Jimbays and the girls in Yukatas). Fumiko didn't wear one because there was no way I would be able to help her put it on. We had a great night and it was wonderful!

Coming Soon...

Soon, I promise sooner rather than later we will have pictures post from our recent trip to Japan as well as more pictures from our mission trip to Alaska. I am sure you are just on the edge of your seat waiting so it will be soon. Hang in there.

Friends VS Seinfeld

OK, so I am not one to usually post about such crazy things as TV shows (year right) but I thought I would get opinions from those out there about what you think. My husband and I go back and forth regarding Seinfeld and Friends. I am a Friends fan and he is a Seinfeld fan. Don't get me wrong, I think Seinfeld is hysterical, I just prefer Friends. Now I am sure we could have a huge theology debate and I think our conclusion would be that neither is either uplifting or adding to my relationship with God-Survivor doesn't either but...
Anyway, back to the subject. WHich do you prefer? Friends or Seinfeld?

A new job, flowers, and a vacation...

Tonight was my last night of working in the Pediatric ICU. It's quite a big transition for me to leave because I totally love it there. There was a big party for me with lots O food! What a great going away gift-5 extra pounds to my backside-but who's complaining? It is great to know that people like me at my job and they said that I had a positive influence on them. I hope so. I will so miss Univ of Chicago and I am not quite to the point yet where I am excited about my new job. Maybe when I am able to have closure at my current job. Anyway, I will keep you updated on that. Just to say how awesome my hubby is... knowing how hard this week was on me with leaving and everything-he came to work tonight (after calling my manager) and brought a box of candy and a dozen roses to the unit and also to meet everyone. How awesome is he?
We are also getting ready to take another trip-this is not a mission trip, but purely VACATION! We are so excited to be able to go to JAPAN to see Joel's brother's family. We are excited to be able to go and experience new culture as well as see fam that we haven't see in awhile. We will post pictures when we get back. Talk to you soon. Please pray for our trip that we get there safe without any problems with flights, airplanes, etc...

A new job, flowers, and a vacation...

Tonight was my last night of working in the Pediatric ICU. It's quite a big transition for me to leave because I totally love it there. There was a big party for me with lots O food! What a great going away gift-5 extra pounds to my backside-but who's complaining? It is great to know that people like me at my job and they said that I had a positive influence on them. I hope so. I will so miss Univ of Chicago and I am not quite to the point yet where I am excited about my new job. Maybe when I am able to have closure at my current job. Anyway, I will keep you updated on that. Just to say how awesome my hubby is... knowing how hard this week was on me with leaving and everything-he came to work tonight (after calling my manager) and brought a box of candy and a dozen roses to the unit and also to meet everyone. How awesome is he?
We are also getting ready to take another trip-this is not a mission trip, but purely VACATION! We are so excited to be able to go to JAPAN to see Joel's brother's family. We are excited to be able to go and experience new culture as well as see fam that we haven't see in awhile. We will post pictures when we get back. Talk to you soon. Please pray for our trip that we get there safe without any problems with flights, airplanes, etc...

A couple more pictures

Here are just a few more pictures from our Alaska trip. The landscape is a glacier that we saw. Isn't God's creation beautiful?

The kids in the village of Elim were just so cute! For all the social issues they face, they really loved to play and smile. It could be because most of what they eat is candy. It is rare to see them without candy of pop in their hand. But we had so much fun with them. We miss them.

Although this pictures is not going the right way, you can see we are eating something. This is called "Eskimo Ice Cream". It looks very similar to ice cream, but it is made with:
Crisco or butter whipped together with whale or seal oil and mixed with salmon berries which taste like not quite ripe blueberries. You may think that this wouldn't taste very good, but it actually was VERy good. Joel even had 2 helpings! The native family that made this for us told us it was good because it was made with whale oil instead of seal oil. Usually they put seal oil in it but they really like the seal oil rancid, that's what gives it the 'bad' taste. What a fun adventurous trip. I will post more later.

We're Home

I just thought I would post a few pictures from our Alaska trip. We did A LOT of work and are still recovering. But here are a few that I thought you may enjoy. To the left is a view from a boat tour we took at the end of the trip.

It is Silver Salmon Season in Alaska and we took major advantage of it. A native couple took out team out fishing-Joel caught the last fish of the day and I caught 2!







Yes this is me with a power tool! I used a lot of other ones. The other lady and I on the trip put in the first two windows on the house! GIRLPOWER! We were so excited to have tool belts and power tools.
This is a picture of us on the beach in the bush village of Elim. It was such a great village and the people were wonderful! I will post more info about the trip, but thought you might enjoy the pictures.

AND...We're OFF...

We are leaving today for Alaska! We are so excited to see what God is going to do while we are there. We will be gone from July 29th to August 8th, so if you think about us during this time or view our blog during this time, please say a quick prayer for the 6 members of our team and the 313 people of Elim, Alaska where we will be. We look forward to telling you all about it and showing you many pictures when we return. I know this picture is kind of goofy and it has no relationship at all to what we are doing there, but I like the dog...well, maybe the landscape too! Talk to you when we get back!

New Path

Well, if it official. I am starting a new job. I told my manager tonight at work that I would be leaving at the end of August. This is been SUCH a difficult decision for me. Most people that leave their jobs don't like it. I, on the other hand, love my job, love the people I work with, and I am pretty good at it. So needless to say, it's just hard.

I will be taking an Emergency Room position at Evanston Northwestern starting August 28th. I hope and pray that it goes well. I know God has a reason for everything He does and I truly feel this is where He is leading, but it doesn't make it easier to leave. So, just thought I would keep you all up to date and ask that you please pray for us during this transition. Thanks to those of you who prayed for me regarding this discernment time. You are greatly appreciated!

Alaska #2

Well, I just want to update things on Alaska. We are leaving a week from Saturday around noon and will be there 10 days.
Financially-we were able to raise 100% and then some for our trip!
PRAISE GOD! When we first heard that the trip was going to be around $20,000 we were a little scared. For me, it has helped me see so much what God can do and has confirmed that we are supposed to be in Alaska. That is so exciting!
Our team is coming together. We are going to be doing 3 or so days of VBS with the kids and then try to have an adult service following that. During the day, we will be working on the pastor's house. We are praying for our hearts as well as the hearts of those 313 in Elim, Alaska. I am not sure how we begin to touch people who are facing what these hearts face (90% of the females abused!!!), but I know for sure we are supposed to be there. Other than that-God is going to do the rest! Thanks for your prayers. We appreciate them so much.


This picture (to the left) was sent out on the front of our postcard to our church. We chose this picture out of about 2000 and found out later that this lady committed suicide last year. To use that showed the reality of bush Alaska and what these people are facing. Please pray!

Today we got the priviledge of going to Valpo, IN to speak at a church. Joel went back to his Mennonite roots, preaching in his first Mennonite pulpit where our good friend Jeremy Bustos's dad is the pastor. We came to speak about the Alaska trip we are taking in 3 weeks as well as Joel preaching on God's will. It was a great sermon and people came to him after the service saying how it touched them and really met them at a critical time. Praise God. We also got the chance to visit with not only "Bustos" and his family, but with our friends Peter and Missi Khosla. We hadn't seen them in a while and it was refreshing. Peter is always great to discuss anything with and to challenge us in reading and learning new things about life and our walk with the Lord. Missi was an encouragment taking so much interest in our lives and what we are up to. We appreciate people that God has put in our path like these friends from IWU that will probably be friends for life. Bustos always lifts us up and makes us laugh, no matter what the situation. We appreciate his hospitality in asking us to come. Thanks y'all for a great afternoon.





We had a fun time together today-in case you don't know some of these people-from left to right-Peter and Missi Khosla, Jeremy Bustos, and Joel and I.


One of Bustos and Peter's better moments...Needless to say Bustos didn't have much sleep.

4th Fun with Family

We had a great time with Joel's side of the family over the 4th of July Holiday! We went to the Indiana Dunes State Park and camped for about 3 days. We climbed lots of sand, played at the beach, and even went to the water park there! It was just a blast. 3 of our 5 nieces were there (the other 2 are in Japan-we are going to see them in July--YEAH!) and we had a great time with them. The loved playing with the dogs and I think that is probably the most fun Hireq and Patah have ever had. They even got to experience the beach for the first time. Patah didn't much like it, but Hireq did and probably would have gone in further-but she's just so darn small! It's always fun to get away and just relax for awhile and we love doing that with family. Please keep the Delp side of the family in your prayers as Joel's dad just lost his mother last week. It was expected, but I know that still makes it hard.
Thank you Delp's and O'Dell's for a great time! We love you all.
What did the rest of you do for the 4th?

Puppy Love

Here is a recent picture of the pups! They just turned 2 on the 25th! We love our puppies and they bring us so much happiness. Aren't they so cute?

Decisions, Decisions...

So, just an update regarding the merger decision for our church...

Well, it didn't go as well as we would have hoped, to say the least. The other church we were thinking of merging with voted 73% in favor of the merge. Our church had a majority vote in favor for the vote, but it was not enough of a majority for it to pass. So, we figured out from that vote that there are some people who are not happy with how things are in the church. It has been such an extremely hard week and a half for our pastor and Joel has been trying to be there as a support and encouragement to him, but sometimes to hear all the negative comments from people is very trying. If you think of it, please continue to pray and know that we continue to covet and appreciate those prayers. I know a lot of you are in ministry and I continue to realize how much strength God gives to those in ministry. He doesn't promise it will be easy, I know that, but I know He won't leave us either-what an encouragement. Thanks for your continue support!
Be STRONG and COURAGEOUS. Do not be terrified, do not be discouraged, for the Lord OUR God is with you wherever you go! Joshua 1:9! AMEN!

Family Ties

A couple of weeks ago I was able to go up to the Twin Cities to see some of my extended family! It was so fun to see them-some I hadn't see in almost 4 years! We couldn't have planned it any better. There were about 20 of us that got together at an Italian resturant (used to be a mob hang out!). We had so much fun and it was so great to be able to catch up with family that I don't get to see very often. It was fun to see my nephew Cody get to spend time with his cousin who he hasn't seen in a lot of years! I think everyone had a great time! So-here's to family! I love and miss you all!

Please Pray

I just wanted to send a shout out to you all to ask for prayer for today...well, almost today. On Sunday our church is going to be voting on merging with another church. As many of you know who are working or have worked among the intricate parts of the church, you can just imagine that this would be the cause of much concern. There are concerns for people no matter which way the vote goes. There are some who will say they will leave the church if the vote goes one way, some if it goes the other. There are some saying those who vote one way are not obeying the will of God...etc, etc, etc. This decision has weighed SO heavy on us this week. Our most important prayer is for unity-regardless of how the vote turns out. I will keep you all posted. However, if you think about us on Sunday, please pray. The vote it at 6:30PM. We appreciate and covet your prayers...

Church

Church is...?
This is an interesting statement. Sometimes I wish I was a kid again. To have such an innocent and pure view of everything. You never realilze at the time-only when you start 'growing' up how much you should look at life like a little child. It is no different with the church. In Sunday school as a child you sing songs praising Jesus-you don't care about who is watching-you just dance, lift your hands, jump up and down-it doesn't matter. It's interesting how church changes as you grow up. It's interesting how it changes when you start getting more involved in the inter-workings of the church. How obvious it is that the church is run by sinners. I like that. I like knowing that I don't have to be perfect to come to church. I'm as much of a sinner as anyone there.
Church is hard though. Because it is full of sinners-it's hard.
Why a post about church?
We had a meeting at our church this week. Our final meeting before we will make a congretional vote to merge with a neighboring church. It's interesting what comes out during these meetings-things that are said. THings that can hurtful. Things that make you think and that make your heart heavy.
I am praying so hard this week for all of us to realize that church is not about us!!!!
Church is not about our preferences...it's not about our likes and dislikes. Church is about our worship to our God.
One final thought...
Sometimes in the business of life, I forget about heaven,I'll be honest. I don't think about what it will be like or when I will go. I just sometimes get too busy...I'm human. However 2 weeks ago in a service, we were talking about Acts 2-when the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost. What an awesome chapter! Anyway during this discussion, there were probably 10 people who got up and said in different languages the Lord's Prayer. I couldn't help letting the tears flow. To imagine that that is just a small glimpse of what heaven could be like! WOW! We serve such a powerful and mighty God! Praise HIm in this day!

Newest purchase

Since I graduated from nursing school (over 2 years ago now) I have wanted to get a pair of these 'perfect' shoes! They are expensive, plus there were MANY other things that were mor important to spend our money on than these shoes. Actually, there still is and my apologies for even blogging about something so vain-however, I truly think these are the perfect shoes!
Not only are they extremely fashionable, but they are SOOOO comfy. I also found a great deal on them and that is the sole reason that I got them. Pathetic thing to blog about-but my feet are so excited to be in them and so I just had to share.