The Start of Something New Part 2

Hi, all! Well, we have officially endured our first week of living in Iowa. We have to say, life is good. We are really starting to see the beauty of this place. It's such a great little town, and the people are so friendly. We are so thankful for the opportunities the Lord has given us, and for all of His abundant provision.
This last Sunday was our first "new" church experience. The first official day of our hunt for a Dubuque church family. We went to a brethren assembly called, Arbor Oaks Bible Chapel (AOBC). It's a small church with seemingly only a handful of members (compared to the Westside body ;-)), and it is very "traditional". No exciting instruments, nothing flashy or anything... Just simple. Even though the church was small and traditional, it had a great charm to it. I think it was probably because the people there came just as they are. Something that I noticed was that the people in the congregation were very authentic, and that when they came up to introduce themselves (which literally happened every 5 seconds or so... Christian and I were talking with new people the whole time hehe), they were so kind and gracious, and so legitimately interested in learning about us. Their welcome of us was so warm, and we were so thankful for it. They tried to plug us in right away, also, which is incredibly sweet, and we're thankful that their needs seem to be areas that the Lord has equipped us in. Still, we don't want to rush things, and would like to keep exploring before making a decision as to where we want to invest ourselves the most. It would seem, though that the decision might be really hard if this is what Dubuque assemblies are like... Uh oh. Just kidding, but it will just take a LOT of prayer. :-)
On Monday, Christian and I went into Emmaus to pay tuition and have him register for classes, etc. It was great. We just love the staff and faculty. Christian has even already been invited to grab coffee sometime with one of his professors. Wow! That doesn't happen everyday to college students! Anyway, here are a few pictures of our NOT finished apartment, but we're getting there :-) And some pics from Christian's first day as an Emmaus student!
This is the bathroom, which I have painted a light green, and then primed and stained the wood towel hanger, the door, the sink pedestal, the mirror and the toilet paper rack. We're pretty happy with the result :-)

Here is the kitchen. Still has some work to be done, but it's been fun putting it together. I just can hardly wait to ORGANIZE it!!! If the yellow is too much, PLEASE tell me :-) Would appreciate it, because I still can't decide how I feel about it. Christian has the "I'm a guy... I don't really care" mind set about it. ;-)

Here is the little nook that will be my office space (our whole second room is dedicated to Christian anyway... his "man-cave" ;-) In the nook, our landlord happened to find an old chandelier in storage, so he gave it to us. We spray painted it silver, and I am going to paint the bottom half of it some color that I haven't decided on yet. :-) I also bought a curtain rod to put across the top there, so we will have two red curtains pulled off to the side after we install the curtain rod. We'll post more pics once it's done.

Here is the dining room table that we just purchased off craigslist. AND our unfinished walls. After tomorrow, that will no longer be the case, Lord willing.

Finally, the painting that we bought at Bed Bath and Beyond the other day. This will go over our couch on the wall opposite the one you see in the table pic.

We are getting new laminate flooring this Saturday, too, which we are REALLY excited about. Finally, after that, hopefully everything will be on its way to being done! Now some pics of Christian's first day of school!

We are so thankful for all your prayers! We will update again, shortly! Hopefully with pictures of finished rooms! :-)
We love and miss you all!