Long Time, No See!

Hello, all! I feel as thought I have just completely dropped the ball in regards to maintaining this blog regularly. I'm so sorry that it has been so long (about six months). Well, I drop the ball in tons of areas of my life, but... This one directly applies to all of you, so... yes.

There has been so much that has changed in the last six months. One of the biggest things is that, much to the surprise of many, I have left my job at Dubuque Bank and Trust, and I have begun a full-time job working in the admissions office at Emmaus! Let me just say, this transition was one of the best that I've ever made. I was so grateful for my job at the bank. I had an amazing boss, and some amazing co-workers. They were all so supportive of me when I chose to leave the bank, and I am so thankful for their love and kindness. My new job at Emmaus seriously rocks my socks off. I feel so blessed beyond measure that I get to wake up every morning and actually be excited to get into my office.

The thing is, while the Lord did such a wonder getting me this bank job, he made it very clear that Emmaus was the best option for me. I believe that the Lord brought me to the bank for who knows how many reasons, but I believe one of the most dominant ones was so that I might be able to share His love to one person in particular. I am thankful for all of the opportunities that I had to share Him with her, but like everything in life, things have seasons. While the bank was a short experience, I learned to challenge myself in some huge ways. The reason why I chose to transition to Emmaus was simply because Christian and I both believe that we will only be in Dubuque long enough for him to finish his schooling, which will take around 3-4 years. I figure that since we will be here for such a short time, I would much rather take advantage of this time to minister to/with young people. I love that I can be so much more accessible and build so many more meaningful relationships with the students. It's wonderful! Emmaus is an outstanding place, and I am so privileged to spend my days here.

So following along with the theme of work, the second week on the job at Emmaus, I was sent to a different camp (I know, different than Eagle Fern... SO scary!) called Camp Koronis in St. Cloud, MN. I have to say, that was seriously such a rediculously fun time. I was the only senior girls counselor (ages 17-21), and I am so blessed to have been a part of it! 

This also was the hottest summer on record for Iowa. I think that I heard somewhere that it broke over 3,000 heat records in the Midwest! That's a LOT! In August, we ended up going down to Paraguay to visit Christian's family and friends. Unfortunately, it wasn't for the best of reasons (his brother, Julian passed away). Nonetheless, we still had a great time seeing everyone, and it was a great time of reconnecting and joy. We are so thankful that the Lord made it possible for us to go.

On our way back from Paraguay, we had a pretty extensive layover in Panama City, Panama! So, what did we do? We took advantage of the situation and went on a bus out to the Panama Canal! Christian finally got to check that off of his bucket-list of things that he had to do/see before he dies. It was pretty fantastic getting that experience under our belts, for sure!

Still, we got past the 102 degree weather at 10am, and 90% humidity, and went into fall. I love autumn. I'm pretty sure that it's my most favorite season. I love the crisp cold in the air, the sun, and especially the colors! I was blessed to get to do an engagement and a couple of family photo-sessions that were able to capture the beauty of the fall colors. Christian started soccer this fall, too! I have loved being a proud wife of an amazing Bible college student, as well as an amazing soccer player. Aside from that, Christian has been working at the college in the maintenance department and loving it! He's officially on the snow-low team for this winter, and he can hardly wait for it to snow. He also refuses to watch Christmas movies with me until it snows, too... So, I'm also very excited for it to snow. If you guys know me well, you know that snow and Christmas are two of the BEST times of year. LOVE THEM! Here are some pics of the soccer season!

Soccer season is now over, as well as my part in the college fair season (but I am still traveling like a maniac unfortunately). What Christian and I have been doing is taking the little bit of time that we can spare on the weekends to go out and see different things together. So far, we have been the the Mines of Spain, the Botanical Gardens, Eagle Point Park, Madison, Galena, Chicago and soon I will be taking him to Des Moines!

We were blessed, back in October, to have our good friend/brother Peter Mead come out to Emmaus for one week to do a chapel series for us. We even got to have him over for dinner so that he and Christian could get to know each other a little bit! It was Pete's first time meeting Christian, so we were all really excited that he had the time in his busy schedule to make it over. And even though I had a horrible cold!
We are so glad that he could come!

We have also been participating heavily in the Spanish Bible Study that the Latino students at Emmaus have begun, not just so that they can all speak Spanish for a night, but also so that they can do outreach to the Latinos in the Dubuque community. Some of us were able to help our sister Paola (Columbia) celebrate her birthday at our apartment! I have also taken it upon myself to learn as much Spanish as possible while we're still here in the US, so I have gotten one thousand vocab cards in Spanish to help me learn! I do fifteen new words every other day, and the Latinos have been amazing at keeping me on track and quizzing me at every opportunity. YAY! I'm getting there! One small step at a time. Along with that news, Christian and I decided that we would go out on a date to a local Mexican restaurant in the area where everyone that works there is recently from Mexico, and invite them to our bible study! Our waiter actually had been invited once before, and said that he had accidentally thrown away the piece of paper that the info was written on, which he said made him sad because he had really wanted to come! Praises be that the Lord brought us in there to invite him to our Thanksgiving dinner this coming Sunday! We are praying that he comes along with some friends and that we can really reach out to them. You guys could help us to pray about that, too! We would appreciate it!

Last, but not least, I was blessed to go back out to Portland for one week late in October. That was fantastic! It was so surreal to be back in my hometown! I was able to surprise my brother and his wife, and even one of my best friends, Kylie Ann! We have missed our friendships there, terribly. I love that I got to see my parents, stay in my old room, reconnect with the Tacks, Westside, Odeth, Ian and Joe, the Cole's and Denise among others. Wow. What a gift!

We can hardly wait to come back for Christmas! And I promise, I will be doing a much better job of keeping up with this blog from now on. Seriously. Love to you all! And thank you so much for all of the prayers!

And From His Goodness...

I must first start this post by apologizing for my laziness in getting a new post up last month. I know that all of you were just hanging on the edges of your seats, so I hope you can forgive me for not giving you all what you just dying for... (Please detect the sarcasm ;-)) Anyway, life has been going in a way that is not too far from what is normal, although we must say that every day we are so blessed beyond belief, and we are always doing better than we deserve. 

Christian, as of yesterday, completed his very first semester here at Emmaus. Wow! Already!? But he is so thankful it's over for the summer, as much as he loved it, he's ready for a break (and I'm ready to have a husband again ;-)). Since the end of March, I have settled into my new job, and have been learning enough new information on investments for my head to explode. I'm really glad that it hasn't yet, but stay tuned... Who knows? Seriously, though. I am so thankful for this job. The Lord has just provided immensely for us, and we are just so blessed by His goodness. Kylie wanted to see a picture of me in my normal work-wear, so here it is!

I also promised Kylie that I would post some more updated pics of our new home, so here they go!

 Welcome to our home!

 This is our floor mat right inside our front door. I just thought that it was perfect because these are the three most important things in our lives :-)

 Our kitchen is the first thing you see when you walk in the front door (granted, this pic was taken from our little nook, not the front door, but it was the best way to get a good angle)

 You can see the front door on the far right, just inside the doorway. This is our living room. We absolutely LOVE our furniture. Craigslist is the BOMB!

This is the dining room area. Also a craigslist find. Also, Kylie see the ficus? ;-) 

 If you stand on the outside wall of our living room/dining room, this is what you see. I love that little window into the kitchen. :-)

 The door on the left here is the pantry. I love it. It's HUGE and a nice big walk in, so we store all of our food, cleaning supplies and everything in there. It's great! Also, that painting up above the archway is a painting I just did here a few weeks ago. It says, "Consider the Lillies", just as a reminder that God is our provider, not only ourselves.

 If you keep walking straight through that archway, you walk into Christian's study room. It's the only room that we haven't finished yet, but it's coming along. There is a huge bookshelf on the right, but you can't see it. It has a lot of Christian's school books, etc on it. Emmaus had its annual book sale a couple of weeks ago (almost all books were only 25 cents!) so needless to say, we seriously stocked up on literature.

 If you walk out of Christian's room and take a sharp left, you will walk down a short hall and into our bathroom! We love our bathroom. It's a little tight for the two of us, but it suits us fine :-) The colors are my favorite part.

 Then, if you walk out of the bathroom and take a sharp right, there is another little archway that goes into our bedroom! We LOVE our room. I am so thankful for the way that it's turned out. We have shelves attached to the wall on the opposite wall  that our bed faces.

Here is the other window in our room. Then on the right of the window, on the wall adjacent, there is my walk in closet! Christian's walk in closet is in his study room. :-) 

 This is what you see when you walk out of our room. That picture was given to us by Aunt Carol Papworth. We love it! :-)

 So, on my birthday we added a few new members to our family. One in particular. Our new fish (Christian's birthday gift to me), Jose Viernes. Our new betta fish! :-) Isn't he gorgeous!? And also, this last Saturday was the first day of Dubuque Farmer's Market! I met a lady who was running one of the booth's there who was from Australia, and she gave me some herbal plants to start my own indoor garden! YAY! So from left to right I have lemon thyme, chamomile, lavender, chives and then spearmint. I am SO excited. I have ALWAYS wanted my own garden. BUT, ok... I just have to say this. So last year I planted about 6 rananculus bulbs in a pot on the back deck at my parent's house. And guess what? NOTHING happened. They were supposed to bloom in summer, and they totally didn't. Well, today my mom sent me an email with a picture of the flowers this year, and guess what? They decided to bloom AFTER I LEFT HOME! Rude. But check out how beautiful one of them is.

I have also been broadening my cooking skills lately, and a couple of nights ago I ventured to make my very first homemade empanadas from scratch. Yes, they turned out pretty tasty, and Christian was very happy. He always loves getting food from home.

 I also tried Ruth Keller's sweet and sour chicken from scratch! It's in the Westside cookbook. SO YUMMY!!! But that's not shocking. Anything the Kellers make is yum in the tum.

And with that, my parents are coming out to visit us over Memorial Day weekend, and we can hardly wait to see you, Mom and Dad! 

We'll post again soon, all! We are blessed by you all and are so thankful for all of your support and prayers. 

Cheers!

Spring-time!!!

Hello, all!
I thought it was probably time to give a little update on some of the latest happenings that have been going on here in Dubuque. Christian and I have found ourselves very busy lately, but have been enjoying our time getting to know people immensely! God is just so good! We are continually amazed at his grace and provisions. The people that He has brought into our lives are such gifts to us, and we love having all of these great opportunities to build relationships.
I will back-track a bit to the month of February. Christian and I were privileged with getting to join Emmaus in attending our very first hockey game ever. I think Christian has officially fallen in love with something new... and we've only been married for three months as of today! Uh oh! (Just kidding ;-)) But really, he does just love the sport now. Here is a photo of our experience-

It was great! The state team, the Fighting Saints won the game and wiped the ice with the other team. GO SAINTS!
Closer to the end of February we experienced what we have officially considered "real" Iowa weather. One night, the sky was clear and the air cool and crisp, but by the morning we woke up to a solid five inches of pure white, billowy snow! It snowed for the entire day, and let me tell you... It was fabulous! Christian and I are just in love with the midwest snow. From the sound of it though, we might be two of only a hand-full here in Dubuque that really still have any appreciation for it. While it is kind of a hazard and annoyance for driving, we still think it's beautiful. And for those of you who know me very well, you'd know that my favorite holiday is Christmas, so I just can't be upset when I live in a perpetual Christmas land! That's right, I even watched Miracle on 34th Street with a hot cup of tea one morning while Christian was at school. I know... it was almost March and I'm still not letting go of the holidays. It's ok. I'm over it now. ;-)

Since March though, it's been crazy! The weather is apparently at a record of high temperatures! This last week has been nothing but weather in the mid-70's to the mid-80's! Absolute craziness for Iowans. We have all broken out our sandals and flip-flops and Emmaus has even stamped their approval on the wearing of shorts, now! Christian is definitely happy about that. He's a total shorts man.
Last week we were blessed to have our first visitors from back in Portland come to see us! The Papworths have been making their way around to their supporters giving Iran updates, and they took time out of their schedule to come spend a lovely afternoon catching up with us. We were so happy to see them and hear how life is back home and how everyone is doing at Westside. We miss it so dearly, and having a piece of home come to visit us was precious.

Finally, this last week has been Spring Break. And a much needed one, too! According to daily reminders from students around campus, this semester has been really tough on everyone academically. I know, because Christian has been having to date his books and homework instead of his wife during the weekdays (and I say that without bitterness, because what he is studying is amazing and we are so privileged to be here). Thus, we began our week of break with an in-home date night. Redbox has been our best friend for date-nights. :-) And just recently, one of our new favorites came out on DVD. That's right-- Puss in Boots!
Complete with popcorn and raspberry iced teas. Just like the cinema, but better... And lighter on our pockets, too. Haha!

This last Monday, we decided to leave for a visit to Chicago and Aunt Carol Papworth. We were accompanied by one of our new friends, Benjamin Jimenez (another international student from Mexico). He was heading to O'Hare to pick up his brother who is here to spend Spring Break with him. :-) We took off Monday evening and arrived in Chicago around 11pm, unfortunately for Aunt Carol... But as always, she was a trooper and greeted us with love and smiles despite our late arrival. It was just amazing. Christian and I spent the whole day on Tuesday walking all over the city of Chicago, seeing the sights! We had no agenda, no schedule, just a map and some good walking shoes. It was great! We went to Millennium Park, saw The Bean, the outdoor amphitheater, the John Hancock Tower, the Chicago Sun Times building, the NBC building, and Navy Pier! What a day! Then we got to take the train home, which was another great adventure. Union Station is quite a busy place! Especially at 5 o'clock in the evening... Rush hour. Oops. But it was great. The train was like the Portland Max on steroids. Not kidding. Christian loved it! We even made it back in time for supper with Aunt Carol and Dick and Nita, again. :-) They weren't leaving the area until this last Thursday, so we got to spend some more time with them during our visit, too. The next day, we drove out to Moody Bible Institute to tour the campus with our old Doulos friend, Willem MacCleane from the Netherlands! It was great to see him again after four years. He was just his same old happy and silly self, and we had a great time catching up. He brought us to the top of the John Hancock Tower, where we sat in a cafe there and enjoyed some strawberry smoothies (BEST ones we EVER had!) and see the city from the top of the world. It was beautiful!!! On Wednesday we said goodbye to Aunt Carol and the Papworths and made our way home for some more R&R time. :-) 

 Us in Chicago, at Millennium Park

 Christian in front of the amphitheater

 Us in front of the Bean! A big stainless steel dome, thing that reflects everything 

Our reflections in the Bean! :-) 

 That is the Prudential building on the far right. Just another pic of the city from Millennium Park :-)

Here is a pic of Chicago from the end of Navy Pier. Gorgeous, right!?

 Me with the train... Awkwardly

 Us with Willem at the top of the John Hancock tower!

The view from the top of the tower at the cafe. That's the Sears tower on the top right (the one with the antenna). Seriously, Portland City Grill has nothing on this place. 

On Thursday we had a GREAT family come over for dinner--The Hernandez'... Or as I call them, the Hernandae. Joel is one of the Intercultural Studies professors here at EBC, and his wife, Amy leads one of the women's church bible studies. They are just fabulous. We spend a lot of time with the Spanish speakers here in Dubuque, particularly the Hernandae. Amy has taught me how to knit (she is a knitting phenomenon, no joke, and she shares many of the same loves as me: coffee, people, music, unique things, creativity, art and Starbucks mug collecting. She is literally a woman after my own heart. I just love her). Anyway, we had Joel, Amy, their daughter (a student at EBC) Sarah, and their neice... Sarah (no seriously, they are both Sarah's) over for calzones and it was a fabulous evening. Enjoyed every minute thoroughly! They are all Spanish speakers, and all of this spending practically all of our social time with Spanish speakers is doing me some serious good! I'm getting a lot of my Spanish back, but I'm still working up the guts to actually speak it. It's ok. It will come. In fact, there is another young couple here, the Orrico's. Samuel and his wife Rebekah. They are just too sweet! Sam is from Mexico, and his wife is from Iowa. She is in the process that I am... Trying desperately to learn Spanish. We all attend Spanish bible study together on Sunday nights, and oftentimes all are getting together at someone's house to hang out. It's great! And Bekah and I are picking up a lot by spending so much time with these amazing crazies! We love them! And it's so nice to have someone who is in the same shoes as I am. We definitely get to encourage each other, and that's definitely nice. 

On Friday we went bowling with Benjamin and his brother, Isaac. We had so much fun! It's been so long since either of us bowled. But, unfortunately, Ben and Isaac kicked our booties pretty hard. We decided that we need to go bowling more often. Then they came over for dinner afterwards and we got to know Isaac a bit. Such a super guy, and we are so glad that we got to spend that time with him and Ben. 

Finally, we are ending the week tonight with going out for dinner with Ben, Isaac, our friend Elena (her parents were missionaries in Paraguay! And she's a student at EBC), Macarena (our friend from Peru) and her boyfriend from Kansas. Also, as a gift from one of my new bosses, Christian and I are going to hear the Dubuque Symphony Orchestra tomorrow, as they play Beethoven's 9th! We are so looking forward to it! God has blessed us richly with so many amazing people around us. This will be a great ending to a great week! Then on Monday, Christian is back to school and I start my job at Dubuque Bank and Trust. YAY! 

Many more exciting things to come! Thanks for praying, reading, loving and being our friends! We love all of you! Blessings from Iowa! 

A Lesson In Trust

Hello, all!
I'm so sorry that this update has taken a while to get here. Much has been happening in the Neufeld home. God has been so unbelievably good to us, and we are ever thankful. Obviously, life for the past two months hasn't been the easiest thing ever... We are learning what it means when people say, "The honeymoon doesn't last forever". I don't mean that in the sense that there is any lack of love and romance in our relationship. What I mean is that the burdens of real life start coming into view, and we must once again begin to battle the temptations of worry, busy-ness, stress, tiredness and the list seems to go on. The Lord has been teaching us so much, though about what it means to really rely on Him, and what it means when He says that He is sovereign, even over the things that seem more trivial than others. Praise God that He is the only God that always does what's best for His children, and that He always has us in the palm of His hand, never dropping us and never leaving us.
It's kind of funny how many conversations that I've had lately where people ask me, "So how are you adjusting to Dubuque?" I usually talk about how great it is, how we are slowly but surely making this place home and getting to know people. Usually the question that follows that is, "So are you working while Christian is in school?" Up until yesterday, my answer was, "Well, I'm looking for a job. Doing everything I can to find one." People that stick around to talk after that usually then get my spiel about how I have learned throughout my life that God tends to teach me lessons in concentrated amounts of time. He doesn't really spread the lessons out over time. It's kind of like, "Hey Linda, I know that you need to work on trust, so I'm going to have a bunch of scenarios in your life for the next several months that teach you about it." Now, if I'm going to be theologically correct, I know that that's not necessarily true, but the Lord always knows what I need, and it seems as though when he pick a lesson, that's all my life has to do with for several months in a row. I must be stubborn. Who would've thought? ;-)
I know that the subject of trust has been a great theme through my relationship with Christian, and especially since we got married. So many changes and so many uncertainties, there really has been nothing to do but trust in the Lord, which is what we're always supposed to do anyway, even when we do seem to have a rough idea of the future. This not having a job has definitely been one of those areas in which I have had no choice but to hand the situation over to the Lord. Much easier said than done. Much. I think when any of us are tossed into situations where we literally can do nothing about the outcome, it really tends to make the inner control freak in all of us come out. That's definitely what happened with me.
I am so thankful for the people that God has brought into our lives here. I think of how blessed we are to have such wisdom and encouragement put into our lives daily from these incredible believers, here. I was blessed with something that a new friend of ours here told me one day while I was lamenting over not having an income. She told me that I shouldn't feel all of this weight on my shoulders to provide; that my worry is sin, and that ultimately God is the one who provides for all of our needs, and that it's really never up to us. And you know what? That is so very true! Honestly, I had never thought of that. I had done all that I could do to find work. I was diligent, I was putting forth the effort and that is really all I could do. It was time for me to lift my hands and say, "Ok... I'm done with this worry. I'm sorry for my sin of not trusting you. I'm sorry that I don't give you the credit that you deserve." I needed also to not just trust the Lord, but to make sure I give Him all of the credit for His provision, especially when He gets me a job. I'm so thankful for that conversation. It really let relax and take advantage of this time of not working. This has been a valuable time in itself. I have been blessed with the chance to build a home for my husband. I have been blessed with the time to learn about him--the things he likes, prefers, and what is important to him. I have been given such a great opportunity to open our home to people (mostly students), so that they can finally get off campus occasionally. I have been given this time to build these relationships and learn to be a wife, and who knows when a time like this will be available to me again?
I went out for tea with a new friend of mine, Beth a couple of weeks ago. It was a great conversation. The Lord has blessed me so much through her friendship already, and I am so thankful that He has brought her into my life. After our tea-time, she drove me home and got the chance to come up and see our new place. Now, because of this lesson that I have been learning about trust, I had had the song "Trust and Obey" stuck in my head everyday for about a week at the time, so I wrote a little sign on a 3x5 notecard that had those two words on it. When Beth came into our apartment she saw that sign and started shouting, "No way! No way!" It just so happens that she has the same two words on a 3x5 notecard in her office here at EBC (she works in the admissions department). Turns out we both have trust issues with God in different ways, so we need a daily reminder for us to "trust and obey" Him. I love the words to that song. They are so simple, but so great:

When we walk with the Lord in the light of His word,

what a glory He sheds on our way!

When we do His good will, He abides with us still

and with all who will trust and obey.

Trust and obey, for there's no other way

to be happy in Jesus,

Than to trust and obey.

As it turns out, a couple of weeks ago I got a call from a bank in the area which is just one bank of many based out of Heartland Financial, Inc, and it's Dubuque Bank and Trust. This bank has about a zillion branches (or so it seems) in the area, and I happened to see a job opening on a local job website. I figured what the heck, and went ahead and sent in a resume and cover letter to them, only to receive a phone call a few days later to schedule an interview. What amazed me about that was that I knew I was already way under-qualified for the job... I mean, based off of my previous work experience. I have never worked in investments or even at a bank, not even as a teller. I was told on the phone that I was going to be having a two hour interview with four people. That's not intimidating, right? Let me tell you my first impressions. So, I go downtown for this interview, park at this building which is the DB&T corporate offices building (so it's not actually a bank branch) and walk in. There is a receptionist desk just inside two sets of double doors, which I go to and say, "Hi. Umm... I have an interview with umm... Andrew Douglas?" To which she smiles in a way that says, "You obviously don't know how any of this works, do you?" You know those smiles. Anyway, so this is a place where apparently you have to have an appointment with someone who works in the building in order to even access the elevator or stair case. The receptionist has to call to that person's department, and then buzz you through the door that goes to the elevator. High-tech, right? Gee whiz. 

      So after my interviews, I felt pretty great! But I also knew that there were probably a ton of other applicants who were far more qualified than me for this job, which really wasn't hard to do. Again, I was sooooo under-qualified. So about a week passes and I get another phone call from the portfolio manager in the investment department, telling me how much they loved me and how great I was, etc. I won't lie, I was waiting for a "but..." in there somewhere, but there wasn't one! She just told me that they needed me to come in on March 2nd for a formality interview with the wealth management department, and so that the president of the wealth management group for ALL of the banks could meet me. Then the investment team would take me out to lunch after. Wow. Needless to say, I bought my power suit, and went in yesterday for these interviews. Talk about the Lord pulling a miracle! I GOT THE JOB! I work now in what is called the "middle office", so half of the day I am working in wealth management, and the other half in the investment department. It has great  pay and more benefits than I ever could have hoped for, which more than meets our needs, and will allow us to use our excess for ministry. We are SO thankful!!! As Beth said in her text to me, "Praises be!" 

     My God is SO great. HE got me this job. HE most certainly provided in ways that I could never have hoped for. I hope this is encouragement for people struggling with trusting the Lord. It is an intense struggle. The reward of trusting in His provision though, is just soooooo much greater than you could ever expect. He always has us in His hands. Always, always, always. And His ways are so much higher than ours, and His plans so much greater. SO MUCH GREATER. 

     "For from His fullness we have all received, grace upon grace."- John 1:16

Becoming A Wife: A Great Adventure

Alright, so it's no secret that I am new to my new job title, "Wife". Every day I am learning something new. I always thought that I was you know, at least moderately prepared for this lifestyle. I thought, How much can there really be to learn? I know Christian... No, I REALLY know him... Life isn't gonna change that much. Umm... In the words of my incredible husband, "BOGUS!"
"Change" seems to be the word of our life right now. I loved to cook and bake before we were married, but it's funny how the things that you used to do occasionally just for the joy of it, how they can sometimes lose their zest when you must do it for three meals a day. Also, I had no idea just how incredibly expensive life is! Granted, for all of you super duper "extreme coupon"-er types, you must give me a little credit. I am the one who can't even bring myself to "splurge" on a $1.50 pair of socks.
So, there are changes, and some are more pleasant than others, but I get to start and end every day with the greatest guy ever! That is what makes even the challenging situations all worth it. Still, through it all, I have felt the Lord teaching me a lot of things. I am such a social butterfly, that moving to a new place and having no friends and actually needing to put forth the effort to really get to know people is scary, humbling, and oftentimes lonely. It's something that I have never truly had to do before. I was encouraged though, the other day when a good girlfriend of mine gave me a call. Her and her husband are in an almost identical situation... They are two friends of ours from the ship: He's a Canadian, and she's from Roseburg, OR. Well, they got married early in September this last year, and spent their honeymoon driving to a camp about an hour out of Edmonton, not knowing anyone, her not having a job, and nothing to do but learn how to be a great wife. She has a few months on me as far as learning goes, and when she gave me a call, I really felt the Lord poking at my heart and my attitude. Unfortunately, my attitude hasn't always been super. Shocker: I'm not so great at "submitting" as I thought I would be, and in fact, I absolutely stink at it most of the time! Not OK. When I confessed my woes of wanting to be home and have all of my friends around me again, Kaylee (my friend in Canada) gently but directly said to me, "You know, Linda... I felt the same way, but finally I realized that God didn't bring me here to make friends. My first goal is to know Kyle, and to focus on his needs, and to learn to be the best wife that I can be. Even if it makes getting to know people outside our home take longer. Jesus made Kyle my first priority aside from Himself." So, that right there might be something that those of you wives that have been married for a while are smacking yourselves in the head about, and saying, "Duh, Linda!" It's OK... Just writing this is making me want to do it, too. The other thing that she encouraged me with was in pointing out that yeah, this time is hard and we miss home tremendously. But the Lord is blessing us so much by this experience, because while we are far from home, we are still not too far to visit. Since both of our families are planning on being in full-time missions work in the next several years (Kyle and Kaylee in Japan, and us in Paraguay), the Lord is being gracious with us (as He always is) in allowing our first transitions as wives to be in places that are not too far, and not too different from home. This is a learning period, and an easing into a life that will soon take us far away, to completely different cultures, languages and new people. Instead of pouting about how difficult it is, I must praise the Lord for all of His goodness! It is never fading, never changing... He is our constant, our Provider, our Perfect Peace.
The rest of my conversation with Kaylee was still full of convicting thoughts, and I am so thankful for them. While this might seem random, the key and most important part of holding up my part in this marriage is staying constant in the Word. I must grow closer to Jesus, because He is what brings me closer to my husband. While Christian and I are learning (very quickly) that marriage isn't just a bunch of flowers and Enya, and that arguing and trying to learn how each other operates isn't easy, my walk with Jesus is the cornerstone to our marriage, and He is what syncs us. And finding out that time of day when both of us can come together and read a passage together and pray makes all of the difference in the world!
I am so thankful for this time of our life. Lord willing, He will continue to grow us and fill us with a satisfaction that only He can provide.
"And so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled." -Titus 2:4-5

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!