michigan a-go-go

I am finally getting a chance to update about our weekend trip to Michigan. On Friday evening we left after Jeremy's classes to go up to Grand Rapids and spend some time with Tom and Kristy. They are moving back to Wichita on March 1st, so we wanted to get to hang out again before they move back! Due to the below zero temperatures here, we almost were unable to go because when I left work Friday morning my car didn't start. Thank goodness it was only the battery, and we got he car jumped, and to Wal-Mart. They installed a new battery for us, and it has run fine since then! They car guy at wal-mart, kind of laughed at me, when I asked if I needed a new battery. I think he was wondering how it had ran as long as it had. So then around seven o'clock we headed for Grand Rapids. That evening we went to Red Robin, with Tom, Kristy and Ryan Beebe. The guys went to a coffee shop later that night until about 3am so Kristy and I took over her and Tom's king size bed, and now Jeremy is regretting that because I want a king size bed....and I keep reminding him of that :).
Saturday we had an awesome day with everyone! Tom, Kristy, Jeremy and I drove up to Grand Haven, MI on the coast of Lake Michigan. Grand Rapids had a ton of snow, but this town had way more!! Probably at least 3-4 feet! The goal was to go to the beach, and walk out on the pier over the lake. So we got there, and it was possibly the coolest and strangest thing I have ever seen! The beach had huge piles of sand on it, that were covered with snow, and then once we walked off the beach, and onto the lake, as far as you could see, Lake Michigan was totally frozen over! We ended up walking out quite a ways onto the lake. The way the water froze, looked really strange, almost like the waves froze in their place...which I'm sure they didn't. But that is what it looked like. I am going to attach quite a few pictures and you can see what I am talking about. After we were done hiking on the lake we went to a cute little coffee shop in town, to warm up. Then we drove back to Grand Rapids, for a very eventful evening. Due to the huge amounts of snow that they have, I wanted to play in the snow. So we went sledding....off Tom, and Kristy's roof :). They have a low hanging part of their roof, and the guys put snow piled up underneath that. Then we crawled out of one of the upstairs bedroom windows onto the roof, and sledded off. It was about a 3-4 foot drop..not bad. So needless to say that was a blast! I am going to try to put a couple videos on here of me and Jeremy sledding, but we will see if it works.
Sunday, we went to church with them at Mars Hill. That is the church that Rob Bell leads. Unfortunately he wasn't speaking that sunday, but it was still an awesome experience. We loved the way that they set up their service, and lead their worship. They set up there worship stage in a circle, with a big wooden cross in the middle. All the worship leaders are facing in towards the cross, and not out at the crowd like a big concert. And then when the preacher gets up, the cross is always between him and the people he is teaching. Jeremy and I just thought it was a neat concept. It was a very laid back service....no flashy lights, and it was totally about Jesus, not about the way the church looked, or the way everything was set up. It was humbling to see such a huge and world-wide known church, with a world wide known preacher, and it was just all about Jesus. Anyways....we liked it :)
Well below are pictures of our weekend. Today is Jeremy's birthday and we are stuck inside because of the blizzard outside. We are supposed to get 12-18 inches of snow, and it is blowing like crazy! So we couldn't really get anywhere if we tried. Hopefully it is all cleared off by Thursday, because grandma and grandpa Butch are flying up to see us!

This is Kristy standing beside a fence
that divides the parking from the beach.






Overlooking the beach and the lake








This is what looks like waves!







Overlooking the lake at the pier.










Tom and Kristy










This is Lake Michigan at sunset.











Me and Jeremy









Lake Michigan with the sun setting









Me and Kristy approximately 4 feet
down in the lake :)








Kristy and I again, in the crevase we found.












This was where we went sledding












Jeremy sledding (he snapped that saucer on that run)












Me sledding...do I look scared??











Tom going head first!









Jeremy going head first!





http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWD0xcDEFg0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpMYsMqzhL4

These are the links to watch our videos of sledding. The top one is Jeremy's, and the bottom one is mine :)

fun times and fun friends!

Just wanted to put up a couple pictures of what we have been doing the past couple days. Last night, Jeremy and I finally had a much needed date night. We went to Red Robin, and then The Gap, and Target! The perfect date night if you ask me :)! Then tonight we went over to our friends' house (Travis and Becky). They had us over for dinner, and then we all watched, The Office, Grey's Anatomy, and ER together. We also played a little bit of TV Scene It, but we won't really talk about that, because the guys totally beat us.
Not much else is going on in northeast Indiana! Jeremy has started his classes for second semester, and that is keeping him busy. It has been WAY to cold lately. The high this coming monday is 1!!! 1 degree!! And there is always snow on the ground....which I never thought that I would complain about, but I am kind of ready for it to go away :). Definitely a bit colder here, than in Kansas.
I work the weekend again, which is ok. Nobody wants to work this Sunday, since the Colts are in the superbowl. Its kind of a big thing up here, to have the Colts and the Bears going. And, well, I don't care either way, so I guess I will work! :)
Just wanted to give you a quick update, and some pictures. The dog in the pics is Travis and Becky's dog, Wendy. She is a lot of fun, and she really likes Jeremy....which is kind of funny because Jeremy doesn't really like her :).

Aflame...

I LOVE these verses, and I wanted to share them with everyone. (Thank you mom, for sending me that e-mail with them in it)

Romans 12:11-13 (The Message)

"Don't burn out; keep yourselves fueled and aflame. Be alert servants of the Master, cheerfully expectant. Don't quit in hard times; pray all the harder. Help needy Christians; be inventive in hospitality."

A wonderful wonderful friend gave me the analogy of putting your stick on the pile. Put your stick on the pile, and one day you will grow into this HUGE bonfire! If everyday, we "put our stick on the pile", we will not have to worry about burning out. We will constantly be building our fire, we will be able to stay aflame, and we will be able to stay "cheerfully expectant" ( I LOVE that phrase!) in what the Lord has for us. These verses and that analogy have been a huge encouragement to me, and I just wanted to share them with everyone. We love you! :)

Snow and Wii!!

We also got quite a bit of snow...although somehow, not as much as they did in Kansas!! And we now, have something else around the house to consume our time. Our new Nintendo Wii game console. Jeremy has been saving all of his Best Buy gift cards for the past year to get this!! So last night, he and I got all bundled up to go up to Best Buy, and sit out there all night until they opened in the morning so that we could get one. Well, we got up there at midnight to find no one standing outside!! So we came home and slept until at 4:15, because Jeremy wanted to leave at 4:30 to go back. But when that time rolled around, there was no getting me out of bed to sit my butt out in the cold. So Jeremy went by himself, and he said he was fine with that :). But it did pay off, because he got his Wii!! He was a very happy man when he got back home. This game system is unlike any other ones that have been released. It has a motion sensor on the controller, and the game that the system comes with is Wii Sports. That includes, tennis, bowling, baseball, boxing and golf. So for baseball you actually swing the controller to hit the ball, and the same for all the other sports. Anyways....we have gotten our workout today messing around with that! So these are some pictures showing us playing our new toy. I also have pictures of the snow that we went out and took today.



This is us all bundled up to go to Best Buy!








And here is the final product!!







It is always hooked up to the internet, and you
can get the weather on it!!







Jeremy's look-a-like character he made to play with.









My look-a-like character.








Here is Jeremy playing baseball.









Here is me bowling!







Jeremy is boxing.












I am getting ready to box.












Me and Jeremy while out taking pics










Part of campus









My cute husband :)













A road on campus












Lake snow-tip! (Yes, that is actually its name)












Here is the creek I almost fell into! :)

it's been a very long time....

Yes, I know it has been a very long time since I have posted. But I feel like I have a good excuse! So here it is....Jeremy surprised me for Christmas with the new digital camera I have been wanting. So I proceeded to take a lot of pictures at each of the 5 million Christmas' we went to! :) Then I put them on my computer, and saw that I only has like 700 some megabytes left on the whole computer! So I knew that all of my pictures were taking up this space. I have like 6,000 on there! So this is what I did. I deleted a picture file, then went into the program to see if the picture was still there. And it was!! So I went ahead and deleted all of my 6,000 pictures. Yea, well when I went to go and open up the thumbnail I was seeing, it wouldn't open. All that was saved was the little thumbnail. Its like a huge trick! I can see the picture....it is right there....but it really is gone :(. So I had a breakdown for a few days....I am still not over it. ANYWAYS....that is my excuse for not posting because I kept wanting to post pictures from Christmas and didn't have any. Right now the computer is with the Mac guy, but he didn't give us much hope of being able to retrieve my 6,000 pictures :(. But if I do by chance, get them back, I will be posting pictures from Christmas!

So anyways...I do have some pictures now! Most of them are from my fun surprise trip home. A couple months ago, I found some really cheap plane tickets to fly home around Erin's birthday. She also happened to have 2 games on her birthday, and then two more two days later!! So I decided to buy them and come home to surprise her for her birthday. It was awesome!!! I am so glad I did it. I flew in Wednesday night (the 10th), and then Thursday, mom, dad and I went out to Sterling to her game. She was definitely shocked when I walked into the gym, but very excited! Of course, Erin and Hillary (her roommate) thought that I should stay with them on Thursday night. I came up with lots of excuses why I couldn't, but they pretty much just shot every single one down. So I lived the college life Thursday night....and Sunday night. We had a blast!! I am really glad that I stayed with them. Sometimes I felt really old....but, it was fun. So here are the pictures from my trip!


Me, Erin and Hillary right after I surprised Erin!










Me and Erin at her party, that night.






Erin with her Strawberry Daquiri mix (yes, non-alcoholic)








All of Erin's close friends!









Me and Hillary!








This is a big group of Erin's friends!!

Time with The Jacksons!

Well it has been way to long since I have posted anything on here. We have had a great Christmas weekend. Tom and Kristy came down from Grand Rapids on Friday evening, and stayed until Sunday afternoon. We had an awesome time! We were all wondering why we hadn't done this sooner, since we live so close. It is about a 3 hour drive. I think there will definitely be more road trips next semester! Here are some pictures of our weekend together, and also some pics of Jeremy and I on our first Christmas, at our apartment. We are coming home tomorrow!! Can't wait!

winter wonderland...

Well, I am not adjusting very well to the fridged temperatures. It is 10 degrees outside and has been snowing all day. I have enjoyed the snow, but it is too dang cold. And according to people who live here year-round, once January comes, it will be 10 times worse, and will stay like this all the time! So I guess I might adjust...hopefully :). These are some pictures of the snow today.

I had a Christmas party for work tonight. It was a lot of fun. Me, Diana and Becky went together. They are the ones I am closest with on nights. We had a lot of fun. This is a group picture of most of the staff, and the other is a picture of the three of us. After the party, we went to go and see Becky and Travis' house (they saw our apartment before the party), and then we went to Diana's to hang out for a while. I have a feeling we will be hanging out with Becky and Travis a lot more, because Travis and Jeremy like the same weird board game :). So they were both excited about that. We all have a lot of the same interests, so that is nice.

Well I just wanted to give a little update. Not much else has been going on here. I am on a streak where I am actually working!! So that has been a good change :). Jeremy is working on his latest film, he directed at school. See you all in 18 days!!!!