Words....

The last few days have been quite interesting in my (Jen's) life. I told Mark yesterday that I feel as though I have lost all sense of discipline. I have no idea how it happened. I think it started with a good book. The book began to consume my life and it wasn't just the story itself but the burning desire to create a story on pages, as this author had done. Story envelopes me. I find myself constantly thinking about life in terms of a story as though I were writing it down on pages, but Im not. I have come to the conclusion that I love words. I am passionate about words, words especially on paper. Words that as you read, feel like they are swirling around endlessly in your mind. I am constantly in awe with the way people can take words and create such beautiful images. This may sound silly to you but to me it is my desire. Maybe this is why I want to write. Or maybe this is why I should write. I don't know which. But anyways, so this book...It was a pretty powerful story and it consumed me. I forgot to do laundry, I forgot to clean. Thankfully I made it to work. For whatever reason this story made me not care about the little things like cleaning. I just don't know how it happened. It wasn't because I had my head in the book it was just that my mind was constantly everywhere but here on earth. I began dreaming about writing about what life could be and about whether or not I could eloquently paint pictures of such beauty with simple words. I do know that I have to learn to spell first.
So now I sit here and look at this mess I have created. And I really do want to clean it but I have so many other things that seem more important. It truly is a battle but I can't not, not do anything forever. At some point I must leave Jenny land and come back to real life. Maybe I should not aspire to be a writer until I can afford a housekeeper...

I need to go to the gym...if I go four days this week and drink 5 glasses of water everyday...Mark does all the dishes next week. Motivation huh?

What is Christmas anyways?

Hmm..what have the Potters been up too? We have been busy but that is nothing new. Mark is coming up on his last few weeks at Beaners and then he is 100% Journey which is really exciting. Im so proud of how hard he has worked and I am so thankful and happy to see him get to pour all of his time into his ministry. He has worked so hard at both the Church and at Beaners and he never complains. He has sleepless nights and tired days but he just keeps going. I admire my hubby so much for that. He is much stronger than I will ever be.

I am getting anxious about school next fall. Im almost done with my application at Cornerstone (Im just waiting for MSU to fix their mistakes). Im so excited to go back. Im ready to finish what I started and pursue what I love. It also looks like Mark will be going back to school to get his masters of divinity in the fall. Indiana Wesleyan is starting the program in the fall so that is also very exciting.

I can't believe that it is almost Christmas. It certainly came fast. I don't know about anyone else but I find it very hard during the Christmas season to focus on what Christmas is all about. The world has turned it into this holiday that no one even knows why they celebrate. Working at Beaners I have noticed it more this year than years past. Its all about shopping and christmas music. It's all about the busyness and craziness. The Christmas trees and lights. But what about the man who came into the world on Christmas day to save this us? You would never know thats why we celebrate Christmas. Not out in the world anyways. There are times when I want to boycott the world's Christmas. I just don't want to celebrate it the way the world does...maybe I need a fast from Christmas and instead should just choose to celebrate the birth of a saviour, a healer, a deliverer, a baby who was man and God...

Life is a funny thing.

Im enjoying the snow, not the ice, just the snow.
Im enjoying hot tea and hot chocolate.
Im enjoying friends.
Im enjoying relaxed nights.
Im enjoying my husband and life with him.
Im enjoying my God, my savior, my healer, my protecter, my King.

Holiday Craziness...

Often it feels like you go, go, go until the holiday hits and then after all of chaos that a holiday can bring you crash. Well for us it feels like it was only the beginning...

Thanksgiving was great! On thursday we went to our pastors/boss/friend's house for fun and food. It was great! A perfect way to spend our first thanksgiving together. I made my first pumpkin pie too and it was a success! On friday we opened at Beaners at 4:30 in the morning. We opened early to accomodate all of the early shoppers. It was a lot of fun though. We had several more people working than normal which is always fun since we LOVE our co-workers and we were busy all day. The busiest day our Beaners has ever had. It was fun and everyone was in a great mood it seemed like. We worked until 12 and then rushed home to start cooking our first thanksgiving dinner for my (Jen's) family. It was a lot of fun but by 7:00 we were both exhausted.

Saturday we opened at Beaners again and then at 12 Mark's family came and met us at work and took us to lunch and we got to spend the rest of the day with them. It was really nice to see them and get to show them our lives here in Grand Rapids. On Sunday it was another bright and early morning setting up Journey Church. Of course the day went well and again we had more new faces. Every Sunday is just exciting and affirming of why we are here. On Sunday afternoon though Mark and I crashed hard. We went to bed early and tried to rest for another crazy week. We get tired sometimes and really burnt out but at the same time life here is just so much fun. This time of year is so exciting to be sharing so many firsts together.

We do miss people though and we are still trying to build relationships and find our place here in Caledonia. Its challenging, fun and new and there are good times and there are bad but we are so thankful to be doing this together. And serving an Awesome and holy God here in Caledonia Michigan!!

Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

In the Potter household that is :)

Mark bought our tree yesturday and we are going to put up our decorations tonight. We try to make Fridays our date night so this week we are going to decorate our home, have homemade chicken and rice for dinner and then maybe go get a coffee or something later. We are excited. Last friday we went to dinner at a little local place called "Sundance Grill". It was a gourmet mexican I think I would say. They had a small but delicious choice of dinner options. The place was small and quiet and we really enjoyed just being out having fun together and being able to relax. Then Mark took me out to the church office because he has a surprise for me :) Since we dont have a fireplace in our apartment I had been complaining about not having anywhere to put our stockings. So Mark being the innovator that he is set out to surprise me with a fireplace. He had been making me a wooden fireplace at the office. It was painted with a mantel and everything! Of course we cant make a fire in it but none-the-less I was excited. So after finishing together some last finishing touches on our fireplace we set out to Beaners to get Snowmint Mochas, my new favorite. We ran into Ben there and hung out with him for a while and then we decided to go to Barnes and Noble. We love hanging out at book stores and we still had about an hour before we would need to get to bed for our early morning shift at Beaners. So we read in big comfy chairs at the book store and then headed to our cozy home for bed. It was truly a great evening. We love our date nights together. Its our one time to be together just for the purpose of being with each other and enjoying life. We have each others undivided attention and get to enjoy or new marriage. We may be together a lot during the week but it is in between jobs, emails and dirty laundry and so we really look forward to our weekly date night!

So I'm excited about tonight. We both love Christmas and although it may be about a week early at least we will get to begin to enjoy our first Christmas together :) Hopefully it will snow soon. Im excited for it.

Good TImes

Hi friends. It has been a while since we have gotten a chance to update, mainly because the last two weeks have been far from normal. Last week I was sick with a really bad cold. It was just bad enough to keep me in bed for a few days, miss work and become incredibly stir crazy. I missed our Halloween outreach which was a really big bummer but I did get to spend the time watching hours of movies:) The outreach went very well though and it was great to see Journey out serving our community. Church went really well last Sunday. It was a great day all around. We had lots of new faces and no technical difficulties :) Monday morning though was quite the adventure for Mark and I. I got up at 4:45 AM (yes I know its early) and was rushing around as usual to go to my lovely job as a Barista. I have been having lower back pain for a while and in the past it has been an occasional problem. Monday morning I felt a little bit tense which as been fairly normal since I began working on my feet 40 hours a week and my back hurt maybe just a little bit more than normal but none the less I was moving. I was just about ready to go when I bent over to pick up my purse. I gasped and actually lost my breath for a minute because I suddenly was in horrible pain and I could not move myself from the position I had fallen into (kneeling against my bed). Praise God that Mark was in bed sleeping and after saying his name with as much might as I could he awoke and flew out of bed to save his wife. We manage to get me into my bed laying flat and wondered what to do . Mark called my boss for me ( who is also his boss ) and thankfully we have an amazing manager who said "Dont worry about work, just take care of your wife." So anyways long story short we made a trip to ER on Monday and I spent the rest of the day hardly moving. Tuesday we got into the doctor and got me set up for physical therapy. I got new shoes and was back at work on wednesday :) Im feeling much better and I am thankful for health insurance and to start therapy to take care of this problem. I also am very thankful for my amazing husband who made it his priority to be my side this week and take care of me. I think Im the luckiest girl alive.

Long week, it was indeed but here we are in our comfy home with our good friend Ben enjoying another Saturday night preparing for another day in the life of Journey. I really do love it here. I miss home every now and then but every day this becomes more my home and lansing becomes more of my childhood and past. I love you all. Especially you Mom:) tee hee.

November?

November? Where did you come from? I cant beleive it. Im only three months away from being 21 and then maybe I wont feel quite so young. I feel rather sick today, in fact I have for the past three days. I did though apply to Cornerstone...its probably not even where I want to go but it was a step in the right direction. We will see...

Its friday and that makes me happy except that we work on Saturday...booo.

K thats all for now.

Im his favorite...

Do you ever look at a beautiful sunset and feel as though God put that there just for you? Do you ever feel as though God loves you so much that he would do something just for you? I was reading the book "Having a Mary Spirit" by Joanna Weaver and she was talking about his very thing. How do we tap into Gods love and become so close to him that we feel confidently that we are his favorite? I want to be so close to God that I feel that way. And there have been brief moments where I really feel like that sunset was put there for my eyes and my heart only. If we all could feel so confident about God's love all the time, how much more could we love those around us. It has been said that you can't give what you don't have. But if I had a love that I was so confident about could I not just give it away like crazy. I wouldn't stop in the middle of doing something for someone and begin thinking about how I want someone to love me like this, or this isn't fair I want that, or why am I always doing things for people and no one ever does it for me. I would know that God does every day love me more than I could ever love anyone, I would see his work in every part of my life and I would be fully satisfied with his love for me that I could give with no abouds, love without fail. The encouraging part is that he does love us that much, and if we would only seek it every day with all of our hearts and CHOOSE to beleive that he does and he will always love us with the greatest love of all.

Is it okay to feel like Im God's favorite? I think so, especially if you all think that you are too.

The song that says it all "Amazing Grace"...my chains are gone, I've been set free. Ive been set free to live to and to love, to dance and to sing and to be the Lord's favorite. I needed to hear this song today and it just came on the radio. So I think I will go and sing in my opinion some of the most powerful words in my life.

Go today and relish in the fact that you are his favorite...and so am I:)

Upside-down

God is so backwards. He does things so much differently than we do. His idea of truth is so far from ours. I'd go as far as to say that God is completely radical.

And it's awesome.

Try to catch some of the crazy claims that God makes: "If your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him something to drink (Romans 12:20)." Or try this one: "Blessed are the meek ('quiet, gentle, and easily imposed-on') for they will inherit the earth (Matt. 5:5)." Or what about this: "If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all (Mark 9:35)."

It doesn't take long to see why so many of his peers thought Jesus was out of his mind. At the very least, these statements don't make any sense. Everyone knows that to win, you have to beat your enemy at his own game. And no one who is quiet and humble and turns the other cheek ever gains any power or influence. You have to fend for yourself. Look out for #1. Right?

Right. If you want power and influence and money for yourself, you have to put your best foot forward at all times. You have to be better, stronger, faster, smarter, always one step ahead of everyone else. But you know what? I (Mark) don't want any of that for myself. I did for a while. I wanted to be well-known and influential. I wanted to be respected. Honestly, for a while, I dreamed of MY name being known and talked about across the country, maybe even the world. Here's what changed my mind:

"Then what?"

What if I did succeed in being influential and well-known and respected? Then what? People for a few decades would remember the name Mark Potter. It wouldn't really matter or change anything other than a few pages in a history book, but it would fade and die. And that's not good enough for me. I want more meaning than that. Correction - I NEED more meaning than that. So then I started thinking about these maybe-not-quite-so-crazy statements of God.

What happens if I feed my enemies? As long as we are shooting back and forth at each other, he is getting what he wants - a fight, me being bothered and on the defensive. But if I "give in" and choose to love him instead, it's over and I've lost. But here's the clincher - LOVE HAS WON. And who is love? God is love.

What happens if I keep myself meek and humble? My name won't go into the history books. I won't make millions or hit the top of the charts with a platinum album. All I will do is display a quiet strength, a humble confidence that (believe it or not) people LIKE. People are attracted to others who are sure of who they are but not full of themselves. And so those around me will not necessarily notice me - they will notice something inside of me. And what is inside of me? God is inside of me.

And what happens if I put myself last? Well, before I am forced to start writing a second chapter for this blog-book, I'll just simply say that GOD BECOMES FIRST. And do you know what happens next? Other disciples of Jesus of Nazareth will also put themselves last, and GOD WILL AGAIN BECOME FIRST. And now we're getting somewhere. Before long, thousands and millions of disciples of this Jesus begin to put themselves last and God moves more and more to the forefront of history.

And GOD alone is glorified.

Now that's the kind of collosal cosmic purpose that I can devote myself to. That is the huge, earth-shattering mission that I will undertake. And in a nutshell, it's called turning the other cheek. Upside-down, isn't it?

It's been a while....

Tonight has has a peace over it that I feel like we havnt felt in days. We just finished up dinner (I made chili...yumm) and we are both just sitting on the couch catching up on emails and other odds and ends. The house is relatively clean, laundry is in the process of getting done and we have both had productive days. The last two weeks have felt very chaotic and we have not exactly felt grounded so I think we are both appreciating this night together. I can't believe we have already completed our first two months of marriage. It has been amazing and challenging and I think we have both grown a lot. I'm so thankful for my husband and so thankful for the relationship we share. We are so thankful for our home, for our church and for our friends. Nights like this we can't help but praise God for who he is and all he has given us. Circumstances aren't always the way we would have them, life isn't always easy and we aren't always pain free but God is always good, he always loves us and he always provides for us and that makes life worth living.

Journey Church is going well. We are seeing new faces every week and we have had our first family that has never been to church commit to Journey church. It is exciting to see people taking their next steps in their walk of faith. Our relationships with the people here are growing deeper and every day we feel more and more at home. I personally have become to really connect with Erica the lead pastors wife and I am so thankful for her.

Mark and I are excited to begin saving for our one year anniversary. We decided that we would go somewhere to celebrate and get-away and spend a week together. There is one idea based on a friend here and his marriage but we dont have any plans yet just saving money. I am excited though.

We are super excited about the fall weather. Mark and I have both decided that this is our favorite season. We have pumpkin candles that we light and some fall decorations and we love cuddeling on the couch on cool fall night.

We will continue to enjoy this weather and hold our breath for the snow that Im sure is just around the corner.

Launch Day!

I can't believe its here. We launch on Sunday. The first day of a lifetime Journey. It truly is a dream come true. We love it here, we love the people, we love the passion, we love the church. God has blessed us. We have high expectations for Sunday but it isnt just about how many people walk through the door. Even if the same 70 people came and there was a not one new face it will be just as exciting. Because God has a plan and we trust that. The church will still launch with an awesome group of people we will still continue to grow and reach out into our community and lives will begin to transform and we will help people fin the way to a growing relationship with Jesus Christ. Its our mission and we will accomplish it!

The worship band has been doing great. We have some very talented musicians and they all have huge hearts longing to worship the Lord. Mark has done an awesome job and every week is adding new elements of creativity to help people meet with God every Sunday. This is indeed right where God wants him. I led children's worship this week for the first time and it was a lot of fun. The kids loved and I felt very strongly that I was going what God wanted me to be doing. It was nice to be able to contibute to Journey...in Jon's words "take what I have and give it away".

Beaners is getting better...not quite as stressful and not as tiring. It will though be nice when Mark and can devote more time to Journey and less to Beaners. And Im pretty sure that a barista is not my life time calling but for now it will more than be ok.

I really do love it here in Grand Rapids. I am so excited for the Holidays. Im anxious to decorate and make cards, to bake cookies and be with family and friends. And maybe just a little bit anxious for snow;)

I love you all and miss. Please pray for Journey on Sunday.

Hi friends. It has been a while and I thought I should update so that my mom and sister would quit whining. Mark and I came back to Lansing for the afternoon. It was good to get away and see my mommy and sister and eat pizza. Yum! OK thats all. BYE

"Imagine me, being free, trusting you totally..."

Hi friends! Things have been really good since I updated last. We had our second preview service and it went well. It was our first morning setting everthing up and it went smooth and everything was set up in time which was an answer to prayer. The band did great and Jon's message was really good. We got a chance to meet some new people and connect with some that we had been wanting to get to know more. Made some plans to hang out with a new family. They are a few years older than Mark and I and they have three kids. We really like them so it will be fun to get to know them better.

Last night we saw lots of Faith churches. Pastor Scott got ordanined at KCC so we were thankful to be able to go and see people and be there to support Scott. It was really good. A little bit emotional....for several reasons.

I told Mark last night that I feel like we have spent months trying to get where we were going and now that we are here we both are falling to our knees in front of the Lord saying "what now? who do you want us to be? who do you want us to reach?" We both have just reached a huge point of surrender just asking God to make us who he wants us to be. We are ready for him to take it all. It is a beautiful thing. God is beautiful.

We are going to go buy a bed frame today because ours isnt very good and it doesnt qualify warrenty restrictions for our bed. So thats exciting. I got my hair cut. I cut off about 8-10 inches. I really like it...my head feels much lighter. This friday and next we are doing outreaches at the Caledonia Football games. Im super pumped. We are going to work the concession stands and give away the first 1000 hotdogs free completments of Journey Church. We also get to hand out cards inviting people to our launch day! It will be fun to all do something together, to meet people and serve people in the Caledonia area. We are both really excited. We have sweet Journey t-shirts as well!

Well thats all in this life...peace out:)

He still comes back for me...Everythings gonna be alright be strong, beleive

He still comes back for me....Every time God comes back for me and wraps his arms around me and puts me on his shoulders and carries me when things get hard. These last few weeks have felt that way. They have been busy and full of change and it has honestly been really hard. I have had several nights of crying and my amazing husband has just wrapped his arms around me while I cried and prayed for me as I fell asleep. I dont even know what exactly has been so hard but in the down after the wedding alot of room opened up in my mind to begin to deal with things that I had been able to avoid for months. Jesus has picked me up and carried me so many times these last few weeks and every time he still comes back for me. He does that. He came back for us when he died on the cross for our sins. And he continues to come back for us.

The only reason I share these hard times is because I dont want anyone to think I have it all together. I dont want anyone to think that my life is perfect. And I certainly dont want anyone to think that I can do it on my own. Because I dont, its not and I cant. Its all my amazing King, a perfect and holy God and a beautiful savior. He keeps coming back for me as he will keep coming back for you if you will just let him. He loves us so much. Mark loves me alot. A man who will listen to me cry and hold me and pray for me until Im asleep really shows a lot of love. But his love isnt even close to that of our Heavenly Father. We arent perfect so we cant love like he can but we can accept his love and chose to be loved with a perfect love and HUGE love. It gets me excited just writing about it. I just want everyone to know and BELIEVE!!

"Everythings gonna be alright be strong, Believe"

I think Ill take my whole body and dive in head first...

Earlier this week the Children's ministry director for Journey Church asked me if I would be interested in leading worship for the children. I chuckled a little bit because it has been a year of going in circles about my passion for wanting to jump around, dance and sing like I was 5 and being way to scared to do it. I have said over the past year that I would like to do this. I have had several opportunities to be on stage in front of kids at Faith Church and every time I have wanted to deep down inside but have not had the confidence and courage to actually do it. So again I laughed because it seems as though people see potential and desire in me and just wont let up no matter who they are. Or perhaps...brace yourself...maybe its God. Profound I know.

So my thoughts this week as I prayed about were as follows...
*I want to but I'm scared
*I think God wants me to but I'm still scared
*I'm never going to get anywhere in life by being scared
*If I want God to use me I need to trust him and his calling
*I think it is time to have faith like a child and jump in ready for the new adventure...

SO I said yes. Now this may not be a big deal to any of you because it is indeed a small role its not like I just made the decision to travel over sees and bring thousands to know the Lord. Nope, just sing and dance with some kids. Learn to be a child again. But for ME it was big. It is the first time I will step out in faith on my own and try a position of leadership, to allow myself to be vulnerable and make mistakes, and to just follow God and see what he will do with me. Im excited. I'm scared. But I'm excited.

P.S. you can give me a pat on the back later but I found Michaels all on my own today. Yes I indeed found the address and ventured out with no help into Grand Rapids. Me who is directionally slow and does not know Grand Rapids at all found Michaels. I know pretty sweet:)

Its bitter-sweet

Life in Grand Rapids continues to be new, exciting and hard. Marks life is beginning to go full blast as the first preview service is approaching at the end of this week. He hectically trying to finish building the brand new sound system, get the band ready and prepared, and bring together all the other administrative things all while working 25 hours a week at Beaners and being newly married. It has all been a learning process. I in the meantime have been adjusting to being a wife- not just any wife- a pastors wife. No one was lying when they said it was hard. I have been learning and I would say learning very quickly to make the sacrifice of giving my husband up so that he can give the hours he needs to the church. It has been a challenge to balance and to look at it has a sacrifice and to not be selfish and feel as though I deserve more time. On the other hand it has given me plenty of time to get used to cooking, cleaning and doing laundry. Its fun playing wife but it can get a little bit tiring and for now there is only two of us. I also started at Beaners this week. I worked my first shift yesturday morning at 5:30 AM. That was new to me because the Beaners in Lansing did not open that early. It was fun adjusting to the new Beaners environment and meeting new people. I was thankful to be in a familiar environment though and not having to learn a new job--I have enough "new" right now. It has been a bitter-sweet adjustment. I really am enjoying being married and the newness has been exciting and I am excited for our future together with each other and Journey church. But I miss the familiarity of home, I miss certain people a lot, I miss having a church body and seeing the same people every sunday (Im way pumped for Sunday!), and I cant believe I am saying this but I miss being in school. I am starting to see all the student around here and am really craving to be back in the books. Hopefully God provides financially and time wise for going back to school to be in the near future.

Overall I have had some really rough days and some really good days. I think that is to be expected though. I have one foot in the war of money--our grocery budget- we have 5 dollars left and I need deoderant, bread and milk-- hmm it makes me laugh though because we could buy them with our tips but thats our fun money, and there is also part of us that is like we just got married we are supposed to be poor and starving...we are both far from starving. Plus if we were to run out of food at least we get all the coffee we want for free:)

Anyways I miss everyone...Im slowly beginning to understand that there are seasons for everyone in our lives including people and you have to say goodbyes. But it is hard nonetheless. I also feel like goodbyes with people were over looked with the craziness of the wedding...now I just crave the closure but I have to put it in Gods hands and know that we are following his will. Its all about trusting him right now as it should be. He is my rock and fortress. I will acknowledge him in all my ways and he will make my paths straight.

love you all!

Another day in the life of Jen...

Life is beginning to settle in again, which I am thankful for. It will be really nice to go back to my lovely job of being a barista. I am going through with-drawls. Im craving the people and the milksteamer:) And might I add that I am craving something to do. Mark is crazy busy and dont get me wrong I have plenty to do-our bathroom needs to be cleaned, there is laundry to do, the kitchen floor is indeed dirty- BUT that just isnt that exciting. I would much rather sit at Beaners while Mark works and update my blog:)

Basically, Jen is bored, very very bored. It didnt take long I guess.

My mom is coming to visit on Sunday and I am really excited. I get to show off our new home which is very nicely coming together and even slightly decorated-thanks to our generous friends and family. AND I get to show my mom that I really can cook and that I am in fact beginning to really enjoy it. I feel like such a big kid-I went grocery shopping and have a cooked a complete meal every night this week. I was never really convinced that I was capable of being a real wife:) I still have lots of work though.

I really am beginning to like Grand Rapids. Yesturday I decided that I would do some exploring. It was great-I aimlessly wander the streets and the aisles of stores and I didn't spend a dime. Im not sure that I can make the claim to have self-control because the real reason is that my bank cards havn't come in the mail yet so I currently have no access to money:) But it was fun I went to Target ( which is much bigger than the Target I am used to), Bed Bath and Beyond which is also much larger, Barnes and Noble (I spent over an hour in a comfy chair reading a book:) ) and a store I had never been to called the Fresh Market. It was really a neat store with all fresh food and organic, healthy foods. It had a really neat outdoor market feel even though it was inside and it had fun italian-ish music playing. I very much enjoyed that trip.


So far today all I have done is sit at Beaners for 3 hours while Mark works. I did have to fill out my paper work so I can start working next week and I have done a few productive things but mostly I have just been wasting time. I plan on going home eventually and cleaning :/ Well thats enough aimless talk. Love you all! We miss you!

We are blessed!

So we are home in Grand Rapids which seems not real to me (Jen). For the last month every time I have been here it has been for only a day or two and then I have had to go back to Lansing and now I cant get it through my head that I am here for good.

It has been a little hard for me. I spent all day today unpacking and cleaning and organizing while Mark came and went in between his errands and work. I told him when he came home for dinner that it had been a really lonely and quiet day because my phone didnt ring once. Its weird. I dont know anyone here yet and I have left everyone at home. In a sense I feel out of place right now and am still adjusting to this being home. Its been so wonderful though being married. Eating, sleeping and living with Mark makes things so peaceful.

We truly have been so very blessed. We have spent two day buying things we need with the money people gave us for our wedding and unpacking all of our gifts. I would say we have been in a permanent state of shock and thankfulness at how much God has blessed us through our friends and family. Its been a little nuts though because some of the gift tags came off gifts and we dont know who gave us what and it is a little odd having to ask people what they gave us so we can in return thank them. It makes me laugh how what is socially normal and what isnt can make things so awkward.

So anyways...Im just having on to the comfort in my Lord Jesus and enjoying our new marriage as we try to settle into a life that is going full speed. Launch day is running at us fast but Im way excited for the new body of beleivers God is creating at Journey Church! Yay God!

We Are One!

Hey, all! This is Mark checking in from our classy hotel outside Washington, D.C. on the last full day of our honeymoon. It really has been wonderful. And would you believe it - we ARE indeed big enough to get on a plane, rent a car, and stay at a timeshare AND a classy hotel ALL BY OUR INEXPERIENCED SELVES!

Honestly, none of our destinations were all that great. The timeshare was under PAR, it was cloudy at Virginia Beach, Busch Gardens is nothing compared to Cedar Point or Kings Island, neither Jen nor I are big history buffs (Williamsburg), and it's miserably hot in D.C. The cool part, though, is the taste we got of the rest of our lives together. What I mean is, we were in a position where all we had was each other. If there's one thing I've been taught about marriage in ministry it's that this feeling comes often. It's likely that my wife ;-) and I will soon, and frequently, fall down together on the couch and look into each other's eyes, feeling very alone except for the love we have between the two of us. For the record - I'm ok with that.

I'd say at this point that we're both itching to get back home, get settled, and get to work (am I really saying this???). We're excited about Journey, and we're excited to be travel buddies.

Next time you see us, WE'LL BE MARRIED!!!!!!

The Quiet Moments are pure bliss....

So, I made this blog months ago and completely forgot about it. I made it so that when Mark and I began our Journey together, our adventure, our new life, others could read and see what God is doing in our lives.

Things have been stinkin' crazy lately. My mom has laughed at me multiple times and said "You are definitly a bride-to-be " while I sit in a puddle of my own tears. In the last week we have moved into a new apartment, gotten car and health insurance, Mark has started 2 new jobs, Mark led worship for the last time at Faith and in the same day led for the first time for Journey, I have locked my keys in my car at a gas station, we have met 30 new people that we will be doing life with for the next however many days, months, years, we have lost a saxophone player for the wedding and Im sure there is much more tangled up in the mess of what seems like the longest two weeks of my life. So much change has been so overwhelming but so good all at the same time.

The Lord has blessed us time and time again and provided us for every last thing we have needed. Now we are just in the days of persevering until the big day. What a relief it will be. Im so excited about our life together and what God has in store. But one thing I have learned through all of this is God remains strong when I dont. Multiple nights we both would lay down in our own beds telling God that we had nothing left and it was all up to him in the morning. He was there faithfully every morning to lift us out of bed and sustain us through another crazy day. The few quiet moments I have had with the Lord have been incredible and the only thing that has kept me moving forward. Praise God! He is Good!! K Bye!