Our first night on the 'Nati

We're here! And we're all settled in (for now). We're really happy to be in Cincinnati, and really excited about what the future holds. For now, at least, we have more time on our hands than we've ever had since getting married! So last night Jen & I took the opportunity to head downtown and spend our first night out on the town.

On the Kentucky side of the Ohio river is Newport On The Levee - basically an outdoor mall & tourist block. It includes the Newport Aquarium, a few dinner boats, a movie theater, a Hofbrauhaus, plenty of other restaurants, and a 2-story Barnes & Noble. This bookstore was our first destination. There is a BEAUTIFUL view of the river & the Cincinnati skyline from the top-floor cafe. The picture's not the best, but this will give you an idea:



The rain was just starting to clear up while we were there, and just as we were leaving, God decided to join us...



Can you see that it's a DOUBLE rainbow??!!! We loved God's extra touch there ;-)

After B&N, we walked around the plaza a bit and decided to walk on the "Purple People Bridge." Here's Jenny at the end of it, and a few views of the Cincy skyline from the bridge:





There are SEVERAL bridges connecting the Ohio side of Cincinnati to its Kentucky counterpart (historic German Newport). One of them is known as "The Big Mac Bridge." Can you tell why?:



Well, we're definitely off to a good start in Cincy. Thanks to those of you who helped us for your prayers and physical help. Check back soon!

The Best Friend in the World

As you know, it's been an emotional couple of months for us recently. In December, we knew without a doubt that we needed to "set sail," but now - two months later - we still don't know our destination. It's always unnerving being at sea (if you'll allow me to continue the analogy), but ESPECIALLY when you aren't sure what direction you're heading. But, for me at least, the seasons that are lacking for positives tend to really help remind me of the few things that ARE great in my life.

This particular season has me especially thankful for two things, but I'll focus on ONE in this blog: Jenny.

The Michigan job market's effect on our ability to earn has two direct effects on me: less time working, and more time with Jen & I stuck at home. And as much as the financial part stinks, it's really been great overall. Don't get me wrong - we're both anxious to get out of this slump. But, being the optimist I am, hard times force me to focus on what is good, and my Jenny is VERY good :-)

I've taken the time to notice things about her that I've never noticed before. I've been more intentional about building our friendship. I even bought her flowers and watched a chick flick with her (sorta...). And above all, I've realized that she is a treasure that I never deserved and don't EVER want to be away from (that little fling with the Army helped me realize that one).

So I'm sorry to all of you who are puking now because of all the romantic mush in the air, but you read our blog because you want to know what's going on in our lives, so I thought I'd give you perhaps a closer look than normal. Love you all!

-Mark- +

Obituary

Today at 1:05pm, our 1999 Honda CR-V passed away. COD has been diagnosed as a broken rod inside the engine. Funeral services will be held sometime later this week. The CR-V is survived by a black Pontiac Grand Am. Please pray for the family as they are half-unemployed in this time of terrible tragedy.

Early Christmas

Mark and I had an unplanned early Christmas today when he decided that he would "make" my Christmas present right in front of me. For several hours he was sawing, staining and nailing something and I was clueless the whole time. It did make it much more exciting than just opening a present. It was kind of like unwrapping a present only very, very slowly! In the end it turned out to be a frame with wire in between that I can hang all of my jewelry on! I was very excited considering all of my jewelry is just laying in a drawer. The coolest part about it though was that he thought of it, and then made it. I love living in a home where we can be creative and build things. They aren't always perfect but neither are we and I like it like that. I love my husband and how much he cares about me and does everything he can to meet my needs and make me happy! Im so thankful for him!

I did get Mark a present but there was no creativity on my part. He wanted the website domain name markpotter.me . So I got that for him which you can hope to see in the next few months when he launches it with his newly written music.

We will post pictures later of Mark's creation!

How We Measure Snowfall

How Jen & I measure the snowfall without even turning on the TV:

Fun with the Journey staff

Two Monday nights ago (December 1) we went out for a night of food & fun with Jon & Erica and Ben & Sharon and Ben's mom to celebrate the last 15 months we've spent at Journey Church. The 7 of us went to Johnny Carino's for dinner and enjoyed their "Two can dine for $14.99" deal times three. We had a good time, shared lots of laughs, and a few sentimental stories. Ben's mom tried to get us all to cry but I don't think she succeeded :-)

After dinner, we went back to Jon & Erica's house and played cards like the good-ol'-days. We avoided playing Pit this time, since I (Mark) ended up 240 points in the hole last time. Instead, we played a dice game called Fill Or Bust. Jen seemed to be the lucky roller that night, and we were pretty sure it was because of the red fleece blanket. Towards the end of the game, when he had a chance to knock out the leader, Jon borrowed the lucky blanket and rolled a perfect roll!



There was a pic of him bowing down to the lucky blanket after his roll, but I didn't want that one falling into the wrong hands ;-P

All in all it was a GREAT night. We will definitely miss being so close to two awesome couples.

-Mark- +

Why I Love Mac

I've tried to stay neutral with the whole Mac vs PC thing. As most of you know, I prefer Apple products but I try not to knock PC. Yesterday, however, I was fully "converted."

The hard drive on my 2-year-old MacBook went kaput. Jen and I were way bummed becaused I didn't buy Apple Care (extended warranty) when I bought the computer because I couldn't afford it. I went to the Apple Store yesterday at 10:30 to have a Mac Genious look at it. Steve the Mac Genious checked a few things, then went to the back to see if they had the part in stock. When he came back out is when I got my surprise...

"We're going to replace your hard drive for you. I also noticed that your keyboard cover is chipped and discolored, a known flaw with this model. We'll replace that for you too at no charge. Merry Christmas."

Haha! Apple rules!

"And we'll have it for you at noon."

No way! I love Mac. Thanks, Steve!

Introducing Mr. & Mrs. Justin Ackert!

We went to Justin & Liz's wedding this past Saturday. It was fun to be a part of it. Mark was the "official" videographer, and Jen was the unofficial calmer-downer for Liz :-)

They had a beautiful, traditional ceremony at Liz's home church and a fun reception at the Grand Valley Armory. It was especially fun sharing the day with lots of Jen's co-workers, and the DJ was from our church! Congrats, Justin & Liz! We hope you're having a BLAST in San Diego right now!

Thanksgiving

We had a GREAT time with my (Mark's) side of the family this Thanksgiving. Every-other year, the Potter family (my dad's brothers and sisters and all their families - about 40 people in all) gets together near Jackson, MI for Thanksgiving. The hi-lights are Wednesday night pizza, the family football game, and of course the Thanksgiving feast.

My cousins and I went all-out this year with the football game. This was the first year that we've ALL been old enough to fill up two teams and really compete. My cousin Don (who was also my best man) formulated the two most even teams he could think of, wrote an extensive playbook for his team, and got team shirts printed. It was the pink Blackbeard's Volkswagon Delight (don't ask) vs the blue Juggernauts (that was my team). Apparently Don did a great job of figuring out even teams, because the basketball game was decided by 2 points, and the football game was decided by a touchdown.



This is Travis in mid-air during his spectacular interception attempt.



And me, after throwing my second touchdown pass.

The results?



Juggernauts win by a touchdown! And my cousins voted for me to receive the MVP football - the highest honor in all of Potter football ;-P



Jen had fun hanging out with my mom & sisters...



...and the meal, of course, was spectacular!

I can't wait until November 2010!

"Matching" Socks

Is this perfect or WHAT?



Thanks, Camie!

Senior Night @ Fairfield High School

We're in Cincinnati this weekend for Maria's Senior Night - her last marching band game after 4 years marching @ FF.

The seniors got to wear funny hats, and Maria's hat with a feather in it was definitely the best. All for one, and one for all!



At halftime, the seniors walked out onto the field, escorted by their parents, and the announcer called their names.



We're so proud of Maria. She's grown to be a beautiful, smart, confident woman and we're excited to see where God takes her next! We love you, Maria!

We got Punked!

Last night, and the end of our trek up 3 flights of stairs, we were greeted by 18 paper plates covering the door to our apartment!



Is this the apartment version of getting TP'ed?

The colorful decorations were a surprise pastor-appreciation gift from FUEL, the youth group here at Journey Church. The students had written brief notes and drawn pictures on paper plates and staked-out our apartment complex until someone let them in to "punk" us.

Statistic count:
Most popular word: "rock" !!!!!!! (haha! is there a 'rock-on' smiley?)
Second most popular word: "Mark"

And seriously guys, HOW LONG did you have to wait until someone let you in to the building??? (I think you just need a gmail account to leave comments - please do!)

Thanks, FUEL! You guys are the best!

1st Anniversary

I was looking through the pics on my phone and realized that we never updated you all about our 1st Anniversary trip!

We left after church on Sunday, August 17 and headed north to Traverse City! Thanks to Dan & Sonya Richards, we had a free night at the Hampton Inn there. After checking in to the hotel and driving around for a little while, we found a fun place to eat that overlooked the bay called Scott's Harbor Grill.





Jenny had a little trouble keeping her food from running away!





But it was a great, relaxing anniversary dinner. Amazing salmon and catfish!



We followed dinner with a round of put-put, stopping under the waterfall for a romantic 5 seconds, then went back to the hotel and hit the sack.

On Monday, we took our time getting going, spent some time on the beach, watched the Olympics in the hotel room, and headed up the peninsula to another neat local restaurant called The Bowery. The Bowery is a very old restaurant with a legend of the ghost Genevieve. After dinner, we drove around the peninsula admiring its solitude and exploring the lighthouse and "Old Mission," the site of the first Christian mission to the area.

That evening, we headed home and watched the Olympics some more from our hotel room and drifted off to sleep...

Until the fire alarm went off at about 12:45am!!! Jen BOLTED out of bed and we grabbed our essentials (her purse and my computer) and went outside. The fire trucks showed up a speedy 30 MINUTES after the alarms started going off (it's a good thing there wasn't actually a fire) and we eventually learned that someone had knocked the head off of a sprinkler in their room.

The fire chief at first said he wasn't going to let anyone stay at that hotel. Since Jen and I had been planning on getting up early and leaving Traverse City around 6am, we decided we might as well take off and drive through the night. We barely made it home, crawled into our own bed, thanked God for fun and safety, and dozed off to sleep.

Our slightly-less-humble abode

Well, we're all settled in to our new apartment in Caledonia - complete with wireless internet that we're actually paying for! We owe a huge thanks to those who helped us move: Todd, Teresa, Mark, Nathan, and Erick. And another huge thanks to those who helped us settle in and "warm" our house: Justin, Liz, Ben, Sharon, Jon, Erica, and Sydney and Makenzie.


(Todd hard at work.)

It feels like we have twice as much space now, and we're paying the same price we were before! (though we did forfeit our convenient in-unit washer and dryer).




If you were ever in our old apartment, you can see that the bedroom is HUGE compared to the old one, and we never used to have hallways!




The layout turned out to be great for all of our stuff. See, it even looks like there's something on-purpose about our living room!




Probably the best part - we have an extra room to use as an office/guest bedroom! We're taking reservations now!





As you can see, Jen has done a great job decorating and accessorizing (does that word work there?) and she's very happy with her new kitchen!

Needless to say, we're very happy with our new home. Besides the space itself, it's just great to be so close to work and (most importantly) friends. In fact, I roller-bladed to the staff leadership discussion this morning! It was great exercise, and a great way to get the blood pumping. Anyways, we hope to make our home a peaceful, inviting place where people know they can relax and be themselves.

For those of you who want the new address:
217 Maple St SE Apt B304
Caledonia, MI 49316

Phone numbers are still the same.

Thanks for reading. Enjoy the last few weeks of summer, and get ready for the beautiful colors of fall!

moving... part 2

In case anyone is available to help, we plan on beginning our move at 9AM this Saturday (9.20) at the Kentwood apartment (email us for directions) and we expect to arrive at the Caledonia apartment between 11 and noon. We would appreciate the help!

A bizillion thanks to Todd Wandell for offering to bring his 20-foot enclosed trailer to help us. Todd, we are always SO thankful for your friendship and how much you care about others. Thanks man!

moving..

As I stated in our last blog Mark and I are finally moving into Caledonia and we are so thankful. We have been praying for some time for this and in most aspects are really exciting. I have only actually moved twice in my life (not counting dorm moves because your home is still the same). Surprisingly this moves feels a little emotional. The apartment we are in now has become a big box of memories of our first year or marriage. As I look back over the years this apartment has held some of our best memories and many first. It was our first home that we shared together, it was the first place I cooked a "real" meal, the first time we had friends over, it was where we celebrated our first Christmas together and set up our first Christmas tree, and the list could go on and on. I'm not sure that I expected to feel this weird nostalgic feeling when thinking about moving. It has only been a year right? Unlike my first move when I was 15 and was leaving the house I had grown up and experienced so much in. It just reminds me how special this last year has been...good, bad and ugly it was a special year. I am so thankful for what Mark and I have shared together and a little bit sad that we have passed the one year mark. There was something fun and exciting about having been married less than a year.

In all of this though I am thankful that a home really isn't the walls that surround you. Mark and I said once that our home is where we are together and the place where God lives. It can be anywhere. Our houses are just the walls that surround us and our homes are where we make memories, love, laugh and cry. And all of that we will take to us to our new house and make it into our new home.

Finally settling down from a crazy summer!

I love summer but I am very thankful this year that it is slowly coming to end. Not only do I love fall and all the activities that it brings with it I also am always thankful for the routine that fall seems to bring. Everyone is home from vacations and it seems like things for a while always become a little more "normal" --whatever that is. This summer has been so busy for us and I am ready for it to end! I also love the nostalgic feeling that comes with fall. It is by far my favorite season.

This fall will bring some exciting things to. We will celebrate Journey's first birthday with launching a second service which is really exciting! Mark and I finally are going to be able to move into Caledonia! We are excited to be closer to friends and the church and to live in the community we are ministering to. We move next month!

We are however coming to the end of our first year of support and will be having to ask for another year. Please pray with us that God will provide and that Mark and I will be able to continue to serve in Ministry at the capacity we are now and that Mark will not have to pick up another job.

Mark and I just celebrated out first anniversary. I cant believe that it has already been a year! We went to Traverse City for two nights which was so much fun! Thank you to Dan and Sonya! It was a fun little getaway to a beautiful place!!

Vacation!

We are back from our vacation and back to normal life again! We really had fun and it was no fun coming back to normal life. I thought I would update all of you on what we did along with some pictures! We started off our trip on Sunday and we drove to Coldwater Michigan. It was nice and we really enjoyed our stay but Im not sure we will be back. Here our some pictures of our campsite. We were very proud of all the camping stuff we had managed to find for our camping trip. 5 months ago we didn't own any of it!

As you can see the campground was a little "mcdonaledized". There was a tree and table on every spot in a perfect row. It was silly...we always pictured camping as in woods. But we loved it. It was quiet and it still felt like camping. We got to do everything we wanted. We went on a paddle boat one day and that was a lot of fun. We also went into town a few times. We had lunch one day at rootbeer stand. It was fun, you pull up and someone comes to your car and takes your order and then they bring it to you on a tray that attaches to your window. We had a lot of fun with that. We also went to the drive in theater. This was probably one of my favorite parts! We saw Wall-e and Hancock. And to nobody's surprise I fell asleep during both but the experience was still really cool. We went early to get a good spot and then played our new favorite game, backgammon, in the car.






Katie and Brad also came to visit us one night which was fun. I read a whole book, and we played lots of games. It was very relaxing. Mark did an awesome job also and making us amazing food! I love camping food! We left camp on Thursday and made our way to Cincinnati to see Mark's family. Stay tuned for an update on the rest of our week :)

Camping here we come!

We are going camping on Sunday and we are about as excited as 6 year olds going to Disney. You would think that we never get to go anywhere or do anything but the excitement in waiting is half the fun, right? The weather is not looking very hopeful for our trip but I am trying to convince myself that camping in the rain is equally as fun as camping in sunny 80 degree weather... :/ We will see how that goes...

We went to a rodeo last night with the Weatherwaxes. That was new and different. We real cowboys riding real bulls. For whatever reason it always seemed like some fantasy to me but evidentally the world has not been lying and it really does happen...weird.

They call it a sport. I see it as attempts at suicide...maybe thats extreme. But one guy did get trampled and taken away on a stretcher...I chuckled and wanted to be like "well, duh!". But none-the-less I still hope he is ok.

Tonight we are going out to good old "camp" to see some friends from Faith. Camp is...well to be honest I really don't know I have never been. But its a church thing I suppose. We are excited to see friends and be fed by a much missed mom from Lansing.

Our air doesn't really work and it is rather hot...but I still made mac and cheese for lunch and it was still amazing...

I found the bottom of our laundry basket today and that was a huge accomplishment...I thought for sure it was gone but to my surprise once I washed all of the clothes (did I say all? Because I meant ALL) there was the bottom of the basket smiling back at me :)I wanted to give myself a round of applause since this may the first time it has happened but I was too embarrassed...I didn't want Mark to think I had lost (although it is possible that he might already think that).

Well thats all for now in the exciting life of Mark and Jenny...maybe Ill be back before vaca and well maybe not.

A day off...

I was so excited all week because I had today off completely from everything. Mark is gone all day, I got most of the cleaning done and I was hoping to just lay out at the pool all day. But I awoke this morning to no sun. I am pretty sad. Although I have to admit I am enjoying the quiet and peacefulness of being all alone with nothing to do. Life has been so crazy and busy lately that I feel somewhat out of place not having anything going on.

Tomorrow we have our first lifegoup meeting that I am leading. I am really excited about it. There are some great girls in the group and I hope that we become even close through the summer.

Mark and I are leaving to go camping next week. We are going to camp in Coldwater for 5 days and then go to Cinncinatti and see his family and go to a wedding. I am really excited!! Im so excited to go away just me and my husband and enjoy a relaxing break outside! Yay! There is a lot of work to do though before we go!