We're Here!

Well in case you haven't heard we are here and safe!
We started the moving process on Wednesday January 31, when we left Joplin that afternoon and drove through the snow to STL to stay with my parents for the night. The next morning we got up around 4am and left for IN again driving through the snow. We arrived at the church exactly at 10am when Janese had an interview for a job with the daycare at the church. Thankfully Janese was hired on the spot! We had decided to stay with a couple friends for a couple weeks while we looked for a place of our own, so we got settled in at our friends house. I started work at the church the next Sunday @ 6:30am... boo for early morning! Well later that day the Colts won the Superbowl so they decided to close the church office on Monday in order to let us celebrate properly. The next day was my first day at the office. I did all the normal things, meet the staff, fill out forms, etc. except my day was cut short because of the next snow storm (5"). Thankfully the people up here actually know what a snow plow is and they even use them on all the roads (oh Joplin). Wednesday was a crazy busy day we got some new lighting that had to be setup and programmed before Sunday. Thursday Janese and I got back in the car and drove back to Joplin to load all of our things in a Penske truck and bring it up here. We got back Saturday unloaded in our duplex that we are renting for a couple months. Then we had church on Sunday and work on Monday. Then it happened again... SNOW (11") this storm caused the church and daycare to close for 2 days. So for those of you who are counting in the last 2 weeks the office has been closed 3 1/2 days. Then on Saturday we got another 5" of snow. Then just as the weather forecast calls for things to get back to normal something else. Last Sunday morning I was standing at the tech booth when I heard over the COM "we are going to evacuate the building now!" Apparently there was gas leak in the building, which caused us to have to cancel the rest of the services for the day. So needless to say these last 3 weeks have been a little crazy with over 17" of snow on the ground and a major gas leak at the church on Sunday morning. WOW maybe that is why I am tired.....

Check back soon for more updates....

Snowed in Again

Well we are going on day 4 that Janese and I have been stuck in the house after the 2nd major winter storm to hit the Joplin area this year. The storm hit Friday afternoon with the majority of the ice (a little over 1") then a 2nd front came through Saturday which brought some more ice and sleet, followed by the last front which came through on Sunday and into today with a little bit of snow and ice. Growing up in the St. Louis area I am used to the city or county actually plowing the streets, however here in Joplin/Webb City we are lucky if they plow the main streets. Which I guess I shouldn't complain to much except when they plow the main streets then they just leave a big pile of snow and ice at the intersections to all the other streets and entrances to any businesses.

In addition to the traffic problems this storm has caused it has left many people without power and heat. One of which was my little brother who is a freshman at Ozark this year. Andrew got a call late Friday night that the dorms were opening early to let the students return from Christmas break. Andrew decided that he had had enough of staying with his big brother and decided to head for the dorms. Great call Andrew, I bet it was fun to stay at the dorms with no electricity!

Passion 07

WOW! 22,000 people all in one place for one purpose what a cool thing. Janese and I went to Passion 07 this year in Atlanta, GA! Last year there were 18,000 in Nashville and we took over the downtown Nashville area. This year at Passion with such an increase in attendance they had to do a 2nd venue. It worked very well with two venues, they had a satellite feed with the speaker but both venues had live worship. It was such a cool exerience again this year to worship our Savior with so many brothers and sisters. This year Passion had the Do Something Now Campaign. It was an opportunity for everyone to get involved either financially, prayerfully, or vocationally. It's so incredible to not only see and hear, but to be a small part of what God is doing all over the world so that every ear will hear the Gospel and the Good News of Jesus Christ!

Here's the run down with tons more detail on the Do Something Now Campaign page...52 water wells were sponsored in Africa for communities to have fresh water for life, 6 people groups in Indonesia will receive the New Testament in their native language, 20 students through Compassion International were sponsored so they can go to college in Africa, 4,000 bibles were mailed to East Asia with people committing to pray for each person that receives one. Passion is planning to do global conferences the end of this year and next to reach out to those that don't know Jesus, that haven't heard His Word, and that possibly don't even have the Word of God in their language.

"That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Philippians 2:10-12

Baby Tucker

Since we spent Thanksgiving with my family, we spent Christmas with Mike's (as you can see from his post). We were able to see my dad's side of the family for Thanksgiving, too. We did decide to go home the weekend before Christmas on Sunday and Monday since Jess and Jonathon were home from Indiana. All of us kids were able to be home so we opened gifts after church and carried out the rest of our family Christmas traditions with my personal favorites coffee and sausage balls, and this year instead of playing our usual games of cards, we played a new game that most of us love...Rummikub. Also, we got to see our new nephew again, Tucker James, born November 2. After we opened up our gifts, Jay and Sheila's dog made an announcement with a t-shirt that said, "I'm a big sister 07-07-07." We recently found out that Jessica and Jonathon are also expecting in July around the 27th. Congratulations!!

Christmas with the Temm's

Janese and I went to my parents house this year for Christmas. Growing up we always celebrated on Christmas Eve with my Dad's family, and Christmas Day with my Mom's family. Now this all seemed normal growing up I guess because that is all I knew. However after spending a much lower key Christmas with Janese's family in 2005 I started thinking about past Temm family celebrations. My mom informed us that we would be celebrating with both sides of the family at their house. Now the last time my parents hosted the Temm family Christmas Eve party, one of my uncles nearly got in a fist fight with my cousins' boyfriend, this brought a quick end to the festive attitude. Now I don't know if Janese was nervous about the first Christmas with the Temm family but I was nervous for her. Thankfully everyone was on their best behavior this year.


We did enjoy a fine game of "rob your neighbor" where you get to steal gifts from other people. Thankfully I was able to get my own gift back and wasn't stuck with the neon orange hammer (thanks Aunt Cindy) or the in-car sandwich maker.

We're moving...to Indiana...

Our first blog...here we go!! We thought it would be good to keep in touch with our friends and family...and join the 21st Century!!

We are moving to Brownsburg, Indiana sometime in February. Mike got a ministry position at Connection Pointe Christian Church as a Production Specialist working with lights and stage design. I am hoping to get a job also at the church either in the daycare or as an Administrative Assistant.

While it all seems to be happening very fast, we have been praying about it for over a year. We're excited to see where God is leading us. It is sad to be leaving our friends who we have come to know over the last six years, but we are confident that this is where God is calling us.

One of the confirmations we've received was on the day Mike accepted this position at the church, we got an offer on the land...finally...we had been trying to sell it for over a year and the buyer that I had been calling off and on called randomly "out of the blue" and offered to buy it. We're scheduled to close next week!! Praise the Lord!! :)

We are trying to sell our house, so hopefully we can find a buyer before we need to move. It is sad when we think about packing up all our stuff and leaving this place, but hopefully we can find something in Indiana that we like as much. We decided that since we like this house so much we're probably going to paint our new house pretty much the same...it matches our furniture and we've spent a lot of time decorating it just the way we like!