Barn Dance!

Some of Rudy's small group members at the Barn Dance.

Our home group at the barn dance.

The girls in the leaves while we were raking this afternoon.

One other nice thing about the fall around here...you don't have

to bag leaves.  you just rake them to the street, and trucks come

by to suck them up.

Rudy and I both had rough work days yesterday, so we were a little grumpy and worn out on our way to the annual Cornerstone Barn Dance.  Let me tell you...super fun!!!  Everyone dressed up country style and headed to a barn about 30 minutes outside of Bloomington-Normal for a good old-fashioned hoe down.  About 80+ people showed up to dance.  We had an older gentlemen "call" the dance, the majority of which was square dancing.  We also did a "Barn Dance" and one or two line dances.  As usual, I was too self-conscious to line dance.  I know...I'm a total party pooper.  We had such a great time that we invited everyone over to our house afterwards, and the party carried on until about 2:30AM.  Needless to say, I'm pretty tired now, but it was worth it.  These Illini really know how to have a good time.  On a side note...we also found a great babysitter for Cornerstone events in the sweet high school senior across the street.  It's always difficult to find someone to watch the kids for Cornerstone stuff since our usual babysitters are Cornerstoners, so we feel really blessed.  Yea!

On another side note...I went to the kids' parent-teacher conferences yesterday.  They are both doing very well academically and socially.  Apparently Kyra doesn't even pick her nose and eat it at school.  Whew!  That's a relief!

Fall Arrives

The kids and several of the Cornerstone girls at the apple orchard.

Kelsie getting ready for the cold weather.

Our front yard with our huge maple tree that was just beginning

to change colors.  It gets more beautiful each day.

The view down our street from right outside our house.

You can see a few of the trees have changed colors.  I just

LOVE our street.

Okay...so my whole school age life I learned about the seasons.  I memorized the look of fall.  There were always pictures of kids playing in piles of colorful leaves, images of  bright blue skies and kids in gloves and hats running around joyfully, and pumpkins set against a backdrop of brown and orange.  Last week was ugly and cold, but this week is beautiful, real life fall weather.  I want to be outside all the time just to admire the beauty of the leaves and to enjoy the glorious temperatures (today it almost got to 70 degrees.)  We had to take some pictures on Sunday because Rudy and I are just blown away with our first real fall.  I know it's the lull before the storm of cold and misery, but it sure is a nice lull.  

We went apple picking a couple of weeks ago with some of the students.  Okay, so we missed church because we figured there were very few days we could go outside in the coming months.  We wanted to take advantage of the weather.  We had so much fun at the little farm about an hour away.  The kids were able to feed and pet some little ducklings.  They also had catfish feeding and little kitties all around to pet.  Plus the apples were yummy.  We had never been apple picking, so we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

Work has been going fairly well.  After a few meetings, I think there might be an avenue for me to get into wound care in this town after all.  In fact, I think I might have a very exciting opportunity to assist with building a clinic.  We just have to get everyone else to see the potential:) 

The ministry is going great.  We have made so many wonderful new friends.  Several of these friends are brand new Christ followers, which is awesome!  Everyone has been very welcoming, and we are so grateful.  This Friday night we are going to a Cornerstone event that is supposed to be super fun--a Barn Dance.  I think the pressure is on for Rudy and me to have the best costumes, but we were never actually into cowboy hats.   We'll let you know how it goes.  We are so excited to have Austin friends and Rudy's mom coming to visit in November.  Hopefully we won't get too homesick.  

Amazing Weekend

I am feeling blown away by this past weekend. Cornerstone Christian Fellowship always hosts its Fall Retreat at this time of year. Everyone said it would be amazing, but I didn't really know what to expect. I wasn't too optimistic. One of the first things I found out upon getting in the car after a long day at work was that we forgot to bring Kelsie's shoes. I stayed up until 2AM packing most everything we needed on Thursday night, and we forgot her shoes. She had only a pair of mismatched plastic dress up shoes to wear all weekend. Then we pulled into McDonald's for dinner just before arriving at the campground, and we accidentally ordered me the wrong meal. Then I noticed the kids weren't dressed appropriately for being outside in Illinois at night. Between all those things and feeling terribly tired, I had a bad attitude. I began to soften when we arrived at the retreat and were greeted by students and other members of Cornerstone clapping, yelling our names, and giving us goodie bags. I softened more after worshiping in the opening session with the super great Cornerstone band. I softened a lot more after I got the kids to bed in our little cabin, and 7 people came over to play Epic duels, keeping me company while the kids slept. (I can't believe, by the way, that those kids slept through 2 hours of Epic Duels with 8 people 5 feet away from them!)
We prayed during the opening session that God would meet us at Camp Cilca, and He answered! Rudy and I alternated attending teachings for the weekend, and God showed me so much through John Drage, the pastor from Missouri we invited to teach at the retreat. I was overwhelmed by the number of students who attended. 87 people came out for the retreat, and at least 50 of these were students. I felt a little nervous about seeing John because he asked Rudy to move to Missouri to help out with the GCM ministry there when we let him know we were planning to leave Austin last summer. Of course, we decided to move to Illinois State University instead. John more than confirmed our decision. He said it seemed we were right where we belonged with Rudy using his gifts to the fullest and having a huge impact for the Lord. He also said the most people they have ever had at a Fall Retreat at Mizzou was 117. Mizzou has been considered one of the most successful campus ministries in GCM for the last 10-15 years!
Anyway, it certainly wasn't just about the numbers. We just feel so amazingly connected to the people at Cornerstone. I finally got a shower on Saturday afternoon and was putting on my make-up in the girls' bathroom when one of the students we have befriended told me she accepted Christ the night before. I talked to another student about her life decisions Saturday afternoon on the way to the (cold) lake baptisms. I had a beautiful conversation with another student for hours by the bonfire Saturday night. Several parents came to the retreat to see their children baptized, and I felt connected to them, too (probably because we're about the same age:) At the bonfire, student after student shared how they have been affected by the retreat and Cornerstone for 3 plus hours (interspersed with worship and s'mores.) People loved on the kids all weekend, so the little Riveras had an awesome time as well. God was even sweet enough to have John bring his 10 year old son with him so Naaman had another boy to hang out with. Kelsie's feet barely touched the ground since people scoop her up and cuddle her as much as possible. (She is pretty cute.) And Kyra just loves hanging out with those Klunke girls.
God is so cool! I am so glad he has eased our transition here by making it all feel worth it. Rudy has shared the gospel a ton this semester--at least twice just this week. His small group is going great and is full of people who want to meet with him one on one to discuss their spiritual interest. His freshman leaders group has been amazing as well with these new students expressing ownership of Cornerstone as they are envisioned for a future of reaching people for Christ. Home Group has been great, and I have even been able to feel connected since it's at our house on Thursday nights. I just love these people and am so glad we live so close to campus and have students around all the time. I have to confess that life is a little crazy and a lot exhausting with tons of late nights, my 3 day a week job, getting the kids involved in activities, etc. but I'm having so much fun! God really told me something about myself this weekend, too, and I feel like a changed person.
Okay, I'll stop there. My heart is just so full of love and gratefulness to God. I even feel grateful to God every time I drive onto our beautiful street and see our cute little house intermingled with the trees that are getting ready to change colors. By the way, the weather here has been amazing. We've had highs in the low 60's, and I have the heat turned on tonight. It's quite daunting, though, to think that it won't probably be hot anymore until May. I've packed away most of the shorts and gotten out all the long pants and jackets. Pray for us to not freak out this winter. I heard the windchill was -30 degrees some days last winter. Good thing my mom is treating us to a nice Disney vacation in December. I'm sure we'll appreciate the break from the cold.

Meet Me in St. Louis

Kyra following her fishing lure back downstream at the
St. Louis Children's Museum, the Magic House


Naaman and Kyra on the bubble organ


Naaman and Kyra touching the electrostatic generator at
the Magic House


Kelsie playing in the water outside the Magic House


The whole family in the Mork and Mindy
pod that would take us to the top of the St. louis arch



The view from the arch. A Cardinals baseball game was going on while
we were at the top. Someone hit a homerun, and fireworks were shot off well below us.
It also happened to be sunset when we were there--beautiful.


Kelsie posing with a grizzly bear outside the museum below the arch. cutie patootey



We had a really fun Saturday in St. Louis. It all started when we found some Pokemon sheets for sale on Craig's List. We promised Naaman a Pokemon room in the new house before we found out that Pokemon bedding is no longer made in the united States. We finally found this set of good condition, used bedding on Craig's List only 2.5 hours away and decided we would make a day trip and go get them. We've been wanting to visit St. Louis anyway. Besides, wouldn't any parent do the same for a kid who has been through what we have put our kids through this year? We just really wanted to live up to our promise of the Pokemon room even though he wasn't asking about it very much. By the way, he is ecstatic over his sheets and comforter. He doesn't care one bit that they were used.
We decided to hit the AWESOME St. Louis Children's Museum since we have a reciprocal membership card through the Normal Children's Museum. That place was worth the trip in and of itself. Then we made a run to Costco. We sure have missed our huge boxes of goldfish, Life cereal, and nuts since we moved to a smaller town:) We had pizza, smoothies, and frozen yogurt at Costco before heading to the famous St. Louis arch, "The Gateway to the West." The kids were amazed how high up we were when we made it to the top. We walked around the museum at the bottom of the arch, stopped by to get the sheets on the way out of town, and made it home by midnight. Good times were had by all. i've posted some pictures of the day. Enjoy!
Oh, and I enjoyed my first day of work today, but i didn't take any pictures:) I think this job will be a good fit for me.

Naaman's Best Friend

A few people have expressed their concerns about Naaman at school.  I just wanted to post a quick update.  Things are going better.  I was unable to go to school for lunch today because it conflicted with my pre-employment physical.  Naaman said 3 other kids sat at the peanut-free table today, so he had people to talk to.  Two of them had allergies, and the other was a buddy of one with an allergy.  What a huge relief!  He also has a new "best friend" named Christian.  I think he knew they were destined to be together when Christian wore a Pokemon shirt to school today.  Yea!  I hope he can make another friend like Patric from Purple Sage.  Those two loved each other so much, and Patric is such a great kid.  I trust Naaman to make good choices in his friends.  Kyra, of course, has a new best friend every day.  We'll see how that turns out:) 

Settling in and pictures

Sorry this picture is sideways, and i'm too computer illiterate to fix it.
Naaman and Kyra looked cute their first day of school. They ride their scooters since
we live so close--only 0.2 miles away!


Kyra outside our house on the first day of kindergarten. she wore a dress since her first day was only 1 hour.


Kyra with her friends Natalie and Gillian at a dairy farm back in June. can you believe
we had to wear jackets?


the basement needs a paint job but has been great for hanging out with
students. I've been making lots of popcorn these days:) My mom and stepdad gave us their awesome, 25 year-old sectional sofa. love it! thanks guys!


basement guest bedroom featuring my great aunt's antique bedroom suit. can't wait to have out-of-town guests!


we love our kitchen, even if the faux granite countertops don't actually match the backsplash:)
the cabinets are beautiful and so is the new tile floor


view from the kitchen into the eat-in area, laundry closet, and soon to be office/Rudy's mom's guest room since she can't go downstairs. we're going to put up a wall and french doors for privacy in that area


our bedroom is actually smaller than the girls' room, but the bed David built for us has allowed us to be dresser-less. the closet is quite small, too, but we store all our off-season clothes in the basement. We love the floors and the cozy feel


I think this little bitty master bathroom is my favorite room. Rudy put in the vanity and cabinet, and we decorated with our stuff from Austin. It's just so cozy!


Naaman's room will eventually have a Pokemon theme. I had to place a blanket around the leg of his bed so I wouldn't stub my toe every time I walked in. His room is very small, and his bed legs angle out because it is actually the top bunk of a full-twin bunk bed set. He loves having his own space:)


We went ultra girly in the girls' room. they share the bottom bunk of the bunk bed set. The butteryfly curtains pull back to reveal pink, sheers with sequins:)


the hall bath is quite pretty, too. It actually has a bathtub.



We decided to follow the IKEA "bold, not beige" idea in the upstairs living room. Our purple couches fit in nicely with the colorful pictures and rug. The 1960's wood floors are a little creaky, stained and uneven in places, but we love them.


So we are almost all moved in--only a few boxes left inside the house. (The garage will have to wait until Rudy has more time.) Lots of you have been asking for pictures of the inside of the house, so I finally took some tonight. Too bad you can't see the windows and pretty lighting during the day, but I had to take the pictures while I had the time:) We are in love with our house! We haven't even thought much of our beloved home in Austin since we've moved in. I have to admit to being completely overwhelmed by all the unpacking and the feeling that I've been dealing with organization and boxes and renovations for 7 months. At least this house was almost all redone when we moved in. We just had to add some storage in the bathrooms, paint a few walls, pick out all the window treatments(ugh), and hang the pictures leftover from our Austin house staging to make it pretty nice. The Illinois State students have been hanging out at our house a lot to play games and stuff now that we live only a mile from campus. Last night we hosted our first home group, and it seemed to be a great success. I think we actually fit 40 people pretty comfortably in our basement before breaking down into smaller groups for discussion all over the house. I honestly don't know how the kids slept through everything, but they did. Yea God! He is answering prayers here. We think one girl even came into a relationship with Christ during home group last night.
The kids started school this week, and it's going fairly well. Kyra made friends right away, but Naaman has been struggling a little to fit in to second grade at a new school. The school is seriously overcrowded, and some of the teachers seem to have yelling issues, especially in the cafeteria. I've been going to lunch to make my presence known and to help the kids feel more comfortable. Poor Naaman has been sitting at the peanut-free table all alone despite our encouragement for him to find non-peanut eaters at other tables. I think he's just too intimidated to find somewhere to sit in that tight cafeteria where he doesn't have to be afraid of peanut exposure. It's hard to have no friends and a peanut allergy. I've been sharing my own experiences from being an Air Force brat, but my heart breaks for him. I just hope we don't have to move again anytime soon.
I received and accepted a job offer at a local hospital and am fairly excited to start back to work. Unfortunately they wouldn't hire me unless I could work 24 hours a week instead of my usual 16, but we have a good childcare arrangement. At least only Kelsie is home now. She is adorable and reminds me a lot of Naaman with her ability to strongly focus on a task at the age of 2. Tonight she actually worked on a puzzle for an hour while we watched a movie with the bigger kids! She did the cutest victory dance every time she completed it. then she'd start again. Too cute! I hope to start work in the next 2 weeks, but they haven't given me an official date yet. Let's just hope I pass the drug screen and physical:)
We hope to update again soon. Love to all!

our new house

here are few pictures from our camera of the house and yard.  I'll post more soon... more of the kids.

God is Sweet!

Beth Kobes often refers to God's blessings/God's miraculous provision by saying "God is so sweet!"  My title is a nod to her phrasing.  I was starting to think we were not supposed to move to Normal, IL.  I think Rudy blogged about the air conditioner in the van breaking the day before our 20 hour drive.  The morning after we arrived in Normal the battery died in our van as well.  Most of you know the Spring was filled with difficulties and trials in preparation for our coming here.  I've been saying either God or Satan doesn't want us here.  After meeting the students on Wednesday night, I was more convinced Satan doesn't want us here.  We seem well-suited to ministry here, we seem to fit right in, and the students here are very open to the gospel.  Satan might be throwing some trials at us to make us give up hope, but we refuse to give up hope! 

Now to the "God is sweet" part...One of the very difficult parts of leaving Austin was leaving our adorable neighborhood with Naaman's school at the end of the street along with the pool and park.  We were close to everything I like to do--kids' activities, the mall, the grocery store, Target, Wal-Mart, friends, my job, etc.  Unfortunately we were 16 miles from campus, so Rudy had a long commute, and it was very difficult to get students to our house.  We started looking at houses in Normal online months ago, and it did not seem we were going to find a house close to campus with all the amenities of family life.  We also needed to find a one story with an extra room for Rudy's mom in case she needs to come live with us for a while.  Impossible, right?  No!!!  Nothing is impossible for our SWEET God!  We looked at many houses last week, including a beautiful historical home that was unfortunately in the wrong school district.  We put in an offer an a house on Friday, haggled with the owner a bit, then had our offer accepted.  Let me describe the house we found...it doesn't look like much from the outside--orange brick with very minimal landscaping, no shutters, etc.  However, it has a huge maple tree in front, and you can see Naaman and Kyra's awesome new school from the front yard.  It is actually at the end of the street, even closer than our home in Austin was to Naaman's school.  It is a ranch style home (one story) with hardwood floors throughout (another feature I REALLY desired.)  There are 3 small bedrooms and a medium-sized living room.  There are 2 bathrooms including a master bath, which is a definite bonus for a house from the 1960's.  The kitchen is small but open with brand-new cabinets, countertops, backsplash, and appliances.  By the way, the bathrooms are all remodeled as well.  There is brand new, nice tile in the kitchen with an eat-in area.  The laundry closet is off the kitchen and on the main floor ( a rarity for houses in Illinois.)  The kitchen windows face the large backyard, another necessity with small children.  And all the neighbor's yards are very well-kept on this quiet street.  There is actually a formal dining room beyond the laundry room that could be easily enclosed to make an office or a room for Rudy's mom.  Can you believe it?  God is sooo good!!!  Now for the big bonus...the basement has been beautifully finished with a HUGE family room perfect for ministry and a lovely bedroom complete with closet and egress window.  And we were able to negotiate into the price of the home the completion of the roughed in downstairs bathroom.  now when our friends from Texas or family from wherever come visit they will have their own bedroom and bathroom!  Did I mention that the house is only 1.2 miles from the Illinois State campus?  Oh, and it just happens to be very close to our good friends and fellow ministers Mike and Michelle Klunke who have 3 kids close in age to our kids.  Oh, and it is only a short distance from Veteran's Parkway--the big highway that goes through town with easy access to Target, the mall, restaurants, etc.  Oh, and it cost $20,000 less than what we sold our house for in Austin.  Now for the extra sweet part...we went to check out a Normal pool yesterday with our friends the Klunkes.  The pool pass was fairly inexpensive, and the pool is amazing (complete with water slides, a huge kids' pool, and beautiful flowers and vegetation everywhere.)  There is a huge park beside the pool with the largest playscape I have ever seen and tons of green, green grass.  We were in the pool, and Rudy said..."I think our house is right over there."  We got in the car upon leaving the pool and found out we only have to walk down our street in the opposite direction from the school, turn left and walk down another street, cross a pretty wooden bridge, and end up at the pool, park, and the kids' junior high school.  Isn't God amazing?

He gave me everything I wanted and everything I hoped for.  If you want to see pictures, get on realtor.com and search for 402 Centennial, Normal, Il.  The pictures might still be up.

Please pray for us as we continue to make new friends.  We had dinner with a very sweet couple last night who have a 2 month old baby.  We desperately miss our friends in Austin and still cry every day just a little, but God is so sweet.  I know He will provide comfort and continued blessings.

Keep Austin Weird-Moving to Normal

It has been a long year getting us to Normal, Illinois!  We are finally here, and I must say, Normal is anything but.  We are not used to things here, and it all feels very weird.  The heat is about the same as home, but we are not home.  The people are just as friendly, but they are not the people we are most friendly with.  The town is small enough to get across in 10 minutes.  It was taking us longer to get off of City Park Rd and to church in Austin.  I hope to find our camera soon so you can see what I am talking about here.  For now, just remember us.  

We met many new people tonight at a weekly BBQ and small group.  It was a good time where Brook met every girl there and a few of the guys.  I got a chance to talk with some about dreams for the ministry and Live the Music, Freedom Bags.  I reconnected with a girl, Hannah, who i could not get out of my head this past year in Austin.  She was a reason for moving here... her heart for missions and the needy in the world was evident to me in my Fall visit, but I also remember her not knowing what to do with that heart.  She is now trying to get on staff with International Justice Mission in Washington DC.  She will find out more next week, but it was nice to see her and catch up on her heart for the world.  Please pray for Hannah, the other students here, and our new church family.  Please also pray for us... we are missing all of you, looking forward to getting more settled in, expecting good things here, and getting ready to start our new life in the mission field of Illinois.  we love you all... grace and peace!

turning the other cheek

so I've been thinking a lot about turning the other cheek.  Matthew 5:39  What a privilege to suffer for Christ though our suffering is so little.  Momentary and light!  I look forward to having another opportunity to turn my face for another slap.  Perhaps I should say, the first slap since I tend to resist offering either cheek for punishment.

So we sold our house... actually closed and sold and all.  It took a very long time, but we are out of 11470 Bristle Oak Trail.  We loved that house, the neighbors, the neighborhood, and all things Anderson Mill.  David Brown was talking with me the other day about the first house you buy and how sentimental you are towards the house.  I found it to be true for us!  We loved our house... but may the Lord grant us a better house than before.  Heb 13:14.  Look out Normal.  Here we come!

wanting to write

I have much to say and no time as the present to say it.  For now, I thought I'd give an update on my day today.  I'll try to write my thoughts later today as I prepare for a night of hanging out with friends(around American Idol), painting, phone calling, and dinner.  (not it that order)

I'm off now to see one of our ministry partners who was one of the first to partner with us in our effort to minister to college students.  He's been a faithful giver and support to us, and we're about to have lunch.  I will then come home to work on our next update letter and a few other pieces of material as we prepare to make our annual changes.  I will at some point stop all of that and play with the kids and then move into the evening.  Check back later for more thoughts on above!