tired in gainesville

John and I have been running nonstop the past week or so. I guess I have not been running, I actually have been sitting A LOT. Our couch has been my office, classroom and library for a year and half. And there are days that go by that I just sit and sit and sit and write and write and write.
That is how this week has been. With two major projects and a whoppin cumulative chem test in front of me, my eyes are tired and my brain is no longer producing anything intelligent.
I made 27 mini loaves of pumpkin bread for other studying tummies around me, but then realized that I am a studying tummy, who is making my bread?
The only good thing is that instead of gaining marriage weight, it seems that all my hours of sedentary typing away and pumpkin-loafing has left me smaller than when I walked to class and had to move myself around campus. Maybe I have lost all muscle mass I once owned, it was so little. Or maybe I have sweat off pounds by sitting motionless in the Florida heat. Either way, I am ready to let my couch be a couch and my bed be my bed. Goodnight.

China!

You guessed it . . . we are moving there! Wait I mean I bought some! Can you believe it, I own me some China. Using/owning china is less of a deal out West, and I really haven't had a seed of wanting China until I passed by this beauty set at a THRIFT STORE. I bought a 48 piece set for a whoppin 30 bones. And it is all I could have dreamed it to be if I had been dreaming about it!

I like to call the design . . . twirly

Now I just need an occassion to use it, or really a place to store it would be a good place to start. Maybe I need to go hunt a thrift store china cabinet?

Here is just a taste of the wonderful set that I got! Thank You Lord for providing in wonderful ways. And it truly was more than I imagined.

Womens Retreat

Some of you know that since August, I have been dreaming, praying, and stressing about the Florida Regional Women's Retreat that I was the Director of. The retreat was this past weekend and it went so well. God blessed us with safety, a great speaker, precious girls, sweet tshirts and an uplifting time. 65 girls from all over Florida joined us here in Gainesville for friday night and saturday day. We enjoyed hearing from a godly woman Debbie Friley who shared what it meant and looked like to be set free by knowing the Truth. My favorite part was tea time, in which girls got to dress up and drink tea with each other while getting to talk with older women. Ahh it was so good.

Here are some of the pics. These women are from my campus, UF.
And this is a our big group. The faces are so little, but look how joyous everyone looks. You can tell they were all just at a sweet retreat.

Thanks to those who prayed for this little retreat. And for those who had to deal with my frazzeledness during the planning. My husband is glad to have clean clothes and food in the house now that I have had time to grocery shop and clean our underwear! Ha.

My computer works and more!

Hey Team, guess what? My computer has come back from the land of frustration. It happens that there is a fine gentleman in our ministry who is computer savvy enough to save my paperweight. What a guy. And not only did he fix it, he gave me cool new programs like the one I used to make this little collage from our trip last weekend to Hilton Head. I am on cloud 9 with my new snazy computer. Christmas has come early in my soul! Thanks Jason, John and I cannot thank you enough. More pics to come.

never mind . . .

amid my frustration over my clothes I ran across this youtube video from a guy visiting his compassion child.


makes me forget about my clothes . . .


The crazy reality that I am learning about more and more from some of my classes is the fact that slavery still exists in large amounts. 80% of slaves are women and 50% are children. Watching this video caused me to be so thankful for compassion among the various orgs that seek to bring hope and a future to these precious people.
I guess anyone who has not considered it could consider sponsoring a child now. John and I have been sponsoring a boy named Biplob from Bangladesh and who even knows if it has bettered his chances from not being sold into slavery by someone who needs to make some more money.
I have been reading Not For Sale and I am hardly far into it but I have been devastated by the reality and prominence of slavery today. Please join me in allowing God to soften our hearts toward His precious ones. I am pouting for a good reason now.

Are You Kidding Me?

So it is Tuesday night and I am mourning the loss of my clothes. Tonight I decided to do some laundry which I have not done at night before due to the fact I have to walk to our shady laundry room . . . and as I was walking in to pick up my clothes from the dryer I noticed that half of my clothes were gone!
Some loon has taken some, but not all of our things from the dryer. Who knows why someone would take underwear, older towels and my beloved wear-under-everything tank tops? I have a big pout on my face. Give me back my clothes!

Bro is looking so good

This is the second time that I was not able to see my brother go off to homecoming. But just like last year he was looking smokin. His date (and now gf) Taryn was looking beautiful as well. It looks like they are a cute couple for sure.

Oh my siblings, I miss you, come back to me, I mean I will come back to you! You are looking so good, I wish I was there.

My mom and Brandon's date. Two beautiful women!

Time at the Beach

Sorry for the single picture friends. But I realized that I did not take many great blog-worthy photos. But I would love to tell you how fantastic our weekend was. The weather ended up perfect, we had so much time to have fun and enjoy each other, and also John got to share a message twice with everyone. I loved it. This is just a pic of us girls. We had two of these apartment-style homes (one for the ladies and one for the boys) It was so so so great. Thanks for praying for these great students. We feel so priveleged that God lets us be a small part of the masterpiece He is currently working on in them.

beach bound

we are on our way to panama city beach tomorrow with some students. would you join us in praying for our safety, and our time together and with our Maker. we are so excited.

I am being decieved.

in the midst of the crazy life that we all of a sudden lead in florida, I really have to force myself to let truths that I am learning in bible study sink in. my mind is so fast paced . . . but in studying 1 John, I am forced to slow down.

A simple thought is invading my life. It is easy for me to think that I am sinless, or even to avoid dealing with sin that I know is very real. But 1 John says that I am "decieved" if I claim to be sinless. But even more, it states that sin can cloud my relationship with God. And since claiming the Beloved as mine and accepting freedom from the power of sin, I have neglected the continued reality of sin when it comes to the intimacy I experience with Christ. I was breathless when I realized that when I try to turn from sin, it is only so that I dont look bad, I dont want to have that on my track record. It has little to do with wanting to be closer to the Almighty. Instead of running away from sin because it means being even closer to the heartbeat of God, I run away to be more fashionable, sin doesn't look good on me. Its not my color. Sin has become unfashionable to me so I discard it, but not for the beauty of the Lord. It seems my heart needs a makeover, and the new fashion statement: dust. Can I get close enough to Jesus to be covered in His dust? All I know is that my heart longs to be near Him.

Babies!

The cat is all the way out of the bag, I love to share great news, and there are so many great newses to share. My brother and sister-in-law, Jens and Kristi have been baking a little danish one since summertime . . .and brother and sister-in-law, Joe and Joy are also happily brewing a babe these days too. What exciting news!

It seems to please the Lord to have two great women walking through such a time together as sisters. We are praying for these growing families, for the mommas, pappas, and the wee bairns too.

just words

john and i have been experiencing major computer mayhem. my computer at the moment is a large paperweight and nothing more. And his is not able to send or recieve any info that needs a USB port. so that means no pictures. because the old ones are locked in the paperweight while the new ones cannot be retrieved from our camera. but I have always relied way too much on pictuers, so until we figure something out, I will have to actually write something meaningful and worth reading. I am looking forward to it.

Beach Day

we took some students to the beach on labor day and enjoyed the cloudy skies, wind blowing sand into our mouths, droplets of rain, and a great time with each other. And we stopped at rita's, and incredible custard and icee shop. love it. thanks brittnet and sam for taking pics!

this lovely women with me is Sam, a freshman from Jacksonville. She has been hanging out with us and I cannot wait to get to know this lady better.

we were scrambling to take the pic and pack up because it had started to rain. but what a fun crew.

a bit of teten heaven

Night of Pamela Glory

we had such a fun time out in Denver with some amazing women and a special Pamela. It was refreshing to be with so many great women but most of all we loved being with Pamela on a night so close to her wedding day. We love honoring her and David by celebrating her greatness.on the way down to Denver from Fort Collins. oh the traffic of 1-25, gotta love it. thanks for driving shanyn.

backseat babes.

dinner at Maggianos, little italy did it right.

we enjoyed going out. our first stop was of course the purple martini. it is the only place to go for a night of pure fun and dance.

then we went to Pats for some more movemaking.

And Pamela showed us some of her special moves on a nearby pole. thanks Pamela! She knows how to move. ha. thanks women for helping us celebrate the new mrs. teten.

back in titletown

wow, I feel silly that I have not blogged. I think when I do not have fun pics to share I make excuses for not sharing at all. but the real news is that we are home. we have been living the past three months in fort collins with my lovely sister and her gracious husband. thanks hofmanns. despite their great home and wonderful guest bed we are delighted and refreshed to be in gainesville. by refreshed I mean that our souls are alive, our bodies happen to be stinky in the swealtering heat.
we spent our last days in colorado celebrating our great friends and family members David and Pamela, the newest Teten family. we had an incredible time with them and all the people that came to support their wedded union. we love Dave and Pammie. thanks for getting married.
so here we are in gainesville, and I am wearily sitting on our couch trying to stay cool. we spent our day helping freshman move into their dorms on campus. and I had the privilege of seeing two of my favorite gator girls also, Brittney and Nikki. somehow they got even cuter and greater over the summer. I cannot wait to dive into life again with some women who make my life here so vibrant. I also cannot wait to share some stories of our adventures here in the gator nation, year II.

Missing Florida and Friends!

July 4th

Let Freedom Ring!
if you look close, you can see John jumping off the cliff. He has argyle swim shorts on.

Fourth of July sprinkler fun!

Tour De Corn, a midwest travel (first edition)

Oh the Midwest . . . John and I braved the corn and the rain for a trip to see some of my family and our friends that live along the way. Our prayer this summer is to add financial partners to our ministry in Florida. Going out to share our vision was fun and we are looking forward to more opportunities to travel and share.

We had to stop and see Rush. They really age well those men. We had both been there before as little children. But it was fun to see as a family.

John is thinking of running for president? What do you think?

He has that stoic good lookin' man with great hair face.

Really, he has no problem with Abe.

It seems like we have not matured much since the last time we visited this national monument.

Maybe next time.

Tour De Corn, a midwest travel (second edition)

My husband and I really enjoyed our time in South Dakota, Iowa, and Nebraska. We tried to fall into tourist traps, but we only succeeded in the free or cheap traps. We took a brief little jaunt through Wall Drug. It is a small town that used to have one shop called Wall Drug. A store with your typical drug store finds. But it became pretty popular and so other stores copied the idea and started selling more and more souvenier treasures. Today it is a street long store, shop after shop is connected to each other. Naturally John tried on a cowboy hat and holster. And naturally he looked a bit goofy and sexy at the same time.
It seems goes well with the basketball shorts and new balance tennis shoes.

John tends to have a desperado smoldery yet lone on the range look right.

A famous treat at Wall Drug is 5 cent coffee. I am not sure what I expected, but brown watery mud floavor is not what I had imagined.

We stopped for a little stretch break and found a little haven next to the Missouri River. A relaxing and memorable little moment.

And we had the privilege of seeing the home in which my mom became a baby. She grew up in this house in Brandon, South Dakota before they moved to Minnesota. A cute little home for sure. I can see a baby momma running around in the front yard.

For he's a Johnner good fellow

I know we already celebrated John's birthday blogger style. But there are some great pics to share. For starters we will see Mr. Teten's handcrafted sign for John's special day in Colorado Springs.

What a big boy

He schooled his brothers and sisters in a game of "everyman for himself"

We were able to celebrate in Fort Collins a couple of days later. My Dad shares the same birthday as John. The guys made a makeshift putting green in our backyard.

And my beautiful cousins entertaining me!

Man these girls love their cousin John. They drew him pictures for his birthday. Thanks Katelyn and Averi.