Glory to God

God has certainly blessed us this week!

Our parents arrived safely in Chicago Friday afternoon and showered us with gifts of food and love! Mom and Dad McLellan brought us giant bags full of fresh honeycrisp apples from the Nystrom's orchard. Mom and Dad Johnson brought us a gallon of fresh picked raspberries. Not to mention the moms baked for us and bought us more food! The guys went to the Gopher/Northwestern football game Saturday, while the gals walked around town and did a little shopping. (The Gophers won - yea!) After we all crashed on the couch for a nap, we spent the evening downtown. We went to the top of the John Hancock building and ate some awesome food at Portillo's. We were sad to see our parents leave on Sunday morning, but know we will get to see them again soon. We are so thankful for them and blessed by them.

Micah will be going to Israel in 2 weeks! Yep, that's right - he'll be out of the country before you know it! He emailed the tour company that arranges trips to Israel through That the World May Know Ministries to see about going to Israel in the next few years. They directed him to the ministry directly and they passed on his inquiry directly to Ray Vander Laan. Soon, Ray emailed Micah directly about going to Israel with him. He remembered Micah from the trip to Turkey Micah took with Ray in 2003. Someone had backed out of an October trip to Israel and Ray offered Micah that spot. Micah initially turned the opportunity down thinking he had school. Ray put Micah on a waiting list of 250 people that were waiting to go with him to Israel in THREE YEARS! Micah then realized he had school off one of the two weeks of the trip. Micah decided to pursue Israel and got Ray's okay to have time to get permission from work and school. Micah's professors and work encouraged him full-heartedly to go to Israel. On top of that Micah got a scholarship that pays for 2/3 of the trip! We're pretty confident that God orchestrated all of this - what an amazing God we have that takes care of all the details! He has provided Micah with a wonderful, life changing opportunity to see the places Jesus walked and see the bible come to life!

Lauren has gotten a lot of leads job-wise this week as well. She was offered an interview this Monday, but later turned it down as it involved and hour and a half commute. But, the woman offering the job instilled Lauren with confidence about finding a job. Lauren has an interview on Thursday for being a tutor and got a call today about setting up an interview to be a teacher at a childcare center. Lauren would really like to be blessed with the teaching job at the childcare center, but knows God is working in her and Micah's life and has something good in store.

Love,

M&L

Greek Exam Over! Fun this coming weekend!

Greetings friends! Micah here! I JUST finished my Greek exam (I'm still in class actually as I write this)! Thank you so much for your prayers! I think it went pretty well - though I'm pretty sure I got at least one question wrong (woops)!

Aside from that - school work is heavy but manageable (as long as Lauren keeps me on task)!

Our parents are all coming down this weekend to hang out! We're super excited! The guys will hit up the Northwestern/Gopher game this weekend to see the Gophers play some winning, Minnesota action! Take that Northwestern!

God is really good! This coming Friday night Micah will have the opportunity to spend some time in Boystown, a GBLT community. He will be there with several other Moody students and staff, listening, befriending, and sharing the love of Christ! Please keep this team in your prayers!
On another note, Micah's laptop is crashing left and right, and the battery no longer charges. We don't have money for a new netbook, but we are praying that God will provide someday (maybe cheap on Black Friday?!) :)

Love always!
-M&L

Fabulous Sunday!

Micah has been a good student and spends most of his time in books and completing assignments. Thankfully, he is loving what he is learning and has wonderful professors. Please pray for his big Greek exam on Wednesday!

This Sunday we checked out a church recommended to Lauren by a friend from Moody's Student Wives Fellowship - Ruth. After church we had brunch at an amazing Turkish Crepe restaurant with Ruth, her husband Jesse (who both attend Moody) and their new friends Michael (also a Moody student) and his wife Brittany. It was a great time of fellowship and fun, and we look forward to meeting up with our new friends next Sunday again.
Sunday night we attended a hymn sing at Dr. Fuder's home. One of Micah's professors opened his home to Moody students for a night of hymn singing. About 25 people or more gathered together to praise God and sing some oldies but goodies! We even had two guitarists, a violinist, and two drummers that joined in.

Lauren has been applying to jobs left and right, but has only gotten one phone call about a job - and it turned out they didn't have openings in the Chicago area at this time. But, she still manages to apply to about 5 jobs every day and knows the Lord has something in store for her. She appreciates all your prayers!

A pleasant weekend

Hey all!
Micah here! Well it's been a crazy (but in a good way) week! I have been super busy with school, work, homework, learning, cramming information into my brain, transferring it to my heart, and learning how to apply it through my life and actions! Woah! This weekend has finally settled down a bit, and now Lauren and I can spend some quality time together (while I still find time to do a bunch of homework and studying)!
Lauren is doing well! She is still on the job hunt (prayer is needed), but she is enjoying her amazing culinary skills and putting them to action every day, (and I enjoy reaping the benefits of that)! She is part of the Student Wives Fellowship group at Moody that meets every Thursday evening (the same time I have class)! So it works out really well!
I have a big Greek exam on Wednesday evening, so please pray for me as I study! Several papers and projects are due as well this next week! But God is good and faithful and through our trust in Him we will find the time to accomplish what we must to be fruitful and alive for Jesus!

Warm blessings!
M&L

Long time no post!

Sorry to those waiting to read an update on the blog - just haven't gotten around to writing.

Last weekend was so much fun getting to see family. On Friday we hung out with the McLellan clan - we had a great time at the Olive Garden celebrating Grandpa Mc's birthday. On Saturday we met up with Lauren's parents and Danielle. We went to the Como Zoo, ate at Annie's Parlor, and checked out the new Gopher stadium. After church on Sunday we had fun with Micah's cousins at the MN state fair! We all got a fan of Joe Mauer's face and took the traditional calendar photo with each of us holding a fan. Micah ate Joe's head while Lauren picked Joe's nose.



We were sad to leave home, but look forward to our next trip to MN.

This week was pretty chill - Micah attending class and doing homework, Lauren waiting to hear back about her interview and trying to find things to keep her busy.

This weekend we went on a retreat up by Lake Geneva. It is required for Moody Graduate students most semesters and students are encouraged to bring their families. It was great getting to know some other Moody students and their spouses. Micah was glad to have some time to relax since he's been so busy with school work and work work.

GOOD NEWS! (Jesus is coming soon!)

Lauren and Micah were blessed, surprised, and ecstatic to get a call from Mom McLellan today to tell them she and Dad McLellan were flying us home for labor day weekend! Thanks guys! We love you! That's right folks, we'll be in good ole MN this weekend. Which means we get to see family and friends AND go to the STATE FAIR!

Also, Lauren got a call from a nanny agency saying they found a family that wants to interview her. The interview is already tomorrow (Wednesday) at 6pm. She'd be taking care of a 5 mo. old baby girl and getting paid quite well to do it. Please be praying that the interview would go well and that it would be a good fit for Lauren and the family.

The only "bummer" part of the day (if you can even define it as such): Micah came home happily after a hard day's work to tell Lauren he had dinner plans all figured out. A restaurant down the street was giving out free gyros!!! When we got to Mangi's (the restaurant) they were out of gyros! Not so bad in the scheme of things, but we're determined to get those free gyros someday!