Army, Half-Marathon, & a New Apartment

Two weekends ago Micah had his first weekend training with the Army. On Saturday, he did a physical training test (push-ups, sit-ups, and running) and watched some training videos. On Sunday he helped Chaplain Jenkins (his Chaplain mentor) run a service for the reservists who were also training. There was a great turnout and it was an awesome opportunity for Micah to get involved right away in the duties of a chaplain.

Last weekend, Micah visited MN to run the Get in Gear half-marathon. He ran the half-marathon with his dad, sister Ariel, and part of it with his bro-in-law Charles who did the 10k. Micah (who hadn't really done any running/training since last year's half-marathon) finished the run 10 minutes sooner than last year.

While in MN, Micah also visited his dad's childhood neighbor/family friend Evelyn Gullickson who is almost 107 years old. She doesn't hear so well anymore, but paddles her feet to move her wheelchair and is as sharp as a tack. Her mind is clear and memory sound - she's a joy to visit. She's been through so much of history and has so many great stories to share.
(Pictures to come)

In other news...
While we love living in the Wrigleyville neighborhood in our spacious studio, we want to be paying less rent. We're trying to pay for Micah's school and save up for buying a house in a few years. So, we're trading in our neighborhood and space for living simpler. (That's a positive way of saying we're downsizing our apartment by half :) ) It's like living in a dorm all over again, haha! But we will be living in a Christian community and paying half the rent we currently pay. We will be living at the Franson-Risberg Memorial Mission Home - http://fransonrisberg.org/.

According to their website Franson-Risberg "is a non-profit corporation started in 1966 by a group of Christian laymen as a place where missionaries could find low cost housing while on furlough. We still maintain their vision by providing temporary housing for furloughing missionaries, full-time Christian workers, and students training for full-time Christian service, especially those going into missions."

We will be able to keep our place on the waiting list for a 1 bedroom apartment since we'd prefer to not live in a studio.

This will definitely be a lesson in learning to get rid of material possessions and deciding what's really necessary. Goodbye box of trinkets I never use! Praise God that He's shown us there is peace in owning less stuff and living simpler.

It's April...

and the month is already half over and we haven't blogged since March! Life is busy as always. Our school and work lives are the same - Micah enjoys work and school, but always has homework to do. Lauren enjoys her job but her classroom has gone through a change in numbers - babies left but now the classroom is full again.

We thought we'd purchased bus tickets for Easter, but an hour before the bus left, we realized that hadn't happened. The drive to Minnesota was relatively enjoyable though. :) We went home for Easter and spent most of our time with Micah's family.

We stopped at Lauren's grandparents' to say hi and see her family for a few hours. At Micah's parent's house, Micah's dad did a pinning ceremony and we celebrated Easter with Micah's dad's side of the family. We had fun spending time with our friends Jon & Katie and Micah's siblings.

On Easter, we went to Meadow Creek Church and had lunch at Sue and Norm's home (Micah's aunt and uncle). We had delicious food, participated in a fun egg hunt, and enjoyed spending time with family.

Micah has been doing a lot with the Army - this weekend was his first official training. He'll have lots to write about this weekend on the blog soon.

Micah will be done with school in about a month and is looking forward to the summer. Please pray that he will be diligent in his school work and finish the semester strong.

Blessings,
M&L