Snowboarding back home

Back home for Christmas means Snowboarding. The only thing back in northeast iowa they had like 2 feet of snow. Which usually is a good thing but this snow was deep. So we had to create a few paths and build a kicker. Which took a hour to do. But after that was done Lindsey and I had a lot of fun.

I wanted to do some jibbing on a rail, so I had to trudge through the deep snow to get some plastic culverts that we had on the farm.

Turns out they make decent Rails.

Year in Review

Our life

First off...HI! I thought I would make a list of things that have happened for us in the past year.

1. First year of marriage was fun learning experience and were ready for more.

2. Mitch's team got second place in the summer softball league

3. Lindsey Graduated College!!! She is now free.

4. We have been having a fun time decorating our deck.

5. Mitch took part in Barton Boot camp for two months. Lost 9 pounds and went from 12% body fat to 6%.

6. Became the Ballard Regional Youth Minister

7. Went to Minneapolis for our one year anniversary.

8. Have two squirrels that live on our deck this winter that eats al of our bird seed and ears of corn.

9. Lindsey had a men's Jacket in the Iowa St Fashion Show.

10. Mitch meet his goal of reading through 20 books in a year.

11. Decorating the apt has been a fun hobby

12. Went on a mission trip to Minneapolis with our high school youth group

13. Went to a Cubs game in April with my mom. The game was in Milwaukee. Cubs won.

14. Looking forward to 2011

15. So thankful for God's mercies every morning.

Tu Tu

Lindsey made a tu tu and crown for Lexi for Christmas. This is her sporting her new outfit.

Winter Fun at the Farm

New Bird Feeder

With the squirrel always eating the bird seed in the one bird feeder we have, I decided to make a bird feeder just for the birds. Here is the new bird feeder I made.

Sing a ma Jig says my name

Ginger Bread House Making Contest

Run, run as fast as you can. It just wouldn't be the holidays without the Gingerbread Man! Or Gingerbread Houses'. At our Ballard High School Small group we had Gingerbread house making contest. It was a messy blast. As we split into team I know I had an advantage having Casey in my group being that he is an engineer. Structural integrity Check. Sawyer was in charge of the story behind the house and Landon and I were the creative builders. As you can see our house was sweet. Literally.

Ron Santo

I am so saddened to hear of Ron Santo's passing. He was an Icon for every die-hard Cubs fan. My Dad was a die-hard Cubs fan as I have been now for many years. My Greatest memory was watching Cubs games with my dad only to have him mute the TV to listen to Ron Santo on the radio. Ron is #1 in MY Baseball Hall of Fame!!

Ron Santo played 15 Major League seasons. A star third baseman and part of the Cubs teams of the 1960s with Hall of Famers Ernie Banks and Billy Williams and Fergie Jenkins, many believe Santo should be in the Hall himself. And he played all of those games as a Type 1 diabetic. Santo was diagnosed at age 18 but didn't reveal his condition to teammates for years. Then he became a heartfelt broadcaster who couldn't help cheering his team from the radio booth for 21 more years. We will miss you Ron. #10

Return of the Squirrel

Our pet Squirrel is back and hungrier than ever. We have our ear of Corn that you have on our deck and we recently added a bird feeder box, which has turned into the Squirrel feeder box. Because the Squirrels are bullies and scare the birds away. But we have named our furry friend Gordy.

Lindsey & I are Models

Lindsey & I were asked to be models for this painting this guys was going to do. But first he wanted pictures to be taken of us. So here they are. The photos were taken by Libby Asay.

Decorated for Christmas

Old door that we found on our property. We will use this for decorations somehow. But I really liked this picture that my mom took. So I edited it a little bit.

Pictures that I took from my farm back in northeast Iowa.

Lindsey and I have a new pet. We have yet to name our furry friend. So if you have any ideas let us know. But as you can see from the video, we have a new squirrel friend. The last time I went back to North East Iowa to the Farm I brought back a couple of ears of corn. We placed them on our deck, and within a couple of days some squirrels have been eating them. But the one squirrel looks as though he needs to watch his calories and work out. Cause he is Fat.

Yesterday our furry friend got greedy. He was eating away when he decided to grab the corn, knock it off our deck onto the ground, and then tried carrying it way into the woods. Watching this take place I took action and ran after the thief to get our corn back. I scared him enough to drop the corn. I placed it back in it rightful place on our deck. But the thief came back today to steal the corn for good. So a question comes to mind. Do I enjoy playing with this squirrel or do I exterminate him. Check back for the rest of the story because I'm sure this story is not over.

Radical By David Platt

I bought a new book called Radical by David Platt. It focuses on how Christianity in America has become so watered down that we are spending less time letting God work through us to impact the nation and world for Jesus Christ and spending more time pursuing the American Dream. Indeed, as a Christian, I have admittingly spent much time pursuing the "American Dream" and finding out the dream turned into a nightmare - living to make enough money to buy a good house, having a family, making a decent income, having good health, etc. is NOT the ultimate goal of an American Christian. Glorifying God is to be our main purpose. Here are some quotes from the book that I thought were sweet.

"As long as you and I understand salvation as checking off a box to get to God, we will find ourselves in the meaningless sea of world religions that actually condemn the human race by exalting our supposed ability to get to God. On the other hand, when you and I realize that we are morally evil, dead in sin and deserving of God's wrath with no way out on our own, we begin to discover our desperation for Christ."

"The modern-day gospel says, 'God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. Therefore, follow these steps, and you can be saved.' Meanwhile, the biblical gospel says, 'You are an enemy of God, dead in your sin, & in your present state of rebellion, you are not even able to see that you need life, much less to cause yourself to come to life. Therefore, you are radically dependent on God to do something in your life that you could never do."

“This is where we come face to face with a dangerous reality. We do have to give up everything to follow Jesus. We do have to love Him in a way that makes our closest relationships in this world look like hate. And it is entirely possible that He will tell us to sell everything we have and give it to the poor. . . . We rationalize these passages away. . . And this is where we need to pause. Because we are starting to redefine Christianity. . . We are molding Jesus into our image. He is beginning to look a lot like us. . . And the danger now is that when we gather in our church buildings to sing and lift up our hands in worship, we may not actually be worshiping the Jesus of the Bible. Instead we may be worshiping ourselves.“

“God beckons storm clouds, and they come. He tells the wind to blow and the rain to fall, and they obey immediately. He speaks to the mountains, ‘You go there,’ and he says to the seas, ‘You stop here,’ and they do it. Everything in all creation responds in obedience to the Creator…until we get to you and me. We have the audacity to look God in the face and say, ‘No.’“

I see over the horizon a light beginning to show and I know the Master is on His way. I want to be found doing His work on my last day here. I can't wait to resume this journey now as a RADICAL.

Lone Survivor

I've been reading this amazing book called Lone Survivor. Its about a four-man Navy SEAL team consisting of Lt. Michael Murphy, and petty officers Danny Dietz, Matthew Axelson and Marcus Luttrell. They departed for a reconnaissance mission high in the Hindu Kush Mountains near the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. The team’s target was Ahmad Shah, a local terrorist leader with close ties to Bin Laden who led a group of insurgents referred to as the “Mountain Tigers”. Five days after insertion, Luttrell was the only SEAL to make it out alive. This book takes you inside the Navy SEALs training program in Coronado. You are with Marcus Luttrell throughout BUD/S and Hell Week. You fly with him and his teammates in a C-130 to the Hindu Kush, where the hunt begins for bin Laden's right-hand man. But then it all goes terribly wrong, up there in the mountains of Afghanistan. The battle sequence in Afghanistan and its aftermath is incredibly intense . The best screen writer in Hollywood couldn't have dreamt up something more intense, moving, and awe inspiring.

Reading this fills one with humility and gratitude for the sacrifice that all the members of our armed services make on our behalf, but especially for the men of the SEAL teams. All I can say is that I am very glad they are on our side.

Ballard Rocks

I've been working with the high school ministry for Cornerstone Church now for 3 years, and things keep getting better. God is using me in some sweet ways. What I do has changed from being the freshman group intern to a Regional Youth Minister for Ballard. These students are amazing. At the last escape we had 35 students from Ballard at it, and we brought 48 students to the Road Rally. What is the road rally you ask. It was an hour and half event with a BBQ that had the students get in teams of 4 (plus a leader) drive all a round the area doing challenges to earn points. Team with the most points won a all expense paid ski trip. The winning team was a team from Ballard. We kicked some butt.

Lindsey's Fashion Design

New dresses Lindsey's made.

Brieana, (on the left) a girl in Lindsey's small group is also wearing a dress Lindsey made.

The other dress Lindsey made at her internship.

Homemade Donuts

Crispy Cream Who? Yeah I know. Crispy Cream isn't as big anymore, but they inspired Lindsey and I to make some donuts. Rolling out freshly risen dough as the deep fat frier of oil heats. There's something magical about the doughnut.

This summer I had the privilege of playing Softball with a bunch of great guys. Every Thursday night we played two games verse the best Church Softball teams in the area, or the only ones to sign up. Great fellowship, Great friendship and Great Softball. We ended up finishing second in the league. When the tournament started we were the 2 seed. We lost our second game and played back to the championship game by not losing another game. So we played in the ship. and Lost. It was still a blast. And mark my words. NEXT YEAR IS THE YEAR. I know I'm a Cubs fan but we have a way better team then the Cubs do. Cornerstone Softball Team

Birthday & 4th of July

For my birthday we headed back to good ol Northeast Iowa. We had fun getting away from all of society, and spending time in what Lindsey calls her oasis. Growing up I never liked living on a farm. It was to far away from town, and it seemed like there was nothing to do. Now after living in town for the past 3 to 4 years. I appreciate the farm so much more. I love going up to get away and doing things that I could never do in town. As you can see from the pictures we got the gun out for some target practice. Along with shooting the gun we rode the 4 Wheeler, and went down to my campground for a grill out. It was a great birthday and 4th of July weekend.



Lindsey helping my mom garden.

Pictures that my mom took around our farm that I edited.

Proverbs

Lindsey and I have been reading through the Proverbs together. Proverbs goal is to describe and instill “wisdom” in God's people, a wisdom that is founded in the “fear of the Lord” and that works out covenant life in the practical details of everyday situations and relationships. And boy has it showed me how unwise I am. These simple truths over and over have challenged me in small but significant ways. Here are some sweet verses that have caught my attention so far.

Proverbs 1:7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of Knowledge but fools despise wisdom and discipline.

Proverbs 2:3-6 and if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. For the Lord gives wisdom and from his mouth comes knowledge and understanding.

Proverbs 10:17 He who heeds discipline shows the way to life, but whoever ignores correction leads others astray.

Proverbs 10:21 The lips of the righteous nourish many, but fools die for lack of judgement.

Proverbs 10:7 the memory of the righteous will be a blessing.

Proverbs 12:1 Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates correction is stupid.

Proverbs 12:25 An anxious heart weights a man down, but a kind word cheers him up.

Proverbs 13:10 Pride only breeds quarrels, but wisdom is found in those who take advise.

One Year Anniversary

June 20th was our one year anniversary. We took a trip to Minneapolis. It was short but needed. It's crazy that it's been a year already. The weekend allowed us to take a look back out our first year of marriage, review our vows and watch the video of our wedding. For me it let me see the areas I need to get better at, but at the same time allowed me to fall deeper in love with Lindsey. I have fallen short of being a great husband, but it has allowed Gods grace to bring us closer together because of our failures. Lindsey is my treasure. I cherish everything about her. Everything she is helps to make me a better man. I rejoice and delight in her, I praise God for our love and for the gift I have in having her as my partner in making Christ Known. She has helped me understand Christ’s love for the Church and I draw closer to Gods heart as I draw closer to her. My love (Lindsey) I am yours, and I will lay down my life for you for the rest of my days.

New addition to our deck: We bought a Lantern at Ikea (the greatest place on earth for home decor) to hang on our deck. This will bring light for us to entertain guests. So come over and hang with us. We also got a shelf at Ikea which surprisingly opened our apartment up. Who knew that adding something to our apartment could create more room. Who knew.

Made from tea dyed Merino Wool. Felted Moccasins.

Antiqued Linen Dress

More of Lindsey's designed clothes and accessories.

Men's Jacket that was in the Iowa St Fashion Show

Flower Skirt

Bob Marley Said he shot the Sherif. Well Lindsey Shot the beer can. Lindsey and I traveled back to Northeast Iowa for Mamorial day weekend. It also was Sam's Graduation Party. We had a wonderful weekend filled with 4 Wheeler Rides, Water Fights, shooting guns, playing guitar, campfire, Sam killing a ground mole by stomping on its head, and time with family.

Lindsey's Fashion Design

Finished Product

What the shirt started as.