A photo update......mostly

OK....so I know it's been awhile!! The last few months have just been one big roller coaster ride. Some days are great and some days are unbelievably hard. I have tried to sit down and blog and I sometimes find myself feeling unusually negative. I am all for authenticity but I don't want to put an overly negative spin on a journey that has had so many amazing and blessed things about it.  The bottom line is that transition is hard...and it is harder for some of us than others.  I am a person who thrives in structured environments but fights it tooth and nail.  Right now in our lives, we can only establish a "semi-routine."  Between my random temp work and Bryan's school work, it's hard to predict what each week will look like.  Not only is this really hard on the kids (who need and crave structure), it's hard on Bryan and I.  It's hard to establish our roles and expectations because it's never the same.  Nonetheless, we are learning to live in the limbo!  As I've said before, the community here is amazing and the friendships that I've already formed are what has gotten me through the tough moments!

Bryan has made it through his first quarter of seminary as of this Friday at noon!!  He is then off until January 11th!!  WooHoo!!  He's worked very hard and done well in his classes.  I have been temping pretty regularly the last few weeks and I am working again next week at this cool place called Nexstar Network.  The environment is very encouraging and positive.  They strive for excellence in all they do and expect nothing less of their employees but they also know when to give grace out too.  Anyway, I am loving it there and hope to stay for awhile.  I have had one job interview with our church.  It is for a Campus Gifts Pastor position.  I am waiting to hear back from them....hopefully soon.  Spiritual Gifts are a huge passion of mine along with helping people find out how they are wired up by God......but we'll have to see what He has planned for me while up north!?!

Noah and Taylor are doing well.  Noah is staying busy with preschool 3 days a week.  There are a lot of friends around the seminary housing to play with... and him and Taylor even like to hang out some of the time.....although I am pretty convinced that the term "love-hate relationship" must have been based after how siblings get along!  Noah is into Star Wars and playing on the Lego website right now.  He is still crazy about his guitar and drums......and will play his drumsticks on pretty much anything he can find.  Noah's gift to make me smile even when I am grumpy comes in handy....as does his contagious laugh!  Taylor is growing up so fast.  She is talking like crazy now and her silly little personality is just too cute!!  She is completely obsessed with all things Dora and is huge into dressing up like a princess also.  Just last week, she started potty training herself which I find very handy!!  Both kids have been through a lot since our arrival in August and I am proud of the fact that we are all learning to be a team and stick together even when things are hard.  Man I love those two little kiddos!!

Bryan and I were blessed with 10 days to ourselves just before Thanksgiving!  My parents came to visit and took the kids back to MO with them.  Although it was hard to be away from them for so long, it was a much needed respite for both of us and besides......the kids had a blast hanging out with all 4 grandparents!!  Bryan and I headed home the day before Thanksgiving. It was a bit of a crazy trip but after we made it through 3 huge traffic delays and locking our keys in the car in Des Moines, we finally made it!  We had a great visit with friends and family and are looking forward to being back for Christmas!

As I have said a million times....this is the hardest and best thing that I have ever been through.  If I had known before we started this journey how hard it was going to be, I don't know if Bryan would have ever gotten me here but since I am.......I can't imagine being anywhere else and I genuinely thank God often for this calling!!  Sounds crazy, huh??

Here are some pics that I wanted to share from the last few months...

Taylor and I visited CoMo Zoo & Conservatory

It's about 10 minutes from us and it's free!

I took this fall photo between our 2 fall snows

and this one...

and this one...

and this one...

(I stole this idea from my neighbor Kara..hehe)

Giant Taylor...haha

This is in front of the playground by our building.  

It's my one of favorite spots to photograph!

Bed head, pearls and Doritos makes for one crazy

Taylor picture!

Noah with our neighbor Bethany that just lives right down

our hall...she had a little crush on him at first and 

called him "Noni"...too cute!!

Fall Fun!

Fall Fest at the Seminary Village

You are supposed to eat the donut without using your hands.

Taylor just went for it !!

Noah gave it shot with a little help from Cassie

Then it was the guys' turn

A shot of almost all the kids that live here

Bryan and Noah found this for $2.50 at one of our local thrift stores!!

He also found the training wheels (that he sanded and painted).

Total cost was like $10!!

I walked in one night to check on Noah in his bath and

this is what I saw!!  haha

Halloween

In a hurry to eat sugar and in a hurry to get to the 

next stop!  This picture makes me smile every time.  : )

not even sure what to say...

Luckily....she didn't really get the idea and only got 

a little bit out!!

Our post sugar-eating festivities

Fall program for Noah's preschool.....so cute!!

Check out those moves!

Some friends of ours do these things called Silly Suppers to 

celebrate with their kids.  So we headed out to Wendy's and ate

ice cream with our supper to celebrate all the good choices that 

Noah and Taylor had made that day!

They both loved dipping their fries in their ice cream....yuck!

If you visit us, there is a high likelihood that you will be doing some

manual dish labor! (since we have no dishwasher)

Even if you are my mom!  : )

awwww

(Taylor and my dad)

precious  : )

This one makes me teary eyed because it reminds

me of a picture that I have of me and my Grandpa Fuemmeler

that passed away last year...but I'm so happy to have captured this moment!

Check out the cool design Bryan made on Noah's 

wall with all of our old CDs

Conservatory near our house....sunken garden room is

absolutely amazing!

How can something so innocent looking be so bad?

note the statue

he's hiding..

Aunt Barb's Mississippi Mud Pie is always a HUGE hit!

See what I mean?

Cousins hanging out at the kid table

Noah got to open one present early.....boy was he excited!!

This was the first time I convinced Taylor to wear tights...

I'd been battling her for a couple of months!

Some of the Kunkel cousins

Hang On!

Driving the spaceship together

The kids had an absolute blast decorating our 

Christmas Tree....it was so fun to watch them!

Noah all hopped up on Candy Canes!

Here's mine!

Have You Ever?

Here's a good one for ya! You have my permission to laugh at my expense.
: ) Before the funny part....you'll need a little background.

Last week we enrolled in the Women, Infants & Children (WIC) program. WIC is a program for low-income women that are pregnant or have children under 5. It provides key nutritional items for free such as milk, bread, cheese, oatmeal, etc. OK.....now similar to many people, I have never exactly pictured myself on government assistance. Programs like WIC, Medicaid and Food Stamps were created for those in similar situations such as ours; people that are trying to better themselves and give back to society but have to live on a lower income in the mean time. However, because of the vast numbers of people on government programs who seem to be perfectly content with never getting off the programs, there has developed a certain way that the general public thinks and feels about those on the programs. (At least that is my experience and what I have been guilty of in the past). When Bryan and I visited Talbot last year in CA, we spoke with some seminarians who shared with us that they and many of their fellow students where on WIC, Food Stamps and MediCal (Medicaid for CA). When I first heard that, I have to admit, I was quite taken aback. I had not realized that going to seminary often meant living on such a low income. Bryan was also a surprised. Over the next several months as we processed our move and expected financial situation, we began to be more accepting of being on some government assistance if need be. Initially our plan upon moving here was for me to work full time to provide insurance and money to live on. As time has passed over the last 2 1/2 months, I've been unable to find a job and we've agreed that for me to work more than part time right now would be too strenuous on our family since we have also learned that seminary is much like a full time job schedule-wise. OK.......so all that to say that we decided to go ahead and enroll in WIC last week. Although I was feeling thankful for the benefits of the program, I was still feeling kinda weirded out about going to the appointment to sign up. They did a quick physical and hemoglobin check on each child. Yep.......that meant a finger stick so mama could get her free groceries! That was kind of a weird feeling......not sure which face I'd point to on the feelings chart for that? The WIC program works on a coupon system. They give you several coupons for free food for each child along with a detailed list of what food qualifies. You then have to take the coupons to the store with you along with your WIC packet (a trifolded card with info and my signature on it) and use all of that when the cashier processes your items. OK......you've got the background.

For my first trip using the coupons, I decided that a night trip would be best so that it wouldn't be busy at the store and hopefully I could get quickly through the line and be on my way. I was feeling a bit nervous and a bit some-other-unidentified-feeling…….embarrassment perhaps? Even though I knew why I was getting free food and felt fine with it, I was not really excited about feeling the judgment of others when I handed over my coupon and WIC packet. When I finished gathering the groceries I went to pay. I had taken special care to triple check that the items I chose exactly matched the specifications on my information. There was only one line open and it was pretty long. The cashier was an older lady. They opened a second line and since it cleared up, I headed over there. I carefully laid all of my WIC items on the belt separate from my regular groceries just as I had been told to. I walked up and handed my coupons to the young male cashier and said “I am using WIC and this is my first time.” Guess what? It was his first time too! Yay! (that was sarcasm) Since he didn’t know what he was doing, he called for a supervisor. As we were waiting for help, the line behind me grew and the line next to me was also getting quite long. The supervisor called the cashier next to me (the lady) to see what my cashier needed…….therefore making it necessary that he say in a raised voice across the lanes “she is using WIC coupons and I don’t know how to do that.” Yay! (I say again with the sarcasm) At this point, I started to feel the stares. Trying to be helpful (and assuming it would be easy to teach him…..I guess) the cashier from the lane next to me decided she would help him instead of having the supervisor come up. So then I was holding up two long lines of shoppers instead of one. My cashier had tried to start without help and done it wrong so first she had to void out the several items he’d rung through and then start again. It turns out they have to ring up each coupon separately which requires my signature and receipt printing each time. When we finally got to the third out of four coupons, I was told that I had picked an incorrect type of juice (although it matched exactly what was listed). Luckily, she said I could switch it out afterwards. The whole process took close to 8 or 10 minutes……which is close to an eternity when you are holding up two lanes of people while you get free groceries. As I stood there slightly uncomfortable and embarrassed, I couldn’t keep from smiling. I could almost hear God saying to me “Ummm…Kelly…….yeah, so we are going with full humility for with this WIC experience tonight.” When I finally got done and bagged up my groceries, I decided I was fine with heading out with my “incorrect juice” since she’d already recorded me as taking two……I really just wanted to get out of the store. As I drove home, I couldn’t keep from laughing in my van as I contemplated the irony of how my perfectly planned “discrete WIC trip” turned out to be exactly the opposite. I’m not sure it’s very often that we get to experience God’s sense of humor but since we are created in His image, He is sure to have one! I experienced that on Saturday night along with a strong dose of humility. In all honesty, if God would like to teach me more things via being funny, I say bring it on!!

To conclude, I am pretty sure that I will never again judge anyone in a grocery line paying with WIC coupons or food stamps. I am pretty darn excited about my free food and will cherish and remember this pride lesson always!! Hope it made you laugh too!!

It's Apple Pickin' Time!

On Saturday I joined a few other women from the Seminary (some wives and some students) on a trip to the Apton Apple Orchard in Hastings, MN (about 40 minutes east of us on the Wisconsin border).  We had a nice time getting to visit with each other, picking apples and having apple treats!  When I got back I told Bryan and the kids about it and they really wanted to check it out.  On Sunday, after church, we headed to the same orchard.  The weather was sunny and just the right temperature for most of the time.  When you first arrive, you can sample each type of apple they have available and also many apple and pumpkin products such as apple salsa and pumpkin butter.  The kids played on the huge playground and got their faces painted.  We got to taste freshly squeezed cider and eat some apple treats.  (ok, well....Taylor had a hot dog and Noah had a pumpkin donut but Bry and I had an apple fritter).  Next we hopped on the hayride to get to the orchards.  We hopped off first at a huge pumpkin patch where the kids loved exploring.  They also apparently loved running and tripping on the vines.....they each did it several times. : ) After each kid picked out their special pumpkin, we hopped back on the hayride.  The orchard had several types of apples to pick but we chose the "Sweet 16" which was the kind I'd had the day before (as reccomended by my friend Rebecca).  We had fun picking a couple of bags and are planning to make a homemade apple pie.  (oh yeah.....anyone have an apple-corer-peeler-slicer??  haha).  After we picked and walked around for awhile, we hopped back on the hayride and headed back to pay.   We all really enjoyed our first time apple pickin' experience and will be looking forward to going back next fall!  OK.....so now I'm going to go eat an apple......all of this apple talk has made me hungry!!

Kelly, Rebecca, Kara

(aka the ladies of the 1st floor)

 Me and my Sweet 16 (yummy!)

 Kara...picking and posing

 OK....so we did not bring bags with us so we had to

stash them in random places while picking

until we got back to the pay place.....

 I still call it Soda.....for now.

 Our group

(Cicelia, me, Nikki, Rebecca, Kara, Wyatt, Maddie)

 The bumpy roller slide was a big hit!

Taylor got a flower on her face.

 Tay

 

Noah peeking at me.

Noah's turn.

Noah decide to go for a red nose and whiskers.

Feeding the goats.

Feeding the goats.

 Taunting the goats.

Mmmmmm....pumpkin donut!

Mouth full of hot dog bun.

Daddy and Noah

This was supposed to be Daddy and Taylor but as you

can see Noah snuck in!

Mommy and Noah....Taylor declined when asked to

be in the photo.....I don't think I've ever heard Noah do that!

 Apples!!

Hayride to the apples and pumpkins...good

shot Bryan!

Pumpkins!!

Bryan in the pumpkin patch.  : )

Noah gives a thumbs up for his pumpkin!

Tay picked a little green pumpkin.

Let's pick some apples!

....and some more.

So many apples!!

Not sure what she is doing but I love this shot!

OK....let's get a few more to make our pie.

I asked Noah to give me his craziest apple pickin' pose....

and he delivered as usual!