Home Sweet Home Manistee

Hi All,

    I AM BACK!!  I haven't blogged since January...whoops!  I have often thought about blogging but have been too lazy to do so.  So why start up again now?  Glad you asked.  Some of you have been asking me to post pictures of our new living conditions and so I thought I would do it through my blog.  

   For those of you who may not know, I recently got hired as the Youth Pastor of Faith Covenant Manistee in Michigan!!  I could not have asked for a better church and a better community to start anew with.  I officially begin on Tuesday, the 1st.  Daniel and I are beyond excited to call Manistee our home.  

    God has been sooo good to us!  This is the first time in our 20 months of marriage where we are finally living in our own space and house-like structure (well in a condo anyways...haha).  Can you believe it?  Even more exciting is the fact that I FINALLY got to take my wedding gifts out of their original boxes!!  It was like getting married all over again minus the dress, the ceremony, the party, the vows, rings, etc...  

   Anyways, here are the photos from the condo.  We feel really blessed to live here while we get settled.  Having Lake Michigan right out our backdoor doesn't hurt the situation either...at least until the lake effect hits us this winter.  Hope you enjoy the photos!

 Here's the outside of our condo: 82

 Our living room with a nice fireplace (decorated in Guatemala photos and paintings)

 Kitchen/home to all my new wedding gifts.

 I am in love with my Fiesta Ware!  And am looking to expand the collection...

 Dinning room with balcony.

 Milo's corner...which he just loves...NOT!

 Main floor bathroom.

 Third floor living room.

 Guest bedroom just for you!

 View of Lake Michigan from the upstairs balcony.

 Third floor bathroom.

Our bedroom with a door to another balcony.

    If you are wondering how I went from a main floor to a third floor, it's because I decided that the garage, storage room, and bathroom on the first floor weren't exciting enough to include a picture.  Thank you to everyone who helped us move in!  We had a wonderful welcome party/move-in help from the teens at FCC.  You all are awesome!  As for the rest of you, come visit us!!!  It's beautiful up here.  We feel blessed beyond what we deserve.  

Where are you?

Where are you?

This question is looming over me.   It comes from Genesis 3 in the Garden of Eden shortly after Adam and Eve sinned.  “Where are you?” ask God, not because he didn’t know where Adam and Eve were (that he knew well).  He took the initiative with Adam and Eve in effort to restore a right relationship with them.  God initiated.  God initiated because he cared.  He had every right to be angry.  He committed all of creation into the care of Adam and Eve.  He showed them great love and gave them great freedom.  But they disobeyed.  And yet God still loved them.  He initiated the conversation.  Where are you?

Where am I?  

Here I am God.  I am sitting on my “new” couch, in the middle of my redecorated living room, anxiously awaiting the arrival of my husband, the completion of my time here at seminary, and eagerly anticipating the future.  Here I am God.   I am yours.

I see the work that you are doing in my life and in the lives of my friends and family.  I even see the work that you are doing in the lives of complete strangers all over the world.  You have initiated a right relationship with each one of us but it is up to us to respond to your invitation.  

Here I am.

I am inspired by you; the way you love and the way you seek justice and mercy in a fallen and broken world.  You never give up.  You are relentless in your pursuit of me and of all of creation.  There is nowhere, no nook, no cranny, nowhere where you are not present.  You are right here with me in this room just like you are right there in the darkest places in this world.  

There is no need to return the favor; to ask you where you are because you Lord, are everywhere!  Help us to recognize your presence at all times, in all situations, and in all people.  Not one of us is lacking the imago dei; each and every one of us has been created in your image, male and female.  Help us to see the good in all people.  Teach us to love mercilessly at all times, in all situations, and all people.  

God initiated.  Where are you?