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Worst blogger ever

Well, I have given myself the title of worst blogger ever! I haven't updated this since September! So much has happened since then... the most important being the addition of Micah to our family! He was born December 16th and was 9 lbs, 2 oz, 20 inches long. A big baby. Other news is that call day is 16 days away, and that's when we'll find out where our first call is. Very exciting! And Nerve wracking to not know... but we'll know soon enough! Anyway, I will update after call day.... at least that's my plan!

Sedalia

Here are pictures from our church and home! :) Just click on the image of Our Savior's and Enjoy!

New Things

We are reminded in scripture that God will make all things new... this is referring to when His kingdom is completely restored at the last day, but I am continually reminded of that at this time when all things are new to us!

We are in a new house, a new church, a new town, new schools, new EVERYTHING! It has been an experience. We are adjusting and enjoying our new surroundings.

Greyson is doing great at church, he will be in charge of all the youth, teaching Confirmation, and doing an evangelism project mainly reaching out to our inactives.

I am staying quite busy at home with Amelia and Nathanael running around. Gideon started full day kindergarten... I can't believe how big he is! Amelia started dance classes, and Nathanael has reached his terrible 2s! We are all anxiously awaiting the arrival of boy #3, another new thing, and just enjoying our time until he arrives.

I will post pictures of the house and church later on today, so you can see all our "new things."

Sorry it has been so long since I posted, I'm hoping to keep up on it better this time... another "new" thing to try! :) Blessings! ~ Mendy

Pictures of the cruise and kids with Grandma & Grandpa

A Long Time...

Well, it's been a long time since I blogged and I decided I need to change that! So much has happened since Christmas. Greyson and I went on our cruise to celebrate 10 years of wedded bliss! It was great. We went to Grand Turk Island and Nassau, Bahamas. We snorkeled, explored and just had a great time together.



My parents kept our kids for the 6 days we were gone. What a blessing that was. We could really enjoy ourselves knowing our kids were safe and taken care of. The kids had a fabulous time with Grandma and Grandpa too! They even got to ride the train at the mall which mommy never wants to pay for!



Greyson has gotten back into the swing of things at school. This is going to be a tough quarter, but we're really looking forward to the next month when we will know where we will be going! Call day is April 27th... 32 days away!

Gideon is doing great in school. We had his first ever parent teacher conference and he is ready for Kindergarten. The teacher says he is a joy to have in class and is her best "picker upper"... I wish he would bring that skill home with him! hehe

Amelia is wanting to be called Amelia exclusively... It's quite cute. Grandma said "Hi Mia." and she told grandma, "I want to be called Amelia!" She is the poster child for 3 year old princesses. She changes her clothes at least 3 times a day and is constantly wanting to wear a dress and do her nails. She's a lot of fun at this age.

Nathanael is attached to me majorly! We need some prayers for him to start sleeping through the night. He's having a hard time with it and mommy and daddy are pretty tired. He is running now and loves for you to chase him. He loves to do whatever brother and sister are doing, sometimes they are ok with that, but sometimes not!

All three of our children are such blessings and are so much fun! Prayers are always needed for their health. Gideon is still allergic to Milk & Eggs, Amelia to milk and maybe more, but she's never been tested. Amelia has her renal reflux, she will be tested for that again on the 6th and hopefully the test will show that it has corrected itself and no surgery is necessary, Nathanael had an abnormal kidney ultrasound, so he may be tested for the same thing.

Greyson and I are doing great. We actually have a date night tonight! We're looking forward to that! I have been listening to books on tape all the time and of course reading. I have finally found a successful method for reading my Bible. I am doing "Today's Light" and meeting with a group of women on Monday nights, and I am excited to say that I have kept up and been reading my Bible every night before bed for 4 months now! I had to have a mentor of mine challenge me to not pick up my novel until my time with the Word was done, and I have stuck with that challenge and been very blessed by it! I even have notes in my Bible that I read this section while on the beach in Grand Turk! If I keep up with it I will have read through the entire Bible cover to cover by November of 2011.

This week Gideon was off school and I took the kids to Rockford for some much needed time up there. We stayed with Emmett and Julie again and had a wonderful time! They are such a blessing to us and Mia just loves playing with Harper constantly! They had a great time. We were able to visit most of our Rockford friends and Gideon had at least 2 play dates with Tyson. We always look forward to our time there.

Well, that's about it for now. I will get pictures posted later. God bless!

Christmas in Quincy

I pray your Christmas has been as fabulous as ours! We have had a wonderful time with friends and family. Fun in the snow, great food, games, and of course Christmas presents! With mom's side of the family we each bought a game and did a gift exchange and then spent all afternoon playing everyone's games! It was so much fun! Our family loves games so much and this was really a great time! Gideon and Mia loved opening gifts, as any 3 and 5 yr olds will! This was Mia's Barbie Christmas... she got 5 barbies, some princesses, some regular barbies. Gideon got a sword, a light saber, and a dart gun. He's had tons of fun with uncle Rusty with those. Our family as a whole got a Wii and have had lots of fun creating our Miis and playing together. We'll have to definitely set time limits on that one! :) The kids would play constantly if we let them! We've had so much fun already and we are looking forward to seeing our friends, the Wysockis, for New Years! It's going to be fabulous to spend time together! :) God bless your New Year!

Happy Thanksgiving Y'All!

This Thanksgiving, I am so thankful for our family and friends who have been supporting us this past year. Whether with care packages, money, or prayers, they are all wonderful blessings to us!

Things have been going great! The kids are growing up fast but having so much fun. We've been going to the Magic House a lot.

We have been travelling some, we went to Rockford to see our friends' new baby. She was gorgeous! We also got to spend time with our Small Group friends. It was a great, but short, visit.

For Thanksgiving, we are heading to Uncle Stanton and Aunt Nora Ann's. We're really looking forward to our time there on the farm. I'm sure the kids will have a wonderful time. I baked 5 dozen rolls and 2 pies for the get together.

Greyson starts the Winter quarter next Monday. Only 2 quarters left! We had our primary interview with the vicarage placement director. We are both looking forward to the process and moving on to the next chapter in our ministry life! :)

Anyway, that's all for now! God's blessings on your Thanksgiving!

~Mendy

It's been a long time...

Hey all! Well, I'm sorry I haven't updated in awhile. Things have been crazy, but good!

Let's see... our summer ended with a vacation to Rockford and Cincinnatti. It was really fun. We saw lots of friends, some museums, baseball game, and more. Greyson preached at Mt. Olive, and did an incredible job! He has truly found his calling.

We had birthday parties... it's hard to believe that Gideon is 5, Mia is 3 and Nathanael is 1!!!! Time sure flies when you're having fun!

Gideon started preschool at Mt. Calvary in Brentwood. He is loving it! He loves his teacher and the friends at school. He goes 3 days a week in the afternoon. The hardest part about him going to school is that Mia wants to go too.... her time will come!

I have started attending MOPS (Mothers of Pre-Schoolers) and they havea program for the kids, not unlike Sunday School, and Mia thinks that is her school. So, when people ask Gideon about school, she pipes in... "I go to MOPS!" It's quite exciting for her.

Nathanael started walking rightat 13 months, then we all were sick, he had a fever for 4 days, and so he gave up walking. After he felt better he started crawling everywhere. We decided to help him along. He loves grapes, so we would hold grapes and he would have to walk to get them... he remembered how to walk in no time and now he is almost exclusively walking.

Classes are going well for Greyson. It's going to be a tough year class wise. But, he has always been good at academics, so I'm sure he'll pull through just fine. This quarter he is taking Passion Narratives, Homeletics II (preaching), Pastor as Counselor, & Systematics. We're getting into a routine finally that really allows him time to study.

Let's see... my nephew Jaxon was born September 5. He will be baptized this weekend! WOOHOO! He's adorable. The kids are so excited to have a cousin!

We're taking Mia to the ENT Dr. tomorrow to talk about tubes... she's had 7 ear infections in 12 months. and we're getting to the bad time of year for her... so we'll see what they say.

We just found out that Gideon is not getting any better in regards to his milk allergy, the egg allergy is very low, but he's also allergic to dust mites, mold, grass, and so on. I am slowly learning to be a better housekeeper, dusting twice a week instead of once every 6 months or so... the only thing is is that both he and Greyson need to be out of the house when I dust because it stirs up enough to bother their allergies/asthma.

Anyway, we're getting it all under control.

This past weekend was the Seminary Women's retreat, it was a great time with a great speaker on Women's leadership. I was on the planning committee and it turned out really well. we had 42 women come. I hope we're close enough that I can attend next year!

I guess that's all for now. I'll find time to post some pictures soon! :)

God's blessings! ~Mendy

Summer already???

Well, it's hard to believe, but Summer is here! Greyson has completed his first year of classes, and the summer term started today. It's hard to believe so much time has passed. This year has flown by. We're now facing our first round of good-byes... as people leave for vicarage or call. Our next door neighbors headed out this morning. We pray God's richest blessings on their ministry!!! But they will be sorely missed.

Over our break we went to Denver again. We had a blast! We went and rode the Georgetown Loop train in the mountains, attended a Rockies game, went to the children's museum, went to a great little place called tiny towne and we were blessed to hear Greyson preach for the very first time! It was pretty cool to sit there and see him up there for the first time. He did so well, and the kids did awesome too!

Our last day in Denver Gideon and I collected some roly-poly bugs and made a home for them in a container provided by Grandma... we left them at the hotel in Kansas and went back for them... little did we know that they would all be dead 2 days later!!! I guess I need to do research on keeping roly polies alive before we attempt the project again! :)

While in Denver we also had the chance to visit with Greyson's aunt Barb. We had a wonderful visit and enjoyed our time with her. One week after we left, Barb died. We're glad that we had that chance to see her and spend time with her and we pray for her husband and sons and the rest of Greyson's family during this hard time.

On our way home from Denver we stopped in Larned, KS where Greyson preached again. We really enjoyed being there as well. At the hotel the night before, Nathanael had a lot of fun with his reflection! Check out this video...

This past Sunday was our church picnic at Chapel of the Cross and dad and I made a pie for the pie contest. It was fun and Our pie tasted fantastic, however we didn't receive any prizes! We still had fun baking and watching the pastors and other judges try it! :)

We're getting into the swing of things for summer and looking forward to lots of fun with friends! Hope you all have a blessed summer!

Life goes on....

These past weeks have been pretty normal witha few exceptions.

We had our first trip to the ER for an injury... Gideon wasn't watching where he was going and walked right off a pair of concrete steps... as Greyson says, he fought the sidewalk and the sidewalk won. Here's a picture of his first shiner...

Greyson is taking homiletics right now and so he's learning how to write and present a sermon. He has been working hard in that class. His other classes are going well too. And he's just thrilled that baseball season has started! Go cubs!

This morning, I was getting ready to take the kids to spanish class (taught by a missionary here on campus) and I told Gideon it was time for spanish... he said, "no mom, it's baseball season!" Greyson had to explain that we can still take spanish lessons during baseball season! The kids really do say the darndest things!

Easter is quickly approaching. Easter is my favorite holiday of the year and I am really looking forward to celebrating this year. I have been in charge of an Easter breakfast for the past 7 years and it was fun, but I'm really looking forward to just being with my family and worshipping at church this Sunday!! We will be celebrating Easter in Quincy this year with easter egg hunts and all!

Another funny story, yesterday it was snowing in the morning when we got up. Gideon opens the door, sees the snow, and says, "Mia!!! look! It's the first snow!" I told him that hopefully it's the last snow! We've just had so much nice weather and been outside all the time and now that it's snowing he thought we had gone full circle!

I've been taking a cooking class on campus with the head chef of the kitchen here. It has been so much fun! Once we have a real kitchen with a little more space, I have some things I want for Christmas! :)

We visited a preschool yesterday that I believe Gideon will be attending in the fall. I think he will have fun and really excel, but we'll see. pray for us as we make this decision!

I can't think of much else new going on. God bless you all!

Belize Trip

Greyson had the opportunity to go to Belize the end of Feb. "It was an incredible trip and I learned a lot about ministry and missions around the world. I had originally thought it was going to be a regular old mission trip with lots of witnessing and construction work, but I was mistaken. It ended up being a learning trip with us seminarians doing a lot of leg work for the organization that we went down with, CALMS, Central American Lutheran Mission Society under the direction of Pastor Steve Hughey. We spent three days in Belize City partnering with Lords Bank Community Church and their pastors, Jimmi and Sandra Lee Jones. I gave a Sunday School teaching workshop one night and Pastor Dar Karsten presented a evangelism workshop another night. We also met with several other pastors from around Belize City in fact finding meetings looking for other partners and opportunities to work with congregations in Belize City. It was a great time and an eye opening experience it terms of what full time ministry sometimes entails.
Next we headed inland to the Belize-Guatemala border and spent three days in San Ignacio where we did some work at a home for the aged, the Octavia Waight Centre. It was great to be able to serve the elderly living there by sharing devotions and conversation, but also by digging a new septic tank hole, painting part of the facility and covering over a walkway to keep the staff out of the rain going to the laundry facilities (which was the project I was in charge of). It was a lot of hard work but also very rewarding to be there. We were also able to visit a Mayan ruin, Xunantunich, as well. What a magnificent view from atop that man-made mountain that was the citadel there at Xunantunich in the middle a lush valley.
Finally we headed to the southern coast of Belize to a long peninsula called Placencia. It was home to a village called Seine Bight. It was here that we were supposed to do another construction job, the moving of a shelter from one area of the village to another, but village politics ended up nixing that plan. We did teach the upcoming VBS curriculum to the aides that will help this summer and witnessed to at least two hundred kids from the village using an evangelism bracelet Pastor Karsten brought along. It was a surreal experience mostly because Seine Bight is the voodoo capital of Belize. I can’t say that I felt threatened or in danger at all, just a since of despair that hung over the village, in part because of the poverty but also the palpable presence of evil. But the kids were amazing and soaked up everything that we talked about readily. I was also happy to learn that a Christian man and his wife from California had moved into the village and were working with the kids in a youth group ministry. While there we also met a missionary and his family from Guatemala who was living in the village as well. Both seem as if they can be real partners for future work in the village.
I have to take this opportunity to thank my in-laws, for financing a large part of my trip. It was a Christmas gift I will not ever forget. But I also want to thank all of you who are continuing to support my family and I while we are at Seminary. It is an incredible thing to know that so many care about us and want to support us. May God bless you as you continue to be a blessing to us and to others."

Greyson had a great trip! While he was there the kids and I got to spend some wonderful time with our friends in Rockford. It was so great to see everyone! And to meet new babies!!! :)

I won't wait so long between posts next time! :)

Been awhile...

Sorry it's been so long. Life just gets crazy. So, where do we start...

Gideon had his very own Valentine's Day party. He made the invitations, decided who to invite and helped me hang streamers. The kids did relays, made hats, played games, decorated cookies, and learned about the first Valentine's Day and the love of Jesus. It was so much fun!

We have discovered that we love St. Louis weather. We have been able to play outside a lot. it's been very nice!

We did take a whirlwind trip to Colorado. Greyson's grandmother went to be with Jesus. It was a long, quick trip, but we are very glad we went. It was good to see our family and to celebrate Grandma's life, and now her new life with Jesus.

Greyson and I attended the annual winter ball here at the seminary. Gideon and Mia thought I was a princess! It was fun to get dressed up and have a nice dinner and dancing with so many of our new friends here at the seminary.

The day after the ball my brother Chad received a Heartsaver Heros award from the governor of IL, Pat Quinn. It was very cool to meet the man that Chad had saved. He had had a heart attack while driving, his wife crashed the car in order to stop, Chad arrived and hooked up an AED and performed CPR in order to save his life. I'm so proud of Chad!!! We drove to Quincy to be there for it. As you can see the ceremony was in a fire house, which of course, the kids LOVED!

Tomorrow break begins, the kids and I are heading to Rockford for a week. WOOHOO!!! Greyson leaves Saturday for Belize for a mission trip. Please keep him and his team in your prayers! We'll have lots to update when we get home!

A New Year!!!

Happy New Year! It's hard to believe it's 2009. We've been here at the Sem now for 6 months, Greyson and I have been married 8.5 years. It's just crazy how fast time flies! We headed home from Denver on the 27th and drove to Hays, KS, where we stayed the night so that we could attend church in Larned, KS. Grace Lutheran church is a little church that has blessed us so much! We are so thankful for them. From there, we headed to Kansas City to spend some quality time with Dan and Jenn, two of our dearest friends, and Mia's God parents. We had a great time swimming, hanging out, exchanging gifts, and just being together. Gideon was so sad to leave them, he told us he was going to miss them, and he had tears in his eyes. We love them lots!

We arrived back in St. Louis on the 29th, just 2 hours before Chad & Erica and Rusty arrived to spend some time here. Rusty brought his Wii, a favorite of Gideon's! Tuesay was gorgeous outside and we spent a lot of time playing outside. Mom and dad came down that evening when we had Christmas dinner and exchanged gifts. A wonderful time was had by all!

Erica, Chad & Rusty headed back to Quincy while mom and dad stayed to ring in the New Year with us! We played games and enjoyed a little Champagne while waiting for 2009 to arrive.

2008 was a wonderful year filled with lots of change, but overall good change. Nate joined us, we followed God's call to the sem, on a sad note we left friends behind in Rockford, but have kept in touch with them all. We welcome 2009 with open arms anxious to see what God has in store for us this year! :) God bless!

Christmas Eve

Well, it's Christmas Eve!!! I hope everyone's shopping is done! The kids are so excited about Christmas. We are here in Denver and we have hung out at Grandma and Grandpas the last few days getting our Christmas cards done and watching fun disney movies. Gideon fell in love with 101 Dalmations! I think we've watched it 3 times already.

Our drive was uneventful getting out here except that we told Gideon we would go swimming and at the hotel the pool was closed!!!!

Today we're heading out to a mall just to walk around and get the kids out of the house. Maybe we'll find some good deals too! :)

I can't wait until the candle light service tonight!!!! It's the high-"light" of my Christmas season! :) Merry Christmas everyone!!!!

Christmas Cookies

One of my favorite things about this time of year is making Christmas cookies! Yesterday, the kids and I had friends over to make and decorate sugar cookies! The kids had so much fun. We ended up with a few beheaded angels and broken candy canes (Stacye and I got to eat broken ones!!!) but the kids had a blast!

What else has been going on? We had the campus tree lighting ceremony. That was pretty cool. Everyone progressed around campus and we would stop at each tree for a reading and hymn and then they would light them up!

The kids are so excited about Christmas! We have been so blessed with gifts from area churches. The kids had a "little Christmas" yesterday (we won't have room to transport very many gifts to Denver...), it's been so much fun! We leave Friday to head to Denver for Christmas! It should be an exciting drive with 3 little ones! :) We are really looking forward to spending this Christmas with Grandma & Grandpa Grenz! :)

Have a blessed Christmas everyone!

Snowglobe

Scroll down to check out our snowglobe at the bottom!!! :)

Thanksgiving Break

Break started off AWESOME!!!! I got together with my 3 closest friends from High School. Kim, Krissy, Megan and I haven't all four been together for 7 years! We all turned 30 this year, so I made a cake to help us celebrate...We had a great day reminiscing and just spending time together. It was fun to show off my beautiful children!!! :)

Thanksgiving was a fun day. It was so great to have family around. My aunt and uncle from CA were even here. We had fun throughout the week playing games, visiting, and eating great food! The turkey was almost as big as Nathanael! I'll post a picture when I get it from dad.

Nathanael is growing like crazy and is gaining control of his head more and more. Here he is in a bumbo seat...

Today was exciting too, we put up our Christmas tree! It was so fun to have both kids actively involved in it and so excited. We put it up this morning, had lunch and then took naps... when Gideon woke up, he came out of his room grinning! Then, he looked at the tree.... "There aren't any presents, mommy." HAHAHAHAHA!!! He thought that if he went to sleep, there would be presents when he woke up! It was pretty cute. We also put a light up tree outside, the kids were just glowing about that too. here are a couple of pics from today!

It's been a fun break... now it's time to get back into the swing of things! :) God bless!

The 30 Club!!!!

Well, today I joined the 30 club!!! So far, it's pretty great! It has been a wonderful birthday! Rusty, Mom, Dad and Korey were all here this weekend to help me celebrate! Mom, my aunts, and Korey all went shopping on Saturday, ended up with dinner at the Macaroni Grill. We had a party of 19 there! It was so fun. The best part of the night was when Gideon came up to me, and said, "Mommy, I have something for you...." I asked him what, and he said, "happy birthday!!!" and gave me a great big hug. It was the sweetest thing ever!

Today I got to sleep in til 9:15!!!! I haven't slept that late in so long, although I was still up at midnight, 3, and 6:30, but it was nice to go back to sleep!!!! Then we just hung out around the house, Greyson bought me a new game for my birthday so we had a couple of friends over to play. Then Mom came and watched the kids while Greyson and I went out for a nice dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory. It was our first night out without kids since July! So, it was really nice.

Let's see, what has happened lately that you need to be updated on? We went and hung out at the Turtle park before the weather got cold. It's just a park made up of all these giant concrete turtles! the kids absolutely loved it.

Greyson finished his first quarter..... one down, six to go!!! He did very well and is looking forward to the classes next quarter.

Now the weather is cold, the leaves are all down, winter is just about here!

Gideon had his Endocrinologist appt. this past Thursday. We'll get the test results from that on Wednesday. They are just checking him out because he's so small for his age. Mia goes to the Urologist in December to get established with a local doctor here to deal with her renal reflux. Nathanael is doing great!!! He's really holding his head up and smiling lots! This week he also grabbed a toy (pooh bear) and brought it to his mouth!!! He's so cute!!!

I think that's about it!!!! God bless you all!

Finals!!!!

Well, this week marks the last week of the quarter! Greyson is studying hard, finishing papers, and putting up with us all at the same time. He's amazing!

I have started attending a Bible study using Today's Light, which takes you through the Bible in 2 years. The first one I attended was this past week and I think it is going to be great with a great group of women. The kids and I went to the zoo again... one last hoorah before the cold hit, and now it's 29 degrees outside. AAAHHHH!!!! Gideon and Mia have been sick this weekend... I guess it's that time of year. They both have ear infections... we're really hoping Nathanael doesn't get sick too. Hopefully they will be getting better quickly.

Nathanael has been sleeping 5-6 hours a night... woohoo!!! hopefully he'll keep that up and make it a habit... mommy needs more sleep...

Saturday I had my first stamping event since coming here. I had 6 women come and make 10 cards, and I've had a couple of orders come out of that as well. We made thank you cards... we're always needing to send thank-yous because of all the blessings we receive here!

Tonight marked the first meeting of our small group Bible study as well. It is made up of 4 couples, our husbands were all in greek together over the summer and so we will be able to meet hopefully through the 2 years until we all leave for vicarage. I'm looking forward to our time together and having this group to pray for each other and encourage each other throughout this journey.

No pictures this time....