It's Beginning to feel a lot like Christmas!

I can't believe how quickly people turn from Thanksgiving to Christmas. It all seems to go so fast. One moment the women are rushing for the biggest turkey and the next they are after the socks at Fred Meyer. We are in our home and everything is in order finally. We have our tree up and decorated...it makes it look so homey. I love the warmth the fireplace brings and the smell of hot cider. Josh already put up the outside lights which welcome us home during those late youth group nights.
Although it seems that one holiday ends and another begins, I know that this Christmas I'm thankful for a lot of things. Josh and I have gotten to spend time with both of our families, friends too. We have good jobs, a warm home. This is also our first Christmas married. We're looking forward to having some relaxed, peaceful time together. As I get ready to bring in some of our cherished traditions, I wish you all a very blessed season as we get ready to celebrate the God of the universe becoming a babe to save us all.

We have most of the painting in our house finished now and we just moved a lot of the furniture, with the help of our small group, last night. I must confess that after 20 plus hours of painting and ripping off wall paper until my fingers no longer moved, I had my doubts that it would ever look good enough to have people see it! But, not to fear, it looks great now and we're so excited to start our new life there. We just have a couple more rooms...Paint is a lot more fun to look at than actually going through the process of putting it on. The Lord's provision is just pouring abundantly on us right now. I'll put pictures up later.

Home 1...2...3...4...5

1. We sign closing papers on Wednesday the 8th

2. We paint almost the whole house on Saturday the 10th-Tuesday the 14th

3. We move in on Wednesday the 15th-Saturday the 18th

4. We turn over our apartment on Sunday the 19th

5. We sleep really well because it's all over

Oh to be five again...the little boy I nanny, James, was so saddened today by another little boy cutting in front of him at school today. "If I were him, I would never have cutted like that. If only he new how sad it made me. I think only a movie and pizza for lunch can fix me!"--James.
I just had to laugh. For the most part, they are very sweet little kids, James and Hannah. I met my parents earlier and I think they would have taken Hannah home with them, had it been an option.

I decided that I really wish there were a "laundry fairy" who folded and put away laundry...that is one chore that I passionately dislike!

Some Answers

Thanks to all who joined our prayers...we got the house! We continue to get more excited as the steps are completed; please keep praying that everything continues to go smoothly. We are so pleased that the Lord has this as part of His perfect plan. The neighborhood is so close to so many wonderful church families.
We will close on November 10 and take possesion on November 13. Then we will be the Kintigh Couple who lives in a house rather than an apartment. It's pretty cool to be married for 4 months and already be getting a real home--God is a faithful provider!

Tonight Josh was at an elder's meeting, so I decided to have some middle school girls over for a movie night. I was so blessed by even the simple ministry time of just girl talk and a sweet Jane Austin movie-"Emma." I think the trick to building genuine relationships is making even the short, spontaneous times an opportunity for growth.
I was told this past weekend at a ministry conference that if you want students in your ministry for a few weeks-give them great programs, but if you want them to stay for the duration of their time-give them relationship. I think tonight was the Lord blessing me with great relationships with these awesome girls.

The House We're Praying For

This is the house that we're going to make an offer on, Monday morning. Hopefully, this is where we will call home.

What the Lord is Doing

The house that we really wanted is, in fact, still on the market. Apparently the offer that was previously made fell through. Please join us in praying as we prepare an offer this week for it. We pray that it would come together smoothly and that the sellers would want to accept what we propose. The Lord is such a good God; we are trusting His faithful provision to show us what He has in store for us.

Josh and I are going to visit two more houses tomorrow. The one we looked at on Monday was a sweet house, but someone else beat us at making an offer. That's okay though, because I am confident that God has something much better in store for us. Hopefully, one of these houses...it'll be good to keep this house search short.

New Changes

So...Josh and I are beginning the process of being home-owners! We have been "beginning" the process for a while now, but were just recently informed that our apartment rent will be going up at the start of November. After that news, we became a little more serious in looking at houses. We found a really great one today and we're praying that all the details work out for us to buy it. It is in a wonderful neighborhood, that is actually really close to our dear friends Andy and Jaime Sherman and also to Josh's parents.
We are trusting that our great GOD has a magnificent plan for provision. Please join us in the prayer that we will soon have a house to call home.

Fall is Here

I love Fall. It's a season full of new beginnings. It gets colder and the leaves change colors. I can finally where my turtleneck sweaters! When I was in school, it meant new clothes and new notebooks, but now I'm excited for new students moving through the grades in our youth group and for new programs starting up. I am really looking forward to seeing what new lessons God has in store for us.
Josh and I are beginning fall with busyness. Youth group is starting off great-we've had two new students join our group! We are up to 16 students now in our high-school group. We are enjoying the group and praying for more students to join. Hopefully, as the students gain more friends in this school year our group will grow accordingly. Middle school youth group will be on Wednesday evenings. We have about 10 students in that group...but only one boy, so we're praying that as the group grows more boys will come! We are also looking forward to See You at the Pole--National Day of Prayer on September 27th. We're hoping to join our youth group with a few others that night for a city wide event.
We hope that you will join our prayers for each student, that God will grow them in the grace and knowledge of Himself.

Labor Day

Josh and I had a wonderful Labor Day. We went up to see my parents; Amy and Dave came up as well. I love it when everyone can be together. We had so much fun hanging out and playing games. We went to see "Invincible" also, which was really good. Talk, game, movie...enjoying the simple stuff.
In a world where the definition of "family" has either been changed or attacked, it is so refreshing to go and spend an afternoon hanging out and genuinely enjoying mine. My parents still love and take care of each other, setting such an example to us kids. They're still serving God. Amy and I still have fun being sisters. We married such godly men who fit into most of our familial quirks! And it's also really nice when parents are the type of people you'd choose to be friends with...even if they were not biologically connected with you.
It was a good day.

Our Home

Here is our apartment for those who are curious yet unable to visit. We have been so blessed by the Lord's provision and we love the little home we have.

"Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow." --Anonymous

I think this gives us a lesson on contentment...live in the moment God has placed us in, not in the moment we decided that our human mind desired. God's ways are higher than ours. If we miss today, longing for tomorrow, that tomorrow will be a "today" that we will also miss. Blessings, as we learn this lesson together.

Lovin' Being Married

Even when married, miniture golf still makes a good date!

To bring our beach visit to life...here are some pic's of God's incredible creation

Vacation 101

As Josh and I are still in the "newly married" phase of our life, vacation can be fairly humorous with us. We were originally planning to depart on our adventure to Honeyman State Park on Sunday afternoon, but on Saturday morning Josh decided that he would like to leave that afternoon instead. So following three days of my helping with the coordination for a wedding at our church that took place on Saturday morning/afternoon we arrived home, only to attempt to leave for camping in 45 minutes. Yes, women understand that this is not really possible.
I come from a family that takes time to organize and be really ready for vacation...oh, and camping was not in our vacation vocabulary! Everything is packed with care and the house is left spotless. It was a tad stressful for me to pack, clean, and load a camper (with 5 days of supplies, including meals) in that little of time. Josh comes from a family where camping is a regular activity and he is used to his knowledgeable mom getting stuff ready! Josh and I had some good laughs as we ran a round trying to get it all done. You see, we had to leave early because our first night was not booked at any campsite because we were going to leave the next day originally. We still needed to get a campsite...on a weekend!
With a camper graciously shared with us by Josh's parents, we set off on our adventure. We use the word "adventure" when we're not exactly sure what lies ahead!
I had to adjust as we ended up spending the first night "dry camping." A phrase I learned means "camping in your camper in a parking lot next to other campers...who also did not have a campsite." Though it took a little imagination, it was still fun. Our dear friends Brian and Sjana MacSwan came to hang out the next day...the boys went surfing and the girls went shopping. It was a lot of fun to see them.
Josh and I arrived at our real destination, having a wonderful few days enjoying time alone. He was able to surf, and we also caught a crab I affectionately named Oscar. Josh ended up eating him with the pasta I made that night, but he was a good pet for a few hours!
We enjoyed laughing together at how seriously some took their campsites, even going as far as to decorate. Some had fake trees with lights, others were content with hanging flower baskets and flags or flamingos. All made the natural scenery much more exciting.
It was a fun time to experience the joys as we learn how to do all aspects of life together...even on our first vaction! Good times.